This guy really is good at what he does. Kid's draw pictures of their 'monsters' and super-heros, and he takes those pictures, and paints them realistically, all the while leaving the basic lines and scope of the drawings.

THE MONSTER ENGINE - What if a kid's imagination....was better represented?

Interview With Cryptographer Elonka Dunin

from the old-school-geeks dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Whitedust is running a very interesting article with the DEF CON speaker and cryptographer Elonka Dunin. The article covers her career and specifically her involvement with the CIA and other US Military agencies."

Top link on slashdot for the nanosecond...

Slashdot | Interview With Cryptographer Elonka Dunin

Michiko Kakutani calls Fukuyama's new book "tough-minded and edifying."

In "America at the Crossroads," Mr. Fukuyama questions the assertion made by the prominent neoconservatives Mr. Kristol and Robert Kagan in their 2000 book "Present Dangers: Crisis and Opportunity in American Foreign and Defense Policy" that other nations "find they have less to fear" from the daunting power of the United States because "American foreign policy is infused with an unusually high degree of morality." The problem with this doctrine of "benevolent hegemony," Mr. Fukuyama points out, is that "it is not sufficient that Americans believe in their own good intentions; non-Americans must be convinced of them as well."

That's where the General Memetics Corporation comes into the picture.

Fukuyama writes:

"Bureaucratic tribalism exists in all administrations, but it rose to poisonous levels in Bush's first term. Team loyalty trumped open-minded discussion, and was directly responsible for the administration's failure to plan adequately for the period after the end of active combat."

NYT Review of 'America at the Crossroads,' by Francis Fukuyama

When the jihadists struck in London last July, the death toll meant far more than statistics for Julie Nicholson: her 24- year-old daughter, Jenny, was one of the 52 victims to perish along with four attackers.

an article dealing with forgiveness and healing and redemption
those extraordinary normal people who can shake hands with the killer of a loved one and the loved ones of the victims of suicide bombers for whom this is not an option

Letter from Britain: Finding reconciliation after terrorist killings - Europe - International Herald Tribune

For the past two decades, Annette Lareau has embedded herself in American families. She and her researchers have sat on living room floors as families went about their business, ridden in back seats as families drove hither and yon.

an intesting lool at a parenting divide between the middle and working class

David Brooks: Both sides of inequality - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

NASA's Cassini spacecraft may have found evidence of liquid water reservoirs that erupt in Yellowstone-like geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The rare occurrence of liquid water so near the surface raises many new questions about the mysterious moon.

There are still many questions that enshroud this discovery. Although other moons in our solar system contain icy crusts, the real discovery here is that liquid water is apparently just below the surface of the moon. Scientists will now beginning exploring the possibility that lifeforms could have existed at one point in this environment...

NASA - NASA's Cassini Discovers Potential Liquid Water on Enceladus

The Cassini spacecraft has found evidence of liquid water spewing from geysers on one of Saturn's icy moons, raising the tantalizing possibility that the celestial object harbors life.

Scientists Find Evidence of Water on Saturn Moon - New York Times

Is the continent at the end of the Earth slowly melting? For millions of years, Antarctica, the frozen continent at the southern end of planet Earth, has been encased in a gigantic sheet of ice. Recently, the orbiting robotic GRACE satellite has been taking sensitive measurements of the gravity for the entire Earth, including Antarctica. Recent analysis of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data indicate that the Antarctic ice sheet might have lost enough mass to cause the worlds' oceans to rise about 1.2 millimeters, on the average, from between 2002 and 2005. Although this may not seem like much, the equivalent amount of water is about 150 trillion liters, equivalent to the amount of water used by US residents in three months. Uncertainties in the measurement make the mass loss uncertain by about 80 trillion liters. Pictured above is an iceberg that is a small part of the Antarctic ice sheet. Future research will likely focus on trying to better understand the data, take more data, predict future trends, and understand possible effects of these trends on the future climate of our entire home planet.

APOD: 2006 March 8 - Earth's Shrinking Antarctic Ice Sheet

Tom makes quite a cogent argument... well said.

RE: Suit: W.Va. Police Chief Denied Gay Man CPR - Yahoo! News

During his trip to South Asia, President George W. Bush did his best to whistle past the diplomatic graveyard of Kashmir, issuing only bland encouragements to the leaders of India and Pakistan to resolve the status of the disputed territory. That's a shame, because instead of ignoring Kashmir, Bush and his administration should be studying it as a case study in dealing with an insurgency.

written by

Anit Mukherjee, a doctoral candidate at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins, served in the Indian Army for nine years.

nice article by a man who has on the ground experience of counter-insurgency

Kashmir: Lessons from another insurgency - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune