by the meltingpot: Is tonight the D-day(updated)?

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Indeed, what is at work in the recent return of realism is the revenge of geography in the most old-fashioned sense. In the 18th and 19th centuries, before the arrival of political science as an academic specialty, geography was an honored, if not always formalized, discipline in which politics, culture, and economics were often conceived of in reference to the relief map. Thus, in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, mountains and the men who grow out of them were the first order of reality; ideas, however uplifting, were only the second.
And yet, to embrace geography is not to accept it as an implacable force against which humankind is powerless. Rather, it serves to qualify human freedom and choice with a modest acceptance of fate. This is all the more important today, because rather than eliminating the relevance of geography, globalization is reinforcing it. Mass communications and economic integration are weakening many states, exposing a Hobbesian world of small, fractious regions. Within them, local, ethnic, and religious sources of identity are reasserting themselves, and because they are anchored to specific terrains, they are best explained by reference to geography. Like the faults that determine earthquakes, the political future will be defined by conflict and instability with a similar geographic logic. The upheaval spawned by the ongoing economic crisis is increasing the relevance of geography even further, by weakening social orders and other creations of humankind, leaving the natural frontiers of the globe as the only restraint.
So we, too, need to return to the map, and particularly to what I call the “shatter zones” of Eurasia. We need to reclaim those thinkers who knew the landscape best. And we need to update their theories for the revenge of geography in our time.
Here is the link for the whole write up.

Now at 2nd place

My view is that relations between countries in the coming decades are most likely to reflect their cultural commitments, their cultural ties and antagonism with other countries rather than other factors. Quite obviously, power will continue to play a central role in global politics, as it always does. But usually there is something else behind conflicts. In the 18th century in Europe, the issues to a large extent involved questions of monarchy versus the emerging republican movements, first in America and then in France. In the 19th century, it involved states identifying themselves through nationalism. In the 20th century, ideology came to the fore, largely, but not exclusively, as a result of the Russian Revolution. We had fascism, communism and liberal democracy competing with each other. Well, that’s pretty much over. Liberal democracy has come to be accepted, in theory at least, around the world, if not always in practice. So the question really is what will be the central focus of global politics in the coming decades? My argument remains that cultural identities, antagonisms and affiliations will not only play a role, but play a major role in relations between states. The full interview is here.

This is the 3rd

Every citizen in the City of Richardson will be able to access 756 Kbps of internet connectivity for free, from anywhere in the city. They will be able to access the internet from their homes, schools, restaurants and parks using standard wi-fi connections which are now installed on almost every notebook computer. That is almost as fast as many so-called high speed broadband connections that one pays dearly for today, and several times faster than the various hotspots at your local coffee shops. And I should note that the tax-payers of the City of Richardson are not paying one penny for this, and in fact are going to see additional revenues as a benefit. ... At the beginning of this letter, I suggested that this would be one of the fastest worldwide rollouts of a technology ever seen. It was just 20 years ago that the first cellular systems were being built. The rollout for mesh wireless systems is going to make that look slow. There are several reasons I make this assertion. But they all center on the facts that installing mesh systems will be cheaper and easier than any previous system and the economics in both the developed and especially the developing world will be so radically compelling. Throw in the fact the any astute politician will want to be at the front of this parade (They will all want to say, "I was the man who helped bring free internet to everyone!") and the groundwork is laid for rapid deployment. In Richardson and elsewhere, MeshLinx is offering the basic infrastructure for free. This avoids all the time consuming, political budget battles in the cities. When a service is offered for free, much of the mandated competitive process is eliminated. Next is the low cost of installation of the system. As noted above, Richardson is a city of roughly 100,000 people living in 27.4 square miles. It will "only" cost about $2,000,000 today to lay the wireless blanket I mentioned above. It will cost a great deal less in the future, as MeshLinx is building the pods at a pace of 100 a month today. The maximum output of the US pilot assembly line is 500 a month. When the demand exceeds this (and it will in a very short time) discussions have been held to move volume production to China. Of course, the world will need tens of millions of pods. The cost for a pod will be a fraction of today's cost, with that installation number for a city like Richardson soon being half (or less) the cost of today. What does that $1 or 2 million get you? The infrastructure to be an internet connection, telephone, security, entertainment provider and a whole lot more company. As noted, it will get cheaper as the number of pods being made each month rises, thus lowering their costs dramatically. This technology does have scale. The cost of physically putting up a pod is not a large part of the equation, as you simply need to run a power line, attach a few bolts to a mount on the side of a building or light pole and then off to the next point. Think about the 40,000 homes and businesses in Richardson. If and (hopefully) over time when 10% decide to pay $50 a month for 10-20 Mbps high speed internet access you could see a revenue of $2.5 million a year just from internet access. Now add in all the other income possibilities (phone, entertainment, security and don't forget advertising revenue on the free service!). Think about your town or country. What would service like this be worth? If you are a small city that does not have high speed connections available, how many businesses that could bring jobs do not come your way because they need reliable communications for their work and their employees? If you are in a developing country, where internet access is difficult and expensive, it will open whole new vistas. Couple that with the various programs which want to give cheap laptops to kids in poor countries, and you could see significant social progress in a generation. Here is the link.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Is tonight the D-day(updated)?

I still cannot access Twitter.

My last Twitter login was at around noon.As I tried to read the latest tweets,I had noticed that the lock emblem and 'https' were crossed out by big red-colouerd 'X'.That was a novelty for me and the colour red in the address bar was certainly striking.And,I didnot fail to ask myself--'what's happening in my Twitter account?'

I also vividly remember the last few tweets.Someone from Indian Express was there at IIT,Delhi covering the Townhall of Mr Mark Zuckerberg.His last tweet(when I was log in) told me that queue was just started forming for a seat at Dogra hall.

So,the funny red cross materialized in the address bar when the Townhall of Mark Zuckerberg was starting in New Delhi.

That immediately brings us to the last Townhall in California which was attended by none other than Mr Narendra Modi,the prime minister of India.

I have this blogpost about that California Townhall.The blogpost said that as the Townhall was progressing in California they were planning to atttack the Tetseo Sisters at Andro,Manipur.

As my blogpsot came several days ahead of the Townhall(and the touorist fest at Andro)nothing nasty happened at Andro.

So,would this second Townhall in New Delhi bring us the postponed 'nastiness' to us?

As the original 'nastiness' was planned during the night of California Townhall at Andro fest,it may happened during the night of the Townhall in New Delhi.

Is tonight the D-day?

UPDATE
10.39 pm.

As I was having my supper.many thoughts came to my mind.

1)Tomorrow,Indian leaders are holding summit meetings with their African counterparts.Are Indian leaders still think of Africa as a dark continent?

2)This thought comes to my mind because some constituents within Manipuri society would be remembering what they call the darkest day in our history--the burning of the Puyas.Holding summit meetings with leaders of the dark continent on the same day when we commemorate our own dark day,are they saying,in the most subtle possible manner--'We know burning of Puyas was the darkest deed but we would do it again'.

3)If the D-day comes tonight and continue after midnight,we would have the starkest possible way of commemorating our dark day.

4)If (3) happens,then,it would give a religious tinge to the battleline.

5)If they succeed in giving a religious tinge to the battleline,they would certainly empower the 'leaders who are losing their ways'(my last post).In a craftiest possible way,they would manage to give a fresh lease life to those leaders.This would result in further intensification of competition amongst leaders and groups within Manipuri society.In other words,this would deepen the disunity in Manipuri society.

Last but not the least.This thought came to me some minutes after publishing this post(I mean,before even cooking my supper!) 15-20 minutes after publishing my post I noticed that there were sudden spike in bursting of crackers not far away from my house.I now think that this spike is already forming a pattern.On two other occassions,one,on the start of 'Hand In Hand' and the other,on the concluding day of 'Hand In Hand',I also noticed this spike.On both the occassions,I also published posts. 15-20 minutes after publishing both the posts,I noticed sudden spikes in the bursting of firecrackers.So,some people were letting everyone know that they were giving encouragements to 'Hand In Hand'.

Tonight,they are giving encouragement to an anticipated D-day.

by the meltingpot

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Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd