26 Miles

Is The President Above The Law?

// December 21st, 2005 // No Comments » // Business & Politics, Security & Privacy

Relating again to the previous post on the warrantless, domestic spying taking place at the direction of the President…

I’m no legal scholar, and won’t attempt to add anything beyond what has been covered and well cited in the article below and in the wider media in the past week.

The article below goes deeper into the limitless power the executive branch has granted itself in the name of fighting the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and the implications to our freedom if it continues unchecked.

From the article:

“This is indefinite dictatorial power. And I don’t use that term lightly; the very definition of a dictatorship is a system that puts a ruler above the law. In the weeks after 9/11, while America and the world were grieving, Bush built a legal rationale for a dictatorship. Then he immediately started using it to avoid the law.”

I encourage you to research the issue and if so compelled, to act. Write, email, call your members of Congress (Senate | House of Representatives) and express your concern.

Read more at Bruce Schneier’s Blog.

Speeding Up Windows XP

// December 19th, 2005 // No Comments » // Technology

This article has a few of the more advanced things you can do to speed up your XP instances. It’s more than the usual stuff you might expect.

Read more at Connected Internet.

The Top 20 IT Mistakes

// December 16th, 2005 // No Comments » // Business & Politics, Technology

InfoWorld has an article on the “Top 20 IT Mistakes To Avoid”. I’ve seen better than half of these in practice and the cascading effects seemingly simple mistakes can cause.

My favorite (of course), is this quote from Number 9, “Mismanaging Software Development”:

Henri Asseily, CTO of BizRate, tells us via e-mail, “The right individual will always create better and faster core software than a group of people [will]. Everyone in every industry talks the usual talk of, ‘We invest in people,’ or, ‘Our people are our greatest asset,’ but nowhere is it more important than in IT. Simply put, a great programmer is 100 times more valuable than a regular programmer.”

I absolutely concur with that sentiment. I’ve accomplished more personally or with a group of two or three high-quality people than I did with an entire team of 20 when consulting for a major Telco.

As my friend Stan Shinn says in his book Web Project Survival Guide:

“Web [software] projects are like commando raids — get the best people, go in quickly and get the job done. Recruit a few good players, even if they cost more, and quickly help your project get out the door.”

There’s some really excellent stuff there.

Read more at InfoWorld.

Big Brother Among Us

// December 16th, 2005 // 1 Comment » // Security & Privacy

I guess I’m among the few who find this revelation unsurprising, so my righteous indignation is more muted than it probably should be.

In any case, the New York Times, among others, are reporting that the National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. military are actively engaged in domestic spying activities. In some cases, this has included creating databases to, in part, track the activities of American citizens who have aroused suspicion only by their participation in lawful protests.

Daniel Solove accurately pinpoints the crux of the concern in his article with his statement:

“So, in other words, the President can secretly authorize secret domestic surveillance by an agency that typically conducts surveillance abroad . . . and do so based on a legal rationale that is secret. This is deeply troubling.”

Bruce Schneier had this to say about the NSA eavesdropping within the U.S. without a warrant:

“It is not overstatement to suggest that this may be the most significant violation of federal surveillance law in the post-Watergate era.”

This is troubling folks. It’s a radical departure from the historically very limited role these organizations have had in domestic intelligence gathering. It’s not that what they’re doing won’t ultimately increase our security. It’s that, unlike the FBI and traditional law enforcement agencies who are typically charged with conducting domestic surveillance, the NSA and by-and-large the US military operate in secret and with very limited oversight, making it suceptible to abuse and potentially compromising our Constitutional rights. This is the problem, and it’s a huge one.

Read more at Concurring Opinions and Bruce Schneier’s Blog.

National Rankings Updated

// December 13th, 2005 // No Comments » // Shooting Sports

USA Shooting released the latest national rankings for each Olympic discipline. The list hadn’t been updated in over a year.

I notice one top shooter missing from the list but that aside, I’ve climbed from 21st to 10th in Air Pistol!!

I’m not ranked in Free Pistol as I only competed in one free pistol match this year.

I haven’t competed since March and have only been to the range a handful of times this year due to business and personal commitments. Seeing your name near the top of such a distinguished list is pretty motivating though.

I may try to get back into the swing of things. I have missed it.

Read more at: USA Shooting.