by the meltingpot: Stones afloat!

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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.

Saturday, February 20, 2021

Stones afloat!

I have just heard over the radio a discussion over two prophesies.As I was listening to it,my mind was already in an overdrive to understand the prophesies.

After only a few minutes,it struck me with a great (even,a mysterious) coincidence--at least,one prophesy cannot be decoded without the knowledge of 'Tat'.And,we have just bumped into the concept of 'Tat' only four days back !!

The prophesy runs like this:

Nung taorani

Lashing luplarani

Roughtly translated,it runs like this:

The stones would come up afloat

The cotton balls would go down sunken into the depth.

The generally accepted version is that the truth would be eclipsed by the untruth.This version can still find its place in the general narratives of our society.But that does not prevent us from trying to go a little deeper or to find more specific properties.

1) 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.

But we are faced with the irreconcilable logical gap in trying to understand term 'Nungsiba' (love).I have also found out the term is one of the most intricate and difficult to handle.Nevertheless,I have already tried my best in my monograph and it runs like this:

a) 'Nu' is the sound very specific to me.Generally, the suffix 'U' enables a term to mean ' being in an anchored condition,for their value extraction',like in 'Puya' or 'Lu'.Furthering the logical steps,it can be used to mean the most desirable--some sort of sound which we are ready to die for!

b) 'Nung' ( a 'Nu' to which life is bestowed) is the stage of its existence when it reaches the auditory cortex of our brain.

c) The next step would demand us to hang up the pictorial renditions of 'Nung',together with that of 'Si' and try to read up the message sent out by these two terms.( The 'Si',as was discussed in several my past posts, means the existential stage of occupying the middle ground or,metaphorically,in the acute sense of being destabilized.)

d) So,the most plausible message sent out by these two terms--the desirable voice has come to me but it,immediately,puts me into an acutely destabilized state! ( Is this some type of 'forceful' treading of the logical steps?)

If my deduction holds,I have this feeling that this particular 'Nung' is something to do with propaganda.

Viewed from this context,'Nung Taorani' would mean that our society would,at some point of time,face with a situation in which the people (including its leaders!) would have a lot of problems in distinguishing information from propaganda.And,the most importantly,this inability would overwhelm our society.

2) The next part of the prophesy throws up a lot of problem for me.

In one of my posts trying to decode another of our elegant prophesies,we had used the term 'lashing' as to mean the collection of failed strategies espoused by the populist leaders of our society.Now,as we begin to try understand the 'Lashing' in this particular context,we are aghast in finding ourselves in the uncomfortable situation of grasping 'Lashing' as to mean the exact opposite of the first usage in my past post.(But this is understandable.All prophesies are riddle--the exquisite play on words,that too,on all of their conceivable dimensions).

The reasons to try to extricate ourselves from this uncomfortable situation run like this:

a) I am still working on the picture which is likely to help us in finding the holy grail of our worldview.( My last post)

b) One preliminary finding which I am confident in sharing in a public space is the likelihood of the 'Tat' taking the physical property of a 'Dot'--the 'Dot' in a constant motion.Both 'Lei-e' and 'Elei' can be understood as the physical manifestation of a 'Dot' in a constant motion.And, 'Tatpa' happens when the 'Dot' is confused in travelling from the point of its journey towards the endpoint in the straight line piggybacking a circle.

c) Going further towards the physical manifestation, 'La',('a' pronounced shortened,with a 'v' above 'a') is the energy enabling the properties of 'La' ('a'pronounced long).

d) This is the 'La' in our 'Lashing'--'Sing',being knowledge,is derived from 'Asingba'.

e) So,'Lashing',in this context,is the knowledge suffused with 'Tat'.

Thus,the last of the prophesy would mean that our society,being already overwhelmed by propaganda,would discard all of its priceless knowledge,made possible by the concept of 'Tat'.

by the meltingpot

Now Reading!

Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd