Gillo Pontecorvo's 1965 film The Battle of Algiers portrays the urban warfare between Algerians and the French troops occupying their country.

The film's raw presentation of a ruthless conflict just years after it occurred left audiences enthralled.

The film is now being re-released -- and to some, it conveys a new meaning in light of the US involvement in Iraq.

Its been years since jlm first posted about this film on MemeStreams. I finally got around to watching it. The film provides a provocative and balanced look at an early conflict of a sort which has become commonplace today. The powerful use of local music and impressive bombing and riot scenes provide a level of realism I didn't expect from 1960's cinema.

'Battle of Algiers' Makes a Comeback

These are histograms of the timestamps for all entries posted to three MemeStreams:

Jeremy, from the first post on October 8, 2001 through the post previous to this one on March 12, 2005;

Decius, from the first post on September 5, 2001 through the latest post on March 11, 2005; and

Rattle, from the first post on September 8, 2001 through the latest post on March 8, 2005.

You'll notice significant differences among the three graphs.

The X axis shows time of day (in Pacific time). Each day of the week is shown in a different row and color along the Y axis. The height of each bar in the Z axis represents the cumulative number of posts bearing a timestamp of the corresponding day and time.

Meme Maps for 'Jeremy', 'Decius', and 'Rattle', September 2001 - March 2005

Can you know you are in the middle of a tipping point, or is it only something you can see in retrospect?

The Tipping Points

Take a deep lesson from history. We must be willing to re-examine long-held core values, when conditions change and those values no longer make sense.

This isn't "just another book promo" pseudo op-ed. There's a political element to it.

The Ends of the World as We Know Them

Very cool ...

A matrix giving the traffic volumes between origin and destination in a network has tremendously potential utility for network capacity planning and management.

Unfortunately, traffic matrices are generally unavailable in large operational IP networks. On the other hand, link load measurements are readily available in IP networks.

In this paper, we propose a new method for practical and rapid inference of traffic matrices in IP networks from link load measurements, augmented by readily available network and routing configuration information.

We apply and validate the method by computing backbone-router to backbone-router traffic matrices on a large operational tier-1 IP network -- a problem an order of magnitude larger than any other comparable method has tackled. The results show that the method is remarkably fast and accurate, delivering the traffic matrix in under five seconds.

Fast Accurate Computation of Large-Scale IP Traffic Matrices from Link Loads

A government with the zeal to control both information and culture has received what it calls a mandate.

Bono's New Casualty

For all the excitement on opening day, it didn't take New Yorkers long to revert to their jaded selves.

This brief article on the history of subway technology brings David Macaulay to mind. Be sure to check out the illustrations.

Looking Back As The New York Subway Turns 100

Colin Powell kept a set of rules on his desk. Here are a few:

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

Get mad, then get over it.

Have a vision. Be demanding.

Check small things.

You can't make someone else's choices. You shouldn't let someone else make yours.

Be careful what you choose. You may get it.

I've posted these before, but it's worth reviewing them periodically.

Powell's Rules

In the book, George Friedman identifies the United States' most dangerous enemies, delves into presidential strategies of the last quarter century, and reveals the real reasons behind the attack of 9/11-and the Bush administration's motivation for the war in Iraq. It describes in eye-opening detail America's covert and overt efforts in the global war against terrorism.

Stratfor's George Friedman has a new book. It will be released on October 5, 2004. Here you can read the preface and prologue as well as chapter summaries.

This web site also includes a 30 minute video interview with George Friedman. It's available at

http://www.americassecretwar.com/GFIntrvFull.mpg

JLM managed a pre-release copy of this. Its well written/a fast read. Unfortunately it seems mostly a history. It puts things in perspective, but it creates more questions then it answers.

America's Secret War

Willie: I warned ya! Didn't I warn ya?! That colored chalk was forged by Lucifer himself!

Lisa the Vegetarian