Archive for December, 2007

« Previous Entries

Data visualization of latest bin Laden video: compare and contrast!

Monday, December 31st, 2007

I’ve just done a new Many Eyes word cloud visualization of the translation by SITE of bin Laden’s 12/29/07 video.
I invite you to check both this one and the one I did of his September 20th video, “On Jihad,” and to compare and contrast the words that he uses most frequently.
One thing that jumped out […]

Geez! Just remembered we don’t have to police Pakistan!

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Totally slipped my mind (and, of course, the Bush Administration’s, if they collectively have one). There’s an organization that might mean the US wouldn’t have to automatically, unilaterally invade Pakistan if it unravels even more. If only the President had Ban Ki-moon’s phone number.

Tell a friend:

Technorati tags: homeland security George Bush War on Terror
[…]

Bhutto / Google testimony on data accessibility

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

I’m going to hold off on comment about the implications of Bhutto’s assassination for right now, other than to repeat that the Bush Administration has failed to pursue a systems approach to foreign policy.
We’ve got a looong history in this region of steps we’ve taken at one point (i.e. arming the mujahadin in a proxy […]

et al.: Schillings are astonishingly generous

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007

My family and I just returned from the dinner that Curt and Shonda Schilling hosted for families in our area who have sons or daughters in Iraq or Afghanistan.
I won’t go into detail, because they’re very modest and self-effacing about their philanthropy, be it national, on finding cures for ALS and skin cancer, or in […]

Homie Awards! 10 homeland security technologies to watch in 2008

Friday, December 21st, 2007

The nominations are in; the 3 judges (me, myself, and the chairman: I) have voted; and here they are, the winners of the 2008 Homies for most promising homeland security technologies for the year to come. CONTINUED….

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fstephensonstrategies.com%2F2007%2F12%2F21%2Fhomie-awards-10-homeland-security-technologies-to-watch-in-2008%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Homie+Awards%21+10+homeland+security+technologies+to+watch+in+2008′;
addthis_pub […]

Is DHS’s R & D too focused on short term?

Friday, December 21st, 2007

Business Week, as part of a series on Homeland Security, focused on whether DHS’s R & D budget is too focused on short-term threats rather than funding long-term basic research?
I’m not convinced that’s the right question: IMHO, if the Pentagon is now more focused on fighting insurgencies worldwide (which are sorta the terrorists’ lab for […]

et al.: I marched with Mitt Romney. Well sorta metaphorically

Friday, December 21st, 2007

.. well, actually, I think I may have seen  him on TV, because I spotted that incredibly coiffed hair….
That loud pfffft sound you hear is the air being let out of Mitt Romney’s campaign, after his tortured explanation of how he “saw” his father marching with MLK. Kinda like when he was moved to tears […]

et al.: sadly, Santa fingered in Cheney office fire

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

Sadly, boys and girls, it appears Santa won’t be making his normal rounds this year: he’s in the D.C. lockup because of his role in the Executive Office Building fire yesterday.
Hard to believe, but true.
It appears the kindly gent was so intent on making sure that Dick Cheney would have multiple lumps of coal in […]

I’m for DHS’ visual analysis program, IF…

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

GCN reports DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate is continuing to use visual analytics, which has been criticized for its past application to real data, as an analytical tool dealing only with “synthetic data.”
I’ve been a persistent critic of DHS’ other data mining programs because of a litany of abuses of privacy rights and constant errors […]

Ustream follow-up: it has proved its worth in disasters

Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

Last week I speculated that Ustream.TV, which allows real-time streaming of videos, could be invaluable for providing situational awareness in disasters. Yesterday I got an e-mail from Brad Hunstable, the firm’s founder, confirming that they’re already on the case: “Believe it or not, it has been used in many ways from the Virginia Tech […]

« Previous Entries