"What helped the British in this case is the ability to be nimble, to be fast, to be flexible, to operate based on fast-moving information," he said. "We have to make sure our legal system allows us to do that. It's not like the 20th century, where you had time to get warrants."

Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security

Warrants are so 20th Century. Thats the meme of the year. Remember, the Constitution talks about Warrants, but it doesn't say you always have to have one. It just says that you can't perform an unreasonable search. If the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security thinks its reasonable, then obviously it must be. In the future, Warrants will only be required when you're searching the offices of a corporation or a public official. I'm not kidding. Mark my words.

The strategy here is to win the 2006 elections on an anti civil liberties platform.

We have to get away from this concept that we have to apply civil-liberties protections to terrorists," Peter King (R., N.Y.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee

What is a terrorist, Mr King? Who determines who is or is not a terrorist so that we know when to apply civil liberties and when not to apply them? What is a trial, Mr. King? What does a trial determine? How can you determine guilt without a trial? If you don't need a trial to determine guilt, then why have them? What is their purpose? Has the federal government ever prosecuted an innocent person? How many, exactly? Has the federal government ever spied on anyone for an inappropriate purpose? Has the federal government ever detained someone for an inappropriate purpose?

Meme of the Year: Warrants are so 20th Century

As a kid there was nothing like dragging your finger across the dirty back window of your mom's minivan. Imagine lifting your finger to find you've created a Mona Lisa on the rear glass. Scott Wade of San Marcos, TX is perhaps the only person who could say he's done this.

'Wash Me' taken to a new level - the Dust Art of Scott Wade

Strategic Forecasting's series of special reports on the Israel/Lebanon crisis continue to be the best source of insight into the big picture. I strongly suggest reading all of them. It helps put all the information coming from the other TV and written coverage into perspective.

We are now in the period preceding major conventional operations. Israel is in the process of sealing the Lebanese coast. They have disrupted Lebanese telecommunications, although they have not completely collapsed the structure. Israeli aircraft are attacking Hezbollah's infrastructure and road system. In the meantime, Hezbollah, aware it is going to be hit hard, is in a use-it or-lose-it scenario, firing what projectiles it can into Israel.

The Israeli strategy appears to be designed to do two things. First, the Israelis are trying to prevent any supplies from entering Lebanon, including reinforcements. That is why they are attacking all coastal maritime facilities. Second, they are degrading the roads in Lebanon. That will keep reinforcements from reaching Hezbollah fighters engaged in the south. As important, it will prevent the withdrawal and redeployment of heavy equipment deployed by Hezbollah in the south, particularly their rockets, missiles and launchers. The Israelis are preparing the battlefield to prevent a Hezbollah retreat or maneuver.

Hezbollah's strategy has been imposed on it. It seems committed to standing and fighting. The rate of fire they are maintaining into Israel is clearly based on an expectation that Israel will be attacking. The rocketry guarantees the Israelis will attack. Hezbollah has been reported to have anti-tank and anti-air weapons. The Israelis will use airmobile tactics to surround and isolate Hezbollah concentrations, but in the end, they will have to go in, engage and defeat Hezbollah tactically. Hezbollah obviously knows this, but there is no sign of disintegration on its part. At the very least, Hezbollah is projecting an appetite for combat. Sources in Beirut, who have been reliable to this point, say Hezbollah has weapons that have not yet been seen, such as anti-aircraft missiles, and that these will be used shortly. Whatever the truth of this, Hezbollah does not seem to think its situation is hopeless.

The uncertain question is Syria. No matter how effectively Israel seals the Lebanese coast, so long as the Syrian frontier is open, Hezbollah might get supplies from there, and might be able to retreat there. So far, there has been only one reported airstrike on a Syrian target. Both Israel and Syria were quick to deny this.

What is interesting is that it was the Syrians who insisted very publicly that no such attack took place. The Syrians are clearly trying to avoid a situation in which they are locked into a confrontation with Israel. Israel might well think this is the time to have it out with Syria as well, but Syria is trying very hard not t... [ Read More (0.8k in body) ]

Stratfor | Red Alert: Getting Ready

From Slashdot:

"An article from the National Association of Colleges and Employers contains yet another horror story about a prospective hire's Facebook being checked — with a different twist. The interviewee had enabled privacy on his profile, '[b]ut, during the interview, something he was not prepared for happened. The interviewer began asking specific questions about the content on his Facebook.com listing and the situation became very awkward and uncomfortable. The son had thought only those he allowed to access his profile would be able to do so. But, the interviewer explained that as a state agency, recruiters accessed his Facebook account under the auspices of the Patriot Act.' How can a 'state agency' use the Patriot Act to subpoena a Facebook profile?"

What he said... how?

State Agency Uses Patriot Act to get Facebook info

ME
Jeremy Slater. You know, the awesome screenwriter. I'm a big fan of your work, by the way. Especially the way you directed Jurassic Park. And that other one...what was it called? Snakes on a Something. Bus? Plane? Plane, right?

(long silence)

MR. X
That wasn't me.

ME
Shit, I meant Jews on a Train.

MR. X
...Schindler's List.

ME
What?

MR. X
Schindler's List. That's what it was called.

ME
Are you sure? That can't be right.

(long silence)

MR. X
Who is this again?

ME
Jeremy Slater? I, um, sent you my screenplay a few days ago? Just wondering whether you want to buy it or whatever. Make me an offer. I'll take anything.

MR. X
How did you get this number?

ME
That's not important. Let's focus on RAPEBEAR.

(longest silence yet)

MR. X
Excuse me?

haha
The tshirts with the rapebear are Here.

How to Write Screenplays. Badly.: On Follow-Up Calls

If you eat food, this is a book you ought to read. America is so dependent on big ag, big corn, and fossil fuel-based calories. Even if you attempt to go organic - say by buying Horizon - you end up being part of the industrial food machine. We are what we eat, and we should know what we are.

Nor would such a culture [not the US, but a
culture in possession of deeply rooted traditions surrounding food and
eating] be shocked to discover that there are
other countries, such as Italy and France, that decide their dinner questions
on the basis of such quaint and unscientific criteria as pleasure
and tradition, eat all manner of “unhealthy” foods, and, lo and behold,
wind up actually healthier and happier in their eating than we are.We
show our surprise at this by speaking of something called the “French
paradox,” for how could a people who eat such demonstrably toxic
substances as foie gras and triple crème cheese actually be slimmer and
healthier than we are? Yet I wonder if it doesn’t make more sense to
speak in terms of an American paradox—that is, a notably unhealthy
people obsessed by the idea of eating healthily.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

We've all heard of the Great Firewall of China. These guys found a clever way around it:

The Great Firewall of China is an important tool for the Chinese Government in their efforts to censor the Internet. It works, in part, by inspecting web traffic to determine whether or not particular words are present.
...
It turns out [caveat: in the specific cases we’ve closely examined, YMMV] that the keyword detection is not actually being done in large routers on the borders of the Chinese networks, but in nearby subsidiary machines. When these machines detect the keyword, they do not actually prevent the packet containing the keyword from passing through the main router (this would be horribly complicated to achieve and still allow the router to run at the necessary speed). Instead, these subsiduary machines generate a series of TCP reset packets, which are sent to each end of the connection. When the resets arrive, the end-points assume they are genuine requests from the other end to close the connection — and obey. Hence the censorship occurs.

However, because the original packets are passed through the firewall unscathed, if both of the endpoints were to completely ignore the firewall’s reset packets, then the connection will proceed unhindered! We’ve done some real experiments on this — and it works just fine!! Think of it as the Harry Potter approach to the Great Firewall — just shut your eyes and walk onto Platform 9¾.

Ignoring the Great Firewall of China

Great idea - bring the bazaar of ideas (ala Linux) to the marketplace.

LIKE many top executives, James R. Lavoie and Joseph M. Marino keep a close eye on the stock market. But the two men, co-founders of Rite-Solutions, a software company that builds advanced — and highly classified — command-and-control systems for the Navy, don't worry much about Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.

Instead, they focus on an internal market where any employee can propose that the company acquire a new technology, enter a new business or make an efficiency improvement. These proposals become stocks, complete with ticker symbols, discussion lists and e-mail alerts. Employees buy or sell the stocks, and prices change to reflect the sentiments of the company's engineers, computer scientists and project managers — as well as its marketers, accountants and even the receptionist.

Bringing the bazaar of ideas to Business

iTunes rocks and this is why.

April 20, 2006 -- The record industry may be on the verge of waving the white flag in front of Apple boss Steve Jobs, and abandoning its demand for iTunes to charge different prices for different songs, The Post has learned.

Thank Steve Jobs for $0.99 Songs

And I just bought a new Dell yesterday without a monitor because I'm going to share with my current PC :-(

Survey after survey shows that whether you measure your productivity in facts researched, alien spaceships vaporized or articles written, adding an extra monitor will considerably raise your output - 20 percent to 30 percent, according to a survey by Jon Peddie Research.

Multitaskers find that a 2nd monitor beats Alt-Tab - Technology - International Herald Tribune