Category: Journal ISSN 1078-1935

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Journal: Keystone Cops on Earth and Space Data Sharing

Earth Intelligence

Wikipedia Page

UN-SPIDER (“United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response”) aims at providing universal access to all types of space-based information and services relevant to disaster management by: being a gateway to space information for disaster management support; serving as a bridge to connect the disaster management and space communities; and being a facilitator of capacity-building and institutional strengthening

Phi Beta Iota:  As usual, everyone is doing their own thing, from the new Planetary Skin Initative to  ReliefWeb to the Global Disaster Information Network (GDIN) to Google and Wolfram Alpha.  The UN has exactly ONE document that can be used to get everyone on the same page: Review: A More Secure World–Our Shared Responsibility–Report of the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change.  What the UN needs now is a Strategic Analytic Model and a concept of operations for creating the World Brain Institute and Global Game using Open Everything as the guide for software, standards, sourecs, and spectrum.

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Handbook: Religious Affairs in Joint Operations

DoD, HUMINT, Military
Full Text Online

This handbook is nothing more than a Chaplain's Rice Bowl.  It has nothing to do with what we were hoping for, Religious Engagement.  For that, see the two references below by Capt Doug Johnston, USN (Ret), still the Top Gun on the topic.  JCS needs to completely rewrite this publication, triple it in breadth and depth, and get a grip on religious engagement tactics, techniques, and procedures before, during, and after operational engagement.

Review: Religion, The Missing Dimension of Statecraft

Review: Faith-Based Diplomacy–Trumping Realpolitik

And:

Continue reading “Handbook: Religious Affairs in Joint Operations”

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Handbook: Peace Operations for the JTF Commander

Communities of Practice, DoD, Military, Peace Intelligence, Stabilization, UN/NGO
Full Text Online (212 Pages)

Long over-due for re-issuance, this time with a great deal more participation from all Eight Tribes, and a really warm welcome for the US Institute of Peace (USIP) which hit its stride with Guiding Principles for Stabilization and Reconstruction (Paperback).  No one answers the phone when we call to ask about an update.

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Journal: ClimateGate 29 December 2009 Morning

Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence

ClimateGate Rolling Update

Hope for a Climate Change Solution in the Wake of Copenhagen — If Governments Can't, People Can

The scale and speed of change required goes well beyond anything political leaders have ever had to contemplate, much less achieve. And even if the political will were there to achieve this level and speed of carbon reduction, the social change 1.0 tools at their disposal — command and control, and financial incentives — are not designed for this type of rapid, transformative change. They were purposely designed over two centuries ago for gradual, incremental change.

. . . . . . .

If command and control and financial incentives are not enough to turn the tide in the necessary timeframe, can renewable energy and new breakthrough technologies come to the rescue of humankind? While a low-carbon future critically depends on new technologies, there is no credible scenario by which they can be brought to scale in the ten-year window within which our scientists tell us we must make major carbon reductions.

The dilemma we face is what systems theory calls second order change — or change that requires a system to transform and reorganize at a higher level of performance. When the easier-to-implement solutions prove inadequate for the speed and magnitude of change required, the system goes into stress and must evolve, or it will break down.

. . . . . . .

A Cool Community also enables a city or town to enjoy the immediate practical benefits of more livable neighborhoods, greater environmental sustainability, and economic development. Furthermore, it creates a robust long-term carbon reduction capability by building the community leadership, carbon-literate citizenry, and political will necessary to sustain this type of change over time.

Continue reading “Journal: ClimateGate 29 December 2009 Morning”

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Worth a Look: Planetary Skin Data Sharing Initiative

Earth Intelligence, IO Sense-Making, Worth A Look
Home Page

Warning Notice:  This is a “heavy” site prone to jamming.  It's worth the effort to take a look, and has been added to the Professional Sites list.  There are also some screwy blockages on copying text.  This is not quite ready for prime time, but it is a righteous good start.

We were impressed by the Earth Science Initative of the Bush-Cheney White House, and this effort appears to take that earlier initiative further, this time in partnership with CISCO, which still has not given up on “owning” the Cloud.

The site proposes that the challenge is “Flying Blind” in a complex and volatile world (they don't mention that changes to the Earth that used to take 10,000 years now take three); and that the solution is a global nervous system able to sense, predict, and act.

This is a geek's wet dream, totally focused on bit and byte management and completely lacking a Strategic Analytic Model or any sense of how to mobilize the Eight Tribes and do Multinational Engagement on a global scale, but it has enormous potential if (big if) the public can demand that every aspect of this offiering be Open–it should be accessible via Free'Open Source Software (F/OSS); generate Open Source Intelligence (OSINT); and both receive and broadcast all information via Open Spectrum and a Cloud that is NOT owned by CISCO, open to devices that are NOT infrastructure-dependent (e.g. Haggle).

noble gold