Unison is a file-synchronization tool for Unix and Windows. It allows two replicas of a collection of files and directories to be stored on different hosts (or different disks on the same host), modified separately, and then brought up to date by propagating the changes in each replica to the other.

Unison shares a number of features with tools such as configuration management packages (CVS, PRCS, Subversion, BitKeeper, etc.), distributed filesystems (Coda, etc.), uni-directional mirroring utilities (rsync, etc.), and other synchronizers (Intellisync, Reconcile, etc). However, there are several points where it differs:

* Unison runs on both Windows and many flavors of Unix (Solaris, Linux, OS X, etc.) systems. Moreover, Unison works across platforms, allowing you to synchronize a Windows laptop with a Unix server, for example.
* Unlike simple mirroring or backup utilities, Unison can deal with updates to both replicas of a distributed directory structure. Updates that do not conflict are propagated automatically. Conflicting updates are detected and displayed.
* Unlike a distributed filesystem, Unison is a user-level program: there is no need to modify the kernel or to have superuser privileges on either host.
* Unison works between any pair of machines connected to the internet, communicating over either a direct socket link or tunneling over an encrypted ssh connection. It is careful with network bandwidth, and runs well over slow links such as PPP connections. Transfers of small updates to large files are optimized using a compression protocol similar to rsync.
* Unison is resilient to failure. It is careful to leave the replicas and its own private structures in a sensible state at all times, even in case of abnormal termination or communication failures.
* Unison has a clear and precise specification.
* Unison is free; full source code is available under the GNU Public License.

Unison File Synchronizer

A few years ago, Meghan Daum, an op-ed contributor to The Los Angeles Times, wrote about a promising first date with a man that never led to a second one because, she later learned, the guy saw that she drove a Subaru Outback station wagon and concluded she must be a lesbian.

By Design, or a Lifestyle Choice?

Is it standard practice to issue a 20-page press release for a new vehicle announcement?

Entering each new season in motorsport, we feel new and fresh ambition, query formally proven recipes for success, and focus on new records and outstanding achievements. And precisely this also applies to the debut of the new BMW M3: Having completed its test cycle with flying colours, the new high-performance sports car from BMW M GmbH is ready and waiting to take over pole position. Indeed, with its superior power, performance and dynamism, the new BMW M3 ensures truly unique sheer driving pleasure of the highest calibre.

The new, 309 kW/420 hp V8 power unit offers enormous muscle and performance at all times. And the aesthetic design of the new car typical once again of BMW M spells out supremacy of the highest standard.

The new BMW M3 sets the foundation for continuing an exceptional career in motorsport. So every enthusiast sharing the passion for supreme performance may be sure that this model is able to master even the greatest challenge on and off the race track. And last but certainly not least, the new BMW M3 offers the supreme standard of reliability and everyday driving qualities so typical of all high-performance cars from BMW M GmbH.

The all-new “heart” of the latest BMW M3 is the eight-cylinder power unit which, through its high-speed engine concept alone, comes with all the DNA of the current Formula 1 engine raced by the BMW Sauber F1 Team. Applying this high-speed concept characteristic of all BMW M power units, the new V8 develops maximum output of 309 kW/420 hp from engine capacity of precisely 3,999 cc. Further equally impressive factors are the engine’s peak torque of 400 Newton-metres or 295 lb-ft as well as maximum engine speed of 8, 400 rpm.

Truly unprecedented, however, is the thrust and pulling force generated through this unique potential, conveying the supreme power of the engine through the variable M differential lock to the rear wheels. Precisely this is why the new BMW M3 is not only outstandingly responsive in its acceleration, but also completely shattering in the way it develops its power: Acceleration to 100 km/h comes in just 4.8 seconds, and the car continues this mind-boggling performance with fascinating consistency all the way to its top speed of 250 km/h or 155 mph, where the engine electronics set an artificial limit to the ongoing power and performance of the new BMW M3.

The New M3

Last Night an iPod Saved My Life

Search for music by singing or humming part of a song. All you need is a microphone.

midomi

The gentrification of rundown city neighborhoods conjures an image of well-off whites displacing poor minorities. What's actually going on is far more complex, and the winners and losers can be hard to predict.

Urban puzzle

Nicholas Humphrey's latest book on the mystery of consciousness travelled with me to Crete, Latvia and America. And the intellectual journey it took me on has half-persuaded me that his evolutionary approach will one day provide an answer

'The mystery of consciousness' by Paul Broks | Prospect

This research brief addresses the possibility that potential adversaries might attempt to gain the upper hand against the United States by denying it access to technical and strategic assets.

China Could Use Anti-Access Strategies to Counter US Military Superiority

I figured I'd pull together a few links about this JCTD and related efforts.

In 2006, the DSB summer study on 21st Century Strategic Technology Vectors cited "human terrain preparation" as the first of four critical capabilities to be acquired. An excerpt:

In the Cold War, significant intellectual effort was directed at understanding and developing strategies to counter the Soviet Union. The nation now faces a much more complex set of adversaries, both state and non-state actors, about whom a comparable understanding has not been developed. The terrorist threat, in particular, with its amorphous, loosely networked characteristics makes this an especially challenging problem. Since much of the action against both terrorists and insurgents will be conducted by small units, either special or conventional forces in situations other than major combat operations, decisions made at lower levels of command will have the potential for broad-reaching, even strategic consequences. Consequently, preparing the human terrain—both ours and theirs—is rapidly becoming a critical capability. The operational capabilities relevant to this critical capability affecting most of the five missions include: cultural and language understanding; modeling societal dynamics, stability, and influencers; strategic communication; and strategic shaping. While traditional technologies will contribute to many of these capabilities, there is also a significant opportunity to better leverage the social and neurosciences, particularly those analytic elements that create models to assist in understanding individual and collective group behavior.

The Human Terrain System: A CORDS for the 21st Century

[The Army] is overseeing the creation of the human terrain system (HTS). This system is being specifically designed to address cultural awareness shortcomings at the operational and tactical levels by giving brigade commanders an organic capability to help understand and deal with "human terrain"-the social, ethnographic, cultural, economic, and political elements of the people among whom a force is operating. So that U.S. forces can operate more effectively in the human terrain in which insurgents live and function, HTS will provide deployed brigade commanders and their staffs direct social-science support in the form of ethnographic and social research, cultural information research, and social data analysis that can be employed as part of the military decisionmaking process.

The core building block of the system will be a five-person Human Terrain Team (HTT) that will be embedded in each forward-deployed brigade or regimental staff. The HTT will provide the commander with experienced officers, NCOs, and civilian... [ Read More (1.2k in body) ]

The Department of Defense announced the selection of seven Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) projects for Fiscal 2007 and three JCTD projects that started at the end of Fiscal 2006.

Fiscal 2007 New Starts:

Tactical Service Provider (TSP)

Mobile, wireless high-throughput broadband connections over long distances

Mapping the Human Terrain (MAP-HT)

Seeks to demonstrate an integrated, open-source, spatially/relationally/temporally referenced human terrain data collection and visualization toolkit that helps combat teams understand the cultural context in which they must operate. Such understanding will help reduce explosive device incidents by optimizing the commander’s operational decision-making process in a way that best harmonizes unit actions with the local culture.

Joint Multi-Mission Electro-Optical System (JMMES)

Counter camouflage, concealment, and deception

Smart Threads Integrated Radiation Sensors (STIRS)

Radiation sensors for state-of-the-art maritime interdiction and battlefield radiation detection

Maritime Automated Supertrack Enhanced Reporting (MASTER)

Enhanced maritime tracking

Internet Protocol Router In Space (IRIS)

Satellite internet resource allocation capabilities

Coalition Mobility System (CMS)

Rapid access to and coordination of coalition movements

There were also three later Fiscal 2006 New Starts:

Coalition Joint Spectrum Management Planning Tool (CJSMPT)

Radio frequency coordination

Regional Maritime Awareness Capability (RMAC)

Collaborative surface vessel location and tracking for ungoverned maritime environments

Focused Lethal Munition (FLM)

Collateral damage minimization using precision-guided weapon

Brief project summaries are available.

Joint Capability Technology Demonstrations Announced