Author: admin

No safer today. A very interesting interview with Michael Scheuer who, until he resigned in 2004, was a 22-year veteran with the CIA, he answers six questions: We're coming up on the five-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Is the country safer or more vulnerable to terrorism? Is Al Qaeda stronger or weaker than it… Continue reading No safer today

Engineers Doubt Big Easy Levees. After nearly a year of work on the levee system in the Crescent City, the commander of the Army Corps of Engineers admits it's likely not up to holding against a big one. [Wired News: Top Stories]

Commuter rail head steps down under fire. The head of the consortium that runs the MBTA's commuter rail system has resigned under withering criticism about late trains and chronic poor service, which worsened after the Big Dig tunnel closings sent more commuters to trains. [Boston Globe — Front Page]

Skype Call Traced. Kobi Alexander fled the United States ten days ago. He was tracked down in Sri Lanka via a Skype call: According to the report, Alexander was located after making a one-minute call via the online telephone Skype service. The call, made from the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, alerted intelligence agencies to his… Continue reading Skype Call Traced

Eric Sink is a marketing genius!. I’m downloading IE 7, RC1 and while I’m doing that I’m reading some blogs. Translation: avoiding answering email. I hate email. I hate email. I hate email. This morning Maryam and I got up to speak to marketing executives from a bunch of big companies (as big as Microsoft).… Continue reading Eric Sink is a marketing genius!

Feel the pain…. Dare wrote a post talking about the advisability of making developers do operations. Which is really part of a philosophical question… When you're setting up a software organization, how much specialization should you have, and where you should you draw the lines around the responsibilities of the various groups? Some orgs take… Continue reading Feel the pain…

There's got to be a way to do this…. Here's what I want to be able to do. We've got a ton of books in the Fog Creek library, in no particular order, and it's gotten to the point where it's actually easier to order a new copy of a book from Amazon than to… Continue reading There's got to be a way to do this…

Micro-sourcing and micro-ISVs. By Bob Walsh Every so often in the software industry a new idea that creates a whole new kind of software. I think we're on the verge of just such a new category: micro-sourcing. I define micro-sourcing as the ability to quickly and effortlessly access skilled services for specific micro-tasks from within… Continue reading Micro-sourcing and micro-ISVs

We Can Detect Liquid Explosives. Scanning machines that can spot liquid or gel-based explosives exist already — some based on 10-year-old technologies. But they're not in airports and probably won't be anytime soon. [Wired News: Top Stories]

Last Week's Terrorism Arrests. Hours-long waits in the security line. Ridiculous prohibitions on what you can carry onboard. Last week's foiling of a major terrorist plot and the subsequent airport security graphically illustrates the difference between effective security and security theater. None of the airplane security measures implemented because of 9/11 — no-fly lists, secondary… Continue reading Last Week's Terrorism Arrests