Archive for June, 2009
Email Patterns Can Predict Impending Doom
Email logs can provide advance warning of an organisation reaching crisis point. That’s the tantalising suggestion to emerge from the pattern of messages exchanged by Enron employees.
After US energy giant Enron collapsed in December 2001, federal investigators obtained records of emails sent by around 150 senior staff during the company’s final 18 months. The logs, which record 517,000 emails sent to around 15,000 employees, provide a rare insight into how communication within an organisation changes during stressful times.
Ben Collingsworth and Ronaldo Menezes at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne identified key events in Enron’s demise, such as the August 2001 resignation of CEO Jeffrey Skilling. They then examined the number of emails sent, and the groups that exchanged the messages, in the period around these events. They did not look at the emails’ content.
Menezes says he expected communication networks to change during moments of crisis. Yet the researchers found…
Homeland Security Using Drones To Monitor Northern New York
A monitor inside an operations trailer shows a close-up view of a boat skimming across the water on Lake Ontario.
The image was taken from an unmanned aircraft more than three miles away.
A Predator B Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) has been temporarily based at Fort Drum since early June in an experiment by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office.
The Department of Homeland Security is using the extensive restricted air space over Fort Drum to test whether the drone could be a good fit along this stretch of the northern border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has five of the aircraft but so far none of them based permanently in the Northeast.
Why NASA and Google Are Backing ‘Singularity University’
Backed by Google and NASA, “Singularity University” begins Saturday. Headed by Ray Kurzweil, “It’s something that needs to happen,” says co-founder Peter Diamandis (who also founded the International Space University and the X-Prize.)
Sci-Fi Author Larry Niven’s Predictions Resemble Reality 36 Years Later
Dan Vergano, USA Today: As demonstrators throng Tehran’s streets, cellphones, Facebook and Twitter have emerged as key players in the political battle there.
“Flash mobs” organized by such “social networking” tools have also played into political unrest in Estonia, and even in the U.S. presidential election, in which candidates’ fans triggered turnout for events from their computer screens, rather than from old-fashioned door-to-door canvassing.
Who saw it coming? Well, the best candidate may be science fiction author Larry Niven, 71, whose 1973 novella Flash Crowd foresaw riots self-assembling thanks to brand-new technologies. Since it’s a science fiction novel, Niven wrote about the unintended effects that discovering teleportation (the “beam me up, Scotty” deal) would have on society, but he says he readily sees the connection, one he saw coming with news reports feeding riots in Los Angeles in the Vietnam era.
“Flash mobs are an artifact of the Internet, yes, but also of easy…
To Fight Deflation, Abolish Cash. Could Japan Make Reality of ‘Science Fiction’?
Leo Lewis, The Times: With recovery elusive, a population doddering into old age and perhaps a decade of deflation in prospect, Japan may start mulling the most radical monetary policy of all — the abolition of cash.
Unorthodox, untried and, said one Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi strategist, “in the realms of economic science fiction”, the recommendation has nevertheless begun floating around Tokyo’s corridors of power and economists have described Japan as particularly suitable as a testing ground.
The search for more outré economic policies continues, despite the recent surge in the Nikkei 225 index.The market may be reflecting soaring Chinese investment, rising consumer confidence and other cheerful data but economists see few long-term beacons of hope for Japan.
Other extreme ideas mooted by the financial authorities include a tax on physical currency or introducing one to operate alongside the yen. All three ideas are based on a theory concerning interest rates and the…
How Transhumanism Went Mainstream
Accelerating Future: This graph at Google Trends can help give you an idea of how mentions of transhumanism have been growing in the media and public consciousness over the last few years. Prior to 2006, it didn’t even register.
Note that most discussions of transhumanist ideas take place under different labels, like “nanotechnology”, “cyborgs”, or simply “future technology”.
John Hodgman: Obama Is The First Nerd President
Foster Kamer, Gawker: John Hodgman nailed an utterly hysterical speech to President Obama at the Radio and Television Correspondents dinner yesterday, slagging on media for a while, before hopefully designating Obama as our first nerd president. Obama’s Vulcan salute after the jump.
Hodgman, a sometimes Daily Show correspondent, author, and former literary agent, absolutely killed it last night at the 2009 Radio and TV Correspondents Dinner.
The entire thing is about fourteen minutes, all of which is priceless (and Hodgman, not a professional comedian, makes Wanda Sykes’ performance of a few weeks ago look completely bush league). Watch and learn, future Obama funnypeople. This is how it’s done.
Nice work by Hodgman, who’s clearly still in a little bit of shock himself.
Are Oceans Moving Earth’s Magnetic Poles?
Catherine Brahic, New Scientist: Ocean currents push floating rafts, plastic trash, and warm air around the planet — now the Earth’s magnetic field can also be added to the list, according to a controversial new hypothesis.
Physicist Gregory Ryskin of Northwestern University has proposed that the oceans’ currents are responsible for the slow wandering of the magnetic poles.
The hypothesis has provoked a strong reaction among geophysicists, with one that New Scientist spoke to labelling it “garbage”. Most agree that the magnetic field is generated by movements of the molten iron that makes up Earth’s outer core. However Ryskin says his idea that ocean movements may affect the field is worth investigating.
Oceans could drag the field along global currents, and they could also generate their own weak magnetic field, he says.
Remembering Burton’s Batmania, 20 Years Later
Graeme McMillan, io9.com: It was 20 years ago this week that Tim Burton’s Batman was released, changing the face of summer blockbusters, superhero movies and even breakfast cereal forever (Okay, maybe not that last one). Perhaps it’s time to relive some Batmania…?
Tuesday marks the exact anniversary (June 23rd) of Burton’s movie — a film that broke box office records despite many people expecting it to disappear without trace as soon as it opened. Instead, it opened the door for three sequels with different levels of diminishing return, a classic cartoon series, numerous bad superhero movies and a summer where it seemed like everything had a Bat logo on it. If there truly was life before Burton’s Batman (and we only have science’s word and our own faulty memories that there was) one thing’s for sure — it was certainly a lesser place without the sounds of Prince’s “Batdance” available for us to…
Sonia Sotomayor Quits Female Version of Bohemian Grove
Lynn Sweet, PoliticsDaily: So this is an interesting development that needs to be noted in Woman Up: Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor realized that belonging to a women-only club is a political liability, no matter what her reasons for joining in the first place. So on Friday, 6:58 p.m. Eastern time, the White House e-mail landed in my BlackBerry with the news that Sotomayor quit the women-only Belizean Grove club.
“I am writing to inform you that I have resigned from the Belizean Grove, effective today. I believe that the Belizean Grove does not practice invidious discrimination and my membership did not violate the Judicial Code of Ethics, but I do not want questions about this to distract anyone from my qualifications and record,” Sotomayor wrote in a one paragraph letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking…
Doomsday Pending? James Lovelock on ‘The Hour’
CBC’s The Hour: James Lovelock is an independent scientist, he works in a lab that used to be a barn in Cornwall, England.For years now, he’s been sounding the alarm on climate change.
He says we can’t undo the damage we’ve done and that by the end of this century many places on earth will be unliveable. If that weren’t bad enough, most of the human race will be wiped out.
So, we shouldn’t waste our time trying to reverse climate change. Instead, he says we should focus on finding ways to survive the inevitable ahead. He lays it all out in his new book The Vanishing Face of Gaia.
Death Video Girl ‘Targeted By Militia’
Amateur video apparently showing a young Iranian woman dying in Tehran after she was allegedly shot by pro-government militia on Saturday has caused outrage in Iran and abroad.
Eyewitnesses and video footage of the shooting clearly show that probably Basij paramilitaries in civilian clothing deliberately targeted her. Eyewitnesses said they clearly targeted her and she was shot in the chest.
Sinister Days?
Truth in Sinister By Grand Magister Blackwood
Temples of Satan Founder and New Leader of Theistic Satanism Speaks on Temples of Satan.
For years it has been a battle point of different opposing groups in Satanism, who needs to find and attract the sinister elements in Satanism?
Theistic Satanism already has them, and no convoluted theories are accepted by the devoted and dedicated Theistic Satanist, he or she worships The Master of All Magic and Chaos direct not through emissaries that landed here from outer space or fake gods and goddesses.
Just ask a Real Satanist sometime!
Temples of Satan
Real Satanism Defined Purity and Excellence !
Scientology Secrets & Scandals Exposed By High Level Defectors
Scientology leader David Miscavige is the focus of this special report from the St. Petersburg Times. Former executives of the Church of Scientology, including two of the former top lieutenants to Miscavige, have come forward to describe a culture of intimidation and violence under David Miscavige. These former Scientology leaders served for years with Miscavige.
Overwhelming Support For U.S. Government-Run Healthcare Plan
According to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, Americans want a radical restructuring of the nation’s health care system, and overwhelmingly favor the creation of a government-run plan to compete with private insurers. 87 percent of self-described Democrats, 73 percent of independents, and even 50 percent of self-described Republicans favor a government plan, with only 39 percent of Republicans saying they oppose “socialist” health care. Also, most Americans say that they would be willing to pay higher taxes in order to provide everyone with health insurance.
So, why have most Congressional Republicans, and even some Democrats, decried the idea of a government plan as “too extreme”? Unfortunately, they’re in the pocket of insurance companies, meaning the changes that most Americans want may be near-impossible to achieve.
Amazing Scenes From the David Letterman Protests
A group of extremely vocal protesters staged a “Fire David Letterman” rally outside of New York City’s Ed Sullivan Theater to express their displeasure over Letterman’s off-color joke concerning Sarah Palin’s daughter. The result is pretty amazing, a collection of unforgettable one-liners. I’m unsure whether my favorite is “Do you know what ’schmuck’ means in Jewish?” or “David Letterman will rape children with his mouth.”
Outsourced Surveillance Nation: Dutch Muggers Caught On Google Street View Camera
Dutch twin brothers who mugged a teenager in the northern town of Groningen were arrested after being caught on camera by a car gathering images for Google’s online photo map service, police said.
The pair stole the 14-year-old boy’s mobile phone and 165 euros ($230) in cash last September.
“The picture was taken just a moment before the crime,” a police spokesman said.
As Steaks Mount, Hare Krishnas Beef Up Appeals to Save Cows
NEW VRINDABAN, W.Va. — Saving cows, the Hare Krishnas in this village have learned, is a lot easier in India.
Created four decades ago, New Vrindaban was the first cattle sanctuary in the U.S. At its peak, it had 434 bovine refugees. Today, the cattle population is down to 80 because there’s not enough money to support more. So the Hare Krishna community is borrowing a tactic more commonly used by charities that try to save people.
For $51, you can feed a cow for a month, while $108 would “provide special care for retired cows who can no longer breed or give milk,” the group says in one appeal. “In one selfless stroke, you are sending a valuable message to our children and to a troubled world which sees today’s gentle cow as tomorrow’s dinner.”
