eerie: December 2006 Archives

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December 22, 2006

Away

Family things for the next few days, won't be around much (Muslim or not, one can still take advantage of statutory holidays). Also, my internet seems to be fucked, making simple things like Aqoul housekeeping terribly frustrating. I'm largely restricted to the physical universe until things are fixed. Boo.

Actually, IM appears to be working fine, in case someone has an urgent problem (and thinks I might care).

Posted by eerie at 03:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Personal , Site News

December 18, 2006

Curse you, Zenpundit

I frequently wander over to Zenpundit's place for recommended reading links and commentary. Tonight, after reading his post on Shelfari.com, I found myself utterly engrossed in this so-called "MySpace for Bibliomaniacs".

For those of you who aren't familiar with MySpace, it's a massively popular social networking site, similar in functionality to Livejournal. People create friend-networks, write journals, leave comments (often accompanied by amateurish soft-core photoshop atrocities) and embroil themselves in highschool-type drama. Young celebrities also use MySpace pages to connect directly with fans (or create that impression).

Continue reading "Curse you, Zenpundit"

Posted by eerie at 11:38 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Random Notes , Society & Culture

December 16, 2006

The Show Us Your Desktop Meme

Am staying in today, trying to avoid the Christmas shopping pandemonium consuming this otherwise orderly city. While continuing to feed my ghoulish obsession with genocide (currently reading Dallaire, Power) and mucking about on 'Aqoul as usual, I came across a new meme: Show Us Your Desktop. Obviously it involves taking a screenshot of one's desktop and posting it for the purpose of inviting low value, cretinous commentary (yes, still laughing at L's drive-by yesterday).

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Posted by eerie at 03:58 PM | Comments (18) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Random Notes

December 04, 2006

Open-Source Spying

Came across a typically rah-rah NYT article about blogs and wikis being the magic bullets for spy agencies to predict and prevent major terrorist attacks. Overall I was not impressed, but it did touch on a number of important organizational challenges around technology adoption, culture change and the pace of progress in large organizations.

Burton, who has since left the D.I.A. [Defense Intelligence Agency], is not alone in his concern. Indeed, throughout the intelligence community, spies are beginning to wonder why their technology has fallen so far behind — and talk among themselves about how to catch up. Some of the country’s most senior intelligence thinkers have joined the discussion, and surprisingly, many of them believe the answer may lie in the interactive tools the world’s teenagers are using to pass around YouTube videos and bicker online about their favorite bands. Billions of dollars’ worth of ultrasecret data networks couldn’t help spies piece together the clues to the worst terrorist plot ever. So perhaps, they argue, it’ s time to try something radically different. Could blogs and wikis prevent the next 9/11? [Emphasis mine]

First, some perspective. Collaboration tools (blogs, wikis, online workspaces) and information/knowledge management are currently very fashionable in IT-corporate circles, so it's not surprising at all to see the concept being examined by senior intel people. However, I find the above implication that pieces of software might prevent the next 9/11 to be utterly ludicrous.

Continue reading "Open-Source Spying"

Posted by eerie at 08:30 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Random Notes