This weekend I read this idea that in order to avoid procrastination you should schedule tasks around the idea of completing 3 big things and 2 small things each day.
Has anyone used this idea?
If I had to say I was going to do this right now I guess I would have to go with:
Big
1. Review 2 Chapters Project Management
2. Read 1 Chapter Organizational Behavior
3. Walk 1 hour
Small
1. Do dishes
2. Clean bathtub.
I am going through the different job sites updating resumes and such and it occurs to me that what we need is an open resume format, probably done up in XML, so that no matter what site you are on the fields populate correctly from a single resume and skills are presented in a format that is consistent from person to person.
Another thing is all 50 states should share resume data.
Who would have guessed? Aside from the entire Western world?
Source
One Taliban commander, Mullah Qaseem, told the BBC the important things for a fighter were supplies and a hiding place.
"Pakistan plays a significant role. First they support us by providing a place to hide which is really important. Secondly they provide us with weapons," he said, according to excerpts provided by the BBC.
Other Taliban commanders described how they and their fighters were, and are, trained in a network of camps on Pakistani soil.
According to a commander using the name Mullah Azizullah, the experts running the training are either members of the ISI or have close links to it.
"They are all the ISI's men. They are the ones who run the training. First they train us about bombs; then they give us practical guidance," he said.
The American phoenix is slowly rising again. Within five years or so, the US will be well on its way to self-sufficiency in fuel and energy. Manufacturing will have closed the labour gap with China in a clutch of key industries. The current account might even be in surplus.
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"Made in America, Again" - a report this month by Boston Consulting Group - said Chinese wage inflation running at 16pc a year for a decade has closed much of the cost gap. China is no longer the "default location" for cheap plants supplying the US.
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As Philadelphia Fed chief Sandra Pianalto said last week, US manufacturing is "very competitive" at the current dollar exchange rate. Whether intended or not, the Fed's zero rates and $2.3 trillion printing blitz have brought matters to an abrupt head for China.
Fed actions confronted Beijing with a Morton's Fork of ugly choices: revalue the yuan, or hang onto the mercantilist dollar peg and import a US monetary policy that is far too loose for a red-hot economy at the top of the cycle. Either choice erodes China's wage advantage. The Communist Party chose inflation.
ASTORIA, OR—The deadly auto wreck that claimed the life of local high school science teacher Donald Vaughan, 47, would have neatly and succinctly illustrated the basic laws of classical mechanics to his fourth-period physics class, sources reported Monday. Having struggled to grasp the rule stating that force is equal to mass times acceleration, Vaughan's students would reportedly have been given an elegant case study in the concept were he still alive to describe the way his 1992 Mazda Protégé lethally collided with a large oak tree late Saturday night. Sources also reported that, had Vaughan's students only witnessed their teacher's head separate violently from his spinal cord, they might have finally understood the fundamental idea that an object in motion will tend to stay in motion.
"You're headed for a one-term presidency," he told Obama at the start of their meeting, insisting that the administration needed to be more business-friendly. As an example, Jobs described the ease with which companies can build factories in China compared to the United States, where "regulations and unnecessary costs" make it difficult for them.
Jobs went on to call for teachers' unions to be disbanded. Obama later invited Jobs to a Silicon Valley exec dinner party, but the two butted heads over the fare: Jobs said the menu was too "fancy," taking particular offense to a chocolate truffle desert. "But [Jobs] was overruled by the White House, which cited the president's fondness for cream pie."
The U.S. borrows money by selling bonds. So the end of debt would mean the end of Treasury bonds.
But the U.S. has been issuing bonds for so long, and the bonds are seen as so safe, that much of the world has come to depend on them. The U.S. Treasury bond is a pillar of the global economy.
...
If Treasury bonds disappeared, would the world unravel? Would it adjust somehow?
Apparently the politicians were so worried about the lack of Treasury bonds they decided to make sure such a crisis could never happen again.
Those of you who both bother to read this blog and who are without long term memory loss inflicted by drugs, alcohol, or repeated blows to the head, (in math that’s called a null set), may remember that back in June President Obama’s chief advisor on cybersecurity declared there was no such thing as cyberwarfare.
Wonder what he thinks about this:
A new computer virus using "nearly identical" parts of the cyber superweapon Stuxnet has been detected on computer systems in Europe and is believed to be a precursor to a new Stuxnet-like attack, a major U.S.-based cyber security company said today. ... A representative for Symantec said they were made aware of the new threat after the unnamed European research lab forwarded them a sample of the code along with their analysis comparing it with Stuxnet, which Symantec then confirmed. McAfee Labs, another cyber security power player, said they too had been given a sample of the Duqu code for analysis. "One thing for sure is the Stuxnet team is still active..." McAfee said on its website.Technical details here Two thing I found interesting, a valid digital certificate from a company in Taiwan was used in the insertion, and the data was reported back to a server in India. Now I am just spitballing but who would benefit the most if India and Taiwain were caught some collateral damage from this escapade, and who has a history of cyber attacks? Who can say China? source
As recently as Sunday I was arguing that at this point Occupy Wall Street was too small and too disjointed too accomplish anything significant. At this point I am standing by that statement but I see a couple trends that are making me think they may be on the verge of moving into the mainstream:
1. People are still incredibly angry at Wall Street. I have said before that populism usually breeds bad decisions.
2. They are start to develop some semi-innovative ways of getting their message out. One example would be these infographics:
In addition the last couple of “spokespeople” I have heard didn’t sound like braindead stoners whining about their student loans. They sounded intelligent and put out a lucid argument. I may disagree with the argument but it was coherent.
3. They are getting more organized. Probably the big labor influence, but it still makes them a more viable force. Of note is the fact that they now have $300,000 in the bank (enough to pay back the student loans of two art history majors) not a phenomenal amount but it shows some organizational ability, and there are reports that they have stockpiles of supplies to carry them through the winter.
With those things in mind my conclusion on @OccupyWallStreet has now changed to, “If they make it through the winter without breaking up they will be a force in next years election”
And I am just sitting here wondering what the hell to do. Did some homework for my Organizational Behavior class and read all the handouts for that Stanford Database class I am taking. I guess I could watch Green Lantern.
Why does someone become an Islamic radical? What are his deepest beliefs? Is there any hope he can be turned away from terrorism? Former federal prosecutor and congressional investigator Kenneth Ballen, author of Terrorists in Love, spent five years interviewing more than 100 extremists throughout the Muslim world and shares the lives of six of them, unveiling the motivations behind their deadly missions and delivering a startling new thesis about what drives them to violence. Presented by the Town Hall Center for Civic Life with Elliott Bay Book Company. Series media sponsorship provided by PubliCola. Series supported by The Boeing Company Charitable Trust and the RealNetworks Foundation.
Tickets are $5 at Brown Paper Tickets or 800/838-3006, and at the door beginning at 7:30 pm. Town Hall members receive priority seating.
My second term has started at WGU. My first four classes are Project Management, Organizational Behavior, Management, and Leadership Concepts and Applications. Following close behind are Database concepts, Information Security and Client Server Operating Systems. Well I wasn’t happy with that so in a fit of insanity I enrolled in a free Introductory Database class that Stanford is offering with the idea that hey it will help with the other class and look good on my resume. That class started this morning and now I am like OMG what was I thinking. The next three months are going to be nothing but databases, databases, databases.
Every time I do one of these I feel like I am back in 4th grade:
Reamde is a book by Neal Stephenson. It is a very good book. It is about a man named Richard Forthrast and his niece Zula…
As you can tell I was no smarter in 4th grade than I am now.
OK I know there are a few Stephenson fans that lurk around these pages so in short - This is not the typical Stephenson novel. This is a Tom Clancy novel as written by Neal Stephenson. It’s still a good book but if you go into it expecting a a treatise on Van Eyk phreaking or a side journey into the Calculus Wars you are going to be disappointed. If you accept the book as what it is, a well written thriller, you will be very well satisfied.
Initially Reamde appears to center around Richard Forthrast, a video game addict turned video game tycoon and all the action centers around him and his efforts to maintain his life in some sort of order despite the efforts of outsiders to disrupt it both personally and professionally. This changes abruptly when his adopted niece is suddenly thrust into the middle of an identity theft scheme that goes wrong. From that point the action centers around Zula and her efforts to survive her situation and it becomes obvious that Richard existed only as the introduction to her and to set up further events.
In and of itself this probably would have made a pretty good story, but this is Neal Stephenson and one thing this guy is known for is cultural exploration and observing trends. This trait isn’t quite as pronounced in this book as in others but it remains. Some of the observations I pulled from the book: 1) Coastal / Mainstream America has gone soft. The American ethic is surviving in the center of the country but has dissipated elsewhere. 2) The world exists as an adapt or die ecosystem and Americans are losing the ability to adapt. (This is really obvious through the main character, observe the reversion to Eritrean refugee mode at key points) and 3) Commerce has changed to the point that it is almost unrecognizable. (You have to look for it but I thought I detected a few digs at the idea of a gold standard that makes me think Stephenson is actively laughing at Ron Paul). There is one other that I found a little disturbing and it makes me wonder what Stephenson has observed to depict it in this way: There is a much larger jihadist element in this country than people realize (and they are more organized than suspected). Not that I have ever had any doubt that there were some, but the question has always been how many. In Stephenson's world the answer appears to be “lots”
As usual for Stephenson lots of threads, and they spin out over multiple locales, which appear to be well researched, before finally weaving back together in Northern Idaho for the novels end. Another Stephenson trademark is to string things out forever and then bring them all to a conclusion very quickly. That persists in Reamde, as does his use of Deus ex Machina. In this case I swear he did it just because he knew I would be reading and it would piss me off. (read the final climatic death scene, you will know what I mean)
Overall I would rate this book as probably a 4 out 5. It’s definitely the best fiction book I have read this year.
(Monte expressed low hopes for this book over at Ace’s. I haven’t seen the actual review yet. I’m sure he has read it 6 or 7 times now, between his twice weekly reading of “The Road to Serfdom”, and daily readings of the Bible, Lord of the Rings and The Wealth of Nations, so it should be coming)
Apparently not that easy, or maybe it is but it just can’t be done.
Interestingly, there is one other theoretical option to ultimately get rid of Kelihos: we know how the bot’s update process works. We could use this knowledge and issue our own update that removes the infections and terminates itself. However, this would be illegal in most countries and will thus remain theory.
This scenario is actually explored in the book “Stealing the Network: How to own the box.”
In related news; a year or so after Bradley Manning wreaked havoc on the diplomatic efforts of the US by downloading and ultimately releasing a gazillion diplomatic cables to Wikileaks the government finally gets around to plugging that hole.
WASHINGTON — The White House plans to issue an executive order on Friday to replace a flawed patchwork of computer security safeguards exposed by the disclosure of hundreds of thousands of classified government documents to WikiLeaks last year.
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Computer security analysts say these safeguards, as well as others in the executive order aimed at bringing greater consistency and accountability to information sharing and protection policies, are long overdue, and lag behind what is routine in the private sector.
Other than we kick ass at using electricity and driving cars?
The Economist has a feature called “Daily Chart”. On Monday they published a comparison of India and China. I decided to add the US to the mix and see how we fared. Overall pretty well. Here is what I see – despite rapidly growing economies both nations are still heavily locked into subsistence farming and are underdeveloped in a way that will hurt their economic growth soon. (They aren’t under-consuming on electricity because they care about the planet.)
