Happy New Year!

Technically, I think this is a Failure of German Law

Apparently, German sailors stopped a pirate attack, then released the pirates.  German law only allows prosecution of piracy when the target is German citizens or property.  Instapundit calls this “Pirates 1, International Law 0″ but it seems to me the blame falls on zee Germans.

Take Me to Your Scriptwriters

As a publicity stunt, the remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is being beamed into space.  Glenn Reynolds ask if it is a good idea.

Well, that depends on your point of view.  From a marketing standpoint, it costs little and nets publicity.  And who really cares if the aliens don’t like it?

From the standpoint of wondering how the little green men will react, well, it’ll end up there any way, so who cares?

Seriously, though, the mindset this speaks of is interesting.  This likely has no consequence.  We’ve been beaming out bad TV and movies, and Howard Stern in multiple formats, for years.  So it’s not like we haven’t gone down this road before.

But it is clear that this stunt is predicated on the a complete lack of thought as to what the consequence of it would be.  On a fundamental level, the average person just doesn’t think that (a) this will have and effect, and/or (b) the effect will be bad.  They think it is a moment of newsworthiness, and that is all.  It takes a certain kind of mind to wonder about esoteric and remote possibilities that have no grounding in any past happenstance.

Note, this doesn’t mean that I think beaming bad entertainment into the sky is a good idea.  I’d rather not have the earth scoured of life because an inter-galactic despot disagreed with the cancellation of “My Own Worst Enemy.”  And it is entirely possible that “Who’s Your Daddy?” is classified as a Weapon of Memetic Distruction.

“It kind of pisses me off”

So speaketh an evangelical who found herself the target of proseltization, because she attended a church who’s pastor doesn’t believe that there is a hell.

You’ve got to love the dawning moment of comprehension when the woman realizes that perhaps all the people she’s testified to probably didn’t want to hear it.

But the whole thing is worth listening to.

An Infamous Day, Met with Righteous Might

77 years ago, the Empire of Japan initiated an attack on Pearl Harbor, as well as on American territory and allies across the Pacific.  Thus was this nation galvanized, and our entry into WWII ensured.

From my perspective, safely ensconced in a law school, typing at a computer, it is hard to project myself back to that day. Read more »

Ahh, Finals

This is my second to last finals period, and by far it is the easiest I’ve had.  Only one final, that can be taken at during any eight hour period that I deem worthwhile.  No 3 hours crowded in a room with the rata-tat-tat of 90 people hammering out as many words as they can, no 36 hours of debating whether 6 hours of sleep would worthwhile or detrimental.

Of course, this comparatively light finals schedule comes after a particularly grueling semester.  But who am I to look a gift registrar in the mouth?

God is On the Side of the Big Networks

Well, not big really.  Maybe resilient and distributed.

The Mumbai terror attacks are demonstrating that those who wish to do harm to make a point are able to use the exact same technology that the rest of us can, GPS, cell and satellite phones, even Crackberries.

And with a time-piece like regularity, people are freaking out about the fact, concerned that the networked terrorizer will be able to tap into the flow of information and adjust tactics accordingly.  This is what we call a “movie plot threat,” more plausible on the big screen then on the ground.

Think about this, suppose that a terrorist like the kind in Mumbai was actively monitoring or having monitored for them CNN and Twitter, and attempting to adjust their plan of attack accordingly.  The nature of the beast would mean that the terrorist would be a step behind the whole way, using a source that would instantly report on them using it then shifting.  If Twitter says “1st street is clear” and the terrorist heads to 1st, when he gets there Twitter will report the fact.  And every report on Twitter or CNN or any news sources will further fragment the movement of people following it, a group of 20 people given the same information will arrive at who knows how many different conclusions.

But rather then learn how to manage that stream, let’s talk about shutting them down.  Shutting down information dissemination routes that the many could use to avoid the few, in the hopes of inconveniencing the few doesn’t strike me as good policy.  Anybody heard of the concept of “pack, not a herd?”  Even faulty info systems enable a mass of people to make good, informed choices.

My uni institute a text message emergency system, which is a fine idea.  But it still presumes that there is only one legitimate arbiter of relevancy, and that that arbiter will have access to all relevant data.  In an emergency situation, this is categorically impossible.

You want to control these situations and maximize the effectiveness of your response, then you need some way of immersing yourself in the available information.  That would be the lesson to learn here.

Kindle

For my birthday, an auspicious day if ever there was one, I received an Amazon Kindle.

I know it is all DRM’d up, but it is still very, very cool.

Backlog

So I’m slowly working my way through my Tivo backlog, including a number of recordings from the pre-change era, before the election.

It is a little surreal to see the campaign ads now.

Also, thank woten it is over.

Well, Wasn’t Expecting That