An Introduction to Buffaloes

[River Buffaloes]

Did any of you watch the video?

 

[Kusanar]

Did any of you watch the video?

Not yet, this weekend. I have it saved though.

 

[Baymule]

I'm about to get outside for the day, will watch it later, My internet is lousy, I get a few minutes then the "circle of doom" while it loads, a few minutes, circle of doom, more circle of doom that minutes to watch.

@Kusanar Texas has LOTS of exotics. On west Texas ranches, many exotics have naturalized and are considered part of the wildlife now. The King Ranch imported Nilgai antelope a hundred years ago, thinking they would be herded like cattle and be a great meat source. Uhhhhhh NOPE. They are a great meat source, but are extremely wild and RUN, thus cannot be herded or used like cattle in any way. Nilgai are now naturalized in many areas of south Texas and hunted like any other wildlife.

I'm like you-Reindeer in Texas? Then on the flip side, why not? We have Elk too and they are cool/cold weather animals, though not as extreme as Reindeer. I don't know of any Moose in Texas, but that doesn't mean anything.

 

[Kusanar]

@Kusanar Texas has LOTS of exotics.

Yeah, there is currently a big stink about a tame, halter broke zebra that is going to a canned hunting place if no one buys him first.

Another weird one with animals not being where you would expect, is that apparently Saudi Arabia buys camels from Australia...

 

[River Buffaloes]

I forgot that the internet is not as cheap in USA as it is in India. We get 4G network, two GB data each day + unlimited call and SMS for three months, for less than 600 ₹ that would be 8 $. I don't know the price of internet in the States though, but I would guess that it is much more expensive. I also have access to two WiFi networks, one at workplace and one at my flat, so most of data remains unused.

My apologies, pardon me for my foolish mistake.

 

[Kusanar]

I forgot that the internet is not as cheap in USA as it is in India. We get 4G network, two GB data each day + unlimited call and SMS for three months, for less than 600 ₹ that would be 8 $. I don't know the price of internet in the States though, but I would guess that it is much more expensive. I also have access to two WiFi networks, one at workplace and one at my flat, so most of data remains unused.

My apologies, pardon me for my foolish mistake.

I have a monthly cell phone plan, this includes 2GB of high speed (mostly 3G as we don't have many 4G towers here yet) and then if you use all of that inside of 1 month, they give you 2G after that. I have unlimited call and text. This is almost $35 each month.

But, we don't have as dense a population as you have in India, so we have entire areas that have no signal at all, then you have to use satellite data which is VERY expensive. Usually in the cities you have good signal and faster speeds available, but when you get out in the country where people with livestock usually live, the choices get very limited and the ones you have are very slow.

Also, I don't know about India, but in the US, most wifi is password locked, for example, we have internet and wifi at work, but I cannot use it and there is very little cell signal inside the building, so if I need to send a photo from my phone to my work computer I have to go outside and stand around for a few minutes until it sends. We do have SOME public and semi public wifi, for example, libraries typically have a signal that anyone can use without the password. Some restaurants also have wifi signals that people can use but most of the time you have to get the password from inside with the expectation that you will buy food if you use the internet.

 

[River Buffaloes]

I have a monthly cell phone plan, this includes 2GB of high speed (mostly 3G as we don't have many 4G towers here yet) and then if you use all of that inside of 1 month, they give you 2G after that. I have unlimited call and text. This is almost $35 each month.

But, we don't have as dense a population as you have in India, so we have entire areas that have no signal at all, then you have to use satellite data which is VERY expensive. Usually in the cities you have good signal and faster speeds available, but when you get out in the country where people with livestock usually live, the choices get very limited and the ones you have are very slow.

Also, I don't know about India, but in the US, most wifi is password locked, for example, we have internet and wifi at work, but I cannot use it and there is very little cell signal inside the building, so if I need to send a photo from my phone to my work computer I have to go outside and stand around for a few minutes until it sends. We do have SOME public and semi public wifi, for example, libraries typically have a signal that anyone can use without the password. Some restaurants also have wifi signals that people can use but most of the time you have to get the password from inside with the expectation that you will buy food if you use the internet.

Sometimes when I am out on a trip and I don't have WiFi I end up using all 2 GB high speed data on a single day and then the plan provides I love watching YouTube videos and also listening to audiobooks. This has become kind of a habit, when I am doing my job, I just keep listening while I am working. For example I have both read and heard Elizabeth Beeton's book on household management, I really don't need to listen to that. I just listened that 10 hours long audiobook because I found it interesting. Currently I am listening to Christopher Hitchens book "No One Left to Lie to" that is about the Clinton's, I just smiled on a satirical line and my colleague asked me "why are you smiling?" , I replied "you will not get it".

Even in New Delhi there are places where the internet is terrible. It really depends on the service provider. In some place one company's network is good and in other places a different company provides a better network. There's also a telecom company owned by government.

WiFi is password protected here too, but the landlord's give free WiFi to the tenants, really because it's so cheap, it's cheaper than the 3 month plan that I have. When I was in college I used to get free WiFi there too. On big railway stations we get free WiFi, but only for one or two hours.

India has it's short comings, arguably a lots of shortcomings, but it's a really cheap place. I earn around 650$s a month, I am able to live comfortably in Delhi and I am also able to send money back.

My grandfather worked in Merchant Navy, for multinational shipping company now called MSC-Mersk, he was just an engineer, but the dollers
he got translated into a lot of Indian money. We still have his money left in banks and real-estate investments he made gives my grandmother around 500 $ each month. With that money and money sent by me and my uncle and money earned from farming allow us to hire 3 servants for doing household and farm works.

 

[Kusanar]

India has it's short comings, arguably a lots of shortcomings, but it's a really cheap place. I earn around 650$s a month, I am able to live comfortably in Delhi and I am also able to send money back.

Wow, even at minimum wage we make almost 2 times that amount per month (minimum is around $7 an hour, 40 hours per week)

 

[River Buffaloes]

Wow, even at minimum wage we make almost 2 times that amount per month (minimum is around $7 an hour, 40 hours per week)

I think there are many reasons, both socioeconomic traditions and government policy, why things are cheap here. Government provides heavily subsidized rice and wheat to a vast majority of people, almost every household without a government job, many people just don't choose to take it. Our homes are not mortgaged, most people have ancestral homes, like my houses were built by my grandfather. Some folks live in houses that were built by their great-grandfather. If you just have land, but you are too poor to build a house, government provides you some help. If you don't have land, you may also get some land. We also have something called "Minimum Support Price", if a farmer grows something, but cannot sell it at profit, he can sell that to the government on minimum support price at a profit. If a district is declared "flood affected" or "drought affected" it's farmers get compensation from the government. Farmers also get some help in sowing seasons (generally there are two sowing seasons). If we produce more milk than we can consume or sell in market, we can sell that to "milk collection centers". Two or three generations live in a family, so you don't need a babysitter, still if you don't have anyone to look after your toddlers you can put them in a place called "Aanganbaadi" and collect them when you are free. There the children are given milk and special toffee which contains nutrients and also food, it is also free. Government schools are free and colleges and universities are very affordable. Like the college I graduated from only cost me 72$ over three years. There are government hospitals too, but their quality vary a lot. In New Delhi for example all government doctors are very good and they have world class technology, but for something that is not urgent, we have to wait for weeks. I had to wait for two weeks for a sonography. I ended up getting it done from a private technician, but I think it's good for someone who cannot afford private healthcare at all.

Long story short, people don't have a lot of expense and Indians are rather thrifty. I guess people are not looking to buy a lots of stuff, the stuff remain cheap. But that's just my theory.

 

[Kusanar]

I think there are many reasons, both socioeconomic traditions and government policy, why things are cheap here. Government provides heavily subsidized rice and wheat to a vast majority of people, almost every household without a government job, many people just don't choose to take it. Our homes are not mortgaged, most people have ancestral homes, like my houses were built by my grandfather. Some folks live in houses that were built by their great-grandfather. If you just have land, but you are too poor to build a house, government provides you some help. If you don't have land, you may also get some land. We also have something called "Minimum Support Price", if a farmer grows something, but cannot sell it at profit, he can sell that to the government on minimum support price at a profit. If a district is declared "flood affected" or "drought affected" it's farmers get compensation from the government. Farmers also get some help in sowing seasons (generally there are two sowing seasons). If we produce more milk than we can consume or sell in market, we can sell that to "milk collection centers". Two or three generations live in a family, so you don't need a babysitter, still if you don't have anyone to look after your toddlers you can put them in a place called "Aanganbaadi" and collect them when you are free. There the children are given milk and special toffee which contains nutrients and also food, it is also free. Government schools are free and colleges and universities are very affordable. Like the college I graduated from only cost me 72$ over three years. There are government hospitals too, but their quality vary a lot. In New Delhi for example all government doctors are very good and they have world class technology, but for something that is not urgent, we have to wait for weeks. I had to wait for two weeks for a sonography. I ended up getting it done from a private technician, but I think it's good for someone who cannot afford private healthcare at all.

Long story short, people don't have a lot of expense and Indians are rather thrifty. I guess people are not looking to buy a lots of stuff, the stuff remain cheap. But that's just my theory.

You probably also don't have a lot of multi millionaires that want to own everything either though. The money that is there is spread out a little more evenly (more even than one person have 500 million and someone else sleeping on a bench because they have nowhere to live and everything they own fits in a trash bag)