Don on Blockchain

Digital currency, Blockchain, Bitcoin...for quite some time now, these terms have been floating around in my mind like dragonflies on a sunny afternoon. I've always wanted to learn more about them but have never got hold of anything that I could relate to - until today.

This TED video by Don Tapscot has finally presented the topic in a way I could finally understand,at least to some extent. One example that struck me in particular was that of Analie Domingo, a Filipino housekeeper living in Toronto. It seems she is now able to send money to her ageing mother in Manila, on a Blockchain app called "Abra". It costs her a  fraction of time and money she used to spend on Western Union money transfers.

I did not know that the biggest flow of funds from the developed world to the developing world is remittances. At USD 600 billion per year, it is a far greater flow of funds than corporate investment or foreign aid. According to Don, it is also the biggest global rip-off by companies like Western Union.

If Blockchain is the wonder technology that can make international money transfers more efficient, if it can help artists earn a fair price for their creations and help maintain digital privacy of netizens, the next obvious question is - How can we change from byestanders to participants in this perfect storm coming our way?


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LINKS / REFERENCES

* Transcript - https://www.ted.com/talks/don_tapscott_how_the_blockchain_is_changing_money_and_business/transcript?language=en

* ABRA - transfering money freely and securely! - https://www.goabra.com/

* Imogen Heap - the first (?) Grammy awarded artist to sell her songs on Blockchain http://imogenheap.com/home.php?

* Vitalik Buterin - the founder of Etherium Bitcoin for Digital Contracts - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitalik_Buterin

* Bitcoin Magazine - http://www.bitcoinmagazine.com/

ShinMaywa US2 Seaplanes for India

This has been a long standing mystery: What is holding back the first major India-Japan defence hardware transaction - the sale of ShinMaywa US2 Maritime reconnaissance aircraft?

The US-2i is quite a unique aircraft, capable of short take-offs from land as well as water with a range of over 4,500 km. Powered by four big turbo-props, it can land even on rough seas amid three-metre high waves.

Perhaps this is just the sort of recce-aircraft that we needed while searching for the AN-32 that disappeared while flying from Chennai to Car Nicobar. The $1.65 billion defence deal was slated to be signed in the first quarter of 2016 with the first two aircraft delivered off-the-shelf and the remaining ten built under license in India.

The deal has been "under discussion" since 2012. Over the past four years there have been numerous speculative reports as to why an ostensible commitment at the highest levels of government, is yet to translate into action.

Today's Times of India states that Japanese defence ministry is trying to reduce the price-tag of the USD 1.6 billion for 12 aircraft in a bid to revive the deal. This is a new one. Until now none of the reports had claimed that the price was a sticking point.

Recently, India purchased six C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft for an estimated price of USD 1.2 billion. Even at the risk of comparing chalk and cheese, the price-tag for a a sophisticated amphibious aircraft does seem to be quite reasonable.

In fact the reasons for the delay stated so far have been:

Policy related -

• Japanese side has been waiting for the amended Defence Procurement Policy-2016, which is yet to be available for the companies wanting to do defence business in India
• Department of industrial policy and promotion is awaiting for Acceptance of Necessity (AON) from the Indian Navy
• While Japan had been pitching for the sale of these aircraft as a special case, for the moment it did not figure on India’s list of priorities

Bureaucratic / Red Tape:

• Deal delayed further as the next Defence Acquisition Council cannot take place, since there is no Chief of Integrated Staff (CISC) in place in the ministry of defence.
• The major hurdle remains successfully navigating through the myriad of layers of bureaucratic red tape, something that Japanese defence contractors, given Japan’s self-imposed ban on exporting military hardware, have very little experience in doing.

The last reason sounds more plausible. Getting the bureaucracies in India and Japan to talk to each other must count among the most formidable challenges of today. Surely this is not merely a question of an inflated price-tag!

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UPDATES:

- (8 Nov., 2016) - Japan, India likely to ink pivotal US-2 aircraft deal - http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/11/06/national/japan-india-likely-ink-pivotal-us-2-aircraft-deal/#.WCFsZNV97IU
- “The sticking point then was India’s insistence that Japan relocate production to the ‘enth’ degree”

- ( 25 Oct., 2015) - INDIA, JAPAN RESOLVE PRICE ISSUE - Price concession of more than 10% brings down the cost of the US-2 planes from USD 133m to USD 113m per piece - https://inserbia.info/today/2016/10/india-japan-solve-aircraft-price-issue/

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LINKS & REFERENCES

* (11Sep16) - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Japan-may-cut-price-to-ink-aircraft-deal-with-India/articleshow/54272792.cms

* (18May16) http://www.financialexpress.com/article/economy/indias-nod-to-buy-japanese-amphibian-plane-us-2i-to-face-further-delays/258215/

* (5May16) - http://thediplomat.com/2016/03/is-the-japan-india-military-aircraft-deal-dead/

* (28Feb16) - http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/japan-noncommittal-on-supply-of-strategic-amphibious-aircraft-to-india/article8290054.ece

* (12Dec15) - India-Japan Joints Statement 2025 - http://www.mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/26176/Joint_Statement_on_India_and_Japan_Vision_2025_Special_Strategic_and_Global_Partnership_Working_Together_for_Peace_and_Prosperity_of_the_IndoPacific_R


* (6Jan14) - http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/japans-amphibious-aircraft-not-a-priority-for-india-now/article5545706.ece.


* http://theweek.com/articles/575407/japans-defense-industry-super-excited-about-amphibious-plane
- Japan and India have been discussing the sale of the amphibian since 2012. 
- US-2's manufacter ShinMaywa traces its history back to one of the founders of Japanese aviation, Seibe Kawanishi. This Kobe-based industrialist made his fortune selling woolen blankets to the military during Japan's turn-of-the-century wars against Russia and China.
- After the war, Nakajima's company became Fuji Heavy Industries — the parent company of Subaru, the automobile-maker.
-  Kawanishi churned out 2,800 civilian and military aircraft between 1928 and 1945 — an average of 165 planes a year.
- Building under license has always been Japan's favorite way to gain and maintain cutting-edge skills and technologies.

That Thingy On Your Wrist

I used to always wonder: Why would anybody want to keep a tab on the number of steps they take each day?

Perhaps this was a notion conditioned during the formative years. I had an grand-uncle who had a disdain for things that were superfluous. Having spent his best years in the Royal Indian Air Force, serving forward bases that were battling the Japanese in Burma during WW2, he always felt that giving precedence to form over function was just "bloody bullshit!". Once while were deep into a conversation, my watch gave off its little hourly beep. He stopped mid sentence, took a closer look at all digital numbers on the wristwatch and asked, "Does the damn thing also tell you the time?"

Soon after this, my Timex died on me and I got a Swatch Chronograph - a chunky metal time piece with dials within dials. I never really understood how to use them all but a chunky watched seemed cool anyway.

Then came the Casio G-Shock. It was certainly not be the most elegant or comfortable thing to wear but it is certainly tough. It can see you through through random rainstorms; the Delhi summer means nothing to its straps; it can be a handy alarm to remind you that your lunch is on the stove; you don't have to set it aside while travelling across time-zones or while diving into a swimming pool.

A slight change of heart came after I watched a TED video recently. An elderly speaker observed that these days, watches are things that are worn by an older, less tech-savvy generation. He gave the example of his daughter who found them distinctly uncool because, "For God's sake, Dad, who wants to wear single function devices?!?"

Now that was a valid point. Surely a piece of equipment you carried on your wrist all day ought to do more than just tell you the time and date? While I was still debating the pros and cons of investing in a health-band it appeared at the door wrapped in a courier from Amazon - a thoughtful Rakhi gift.

I have been using the GQii for two weeks now and I like it. For one thing it is nice and lightweight, then it tells you the time only when you want to know, and despite the fact that its inaccurate, once you start wearing the band it does prod you to pay more attention to physical activity, sleep-timings and calorie-burning.

So now I have revised my notions of an ideal watch. It ought to combine the lightness and multi-functionality of a health-band, and yet be tough enough to be worn just about anywhere. Will there be an affordable product that can, one day, combines the ruggedness of a G-Shock to the multi-functionality of a GQii?

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LINKS

- GOQii leads Wearables Mkt in India - http://indiatoday.intoday.in/technology/story/goqii-leads-indias-wearable-market-xiaomi-slips-to-second/1/757668.html

A Pain in the Neck

Pain is an excellent guide. It tells you how to sit, walk, sleep or run; it takes your body through the paths of least resistance until time, medicines, or both, manage to heal you.

These days I am discovering the uses one particular set of muscles on my right neck - the Splenius Capitis. It is a broad band that stretches from the mid-shoulder to base of your cervical vertebrae, behind the ears.

I have now become aware of how exactly this strip of muscle helps in tilting and turning my head; of how it stretches out stretches out when I am lying on my side, without a pillow, and the amazing way in which a simple sneeze sends a stab of pain somewhere deep inside my shoulders.

I am not quite sure how I managed to hurt it - was it an unintended turn of the head while performing the Shirshasana? or did it get damaged when my son pounced on my shoulder while I was bending down to pick something on the floor?

Whatever its origins, I now feel like 3-CPO of Star Wars - that dazed, surprised look of having to turn my whole body to see what is happening behind. I now find lying down distinctly uncomfortable. Even while sitting or standing, raising my right arm eases the pain.

The strangest thing about the guiding pain is that requires me to sit, stand or walk to follow the path of least resistance. Lying down is distinctly uncomfortable, and each morning, I have been waking up with my head tilted to the right. Trying to set it straight is like holding a barbed wire fence marked "No Trespassing!"

It seems Mr. Splenius Capitis is just one of the 70,000 muscles in the human body. While its great to know he is well connected, I am not looking forward to meeting his friends any time soon!

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LINKS

* Inner Body - Splenius Capitis Muscle - http://www.innerbody.com/image_musbov/musc41.html
* Pain Mgmt - http://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/pain/maxillofacial/splenius-capitis-muscle-syndrome
* http://muscular-system.blogspot.in/2013/03/splenius-cervicis-muscle.html