Archive for November, 2007
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Thursday, November 22nd, 2007Dear reader: if you’re looking for a simple but effective way to show your thankfulness for the blessings we enjoy, consider “Soldiers Helping Those in Need.”
It was started by a young man temporarily assigned to my son’s unit (an incredible story in its own right, I’ll wait until he’s out of harm’s way to profile […]
New disaster tip you WON’T hear from officials: walkie-talkie net
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007My newest, and in many ways, favorite “disaster tip you WON’T hear from officials” is now up on YouTube.While other tips have dealt with cool new technologies such as wikis and mesh networks, this one’s the ultimate low-tech fallback for when all the cool stuff fails. It’s an ad hoc community network that […]
New disaster tip you WON’T hear from officials: walkie-talkie net
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007My newest, and in many ways, favorite “disaster tip you WON’T hear from officials” is now up on YouTube.While other tips have dealt with cool new technologies such as wikis and mesh networks, this one’s the ultimate low-tech fallback for when all the cool stuff fails. It’s an ad hoc community network that […]
For less-stressful Thanksgiving travel, follow the rules and repeat after me…
Monday, November 19th, 2007… “Goose fraba, goose fraba, goose fraba.â€
In case you aren’t a patient of the eminent Dr. Buddy Rydell, that’s the mantra that the doc told patient Dave Buznick to repeat in stressful situations to avoid anger. We’d probably all be better off if airports included it subliminally in the unctious holiday music that’s likely to […]
TSA failures: just another case of get whatcha pay for..
Friday, November 16th, 2007Guess what, folks? Until we demand changes in federal spending priorities, the latest, probably most egregious, TSA screening failures are gonna keep on happening.
It’s yet another example of the failure to pursue the war on terror on a strategic, systems-thinking basis.
All you have to do to is check out the National Priorities Project’s trade-offs page, […]
et al.: Thompson smokes something, urges cloning of soldiers
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007What the heck is Fred Thompson smoking? At a time when the Army can’t meet its current recruiting goals, he calls for a million-man ground-force for the military (perhaps he should team with Louis Farrakhan..). Here’s a clue, Fred: you ain’t gonna increase volunteers as long as the Iraq cesspool continues. Perhaps it’s […]
Utter baloney from LAPD on mapping Islamic areas
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007Please pardon my long silence: my wife faces a major health challenge, and we’ve got a laser focus on her care, so I’ll only be posting occasionally in the near future. Yes, prayers and good wishes are gratefully appreciated.
Meanwhile, if you missed it last week, you’ve got to listen to Robert Siegel’s interview with LAPD […]
Very cool demo of animated tag cloud-type visualization
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007I saw a demo (can’t disclose name or company) of new visualization tool that generates display similar to a tag cloud from a document or other source (sort of like the ones I did of bin Laden speech), with an important difference: this one is animated: the key words move toward the user, and ones […]
Halloween party guest masquerades as federal official
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007Julie Myers, a juvenile attending a Halloween party , was “unmasked” (as it were) for masquerading as DHS assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (frankly, from this scary photo, I had her pegged as Wicked Witch of the West), and was then suspended from her job.
Tell a friend:
Technorati tags: homeland security […]
Google Android: upping cells’ value in emergencies
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007I’m a big fan of open source in general, especially as it applies to emergencies — we can’t afford to have incompatibility restricting communication of critical information.
That’s why I’m excited by Google’s Android platform for cellphones, and the 34-company Open Handset Alliance.
In particular, given my emphasis on cellphones (and especially cameraphones) as the way to […]
