The Guardian's NSA Files

Read the articles on the Guardian's NSA Files page to find out exactly how much privacy you have.  The answer is none whatsoever.

A letter to Nature

Here is a letter I have just sent to Nature.

You have done a disservice to your readers with Professor Juma's review of Brian Arthur's book in Nature 499, 150–153 (11 July 2013). The Nature of Technology is risible twaddle, and should not have been promoted in Nature.

The review states: "This is an antidote to pessimism that belongs with the works of Joseph Schumpeter, Thomas Kuhn and Ilya Prigogine. It has universal appeal as a source of insight into how creativity can solve our most pressing economic, social and environmental challenges."

A more thoroughly misleading book review can hardly be imagined.  In fact, the book discusses none of the world's economic, social and environmental challenges, and has nothing of value to say on *any* topic. Placing this author on a par with Thomas Kuhn is a very bad joke.

You owe it to your readers to do at least minimal checking of the appropriateness of the books you review, and the basic honesty of the your reviewers.

Let's put tobacco and terrorism in perspective

According to the CDC (Centers for disease control and prevention):

"More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined."

And the big bugaboo, terrorism, doesn't make any part of this list.

Wow: the history of the D-Wave quantum computer

This video has totally changed my perception of the state of quantum computing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptuFckypqzE

For those who say they have nothing to fear from government spying...

 One feeble excuse some people give for condoning massive spying is, "I have nothing to hide."

Does that include your social security number, your credit card numbers, and your bank account numbers?  How about all your passwords?  Aye you sure government doesn't know them all?

There are over 1 million people in the US with top-secret security clearances.  How confident are you that all of them are to be trusted?

Water in the Anthropocene

A brief, beautiful overview of worldwide water shortages.

https://vimeo.com/66087863#

Privacy soooo important for aparachiks, not so much for citizens

Change we can believe in?  Hahahahahahaha.