TSA Announces Blog

Under the banner: "Terrorists Evolve. Threats Evolve. Security Must Stay Ahead. You Play A Part," the (Transportation Security Administration (TSA) launched a new blog to get questions and feedback on airport security issues.

I have a question, what are the limitations, if any, on the attire of TSA inspectors. For example, can the TSA inspector wear a hijab?

The checkpoint personnel may seem pushy, we are all wondering how to adjust since as travelers we need to, as the Islamofascists seem to travel at will. I just wondered.

Hoover's Scoops Up Social Networking

Hoover's launches a professional networking tool so that goes to show you how business is learning from teenagers. Hoover's Connect can leverage Outlook contact lists to expand professional networks which is not significantly different than what the kids have been doing. An algorithm in the Connect tool evaluates the strength of the networking and rates them accordingly. In addition, users themselves can evaluate the potential for a particular networking opportunity based on their own Outlook contacts.

Not All Find Al-Qaida's Presence Comforting

The Iraqi tribal Chief Saban al-Bazoun asked al-Qaeda to go home and blow themselves up and to stop targeting Iraqis.

Video source: Memritv.

Philadelphia's Wi-Fi Network to Close?

Like most municipal plans nationwide, Philadelphia's Wi-Fi network may not happen but the City announced plans in that eventuality occurs. Philadelphia's CIO stated that there is a 75% chance that EarthLink Inc. will sell or abandon its network operation within a year.

Terry Phillis, Philadelphia's CIO, anticipated that the city will know more within 60 days about what EarthLink, the present network builder, will do regarding the Philadelphia plans. Either the City will take over the project, which is not really a good option, or, a sale of the Wi-Fi network may hand it over to another private network builder and operator.

The network is designed to close the digital divide and assist lower-income residents gain Internet access. Whether this happens or not is still up in the air. Those programs which seem to help those most in need don't always happen. `The best laid plans of mice and men . . . '

Welcome to the New Boss: Globalization

Graphic source: somethingworthwhilequotes.com

Globalization is something I experienced first-hand ten years ago although at that time I don't think I had realized what the term implied or even if I'd heard it at that time.

I needed work done for online projects and my staff, inclined as they were to spending time with their families, wanting to sleep, and having sundry and important things to do actually wanted to go home circa 5 p.m. Slackers!

Work needed to get done so I starting looking online for free-lancers who could do the work. I was pleasantly surprised to find eager, competent, and educated personnel who could do the work responsibly and easily meet 8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time deadlines. Didn't they have to sleep? Didn't they have families and lives too?

Of course they did but as the sun sets on the United States, hopefully not permanently, the sun is rising, and I hope only metaphorically, to the West. Geographically this area is generally known as the Pacific Rim, or the East: China, India, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Korea.

I should have been more aware of this development because during 1994-1998 I first employed electronic bulletin boards and sought qualified experts to comment about online academic courses I developed in a University Liberal Arts program.

The answers were articulate, accurate, and academically credible.

All of this though has hardly prepared me for the hand-wringing which began in earnest a couple of weeks ago when Citibank, Merrill Lynch, and other financial services giants announced that they were turning to countries like China, Singapore and Kuwait for the billions in funds they desperately seek to cover their losses from the sub-prime mortgage meltdown.

Is American #1? The question haunts my classroom on a daily basis as I consider the notion of the wealthiest, most powerful nation on Earth depending so uncomfortably on foreign investment.

We need to get accustomed to it.

IBM, the paradigmatic "American" IT company, relies on foreign interests for nearly two-thirds of its business and has advertised its position as a stalwart globalized IT enterprise. IBM is closely allied with Asia, in particular, India.

The plain truth is that globalization is inherent in economic life today. If you are fighting the inevitable, you need to adjust.

This is not your father's analysis and globalization if anything will simply increase. The task here is to adjust, decry risk-averse strategies, and try to prosper through challenging times.

Note on Karl Christ, The Romans: An Introduction to their History and Civilization

The Roman struggle over social equity during the Struggle of the Orders during the Republic is one of the classic eras to examine as grist for the mill as adherents of all political persuasions seek to capture it for their polemics. Karl Christ deftly handles the period and does not pander to an extreme liberal view, as in Marx, nor does he defend the conservative status quo. He rightly situates the Struggle as a two century battle, not easily captured by any more contemporary politics.

In an outstanding book in so many ways, a genuine highpoint is his summary of the civilization as one of the most important bases of the modern world. Christ notes that the Romans form the basis of so much of Western Civilization and later Revolutions. He handles the major scholars of Roman history, Mommsen, Herder, von Ranke, Burckhardt, Rostovtzeff, and Syme, all of whom appear with a flourish in the concluding chapter. He summarized the "virtues" and excesses of Rome and describes why they are so important to our own questions and why Roman civilization remains a treasured darling of historians. This is the best one volume introduction around.

Fort Dix Six Recruit for al Qaeda in Prison

In newly released government documents, the Fort Dix Six are continuing jihad by recruiting, circulating an al Qaeda DVD, and proselytizing amongst fellow inmates. Their hand-written notes have been released. Cf. http://intelwire.egoplex.com/index.html

AQ Slithering Towards Mosul

Graphic source: The Long War Journal

AQ in Iraq is slithering northwards towards Mosul since the Coalition is pressuring, and eliminating, AQ in the south in and near Baghdad.

Rotten Apple Takes the Cake

Thanks to the good folks over at Internet Evolution an unscientific survey noted that Apple rankles more people as the most hated technology company.

Over a 1,000 pollsters ranked Apple first, then, Microsoft with 27% and 22% respectively. Google was voted on the best liked company at 33%.

U.S. Web Site Supports al-Qaida

A Computerworld
article today announced that a U.S. website offers a strengthened encryption device intended to hide al-Qaeda supporters.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an organization that has monitored how radical Muslims have housed jihadist sites in the U.S. for some time.

In this case, the current server is hosted in Tampa, and previously the site appears to have been run off a system in Minnesota. MEMRI identified the Web hosting firm that owns the server on which the site, al-Ekhlaas that offers the encryption device, is the Florida-based Noc4hosts Incorporated.

Welcome to the Club!

A Professor, an Assistant of course, is claiming to be the first professor to employ a blog to get a peer review of an academic book. He may get more than he bargained for since there are non-peers out there but this is a worthwhile effort.

Academe is a closed circuit process. You have to qualify for the club, and club members decide who is in the club. The club is not always open to alternative voices but if you are an academic you should remain open to creative impulses. Those creative impulsive are often first noticed and expressed by outsiders because they are outside the club. They notice things that the club members miss.

The blog in this particular effort is one that is apropos for the book itself. Outsiders, gamers, and Internet savvy persons are some of the best and creative minds who have applied themselves to the topic. They should be involved.

I wish the author well.

The professor is working on a book about digital fiction and video games and many of these people are outside academia but they have intriguing insights into the subject matter.

It is in this vein then that Noah Wardrip-Fruin, an assistant professor of communication at the University of California San Diego, announced plans to post portions of his forthcoming book, Expressive Processing, on the Grand Text Auto blog to seek peer review and before the book is published by MIT Press.

Computerworld Recommended Books for 2008

Today's Computerworld has an interesting article entitled: Books That Can Change Your Life: Must-reads for 2008 which is well-worth taking a look at.

Financials Get Ready for the Next Challenge

One of my biggest concerns in the Internet age is the “rude awakening” Americans received on 9/11, and realizing how prone our computers systems are to nefarious deeds. Of those directly effected, they learned they didn’t have the communications diversity and redundancy that should have been in place. Many IT organizations though responded quickly and did an unbelievable job of rectifying the identified problems. As people have grown complacent though, they are most likely forgetting several important steps that a recent Computerworld article addressed:

Financial companies have taken these steps to protect themselves against another Internet outage:

* Set up dedicated networks independent of telephone companies in certain parts of the country.

* Negotiated more aggressively with communications companies to guarantee diverse routing.

* Separated data centers and communications centers more widely geographically.

Cf. Computerworld 21 January 2008.

A Contemporary Application of "Teach The Children"

"Teach the Children" is an anti-war song made famous during the Vietnam conflict by Crosby, Stills, and Nash. This is the same group who memorialized the four students killed at Kent State by National Guardsmen in the song "Ohio."

IBM Puts the International to Work in its Name

Due to off sourcing nations "U.S." companies are kept in the black. The question to consider though is how American are companies once their operations are no longer American.

IBM, supposedly a U.S. company, is dependent on its third-quarter earning statement which is justification for globalization. Not only are countries taking U.S. technology jobs, but a recent IBM statement noted that the opportunities in emerging markets is equivalent to the California gold rush.

IBM has 65% of its business overseas, with emerging markets growing by double digits. In the 2006 calendar year, IBM's non-U.S. operations accounted for 60% of its revenue. IBM signed $1.4 billion in services deals last quarter in India alone.

In a broad range of countries such as Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, and Ecuador, a growing middle class favors a buildup of public and private infrastructures to support explosive economic growth.

In India last week, Sebastian Teunissen, adjunct professor and executive director of the Clausen Center for International Business and Policy at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, stated: "I've been doing this for a number of years, and I'm still blown away."

The moribund growth of PCs in the U.S. is outstripped in India. He stated: "There are an awful lot of people there who are really, really hungry for technology."

Cf. Computerworld

Who Should Hack Power: Criminals or the Government? What's the Difference?

Criminals have been able to hack into computer systems via the Internet and cut power to several cities, according to a CIA analyst, and unless IT professionals begin to close the antiquated systems down or truly security test them, the government will next move to regulate the process.

At a SANS Institute conference of security professionals, CIA analyst Tom Donahue disclosed the recently declassified attacks.

The talk was long on threats while painfully scarce on specifics as to what actually went wrong.

Criminals have launched online attacks that disrupted power equipment in several regions outside of the U.S., he said, without identifying the countries affected. The goal of the attacks was extortion, he said.

Of course the government will have to supervise this process unless IT professionals step up their efforts. The alternative is to have the government spying on every power grid in the country.

Wouldn't we all rather have a choice and some options to government spying and intrusion?

Good Morning: Bad News, The Internet Is Gone

Indeed, although most of us worry only about local, and network threats, the threat of the Net being down is “urgent and real,” according to The Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of large U.S. companies. The advocacy group says there is a 10% to 20% chance of a “breakdown of the critical information infrastructure” in the next 10 years. The biggest culprits according to the Washington-based public policy group, may be brought on by “malicious code, coding error, natural disasters, [or] attacks by terrorists and other adversaries.”

Stay tuned for upcoming developments.

French Make Move to Build Naval Base in Abu Dhabi

Graphic source: BBC

I don't know if the French are strong enough but they are about to make a serious move into the Gulf.

I've maintained here that both Russia, India, and probably China should step up to the plate but little France I haven't really considered.

Nonetheless, President Nicolas Sarkozy has not only done France's traditional policy of selling arms to Gulf states but he has done one better by signing a deal with Abu Dhabi for a permanent French naval base.

Will France become more of a target if it is interjected into the complex politics of the Gulf? Probably.

President Sarkozy appears willing to accept that this exposes France to the risks involved in such a sensitive area. There was the recent confrontation between Iranian speedboats and US naval ships recently. In addition, there is a dispute between Abu Dhabi and Iran over three small islands in the Strait of Hormuz.

Even the timing is interesting, coming as it does with a major visit to the region by President Bush, during which he has criticized Iran.

France is already playing an active role in trying to increase sanctions on Iran over its refusal to accept Security Council demands for a halt to uranium enrichment.

I think its a good move and is another indication that the U.S. can stand down as much as possible. I say let the French and others take up some slack and catch some of the flack that the U.S. ordinarily takes.

France is also constructing two nuclear power reactors for Abu Dhabi.

All this interest in nuclear power could indicate a capacity for nuclear weapons at some stage.

France has already sold Mirage jet fighters and AMX-30 tanks to the Emirate and has had a defence agreement with it (mainly dealing with the support of arms contracts) since 1995.

The British never fared well in the Lower Gulf and this allowed the French to make their move which they took full advantage of.

How German Engineering Thwarts Suicide Bombing

It is a sign of the times when a car advertisement incorporates suicide bombing as its motif.

Islamic Terrorists Infilitrating Europe

This is a post about a French journalist who as a refugee from his native Algeria is opposing Islamic terrorists who are infiltrating Europe.