It's All Greek to Me

The new translation tools are being implemented with some sucess in business applications although I have previously expressed my skepticism with the effort. A Computerworld story online today illustrates how the new efforts are going. Most results to the present have been sketchy requiring human translators.

Ford Motor Co. has used “machine translation” software since 1998 and has translated 5 million automobile assembly instructions.

Ford uses Enterprise Global Server from Systran Software Inc. but this is just the beginning. English instructions are written by engineers and then parsed by a homegrown AI program into unambiguous detailed directions, such as, “Attach bracket No. 423 using six half-inch bolts.” Each instruction is then stored as a record in a translation database.

Systran’s tool uses a reliable translation technique called rules-based translation. Such systems use bilingual dictionaries combined with electronic style guides containing usage and grammar rules. The commercial translators are then supplemented with assembly line application-specific glossaries from Ford.

The glossaries are cumulative in that they are combined with “translation memories,” databases of previously translated text in the form of source and target sentence pairs. These memories are usually compiled over time by users. If the translation system (or a human) finds an exact match for the sentence it’s trying to translate, it just retrieves the corresponding sentence in the target language from the database. Near matches or “fuzzy,” matches are flagged for review by a human translator.

Statistical machine translation is a newer technique. It uses collections of documents and their translations to “train” software. Over time, these data-driven systems “learn” what makes a good translation and what doesn’t and then use probability and statistics to decide which of several possible translations of a given word or phrase is most likely correct based on context.

The systems as a result develop their own rules and fine-tune them over time.

Google Inc. uses Systran’s rules-based software but is also developing its own statistical-based systems to translate to and from the more difficult and non-Western Romance languages due to their significant differences from Western languages.

Sites may include a link to Google’s system at Google translation for free.

Other large companies are in need of translations and use them such as Microsoft Corp. which incorporates a rules-based natural-language parser in its Word software.

FedEx Corp. rolled out Trados GXT, a product of Maidenhead, England-based SDL International. It consists of translation memories integrated with an enterprise translation workflow system but has not obviated the need for human-based translation services.

A new development and increasingly sophisticated translation systems combine multiple methods. A statistical machine translation product from Language Weaver Inc. in Marina del Rey, Calif., can now be used with translation management software called WorldServer from Idiom Technologies Inc. Customers can tap into WorldServer to retrieve previously translated content in a translation memory or generate new translations — through Language Weaver’s algorithms — when no matches are found.

At SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif. researchers are working with the U.S. Department of Defense to automate the translation of Arabic and Mandarin Chinese — structured and unstructured text as well as real-time speech — into English.

It's all Greek to me; but, actually I do know Greek so if I can learn perhaps machines can as well.

Democracy Is Not Built in a Day

Peter Kenney of Denver relates his experience of building local democracy in Baghdad.

Do you think freedom is free?

China Not "Red" Anymore

The adventure with the Chinese-made lamp looks like it has taken China out of the red and into the black. So far, the replacement lamp is doing fine. The low cost is the attraction and the website, Made in China, demonstrates the wide variety of goods available. Differences between manufacturing standards predominates, but the Food and Drug Administration is working with Chinese officials to address issues of quality. The consumer activist, Ralph Nader, weighs in with his opinion.

The OLPC: Should Not a Controversy Be

On 23 July 2007 eWeek ran a story that has been controversial for too long. The story discussed the ongoing battle about the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project which is ambitious, has potential benefits for many computer users across the board, and is timely. The project should garnish a great deal of attention but this really should not be contentious. The project though gained attention not only for its humanitarian goals and the groundbreaking technologies it's introducing but also negativity is connected to it for the wrong reasons, a fixation on product pricing, and assumptions about capabilities.

The OLPC and its founder, MIT iconoclast Nicholas Negroponte was in a segment of "60 Minutes." The segment unduly focused on the OLPC's XO laptop (more commonly although not completely accurately known as the $100 laptop) and the organization's goal to provide inexpensive computing resources to children in the developing world.

First Intel and then Dell has taken potshots at the project. Intel has since gotten on board.

The XO system is close to its final release state and although on paper the posted specifications of the XO seem underpowered: a midrange AMD processor, 256MB of RAM, and a small, flash-based drive. The XO is actually a powerful system.

The display technology is innovative and is readable even in bright sunlight, and its environmentally conscious power management and provision capabilities to its wireless mesh capabilities allow an entire village of children to connect. The XO will have a huge impact on the lives of the children who use it. I know countless kids who could use it now.

The compact laptop technology is ahead of the curve which should usher in a competitive wave of more efficient and capable mobile systems.

The laptop is a helpful marriage of Linux-based Sugar software that runs on the XO laptop. The basic programs in Sugar are simplified versions of ordinary desktop tools such as word processors, including though a collaboration environment.

Graphic source: OLPC

This is a product that looks like a toy but it is not. In the hands of impoverished children, this can be an effective digital tool that helps to close the digital divide. Hopefully, Dell's objection is not only that OLPC is a competitor of theirs.

Graphic source: Wikipedia, showing the mesh mode in Sugar software which makes it possible to interact with other users and systems on the XO's wire mesh network.

Is Aunt Betty on MySpace These Days?

Spock.com is a new people-focused search engine that aims to compile profiles based on info from social networking sites. I'm looking for Aunt Betty but I don't think she's on MySpace.

CEO Jaideep Singh claims the search will include every person in the world within the next nine months. A search will provide biographical information including age, city of residence and job title as well as tagged descriptions and images aimed at providing a complete picture of a person. It ranks search results based on the amount and relevance of information.

Come to think of it, maybe that's how we can find Osama.

Is a USB Port Good for Anything Other Than a Massage?

Computerworld ran an interesting survey on USB ports and their accessories. A USB port is handy even if you don't need a massage or a beverage heater, or cooler. All three devices are available though if you would like.

Hello? Is this Johnny's Teacher?

Source: Center For the Digital Future

According to the Center For the Digital Future, teachers have embraced newer ways of communicating with constituents. More so than government officials and health care professionals, teachers in K-12 situations use electronic means of communication. Before the Internet, teachers rarely had telephones in their classrooms, and most communication between teachers and parents occurred through infrequent conferences or notes carried by the student.

Today over half (50.3%) of all Internet users have used email to communicate directly with teachers.

Reach out and a teacher will be there.

Another Blow to Microsoft and Digital Rights

Computerworld ran a story from the IDG News Service about a hacker who released a way to strip DRM (Digital Rights Management) from streaming Netflix Inc. movies. This is another blow to Microsoft's technology designed to prevent people from saving the content. Many hackers object to the design of DRM which limits how music and movies can be used. Netflix's Watch Now service allows people to watch movies and TV shows immediately on their computer. Users can watch a certain number of hours of streamed content per month depending on their subscription.

However, hacker Dizzie wrote on the Rorta hacking forum against Netflix and words of his exploit made the rounds of various blogs and Web sites.

The exploit is not for the unitiated since it is a detailed 14-step process that uses FairUse4WM, a program created by another hacker, to remove Microsoft's DRM from the content. The involved process removing the DRM may take several attempts, and the process does not remove the time limit imposed by Netflix on viewing the content.

Microsoft revised its DRM technology twice before to block the threat of FairUse4WM but last month hackers on the Doom9.org forum announced they defeated Microsoft's DRM again.

The violation of rights is clearly wrong but a large deal of the problem is the murkiness and inapplicability of current copyright law. The various less proprietary and more open copyright options that have emerged, are a step in the direction.

The shakeout is far from clear. Universal Music Group, the world's largest music label, sells songs DRM-free.

Challenge to FedEx and DHL, File Transmittal Services

It must be that setting up an FTP server on your home/work computers and providing your intended recipient with log-in information is really beyond the grasp of most computer users.

As a challenge then to the big mailing companies, FedEx or DHL, some companies have an online alternative for the really big, or digital files.

In contrast, file transmittal services all let users send files of up to 100MB for free, and many will go higher. Driveway, whose motto is "Size really does matter," lets users send files up to 500MB for free. Pando has a 1GB limit for nonsubscribers, while Civil Netizen is currently the most generous, with a 4GB limit.

Iran's Blood for Oil

What Tehran and Baghdad have in common is trading for oil. Tehran and Baghdad are expected to agree on a deal on a pipeline soon to transfer crude oil to refineries in Iran from oilfields in Iraq.

I take it Iran is willing to trade blood for oil.

Meanwhile, many Iranian young people, especially women strive for their freedom.

You Can Trust Al-Jazeera . . . To Be Al-Jazeera

"Kidnapped workers building U.S. embassy in Baghdad" screams the Al-Jazeera headline so let us have a look at this shocking story. The story by Ahmed Abdullah states:

"An American civilian contractor revealed shocking evidence about how Filipino construction workers were tricked last year into building the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, according to an article on The Times Online. The 51 men were originally told that they’d travel to Dubai to construct hotels there, but instead found themselves in a Baghdad-bound plane!"

The story is based on the statement of Rory Mayberry testifying before a congressional committee.

The Filipinos were reportedly upset at being deceived but their protests were quelled by: "a gun-toting air steward [not named, emphasis mine] ordered them to sit down. . . . [and a] security guy [not named, emphasis mine] working for First Kuwaiti waved an MP5 [sub-machinegun] in the air that people settled down."

On the other hand, the same story ran on the AP by Teresa Cerojano, Associated Press Writer. The gun-toting enforcers are not mentioned and a reasonable person would conclude that the guns are a complete fabrication.

The upshot of the story is that a Philippine special envoy is traveling to the Middle East to investigate allegations that a Kuwaiti contractor took Filipino workers to Iraq without their knowledge to build the U.S. Embassy. The meat of the story is that Filipinos, contracted by the First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co., thought they were going to work in Dubai and ended up in Baghdad instead.

The story really involves the Filipoino workers and a Kuwaiti company.

You don't get that impression from Al-Jazeera with the shock tactic of the U.S. kidnapping people.

People believe what they want to believe. In fact, jobs in Iraq have been a boon for many Filipino workers.

Chatting with Alexander the Great

If you could chat with Alexander the Great, what would you say? We need more protection for those auxiliary troops don't you think? What is it with this hoplite innovation?

That possibility was not possible of course but a newly launched site allows front-line soldiers to submit combat technology ideas. TroopIdeas.com allows anyone in the U.S. military to detail their need for combat tools.

The troop ideas are then evaluated by Gestalt, the technology consulting firm and government contractor that operates the site. Gestalt will either work to develop the tool itself or route the information to the best suited areas within the U.S. Department of Defense, stated William Loftus, Gestalt's president and CEO, in a story carried yesterday by Computerworld.

The Wisdom of "George" on War

George Kennan (1904-2005)

The roots of American involvement in the Middle East go back so much deeper than the current contentious debates about "George," actually, the American people should be talking about George, but George Kennan, not Bush. Kennan is a key figure in the development of U.S. Cold War policy as the "father of containment" in the newly founded CIA in 1948.

Kennan saw a new type of warfare for Americans in the Post-War period.

The Problem

The inauguration of organized political warfare.

Analysis

1. Political warfare is the logical application of Clausewitz's doctrine in time of peace. In broadest definition, political warfare is the employment of all the means at a nation's command, short of war, to achieve its national objectives. Such operations are both overt and covert. They range from such overt actions as political alliances, economic measures (as ERP--the Marshall Plan), and "white" propaganda to such covert operations as clandestine support of "friendly" foreign elements, "black" psychological warfare and even encouragement of underground resistance in hostile states.

2. The creation, success, and survival of the British Empire has been due in part to the British understanding and application of the principles of political warfare. Lenin so synthesized the teachings of Marx and Clausewitz that the Kremlin's conduct of political warfare has become the most refined and effective of any in history. We have been handicapped however by a popular attachment to the concept of a basic difference between peace and war, by a tendency to view war as a sort of sporting context outside of all political context, by a national tendency to seek for a political cure-all, and by a reluctance to recognize the realities of international relations--the perpetual rhythm of struggle, in and out of war.

3. This Government has, of course, in part consciously and in part unconsciously, been conducting political warfare. Aggressive Soviet political warfare has driven us overtly first to the Truman Doctrine, next to ERP, then to sponsorship of Western Union [1-1/2 lines of source text not declassified]. This was all political warfare and should be recognized as such.

4. Understanding the concept of political warfare, we should also recognize that there are two major types of political warfare--one overt and the other covert. Both, from their basic nature, should be directed and coordinated by the Department of State. Overt operations are, of course, the traditional policy activities of any foreign office enjoying positive leadership, whether or not they are recognized as political warfare. Covert operations are traditional in many European chancelleries but are relatively unfamiliar to this Government.

5. Having assumed greater international responsibilities than ever before in our history and having been engaged by the full might of the Kremlin's political warfare, we cannot afford to leave unmobilized our resources for covert political warfare. We cannot afford in the future, in perhaps more serious political crises, to scramble into impromptu covert operations [1 line of source text not declassified]. . . .

What is proposed here is an operation in the traditional American form: organized public support of resistance to tyranny in foreign countries. . . . Our proposal is that this tradition be revived specifically to further American national interests in the present crisis. . . .

d. Preventive Direct Action in Free Countries.

Purpose: Only in cases of critical necessity, to resort to direct action to prevent vital installations, other material, or personnel from being (1) sabotaged or liquidated or (2) captured intact by Kremlin agents or agencies.

Description: This covert operation involves, for example, (1) control over anti-sabotage activities in the Venezuelan oil fields, (2) American sabotage of Near Eastern oil installations on the verge of Soviet capture . . . .

Long before Bush, and years before the formulation of the overt Eisenhower Doctrine, the U.S. was in the Middle East in a new type of warfare in the Post-War period. Although the faces of the enemy may change, we are not facing the Soviets anymore, but the geographical area of contention, the Middle East, and the product, oil, is now a part of political warfare in American life. The troublesome aspect for Americans seems to lie in the fact that this warfare is overt, as opposed to George's covert operations in 1948. But the present George is following the broad outlines of American foreign policy that is decades old by this point.

Reference:
269. Policy Planning Staff Memorandum

Washington, May 4, 1948.

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 273, Records of the National Security Council, NSC 10/2. Top Secret. No drafting information appears on the source text. An earlier, similar version, April 30, is ibid., RG 59, Records of the Department of State, Policy Planning Staff Files 1944-47: Lot 64 D 563, Box
11. The Policy Planning Staff minutes for May 3 state: "There was a discussion of the Planning Staff Memorandum of April 30, 1948 on the inauguration of organized political warfare. This paper was generally approved and Mr. Kennan will present it tomorrow for discussion at a meeting of NSC consultants." (Ibid., Box 32)

Upcoming Attraction! See it now! History Made Dumber! "War Made Easy"

History Made Dumber is not the name of War Made Easy--a film which "reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq"--but perhaps it should be.

Based on the book by Norman Solomon, you may look in vain for any mention or sound bite of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Carter, or Ford but you will not see them or hear any references to them in this film. If I'm not mistaken they were American Presidents of the past 50 years. Nonetheless, bad boys LBJ, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton all have their cameos but the real targets are the Bushes, father and son.

As an attempt to review the past 50 years of American warmaking it fails miserably. It is tolerable if you like the sort of presentation that claims to be an expose of recent wars under the Bushes and to a lesser extent, Clinton. As a competitor to the Michael Moore style of film making it has the obligatory repetition of key quips, and quotes thought to be particularly germane and cutting.

One of the typical refrains is about the lack of WMDs as is to be expected. No reference is made to the other popular refrain at the time which was "No Blood for Oil," you don't hear that old canard much any more. And, the lack of expression is for good reason. Gas prices hit the highest level in American history. And, judging by the number of filmgoers who used cars, trucks, and SUVs to attend the same screening as I, the insatiable American thirst for oil is not abating.

If Americans were truly sincere about getting the U.S. out of Iraq, then they should sell their cars, and the next likely event to occur is that American politicians will stop the war drumbeats. In the meantime, as any president Republican or Democrat is bound by the Constitution, they will continue on the war course mapped out. Americans are tied to their inefficient internal combustion engines and American politicians are acting in the national interest, that is, keeping the flow of oil to the U.S.

In the film history is reviewed in the person of Senator Wayne Morse (D-Oregon) who is acclaimed as one of few American lawmakers who was brave enough to oppose the war in Vietnam. He makes a particularly embarrassing point about the President simply being "an administrator of the people's foreign policy."

God bless you Senator but not in my Constitution.

The film is on a bit better ground as an analysis of how the corporate media has echoed Washington's drumbeats during Persian Gulf I and II. The struggling print media, newspapers, are in dire straits and they are being eclipsed by digital communications, infotainment, the internet, and other new media. The new media is not directly as a result of government control but recent administrations have been savvy enough to adjust their message catered to the new media.

There are alternatives: turn off the TV, read bloggers, watch clips on YouTube, read foreign newspapers, catch Al-Jazeera, this works for me and I stay informed thusly.

The film is for the liberal choir exclusively so they can hum along to the old gospel song that gained some popularity during the Vietnam era, "Down by the Riverside," whose chorus echoes a heart-felt desire of people:

"I ain't gonna study war no more
I ain't gonna study war no more
Study war no more…"

C++ for Anyone from MIT

C++ is not exclusively for adult programmers but MIT has released programming for anyone through MIT's Media Lab. Researchers in the Lab's "Lifelong Kindergarten Group" created a program called Scratch, a graphical programming language geared to be programming learners, including children and teens.

A good introduction can be seen on how to create interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art with Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu).

Google Educational Offerings

Campus Technology today released a story that Google is offering researchers a closer look at their search capabilities. Two new services are offered to the individauls in higher education--access to Web search and machine translations--as part of Google's University Research Programs effort. The program for investigation, "the University Research Program for Google Search," has merit if it can unleash the incredible data hidden via the web, and certainly Google is one company that has revealed the resources of the web more than any other entity.

The second service, Google Translate, seems less promising although I have not taken it for a spin just yet. I still have to get over my bad experience with DragonDictate, c. 1998, when I spent an inordinate amount of time teaching a recalcitrant program and computer how to talk like me. Come to think of it, that may have been the problem.

"I Wanna' Be Like Osama"

The 60th Edinburgh Festival Fringe is featuring "Osama the Musical" which is a:
"Sensational new musical comedy set to incite violent applause and a new cult following featuring insightful satirical sequences including "I Wanna' Be Like Osama. The West shall not be won (again) so long as we have a high-kicking chorus line!"

Those Irresistible Nerds

Graph source: Source: Robert Half Technology, May 2007

Mary Brandel published a story in the 6 August 2007 issue of Computerworld reviewing what technology skills are in short supply. The list of skills follow below: Machine learning, Mobile applications, Wireless networking, Project management, General networking, Network convergence, Open-source programming, Business intelligence, and Embedded security.

Nothing "GNU" (New) in China

Wikipedia representatives have stated that Baidu.com Inc., the largest search engine in China, may be their worst copyright violator. Baidu plagiarizes Wikipedia without attribution or honoring the GNU license.

The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. has never sued a copyright violator and the Foundation has no plans to sue Baidu but this looks like an attempt to shame the company into compliance. All Wikipedia needs is the company to respect its copyright license by simply attributing Wikipedia entries on Baidu Baike, the company's Chinese-language Web encyclopedia.

"They do not respect the license at all," said Florence Nibart-Devouard, chairman of the board of trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Pentagon Describes How to Combat IEDs

Speaking of worthwhile blogs to read, The Danger Room in fact carried a story about an excellent research paper--AN ASYMMETRIC THREAT INVOKES STRATEGIC LEADER INITIATIVE: THE JOINT IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE DEFEAT ORGANIZATION by WILLIAM G. ADAMSON, COL, USA, that is worthwhile reading.

The report has some good news and some bad news. The Pentagon is praised for its "resilience, learning and adapting to the IED threat." It credits JIEDDO's chief, retired General Montgommery Meigs, with "vision [and] leadership." And the paper notes that "casualty rates per IED attack are down, indicating that the cumulative effort of training, better protective equipment, and improved intelligence [have] had a positive effect."

On the other hand, what we hear in American journalism is true as well. The paper states that the American effort against improvised bombs has been an "unsatisfactory performance [with] an incomplete strategy." What's more, the JIEDDO-led struggle against the hand-made explosives has a "strategic flaw" that may keep the U.S. from ever gaining the upper hand on the bombers, Adamson notes: The lack of authority to knock bureaucratic heads. He recommends instead establishing a separate, Executive Branch agency with a "laser-like concentration on the hostile use of IEDs."

I'd like to be knocking some bureaucratic heads and it would be helpful if journalists would be carrying stories that reveal how insurgents can be effectively met, and defeated.

A List of the Second Best Blogs in the World

I know you are enthralled to stay here at Blog Smith but are there any other cool places to go? A 6 August story from Computerworld noted the top Geek Blog Sites. In no particular order the list is:

Hack a Day

Lifehacker

IT Toolbox Blogs

Danger Room

O’Reilly Radar

Techdirt

Feedster

Rough Type

The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Elliott Back’s blog

4sysops

Go ahead, check them out, I won't be offended if you read the second best blogs in the world.

Black Muslim Bakery: A Bit of Upside-Down Cake?

The late Dr. Yusuf Bey created Your Black Muslim Bakery nearly 40 years ago, selling bean and carrot pies and hoping to inspire Oakland's poor to become "respectable and productive individuals."

This past Friday though, the bakery and its related businesses, a chain of bakeries, a security service, and a school among other businesses, was raided after the killing of 57-year-old Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey.

Seven people associated with the organization were arrested in connection with the killing and other violent crimes.

Bailey was working on an expose of the organization's finances when he was killed in a daring broad daylight murder by a masked gunman.

The gunman is believed to be Devaughndre Broussard, an employer of the group.

The Muslim group's headquarters at the original bakery and three Oakland houses tied to the group were raided.

Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan said the raids were part of a yearlong investigation into a variety of violent crimes, including two homicides this year and a kidnapping and torture case.

Yusuf Bey elicited ire from the public in 1994 when he ran for mayor of Oakland. He received less than 5 percent of the vote after a campaign in which he said that women "belong back in the home" and that gays should not be allowed to teach school.

In 2002, Bey was accused of raping a girl but he died of colon cancer in 2003 while awaiting trial.

Bey tapped Waajid Aljawwaad Bey as his successor in his multimillion-dollar empire.

Five months later, Aljawwaad Bey's body was found buried in an unsolved homicide.

The group was plagued by additional violence. In 2005 the leader of the Bey security service, John Bey, was shot outside his Oakland home. He survived, and his attacker was never found. In 2005, Bey's 23-year-old son, Antar Bey, the organization's heir apparent, was killed in what police called a botched carjacking attempt at a gas station in North Oakland.

Shortly after Antar's murder, his brother, Yusuf Bey IV, took over the bakery empire.

Yusuf has pending charges stemming from a 2005 case in which he is accused of leading a Black Muslim group caught by surveillance cameras in November 2005 smashing up two Oakland corner stores. The men berated the stores' Muslim owners for selling alcohol to the black community even though alcohol is forbidden by Islam.

Your Black Muslim Bakery filed for bankruptcy last year.

After Friday's raid, county health inspectors shut down the bakery for health-code violations.

I often hear about how Muslims are targeted in the post 9/11 period but in any other circumstances, Your Black Muslim Bakery would be standard law enforcement activity.

The story reminds me how the Black Panthers, starting out with the best of intentions, dissipated to impotence by internal squabbles, violence, and police enforcement. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

I always liked Oakland, despite its grittiness, its an interesting mix of cultures, pleasant scenery, and working-class ethos. I stayed there this summer near Jack London Square while visiting San Francisco. I wish the city well.

Key Insurgent Killed

U.S. troops reportedly killed a key insurgent who was the planner of an important Shia shrine. This al-Qaeda leader who planned the attack on the shrine led to a major escalation in sectarian violence.

Haitham al-Badri plotted and carried out the 2006 and 2007 attacks on the al-Askari shrine in Samarra, which destroyed its golden dome and minarets.

Badri, allegedly the leader of al-Qaeda in Salahuddin Province, was eliminated on Thursday by US troops east of Samarra.

The attacks on the mosque horrified Shias which set off a wave of sectarian violence which claimed the lives of thousands of civilians.

While U.S. troops continue to do their job, the Iraqis are failing to create a viable and unified governmental structure.

A New Philadaelphia Story: The Archdiocese at the Movies

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia is now playing at the movies. Archdiocesen spokeswoman Donna Farrell announced an effort to advertise in a new medium, films, in the form of 30-second commercials running on 264 movie theater screens in the area. The advertisement will appear only on screens showing movies rated G, PG or PG-13, stated Farrell.

Enrollment decline has been precipitous: the archdiocese's Catholic elementary schools has dropped from 78,921 students to 62,559 over the past six years, while high school enrollment declined from 23,249 to 20,749 during the same period.

Note on Robert Dallek's book, An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963

One of the most important assertions, and a point of controversy for historians when this book first came out, is that Dallek did not think Kennedy's presidency was damaged by his risky sexual behavior and bad health.

Upon reading though, just the panoply alone of drugs and injections was enough to convince me that Kennedy at least suffered a great deal. The evidence that he was conclusively and negatively effected by the drugs is not clear, it may never be. But, I found it alarming that so many physicians ruthlessly medicated the man without offering genuine relief.

Kennedy may be likened rather to a well-trained athlete who is medicated and medically treated beyond the norm. People can still function, even out-perform those around them. Kennedy had an incredible will; I think he really rose to the situation, he really was a war hero on PT 109. His endurance and commitment to his men after his boat was split in two by a Japanese warship is impressive. On the other hand, I don't think sinking into hero worship is sound, he certainly had his share of mistakes such as the Bay of Pigs, he just seemed to be a high-performing individual, warts and all.

As to the sex, well, I certainly was not aware of it at the time but enough evidence came to light over the years. I guess he enjoyed himself.

Dallek obtained documents indicating Kennedy had an affair with a 19-year-old intern in the White House: shades of Bill Clinton. He discovered 17 blacked-out pages in an oral history by Barbara Gamarekian, who was an aide to Kennedy Press Secretary Pierre Salinger.

Gamarekian refused to give him the name of the former intern to protect the woman but the pages were from 40 years ago so authentic enough. In fact, the New York Daily News subsequently learned the woman's identity and published an interview with her.

Many Americans consider Kennedy to be among the greatest presidents, but Dallek says most historians would dispute that, he fell well short of great or even near great. He failed to win passage for civil rights legislation and other major legislative initiatives and he stumbled in foreign policy with the Bay of Pigs and an escalation of the Vietnam War, Dallek stated in interviews about the book.

The assassination colors our perception. Kennedy has tended to be idolized as a result. Since I finally got around to the book I believe it is well worth reading and certainly presents a human presidential figure.

Copyright: Who Owns Creative Work?

What is the purpose of the "Copyright Clause?"

Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, known as the Copyright Clause (the Copyright and Patent Clause, the Intellectual Property Clause, and the Progress Clause), empowers the United States Congress:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

The clause actually confers two distinct powers: the power to secure for limited times to authors the exclusive right to their writings, and the power to secure for limited times to inventors the exclusive rights to their discoveries.

A number of United States Supreme Court cases interprets the text. The Court has determined that because the purpose of the clause is to stimulate development of the works it protects, its purpose is not to inhibit such progress.

After an author creates, they retain the rights, though not exclusively of course, fair use doctrine, while related, is primarily a First Amendment doctrine. It permits certain unauthorized uses of copyrighted material in the name of greater freedoms. In teaching for example, obtaining authorized use from every author would be ludicrous. No practical teaching could be done.

In instances of disagreement, who should prevail?

Here is one such example: "I understand that before I started volunteering with [insert academic JOURNAL here], there were some tensions between your editorial team and the [insert academic JOURNAL here] board."

So who owns the work? The guiding principle here seems to be the stimulation of works, not to prohibit "progress" however ill-defined and unwieldy. Especially in a democracy it seems one would want to err on the side of controversy and expression, unless one's intent was to inhibit such progress.

If the author of an unpublished work specifically objected to inclusion in an archive, I would argue that they retain that right.

However, the work of editors, redactors, and others have a creative aspect as well. That is their original contribution to the progress of the useful arts and sciences.

Therefore, I would strenuously object to the statement that "many of the items [archived materials] fall in to the category of [insert academic JOURNAL here] papers, as opposed to personal correspondence or work."

In this instance the editor did of course, "work," their creative contribution; in addition, the editor in question also has academic credentials, a Masters of Library Science, or their promotion of scientific endeavor. Thus, on two grounds I would argue that the editor is on sound constitutional ground.

The premise of the succeeding editor or board reveals the weakness of their position; they have to ask permission.

With the above in mind, we'd like to ask you to advise [insert University Archivist here] at the
[insert University's Library here] that items in the {insert original Editor's name here] Papers other than your personal correspondence be removed from the archive.

So who owns the work?

The original editor of course.

HP Unhealthy Print

A story on Computerworld yesterday released yesterday noted that Hewlett-Packard makes 90% of unhealthy laser printers tested by researchers. Of course, the researchers looked at a more HP printers than anyone else so this could bias the result. 83% of the total printers researched, were from HP.

Nearly all the laser printers fingered by researchers for spewing particulate matter into offices and homes are sold by HP.

The article in the American Chemical Society's Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) journal, measured emissions of 58 laser printers, including models from Canon Inc., HP, Ricoh Co. and Toshiba Corp. Particle emissions, believed to be related to the ultrafine powdered toner, were measured and the printers ranked in several categories.

Of the "high emitters" at least for me, they do not effect me personally. I don't have any of the offending models: the Color LaserJet 4650dn; Color LaserJet 5550dtn; Color LaserJet 8550n; LaserJet 1320n; LaserJet 2420n; LaserJet 4200dtn; LaserJet 4250n; LaserJet 5; LaserJet 8000dn; and the LaserJet 8150n.

Anyone want to go back to carbons? Elementary kids got high from those.

Extraterritoriality, Extradition, and Hacking

According to a story yesterday on Computerworld U.K the United Kingdom will try a hacker's case against extradition to the United States.

In the old days of colonialism, a person who committed a crime in a colony was taken back to the home country, where presumably they would get a more sympathetic hearing. Today, this is a twist on the old legal principle.

In cyberspace, where is the crime?

Gary McKinnon is accused of causing $961,000 worth of damage to computers by hacking into the Pentagon, NASA, and U.S. military systems. McKinnon, an ex-systems administrator allegedly conducted the largest military hack of all time. He won the right to have his case against extradition to the U.S. heard by the U.K. House of Lords.

McKinnon maintains that the alleged offenses took place in the U.K. and that is where he should stand trial.

He could face a life sentence in jail with no chance of repatriation if he is extradited to the U.S.

The U.S. may be particularly adamant about prosecution since McKinnon hacked he systems shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The U.S. government may want to make an example of him as a warning to would be or potential terrorists.

That deterrent seems specious but I suppose he could be useful to analyze what he did to probe weaknesses in U.S. defense, goodness knows they are chronic.

I Give China a "Bath"

Being the forgiving sort, I've decided to give China another "Bath" and I exchanged the lamp for a new one: so far, so good, although its only been on a minute.

Let's see how the new one does.

Bed, Bath, and Beyond: Made in China

So I needed a lamp near my computer and I perused the aisles looking for one. I found a hip looking blue one which looked ideal. In and out in a flash, my idea of shopping since I'm on a meter. Less than a week later, kaput. Where from?

Bed, Bath, and Beyond: Made in China.

Good thing Fido was not hungry or I didn't need to brush my teeth.

"How's Your House," Ian Hunter on Hurricane Katrina

How's Your House by Ian Hunter (Song at NOMRF.org)

Add to My Profile | More Videos">

Description: Ian Hunter courtesy of YepRoc Records for the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund. Video Produced by Grewvia. This song and 15 others by artists including Dr. John, Edwin McCain, James Andrews, Joe Topping and a new song by the Kaiser Chiefs are available at NOMRF.org. 100% of the proceeds will help the grass roots New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund.

Microsoft Struggles to Catch Google

In a story today on Computerworld Microsoft is attempting to catch up with Google and Yahoo in search capabilities. They have a long way to go. In June, Google sites captured 49.5% of the U.S. search market, while Yahoo sites ranked second with 25.1% of U.S. searches, followed by a distant Microsoft with only 13.2%, according to comScore Networks Inc.

Microsoft though began a new center, the Internet Services Research Center, as a part of Microsoft's research group. Interestingly enough though, the center will have teams in the U.S., but also some in Beijing.

Maybe Microsoft can go hard on those Chinese government types who are pushovers for Google.

Ahead or Behind the Curve?

Today, 29 July 2007, the BBC reported that Prime Minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, stated that the world owes the US a debt.

On the cusp of his first visit with George Bush, Brown stated that the U.S. leadership in the war against international terrorism is a debt that the world owes America.

Some analysts had speculated that Brown would distance himself from George Bush.

So far Brown has not publicly stated he would.

Newest Expansion Pack to Civilization IV: Beyond The Sword

One of the more intriguing developments in the gaming world, for an educator at least, is the accurate and realistic portrayal of history in the play. One of the best is Civilization IV. To the basic game is the newest expansion pack, Beyond the Sword, the second release after the Warlords edition.

The creator, Sid Meier, did not intend to write an educational game, precisely what makes it so fun probably, although an educator can do a great deal with the game to teach history. In a recent interview, Meier notes:

I read an interesting article recently about how some teachers actually use Civilization III in their classes as a teaching tool. Would you endorse or recommend the use of Civilization III as an educational product?

Sid: There's certainly nothing in the game that's just totally, flat-out wrong. I think Civilization is a good place to learn some basic ideas about history, and to be a part of it; to make the decisions. The great thing about a game is that you're the star of it. You're actually there making the decisions. Yes, it's been used in a lot of different educational situations, and if you can get a kid interested in history through a game, that's...We certainly lead them through the Civilopedia. We let them know that there's more out there if you want to explore it.

I've heard about a lot of people who played games as a kid and have gained a lot of useful knowledge that they were able to use later in life. So I certainly encourage people to use Civilization as a way to introduce them to history and make it exciting

Who Knows What Evil Lurks Inside a Cell Phone?

Ever wonder if something dangerous lurks in your cell phone? You should. In the tragedy that killed U.S. pets by ingesting tainted Chinese dog food, and to toothpaste that made people ill, a story in today's Computerworld alerted users to consider what's in your cell phone. In a widely publicized case, Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of China's food and drug administration, was executed on corruption charges when it established that China did not have enough quality controls in place for the tainted goods leaving China.

And unlike toothpaste cell phones seem safe enough. However, cell phones can be lethal. A number of people in China have been killed because of problems with their cell phones. Indeed, a typical cell phone contains heavy, toxic metals such as lead and beryllium, poisonous flame retardants like bromide and enough cadmium to contaminate thousands of gallons of water. These ingredients expose the user to toxins.

The major cell phone manufacturing countries--the U.S., Finland, Sweden, Germany, South Korea, and Japan-- protect users with their rigorous safety procedures, and control and monitor the safety of cell phone manufacturing. National governments, consumer and industry groups, magazines and journals, and other actors monitor, test, and review cell phone safety.

If China is to be a successful major world economic player it needs to do everything it can to raise quality and review standards to ensure the safety of cell phone users.

Would You Like to Know What the U.S. Military Is Thinking?

Computerworldtoday released a story about classified U.S. military information and corporate data which is available over P2P (peer-to-peer file sharing networks).

Experts testified before Congress by relating that data leakage is worse than thought previously.

Millions of documents are housed freely on file sharing networks after being inadvertently exposed by individuals downloading P2P software on systems that held the data.

For example, would you like the Pentagon's secret backbone network infrastructure diagram, complete with IP addresses and password change scripts? You can have that. Also there is contractor data on radio frequency manipulation to beat Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) in Iraq; physical terrorism threat assessments for three major U.S cities; and, information on five separate Department of Defense information security system audits.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, (D-Calif.) heard this testimony.

Let's hope Henry gets good and sick of this breach and plugs the holes, the sooner the better.

Skeletons In Your Closet?

Reuters today reported on a Web site that traces convict ancestors in the Land Down Under.

The records of tens of thousands of British convicts sent to Australia starting in the 18th century are no online so if you had something to hide about your family past, its all out now. 160,000 convicts were forcibly removed from England and transported to Australia between 1788 and 1868. The crimes ranged from petty crimes to serious crimes like murder and assault.

The first cargo of 732 convicts landed in Sydney Cove in January 1788 on 11 ships from the British First Fleet.

Use A Computer, Go To Jail

Not exactly but Computerworld released a study today indicating MySpace is inhabited by 29,000 registered sex offenders, according to North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooppdate. Following a subpoena, MySpace turned over the names of the convicted sex offenders.

Better Than Bombay?

The 23 July 2007 issue of Computerworld ran a story about how possibly Pakistan is a good site to outsource IT, to which "Anonymous"
posted:

Let's see, we have the Taliban massing on its western border with Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden is reputed to be hiding out in its mountainous western border region with Afghanistan. Journalists have been beheaded there. The President of the country is routinely under threat of assasination [sic]. And, you want to outsource your software development there? Get real.

I've been doing my best and reading Tariq Ali to appreciate the difficulties of the West versus the Muslim world but really the way out of the morass of poverty is to get your house in order. Any investor willing to part with their money is truly providing an opportunity for Pakistanis, if there were only enough people willing to embrace the chance. There are so many more affordable but stable environments. Pakistan is not one of them.

Big Brother IS Watching

Today's Computerworld ran an article by David Strom. He lists what he describes as a "Paranoia Product List" of items in case you, and you rightfully should be, are concerned about leaving tracks on the Internet:

General-purpose packet-capture tools; Wildpackets OmniAnalysis Platform, Network General Sniffer InfiniStream, NetQoS Gigastor, ETelemetry Locate; IM auditing and monitoring tools, Symantec IM Manager, Akonix F7 Enterprise, Facetime IM Auditor; E-mail/IM encryption tools, PGP Desktop and a free version of PGP, Hushmail.com, X-IM.net, PSST; Anonymous proxies, Anonymizer.com's Anonymous Surfing and Total Net Shield; Free anonymous surfing and proxies, Protected desktop, and Mojopac.com.

Whither Turkey?

Photo by Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

An article in the New York Times by Sabrina Tavernise (Sebnem Arsu contributed) today reported that the Turkish ruling party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan--the Justice and Development party (A.K.)--won a decisive victory in national parliamentary elections. The vote indicates the direction of Turkish democracy.

The vote sent a message to the secular state establishment, which opposed Erdogan's Islamic agenda. The secularists, the Republican People's Party, received only 20 percent of the vote. The Nationalist Action Party, an anti-Kurdish group, won 14 percent of the vote.

As the only non-European, Muslim NATO member and a strong American ally its stability is critical in light of chronic chaos in the Middle East. The powerful and secular military might react and it has deposed elected governments four times since the Turkish state was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923.

The A.K. arises from a religious, merchant class in rural Turkey. It advocates membership for Turkey in the European Union. It has strengthened economic ties with Israel, along with a non-vindictive policy towards the Kurdish minority.

Erdogan began as an Islamist, and for many leaders of the party, whose wives wear headscarves, comparisons were drawn to struggling administrations in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, or countries with wives whose heads were uncovered.

One ploy of Turkey’s secular state elite, backed by its military, used a legal maneuver to block Mr. Erdogan’s candidate from becoming president. And why? The wife of the candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, wears a Muslim headscarf.

It is refreshing to see a Middle Eastern Muslim political scene with a mixed crowd of headscarf and non-headscarf wearers.

The best policy is to take a `wait and see' attitude until Erdogan either steers the country in a more religious and anti-Western direction or if his victory is more simply modifying Turkey's secularity in a moderately religious direction. Not every Muslim is an Islamist and Erdogan should be given a chance to show his true colors.

In fact, if I were even more optimistic, although I frankly confess usually I am not, Erdogan's victory could be a sign that religiosity is more robust, charismatic, fervent, but mature and still soundly democratic at the same time. The best case scenario is that Turkey is Muslim, democratic, and secular all in one which would be a terrific political model to emulate in the region. The icing on the cake is that Israel is not demonized and Turkey and Israel cooperate in the region.

Is that too much to hope for?

Obama Hard Ball

The MySpace and Web 2.0 phenomenon is hitting the political sphere. When Senator Barack Obama tried to own his own MySpace address, he ran smack into an admirer, Joe Anthony, who had beat him to the punch for the page. Anthony had racked up 160,000 Obamans (friends) for Barack already. Negotiations began for Obama to get his name and MySpace address. Anthony requested 39K for his work on the Obama page. It got ugly but Obama seized the account in any case and his MySpace page only had 75,000 friends. It looks like he lost some buddies in the MySpace takeover.

7,000 Iraq Refugees to Enter U.S.

Only 800 Iraqis refugees were allowed into the U.S. since 2003, but 7,000 will enter the U.S. this year. I wonder why so many Iraqis want to emigrate if America is perceived so negatively in Iraq?

More Google Cookie Crumbling

Computerworld ran a story on 19 July 2007 about the fall-out from Google's recent decision to revise its cookie policy. The new and improved cookies will last only two years.

However, in the recent development critics charge that "No users will experience any gains in privacy at all due to Google's change in policy," stated Randy Abrams, director of technical education at ESET, a vendor of antivirus products.

Ever wonder how long Google's cookies last on your computer? Currently, the cookies set by the company are designed to expire in 2038.

That is longer than any cookie I know.

Follow the Campaign Money for the Next President

Federal Computer Week released a story, 16 July 2007 about the Federal Election Commission. The first day that the FEC offered its first interactive campaign finance application, the Web site garnished 90,000. This figure is an increase over its usual 7,000 visitors monthly.

The site cost about $12,000 to build and took about six months to develop.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency created in 1975 by Congress to administer and enforce campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1974 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act. It describes its duties as "to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections."

Would You Like $968 Million to Prepare?

Computerworld released a story announcing that the U.S. is offering $968 million for disaster technology. According to the Reuters news agency the money is in the form of grants to help state and local public safety agencies buy sophisticated radios and technology for communications during disasters, according to a Commerce Department spokesperson.

Who Said the Germans Don't Have a Heart?

An article today in Computerworld reported that German police understood how an angry computer user was so frustrated with his computer that he tossed it out the window. Apparently in the middle of the night a man was so frustrated that in an outburst his startled neighbors heard the commotion. The Hanover police responding to the melee sympathized with his technical frustrations. They decided not to press charges but they did make him clean up the mess.

"Asked what had driven him to the night-time outburst, the 51-year-old man said he had simply got annoyed with his computer. `Who hasn't felt like doing that?' said a police spokesman. I think we can all relate to computer users everywhere who have felt, and some have done, the same thing.

Political Globalized Islam

Two worthwhile books with flawed logic from a French theorist: The Failure of Political Islam & Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah by Olivier Roy.

Will fundamentalist Muslims manage to take power, or will the mostly nonfundamentalist autocrats now in power stay there?

The fundamentalists could well take over several governments in a short period: Algeria, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) has launched a virtual civil war; in Egypt, radical fundamentalists control parts of the cities and countryside; fundamentalist parties are gaining in nearly all the Muslim countries with electoral politics (Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Malaysia). The fundamentalist challenge to the established order is real.

So how is political Islam a failure?

The failure Roy refers to is one that distinguishes between Islamism and neofundamentalism. For Roy, the former means the drive for political power, and the latter means focusing on the family and the mosque. Think Iran for Islamism; think Saudi Arabia for neofundamentalism.

Islamism has failed and the weaker cause of neofundamentalism has flourished accoring to Roy.

True enough, Roy points out that fundamentalist Islam is a form of modernization. Contrary to the usual assumption, it is not medieval in spirit at all but an acutely modern form of protest. In Roy's elegant formulation, it "is the sharia [Islamic sacred law] plus electricity."

Though fundamentalist Islam cannot work, what Roy misses is that the realization that fundamentalism does not work could be years or decades off. We have no idea whatsoever from knowing the full import of fundamentalism. For example, as the Marxist-Leninist precedent shows, regimes kill and repress their opponents and also export their ideology abroad. The mullahs in Iran relish in power as most people appear to enjoy it. The salient point: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts, absolutely," Lord Acton, is not discussed by Roy.

In 1933, sixteen years after the Bolshevik revolution, communism had a strong life after the revolution; sixteen years after the Iranian Revolution fundamentalism is alive and well, despite Roy's objection.

Roy was wrong on Algeria. The Muslim FIS in Algeria is superceded by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA): they specialize in murdering the children of police officers, women without veils, unsympathetic journalists, and non-Muslim foreigners. They kill their victims in particularly horrifying ways, slitting throats and cutting off heads. Educated and/or Western-oriented, French speakers, or those wearing a business are attractive as potential victims.

Leading American specialists on the subject, such as John Entelis, John Esposito, and John Voll, argue that we should look beyond fundamentalism's rough edges and bristling rhetoric and relax.

However, you can only engage in dialogue those who are willing to accept its consequence: democracy, freedom, free choice.

We need to learn from history and to hope with the Who, "We don't get fooled again."

The Declaration of Independence

Are Google Cookies Crummy?

Today Computerworld released a story about Google which states their new policy: user cookies will expire after two years. However, for the two-year cookie policy to work: users must not return to the search site. The solution then is pretty simple, no? Users should just stop searching on Google. I would think that it is clear by now that many ordinary computer users do not understand what cookies are or how they work.

What are cookies? Cookies are small bits of code stored on a computer; cookies are handy for users though because their user preferences are stored on the computer. Another common aspect of cookies that users often overlook is that they are able to control their cookies at any time via their browsers. Users can shut off or modify how cookies are downloaded to their computers.

A user might view the cookie issue as convenience, Google is looking out for me, or more sinisterly, Google is deciding something for me that I'd rather do myself.

Privacy advocates think Google can do better. According to the Computerworld article:

"Google's paying attention to the issue of cookie expiration, but as a practical matter, I think this change will have little impact on online privacy. . . . Users still know too little about how Google collects information, what information is collected and what it's used for. And, of course, [for] anyone who returns to the Google site within two years, the cookie will be renewed. I think two days rather than two years is probably a better period for a search cookie,"

stated Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center.

How Does Search Really Work? Or, Can I Trust Google?

Computing Reviews released an interesting topic: “Adversarial
Information Retrieval: The Manipulation of Web Content:” by Dennis Fetterly of Microsoft Research. To summarize, Fetterly demonstrates: how search engine results can be manipulated by content providers. By using methods such as adding unrelated content to meta tags, duplicating information, and cloaking content so it is indexed
differently, Web pages can improve their result rankings. While the economic incentive for achieving high rankings is significant, manipulated results undermine the trust of millions of users. Fetterly suggests research into link-based spam detection and the identification of spam blogs, and advocates the development of a clear set of rules
for search engines. This is a worthwhile read.

Follow the money

The EE Times reported today that global venture capital firms are targeting China and India: and, the U.S.

However, the import of the report may be that capital investment overseas is lower than has been widely assumed, with only a 1 percent increase over last year in the number of U.S. companies planning to expand offshore investments over the next five years. Highly regarded firms such as Deloitte & Touche and the National Venture Capital Association concluded that U.S. VC firms are still only "dabbling" in places like China and India.

In the case of China, perhaps the nation is too questionable for many investors to consider, and India has chronic problems as well.

Update on Pandemic

Update:

I've noted some concern about a pandemic, but, perhaps not enough given today's Computerworld story:

"Some IT managers say they see no choice but for organizations to prepare their tech operations for a possible avian flu epidemic. But there are concerns that attention to the issue may be waning in the U.S."

"It's not a question of if, but when. So the sooner that companies and families and communities and states are prepared, the better.

James Seligman, the Center for Disease Control's CIO, on the likelihood of a pandemic striking the U.S.

Does Your Crystal Ball Need a Brushup?

Paul Saffo published an interesting article in the current issue of the Harvard Business Review in which he describes:

Six Rules for Effective Forecasting:

1. Define a cone of uncertainty; 2. Look for the S curve; 3. Embrace the things that don't fit; 4. Hold strong opinions weakly; 5. Look back twice as far as you look forward; 6. Know when not to make a forecast.

Only Human (2004, Spanish, Seres queridos)

Only Human (2004, Spanish, Seres queridos) attempts to imitate a Rabelaisian plot: wacky, and clever, but this film most often falls flat. This Spanish film is in the mold of Meet the Parents but without the laughs. The improbable plot lines should sustain interest but frankly, I fell asleep. I tried again the next day and slogged through it. The universal appeal of bringing home that special someone is undercut by its own cleverness. We should enjoy our protagonists' Leni's family buffoons: blind Dadu, the grandfather, the unwed nymphomaniac sister living at home with a 5-year-old daughter, the zealous brother with his fanatical attachment to Judaism, the pre-menopausal crisis of the mother, and the wayward father. When Leni brings her Palestinian fiancé, Rafi, to meet the family, we are set up for conflict galore but global issues pale in comparison with the chaos that reigns in Leni's family. It begins promisingly enough; unwittingly, Rafi may have accidentally killed Leni's father, but the anarchy that ensues teases but never delivers.

Ft. Dix Accused Write

Ft. Dix housed a village of refugees from the fighting in Kosovar before those people could re-settle.

As reported earlier, six men were arrested as suspects in a terroristic plot against Ft. Dix. The 14 July 2007 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer released a story about the Ft. Dix suspected terrorists writing to the judge in their case. Dritan Duka stated that the charges of an armed attack on New Jersey's Fort Dix "lies and accusations." The defendants also bemoaned conditions in jail while two of them, Mohammad Shnewer and Duka, who also wrote on behalf of his brothers and codefendants, Shain and Eljvir, while proclaiming their innocence in those letters. The prosecution would like the trial to begin on 9 October but the defense is seeking more time.

Five of the six defendants--Shnewer, 22; Serdar Tatar, 23; and brothers Dritan Duka, 28; Shain Duka, 26, and Eljvir Duka, 23--were charged with plotting a Fort Dix attack that was "inspired by . . . al-Qaeda." They could face a life sentence if convicted.

The sixth defendant, Abdullahu, was charged with supplying some of his codefendants with guns. He faces a 10-year sentence.

Two FBI informants penetrated the group and secretly recorded more than 100 conversations.

All six are foreign-born Muslims who came to live in South Jersey. Shnewer is the lone naturalized U.S. citizen in the group." The Duka brothers, ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia, are in the United States illegally.

Shnewer stated that he twice had "gotten a write up for praying." He included a Bureau of Prisons incident report that said he was chanting loudly in an Arabic dialect at this cell door.

The Pennsylvania Al-Qaeda

A federal jury convicted a Pennsylvania man, Michael Curtis Reynolds, 49, after deliberating for an hour. Reynolds was convicted of working with al Qaeda in a plot to blow up the Alaska pipeline, another pipeline in Pennsylvania and a refinery in New Jersey. Acting on a tip from Shannen Rossmiller--a judge from Conrad, Montana who in 2004 helped snare a Washington state national guardsman who was considering defecting to al Qaeda-–was what originally led the FBI to Reynolds.

Gettin' Zombie with J. Edgar Hoover?

Campus Technology reports today that the FBI and Carnegie Mellon University's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) identified 1 MM BotNet Nodes. The paring identified the IP addresses of more than 1 million zombie computers throughout the United States as a part of security sweep nicknamed "Operation Bot Roast." Zombies are computers that are unwitting hosts for the activities of bots, pieces of malicious software that are often used to facilitate crimes. Many of those effected by this sweep are unaware that their computers have been compromised, hence the moniker, zombie. I know what you are thinking but no, J. Edgar Hoover has not returned.

Buckets Before Blues

According to an article by Campus Technology (11 July 2007), Linda L. Briggs reported that Temple University solved their content management issue. Temple retains roughly half a million pages of content on more than 500 active Web sites which is an enormous content management challenge.

In addition, Temple has around 34,000 students across 17 campuses around the world. With Adobe's product, Contribute, thousands of users--literally anyone at the university with the proper permission--can post and update website content. The decentralized system is saving the university significantly by allowing university departments, rather than the IT department, to create, edit, publish, and control their own Web content.

Every Iraqi Wants the U.S. To Withdraw Immediately, Right?

Or, do they in Kurdistan (Iraq) also?

In the U.S., we don't hear much about Kurdistan.

Get 'em Today! Step Right Up! Indispensable Free Tools

As frustrated with computing as I am? How about a few suggestions? And, to top off this great offer, these indispensable tools are free. You can't beat that, now can you?


One of the best tools out there is What's Running which is a product that gives you an inside look into your Windows 2000/XP/2003 system. Without sounding too deep you can explore processes, services, modules, IP-connections, drivers and more through a simple interface. Once you know what is running you can easily shut the process down or watch your applications unfold before your eyes. If you ever are like me, and wonder why applications take so long, now you will know. You can see the processes of your computer at work. It does not make the process any faster but aren't you happier knowing that your computer is not simply mocking you and it is really trying to please you? Another handy procedure is to configure your startup programs easily. Now you don't have to wait until the little rats inside the box feel like working, you can only start what you absolutely need and get to work faster. Unless, of course, you would rather wait a bit and have 'unother cup 'o tea.


Get "CCleaner" and while you are guessing what the "C" in the name stands for, you can begin to marvel about how much better your computer is running. It cleans the Winrot up for you so you can actually still use your computer after the shrink wrap is gone. You are not insane, the older your PC gets, and the more you use it, the slower it gets, and it's not just because it's old. Winrot, otherwise known as the Bill Gates Syndrome, is caused by a number of issue: programs with sloppy uninstall routines that litter your hard drive with their leavings; conflicts between several different versions of the same DLL (Dynamic Link Library), that is, code which multiple applications share separated into a DLL which only exists as a single, separate file; registry gunk; invisible startup programs; and problems along these lines.

The Mahdi Army Enforces a Little Street Justice Prohibition

Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God."
Mark 10:14.

Webolution

Radar Networks is developing Web 3.0, the Semantic Web, or what is otherwise described by Radarnetworks as "the Intelligent Web." The Web-based online service claims to be able to leverage the power of the Intelligent Web to consumers, slated for Beta in 2007.

I'm watching this development--although barely adjusted to Web 2.0--though, this is curious since having discussions about the ontology of the Web before the bubble burst in 2000. More to follow . . .

The chart is pretty cool I'll admit.

When the Need to Know Gets Tougher, What Do the Tough Need to Know?

Today, 11 July 2007, Computerworld released a list of twelve crucial IT skills demanded by today's workplace: 1) Machine learning; 2) Mobilizing applications; 3) Wireless networking; 4) Human-computer interface; 5) Project management; 6) General networking skills; 7) Network convergence technicians; 8) Open-source programming; 9) Business intelligence systems; 10) Embedded security; 11) Digital home technology integration; and 12) .Net, C #, C ++, Java--with an edge, or something more to offer.

No One Knows Who My First Girlfriend Is. . . Or, Do They?

Computerworld ran an article identifying what search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Live Search all record and retain in their vast data banks, e.g., any term that you query, in addition to the date and time your query was processed, the IP address of your computer, and a cookie-based unique ID that unless deleted, enables the search engine to continue to know if requests are coming from that particular computer, even if the connection changes.

Microsoft Live Search also records the type of search you conducted (image, Web, local, etc.), while Google additionally stores your browser type and language. And when you click on a link displayed on Google, that may also be recorded and associated with your computer's IP address.

Although ordinarily, there is not much to worry about, since the server logs don't associate search terms with personally identifiable information, such as your name or e-mail address. However, if you have an account with or have registered for any of the additional services on a search engine site--e-mail, social networks, calendars, shopping lists--it's feasible that that connection could be made, says Brad Templeton, chairman of the board at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that protects liberties and privacy in cyberspace.

Lately writing about searches leads me to recommend alternative search engines such as Scroogle which claims to scrape the identifying information out of your searches.

IBM, Indian Universities, and U.S. Universities Partner for Scientists

IBM, Indian Universities, and several U.S. Universities have developed curriculum for 'Service Scientists,' or "skills associated with the burgeoning market for offshore technical services and support."

The agreements involve: IBM, the Indian School of Business--Hyderabad (ISB), the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, and the Indian Institute of Science. U.S. universities involved include the University of California, Berkeley; Arizona State University; and North Carolina State University.

Americans will need to step it up a notch to compete for the skills needed in a technology-based, services-led economy.

cf. Paul McCloskey, "IBM, Indian Universities Develop Curriculum for 'Service Scientists'," Campus Technology, 7/10/2007, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=49021.