US forces are learning this the hard way -- on the ground.

David Ronfeldt is a senior political scientist at the Rand Corporation and coauthor of "Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime and Militancy."

21st Century Tribes

Nick Carr convinced IBM he was right, and now he will be the end of them. And with them, us? Or US? Let's hope not.

If I were an IBM board member, or anyone who cared about the long-term health of IBM or the US technology industry or the whole blooming US economy, I'd be unspeakably depressed.

If the US technology industry actually believes that the PC has grown up and settled down, it is out of touch with reality -- and the consequences could be dangerous to America's economic health.

...

Know this for sure: Some company will build all this and more into a radically more powerful, radically simpler PC. Will it be an American company? Don't count on it.

Is the fruit of America's future to be found in the Apple cart? Hardly. Apple's ideology precludes a new PC revolution.

How to Build a Better PC, by David Gelernter

One of the inescapable conclusions drawn from this work is that the intractable dispute over the disposition of Kashmir is and will remain a critical flashpoint between Pakistan and India and poses continual security challenges for the United States and the international community. There is little reason to be optimistic that this issue will be resolved any time soon.

The Counterterror Coalition with Pakistan

This book was mentioned earlier this year. It is now on sale, and the first chapter is available here.

... a panoramic portrait of this complex country ...

The Idea of Pakistan will be an essential tool for understanding this critically important country.

"Solid, comprehensive, informative, insightful, well-written, provocative, gripping, highly perceptive, thorough, balanced, intelligent. A must read."

In recent years, Pakistan has become a strategically important state. The 9/11 final report identifies Pakistan as a high-priority state.

Unfortunately, the US knows remarkably little about this country. Much of what has been written is palpably wrong, or at best superficial.

The Idea of Pakistan

Radical Islam went into overdrive as its superpower ally, the United States, funneled support to the mujahideen. Ronald Reagan feted jihadist leaders on the White House lawn, and the US press lionized them. By the mid-1990s, it was clear that the victorious alliance had unleashed a dynamic beyond its control.

I propose a corollary to the Pottery Barn rule, which I'll dub the Easy Bake rule: you bake it, you eat it.

Can Pakistan Work?

One of the paradoxical outcomes of globalization is that geography has become both less and more important to innovation.

Is America Losing Its Edge?

We show that PC keyboards, notebook keyboards, telephone and ATM pads are vulnerable to attacks based on differentiating the sound emanated by different keys. Our attack employs a neural network to recognize the key being pressed. We also investigate why different keys produce different sounds and provide hints for the design of homophonic keyboards that would be resistant to this type of attack.

Keyboard Acoustic Emanations

It's that time of year again.

An annual compendium of ideas from A to Z.

Selected ideas include:

Acoustic Keyboard Eavesdropping
The Employable Liberal Arts Major
Feral Cities
Fertile Red States
Genetic Family Values
Hawkishness as Evolutionary Holdover
Kill Midlevel Terrorists
Land-Mine-Detecting Plants
The Mainstream Mash-Up
Purple-State Country Music
Wal-Mart Sovereignty

Asonov says that he has heard rumors of research into the possibility of using computers to translate the humming of ink-jet printers into the actual text being printed.

facture. noun. (from Latin factura action of making, from factus.) the manner in which something (as an artistic work) is made: execution.

The shareholder, in their view, is a child -- fickle and hyperactive. Care for him, provide for him and, above all, keep him from the ruinous path of instant gratification.

The scientists admit that there is probably no practical use for this knowledge.

"It's more grass roots."

It turns out that geek to geek, informal and honest, is a pretty good model.

"But what are you going to do with that?"

"premature professionalism"

"I'd been yelling about politics for years, but no one listened to me. Then I put up a couple of animations, and everyone watches."

The single most intriguing purple-state record of the year certainly belongs to Jack White, of the trendy garage-rock duo the White Stripes, and Loretta Lynn -- yes, that Loretta Lynn.

The Year in Ideas

Anonymous explains why he quit.

The Central Intelligence Agency is the best place to work in the United States. I left it with deep regret and a great sense of personal loss.

Senior White House officials repeatedly refused to act on sound intelligence.

It may be worth pausing the intelligence reform process long enough to determine what role personal failure, bureaucratic warfare, and a lack of moral courage played in getting the United States to 9/11.

Why I Resigned From the CIA

Feel my pain.

Millions of employees must write more frequently on the job than previously. And many are making a hash of it.

A recent survey of 120 American corporations concluded that a third of employees in the nation's blue-chip companies wrote poorly.

"Clarity is critical."

"Considering how highly educated our people are, many can't write clearly in their day-to-day work."

"I was too wordy," Morrison said. "I liked long, convoluted passages rather than simple four-word sentences."

"Instead of considering what to say when they write, people now just let thoughts drool out onto the screen."

If only it were true! Just 1 in 3 write poorly? Oh, that would be great. I could really work with that.

What corporate America can't build: a sentence