zenpundit.com

Please welcome Elected Swineherd !

On a sadder note: 

Kicked off the blogroll and banned for shady, backstage, conduct unbecoming of a decent blog:

Democracy Project

First time I’ve ever had to do that. Hopefully the last. I mention it only because I’ve previously guest-posted at DP and given them a fair number of links on behalf of a blogger and friend no longer associated with this crew.  I no longer endorse the site nor can I recommend it to others.

Top Billing! Information Dissemination – Renaissance Men Are Evolving Into Renaissance Networks

Love the term. Wish I’d thought of it!

Coming Anarchy –  No Terrorism in Dubai? Just you wait!

Thomas P.M. Barnett – The chicken (happiness) gets you the egg (democracy)

In Harmonium – Building theories that make sense

The Strategist –  Weekend Reading: Mary Beard on the Emperor Hadrian

New book by Maj. Don Vandergriff –  Finding and Preparing Future Soldiers  (hat tip Shloky)

New search engine – Cuil

New Web 2.0 app – Socialmedian

That’s it!

Shane Deichman leaves his usual perch at Wizards of Oz for a special guest post at Matt Armstrong’s excellent public diplomacy and IO blog MountainRunner:

Openness & Government: a guest post by Shane Deichman

….In the early 1960s, President Kennedy charged his Science Advisory Committee (chaired by Dr. Jerome Wiesner, Special Assistant to the President on Science and Technology) to charter a panel to review federal information management policies and practices. The “Panel on Science Information” was chaired by Dr. Alvin M. Weinberg, Director of Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL). ORNL is the site of the world’s first operational nuclear reactor (the Graphite Reactor, where the “pile” from the University of Chicago was moved during World War II to validate the “breeder reactor” concept) and a key national laboratory.

….NASA and the Atomic Energy Commission were acknowledged by Dr. Weinberg as excelling in this area, interpreting their responsibilities quite broadly, and being proactive in providing full-fledged information services (not just a “document repository”) for enabling access to information. The AEC’s culture of openly sharing information is still evident today in the Department of Energy’s “Office of Scientific and Technical Information” (OSTI) in Oak Ridge – the nation’s central repository of scientific information stored in easily searchable databases (including Science.gov, ScienceAccelerator.gov and WorldWideScience.org). [BTW: OSTI is located on the first street in the nation named after a website, “Science.Gov Way”, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.]

At the other extreme, the Department of Defense was singled out in the Weinberg Report for having an information agency (Armed Services Technical Information Agency [ASTIA], predecessor of today’s Defense Technical Information Center [DTIC]) that only handled internal reports and internal information retrieval requests.

Read the rest here.

Special note: Matt Armstrong writes:

In the spirit of engaging and informing the American public of what the government does and why, Shane Deichman of Wizard of Oz and deep thinker on S&T sent along this post on Openness & Government. He is also the blogger increasingly pictured drinking with fellow bloggers.

So true, so true. 🙂

Anyone else having bizarre problems with the log in ?

On a related Web 2.0 note, I just joined Socialmedian where I have just created a news network for “COIN and 4GW” for any readers who are interested in signing up and helping me build that network. Socialmedian needs some time to crawl for potential feeds ( though several obviously come to mind).

About two years ago, I stood up in a wedding for a friend and received as a groomsman’s gift a Leatherman Surge. Not being familiar with Leatherman at the time, I threw it in a drawer where it sat for at least six months, gathering dust.

An error. I have found the Surge to be a marvelously handy multipurpose knife that I use almost every day. Despite that, the blade is still razor sharp and the Surge performs as well as it did the first time I used it. If I travel, the Leatherman travels with me. In an era where we are accustomed to buying high priced junk with a definite shelf life, it’s a pleasure to have something ruggedly made to last. I recommend it highly to anyone but for the Gents, a Leatherman is a must-have for your dude arsenal.

A useful tool ( much like Zenpundit himself).