by the meltingpot: Of expansion and contraction of land.

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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.

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Of expansion and contraction of land.

This lockdown has taught me how to go to bed early.My usual habit is to go to bed at around midnight.It really surprises me that I am now comfortable going to bed at around nine in the night!Sometimes,I do it at around 8.30 pm!! Surprise,surprise!!

And,I used to hate radio transmission carrying AIR Imphal programme,firmly believing that it is government propaganda machine.I still think it is a propaganda machine--but I now sense that some employees,fully realistic about its nature,manage to squeeze in gems of Manipur-specific knowledge in their progamming.

Some of those kind of programmes are the ones dealing with our prophesies and stories from Puya.

Last night,I came across two more prophesies.I had had the chance to listen to that programme several times in the past but failed to note down the two prophesies.Last night,as I was midway through that programme,I ran for paper and pen,determined to note them down! I was ready with pen and paper and here is the proof of them!!(And,the prophesies kept me awake well past the new bedtime of mine but when I was awakened at around 2 in the morning by the desire to go the toilet,the outline of the prophesy began to form in my mind.I saw the prophesy in a hazy three parts--it seems that our brain never stops working in its subconscious state.But it was only at around 10 this morning that I began to gain a more clearer picture of the prophesy).

A) Manipurgi ninghtoudi Bhuvan chingda turani.

B) Paatki tharoina sana konungda mahum thurani.

I suspect that the first one is of recent origin.Besides,I am more attracted to the second one because of its association with 'Paat',which I had discussed in my post,entitled "The soul of a paat and experiments in pictorial syntax".I am excited to find the above prophesy because I will get the chance to test my deduction I had tried in my Feb 10 post.

1) I am keeping the interpretation of a 'Paat' same as I did in my Feb 10 post.In that post,I deducted that the soul of a 'Paat' is 'multiplication'.

2) Next comes the key term of our prophesy--'Tharoi'.

a) The best logical step is to compare it with 'Thammoi'.

b) Here the 'Th(a)' energized an enclosed space of flesh (ie 'Moi') to act as a pump,by its expansion and contraction modes.(Going further with this logical step, 'Moi'[fart] metaphorically,is something that indicates good health;so,'Moirang' becomes a place enabling good health).Trying to dig deeper through the riddle here,we are likely facing an actor who can make 'contraction and expansion' of expanses of land at its will.(The literal meaning of 'Tharoi' is the actor which can 'expand' out of,and 'contracts' into,its shell).

c) It sure sounds like imperialism.

d) Now,combining (1) and (2),it is the 'imperialism coming out of a land which has a huge population'.( As we are living in a state plagued by land disputes,this might also indicate the imperialist taking advantage of our society's historical weakness).

3) SANA.

a) Going by several deductions in my past posts,it is 'beastly appendage'.Metaphorically,it is coercive device.In its literal meaning,it is gold--what a play of words in our prophesies!

4) KONUNG.

a) 'Ko' is an enclosed room.

b) 'Nung' is the one I described in my post entitled "Stones afloat!".I will reproduce the two sentences here.

--We had already discussed (in several of my earlier posts) 'Na' as to mean an appendage,sound,sound waves or as to mean that societal coalition which does not read.It has already deducted that the literal meaning of 'Nung' (stone) might come from the last concept.--

c) Combining (a) and (b),we have 'the room which deals with the popular mandate of a society'.The literal meaning of 'Konung' is palace.

5) Combining (3) and (4),we get 'the room which embodies the popular mandate of a society,possessing coercive devices'.( Going by the recent political development, we should not discount the possibility of our prophesy indicating this 'room' as having already co-opting the members of our own royal families).

6) MAHUM.

a) I have already tried proposing a rule for word formation of such types of terms in my mongraph.But it would be too lengthy to describe it here.It indicates the existence of 'Hu' in both in its singular and plural states.'Hu' is 'devilish' 'Ha',which denotes strategies.Metaphorically,it indicates ongoing formation of substantial numbers of devilish strategies--both,brilliant and dumb.

7) THURANI.

a) As already been discussed in my post "Stones afloat!",'Thu' is the 'Th(a)' is in its anchored state,ready for its value extraction.So,it indicates the existence of 'heightened state of activities'.

8) Combining (6) and (7),we have the statement-- 'there is the heightened state of activities in devising devilish strategies--both,brilliant and dumb'.

Now,combining these three parts,we have the full prophesy in front of our own eyes,It can be described as follow:

--The imperialist(of a vast population), in collaboration with actors(who happen to posses coercive power as well),thrown up by the popular mandate,which,in its turn, teaming up with the members of our own royal family,will start devising devilish strategies-both,brilliant and dumb.--

by the meltingpot

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This is the 3rd