How To Win The War Against Terrorism
[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 31, 2008 by admin in Politics
According to the Rand Corporation: Don’t Wage War In The First Place
Maybe, um, stop waging a war on it? Put this in the “things – everybody – except – the – Bush – administration – seems – to – know” box. The Rand Corporation has just put on line a brief called How Terrorist Groups End – Implications for Countering al Qa’ida. They suggest that the only successful ways to counter terror groups pretty much involve anything BUT a military solution: “…most groups ended because of operations carried out by local police or intelligence agencies or because they negotiated a settlement with their governments. Military force was rarely the primary reason a terrorist group ended, and few groups within this time frame achieved victory…” . They have a lot of interesting information in the report, which was culled from data collected on 648 groups that were active between 1968 and 2006.
Mommy, What’s a Mashup?
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on July 30, 2008 by admin in Music
What do you get when you cross the Black Album with the White Album?
I was surprised recently to find out how few of the young hipsters in my social circle seem to know about Mashups. For the uninitiated, read the overblown, self-important Wikipedia definition here. The concept is simple. Take two or more familiar pop media elements (from virtually any media), and mash them together to pleasing or amusing effect (I’ve never adequately defined for myself how they differ from “remixes”; they just do). The YouTube clip at left is a great example: George Bush covers U2′s Sunday Bloody Sunday, from RX’s “Party Party” mashup. Since mashups involve using large recognizable pieces of intellectual property, they’re often subject to takedown notices by the RIAA or MPAA as soon as they become popular. For that reason it’s often easiest to BitTorrent them. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but some faves of mine include Party Ben and Team9′s Dean Gray -American Edit (Green Day – American Idiot); Danger Mouse’s Grey Album
Napkin PC: Not Great For Dating, But…
[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 30, 2008 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Pretty cool at the board-room table.
As a person who REALLY loathes carrying a laptop about, I’m occasionally accused of being a luddite, or at least receive some amusing glances when I pull out my index cards or notepad at meetings. That’s why I love ideas like High Tech Napkins. This ingenious concept utilizes e-ink and RF technology to create the electronic equivalent of jotting ideas on cocktail napkins. This is where some of both my best (late-night-problem solving or business ideas) and worst (martini-goggle romances) ideas have come about. I wish someone would at least develop a tablet PC that has a detachable touchscreen that connects to the laptop wirelessly. [Note to self: call patent office.] An additional benefit of this design concept: It’s very green; no paper waste, no battery to deal with, and eventually recycling the display requires only separating the plastic sheeting from the inner component.
Oliver Stone’s “W” Trailer “Leaked”?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 30, 2008 by admin in Popular Media
Well, it seems to be a pretty big leak…
RawStory.com suggests the trailer for Oliver Stone’s upcoming biopic about George Bush was “leaked” Sunday. Looks to me like a standard teaser, but here it is, in any case: “A heartwarming romantic comedy about an adorable alcoholic with a dream — and the courage to pursue it.”
Unprotected Sex Means I Love You
[ Comments Off ]Posted on July 29, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
No, really baby, I mean it.
In the NPR piece Sex Without Condoms is the New Engagement Ring, you’ll hear brilliant statements like “It’s an engagement more practical than spending money on a piece of jewelry, or a marriage that might not pass the test of time”. Man, if my friends and I had thought up a spin like this as teenagers, how different life would be. Sex without condoms? Well, it feels good, but I’m sure if we’d pursued this path in our youth, we’d have exponentially more fatherless children, friends dead from HIV-related symptoms, and a general pandemic of STD’s. NPR listeners had some thoughts on the topic too. I’m inclined to liken sex without condoms to riding a motorcycle without a helmet. While it shows a passion for the sport, the consequences can be disasterous.