Global Community

SpaceX faces competitors in race to build Internet-satellite constellation
UPI reports: "SpaceX isn't the only company trying to build a satellite constellation capable of providing global Internet coverage. Last winter, OneWeb launched six small satellites. Tests confirmed the mini constellation produces a serviceable signal, and the company expects to launch another 60 satellites in early 2020. OneWeb, which is targeting an initial constellation population of 650, and later 2,000, expects to begin offering service in the Arctic by the end of 2020 and global coverage in 2021."

Comment: The world is vastly more interconnected than at any time in history and that trend is only accelerating as internet access expands to include the most remote areas of the world.  The day when everyone on Earth can participate in a common culture is fast approaching.

Global Community

Facebook scraps plans to build Internet drones - UPI.com
UPI reports: "Facebook announced it would be scrapping plans to develop its own flying Internet drones, an initiative that started four years ago. In a Tuesday blog post, the social network said work on Project Aquila, which was intended to bring Internet access to remote parts of the world by using gigantic drones running on solar power, would come to an end."

Comment: The dream of one seamless global internet community powered by Facebook and flying drones has come to an end. The report does note that other companies continue to invest in bringing the internet to the far corners of the world that have yet to experience the joys of promoting themselves on social media.

Global Community

Facebook hits 2 billion-user mark, doubling in size since 2012 | Reuters
Reuters reports: "Facebook Inc (FB.O) said on Tuesday that 2 billion people are regularly using its flagship service, marching past another milestone in its growth from a college curiosity in the United States to the world's largest social media network. [...] The user base is bigger than the population of any single country, and of six of the seven continents. It represents more than a quarter of the world's 7.5 billion people."

Comment: As the line between observing events and interacting with them becomes blurred we can increasingly envision the realization of  Rev 11:9-12.

Global Community

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg opposes isolationism in statement - UPI.com
UPI reports: "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg issued a 5,700-word statement lamenting the rise of isolationism and saying fake news creates polarization in beliefs. In the Building Global Community statement, Zuckerberg said Facebook was launched in 2014 to support a more connected global community. [...]  Zuckerberg urged for the world to become more accepting and connected to the idea of globalization. 'Progress now requires humanity coming together not just as cities or nations, but also as a global community,' Zuckerberg wrote."

Comment: Social media is an amazing fulfillment of Bible prophecy, allowing people to instantly see and respond to global news events.  For the first time in history, ordinary people can be alerted to breaking news on the other side of the world or across the street and instantly send their personal reaction to their friends, followers and the public. The concept of "going viral" is something prophecy commentators in the past could scarcely have imagined. It's clear now that major prophetic events will be witnessed by the whole world (Rev 11:9-12), not as passive spectators (as TV viewers in the past related to events), but as active participants, sharing in the events, commenting on them and joining in as a global community of people experiencing a personal connection to what they see.

Global Community

Rio kicks off Games with ode to forests, favelas and funk - Reuters
Reuters reports: "Brazil unfurled a vast canvas celebrating its rainforest and the creative energy of its wildly diverse population to the tune of samba, bossa nova and funk in welcoming the world on Friday to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro."

Comment: This will be my only post about the Rio Olympic Games (unless something terrible happens), I'm noting it in the context of a global news event that millions of people watch together in real-time (Rev. 11:9-12) thanks to the wonders of modern technology.

Global Community

Facebook expands live video, challenging TV and web rivals | Reuters
Reuters reports: "Facebook Live, which offers streaming video in real time, was launched last year. On Wednesday, it added features, including a map of video streams around the world, expanded search and filters that echo those on other platforms. Videos can be turned into black-and-white shots, like on Facebook's Instagram, for instance, and soon users will be able to add doodles, a nod to a feature on Snapchat."

Comment: So, in other words, if you are witnessing a news event you can record it and share it with friends. Or, if you are merely reacting to an event, you can record your reaction in real time and share that with your friends. I'm thinking about this in the context of Rev. 11:9-12 but also about how it helps promote a common global community by dissolving borders. Experiencing events together is what matters, not where they happen. 

Temple Mount

Temple Mount cameras will be installed before Passover - Arutz Sheva
Israel National News reports: "Israel and Jordan agreed that cameras will be installed on Temple Mount before the holiday of Passover, Israel Hayom reports. A senior diplomatic source said that the move will be a 'Significant form of supervising and maintaining order on Temple Mount.' According to the deal between Israel and Jordan, the cameras will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Both sides will be able to access the broadcast and watch what is being recorded."

Comment: I'm not optimistic that an agreement to install, monitor and share the cameras will actually be reached in time for Passover. Still, I can't ignore the obvious prophetic implications if someday they do have constant surveillance of the Temple Mount with the video broadcast live on the internet. 

Temple Mount

The Times of Israel - Disputes delay video surveillance at Temple Mount

The Times of Israel reports: "Video surveillance of Jerusalem’s holiest site was meant to be a quick fix to lower tensions that have driven months of Israeli-Palestinian violence, but disputes over who controls the footage and what the cameras may or may not film are holding up the project. Underlying the seemingly technical arguments is a fundamental disagreement over who is in charge of the 37-acre Temple Mount, which is central to the competing national and religious narratives of Israelis and Palestinians, Muslims and Jews.[....]  Azzam Khatib, in charge of Jordanian-run Muslim endowment, or Waqf, which is in charge of the mosque compound, said the surveillance cameras should be managed by Muslim authorities 'without interference from the Israelis.' 'As the king has said, there will be a control room for the cameras under the sole responsibility of the Waqf, and the images will be broadcast to the world through the Internet around the clock,' said Khatib, a Palestinian."

Global Community

My Way News - Google's Internet-beaming balloons to take off in Indonesia
My Way News reports: "Google's Internet-beaming balloons are ready to take off on the next phase of their mission to deliver online access in regions where most people live offline. [...] Alphabet frames Project's Loon as a noble endeavor striving to get about 100 million currently unconnected people tapped into the vast reservoir of knowledge, entertainment and conveniences available online. But it could also enrich Google by expanding the potential audience that can query its search engine, watch video on YouTube, correspond through Gmail and click on digital ads."

Temple Mount - Covenant with Many

My Way News - Kerry: Video monitoring to ease Jerusalem holy site tensions
My Way News reports: "Looking to reduce tensions at a Jerusalem holy site that set off weeks of Mideast violence, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced Saturday that Israel and Jordan had agreed on steps, including round-the-clock video monitoring, to bring an end to the unrest. [...] Kerry said the understandings included Israel fully respecting Jordan's 'special role' as custodian of the site, its continued enforcement of religious worship at the site in which Muslims pray there and non-Muslims visit and its commitment not to divide the site and to reject any attempt to suggest otherwise."

Comment: I can't help think that establishing 24/7 monitoring on the Temple Mount is an amazing and watershed event in light of the Two Witnesses in Revelation 11. 

Global Community

My Way News - For the first time, 1 billion people used Facebook in a day
My Way News reports: "For the first time, a billion people used Facebook in a single day on Monday. CEO Mark Zuckerberg marked the occasion with a post on his Facebook page, saying that one out of seven people on Earth logged in to the social network to connect with their friends and family."

Global Community

My Way News - Facebook ready to test giant drone for Internet service
My Way News reports: "Facebook says it will begin test flights later this year for a solar-powered drone with a wingspan as big as a Boeing 737, in the next stage of its campaign to deliver Internet connectivity to remote parts of the world. [...] The project is part of a broader Facebook effort that also contemplates using satellites and other high-tech gear to deliver Internet service to hundreds of millions of people living in regions too remote for conventional broadband networks."

Global Community

My Way News - Google, Facebook update contrasting plans to connect world
My Way News reports: "Google and Facebook want more people online, searching around and clicking on ads. And they are finding new ways to make it happen — from selling smartphone data plans, to using solar-powered drone aircraft as floating cell towers to partnering with telecom providers in the developing world to get people hooked on apps. [...] they are taking very different approaches to getting the world connected."

Global Community

Comment: I'm posting the above news video for two reason. First, as the news headline says, it's a great representation of an event impacting the "global community" and one in which millions of people all over the world have become personally involved thanks to the immediacy of the mobile internet and social networks. When people send each other their comments and catchy hashtags go viral, it's a great example of the kind of connectivity foretold by John in the Book of Revelation. I use the tag "global community" to archive such news reports, you can find the link over on the right side of the page.

The second reason I'm posting this is to demonstrate the perverse and willful blindness of our news guardians who have bought into the Palestinian narrative of victim-hood. Instead of highlighting the dangers of radical Islam to France's Jewish population, the AP editor sent their reporter to talk to a Palestinian, who speciously decried the burden of terrorism on the Palestinians. That comment, of course, goes unexamined and is presented as a self-evident truth. There indeed have been Palestinian victims of terrorism. For example, there are numerous documented incidents of Palestinian bomb-makers accidentally blowing themselves up before attacking their Jewish targets. That, I suspect, is not what the interviewee had in mind. They sought, rather, to redefine the terms (as all activists do) to suggest that Israeli actions towards the Palestinians (in retaliation of missile attacks perhaps?) constitute terrorism. As I said, the statement was presented without elaboration or context, simply sent out by the AP to confirm the bias of those already infected by groupthink. It's a brilliant example of how our Western news media have become co-opted by those who wish us harm.

Global Community

My Way News - Massive manhunt for 2 suspects in Paris attack
My Way News reports: "The worst spasm of terror violence in more than a half-century stunned France. The lights of the Eiffel Tower went out Thursday night in a tribute to the dead from the elegant iron lady that symbolizes France to the world. At noon, the Paris Metro came to a standstill and a crowd fell silent near the Notre Dame Cathedral. The attack struck a chord beyond French borders and similar tributes were held around Europe and elsewhere."

My Way News - No living in fear: 'I Am Charlie' rallies back free speech
My Way News reports: "From Berlin to Bangkok, tens of thousands took a stand against living in fear, as rallies defended the freedom of expression and honored the victims of a Paris newspaper attack. [...] Many held placards proclaiming "Je Suis Charlie" — 'I am Charlie' — a slogan that went viral on social media within hours of Wednesday's terror attack on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo that left 12 people dead. [...] European capitals including Madrid, London and Brussels and cities in the U.S. saw large demonstrations and candlelit vigils late Wednesday. More rallies were held Thursday from Sarajevo to Athens, where some formed a line and held up a letter each spelling out in Greek: 'I do not hate, I am not afraid.'"

Comment: As people tune in on their mobile devices to keep up with the breaking news, this the first global news event of the new year, drawing in millions of people all over the world who are showing their support on social media and mass public gatherings. Global news events are common in our time, but not in John's time when he wrote Rev. 11:9-12.

Global Community

My Way News - Facebook's Internet.org expands in Zambia
My Way News reports: "The Internet.org app will give subscribers of Zambia's Airtel phone company access to a set of basic Internet services for free. Users of the app won't incur the data charges that can be prohibitive for many people in developing nations. Facebook has already been working with mobile operators around the world to offer its own service free of charge to phone subscribers — think of it as a gateway to the rest of the Internet. [...] Internet.org estimates that about 80 percent of the world's population that isn't online lives at least within basic 2G cellphone range. "

Comment: Getting the developing world online is an important step in creating a truly one-world market with instant access to news and live events.

Global Community

My Way News - EU slashes mobile data roaming fees by 55 percent
My Way News reports: "The European Union says the surcharges for surfing the Internet on mobile devices while traveling across the 28-nation bloc will be more than halved. [...] The bloc's executive Commission — keen on being seen as helping the EU's 500 million consumers — started cracking down on the fees in 2007 and seeks to abolish them altogether by 2016."

Global Community

My Way News - World Cup hits online streaming record, buzz soars
My Way News reports: "More than 300 million tweets have been sent about the World Cup so far, and Google has logged over 1.1 billion searches related to the world's most popular sporting event. [...] Thursday's concurrent U.S. vs. Germany and Portugal vs. Ghana games hit a peak of 6.8 terabits per second in online streaming traffic, according to Akamai Technologies Inc., which helps companies distribute online video and works with more than 50 World Cup online streaming rights holders worldwide."

Global Communitiy

My Way News - Facebook, Twitter, Google score during World Cup
My Way News reports: "Twitter and Facebook lit up in a World Cup frenzy this week as millions of people around the world took to social media to share in the ups and downs of the matches. [...] Google, meanwhile, tracked more than 641 million World Cup-related searches. In the week leading up the U.S. team's game against Ghana on Monday, there were 10 times more searches for the World Cup in the U.S. than for the NBA Finals, which were in progress at the time."

Global Community

My Way News - Facebook launches lab to bring Internet everywhere
My Way News reports: "Facebook is giving more details about its effort to connect remote parts of the world to the Internet - and it involves drones, lasers and satellites. [...] The lab's goal is to bolster Internet.org, the Facebook-led project that aims to connect the more than 70 percent of the world's 7 billion people who are not yet online."