Game

"So who wins: arrogance and academic entitlement vs. teamwork and mutual respect?"

At its best, a very human game.

Just back from two very different solicited mind dumps. By way of a little background. The author's MO is to elicit the natural teacher in those who he expects he could learn from. In so doing, avoiding having to put up with academic production lines (it is what some resourceful slackers do after all.)

Starting with team sports. Some of the most memorable games for yours truly were David and Goliath stories. Gonzaga vs. Indiana. Underdogs are popular because we are social creatures, without each other we are, as they say, toast. You too have heard a lot of synergy stories?

The second, and somewhat related, is the story of how a world class industry built in our country has turned into the model of capitalistic corruption. Win in the academic arena and plagiarism becomes privilege for those at the top. Reward this corruption with far more money than the executive can responsibly handle and what do you get. If you are lucky, organized crime with less visible violence to the exploited. And they call it 'care'. Yeah, right.

There is a special class of coward. It is very exclusive. And like a black hole, instances are only visible by their effects. Those who influence but will not debate. That cannot learn from mistakes because they can 'afford it'.

I'll bet I can help your team. I know you can help mine.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Lost in DC

"Searching for broken, he got lost in a place far too public for its own good. Remembering from whence he came. Something did not feel right. A precursor to imminent catastrophe felt like it did."

Coin of the Realm

"Huh? Oh, coming from such an oasis part of the problem? Hopefully not."

The rules say the opposition can only 'field' the same number of players as we do any time during the game. What happens on the field of play while the clock is running determines the outcome.

The 'court' performance is not about the fans (at least directly). It is about the competition they are supporting and what they are about to observe.

One of the teams has discovered how to harvest manufactured rivalry (aka propaganda campaign) in general through a hidden relationship in and among its alumni supporters.

The hype media is financially successful when both teams and their audience counterparts spend heavily to use said media to appeal to their out-of-control childlike behaving base. Yet one team receives most of the benefit from the hype mechanism (see: media owner).

The venue of the contest has the advantage that it is already 'wired' to the world audience. Cost of 'coverage' of the, largely, scripted drama is low. It is so, in part, because the expensive end of the production chain is in one geographic location.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Full Court Press

In basketball it is called a full court press. When the competition tries to protect its lead, this is a tactic that can change a game's dynamic. Mind you, I am no authority on James Naismith's invention but I have watched with enthusiasm a large number of contests.

The opposing team's strategy has been on full display since this, so-far, lopsided game began. Though the score heavily favors one team, the game is not over. By directing its resources to a subset of competitive options the score leader has left itself vulnerable to the options depleted by the strategy.

Further, scouting reports have given the coaching staff an idea of what to expect from the other team. The best use of such reports often includes double and triple think considerations. "What will the opposing team think I think about this?"

"I hope my Keystone XL is not showing."

"How does this all apply to now?", the apparent question to which she already new the answer was a set-up. Made more effective by sincerity on behalf of those who may not be as sure as she.

"We are reasonably certain their deepest motivations are not widely known and they count on such ignorance. In fact, they invest vigorously a the shroud of deception."

"You are not talking about basketball then?", she asked just loud enough for everyone to hear.

He smiled.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Competitive Analysis

"It is apparent that the list of what we don't know may be even more important than what we do know.

"Lets get started. Consider the following ordered list. It, coincidentally, is in the reverse chronological  order to the research presented in this log."

1) Instance of potential nation-state external override.

2) Mechanism of override.

3) Emerging counter-strategy.

Change Game

The company cited in 1) operates globally and is therefore subject to a variety of jurisdictions. Links have been established and documented in this log showing that the existing system has the capability to cater to the 'highest bidder' with respect to technologies pivotal to nation-state and transnational security.

Heretofore time tested methods of achieving global security implemented by the planet's most powerful nation-states are now being overridden (2) by a pattern of 'global liberty'. Competition between nation-states, big and small, have created the soil from which a new world power has arisen.

We are now seeing a logical countermeasure (3) to the unchecked power now threatening the self corrective aspect of organizational supply and demand on the world stage.

The echo of the Arab Spring, among other things, indicates that the willful suppression of international free conversation is far more vigorous than had been assumed. While we can point to the usual suspects for repressing dialog, we can now also see that hidden powers rely heavily on covert disruption of common dialog on certain subjects.

This leads one to speculate about how distorted the models are that do not take into consideration the motivation and powerful influence of a few. Sadly, most models do not, and in fact cannot, include data that by design is not available. 

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Authentic Self

Does the light make us? Or do We make it?

"The authentic self has but one honest persona. In the presence of other authentic selves some amazing capabilities for the resulting group are possible.

"Accordingly, increasing 'safety' through deception is diligently discouraged as it deviates from honesty's simplicity and efficiencies.

One can draw much from the remarkable success of social media companies and the fact that at least one appears to provide API's and compassionate good sense to developers to implement much of the functionality needed.

Maybe a mashup or web entities will be the best vehicle. They are common now, so the secret sauce will be in the integration and making it relevant to the right audience.

NOTE: Some of the foregoing in this BuzzTheHill post is not fictional. Consider it a public disclosure and as such, to the degree something novel and not obvious to those skilled in the art has been addressed, the specific intent was/is to put it in the PUBLIC DOMAIN

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Something About A Leaf

"Its a car. So what? Its a mp3 player. So what?. Its a smartphone, so what? Its a graphic UI for an ancient OS, so what?

"Its a Leaf we will talk about. It was an iPod, iPhone and iMac. So what?"

The pundits talk about collections of technology as if they were enough to describe market successes of breakthrough products ("Microsoft tried that before, it didn't work").

Punditry can sell some advertising and appeal to some readers with too much time on their hands. As the stories played out, their writing seldom explained the why behind game-changing new products. Clever integration and implementation catering to a visceral  time-is-right feeling? A right to rid the burden of supporting what had gone before? We are about change. All of us. Welcome to life, Prudence

The Nissan Leaf appears to me to be in the special class just described. What follows is why I think so based on a test drive at a local dealership (ask for Charles at Beaverton Nissan) and 'liking' Nissan Leaf from my Facebook page.

It is fair to say, I have had a long interest in electric drive for transportation (a related invention was nearly five decades ago.) If it were not for the weight and price of energy storage (battery) we would not be buying gasoline powered automobiles now.

In my world view, there is unspoken pent-up demand for people who want to say good buy to selfish energy barons, toxic fossil fuel products, entitled owners, supporters of the 'real' religion and spend the saved resources on giving a great big hug and a better life to other compassionate people AND oneself.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

'Modern' Economics 101

William Rupert Hearst :-)

"Why would the commercial and commercial like 'free press' continue to ignore the authentic interest of its readers? Isn't readership what leads to circulation and advertising dollars?"

"Yes, but things have changed dramatically in the 'free' part of the title's meaning in recent years. So by way of a little background, let me say a few things."

The 'dubious veracity' element of American Journalism has been around for some time. Major competition for pandering to the shallow and replacing it with something more appealing has just recently arrived. It is robustly interactive in a form not possible just a few short years ago.

Shallow is no match for convenient, yet deep, engagement. But nothing about the modern environment guarantees deep. It can lead to a better life for the multitudes, however. Most of the time, many agents are better than a few corrupted and or short sighted egos.

"When was the last time you heard that Facebook was a waste of time? A good chance it was today. Did that person have an agenda or speak (perhaps, unknowingly) for someone connected to the usual suspects?"

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Fortress Cracks

"If the laundering list is long (yes, I did mean laundering) it won't fit in a sound bite or tweet. If we flood the medium with artificial noise, it will be difficult to detect a relatively long manipulative causal chain."

Wichita?

This now made sense. Countering the democratizing effects of brief message media without immediate detection. Obscure the command chain by making it long enough. Do so with as much deniability as possible at each link. Flood with noise to amplify the obscuration.

This led them to a conversation about 'reply' strategy.

"What happens if the 'noise station' is partially disabled? Will the medium be more capable of distributing the key."

"Only if it is accompanied by a concerted effort to make the short messages both cogent and succinct."

Just recently their 'radar' began showing fault lines in the dominate influence engine. Conflict between close business associates revealed inner workings of a formerly near impenetrable black box. By design, each of the functional blocks of the highly successful machine were not attracting competitive attention. Isolationist promotion and the techniques just outlined, helped keep the lights off, so-to-speak.

Transnational private, globalization, commoditization of information flow. A witches brew of trends serving a few being morphed into a humanizing blend supporting the many. How so and by whom?

"Understand the underlying mechanism of modern thought sharing. Using cutting-edge technology and connectivity play big parts, but the often overlooked aspect of such expertise is how the everyday person is, often unconsciously, adapting to the new 'visibility'.

"All this is happening whether we like it or not. If you have any inkling of the validity of this argument, you will see immediately why it will be important to help guide the trend's trajectory. Further, to use all available means (there are many) to help organize the relevant community."

"For this we have come."

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Free Speech for Citizens

"The assault on citizen access to free speech continues unabated (can you say lawsuit?) You know, the old fashioned kind of citizen, an individual human being.

Obtuse, Cryptic or Just Outpost?

But rapidly emerging is the Do It Yourself (DIY) spirit reminiscent of the '50s. Back then, customizing your car in the garage is what young people did.

Today, young folks are connected to each other like never before with something as easy to use as a telephone but far more functional (and it is a phone too!) What they make now is types of connections. It is the new way to impress or annoy their parents, as appropriate. Like generations before, they change the world, but do it faster now.

"You see, now there is an alternative to prime time, actual human contact even when distance and time intervene." The usual suspects would have us believe the new technology is in lieu of real human interaction. A measure of our suggestibility that we took that self-serving lie for so long.

Not at all attractive to those who have spent a great deal on maintaining control through traditional public distribution of information. Who'da thunk, 'intelligent mobs.' would obsolete all that covert work?

How long might we be impressed by polls that are bought and paid for by those intent on deception? Tax deception and our economy would right itself in very short order.

© 2011 Buzz Hill

Real-Time Tracer

"With this simple online utility, it is easy to track organic propagation of the conversation variety. The most recent example verified the extraordinary efficacy of ad-hoc dialog. I am sure it is not lost on those algorithm jockeys extraordinaire running the machine."

... and soon a conversation will ensue.

"The virtual online resume theory, in general, has been proven to my satisfaction. The most important audience is clearly 'tuned in'. A good question might be, for how long?"

"She still thinks you are a dweeb."

"I know."

Talking shop had a way of repelling prime directive solutions. That is until the link was discovered. Gender translation. What a concept. This one still in the not-ready-for-prime-time hopper? Ha.

The pattern for this public log is to often hide the most important content until near the last edit of a given post. Part of this is because the first mission is for the author is to get on the same page with himself. A post as it first appears provides the necessary hooks and framework to collect adjacent concepts and their supporting context without the limitation of a formal planning structure. The most coherent record is therefore emergent. Within say 24 to 36 hours, the editing and additional content coalesces into the final edit of the post.

© 2011 Buzz Hill