Anyone surprised by this?

Second Life 'child abuse' claim just a matter of time.

update: Naturally the suggestion that there might actually be some legal requirements in the real world that could impact the game has some users write choked. I won't even get into the stupidity of suggesting it is somehow independent of the real world.

The tools of empire: technology and European imperialism in the nineteenth century by Daniel R. Headrick

The tools of empire: technology and European imperialism in the nineteenth century by Daniel R. Headrick discusses the technology that assisted the European nations in creating their overseas empires in the nineteenth century. The book talks about weapons technology, steamships, antimalarial drugs, railways and submarine cables. The book isn't just a listing of technical specifications but also talks about the sociological effects. There's a section on further reading.

Highly recommended!

1984 anyone?

B.C. scientist booted over refusal to use 'new government'

Update: B.C. scientist reinstated by Ottawa after phrase flap

The Sling and the Stone on War in the 21st Century by Thomas X. Hammes

The Sling and the Stone on War in the 21st Century by Thomas X. Hammes is a superb book on how to defeat insurgency and terrorist threats. The author suggests that instead of preparing to fight mechanized forces such as China the US should be more concerned about creating forces which are able to defeat insurgencies. He describes insurgencies and as the fourth generation of warfare. His analysis on the different aspects of insurgency and counterinsurgency are accurate and well thought out. One criticism is that he believes that Mao was the first to come up with the idea of a guerrilla campaign. This is highly inaccurate there have been insurgencies for over 2400 years.

The Department of Defense's technology fetish is analyzed and is described as stupid. Much is made of the concept of the revolution in military affairs and the unwillingness of its supporters to consider American failures since Vietnam.

The book also contains a list of recommendations that the military can use to become more adaptable. The policy changes make sense we can only hope someone is listening.

Very highly recommended.




For more Iraq book reviews take a look at My Iraq bookshelf.

For reviews take a look at My Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Partisan and Guerrilla Warfare bookshelf.

Stolen technology bites back

check out this link to the saga of a stolen Sidekick. Apparently there are some built-in features that meant that when it was used the original user was able to get all their information so it of course went up on the Web. Seems to be a happy ending the police eventually got involved and arrested the "Crew". Now it's up on auction on eBay. With a portion of the money going to charity.

Considering all the stories about how technology is out to get us this was kinda neat.

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The Revolution in military affairs and other silliness

Came across this article which talks a good game about the RMA but doesn't get the job done. Let's take a closer look. A quick note beforehand most people don't realize that the concept of the revolution in military affairs is actually based on Soviet ID Marxist thought from the late 1970s. Kinda funny isn't it?

In the battle of El Alemain aproximately 50,000 troops died in 12 days of fighting, while in the two wars for Iraq and Afghanistan our troops have suffered far less and have conquered far greater numbers than the Afrika Corps troops who lost.

Say " hello" to a strawman.. Remember that of course medical technology has improved substantially since World War II. Casualty numbers are naturally not terribly useful for analyzing military engagements.

Five hundred years from now students in military academies will still be studying these conficts, these engagements, these strategies, and these tactics for they will all certainly still be relevant.

actually military academies don't study much military history and when they do it tends to be very recent military history. If the argument is that counterinsurgency will still need to be taught then I'll give him that but I don't think that Cobra II is going to be on par with Caesar's Gallic campaigns.

I once sat through a class given by an Air Force officer discussing theories of their power. He pointed out that in Iraq the Army was essentially used to hold the Iraqi forces in place so that that the Air Force could attack the concentrated enemy. This is the same as Hammer and Annville tactics used by Greek generals in the Hellenic era. Just the hardware is changed. One reason I think the RMA is such a bizarre concept. The only other real "revolution" the gunpowder won. Was a glacially slow one taking several hundred years.

The RMA argument says nothing about counterinsurgency. Military's that do specialize in one form of fighting off and get beat by someone who takes a different tack. Yes Vietnam is a perfect example of a military geared towards fighting mechanized forces on the European planes getting beaten by peasants with AK's. And yes for you American chauvinist out there to Soviet invasion of Afghanistan also would qualify.

More troops in theater are not needed to destroy any assault the insurgents can mount, their sole purpose if they were sent would be to patrol, support, and suppress. That would create inescapable dependencies from the Iraqi army, and make the standing up of those units take much longer.

unless of course the Americans stay for the long haul. I realize it would be politically impossible but the only real solution is a generational one. Something like the transformation of Turkey by the Young Turks would be necessary. Or they could always do what they're doing in Afghanistan and sneak out the back door and hope nobody notices. "Let NATO handle it".

Haditha-like incidents, whether it’s a propaganda ploy or real, would increase as more American troops entered theater.

propaganda ploy? I don't believe the Marine Corps tends to sack officers and charge others when the enemy makes a propaganda ploy. Or for that matter the commandant of the Marine Corps sends out a message telling everyone to wake up and act like Marines

counterinsurgency
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war on terror
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military science
revolution in military affairs

Ripping Off Consumers: dinosaur publishers and bookstores

the Toronto Star has an editorial discussing the problem of publishers and bookstores ignoring the rising Canadian dollar and maintaining the exchange rates for converting prices between American and Canadian. Which of course leads to Canadian consumers paying a premium for reading. The publishers wine that they print books more than a year in advance so they can't adjust prices. Well if they're using print on demand technology as most of them are it's a simple enough change to make. Possibly needing a generation of a new barcode. Easy enough. There would also have to be a change in the books in print catalog which is industry-standard but would only take 45 days to take effect. Just goes to show what a joke the archaic industry is.

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