A lesson in how to hype an unquantifiable threat with bogus numbers
Condor Friedersdorf
The Atlantic Monthly, 30 January 2013
EXTRACT:
To make the claim that “terrorism is at an all-time high worldwide,” Feinstein counts attacks against the U.S. military by the Taliban. Put another way, her definition of terrorism stretches to include attacks that are not committed against civilians; attacks that are, in fact, aimed at uniformed soldiers in a declared, ongoing war.
An unprecedented, raw, first-hand look into the life of America’s private paramilitary warriors and their highly secretive work around the world. Jamie Smith, a contractor with more than two decades under his belt, has planned and executed hundreds of missions on behalf of government agencies and private industry in some of the world’s most dangerous hot spots.
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They are elite warriors who run highly dangerous missions deep inside foreign countries on the brink of war. Jamie Smith knows these men well. Not only is he one of them, but he cofounded one of the most successful private contracting multinational firms in the world. For the first time, he breaks his silence, detailing the ultimate danger and risk of paramilitary operations—both officially government-sanctioned and not. Pulling back the curtain of secrecy, he reveals in very intimate terms exactly what private soldiers do when the government cannot act or take public responsibility.
Combining the thrilling narrative of a riveting international spy thriller with boots-on-the-ground realism, Gray Work follows Smith through his CIA training and career as an operative, his co-founding of and eventual exit from Blackwater, and his creation and direction of his own company. Espionage and assassinations, rescues and renditions, the turbulence of the Arab Spring, the fall of Qadhaffi, the grit and gristle are all here in covert black ops from Syria to Libya, Iran, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and beyond.
As the founder and director of Blackwater, Smith’s initial vision has undeniably shaped and transformed a decade of war. He argues that this gray area—and the warriors who occupy the controversial space between public and private—has become an integral element of modern warfare.
The Risk Management Summit is a 2-day networking and educational conference open to the senior risk managers at companies listed on the Fortune 1000, the Global 500 and privately-held companies with more than $2.5 billion in annual revenues. In addition, prior recipients of the Risk Manager of the Year and Risk Management Honor Roll awards who are still active as risk managers are invited to attend.
The 2014 Risk Management Summit will be held on Mar. 12 & 13 at the Downtown Marriott in New York City.
This is a very powerful media downloading tool. Very useful for anyone who doesn't want to take the chance of that useful piece of media disappearing or the connection going flat when you need it.
This new hydrogel concept uses a simple hydrogel that has been “impregnated” with silver nanoparticles. A specially developed treatment with a laser, just a single short burst upon manufacturing, aligns these silver particles in a three-dimensional hologram.
Click on Image to Enlarge
When the hydrogel comes into contact with certain trigger substances (like glucose, or insulin) it will physically deform relative to the concentration of the chemical. So, a higher blood glucose level results in a more deformed gel — which naturally adjusts the color of the hologram.
This allows the hologram to have analog output of information. That is, it can display not just a binary yes-no on healthy blood glucose, but can slowly darken to let the user know when they are approaching unsafe levels.
This tech combines quick response time with low cost and ease of use…
Here we are. A system in perpetual crisis. Less and less able to accomplish basic functions.
A system being led by an economic and political leadership increasingly divorced from reality.
A self-aggrandizing leadership unable to do anything but engage in exercise of complex futility (political – healthcare/national insecurity) or fantasy (economic – the shadow banking system). A complexity made worse by applying technological patches/fixes/solutions to a system in decline.
However, that isn’t where it ends. Humanity has more in store for it than bureaucracy and markets can make possible.
Something new is coming and its arrival distorts the current system.
