There, I said it. And I mean it too. Not like when I say I hate the Bears or the Reds. I really mean it. 100%.
This is ridiculious. That's helpful!
9% baby. How low can the approval rating go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Oh my...
The only Supreme Court case Sarah Palin can name is Roe v Wade?
Whoa. Granted, I'm in law school so the Supreme Court is kind of a big deal to me... but come on!
In other 'Oh my...' news. The daughter of a British vile spewing, sharia loving 'cleric' is apparently a promiscuous stripper.
Holy shit, hallelujah pass the Tylenol.
Some days are just better then others, no?
(Did this just move The Ultimate Potato out of non-partisan and into partisan? If so, I dont mean it to. If Biden, Obama or McCain had these sorts of things going on, I would be more then willing to comment on their follies.)
Whoa. Granted, I'm in law school so the Supreme Court is kind of a big deal to me... but come on!
In other 'Oh my...' news. The daughter of a British vile spewing, sharia loving 'cleric' is apparently a promiscuous stripper.
Holy shit, hallelujah pass the Tylenol.
Some days are just better then others, no?
(Did this just move The Ultimate Potato out of non-partisan and into partisan? If so, I dont mean it to. If Biden, Obama or McCain had these sorts of things going on, I would be more then willing to comment on their follies.)
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Friedman Op-Ed
I do not agree with everything the man says (the Mc Donalds theory of conflict prevention is laughable, but the Dell theory of conflict prevention is better) but in this Op-Ed, I agree with him.
No more Hedge Funds, those magical money making enterprises. But building stuff. It works for me.
Reminds me of what Bill Clinton was saying the other night on 'The Daily Show'. Which has really been hitting it out of the park lately with interviews and commentary. Humorous yes, but pointing out important issues that the MSM misses completely, or does in a less artful way. Clinton was talking about how different our economy would have been had we made decisions to invest in new technologies. And it was striking.
No more Hedge Funds, those magical money making enterprises. But building stuff. It works for me.
Reminds me of what Bill Clinton was saying the other night on 'The Daily Show'. Which has really been hitting it out of the park lately with interviews and commentary. Humorous yes, but pointing out important issues that the MSM misses completely, or does in a less artful way. Clinton was talking about how different our economy would have been had we made decisions to invest in new technologies. And it was striking.
Pirates, and international cooperation.
That darn maghreb and it's pirate problem. It's been churning them out for hundreds of years!
At least this time around there seems to be an easier international consensus around, well doing something about it. The Canadians have sent a ship, most of the European countries too. The US has an entire carrier strike group in the near vicinity, and now the Russians are sending a ship to the immediate region. Even if the US Navy claims that pirates are not it's responsibility, the military is needed (at least initially) to sink some pirate skiffs and send a clear message. (And heck, while the Russians are in the region, let them do the direct sinking while the other forces provide support. We all know the Russians love the use of force.)
Although it is not like the pirates are rolling in warships, they're basically speed boats with RPG's and machine guns. Throw some .50 cals on the merchant ships and let the crews have target practice.
Still, I think it is heartening to see some measure of international cooperation in confronting a systemic threat encountered by all sides. After years of non-cooperation over Iran, North Korea and Iraq, maybe the pirates are finally bringing us all together.
At least this time around there seems to be an easier international consensus around, well doing something about it. The Canadians have sent a ship, most of the European countries too. The US has an entire carrier strike group in the near vicinity, and now the Russians are sending a ship to the immediate region. Even if the US Navy claims that pirates are not it's responsibility, the military is needed (at least initially) to sink some pirate skiffs and send a clear message. (And heck, while the Russians are in the region, let them do the direct sinking while the other forces provide support. We all know the Russians love the use of force.)
Although it is not like the pirates are rolling in warships, they're basically speed boats with RPG's and machine guns. Throw some .50 cals on the merchant ships and let the crews have target practice.
Still, I think it is heartening to see some measure of international cooperation in confronting a systemic threat encountered by all sides. After years of non-cooperation over Iran, North Korea and Iraq, maybe the pirates are finally bringing us all together.
Taliban going AQI?
It looks like the Taliban is starting to pull off some of the same tactics in Pakistan that Al Qaeda in Iraq had been trying to pull.
Only those tactics really made the population in Iraq angry.
Will it have a similar affect in Pakistan?
Only those tactics really made the population in Iraq angry.
Will it have a similar affect in Pakistan?
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
This sounds really really familiar...
Granted, I'm not a scholar of the Alaskan constitution, but generally you cannot 'decline to participate' in a subpeona. It's a subpeona for a reason!
I'm assuming that Palin is trying to argue some sort of Executive immunity. But I'm assuming that would only apply to act within her legal authority as Governor. And firing someone for a vendetta should not be within that power (if it even turns out to be that). Assuming of course that the employee can only be fired for cause and not at will, I do not now how the contract is structured.
Still, it sounds errily familiar to the current administrations view on the Executive and having former employees disregard Congressional subpeonas. Are we getting another Dark Lord of the Sith for a VP? From Darth Cheney to Darth Palin?
I'm assuming that Palin is trying to argue some sort of Executive immunity. But I'm assuming that would only apply to act within her legal authority as Governor. And firing someone for a vendetta should not be within that power (if it even turns out to be that). Assuming of course that the employee can only be fired for cause and not at will, I do not now how the contract is structured.
Still, it sounds errily familiar to the current administrations view on the Executive and having former employees disregard Congressional subpeonas. Are we getting another Dark Lord of the Sith for a VP? From Darth Cheney to Darth Palin?
Monday, September 15, 2008
Google-Stan coming soon?
Google just got a patent for a big server ship that is powered by special wave energy technology. Now they can tool around the world's ocean with a flotilla of ships providing data service to everyone!
If google does disengage itself from America, what does that mean for the future of Cyberwar? If google's servers house other countries websites, and then they are attacked, google would have the cause of action against that country, and not the country itself correct?
Would that completely negate the premise of cyberwar? If a country lashes into googles servers, google wouls respond by crippling that countries access to their servers, and destroying their access to the web, a much better counterattack then the country under attack could manage.
Of course that all requires google to be the prime internet provider in the world. The speed at which they are trrying to bring internet coverage to the developing world may put them in this role sooner reather then later. Or at least in a position to where the idea can been explored. Wars happen in the third world, and most often between thrid world opponenets. So we may get to see the affects.
If google does disengage itself from America, what does that mean for the future of Cyberwar? If google's servers house other countries websites, and then they are attacked, google would have the cause of action against that country, and not the country itself correct?
Would that completely negate the premise of cyberwar? If a country lashes into googles servers, google wouls respond by crippling that countries access to their servers, and destroying their access to the web, a much better counterattack then the country under attack could manage.
Of course that all requires google to be the prime internet provider in the world. The speed at which they are trrying to bring internet coverage to the developing world may put them in this role sooner reather then later. Or at least in a position to where the idea can been explored. Wars happen in the third world, and most often between thrid world opponenets. So we may get to see the affects.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Why did this take me so long to bring up?
I blame school, work and women. Anyways...
Ladies and Gentlemen. I bring you the beginning. The first step on the path. One word. Battlemech. Giant 'Freakin' Robots.
The Hyperion Power Module (HPM). 1.5 meters wide, around 3 meters tall. Small enough to be hauled around on a truck. Or put into a chassis to power to giant legs and a gyroscope to run around and blow stuff up.
I say model the first chassis on a Dire Wolf omnimech. It woud not fit in the article I posted a while ago about the Japanese man who figured out what it would take and cost to build a Gundam. I have always been partial to Battlemechs as oppossed to Gundams.
This also leads to the question of weaponry. So, give it some lasers and replaces one of the arms with an A-10's tank killing gun.
Yes.
Ladies and Gentlemen. I bring you the beginning. The first step on the path. One word. Battlemech. Giant 'Freakin' Robots.
The Hyperion Power Module (HPM). 1.5 meters wide, around 3 meters tall. Small enough to be hauled around on a truck. Or put into a chassis to power to giant legs and a gyroscope to run around and blow stuff up.
I say model the first chassis on a Dire Wolf omnimech. It woud not fit in the article I posted a while ago about the Japanese man who figured out what it would take and cost to build a Gundam. I have always been partial to Battlemechs as oppossed to Gundams.
This also leads to the question of weaponry. So, give it some lasers and replaces one of the arms with an A-10's tank killing gun.
Yes.
Storm response
Katrina v Ike:
Are the differences in storm response mainly affected by-
1- Preparation. After Katrina, all state governments took bigger steps to make sure they would not be caught with their pants down.
2- Seriousness. Like number 1, in that more people actually took the storm seriously so that led to more preparation at the state level and locally through precautions (boarded up windows, sand bags etc) and evacuations.
3- The storm itself. Ike was weaker then Katrina.
4- Some sort of miraculous Federal government intervention.
5- Competency. Texas is more competent then Louisiana at storm response. (Whether it be through more resources, more experience, more general competency or whatever).
Just some thinking / talking points.
Are the differences in storm response mainly affected by-
1- Preparation. After Katrina, all state governments took bigger steps to make sure they would not be caught with their pants down.
2- Seriousness. Like number 1, in that more people actually took the storm seriously so that led to more preparation at the state level and locally through precautions (boarded up windows, sand bags etc) and evacuations.
3- The storm itself. Ike was weaker then Katrina.
4- Some sort of miraculous Federal government intervention.
5- Competency. Texas is more competent then Louisiana at storm response. (Whether it be through more resources, more experience, more general competency or whatever).
Just some thinking / talking points.
Still an evolving movement
Commentary on AQ and suicide bombing.
The movement is really still evolving. It has never operated at the scale that it had been in Iraq. Not only was the operation 'global' in recruiting scope, but it was much more bloody and resource intensive. It's one thing to blow up Israelis while blowing yourself, but blowing up fellow Muslims (even if of a different sect) for merely being in a particular place at a particular time? Not many movements have the stones to keep that momentum up for a long time.
I hate to continually come back to Giles Kepel, but he's right (I am not the only one who things so either!), Algeria was a similar movement, and it collapsed too.
Heck, if the movement is losing steam in Saudi Arabia maybe progress can be made elsewhere. We still have the problem of Wahhabi-Salafis elsewhere (including maybe the more important problem the Deobandi groups in Pakistan), getting at the source can help.
The movement is really still evolving. It has never operated at the scale that it had been in Iraq. Not only was the operation 'global' in recruiting scope, but it was much more bloody and resource intensive. It's one thing to blow up Israelis while blowing yourself, but blowing up fellow Muslims (even if of a different sect) for merely being in a particular place at a particular time? Not many movements have the stones to keep that momentum up for a long time.
I hate to continually come back to Giles Kepel, but he's right (I am not the only one who things so either!), Algeria was a similar movement, and it collapsed too.
Heck, if the movement is losing steam in Saudi Arabia maybe progress can be made elsewhere. We still have the problem of Wahhabi-Salafis elsewhere (including maybe the more important problem the Deobandi groups in Pakistan), getting at the source can help.
Have to watch these stories
I have said it before, and I am saying it again. The world needs to keep an eye on the stories of rehabilitated Wahhabi-Salafis. Why they disassociated from the ideology, and the struggles they are facing after they do.
Iran s faltering
We do not need a military strike (which would be madness anyway). Just let the economy crash, and things will sort themselves out.
BONUS:
The role of the Revolutionary Guards.
BONUS:
The role of the Revolutionary Guards.
Shifting sands
Anbar is now under Iraqi control. So are the Sahwa movements. Good to see some accommodation, at least for now, between the ISF and the Sahwa.
Special forces annihilating the Insurgency. Using some kind of electronic shadow and gait analysis? Effective, but the right way to go about it? I'll chime into say that, not if we had another choice.
The Kurds are getting a little grabby. One of my buddies works in Congress, and he was asking me the other day about an Assyrian security plan to have minorities patrol areas of Iraq. I think that may have been a response to this. The Assyrian minority is largely in the north, and they do not like the Kurds, which makes perfect sense.
I do not agree with the overly pessimistic tones of the article, but the points are valid and important.
Nice story on Afghanistan, another quality epic. Deeper analysis into creating a 'sawhwa' movement in Pakisatn's tribal regions. Unfortunately, crossing the border for strikes into Pakistan is going to be the only way to help tamp down violence in Afghanistan and prod the Pakistanis into doing something useful in the areas that they need to get moving to control..
Special forces annihilating the Insurgency. Using some kind of electronic shadow and gait analysis? Effective, but the right way to go about it? I'll chime into say that, not if we had another choice.
The Kurds are getting a little grabby. One of my buddies works in Congress, and he was asking me the other day about an Assyrian security plan to have minorities patrol areas of Iraq. I think that may have been a response to this. The Assyrian minority is largely in the north, and they do not like the Kurds, which makes perfect sense.
I do not agree with the overly pessimistic tones of the article, but the points are valid and important.
Nice story on Afghanistan, another quality epic. Deeper analysis into creating a 'sawhwa' movement in Pakisatn's tribal regions. Unfortunately, crossing the border for strikes into Pakistan is going to be the only way to help tamp down violence in Afghanistan and prod the Pakistanis into doing something useful in the areas that they need to get moving to control..
Good Nuke stories
Here, from the Council on Foreign Relations, about the nuclear industry in general.
It's good to see the US actually getting ahead of the curve in some respect.
Mitsubishi Heavy is now joining the line of those backing a substantial industry revival.
Legal fallout from foot dragging on waste storage.
PBMR cannot get licensed in the states? There definitely needs to be some retooling in DoE and the NRC to solve that problem. Smaller reactors need to be given a place, if they're wanted.
25 countries joining GNEP.
More uprates for power generation for US nuke plants. Increases in the operating licenses and uprates will keep nuclear power steady around the percentage it is now for a few more decades.
It's good to see the US actually getting ahead of the curve in some respect.
Mitsubishi Heavy is now joining the line of those backing a substantial industry revival.
Legal fallout from foot dragging on waste storage.
PBMR cannot get licensed in the states? There definitely needs to be some retooling in DoE and the NRC to solve that problem. Smaller reactors need to be given a place, if they're wanted.
25 countries joining GNEP.
More uprates for power generation for US nuke plants. Increases in the operating licenses and uprates will keep nuclear power steady around the percentage it is now for a few more decades.
Friday, September 12, 2008
You're telling me...
Apparently I stopped learning Russian at approximately the exact wrong time...
The Ruskies are backing the wrong horse in South America. Bombers and boats!
Much better analysis then I can provide here. Although I do second the "so what". I'm not that afraid of the Russian nuclear powered battlecruisers. Even if there is nothing cooler sounding.
The Ruskies are backing the wrong horse in South America. Bombers and boats!
Much better analysis then I can provide here. Although I do second the "so what". I'm not that afraid of the Russian nuclear powered battlecruisers. Even if there is nothing cooler sounding.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Life/AI from the Web?
Wired says life.
I forget where I was reading it, but I came across an article that was talking about how human level AI could spring from a computer program that is structured to process huge amounts of data and make predictions. What more is the human brain but a machine that can make high level analogies to things that are not exactly similar?
I forget where I was reading it, but I came across an article that was talking about how human level AI could spring from a computer program that is structured to process huge amounts of data and make predictions. What more is the human brain but a machine that can make high level analogies to things that are not exactly similar?
This kind of stuff happens all the time!
Whether it's a news report that sparks a rise in oil prices by ten cents, or Delta stock droping 75%.
Heck, I even got caught up in a fake news story about a massive NATO fleet steaming for Iran. I swear, I was wondering just how a US Aircraft carrier could fit it's own planes plus 40 French fighters too.
People are putting to much stock in what this old series of tubes says without fact checking first.
I blame the 24 hour news cycle.
Heck, I even got caught up in a fake news story about a massive NATO fleet steaming for Iran. I swear, I was wondering just how a US Aircraft carrier could fit it's own planes plus 40 French fighters too.
People are putting to much stock in what this old series of tubes says without fact checking first.
I blame the 24 hour news cycle.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Forensic text messaging?
Those crazy Brits, willing to give anything a try.
I do know that the way I write and type is distinctive, in College people could tell I was writing over instant messenger even if I was using someone else's screen name. But that was over a large volume of material, and determining whether or not someone wrote something requires a lot of material to analyze and find the commonalities.
I've even done some light handwriting analysis for work, determining whether or not a OPS# written on a check was written by the person who filled the check out. Over that little material, it's very hard, and that's dealing with handwriting that is distinctive.
To try and analyze grammar from small samples... Unless you're dealing with blantantly obvious differences, it's a crap shoot. When I text message, I rarely abbreviate anything in text message lingo. And I never abbreviate things in emails or over instant messenger, so it would be easy to show (circumstantially) that I was not the one to write "lol ur awsme l8tr". But when you trend into people that are less precise in how they message, you lose most legal value from the evidence. Sure it will be great stuff for investigative purposes, well it could be in some cases, but at trial it would lose some credibility. At least with a good lawyer on the other side.
This Language Log post gives some good discussion of the potential weaknesses of this kind of electronic analysis.
UPDATE:
More from Language Log.
I do know that the way I write and type is distinctive, in College people could tell I was writing over instant messenger even if I was using someone else's screen name. But that was over a large volume of material, and determining whether or not someone wrote something requires a lot of material to analyze and find the commonalities.
I've even done some light handwriting analysis for work, determining whether or not a OPS# written on a check was written by the person who filled the check out. Over that little material, it's very hard, and that's dealing with handwriting that is distinctive.
To try and analyze grammar from small samples... Unless you're dealing with blantantly obvious differences, it's a crap shoot. When I text message, I rarely abbreviate anything in text message lingo. And I never abbreviate things in emails or over instant messenger, so it would be easy to show (circumstantially) that I was not the one to write "lol ur awsme l8tr". But when you trend into people that are less precise in how they message, you lose most legal value from the evidence. Sure it will be great stuff for investigative purposes, well it could be in some cases, but at trial it would lose some credibility. At least with a good lawyer on the other side.
This Language Log post gives some good discussion of the potential weaknesses of this kind of electronic analysis.
UPDATE:
More from Language Log.
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