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When it rains at Global Guerillas it POURS!
SOLUTIONS:
LINKS: July 18, 2011
Some random items of interest:
- Biomeiler. A biomass system for methane and hot water production that also produces high quality compost. Not much info on it. Would like to hear from someone that has used it or seen it first hand.
- New report on Al Qaeda in Iraq by some RAND analysts. For example, my team was able to learn that Al Qaeda was forcing local affiliates (or at least its Iraqi one) to sustain themselves financially. If local groups must make their own money, governments and counterterror operatives can use Al Qaeda’s need to raise money - often using illicit means and pressure against local citizens - against the organization. That kind of counterterrorism would look less like war, and more like careful police work against what amounts to a criminal syndicate or mafia. Two points emerged most importantly from our research on Al Qaeda in Iraq. First, there was no team of international ghost donors padding the group’s coffers. And second, Al Qaeda in Iraq had no strong ties to Al Qaeda central. While there may have been communication that was very well hidden - the eventual declassification of the Osama bin Laden documents may reveal more answers - it was noteworthy that there was virtually no communication to Al Qaeda central in any of the now declassified documents that we saw. Nor have there been any other substantive reports, save the occasional letter, of much communication between the groups, and certainly there seems to be no money flowing one way or the other. Note: this is more evidence that open source warfare, as detailed on this blog in 2004-2008 and Brave New War, was spot on.
- Bryn Athyn, PA. Here's what looks like a winning approach to documenting a resilient community. Really love it. Landon's still got some work to do, but he's well on the way to detailing the physical resources of his community. Give him a +1 if you are on Google to motivate him to do more.
- Mexican drug gangs "recruiting" hackers? It's easier to buy the talent on the market.
- Been a bit slow today (coming down with the flu). Will power through it and zoom some good posts tomorrow.
Friday, 15 July 2011
Thursday, 14 July 2011
LINKS: July 14 2011
Some random items of interest:
- An interesting start for a series of pages on Resilient Wealth by Ax. Would like to break this down into several different approachs and a set of pages (specific types of things + pictures that depict items that are valuable across a variety of different scenarios).
- The Disappeared. 100 items that will disappear from the store shelves (either through hoarding or theft) during an extended emergency or disaster.
- Urban Farming guys. Inner city experiment. Uses high/low tech and lots of smarts to build a new economy/social environment. Apparently, its been effective in reducing crime.
- Tracking Energy Attacks site. This is a great early site put up by my friend, the excellent analyst Jennifer Giroux. If the oil companies and defense/intel world isn't fully funding her work analyzing attacks on energy infrastructrue, they are making a BIG mistake.
- I've had the taste of a teargassing before and it's not a pleasant experience. I've also had the
displeasure of using military NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) equipment. It was uniformly old/bulky/stuffy/hot, particularly the masks. Because it was hard to breath and very difficult to see out of (due to fogging), it made doing anything let alone flying, very tough to do. That's why this new NATO joint services mask looks so cool. Soft rubber. Better vision. Reduced resistance to breathing. Kind of expensive, but... - Agrilab. Very interesting heating system that uses compost as a heat source. If you've ever worked on a farm, like I have, you know the basic concept is valid. Would like to see one of these systems in action.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
JOURNAL: CNC Pickup (Fabwagon)
Here's a cool project that from Bobby Meyer. He's currently working on converting a standard pickup into a mobile CNC platform. A mobile platform able to provide rapid onsite fabrication services. It's the constructive antidote to the Toyota Hilux battlwagons that dot the landscape of North Africa.
He's currently working on specing the design for it. Any feedback you could provide him would be appreciated.
LINKS: July 13, 2011
Some random items of interest:
- ShutodwnRiseUp. An organizing site for the Minnesota shutdown.
- Trying to figure out how to allocate my time today. If you have a Google account, +1 this page if you want me to keep working on it.
- AxMan's $30 Bug Out Bag How to build an emergency kit with stuff laying around the house.
- Jeff Rubin: high oil prices were the driver of the last financial slowdown (which kicked off the financial panic that exacerbated it, not the other way around). It's about to hit us again (particularly if MEND or some other GG group hits some pipelines again and drives the price up to $150 a barrel oil) Toss in some terrible financials (extreme deficits, huge debt, cascading defaults, sovereign defaults, extreme leverage, high unemployment, TBTF, etc.) and another financial crisis isn't out of the question. The problem is that if it occurs again, we don't have any real means to fight it (extreme deficit spending, low rates, etc.).
- The Urban Farmers Box. A closed loop aquaponics system by a swiss company for use in tight spaces. Fish/Veggies. More.
- Governance systems in the Massively Multiplayer Game, Eve Online. Interview with a pretensious online dictator: Autocracy is the most effective form of government in null sec [the enormous sections of space within Eve Online with no AI police, where players rule themselves]. Council systems don’t work very well. Goonswarm is very lucky in that we have one large corporation, Goonwaffe, which used to be Goonfleet, which is mostly Something Awful members and has over 2,000 people. Since I’m the CEO of that corporation all the other ancillary corporations in the alliance are relatively powerless, and that works towards an autocracy. Council-based alliances typically have corporations of roughly the same size. ME: Sounds like bad game design.
- Radioactive meat in Japan. Cessium for the masses. A good example of why global sourcing of food/services = no control.
- More later.
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
DINOSAUR 101: Make Resilience a Crime
What did Julie do?
Obviously, there is a mismatch of thinking going on here. The town and her neighbors obviously think that the value of a home is based on location and landscaping. Any deviation from that model decreases the value of the home and the homes around it.
In contrast, Julie recognized that the value of a home isn't merely based on its location/lanscaping. It's changing. The value of a home is increasingly tied to it's efficiency and productive value.
Who's right? Julie is, of course. With middle class income in deep decline and global system failures/disruptions mounting, the tide is shifting. Homes that don't produce food, energy, water, etc. will be the homes that will see a decline in value. As things stand today, it won't be long before the value of a home is based PRIMARILY on its productive value.
LINKS: July 12, 2011
Some random items of interest:
- Hacking disruption. Anonymous hacks Booz Allen and posts the usernames/passwords of 90,000 military and intelligence personnel. Claims there wasn't any security on the server they stole it from. Wow. Want to send a message to the contractor community about security? Suspend all security clearances Booz and its affiliated personnel currently have.
- Lifesaver Bottle. I met a guy that lived/worked in the Cairo slums for 6 years (setting up gobar gas/biogas systems). He swore by this device. He even claimed he could drink sewage water with it (and it tasted fine).
- A light bug out bag designed by Marcus Wynne. If you have a recipe for one. Post it.
- Terrorist learning curves vs. gov't learning curves. Neil Johnson and his team at the University Miami have a new paper in the journal Science that mathematically explores terrorist learning curves. In short, they get better faster than counter-insurgency forces. Well done. NOTE: I was an early reviewer of the paper for Science and I heartily recommended that they publish it. Glad they did and congrats to Neil and his team! NOTE2: Another good paper would be to find ways to measure how sharing of that learning with other terrorist groups via news reports and online media improves overall frequency/lethality/effectiveness.
- Systems disruption in Egypt. Fourth attack by unnammed group on Sinai natural gas pipeline that feeds Israel/Jordan. Nobody was killed since the pipeline guards were asked to leave by gunmen, prior to the detonation. Further, the attack occured just as repairs to the last attack were completed. Classic.
- More later.
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