"Modern-day Hessians"

"Koppel notes that Cofer Black, formerly a high-ranking C.I.A. officer and now a senior executive with Blackwater USA, "has publicly said that his company would be prepared to take on the Darfur account."

He concludes: "The United States may not be about to subcontract out the actual fighting in the war on terrorism, but the growing role of security companies on behalf of a wide range of corporate interests is a harbinger of things to come." "

Recently I read a guilty-pleasures thriller (well, listened, actually, on Audible.com) to Richard Morgan's book "Market Forces". I described it as "Wall Street meets Mad Max", and while it was certainly full of the puerile bits of action I find enjoyable, it also described an extrapolation of current trends in culture that really disturb me.

As a former Marine, I recall wondering if Desert Shield really was all about the oil, or if we were going to go and take care of an invading dictator. I chose to believe the latter, and though I was discharged before my unit shipped out, I was proud of their service and my willingness to serve--right up until the Bosnian genocide, when we did nothing. At that point, I decided, it was all about the oil.

Now, reading reports like the above, from this article, there's a cynical resignation in my thoughts. I love the democratization of the internet, I love the power that media is giving more and more people, voices that were silent being heard...but at the same time, I see more and more blatant use of power by those with money. Is it because they're threatened? Or do they just not care anymore? I'm not sure. But I'm frightened of the world my children will inherit.

"Chicago Access Corporation's interview with Tony Riddle of ACM, a guy named Bass from the conservative Heartland Institute, and another guest. Memorably, Bass says we need to "get democracy out of the way of the marketplace." "

From http://www.cantv.org/media21.htm

I've made the decision. The break has to happen.

It's a hard one. It comes only after a lot of thought, a lot of reading, and trying, trying hard, to make it work. But it just doesn't feel right; I have to go with what, in my gut, in my soul, feels most natural, most authentically me.

I'm giving up the Palm Pilot, and going back to my Moleskine. Just finished drawing in the monthly calendar, and the week, and it felt so good.

Sure, I can't read e-books on the moleskine, and I won't have a music player until I finally replace my iPod. But it's the soft, natural acid-free paper for me, from now on...

hee hee

Wow, I never thought I'd be in the position of handing my boss a report as she's off to a meeting with the Exciting New Information that will help blow the minds of the Higher Ups.

In this case, it's the fact that since we started our Streaming Server (which, if you'll remember, I advocated, implemented, and maintained for an initial outlay of exactly $0) about 10% of our material is accessed from Cambodia (we have a significant Hmong population in our schools). And about 5% is accessed from Iraq. We are also getting about 50% of the initial users of the site coming back for more. Not a bad retention rate.

It's not big numbers in the grand scheme of things, especially on the web. But it is enough to impress people who aren't familiar with the tech...and I'm pretty proud of it.

I like free software, how 'bout you?

I'm a big fan of collaboration, as shown by my recent WIKI setup. I'm also a big fan of being able to do things to connect with people over long distances. So I'm taking this opportunity to post the most recent MacZot , where in collaboration with the Coding Monkeys, they're giving away $105 in software.

In this case, it's the SubEthaEdit application, a real-time whiteboard kind of app, where you can literally write things with other people. It's the next best thing to sitting at a coffeeshop with someone right next to you, and I'm thinking it would have made preparation for our jealousy seminar a lot less hurried if minx and I could have used it.

Anyway, the idea is that MacZot will sell 3000 copies of this at a bargain price--and do a publicity push by asking blogging mac fanatics like me to post about it in their blogs. Once the 3000 limit is reached, everyone who has posted the two links (i.e., one to MacZot and one to SubEthaEdit) will get a free license.

Free. Zip. Nada. Pretty cool, eh?

What is also cool is where the name "SubEthaEdit" came from. I ain't tellin', but if you can figure it out without looking at the links, then I'll consider you a mightier geek than I.

Some thoughts on Work

"Life doesn’t need to be a grim process of hours and days of activities you’re forced to do, in return for a few minutes of (probably guilty) pleasure. If you truly enjoy watching TV, go ahead—enjoy it wholeheartedly. If you don’t, stop doing it right now. If thinking about your work makes you feel mildly sick, focus your time on moving to another job you’ll enjoy more. If you love training hard for a marathon, that’s fine. If you’d prefer to sit in a chair with a book, that’s fine too. If spending time with friends makes your heart glad, go to it. If what thrills you most is the feeling of satisfaction you get from the job you do, spend as much time at work as you want.

There are no absolute, established rules for life. Many people try to tell you otherwise, but that’s because they want you to do only what they feel is right. It’s your life. So far as we know, you only get one. You ought to be able to live it pretty much as you wish, provided you don’t hurt others in the process. That’s what freedom means."
-Adrian Savagebold added by me

Wow. Can you imagine being raised with this idea?

I can't.

Performance Review

It's been six months at the new job. There are some rough spots. But this is the last sentence in the review:

"Quietly and in an unassuming way, he has made so many contributions that have had a tremendously positive impact."

I think that means they'll keep me...