Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Emergency Shutdown Procedures Activated
Emergency Shutdown Procedures Activated
Iowahawk Industries 2004 Annual Report
Iowahawk Industries 2004 Annual Report
The Associated (Jazeera) Press Reports!
| ...A radical Sunni Muslim group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, claimed responsibility for the attack — the latest in a week of deadly strikes across Iraq that highlighted the unwavering power of the insurgents in the run-up to the Jan. 30 national elections... |
The unwavering power of the insurgents? What happened to the 1,500 insurgents that were in Fallujah with hundreds of weapons caches as recently as a few weeks ago? Did their "unwavering power" prevent the US Marines from flattening them?
This is simply another opinion piece wrapped in what purports to be a news story. And, that's nothing new for the Associated (Jazeera) Press.
The Associated (Jazeera) Press reports!
Dallas Morning News: Khomeini Tribute is a Disgrace
Dallas Morning News (via LGF): Khomeini Tribute is a Disgrace
Firsthand from Mosul
The day began early as I didn't sleep very well last night. Once I was awake I decided not to just lay there and stare at the darkness so I got up, got dressed, shaved and headed into the TOC, the heart of what goes on. In the TOC (Tactical Operations Center) they monitor several different radio nets to keep abreast of what is happing in the area. It's the place to be if you want up to the minute information. When I arrived it was fairly calm. I made small talk with the guys there and sipped that first cup of morning coffee. The day was clear and there was very little going on, or so it seemed. A very short while later we received the initial reports. In this area there are several "camps" or "posts" that house the various combat and support units that do the day to day fighting and working around here. The first report said that a mortar had just hit one of the nearby chow halls during the middle of lunch (I'm on GMT so my morning is actually the middle of the day). It's called a MASCAL or Mass Casualty event and it's where the rubber meets the road in military ministry. They said there were approximately 10 casualties. That was the extent of it so I kind of filed it away in the back of my mind and continued to sip my coffee. The next report wasn't so good. 10 dead and approximately 50 wounded. They were being transported to the Combat Surgical Hospital down the street. The Chaplain at the CSH is a good guy and I knew he'd be in need of help so I woke my assistant and we rushed to the hospital. I didn't expect what I saw. The scene was little more than controlled chaos. Helicopters landing, people shouting, wounded screaming, bodies everywhere. As the staff began to triage the dead and wounded I found the chaplain and offered my assistance. He directed me to where he needed me and I dove in. I would be hard pressed to write about every person I had the opportunity to pray with today but I will try to relate a few. I found "Betty" on a stretcher being tended by nurses. I introduced myself and held her hand. She looked up at me and said, "Chaplain, am I going to be alright?" I said that she was despite the fact that I could see she had a long road to recovery ahead of her. Most of her hair had been singed off. Her face was burnt fairly badly, although it didn't look like the kind of burns that will scar. What I do know is that it was painful enough to hurt just by being in the sun. I prayed with Betty and moved on. "Ilena" (a made up name. She spoke very softly and had a thick accent so I couldn't really hear her) had been hit by a piece of shrapnel just above her left breast causing a classic sucking chest wound. The doctors said she had a hemothorax (I think that's what they called it) which basically meant her left lung was filling with blood and she was having a very hard time breathing. For the next 20 minutes I held her hand while a doctor made an incision in her left side, inserted most of his hand and some kind of medical instrument and then a tube to alleviate the pressure caused by the pooling blood. It was probably the most medieval procedure I have ever been privy to. In the end she was taken to ICU and will be OK... |
Chaplain Lewis: Firsthand from Mosul
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Learning From Accidents and a Terrorist Attack
I want to point out one bullet-item specifically, which I have bolded (below). Bricklin advocates instrumenting subsystems and components. This ensures that, in addition to errors, any noteworthy events are logged and surfaced to an appropriate level. This will allow administrators or monitoring processes to react to changes to the system.
I made a similar point a while back when arguing that developers should strive to use return-codes rather than exceptions. The reason? We can instrument our code, whether it succeeds or fails, in its appropriate home venue (method, function, etc.). I know of no easy way to force exceptions into this model.
I am paranoid. I want full instrumentation. It sounds like Dan Bricklin does too.
| There are principles that may be gleaned by looking at Normal Accident Theory and the 9/11 Commission Report that are helpful for software development.
This essay covers a wide range of topics. It introduces "Normal Accident Theory", looks at some of the aspects of a major terrorist attack, and proposes some areas for design that are suggested by the results of that attack. The original goal, though, was to come up with some principles that could be applied to making software that fits with the long-term needs of society. Here are some of those principles: Instrument the sub-systems and components so that failures can be detected and so that behavior can be monitored when there are changes. There is a need to know "what is going on". Examine failures and share what is found with others so that there is learning. Try to keep sub-systems loosely coupled, the interfaces understandable, and the intermediate steps comprehensible. Allow for, and anticipate, improvisation. The design of instrumentation and the coupling of sub-systems can make improvisation easier or harder. Those who deal with changes may not be the ones for whom the designers planned nor who were pre-trained to deal with those changes. This affects the design of instrumentation, coupling, and documentation. Generic, "global" resources help and should be able to be used as part of instrumentation and improvisation. |
Dan Bricklin: Learning From Accidents and a Terrorist Attack
How does the walkie-talkie feature on a Nextel phone work?
...When you make a Direct Connect call to someone, here's what happens: * You hit the Direct Connect button, which is configured with the number(s) of the person (or group) you are calling. * Your phone establishes a session with the Nextel iDEN-based network. * The network determines that this is a dispatch call (Direct Connect) instead of an interconnect call (a normal cell phone call). * The network then determines if it is a one-to-one or a group call. If it is a group call, the network duplicates the digital voice packets for each phone in the group. * The network routes the packets to the phone (or phones) of the person (or group) you are calling. * Their phone alerts them that they have a Direct Connect call. * They answer the call by pressing the Talk button. Whoever is pushing the button, whether a one-to-one or group call, is the speaker. * The call is completed and everyone disconnects... |
How does the walkie-talkie feature on a Nextel phone work?
The Talon
...The Talon reminds this reporter of one of the more menacing robots of the movies, ED-209, which goes berserk in the 1987 film "RoboCop." What makes the Talon important is that it's the first ground robot to carry arms. "It's a bit of a turning point," Shachtman said. "It's a step everyone knew was coming at some point. It's still a little surprising when it finally hits." Luckily, there's no danger of the Talon pulling an ED-209. It's teleoperated, meaning it's run by a human operator, much like a radio-controlled toy car you might buy your child for Christmas. With one big difference: That toy car can't cut a bus in half. Talon robots can carry M240 or M249 machine guns, Barrett 50-caliber rifles, 40-millimeter grenade launchers and anti-tank rocket launchers... |
The Talon
2004 Annual 20 Most Annoying Liberals in the US
It might seem to be a stretch to put washed-up singer Linda Ronstadt who was once famous for singing "I Love Rock and Roll"...wait, that's not it...oooh, ooooh, I remember, it was "The Warrior"...no, that's not it either...well whatever she sang, she does deserve to make the list. While in Las Vegas (where washed up singers crawl up on stage to wait for their careers to die), Ronstadt was unceremoniously fired after causing a mini-riot among her unhappy fans by plugging Michael Moore's hideous propaganda piece, "Fahrenheit 9/11," on stage. While that's not all that big of a deal, she popped off a quote in the aftermath of this controversy that was such a perfect example of liberal condescension that she just had to make the list. As you read this quote, remember that we're talking about someone who probably has less fans left than Milli Vanilli at this point and then picture her saying... Defining Quote: "It's a real conflict for me when I go to a concert and find out somebody in the audience is a Republican or fundamental Christian. It can cloud my enjoyment. I'd rather not know." -- Linda Ronstadt ... 19) John Zogby For reasons that are hard to fathom, pollster John Zogby opined time and time again, all year long, to anyone who would listen, that John Kerry was going to beat George Bush. Why did a pollster who's supposed to be neutral want to so publicly take a partisan line in a race that stayed very close throughout the year? Why did Zogby continue to declare that Kerry would win even as his own polls showed Kerry losing? Who knows? Then election day rolled around and Zogby actually waited until after the first exit polls to give his final prediction: that Kerry would wipe the floor with Bush by beating him 311-213 in electoral votes with Colorado and Nevada too close to call. Of course, he was wrong: Bush won 286-252. Then after the election, Zogby started dabbling in conspiracy theories to explain why his polls were off...again. Zogby polling communications director, Shawnta Watson Walcott, even joined "a group of liberal Democrats at a faux congressional hearing focused on whether fraud influenced the Nov. 2 outcome". Hey Zogby, it's bad enough that your polls stink and that you essentially acted like the public polling arm of the Democratic Party for all of 2004, but how low are you going to stoop to try to explain away your own bias & incompetence? "We have received thousands of letters and phone calls regarding irregularities - many of which center on early exit polling results that were uncharacteristically inaccurate in several battleground states; questionable practices at polling stations that may have resulted in votes not being counted accurately; and in Ohio, as with other swing states, the automated Diebold machines were particularly disturbing because they offered no voting receipts. It is with this intention that we recommend that a blue ribbon bipartisan panel be developed to investigate the allegations discussed here today." -- Shawnta Watson Walcott, communications director for Zogby International... |
Read the whole thing: 2004 Annual 20 Most Annoying Liberals in the US
Monday, December 20, 2004
A good lesson for the Midwest
| John: This is not related to the book, but here in Tampa Bay we have a "high tech" corridor called the I-4 Corridor, but it isn't experiencing rapid growth at the moment. Are you familiar with this sector, and if so, or if not, what do you think it would take to attract more tech businesses to the Central and West Central Florida regions?
Guy: I'm not familiar with the corridor, but I'm asked similar questions by many regions in the world. My answer is always the same: a great engineering school. You get great engineers, you'll get great tech companies. The venture capitalists, lawyers, accountants, and rest of the infrastructure will follow. This isn't a chicken-and-egg question. There is definitely an order: great engineers cause great tech businesses. Most people don't adopt my advice because it's cooler and more politically acceptable to do something like a tax credit, venture capital fund, or sponsored incubator. My education recommendation will take twenty years to bear fruit. Silicon Valley, as we know it, started in the late 20s. |
Inside Real Estate Journal: Interview with Guy Kawasaki
Blog Power Rankings
|
1) 21 InstaPundit 2) 7 Hugh Hewitt 2) 7 Daily Kos 4) 6 Powerline 5) 4 Little Green Footballs 6) 2 Belmont Club 7) 1 Captain's Quarters 7) 1 Wizbang |
Dec. 20, 2004 DirectorBlue's Blog Power Rankings
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Offshoring the offshoring
Until now, India's reaped the biggest benefit from outsourcing. But when it comes to transnational economic forces nothing's etched in stone. The Chinese economy is growing by leaps and bounds and yes, they also know a little something about high-tech, thank you. (Lenovo, anybody?) What's more, the work force, which can meet -- and beat -- India on cost, is the largest in the world. And they increasingly speak English. The unanswered question has to do with the future direction of China's government... |
Offshoring the offshoring
The Man who Saved the World
Tensions were high: Weeks earlier, on Sept. 1, Soviet fighters had shot down a Korean airliner, killing all 269 people aboard. Petrov was in charge of the secret bunker where a team of 120 technicians and military officers monitored the Soviet Union's early-warning system. It was just after midnight when a new satellite array known as Oko, or The Eye, spotted five U.S. missiles heading toward Moscow. The Eye discerned that they were Minuteman II nuclear missiles. Petrov's computer was demanding that he follow the prescribed protocol and confirm an incoming attack to his superiors. A red light on the computer that read START! kept flashing at him. And there was this baleful message: MISSILE ATTACK! Petrov had written the emergency protocol himself, and he knew he should immediately pick up the hot line at his desk to tell his superiors that the Motherland was under attack... |
LOST IN THE FALLOUT (Hat tip: PowerLine)
Real-time Traffic Maps
Can't you just imagine a day -- coming soon to a dashboard near you -- where you won't even have the choice to include a dedicated Navigation system in a new car? You'll either have the Auto/Internet package or not. If you purchase the A/I package, an on-board GPS system will be integrated with the car's browser, giving you a much more flexible and powerful navigation system that would include real-time traffic data and routing.
And not only will there be no need for proprietary, limited nav systems... there'll also be no separate OnStar-style emergency service link. Everything will be integrated under the aegis of an "Auto/Internet" package with a monthly charge.
High-speed links like Verizon's wireless broadband service will be utilized -- on a more standard computing platform -- and will enable a hybrid set of closely-tied services: Internet browser, Navigation+Traffic system, OnStar emergency services, etc.
Plus it'll read your email to you, which will be the big win for the Internet-addicted.
Yahoo Map overlaid with Real-Time Traffic
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Auto complete comes of age
If you haven't tried Google Suggest yet, click on the link right now and do so. Please. The characters at Google Labs -- who are more creative than Hunter S. Thompson on a Peyote-and-Tequila bender -- have come up with more simple, yet breakthrough technology. Simon Willison explains how it works.
| Google Suggest, the latest bag of tricks from Google Labs, is a perfect example of how modern web applications are breaking out of the mold and becoming more interactive. It uses XMLHttpRequest to run queries against Google as yout type, proving an auto-complete box with the most likely results. As you might expect from Google, it's slick, intuitive and fits right in to their bare-bones interface. The JavaScript that powers the feature is pretty well obfuscated, so if you want to see how it works your best bet is to install the Firefox/Mozilla Live HTTP Headers extension, set it up as a sidebar and watch what happens when you use the site. Basically, for every character you type it retrieves a page like this and evals the resulting string of JavaScript. It's the same kind of technique they use for Gmail. XMLHttpRequest is a technology with amazing potential, and this is just the tip of the iceburg. The web's about to get a whole lot richer. |
Simon Willison: Auto complete comes of age
Update: Jon Udell says that, while this breed of Google DHTML apps are cool, they still point out fundamental weaknesses in the browser development model. I think I said the something similar a while back, and suggested some evoluationary changes in JavaScript and DHTML.
Friday, December 17, 2004
This should be fun
| For one night only, it'll be spitballs and Swift Boats together on the same stage — a who's who of Sen. John Kerry bashing. The American Conservative Union on Thursday announced it has tapped Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., to present the "Courage Under Fire" award to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth at the Conservative Political Action Conference's Feb. 18 banquet. Miller and the group of Vietnam veterans were behind perhaps the campaign's two fiercest and most memorable attacks on Kerry's unsuccessful presidential bid. Miller, who is retiring next month, scorched Kerry in a Republican National Convention keynote address in which he suggested the four-term Massachusetts Democrat had voted to cut so many weapons systems, it appeared he wanted to send the military to war with only spitballs. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ran ads after the Democratic convention questioning whether Kerry was in fact the decorated Vietnam War veteran that he claimed to be. "The swift boat veterans performed an invaluable service to America," Miller said in a statement. "These veterans took a lot of undeserved criticism for daring to speak the truth...". |
Miller to Honor Swift Boat Vets' Group
If today's MSM had covered the Battle of the Bulge
| PARIS (Routers) Long-time critics of the Roosevelt administration declared themselves vindicated today, as the Germans began a renewed offensive yesterday in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium, opening a huge hole in the "Allied" lines and throwing back troops for miles, with previously unimaginable US casualties.
Early yesterday morning, eight German armored divisions and thirteen German infantry divisions launched an all-out attack on five divisions of the United States 1st Army. Hundreds of heavy guns, howitzers and multiple-rocket launchers were fired on American positions. The 5th and 6th Panzer armies, consisting of some eleven divisions, broke through the Loshein Gap against the American divisions protecting the region. The 6th Panzer Army then headed north while the Fifth Panzer Army went south. The latter army attacked the U. S. VIII Corps some 100 miles to the south, which was quickly surrounded, resulting in mass surrenders of unprepared American soldiers. By any reasonable and objective standard, it was an utter military disaster for the "Allied" forces. It all came as a complete shock to the Roosevelt administration who, rumor has it, had been informed by the head of OSS that the imminent collapse of the German army was a "lead-pipe cinch." This only confirmed reasonable pre-election suspicions that the administration and General Eisenhower were operating on flawed intelligence, and led the nation into an invasion of Europe on clearly false pretenses... |
Transterrestrial: War Unwinnable In Face Of Renewed German Offensive
The $*#*!@^$# Bloggers
She admitted that she underestimated the effect of the Swifty ads, but the telling line of the story follows:
You can picture both Mehlman and Cahill answering this question about the effectiveness of the new media, namely the blogosphere. Mehlman would have a big smile on his face as he answered, and Cahill would be ready to spit. But now a little word about the writer of this story. Steve LaBlanc filed the story for AP, and it is hysterical that he cannot use the words blog, blogger, or blogosphere. Emerging news technologies? What kind of sterile description is that? In LaBlanc-ese, would John Kerry be considered a wooden presidential campaign unit? What would the Global War On Terror translate to? Planetary Failure of Strife Resolution? It's okay, Steve. Say the word. Say blog. We do exist. We have a name. We aren't necessarily coming after your job...yet. We are simply making sure you do yours. You need not fear us, but camouflaging who we are and the role we played behind political correct speech is pretty ridiculous. |
RadioBlogger: The $*#*!@^$# Bloggers
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Blame Bush on the Blog Awards
Besides, I knew it was over when the judges suddenly started enforcing their draconian set of "rules". That's how Republicans steal elections, boys and girls. Whenever people are forced to vote a certain way, at a certain place, at a certain time, it's the democrats who get the short end of the stick. We saw it in Florida four years ago, when the GOP exploited "election laws" to invalidate thousands of "improperly or vaguely punched" ballots. Many ballots which would have otherwise been counted were thrown out simply because they weren't punched at all. We're seeing the same sort of shenannigans here in my own state, where the Reichpublicans are invoking bizarre, archaic voting regulations to disenfranchise honest Americans who didn't "follow instructions" and vote "correctly". We may live in a big Melting Pot, but if your vote doesn't fit in with their WASP, Aryan, Master Race idea of perfection, it gets shipped off to the furnaces with the rest of the undesirables. It never used to be that way. The founding fathers were intentionally vague when writing election laws into the Constitution, for fear that that strict adherence to a concrete set of rules would lead to a fascist dictatorship. Election laws were merely meant to be "suggestions", like the Ten Commandments or traffic signals. In order to insure that Every Vote is Counted, it would be necessary to "bend the rules", and speed through a red light every once in a while, t-boning a Ford Mustang and killing everyone inside for the sake of democracy. It wasn't until white slaveholders concocted a "Poll Tax" to supress the Black vote that Republicans learned to manipulate elections through the strict interpretation of election laws... |
Blame Bush: Blog Awards '04
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
