danielifearn's blog

Tis the Season of Misrule

danielifearn — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 02:39:15 +0000

Merry Julian Calendar Christmas!

Christmas isn't always what it seems. But let's forget the War on Christmas and remember the unreason for the season. Here's a selection of merry japes on the unreality of things christmasy.

Horrible Histories - O Christmas Tree!

Horrible Histories - Silent Night

Horrible Histories - Good King Wenceslas

Wassail!

Trench Truces-Before and Beyond Christmas 1914

danielifearn — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:37:32 +0000

The Christmas Truce of 1914 is only the most widely known impromptu truce. But anecdotal accounts abound of other truces, trades and temporary accommodations.

This from Walter Lord's account of the sinking of the light cruiser USS Helena contained in Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers of the Solomons.

Soon more planes arrived-but this time they were Zeros. Watching them approach, Major Kelly recalled the recent Bismarck Sea affair, where Allied aircraft strafed the Japanese life rafts after sinking their transports. This was no gentleman's war, and he steeled himself for the worst.

But the Zeros didn't shoot. The nearest pilot simply pulled back his canopy and looked at them closely. Circling, the planes made a second run, and again held their fire. As they circled for a third run, they got off a few short bursts, and Kelly felt sure that this time would be "it". As they roared by, practically touching the water, the lead pilot grinned, waved, waggled his wings…and then they were gone.

The Zero pilots could have machine gunned the survivors, but didn't. Perhaps they thought "Why waste ammunition?" But, then why wave and waggle?

New drone could reduce military spending by millions or billions

danielifearn — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:14:35 +0000

View the prototype B-13 drone here.

Australian Police: Tents aren't clothes

danielifearn — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:08:56 +0000

This follow up to the Tent Monster video from Occupy Australia shows police stripping a woman in public. I have to wonder about the police response to people dressed in clothes that happen to be tents. What's next - cutting off t-shirts that have messages the police don't like?

Rethinking the occupation

danielifearn — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:26:20 +0000

The 2 party system is bankrupt - literally

danielifearn — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:01:21 +0000

From Friday's Star Tribune:

State GOP faces $533,000 in debt

And, the DFL is $242,000 in the hole.

To Cyber War or not to Cyber War...

danielifearn — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 01:23:06 +0000

Ex-U.S. general urges frank talk on cyber weapons OR Cyber War Might Never Happen

Scholar versus General. Who's telling the truth?

Cyber War Might Never Happen

ScienceDaily — Cyber war, long considered by many experts within the defence establishment to be a significant threat, if not an ongoing one, may never take place according to Dr Thomas Rid of King's College London. READ MORE

Ex-U.S. general urges frank talk on cyber weapons

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States should be more open about its development of offensive cyber weapons and spell out when it will use them as it grapples with an increasing barrage of attacks by foreign hackers, the former No. 2 uniformed officer in the U.S. military said. READ MORE

Profiling on Steroids-More Security Insecurity

danielifearn — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 23:01:23 +0000

Computer Vision Experts Develop 'Questionable Observer Detector'

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This is a demonstration of a crime-fighting tool that can help law enforcement officials identify suspicious individuals at crime scenes. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Notre Dame)

ScienceDaily (Oct. 12, 2011) — It's become a standard plot device of television detective shows: criminals always return to the scene of the crime. And law enforcement officials believe that perpetrators of certain crimes, mostly notably arson, do indeed have an inclination to witness their handiwork. Also, U.S. military in the Middle East feel that IED bomb makers return to see the results of their work in order to evolve their designs.

Twit the Twits with Twitter

danielifearn — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 04:54:13 +0000

Opening Closed Regimes: What Was the Role of Social Media During the Arab Spring?

Will iPhone be the new Diebold?

danielifearn — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 04:43:17 +0000

Is Smartphone Technology the Future of US Elections?

ScienceDaily (Sep. 13, 2011) — With more and more Americans upgrading to smartphones, and as smartphone capabilities continue to improve, even the U.S. government is considering innovative ways to harness this advancing technology. Human factors/ergonomics researchers have evaluated the potential benefits of using smartphones to enable online voting in future U.S. elections and will present their findings at the upcoming HFES 55th Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada.