by the meltingpot: Ima Keithel and the same number 13:Questions galore.

Now Reading!

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.

Friday, April 08, 2016

Ima Keithel and the same number 13:Questions galore.

The number 13 simply refuses to go away!

It's not simply refusing to go away but starting to tread the hyper-local space.I'll quote from this news item of two days back:

-------

..... as a senior cabinet minister on condition of anonymity said that the strength of the dissident MLAs has been reduced to only 13 now.

--------

I also the read the news item as what it was--innocuous.There was nothing special about it.The power struggle within a provincial government(like Manipur) and the associated 'buying' and 'selling' MLAs are routine affairs.We do not attach too much importance to them.

But,when I reached Ima Keithel on my daily shopping jaunt that evening,something told me immediately that the news item was not as innocuos as it seemed.I found out that the two keithels, which were pronounced unsafe afrtermath the earthquake but were forcibly occupied by the agitating women vendors,were cleared of womenfolks and their entrances fenced off.

The news item,flashing the number 13, was timed to coincide with the herding out of the women vendors from the two keithels.

Why?

Some weeks back,the storming of the then barricaded two Ima Keithels by the agitating women vendors came almost simultaneously with the announcement of fresh agitations against the migrants.Now,I cannot exactly remember it because I did not read any particular importance to it at that time.Did the two things happen on the same day? We can best describe it as 'almost simultaneously'.

Some players within our midst are responding to the annmouncement of the fresh agitations against the migrants and forced occupations of the two Ima Keithels with number 13.

This moment calls for some explanations regarding the number 13.I'm doing it with quotes from several of my recent posts.

From my March 23,2016 post:

--------

Exactly at that point of time I came to read about Brussels....I was reading tweets as they were coming in by the seconds.I was struck by the repeated reference to the number 13.Despite all the chaos,they kept repeating that 'at least 13 dead' for several hours.I don't want to repeat myself about this particular number.If anybody has had some time to read up my last few posts,they would surely understand my point.

---------

From my March 13,2016 post:

----------

Unknown to us lay newspaper readers,Manipuri film industry seem to be facing life or death situation.Today's newspapers announced the formation of a consultation committee on Manipuri film,involving heavyweight CSOs. .....We come to know the formation of the consultation committee on the 13th of March.

Another important news report that appears on the 13th of March 16 is the spotting of the soldiers of the People's Liberation army of China in the forward post along the line of control(LoC) on the Pakistani side of Kashmir.

Am I trying to link the two reports? Is there any plausible ground for linking the two newsreports?

The answer is number 13.

-----------

From my February 27,2016 post:

-----------

This particular American missile test was codenamed 'Glory Trip 218'.

As was done in my last post,another way of looking at the numbers 2,1 and 8 is yet another 13(21-8).

-----------

From my February 13,2016 post:

-----------

The first foreign troop participated in any 26th January parade is French.Exactly 76 French soldiers took part part in India's Republic Day parade at Rajpath in New Delhi.

Another way of looking at the numbers 7 and 6 is 13.

------------

Now some players within our midst are trying to flash the same number 13 towards our Ima Keithel.

Why? Questions galore,indeed.

by the meltingpot

Now Reading!

Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd