zenpundit.com

Trying to shake off the dust and attend to my other sites in the next few weeks. Here’s one at CTLab Review:

What is al Qaida’s Post-Bailout Balance Sheet ?

The unprecedented global turmoil in financial markets is a subject that goes beyond the normal scope of CTLab but it raises an interesting question – what is al Qaida’s “balance sheet” in the aftermath of the greatest financial meltdown since 1929? 

Read the rest here.

This explains a lot:

Ganz says that his and Wageman’s training system works well for the Obama campaign, because it’s designed to channel the enthusiasm of voters who are emotionally inspired by orators such as Obama. This appeal to the right brain contrasts with most of the recent Democratic political campaigns, which have appealed to voters’ logic by selling concepts and policies.

Obama organizers, and some volunteers, enter the campaign machine through weekend training sessions called “Camp Obama.”

The sessions vary in size from groups of 40 to more than 300, held variously at the campaign’s Chicago headquarters, in rented office spaces, union halls, churches or on college campuses.  In addition to leadership and motivation training, the camp features storytelling sessions, where the volunteers are broken up into small teams organized by congressional district. Each member of these groups is asked to tell personal stories in two minutes, in the same format Obama used in his 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention.   

“Ultimately, your story should move people to specific action by painting a detailed picture of how things might be different if we act, giving us hope that if we act now we can make real that different future,” explains the training manual.  

Hat tip to Socialmedian.

All that is missing is Alan Alda reading from Robert Bly’s Iron John.

Went to vote early yesterday and the polling place was mobbed – so much so, that we gave up on the long lines and just went out to dinner. If this frenzy is indicative, then voter turnout is going to extremely high this year

WIRED magazine has a post up about reviving the idea of nuclear powered jetliners:

Bring Back the Nuclear-Powered Plane!

“We need to be looking for a solution to aviation emissions which will allow flying to continue in perpetuity with zero impact on the environment,” Professor Poll tells the paper. “We need a design which is not kerosene-powered, and I think nuclear-powered aeroplanes are the answer beyond 2050. The idea was proved 50 years ago, but I accept it would take about 30 years to persuade the public of the need to fly on them.”

A better ( and safer) idea than putting a nuclear reactor on an airplane  would be a nuclear-powered super zeppelin. The crash risk would be minimal and  such a super-zeppelin would have vast advantages in lift over an airplane and be able to ship large quantities of goods virtually anywhere on earth.  Or it could hover semi-permanetly as a SIGINT platform with capabilities of being an “aircraft carrier in the sky” for UAV’s.

Inventive, aeronautical and physics types feel free to sound off in the comments.

Here it is:

Top Billing!  Global Guerillas – JOURNAL: Some Final Observations

Information Dissemination – On Hearts, Minds, and Piracy

Pundita – War at sea: piracy and the rise of private navies and More on William Ayers’ education plan: Ayers-Obama relationship primarily an education issue for voters — but try telling that to the news media

ERMB – Books Forever and When does Connectivity Narrow Thinking?

Sic Semper Tyrannis – Tribe on tribe – Pakistan and GOP = Whigs?

Col. H.R. McMaster – Learning from Contemporary Conflicts to Prepare for Future War ( Hat tip Wiggins)

And, finally, Lexington Green sent me the following:

The Truth About Putin and Medvedev by Amy Knight ( a Soviet Studies specialist)

The Great Marathon Man  By Peter Green

That’s it!