Nitish Pahwa
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nitishpahwa.com
Nitish Pahwa
@nitishpahwa.com
6.5K followers 3.2K following 6.1K posts
staff writer for business/tech @slate.com and online media council member @wgaeast.bsky.social

he/him
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nitishpahwa.com
Dale Cooper, in Twin Peaks: The Return, asking: "What year is this?"
November 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM
nitishpahwa.com
The Mamdani sign generator edited to read "Dipset" repeated 15 times, and "for Santana's Town"
November 9, 2025 at 5:58 PM
nitishpahwa.com
this is shocking and low even for him, a former childhood SNAP recipient thehill.com/homenews/adm...
The Hill: Vance calls court order to fully fund SNAP ‘absurd ruling’ By Brett Samuels
November 7, 2025 at 5:45 PM
nitishpahwa.com
(in fact, Mamdani surpassed 50% tonight) bsky.app/profile/sage...
NYTimes: Zohran Mamdani has 50.4% of the vote witg 91% of votes in, per the Associated Press
November 5, 2025 at 5:25 AM
nitishpahwa.com
it's funny, I was told for years that this guy was some innovative genius with an earnest desire to improve human livelihood
An Elon Musk tweet: "The New York City ballot form is a scam! - No ID is required - Other mayoral candidates appear twice - Cuomo’s name is last in bottom right."
November 4, 2025 at 8:57 PM
nitishpahwa.com
the likely end of an era (of Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bells) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
The move marks the first significant strategic step under Turner, who took the helm at Yum in October. Alongside the review of Pizza Hut, the company expects to complete the acquisition of 128 franchised Taco Bell locations in the Southeast US in the current quarter. The move could be well received by investors as the pizza brand has been “an anchor on the company’s overall growth rate,” Robert W Baird & Co Inc. analyst David Tarantino wrote in a note to clients. Selling the business could add an estimated 1 percentage point of growth to Yum’s system sales, he said. Earnings Performance While sales are down at Pizza Hut, Yum’s other brands are faring much better. Yum announced third-quarter earnings on Tuesday with its Taco Bell and KFC brands recording comparable sales growth of 7% and 2% in the US, respectively. KFC’s international sales, which make up 86% of the brand’s business, grew 3% on a comparable basis.
November 4, 2025 at 4:50 PM
nitishpahwa.com
even the Discorders are skeptical/tired
A Discord post: "It's like that Polymarket tweet where cuomo's odds went from 6 to 12% and they tweeted that if this trend continued over the next 24 hours, he'd be in the lead. Just utter statstical nonsense that has no relevance to the market. I don't know if these sites are just looking to create clickbait, or if they're like NY Post and feel they need to distort reality for right-wing narratives. But at the end of the day they just look fing regarded for posting this mathematical trash." This is all above a screenshot of a Kalshi tweet reading: "The headline odds make Mamdani (92%) look unstoppable in the NYC Mayoral race - but the Kalshi trading data tells a more complicated story."
November 4, 2025 at 3:33 PM
nitishpahwa.com
funny enough, Infamous Billa's second-most-streamed track on Spotify (just shy of 4,000 plays) is a collab with Trump supporter Benny the Butcher www.wsj.com/us-news/the-...
The three-minute video, which went live last month, showed Mamdani dancing while the city burned. The Wall Street bull got demolished by a rocket. All this was set to a modified version of Frank Sinatra’s signature song. “Imagine North Korea with a dash of Shariah,” a fake Sinatra sings. “That’s what you got, New York, New York.” Abbott isn’t a political operative, at least not in the traditional sense. Instead, he’s a semiretired entrepreneur who lives in Florida, near Mar-a-Lago, and has a hobby of writing parody songs. “I care about the city, and I care about crime,” Abbott said of his video. The 75-year-old formerly ran a pantyhose and underwear company, and later a food distribution service. He left New York City years ago, but still has family in Manhattan, including his son, a rapper called “Infamous Billa.”
October 31, 2025 at 7:50 PM
nitishpahwa.com
shut up
A Sam Altman tweet: "GPT-6 will be renamed GPT-6-7, you're welcome"
October 31, 2025 at 5:44 PM
nitishpahwa.com
look I know I'm part of the problem and don't really have any grounds to criticize, but goddamn if this isn't the most depressing bait blog-and-headline I've seen in a minute
Popular Today: Ridley Scott's 91% Rotten Tomatoes Sci-Fi Masterpiece Is Surging on Global Streaming Charts
October 30, 2025 at 5:41 PM
nitishpahwa.com
I mean were the artists supposedly being championed asked for any comment here
In a press release, UMG and Udio said the new subscription service would “transform the user engagement experience, creating a licensed and protected environment to customize, stream and share music responsibly.” “This moment brings to life everything we’ve been building toward – uniting AI and the music industry in a way that truly champions artists,” Udio founder and CEO Andrew Sanchez said in a statement. “Together, we’re building the technological and business landscape that will fundamentally expand what’s possible in music creation and engagement.”
October 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM
nitishpahwa.com
idk maybe it's just me but I don't love the sound of a "new AI music generation and streaming platform" that will "be trained on licensed music" from the single largest Big 3 label www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-...
Universal Music Group is settling its copyright infringement lawsuit against AI music generation platform Udio, the companies confirmed late Wednesday night, with the two companies saying they’d now be collaborating to develop new AI music generation and streaming platform. UMG and Udio didn’t provide any financial details of the settlement but said the new platform would come out sometime in 2026 and would be trained on licensed music from UMG’s catalog. UMG is the world’s largest music company, with a roster that includes stars like Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter among others.
October 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
nitishpahwa.com
Wainwright in particular has had such a fascinating political evolution since the peak of his career
Wainwright identifies as "a complete libertarian" and stated in 2008, "I don't think any government should encroach on what goes on in the bedroom at all." In April 2010, Wainwright came out publicly in favour of legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States because he wanted to marry Weisbrodt. Wainwright stated, "I wasn't a huge gay marriage supporter before I met Jörn because I love the whole old-school promiscuous Oscar Wilde freak show of what 'being gay' once was. But since meeting Jörn, that all changed." In 2014, Wainwright reiterated he was a "complete libertarian", and explained that while he did not initially support President Barack Obama, he said he has "become a very big Obama fan", expressing support for his agenda, including women's healthcare and government-provided health coverage.
October 30, 2025 at 3:30 PM
nitishpahwa.com
ok but imho this is even more embarrassing than getting got by a legit impersonator
“I’m Bill DeBlasio. I’ve always been Bill DeBlasio,” DeBlasio said in an interview conducted Wednesday evening through his Ring doorbell in Huntington Station, Long Island, from his current location in Florida. “I never once said I was the mayor. He never addressed me as the mayor,” DeBlasio told Semafor Wednesday evening. “So I just gave him my opinion.” The episode began earlier this week when a reporter for the quality British newspaper, Bevan Hurley, sent a polite email to an email address containing the full name belonging both to the wine seller and the two-term New York mayor, who spells “de” with a lowercase “d” and inserts a space between the two parts of his surname. (In DeBlasio’s view, “low-class Italians use a little d.“) The Times reporter, Hurley, was researching “an article looking at Zohran Mamdani’s policy plans and their estimated costs,” he wrote. “I would greatly appreciate your insights on Mr Mandani’s ambitious agenda, potential obstacles, and whether the sums add up.” De Blasio understood the situation. “I could have corrected him,” he said. Instead, he played along. He used ChatGPT to compose a response criticizing Mamdani’s tax plans, in particular, as unlikely to raise the requisite revenue. “It was all in good fun. I never thought it would make it to print,” DeBlasio said. He assumed the reporter would “have all his people check it out.”
October 30, 2025 at 3:33 AM
nitishpahwa.com
something else worth noting from this report (www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/u...): the Cicero Institute, which also supports Bari Weiss' fake school in Austin, is backed by PayPal Mafioso and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale
Accusing homeless people of turning great cities into “unsanitary nightmares,” he pledged “to use every tool, lever and authority to get the homeless off our streets.” He said the administration would “open up large parcels of inexpensive land” where “dangerously deranged” people “can be relocated and their problems identified.” Much about Utah’s plans remain unclear, including the details of involuntary treatment, what a proposal calls “work-conditioned housing” and whether the residents will sleep in buildings or tents. But supporters call it a model. “Utah is a harbinger of the future,” said Devon Kurtz of the Cicero Institute, a conservative policy group that has pushed for the changes in Utah and at the federal level.
October 29, 2025 at 7:52 PM
nitishpahwa.com
bad jokes aside, genuinely curious what this means for Vimeo, a rare YouTube alt and platform I genuinely love
Bending Spoons also owns video distribution and analytics company Brightcove, and said in September that it would buy video platform Vimeo for $1.38 billion. Bending Spoons said its approach for AOL and other investments is to revamp and retain businesses. AOL has around eight million daily active users and a high customer retention rate, it said. Its main business lines include software for internet privacy and protection and the AOL.com website and email domain. AOL generates around $400 million in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the Journal previously reported. Revenue is north of $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
October 29, 2025 at 3:59 PM
nitishpahwa.com
yeaaahhhhh I imagine the judge was not very happy about this variety.com/2025/tv/news...
In addition, TBN also filed a motion to impose sanctions on Peteski, alleging Peteski failed to produce requested documents — and Everett, in his ruling, found that McGraw had deleted an “unflattering” text message in which McGraw described his strategy to “wipe out” TBN and PBR’s claims via the Merit Street bankruptcy. McGraw evidently did so to avoid having it produced in the court proceeding, Everett said, in violation of the judge’s orders.
October 29, 2025 at 2:05 AM
nitishpahwa.com
wow this must be Nathan Fielder's most dastardly scheme yet www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-d...
De Blasio Says UK Newspaper 'Fabricated' His Quotes Criticizing Mamdani The Times apologized, saying a reporter had been "misled" by a Bill de Blasio impersonator. Lydia O'Connor Oct 28, 2025, 07:48 PM EDT
October 29, 2025 at 12:56 AM
nitishpahwa.com
god bless these Berlin cashiers, though
Opera needn’t be a dying art form. In Berlin, where I live, three repertory opera companies regularly sell 90 per cent of their tickets. When our right-wing mayor, attempting to justify sweeping cuts to culture, asked whether supermarket cashiers should be asked to fund opera with their taxes, the newspaper Taz interviewed several cashiers on duty and quoted one, an opera fan, as saying, ‘the ticket prices shouldn’t be increased because culture should be there for everyone.’ The most expensive opera ticket in Berlin is cheaper than two-thirds of the seats at the Met. The city’s companies, offering sold-out runs of the kind of challenging repertoire that Gelb describes as having killed opera, still feel as if they belong to the people who live here, because they do. Art belongs to everyone, but in the absence of collective support, it has always needed patrons. The question is what the money allows an institution to do, and for whom; and what the patrons are buying themselves with their money. Like many people, I find the idea of an institutional collaboration with the Saudi regime beyond the pale: but to be shocked by bloody oil money funding the Met is about as plausible as Captain Renault being shocked to find gambling at Rick’s. The Saudis join a host of donors whose interests, both political and artistic, are diametrically opposed to those of the audiences the Met needs to survive.
October 29, 2025 at 12:42 AM
nitishpahwa.com
if you already thought the Saudis' co-optation of so many iconic cultural institutions was bad enough, wait till you see what they wanna do with the opera! www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/se...
The solution, trumpeted in a press release earlier this month full of warm words about international cultural exchange, is a new ‘collaboration’ with Saudi Arabia. While the financial details of the deal are secret, the New York Times reports that the Met is expected to see more than $100 million in exchange for eight annual three-week performance seasons in a new opera house outside Riyadh. A company that has refused to engage the star soprano Anna Netrebko because of her failure to denounce Putin’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine will now perform in an opera house built by a regime whose marquee projects have been ‘built on widespread labour abuses’, according to Human Rights Watch, in front of a royal family that ‘uses the death penalty to crush dissent’. Jonathan Dove has been brought in to write a new opera set in ancient Saudi Arabia. Performances in Riyadh are scheduled to begin in 2028. In the meantime, New York audiences can look forward to such ‘artistic possibilities’ as ‘a Saudi pop artist’ singing the role of Papageno in The Magic Flute. How thrilling.
October 29, 2025 at 12:40 AM
nitishpahwa.com
oop storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK IN RE: OPENAI, INC., COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LITIGATION, This Document Relates To: ALL ACTIONS 25-md-3143 (SHS) (OTW) ORDER ONA T. WANG, United States Magistrate Judge: It has come to the Court’s attention that OpenAI may have disclosed protected settlement communications that took place during the August 15, 2025, confidential settlement conference. Rule 408 of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides:
October 28, 2025 at 7:29 PM
nitishpahwa.com
wow this sucks man
Fact-checked by Grok 6 hours ago George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an American man with a lengthy criminal record including convictions for armed robbery, drug possession, and theft in Texas from 1997 to 2007.[1][2] On May 25, 2020, Floyd was arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after a store clerk reported that he had used a counterfeit $20 bill to purchase cigarettes.[3][4] During the arrest, which involved resistance from Floyd who repeatedly stated he could not breathe even before being placed prone, officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd became unresponsive.[3] The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Floyd's death a homicide due to cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression, with contributing factors including severe hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, fentanyl intoxication, and recent methamphetamine use; toxicology tests detected 11 ng/mL of fentanyl in his blood, a level associated with overdose fatalities in individuals without tolerance.[5][6][7] Chauvin was convicted in 2021 of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, receiving a 22.5-year sentence.[8][9] Floyd's death, widely disseminated via bystander video, precipitated extensive civil unrest across the United States and internationally, including riots causing billions in property damage, alongside debates over police use of force, the role of Floyd's health and substance use in his demise, and systemic issues in law enforcement interactions with suspects exhibiting non-compliance or intoxication.[10]
October 27, 2025 at 11:05 PM
nitishpahwa.com
same deal with their article on Korn's self-titled debut! aside from a couple sentences about the album cover randomly inserted …
Korn (printed and stylized as KoЯn) is the debut studio album by the American nu metal band Korn. It was released on October 11, 1994, through Immortal and Epic Records. Before recording the album, the band was approached by Immortal/Epic Records after a performance in Huntington Beach, California. The band signed to their label because they did not want to "sign away all of their creative freedom". The band would record at Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu, California, with producer Ross Robinson, who also produced their 1993 demo Neidermayer's Mind. The recording took place from May to June 1994. After the recordings, Korn toured with Biohazard and House of Pain. The album's themes include child abuse, drug abuse, and bullying. The album cover depicts a young girl sitting on a swing being approached from behind by a large man whose outstretched hands cast claw-like shadows over her. Furthermore, the girl's shadow gives the appearance that her body is being hanged due to the position of the band's logo. Photography was done by Stephen Stickler, and the design was directed by Jay Papke and Dante Ariola. The album's first single, "Blind", charted at number 15 on the Canadian Alternative 30, and the album peaked at number 10 in New Zealand as well as number 72 on the Billboard 200. The album had sold at least 2.1 million copies in the United States by 2003.[2] Many consider the album to have started the nu metal genre. Korn toured with many bands to promote the album. Initially, Korn joined the Sick of It All Tour. Following the Sick of It All Tour, Korn joined the Danzig 4 Tour. Korn also toured with Megadeth, Fear Factory, and Flotsam and Jetsam. Korn (printed and stylized as KoЯn) is the debut studio album by the American nu metal band Korn. It was released on October 11, 1994, through Immortal and Epic Records. Before recording the album, the band was approached by Immortal/Epic Records after a performance in Huntington Beach, California. The band signed to their label because they did not want to "sign away all of their creative freedom". The band would record at Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu, California, with producer Ross Robinson, who also produced their 1993 demo Neidermayer's Mind. The recording took place from May to June 1994. After the recordings, Korn toured with Biohazard and House of Pain. The album's themes include child abuse, drug abuse, and bullying. Photography was done by Stephen Stickler, and the design was directed by Jay Papke and Dante Ariola. The album's first single, "Blind", charted at number 15 on the Canadian Alternative 30, and the album peaked at number 10 in New Zealand as well as number 72 on the Billboard 200. The album had sold at least 2.1 million copies in the United States by 2003.[2] Many consider the album to have started the nu metal genre. Korn toured with many bands to promote the album. Initially, Korn joined the Sick of It All Tour. Following the Sick of It All Tour, Korn joined the Danzig 4 Tour. Korn also toured with Megadeth, Fear Factory, and Flotsam and Jetsam.
October 27, 2025 at 10:54 PM
nitishpahwa.com
for whatever it's worth their article on the jugalbandi was wholesale ripped from Wikipedia's, citations and all
Fact-checked by Grok 14 hours ago Jugalbandi A jugalbandhi or jugalbandi is a performance in Indian classical music, especially in Hindustani classical music but also in Carnatic, that features a duet of two solo musicians.[1][2] The word jugalbandi means, literally, "entwined twins." The duet can be either vocal or instrumental. Often, the musicians will play different instruments, as for example the famous duets between sitarist Ravi Shankar and sarod player Ali Akbar Khan, who played the format since the 1940s. More rarely, the musicians (either vocalists or instrumentalists) may be from different traditions (i.e. Carnatic and Hindustani). What defines jugalbandi is that the two soloists be on an equal footing. A performance can only truly be deemed a jugalbandi when neither musician is always the soloist or solely an accompanist. In jugalbandi, both musicians act as lead players, and a playful competition exists between the two performers. Hindustani-Carnatic Jugalbandi Jugalbandi of Hindustani and Carnatic styles has evolved into a relatively common pattern that has the Hindustani artist accompanied by a tabla artist, and the Carnatic artist accompanied by a mridangam artist, and possibly also accompanied by tanpura. The main artists from each tradition present a composition in their own style and then Jugalbandi A jugalbandhi or jugalbandi is a performance in Indian classical music, especially in Hindustani classical music but also in Carnatic, that features a duet of two solo musicians.[1][2] The word jugalbandi means, literally, "entwined twins." The duet can be either vocal or instrumental. Often, the musicians will play different instruments, as for example the famous duets between sitarist Ravi Shankar and sarod player Ali Akbar Khan, who played the format since the 1940s. More rarely, the musicians (either vocalists or instrumentalists) may be from different traditions (i.e. Carnatic and Hindustani). What defines jugalbandi is that the two soloists be on an equal footing. A performance can only truly be deemed a jugalbandi when neither musician is always the soloist or solely an accompanist. In jugalbandi, both musicians act as lead players, and a playful competition exists between the two performers. Hindustani-Carnatic Jugalbandi Jugalbandi of Hindustani and Carnatic styles has evolved into a relatively common pattern that has the Hindustani artist accompanied by a tabla artist, and the Carnatic artist accompanied by a mridangam
October 27, 2025 at 10:40 PM
nitishpahwa.com
please clap, for my ass and for the coming Series A round
A Techmeme Chatter post saying, "This post appeared under this Techmeme headline," referring to a post where I wrote "if I say 'my ass is the new oil' could I also get billions of dollars and earn unchecked plutocratic influence"
October 27, 2025 at 10:23 PM