Can history textbooks start wars and kill people?
History is a fascinating subject. When I mean “history”, I really wish to emphasize the word is double inverted commas between the word history. What exactly do we mean when someone says history? What is our history? Who has authority about history? Does it give meaning to our lives in the present? Identity? Does it make us proud? A feeling of belonging and citizenship? A reason to live for? Does it give a hope for the future?
These are all complicated questions with seemingly simple binary Yes/No answers. In Science we love to believe in absolute answers. Is the world round? Yes, of course! Except, there was a time when it wasn’t round and anyone who said otherwise was killed by the masses. What exactly do we mean when someone says it’s round? As a kid I used to believe it’s a perfect sphere like those Chinese air filled globes they ship around the world. (pun intended haha). Then I began to question my idea that a perfectly circular wonderfully spherical astronomical object wouldn’t be possible unless it’s an act of supernatural intervention. But of course as I became more mature, I came to the conclusion that the earth is not exactly round but a “bumpy spheroid”. Whatever it is, countless people throughout history has gone on believing what they believe and as far as they were concerned it was their reality. I was quite surprised to see that there was a local branch of the Flat Earth society and their stand was right next to the Bernie Sanders’s tent at our weekend farmers market in my small town of northern California. …
මට තණමල්විල කොල්ලෙක් කතාව ගැන මතක් වෙනකොට හිතෙන්නේ අමුතුම දුකක්. ඒ කියන්නේ නිකන්ම නිකන් තේරුමක් නැති දුකක් නෙමෙයි. නිකන් පොඩි සතුටකුත් එක්ක, පරණ මතකයන් වලට ඇදී යන ගමන් එක්ක කලාතුරකින් එන, අර හදවතේ තිබුණු ලොකු කුහරයක්, අඩුවක් පිරුණා වගේ කියල හිතෙන පිරුණු භවක් වගේ එක්ක එන අමුතු දුකක්. ඒ කලේනම් ඕකට කියන්න හොඳ සිංහල වචන දෙක තුනකුත් මෙලහට මතක් වෙලා. ඒවා කොහෙද ඉතින් දැන්.
එකෙන් වැඩක් නැ. ඉතින් මම මේ කතාව බලන්න ගත්තේ ඊයේ ඉඳන්. තාම ඉන්නේ දොළොස්වෙනි එපිසෝඩ් එකේ මුල. කතාව ගැන කොහෙන් පටන්ගන්නද කියල හිතා ගන්නත් බැ. නමුත් මොනවහරි ලියන්න ඕනේ කියල නම් හිතෙනවා. මොනවා වුනත් ඒක මරු කතාවක්. නිකන් බැලුවම හිතෙන්න පුළුවන් ඒක අහිංසක තණමල්විල ගමේ මිනිස්සුන්ගේ දුක ගැන කියන කතාවක් කියල. එක එහෙම දෙයක් නෙමෙයි. එක අර ගම වල මිනිසුන්ගේ ජිවිතයේ සොඳුරු බව ගැන කියවුණු මෝඩ හින ලෝකේ කතාවකුත් නෙමෙයි. එක අමුතුම කතාවක්. ඒක තණමල්විල වගේ කුඩා ගමක තනිකර කතාව සිද්ද වුනාට, එක ගම ගැන කියන කතාවකුත් නෙමෙයි. ඒක අතීතයේ 90'ව ගණන්වල සිද්ද වුනු කතාවක් වුනාට ඒක අතීතය ගැන කියවුණු කතාවකුත් නෙමෙයි. දැන් මම මේක නිකන් අරක නෙමෙයි, මේක නෙමෙයි කියල කතාවේ උච්ච අවස්ථාවකට ගෙනවිත් මේක දැන් අත අරගන්න විදියක් නැතුව ඉන්නේ. මේක නිකන් මෙතන ක්ලිෆ්හන්ගර් එකක තියල යන්න හිතෙනවා. …
මට තණමල්විල කොල්ලෙක් කතාව ගැන මතක් වෙනකොට හිතෙන්නේ අමුතුම දුකක්. ඒ කියන්නේ නිකන්ම නිකන් තේරුමක් නැති දුකක් නෙමෙයි. නිකන් පොඩි සතුටකුත් එක්ක, පරණ මතකයන් වලට ඇදී යන ගමන් එක්ක කලාතුරකින් එන, අර හදවතේ තිබුණු ලොකු කුහරයක්, අඩුවක් පිරුණා වගේ කියල හිතෙන පිරුණු භවක් වගේ එක්ක එන අමුතු දුකක්. ඒ කලේනම් ඕකට කියන්න හොඳ සිංහල වචන දෙක තුනකුත් මෙලහට මතක් වෙලා. ඒවා කොහෙද ඉතින් දැන්.
එකෙන් වැඩක් නැ. ඉතින් මම මේ කතාව බලන්න ගත්තේ ඊයේ ඉඳන්. තාම ඉන්නේ දොළොස්වෙනි එපිසෝඩ් එකේ මුල. කතාව ගැන කොහෙන් පටන්ගන්නද කියල හිතා ගන්නත් බැ. නමුත් මොනවහරි ලියන්න ඕනේ කියල නම් හිතෙනවා. මොනවා වුනත් ඒක මරු කතාවක්. නිකන් බැලුවම හිතෙන්න පුළුවන් ඒක අහිංසක තණමල්විල ගමේ මිනිස්සුන්ගේ දුක ගැන කියන කතාවක් කියල. එක එහෙම දෙයක් නෙමෙයි. එක අර ගම වල මිනිසුන්ගේ ජිවිතයේ සොඳුරු බව ගැන කියවුණු මෝඩ හින ලෝකේ කතාවකුත් නෙමෙයි. එක අමුතුම කතාවක්. ඒක තණමල්විල වගේ කුඩා ගමක තනිකර කතාව සිද්ද වුනාට, එක ගම ගැන කියන කතාවකුත් නෙමෙයි. ඒක අතීතයේ 90'ව ගණන්වල සිද්ද වුනු කතාවක් වුනාට ඒක අතීතය ගැන කියවුණු කතාවකුත් නෙමෙයි. දැන් මම මේක නිකන් අරක නෙමෙයි, මේක නෙමෙයි කියල කතාවේ උච්ච අවස්ථාවකට ගෙනවිත් මේක දැන් අත අරගන්න විදියක් නැතුව ඉන්නේ. …
“Police functions by virtue are socially divisive. The police are known for their differential treatment and scrutiny because of social class, race or in the case of South Asia, social caste.”
Historical Origins of Policing
An important function of Civilian Governments and the modern state is to create a stable society. The 16th century English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes was among the enlightenment thinkers to rationalize the origins of Civil Government in his seminal work, the Leviathan. His ideas of the Commonwealth are based on his views of human nature in a state of natures, and the importance of an overarching authority to ensure peace and stability (Schmitt, 2008). …
What is the show really about?
The marvelous and hilarious Mrs. Maisel is back to another glorious third Season. As I was watching the first episode of the much beloved series, I couldn’t help being swooped into her happy world of glorious and delightful wonders and charms of the 60’s. It is a paradise of no worries and seamless hope and optimism. Anyone who doesn’t binge watch a whole season has to have a stronger will than 95% of most people.
Amidst the fun filled excitement, the show means to contrast the strong undercurrents of the day and perhaps a prelude to the civil rights movement and women’s liberation. Of course, set in the late 50’s and the 60’s, the show is subtle for the realities of the time. Mrs. Maisel lives in the upper west side in the comforts of her wealthy parents. Her life is all planned for, comfortable and safe. I still recall the scene from season one where Midge announces to her parents about her new job as a makeup counter girl at B. Altman and the shock of her parents, particularly Rose, her mother. Maybe it was rare for girls to go to work at the time unless you really want the money. Somehow, it’s not a show about feminism and a world of girls fighting for their freedoms, I’ll give you that. She’s not in it for that. NO. noo. Mrs. Maisel is never the one to complain. But one keeps wondering who and what she represents, and I keep struggling to find the underlying theme(s) of the story. It’s so well hidden and so not. Maybe that’s the beauty of the show. Don’t get it from me. …
5G technology is increasingly gaining attention as a major technology trend of 2019. Almost all future technology predictions include 5G as an enabling technology that will pave the way for other transformative technologies. 5G has also gained attention in Sri Lanka as telecom companies race to successfully launch the service in Sri Lanka.
What is 5G?
According to the MIT Technology Review, 5G refers to an “array of networking technologies meant to work in concert to connect everything from self-driving cars to home appliances over the air. It is expected to provide bandwidth of up to 20 gigabits per second — enough to download high-definition movies instantly.” …
How to address the most urgent policy challenge facing the world today.
“No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change” — President Obama
15 years into the new century, the next generation of policymakers concluded the battle ground for the next public policy challenge of our time, in Paris. Whatever the outcome of COP 15 might be, it is clear that the effects of climate change and environmental disaster are here now and irreversible for the next 15 years until 2030 (WBG, 2016). This essay will analyze how the disastrous effects of a changing climate will affect the public policy domain on traditionally independent issues like global poverty, women’s empowerment and sustainable development to concerns of water, food and energy security and how we must examine these strands together. …
Public Utilities rate reform has attracted much attention during the last few years as new trends have begun to challenge the existing business model of regulated electric companies. Some of the trends include declining costs of roof top solar technologies and adoption of policies and mandates that favor distributed renewable energy (RE) generation. Moreover, Energy efficiency (EE) programs have created an environment of flat or declining demand for electricity sales and wide adoption of rooftop solar with net metering has created a vicious cycle of lost revenue, where utilities are losing revenue more than the avoided cost of generation. …
“Vergangenheitsbewältigung”
Nuclear Statecraft: History and Strategy in America’s Atomic Age, Francis J. Gavin, Cornell University Press, 2012
To a young academic, Francis J. Gavin’s volume of Nuclear Statecraft: History and Strategy in America’s Atomic Age provides an in depth analysis of the history of the post 1945 world politics and its complex interconnection with nuclear weapons. …
Nuclear weapons are the only weapons of mass destruction that are not banned by international law, unlike biological or chemical weapons.
The following document summarises arguments from Nina Tannenwald’s analysis of discourse and complexities of the nuclear taboo involved, Nuclear Weapons Free Zones, Non Aligned Movement and the NPT, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz and the movement to abolish nuclear weapons and entangled histories of climate science and nuclear weapons.
Nina Tannenwald reminds us of the normative element that has developed around the use of nuclear weapons since its first use in 1945. “A powerful taboo against the use of nuclear weapons has developed in the global system, which although not (yet) a fully robust prohibition, has stigmatized nuclear weapons as unacceptable weapons” [1]. US leaders did not consider using even small nuclear weapons during the 1991 Gulf war in the desert battle field which would not have killed many civilians and Iraq did not possess nuclear weapons to retaliate [1]. Her examples include non-use of nuclear weapons when there was no threat of nuclear retaliation. Her second anomaly explains asking why non-nuclear weapons states have not deterred attacking nuclear weapons states. “China attacked US forces in the Korean War, North Vietnam attacked US forces in the Vietnam war, Argentina Attacked Britain I the Falklands in 1982, and Iraq attacked US forces and Israel in the 1991 Gulf War”. The widespread taboo against using nuclear weapons seems to have strengthened the resolve of non-nuclear states in their assurance nuclear states will not use them against them, and mostly democracies with an overarching public opinion to consider. Would the United States have confronted Russia in their military intervention in Ukraine and annexing Crimea? How far would NATO leaders defend and honor its treaty if Russia invades one of their member with the fear that Russia might use nuclear weapons whereas US leaders might consider twice because of the taboo associated with it. Would India retaliate against Pakistan’s proxy attacks in the Kashmiri border because Pakistan has the bomb even though India’s possession of nuclear weapons has failed to deter them. …
