J. D. Fielder

Twitter Scroll Added

Since I'm quick to tweet but a slacker with posts, I figured I'd add a Twitter scroll on the right side.  This way, my readers (all five of you) can peek into my short attention-spanned brain at all times.

Of course, you can also follow me at @JDFielder.

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AP: No Wikipedia? What if the Internet went down?

From AP News. Interesting observation on how lack of online information encouraged Egyptian protesters to meet face to face:

"The government of Hosni Mubarak tried to stop protests in January 2011 by switching off the Internet. The shutdown halted businesses, banking operations and - at the height of the demonstrations - the ability of the protest leaders to organize and communicate with one another.

During the five days that the Internet was out, anti-Mubarak activists had to rely on help from abroad to spread their news and update Web pages. The outage harmed protesters' ability to organize or to counter government propaganda that portrayed them as agents of foreign powers, said Ahmed Saleh, who was in charge of managing the Facebook page that was credited with mobilizing thousands of Egyptians to take to the streets.

With the shutdown, the protests swelled as people unable to follow minute-by-minute what was going on took to the streets.

"No Internet meant that more people went down and realized that this was for real. The protests grew, and so did the anger against the government domestically and internationally," Saleh said."

CONTINUED

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Archiving the Printed Word

Internet archivist seeks 1 of every book written:

Brewster Kahle founded the nonprofit Internet Archive in 1996 to save a copy of every Web page ever posted. Now the MIT-trained computer scientist and entrepreneur is expanding his effort to safeguard and share knowledge by trying to preserve a physical copy of every book ever published.

"There is always going to be a role for books," said Kahle as he perched on the edge of a shipping container soon to be tricked out as a climate-controlled storage unit. Each container can hold about 40,000 volumes, the size of a branch library. "We want to see books live forever." CONTINUED

I love books: not just the printed word, but their feel, their weight, even their scent.  I like picking out an old volume in the University of Iowa library stacks, wondering if I'm the first person in years to crack the book's covers.  For me, there's no greater joy than stretching out in my favorite chair on a cold winter's day, coffee in one hand and paperback in the other (and in flannel pants, no less).  Thus, I shudder when I see bookstores close, big and small alike (a moment of silence for Borders).

Alas, I must grudgingly admit ebooks have their place: for example, my brother--a network security officer and Linux guru--keeps a Kindle filled with technical books at work.  Easier to bring the Kindle with him to a job site for reference than to lug around a dufflebag packed with arcane volumes.  eBooks also keep backlists in "print," meaning authors can continue to profit on older works (and I won't begrudge writers profiting from their work).

But I'm not ready to give up ink stains on my fingers, or allergy-inducing mold wafting off of old tomes.  I'm not ready to give up my bookshelves, where topics are sorted, spines are carefully arranged, and curated collections offer visitors insight on my personal and professional interests: my identity in book form, if you will. And no matter how well eBook readers mimic the look of paper, I'm not ready to stare at screens all day for all my entertainment needs.

Returning to the article, I will concede, though, that books are fragile things.  Even with the best climate control, how long can a given book ultimately live?

Then again, books have lasted for centuries, while various digital media have gone the way of the dodo in very short order.  In fact, I have some writings squirreled away on 3.5 floppies, which I can't open since I no longer have a 3.5 floppy drive (I'm keeping the disks just in case).

As awesome as digital storage is, perhaps bytes are just as fragile as paper--perhaps even more so, given rapid technological obsolescence, and people's usual failure to back up files and then trip over power cords. To put it another way, odds are I'll never lose my books, barring a home fire.  Yet, I could digitize my entire library onto a single beefy USB drive, and then lose every succulent word in an instant through mechanical failure or user error.  In the digital age, the delete key is far more dangerous than fire.

All that said, I'm signing off to go read a book--a real book, one made of paper, with the heady scent of pulp, imagination and Starbucks coffee.

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11 Simple Rules for PowerPoint

I hate PowerPoint: it's the sign of the decline of Western civilization as we know it.  Alas, I have to use PPT just like every other cubicle jockey; but, since I hate PPT so much I've learned--after much wailing and gnashing of teeth--how NOT to prepare slideshow.

You see, three outcomes usual occur during presentations:

• The presenter spends all his time crafting "perfect" slides--including incongruent sounds, witty transitions, and complicated animations--but then fails to actually practice briefing the underlying material.  As an added bonus, they also usually fail to practice with the sounds, transitions and animations, meaning the come across as double the buffoon.

• Or, the briefer works so hard on the material that they end up throwing together a crappy slideshow, with misspellings, dense phrases, broken links, and whatnot.  Sure, they may be a content genius, but the poorly constructed slides make 'em look like a Grade-A @$$clown.  My worst pet peeve are bullets that extend across the page, break, then have a single word or two on the next line.  It looks careless.
  
  
• Finally, there are the dreadful briefers who screws up both the slides and the underlying content.  It's like watching a train wreck happen, except those in the audience are the victims. Indeed, I saw this happen in the fall of 2010, when I was subjected to a poorly-prepared and organized briefer who practically soiled himself on stage.  And I had no sympathy: yes, I can appreciate nerves, but the presentation came across like he'd prepared it five minutes before prime time under caffeinated duress.

To illustrate further , I present to you Exhibit A: The Worst PowerPoint Slide Contest.  Go ahead, peek! I'll wait...

With that, rare is the briefer who balances both: presenting flawless slides and deep knowledge of the material.  At top form, they don't even need o look at the slides while talking, or only turning to the screen to add emphasis to a particular point.

Thus, I present my 11 simple rules for a good briefing, amassed over years of slitting my wrists over the horror that is PowerPoint.

1.  No bullet should be longer than two lines.  Longer quotes requiring emphasis are okay if you put them in a distinct text box.  Ultimately, bullets are mental notes, not crutches or excuses for brain dumps.  The audience is listening to you: if they wanted to read dense passages of size 1 text you could've simply emailed the briefing.
   
   
2. Pick or design a template and stick with it for every slide: colors, fonts, text box alignments, everything.  I guarantee the audience will notice even the smallest changes when you transition, and lose focus on you and the content in the process.
   
   
3. Don't use any sounds or animations.  You're there to look professional, not cute, and odds are you'll pork the effect transition anyway.
   
   
4. Be liberal with relevant images, charts and figures, as long as they're easily readable by the audience.  Indeed, a good image can replace bullets, the bane of deep intellectual rigor.  That, and I'm friggin' tired of seeing stock PowerPoint imagery--I'm looking at you, bald, 70's porn moustache guy flipping money and stick figure scratching his head under a question mark!
   
   
5.  If time permits, "case the joint" first: know where the podium, screen, microphone, and pointer are, and prepare a Plan B if anything is missing (indeed, how often does "the clicker" fail to work?).  If using the host's computer, preload your briefing or plug in your USB drive to make sure the appropriate drivers are installed.  After all, there are few schadenfreude events that equal the uncomfortable, squirming silence radiating from an impatient audience.
   
   
6. Use audio/video clips and hyperlinks sparingly.  If they're absolutely necessary, make sure they work in step #4.
   
   
7. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!  Know your material--know it well enough that you keep your eyes on the audience and not the screen.  Know it well enough that you only need a note card and not a crate of dog-eared legal pads.  Even better, know the presentation well enough that you don't need notes at all. You're wasting the audience's time if you simply stare at the screen and parrot bullets.
   
   
8. Dry run the brief with a colleague, friend, or better yet, a critical sworn enemy.
   
   
9. Repeat step 7.
   
   
10. Use humor sparingly, and keep it clean.  The occasional humorous image is usually the best, especially if it's relevant to the topic--makes the audience chuckle, yet also serves as memory jogger.
    
    
11. Print a hard copy of your presentation just in case the IT goes to pot (ref: #4).  I always do, even though I can usually brief from memory (ref: #6 and #8--and go rehearse again while you're at it).  At the very least, I find it helpful to jot notes on the relevant slide during the Q&A session--any presentation worth it's salt has a Q&A session.

And there you have it!  Keep in mind, though, that the above tips are not meant as a product endorsement, but rather simple concessions to the reality of the Microsoft Office Empire and the slide show imitators it spawned.

Still, I'd love to read your own hints, tips, or stories of presentation agony! Leave a comment, or drop me a line at james -at- jdfielder.com.

 

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Fun Stuff: Dwarf Fortress versus Minecraft

Figured I'd belatedly start the new year off with some cerebral video gaming.

The first game, Dwarf Fortress, will appeal to those of you who appreciate deep story lines, steep learning curves and staring as seemingly random strings of ASCII characters all day. Think a combination of Civilization V and Rogue with the graphics of a late 1980s Commodore 64. I've heard some folks credit it as the most brain-intensive games released in the history of video gaming, and after toying around with the game periodically I'm inclined to believe 'em.

 
(http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/screens/dwf1.html)

That said, the graphics grow on you, bringing back memories of the days when simple pictures allowed players to conjure up their own visions, akin to a good novel. Although I do appreciate the capabilities of the modern graphics card, sometimes I miss the 8-bit days and my younger imagination. Best of all, the Dwarf Fortress is completely free--might not be your cup of tea, but I recommend giving it a shot:

 http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/

As for the second game, Minecraft... in all honesty, I haven't played it yet. That said, PC Gamer gave it a splendid write-up, and my son begged me to buy him a copy. He's been thoroughly engrossed! The best way I can describe Minecraft is an old-school building game--not as old looking as Dwarf Fortress's 5 1/4 floppy disk aesthetic, but let's just say Doom circa 1993 gives Minecraft's graphics a run for its money. But Minecraft is apparently proof that you don't need an army of programmers and a multimillion-dollar budget to make a fun game. Indeed, the whole game was programmed by one guy. That's right: one guy. And he's sold over a million copies of the beta version so far. I've gotta give the guy props for pulling the profit rug out from under the big publishing houses.

Anyways, the gameplay involves mining resources, crafting tools, and building whatever the hell you want: but in survival mode you can only build during the day, while at night you must defend yourself from creepy crawlies. Basically, in "nice" mode you build gardens, statues and other happy things, while in survival mode you build weapons, forts and other tools of defense. Given that my son loves strategy games, I'm surprised he hasn't played survival mode yet--I guess he prefers the free form, lego-esque sandbox over bunker design. For now.

Alas, Minecraft ain't free--depending on the daily USD/EUR exchange rate (programmer lives in Sweden), it costs ~$18. But given that my son's suffering from "Minecrack," I'll have to assume it was $18 well-spent:

http://www.minecraft.net/

Have fun exploring!

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TSA Enhanced Pat Downs: The Screeners Point Of View

Courtesy of my friend Sam Tresler and boardingarea.com. A kick in the pants for everyone, pardon the pun.

In the past few weeks since the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) implemented its new “enhanced” pat down procedures there has been considerable backlash from the traveling public. This backlash has been loud and angry … but what is not heard or seen in the media is the quiet resentment of this new policy within the TSA.

 

"Search and Fondle" : A Short Assessment of Airport Security

My wife hates flying.  So do I.

Odd, considering I'm in the Air Force--but we hate flying for slightly different reasons. 

The wife suffers terribly from motion sickness: even the smallest bump affects her like a leaking raft surfing a tsunami wave.  Me?  It's not the actual act of flying, it's all the hassle associated with it: the lines, the hours wandering airports looking for good coffee, the stale air, the crying babies... even a short flight wears me out.

But the new TSA "search and fondle" rules are rubbing both of us the wrong way, pardon the pun.  Electronically analyzing my... er... parts for weapons in glorious 3D?  That, or a clothed cavity search?  As I've read it, it's legalized sexual assault.  I've seen the "don't touch my junk" video, read reports of traumatized women and children, and doubt any claim that the images can't be saved--ever heard of a cell phone camera?  And if the backscatter cancer claims are true, then the new security efforts may kill far more people than al-Qaida could ever dream of.

All that said, are the new measures effective?  I doubt it.  Here's why: terrorists like soft targets. By soft, I mean lacking in security. Targets that search, seize and shoot back don't make for good terror press.  I'm not saying terrorists WON'T try going up an armed checkpoint--take the attempted infiltration of Fort Dix in 2007, for example--but the odds are decidedly against terrorists in such circumstances.  Rather, they look for security holes.  9/11 happened because there were no security systems in place that were effective against their tactics: in a world full of guns, no one thought to look for a box cutter. 

Did the post 9//1 security upgrades work?  From a traveler's standpoint, they sucked--but I assess the combination of metal detection, baggage x-rays and random searches were sufficient deterrents.  Which is why terrorist move on to targeting cargo airlines: since we plugged passenger security gaps, they followed a path of least resistance, which was the decidedly less secure shipping industry.  Plug those gaps, and the terrorists will simply watch and wait for new security holes. 

Also keep in mind that jsut because the U.S. has reasonable passenger and cargo security in place doesn't mean other countries do.

Want to know what I'd do if I were a terrorist, then?  Target the swarms of holiday travelers backed up at the security lines.  Last I checked, airline security checkpoints don't stop someone from simply packing heat throughout the rest of the facility.

And such an attack doesn't require mass killings.  A simple carry-on bag packed with a simple explosive and nails will kill some and wound many others.  Not exactly comparable to running an airplane into a building, but it'll still sow confusion and draw media attention (the two lynchpins of terror operations, in my assessment).  Next thing you know airports will establish perimeters and we'll be having our cars searched.

But it doesn't have to be an airplane.  Do sports arenas have backscatter arrays? Subway systems? Times Square?  Amusement parks? Concerts? Major urban bridges during rush hour traffic (not to drop the bridge, but to close the artery)? Indeed, did terrorists strike British or Spanish airports?  No--they targeted public transit (2005) and a train (2004), respectively. Again, soft targets.

We focus on air travel due to 9/11, but we have a bad habit of planning against the last attack rather than future scenarios.  In reality, any place where crowds gather is a potential target.

My advice is to keep your eyes open in any large crowd.  And wear a jock strap next time you travel.

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Link: McAfee Threat Center and Threat Information Library

Looks like a useful resource for you virus heads out there:

The McAfee Avert Labs Threat Library has detailed information on viruses, Trojans, hoaxes, vulnerabilities and Potentially Unwanted Programs, where they come from, how they infect your system, and how to mitigate or remediate them.

McAfee Threat Center and Threat Information Library

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And the International Relations Qualifying Exam is...

Done!  And it took me almost the entire 32 hours to complete it.  Plan on relaxing with the family tomorrow, bit then it's back to the normal homework grind on Sunday.  But I expect to have a little more free time to post relevant research links here at my humble little site.

With that, I think I'm going to treat myself to a cold one. :-P

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Fun Stuff: The Complete "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) on YouTube

Not in the least bit IT/IR related--I just love zombie films.  :-P

Suprised the full 1968 version is available on YouTube.  Suppose it's a good (and free) way to introduce zombiephiles to George Romero's canon.