Bruce Schneier has written a good, concise article about privacy and the constitution. Reading David Goodhart’s column about the database state in this month’s Prospect makes me realise how little expectation of privacy we have in the UK, principally due to the lack of its being articulated in a written constitution.

I am currently in blog reading overdrive at the moment as a result of the events in Gaza. Given how, post degree, I view everything through the prism of “On War“, I strongly recommend this entry by Marc Lynch, which puts aside the repetitive moral arguments and focuses on the practical goals, or lack of them, of war making. For the ‘human’ element, this long but varied article by Lisa Goldman is worth 10 minutes of your time.

New York summers.

Melissa’s parent’s apartment.

Sitting on the hot, brick steps of Low Library

The smell of empty Lehman Library.

New York winters.

Running in Riverside Park at dusk in the summer, guided by fireflies.

Drinks at Grand Central.

Bus to the guitar shop on Staten Island.

Brooklyn Cyclones and beers on the Coney Island shorefront at the bar at the end of the world

Loose leaf tea at the Hungarian Pastry Shop

The Columbia Marching Band.

VH1 Classics.

Udon West on rainy nights.

Blue mist around the Empire State Building

NFL

Geek conversations with Jay

Graduation

North Korean escapees

Santa Monica pier.

The East Village

Ferry from Hoboken

Laughter over a Reuben at Artie’s.

The Olive Tree.

Risk 2210AD accompanied by Ninja Tunes and tea.

Carl Von Clausewitz

View of Manhattan from the Amtrak

The 1

The Bangladeshi Economist vendor on 86th and Broadway.

Ollie’s

Salad bars.

14th Street Guitar World

18th Street City Bakery

IPI Event.

Dinner with the “Old Men”

TAs.

Browsing the PoliSci section at Labyrinth/Book Culture

Tea time on the 6th floor.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s in French

Walking home from 116th

Rachel, Stephanie, Maybel, Jing Lei, Seth, Shehab, Felix, Peter, Emily, Sacha, Emily, Dave, Alexandra, Marcy, Jennifer, Carne.

Soundtrack: Korn - Untitled. Radiohead - In Rainbows, Seal - System,  Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, the last three Iron Maiden albums, Death Magnetic, Unleashed - Black Horizon, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Allah, Mohammed, Char, Yaar.

TV: BSG (Original Series), Cowboy Bebop, Buck Rogers (S1), Seinfeld, ST:TNG, ST:DS9, Scrubs.

Back in 1995, while working at Easynet, I spent most of my lunch breaks hunting for or reading the few books about the Internet that had so far been written. One of them was Cyberia by NYT journalist, Douglas Rushkoff. Since then I hadn’t engaged with any of his output until I saw him speak during this week at a public talk at NYU, where he expanded on the ideas contained in his essay called Open Source Democracy. While the first two thirds of the essay contains a not uncommon narrative of the societal impact of new technology, the prescriptive nature of the last third are well worth a read. It is always satisfying when a mainstream journalists documents ideas which resonate so succinctly with one’s own but expresses them in a more lucid manner. The sensation of knowing you are right about an idea, is unfortunately probably most analogous to a religious experience, though at least I retain the willingness to be proven wrong.

I’ve written a long update on my summer and current activities. It’s far too lengthy and navel gazing to post here, so if you would like a copy sent by email, drop me a note.

A very interesting analysis of the Bush Doctrine by John Lewis Gaddis in The American Interest. Highly recommended.

An excellent post by Francis Fukuyama in the Washington Post,  reminding me why he continues to be the mainstream political scientist whose op-eds I enjoy the most.

This interview, showing the less than amicable relationship between the Abkhaz and the Russians, reminds of the “thousand years” quote McNamara attributes to the Vietnamese in the Fog of War.

“The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.”

- Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Danny O’Brien has been blogging about what I think is an important and revolutionary idea for a while. This is an awfully shot video of him trying to explain it. Bear with it. Not only are there important social issues here but also the kernel of some awesome business ideas. If only I could see what they were.