Tag USA

Bluffdale

According to another top official also involved with the program, the NSA made an enormous breakthrough several years ago in its ability to cryptanalyze, or break, unfathomably complex encryption systems employed by not only governments around the world but also many average computer users in the US. The upshot, according to this official: “Everybody’s a target; everybody with communication is a target.”

[…] The breakthrough was enormous, says the former official, and soon afterward the agency pulled the shade down tight on the project, even within the intelligence community and Congress. “Only the chairman and vice chairman and the two staff directors of each intelligence committee were told about it,” he says. The reason? “They were thinking that this computing breakthrough was going to give them the ability to crack current public encryption.”

That Jetson's-style robot…

Nope, this post is not about robots or cartoons, but about the absurdity of dealing with a tel-co in the States (it's the same if not worse here). Few things are more universal than corporate idiocy and incompetence of the highest level, it seems and Steven's writing is hilarious. =)

Inside Job (2010)

The Inside Job is a documentary like few of its contemporaries: mainstream and accessible enough to win an Academy Award, yet sharp, piercing and well-researched enough to actually convince even the most sceptical among the viewers. This is a film narrated by an A-list hollywood star, Matt Damon, that dares to shred the current global […]

The Books

One of the most impressive and original groups that I’ve listened to in the past few years, I’ve been meaning to write something more substantial about this for ages, but never got around to doing it. Difficult, but warm, exceptionally rich in sounds and meaning and at the same time simple, even minimalist in structure, […]

Naïve Brilliance

If anything can be said in retrospect about Robert McNamara is not that he was hawkish, evil, corrupt or duplicitous, but that despite his sophistication, the statistical prowess and scientific rigour that he showed in his work, his all-around intellectual capacity (or perhaps, in a way just because of all these) he exemplified the naïve brilliance that often accompanies highly intelligent people that fail to take that macroscopic view and consider where they place their focus and energy and why they do so. His 2003 'apology' film, the Errol Morris documentary 'The Fog Of War', as well as his 1995 'In Retrospect' book, both indicate that wisdom came late to McNamara; a clear and very welcome difference, nevertheless, to most of his contemporaries.

Lanterna – Elm Street

This past weekend, during coding, I opened last.fm and clicked on ‘My Recommendations’ and a short while later ‘B Minor’ from the 2001 album ‘Elm Street’ by Lanterna started playing from my speakers. The track is captivating, its ambience, smooth and flowing — so different to many ‘guitar-based’ tracks out there, while at the same […]

Endgame

The tensions among the first Bush cabinet on many issues were pretty evident. Colin Powell’s appointment as Secretary of State was meant to satisfy the moderates, after all. That and perhaps balance the factions within the Republican party, at a time when G.W. Bush seemed clueless on practically anything that mattered and Cheney/Rumsfeld represented an […]

Technology and The End Of Capitalism

The recent financial crisis brought back memories of ‘Black Monday’, October 19th, 1987, the day of the greatest financial crisis of the late 20th century and the day the concept and practice of automated trading entered the consciousness of millions of people around the world. “Imaginary Wealth”. In Search of An Ethical Justification The ethical […]

Στρατιωτική Πρόβα με την αποδοχή της Ελλάδος;

Το BBC δημοσιεύει άρθρο στο οποίο, σύμφωνα με δηλώσεις αξιωματικού των ΗΠΑ, στις αρχές Ιουνίου έγιναν πολεμικές ασκήσεις στο 'ανατολικό Αιγαίο και πάνω από την Ελλάδα' από την Ισραηλινή Αεροπορία στα πλαίσια προετοιμασίας για επίθεση στο Ιράν. Καθ'ότι δεν διαβάζω ελληνικό τύπο δε γνωρίζω εαν έγινε ή όχι αναφορά στη τηλεόραση/εφημερίδες. Αν μη τι άλλο θεωρώ πως --- δεδομένης της ελληνικής θέσης --- η όποια συμμετοχή της Ελλάδος σε πολεμικές προετοιμασίες πιθανής επίθεσης στο Ιράν είναι αν μη τι άλλο ηθικά και νομικά επίμαχη. Με άλλα λόγια, εαν ισχύει, δηλαδή η Έλλάδα παραχώρησε τον εθνικό εναέριο χώρο στο Ισραήλ για τέτοιες ασκήσεις, θαρρώ πως βρίσκεται σίγουρα εκτός των υποχρεώσεων μας ως μέλη του ΝΑΤΟ και σύμμαχος του Ισραήλ, είναι αντίθετο με την μέχρι σήμερα εξωτερική πολιτική της χώρας αλλά --- πρωτίστως --- τη βούληση των ελλήνων για διπλωματική λύση του ζητήματος των πυρηνικών εγκαταστάσεων στο Ιράν.