hitler hitler hitler

July 31, 2009 in ideology, Iraq

Here’s Henry from Crooked Timber not getting it. Here’s Randy McDonald not getting it. Look, the fact that neo-con wankers deal in baseless smears and mindlessly repeated talking points should neither be cause for surprise, nor should you hope to convince them of anything. I occasionally make the point that after the Left invented post-modernism, [...]

I don’t give two fucks about your review

July 28, 2009 in music

According to Will Page of the MCRS-PRS, the music industry is more than making back the money it’s losing from recording on live performance. That wasn’t in the Digital Britain Report, now was it? We’re doing our best. Meanwhile, MailWatch makes me think there’s probably space for a blog devoted to reviewing films it’s not [...]

next slide, please

July 26, 2009 in snark

We spoke of fake and real online participation. These things also exist in other branches of IT. Thomas X. Hammes writes about PowerPoint presentations: Rather than the intellectually demanding work of condensing a complex issue to two pages of clear text, the staff instead works to create 20 to 60 slides. Time is wasted on [...]

know your spies

July 26, 2009 in banter, intelligence and stupidity

A field guide to sinister Middle Eastern spy chiefs.

democracy

July 26, 2009 in democracy

This is depressing; they couldn’t find enough volunteers to count the votes in the Norwich North by-election on the night. What’s especially worrying is that it’s one of those assumptions that you never think about – a sort of minimum of commitment to the special importance of voting. And it’s being eroded, just as the [...]

heliviktor

July 26, 2009 in Afghanistan, Viktor

Someone’s been doing a good series on the recent loss of a Mi-26 helicopter near the British base in Sangin, a civilian machine chartered in to carry supplies around Helmand. The aircraft was ER-MCV, and it apparently belonged to Pecotox Air, an old and fairly dodgy charter operator from Moldova; however, it was apparently wearing [...]

making an arrest

July 26, 2009 in 4GW, smuggling, Somalia

Remember those Tuareg uranium guerrillas? Back in the summer of 2007, just before the crash, they were busy raiding Chinese prospectors and intriguing with both the French and the Nigerien government. And blogging, ISTR, on their Thuraya satphones. Now look what’s happened: they’ve been recruited by the Algerians to fight Al-Qa’ida, or more specificially the [...]

der mensch maschine

July 26, 2009 in GSM, socialism

Has anyone else noticed that SpinVox achieved the Turing Test in reverse? Rather than constructing a machine capable of conversing in a manner indistinguishable from a human being, they constructed a company to make human beings appear to be a machine. The shock some people claimed to feel at discovering that SpinVox is people! is [...]

twitbook: book of twits

July 26, 2009 in 4GW, cultures of war, Internet, open source, ORGANISE

Wired reviews a book on the media of the Middle East, The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday. Well, even pirates have press spokesmen these days. It sounds like it could be interesting, but it strikes me that this piece by Tom Griffin about trolls sponsored by various Middle Eastern actors [...]

i’ve got the key, i’ve got the secret…whoops

July 26, 2009 in computer, Germany, hacker, NHS

Further, after the last post, BT futurologist says we’re living in science fiction. And what particular works does she mention? Blade Runner, Judge Dredd and Solyent Green. Well. In the world of Halting State, meanwhile, the Germans have had a wee probby with their electronic health cards. Partly it’s due to a reasonably sensible design; [...]