Sunday, September 11, 2005

Chip Chick: Girls' Gadgets of the 1920's & 30's [del.icio.us] By (Jill). [jill/txt] 11:46:45 AM    comment []

Ooops: Make that 1-800-75-ENROL for Webster University. 10:32:06 AM    comment []

The Roadmap for Open ICT Ecosystems report. Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society have released a "roadmap" report calling for the international adoption of open standards for information technology.The report describes concepts and best practices for the implementation of open standards. "The Roadmap for Open Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Ecosystems" (PDF) [Smart Mobs] 8:45:51 AM    comment []

Approaching Tehran (Trip to Tehran - Part 1). On June 10th, 2005, I left London for Tehran, fearing what was expecting me at the airport, as a blogger whose blog was already filtered by the Iranian regime for its political content. Before leaving, however, I wrote about why I was going and how I wanted my readers to support me, in case something would happen. [Editor: Myself (English)] Video File | RSS 8:45:50 AM    comment []

When Your College Falls Victim to a Hurricane. Colleges nationwide are welcoming students who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina, offering them an academic haven until their home schools reopen. By DEBRA WEST. [NYT > Education] For Webster University, with campuses for undergraduate study in St. Louis, San Diego, Orlando, and Kansas City in the U.S.A., and London, Leiden (The Netherlands), Geneva, Vienna, and down the coast from Bankgok in Thailand, dial 1-800-75-ENROLL. 8:45:41 AM    comment []

"smarter conversations" is a moral decision. An offline discussion I've been having a lot recently: 1. If you want to become an authority in whatever industry you are in, you must engage in what I call "Smarter Conversations". 2. Deciding to do so is not a business decision. It's a moral decision. Your call. [gapingvoid] 8:43:30 AM    comment []

First in a series: Even at the Smaller Colleges, Recruiting Is a Big-Time Endeavor. As competition for admission to highly rated colleges like Haverford escalates, an athletic résumé is often seen as the extra ingredient that can get a student accepted. By BILL PENNINGTON. [NYT > Education] 8:42:33 AM    comment []

Scott: Today's New York Times has a piece analyzing the "recall" of FEMA'S Michael Brown to Washington. The article does not wonder how this incompetent beneficiary of patronage -- and, as more recently revealed, resume-padding hack -- managed to avoid being totally canned. No, this was a piece largely guided by anonymous White House sources desperate to paint the story in the light the administration sought. So we get an astonishing paragraph like this:   Mr. Bush, angry, directed the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., to find out what was going on. "The frustration throughout the week was getting good, reliable information," said the aide, who demanded anonymity so as not to be identified in disclosing inner workings of the White House. "Getting truth on the ground in New Orleans was very difficult." As Brad DeLong interjects here: "Ummm... Watch the television?" But pause a minute and ponder this line and you realize that the administration's difficulty "getting truth" here is simply a case of chickens coming home to roost. If you run a government where you reward people who tell you what you want to hear and fire people when they tell you unpleasant truths, you should not be surprised when truth becomes a scarce commodity. The Bush administration's "tell me no truths" stance was at work in its economic policy long before 9/11; after that calamity, it became the central modus operandi for the Executive Branch, which picked its policies first -- invade Iraq while continuing to cut taxes -- and then retroactively doctored its information and intelligence (either overtly, or simply by promoting those with the "right" message and firing or silencing dissenters) to fit the policy. It's one thing to spin, to present a doctored version of reality to the public in order to sell an agenda. But it became clear long ago that, in the Bush administration's advanced case of delusional megalomania, the doctored version of reality has become gospel on the inside as well. So of course Michael Brown, and all the other Michael Browns in the Bush administration, didn't tell Bush the truth about what was happening. "Everything's fine, sir! Carry on with your vacation!" Even if they actually knew, which seems unlikely, they understood -- as you can bet every commander in Iraq knows -- that to do so was to ask to be fired. Mr. Bush is to hear only what Mr. Bush (and Messrs. Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rove) wants to hear. Anything else is disloyalty -- a firing offence. Any organization run on such principles is, of course, a juggernaut of dysfunction, headed for the ditch. 8:42:25 AM    comment []