From Capitalism to the Age of Free

The internet of things has facilitated an economic shift from markets to collaborative commons, with costs close to zero. Siemens, IBM, Cisco and General Electric are among the firms erecting an internet-of-things infrastructure, connecting the world in a global neural network. There are now 11 billion sensors connecting devices to the internet of things. Anyone will be able to access the internet of things, and use big data to increase productivity and lower costs with all physical things, including energy, just as we do now with information.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/31/capitalism-age-of-free-internet-of-things-economic-shift

Who would have thought? John McLaughlin in China!

73-year-old Jazz guitarist John McLaughlin gave a two-hour show in a tucked-away venue in east Beijing. The guitarist who played with Zakir Hussain and Vikku Vinayakram in Mahavishnu Orchestra and the Shakti, performed "Love and Understanding" in the middle of the program.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/mclaughlin-s-concert-a-hit-dalai-lama-song-given-a-miss/article1-1202720.aspx

The Cinderella Law

Parents who starve their children of love and affection face prosecution under a “Cinderella Law”. Existing laws in England and Wales will be updated to include a law to enforce the protection of children's emotional, social and behavioural well-being.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/10732982/Parents-who-starve-children-of-love-face-jail.html

The butterfly effect

I learnt of this from my Kabbalah meditation this morning. The basic premise of this is that a change at one time or location can vastly affect circumstances at another time and location. For example, the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in America could bring about a tsunami hitting Asia. Thus, according to the butterfly effect, each one of us is in our own way contributing to the state of our world. Every positive or negative action of ours, small or large, insignificant or important, is sending out waves into the world. Imagine that....we can actually cause a shift in our world...........make it good somewhere....for someone....

What does India have in common with Ukraine, Bosnia, Thailand and Venezuela?

The people have had enough...

The angry middle classes of all these countries want a government that is 'accountable, responsible, and effective in moving their country further into the modern world.'

It's a question of broken faith on the part of the elected people, and a feeling of being taken for granted.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/transitions-of-the-angry-middle-class/article5845213.ece?homepage=true

Life without a bookshop

Impossible to even imagine...

The browsing, dreaming, and roaming around the shelves is as important as the touch of real books. In fact, I do believe that there is no experience more enjoyable than spending time in a library...

Here are Ten fo the world's most beautiful bookshops:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140327-worlds-most-beautiful-bookshops

Pigeonly - Disruptive technology solves communication problem for jail inmates

This photo-sharing and low-cost phone call service was founded by Frederick Hutson who left prison after serving four years on marijuana-related charges. Pigeonly has already helped 50,000 incarcerated individuals connect with their loved ones, maintain their ties to society, and remain a presence in their children's lives.

A wonderful example of  Getting up, Moving on, and Helping others...

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/28/opinion/kapor-tech-diversity/index.html?hpt=hp_t5

'Girls are good enough to play with the guys at any level'

Is what Shannon Szabados, Women's ice hockey pioneer, says.

27-year-old Shannon is a double Olympic gold medallist and is the sixth woman to play professional ice hockey in a men's team.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/ice-hockey/26788081

WorldConnect - The Global News Relay

Journalism students in Chennai will team up with their counterparts from around the world for the Global News Relay - a 12 hour rolling news programme that will travel across the globe. Chennai picks up the baton at the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) for the relay between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. for the continuous news marathon starting at 9 a.m. (3:30 a.m. GMT) on Thursday.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/chennai-journalism-students-to-join-world-news-relay/article1-1200876.aspx

Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea

Or as some say, his theft of Crimea.

Thomas Friedman says that one thing he learned while covering the Middle East is that 'there is “the morning after” and there is “the morning after the morning after.” Never confuse the two.'

Applying this to Putin - the morning after he was the hero of Russia. Friedman wonders what Putin will look like the morning after the morning after, in about six months.

Friedman: Putin is challenging three of the most powerful forces on the planet all at once: human nature, Mother Nature and Moore’s Law.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/opinion/friedman-putin-and-the-laws-of-gravity.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0

The Rumpelstiltskin of building design

57-year-old Shigeru Ban is the winner of this year's Pritzker Prize, the world's most prestigious architecture award. Ban 'has taken simple materials, including paper and cardboard, and created life-changing structures for people impacted by natural disasters.'

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/25/travel/japanese-architect-shigeru-ban-wins-2014-pritzker-prize/index.html?hpt=hp_c4

Timeless - Gone with the Wind

75 years ago, David O. Selznick adapted Margaret Mitchells's book for the screen and immortalized Scarlett O'Hara as the archetype of the Southern belle. The plantations are gone, but the friendly front porches, warm hospitality, charming social graces and etiquette are still very much alive, even though today's belles are more indpendent, liberal minded and better educated.
Tim Richmond and James Nutt's documentary 'Southern Belles' is worth a watch, especially for all of us who grew up with Scarlett O'Hara...

http://www.nowness.com/day/2014/3/25?utm_source=EM&utm_medium=EMA&utm_campaign=EMA250314EU

Yes, we have the time

How many of us can truthfully claim that we are so overworked, that we don't have the time to be with a loved one, to lend an ear to a troubled person, or to be with your child?

How many of us postpone that letter to a friend, that call to our parents, because, well, 'Where's the time?'

And yet, if we are asked to jot down all the things we did in a day, it wouldn't support our claim of having no time because we are busy.....not by a long shot.

How many times in a week/month/year do we say - Yes we have the time...

We are, many of us, suffering from the 'busy-bragging' epidemic. But, as the author says, 'Even more than that, we're suffering from an epidemic of people talking about how busy they are.'

Read the three especially useful insights that stand out: http://www.theguardian.com/news/oliver-burkeman-s-blog/2014/mar/24/busy-bragging-epidemic

The Great Escape

What daring!! and what a film!

'They were not prisoners of war, they were prisoners at war....'

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26712021

The indomitable spirit of the girl child

Nothing but nothing can keep the girl child down. Her beautiful, invincible spirit will find a way to soar.

Parkour, the latest craze amongst Tehran girls

http://www.hindustantimes.com/audio-news-video/AV-World/Parkour-the-latest-craze-amongst-Tehran-girls/Article2-1198927.aspx

The Lost Art of the Unsent Angry Letter

The days of paper and pen had a number of uses, not the least being the composition of a "hot letter" which could be put aside till the emotion had cooled. Today we can use "track changes" on Microsoft Word, and then remove them when we do the final edit, since an editor always puts in a little "time space" before the last edit check.

While the paper and pen did not have any other options, we, now, have many options to indulge in "public shaming with an escape hatch," such as tweets, threads on reddit, or sites like Thought Catalog. Of course there is also the chance that we can get entangled in our safety net.

Whether it was to write an "appropriate response" or shrug it off on second thought, the pen and paper style offered a cooling off period. A period that tends to get blurred in our digital age.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/the-lost-art-of-the-unsent-angry-letter.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0

It's all about music today

Ageless musicians who still make the heart beat a little faster....

There's Simon and Garfunkel celebrating 50 years of Simon and Garfunkel’s iconic ‘The Sound of Silence’.

(http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/tuning-in-to-the-two/article5788406.ece)

And, the Rolling Stones have been rescheduled to continue their 14 On Fire tour, late 2014. They were due to start on the Australian leg in Perth on Wednesday, but have rescheduled in deference to Sir Mick Jagger who is devastated by the death of his girlfriend L'Wren Scott.

(http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26680694)

March 20

is celebrated as International Happiness Day. It is also celebrated as World Sparrow Day. I find a link here. Happiness comes in small, unobtrusive, 'brown' packages!

In her Thought for Today Newsletter, Oprah shares 13 quotes here: http://www.oprah.com/quote/Quote-About-Happiness-Ashley-Montagu?list_id=39898

Mukul Kesavan's 'Rhetoric Of The Times' is a must read

 It was the op-ed in yesterday's The Telegraph, Calcutta (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140320/jsp/opinion/story_18095202.jsp#.Uyuv__mSwX8).

He has analysed the way Hindi, which is fast becoming the lingua franca, is being used by the three in-the-eye rivals: Narendra Modi's is the 'declamatory Hindi favored by the sangh parivar,' Arvind Kejriwal's ' is 'transactional, colloquial and peppered with basic English words,' and Rahul Gandhi's is 'atrocious.'

He has also critiqued the kind of speeches given by them.

Helps us see where we are heading...

Music is New Orleans

Jazz lovers would know what New Orleans means. Nothing, but nothing, not even Katrina has been able to keep her spirits down. The music and joie de vivre is not diminished though the wreckage is a constant reminder that life cannot be squandered...it has to be lived....

You'll love this - http://www.theguardian.com/travel/video/2014/mar/19/brass-new-orleans-bounce-rhythm-video

Modern-day slavery and human trafficking

A terrible truth we have to face. 

Andrew Forrest, Australian billionaire and mining magnate, has signed up Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Grand Imam of the al-Azhar mosque in Egypt, Islam's highest-ranking Sunni cleric to join forces with him in his Global Freedom Network to fight this scourge of modern-day slavery and human trafficking. 

He says that he 'got dragged, really, kicking and screaming, into this cause by my daughter, Grace.' Once in, it led to his discovering a whole lot of terrible truths which he as a business magnate had to face. 

And then there was no looking back. He has plunged into this cause, determined to do what he can.

Bringing in religion is a novel thing to do, no doubt, especially since we all know the power and reach religion has. 

Christiane Amanpour talks to Forrest and the representatives of the religious leaders here: http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2014/03/19/religions-unite-over-anti-slavery-initiative/

When one thinks Invictus, one thinks Nelson Mandela

People with indomitable spirit...

The poem by William Ernest Henley reads:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Launching the Invictus Games for injured soldiers at Olympic Par, Prince Harry ays he hopes championship modelled on US Warrior Games will stop soldiers being forgotten as Afghan war ends.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/mar/06/prince-harry-invictus-games-injured-troops-olympic-park

Celebrate World Sparrow Day on March 20

When was the last time you saw a sparrow?

Not so very long ago, they used to be our companions building their homes close to ours, peeping in at our windows, sitting on the fence and chatting with their friends. They don't have bright showy feathers, and they don't force themselves on our consciousness, but they are such cheerful little things that seeing them or hearing them, or even sensing them, was enough to brighten the day.

http://www.thehindu.com/features/kids/celebrate-a-companion/article5795647.ece?homepage=true

Encouragement for all of us women of a certain age

(incidentally, I think of it as 'women of a certain delicious age')

Here's Ernestine Shepherd: The 75-year-old bodybuilding grandma

Just listening to her talk is an inspiration - http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18346128

Continuing mystery of Flight 370

Signals from commercial aircraft to Inmarsat satellites always include a code confirming the identity of the plane. You'll find more on this here - It's simply fascinating...

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/17/world/asia/satellite-signals-plane-identity-flight-370/index.html?hpt=hp_mid

Experts piecing together the mystery of Flight 370, are using this information to try and track the path that the plane may have taken...

In a talk with Becky Anderson, Professor David Stupples explains what a satellite handshake is, and how a plane can hide radar detection.

A satellite handshake - 'Think of it like a mobile telephone,' he says. Even though the telephone is not being used to make a call, it is registering continuously with its space station to say 'I am here.' This is what the aircraft is doing with the geostationary satellite which is 23000 miles up in outer space....

Professor Stupples breaks this down at - http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/03/17/ctw-malaysia-flight-370-radar-expert-stupples-intv.cnn.html

What courage!

You'll find this heartbreaking story of 'Two women trapped in Damascus', here:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26474982

What is war doing?

Having been a teacher for most of my life...

this article caught me...

A Point of View: The case for not leaving education to the teachers. You can find it here: 

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26480053

The turmoil regarding education is happening in some way or the other in all countries. The old system is not working, nor is the new. Everyone connected with education knows a constant revamp has to be done to keep pace with the constantly changing world - children have to be taught new skills, new ways of thinking, new ways of problem solving...new ways of coping, even....In many countries, children have yet to be made literate...

Here's a thought that caught me:

Our country is full of people who know things, and of children who want to learn things. A successful education system is one that brings the two together, so that knowledge can pass between them. In every village there are people with knowledge that would be useful to the young - retired accountants and lawyers, musicians and singers, those who speak a foreign language, writers, plumbers, farmers, engineers and amateur historians. And many of those would welcome the opportunity to teach what they know. Somehow we have failed to harness this capital, letting it go to waste while our children drift in search of it. Gradually our governments have begun to wake up to this fact. We are seeing a revival in government circles of the old idea of education as a charitable gift from one generation to the next, rather than a form of state-controlled social engineering.

I've changed my blog...

Cal Kaleidoscope to Weft and Warp

I'd like to share stories and happenings that catch my attention. Would love for you to give me your opinions...