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The NY Times is suggesting Obama won’t be able to use his blackberry once he becomes president due to the nature of the Presidential Records Act and security concerns. However, with a few modifications to his blackberry and a simple adjustment to the IT infrastructure, I believe he could theoretically continue to use his blackberry in a limited capacity while he is president. It would require implementing a proper cryptographic infrastructure between the president and the limited number people who have permission to email him on that account. As well, he may need to ensure that he cannot respond directly with the blackberry as a preventative measure. However, this second part may be unnecessary if the president is mature enough to not abuse the privileges granted him by the email account. (IE. He realizes that anything he sends on the BB can be subpeonaed.)

First concern that is obvious is the security concern:

Diana Owen, who leads the American Studies program at Georgetown University, said presidents were not advised to use e-mail because of security risks and fear that messages could be intercepted.

“They could come up with some bulletproof way of protecting his e-mail and digital correspondence, but anything can be hacked,” said Ms. Owen, who has studied how presidents communicate in the Internet era. “The nature of the president’s job is that others can use e-mail for him.”

I know that this is a bit of an ad hominem attack, but why the hell is the NYT asking a “American Studies” professor about internet cryptography? They should be contacting Bruce Schneier or such about whether or not this is possible. This is as useful as asking a carpenter about the finer points of the Maillard Reaction.

However, it is entirely possible to set up a secure Blackberry infrastructure and it is insulting to the men and women who work for the president to say otherwise. If needed, the United States government could easily modify a Blackberry and set up an IT infrastructure which would be as secure as any other channel the president uses. In fact, I would argue that by hiring some of the best minds in cryptography and IT infrastructure they could set up far more secure systems with the blackberry since technically only the president will be able to see anything which is received on it.

True, “anything can be hacked.” However, by that logic we should put the president into a lead-lined faraday cage, and only allow one advisor to talk with him at any time and that conversation needs to be recorded on a stone tablet using one-time pad encryption. Why? Because otherwise an adversary might have a remote chance of causing problems. Just because things can be hacked, doesn’t imply that they cannot be secured. The NSA is one of the most secure places on the planet and I promise you that they use computers and networks in their offices. It is the same for the pentagon, same for pretty much every other major department which needs to be secure in the US. It is sheer absurdity to say that a small task like securing a BB is not possible.

Now, another complaint they bring up is the Presidential Records Act.

But before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off. In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas.

As a note, if the concern is that it would be difficult to keep records of all of his emails. Someone from Blackberry needs to call the advisors and let them know that the BES server does have the ability to back data up as needed. So the concern that somehow the records of his messages can’t be kept, like Cheney’s e-mails were “lost”, is an absurd concern.

Now, the other concern is the fact that anything the president sends or receives via email would be subject to public scrutiny. I don’t know about you, but I think Obama is mature enough that if the system was set up for him, he would be aware at all times that anything he sent from his Blackberry was a matter of public record. However, if he doesn’t believe that he can keep his typing thumbs away from doing something potentially embarassing, then set the Blackberry to not allow him to send any emails. That way he can receive the emails right away and filter his responses through his aides without any worries.

The final concern that I am able to see is that the Blackberry will suck up too much of his time.

She added: “It’s a time burner. It might be easier for him to say, ‘I can’t be on e-mail.’ ”

I acknowledge that when I had a Blackberry, it was a massive time suck. However, it wasn’t a time suck in the constantly refreshing, not really useful for productivity way that other email systems can be. It was a time suck, because suddenly I was able to get more work done. Why? When people needed to reach me, it would be automatically queued in my Blackberry. I could work my way through them systematically, and not be interrupted by phone calls or people walking into my office. People also could reach me at any time, and at any location easily.

It was a time suck, because it actually filled more of my work day with things I needed to do.

So, I think this is a non-problem. Limit the number of people with access to the presidential Blackberry email address and it will actually allow the president to be even more effective in his job. He will get updates on every important action that he needs to know about regularly and will be more knowledgeable and capable to respond faster to any presidential matter.

Obama can keep his Blackberry if he wants to. He just needs his White House IT and support staff to start thinking in the 21st century when it comes to computers.

1h

Image by Renegade98 via Flickr

After watching the historical Obama win, a lot of movement progressives (as well as ordinary people) around the world were incredibly happy. As he so eloquently pointed out during his acceptance speech, this victory wasn’t his victory, it was the victory of everyone who went out and worked hard every day to make it happen. Obama’s win felt incredible to so many people because his supporters, numbering in the millions went out, worked hard, and proved that with the right hard work, change is possible — big positive events are possible.

As Obama put it:

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn’t start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.

It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

However, it’s important that we all contain the joy we had that night and work in a fashion to ensure that it remains with us in the long term. This won’t happen by being a passive observer. It doesn’t happen by having any one of us insist on ideological purity for our cause, and it doesn’t happen by accepting a single victory in a long fought war between the forces of progress and the forces of destruction. It doesn’t happen by waiting for a leader. As was made clear during this election cycle, it happens through hard work and unity. Go out, start a club, help a progressive politician, develop an open source project, write a progressive blog, work to improve the world and stop those who want to harm the world and our liberties. Work hard, have small victories, and slowly bring not just your country, but the world into the future. We’ve already wasted too much time this millenium fighting the old battles.

If you remember how you felt and want to feel it permanently, then work hard to acheive more small victories. Research has shown that while rare, profound events are exciting and provide happiness in the short term, in general, they won’t make you happy in general. Instead, many small positive events will.

According to Daniel Mochon and colleagues, however, this is not the full story. Mochon’s team have tested the idea that whereas rare, massive events have no lasting effect on happiness, the cumulative effect of lots of little boosts may well have the power to influence happiness over the longer-term.

How can you ensure these small positive events will keep on happening? By working hard, getting involved with your community, and acheiving small changes on your own. It is really that simple. A small success is exactly that little boost. By working hard and consistently acheiving little boosts, your baseline happiness level will go up over the long term. By only aiming for large victories, you may be happy momentarily, but it will be fleeting. This is in essence what Joseph Campbell referred to when he said to find your bliss.

Beyond the simple enjoyment of accomplishment, there is another benefit to taking a task and working hard on it rather than spending all of your time reading the internet or watching TV. You can become “fucking awesome” at something, if you spend enough time on it. Many researchers believe that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice on a task to become an expert at it. This covers everything from piano playing, to mathematics, to handwriting, to community organizing, to blogging. 10,000 hours of hard, dedicated work.

Every hour, you have a little success, and that little success drive you forward. 10,000 hours will pass rapidly as long as you get over the initial hump in any learning curve.

So, what do I learn from this? Don’t go for the big one off, keep on working.

And change the world for the better.

1h

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Lots of techie links in this one, a very computer chip filled flood is on it’s way in. Get your computers waterproofed because here it comes.

• Let’s start with some corporate links.
  • 9 deadly startup diseases. I can relate to a lot of these problems as I have seen friend’s startups fail due to catching some of these diseases. As Steve Jobs used to say, (paraphrased) “It only takes one bad person to ruin an entire company.”
  • Kiva. Microloans to small entrepreneurs in developing countries. It can be high risk, but for such small amounts, it can change an entire community’s live.
  • Most startups don’t create value. However, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important. Ze Frank said once that “If you don’t wanna run out of ideas the best thing to do is not to execute them.” I say, “If your goal is to not fail, then you may as well not try. If you goal is to succeed, then you should never stop trying.”
  • Sales v. Marketing.
• And onto some fun ways to waste time online
  • Chime.tv . Imagine youtube without having to search through all the crud.
  • Retro Junk . Ah, this brings me right back to my childhood.
  • Angry Video Game Nerd . And this reminds me why I tried to forget about it.
  • Really cool random hacks on pretty much everything.
• time for some nerdy stuff
  • Lecture Finder. Learn new stuff for free online.
  • ScienceHack. More science videos.
  • MIT’s techTV. All the MIT goodness, none of the cost.
  • 100 Kickass Science blogs. All nicely categorized and linked.
  • Wigix. For people who simply hate eBay.
• In case you missed my other posts, I’m still blown McCain doesn’t know how many houses he owns and yet he calls Obama elitist. Apparently, he also doesn’t know which car he drives.
• Ooooohhh, I get it now.
• Don’t you hate it when companies hide their customer support numbers. Well, here’s a site that makes finding them easy.
• Orato, true new stories, right from the source.

Have fun!

1h

When I grew up, my father owned a computer consulting firm. On each of his business cards was his firm’s slogan. In that slogan is an idea that many people, especially in today’s age of high speed internet and rapid response blogging, fail to understand. It’s a simple idea.

There is time to do it right.

It’s a slogan that reasonably explained my father’s idea about his work. He believed that it is better to spend more time on a project and get it right than try to push something non-functional, bug-ridden, etc. onto a customer. It has had the effect of maintaining an incredibly dedicated customer base to his company.

Note that this slogan does not imply there is an infinity of time to get the job done. It implies that you can rush and put in a patch job that makes a bigger mess of things in the long run, or you can work solidly and get the job done right the first time. You can overreact to an issue and hack something together that deals with it in the short term, or you can lay out a plan of action and follow through on it and have a fix that lasts longterm.

So what does this have to do with political strategy?

(more…)

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No clever one-liners for this link flood. Just a whole lotta linky goodness.

• Video surveillance is a two-way street in NYC. “Jimmy Justice” takes on enforcers who break their own laws.
• Sometimes you’ve just got to lower your standards.
• Contrary to some popular opinion, Cygwin does work with Vista.
• I love new initiatives to make public transit nicer. Too bad they haven’t made the database for tracking the buses open. That way there could be a variety of new tools.
• Jack Nicholson was 30 years ahead of his time.
• You know that McCain is desperate when he tries to frame Obama as “The One“, you know which one he’s referring to.
• Math, art and programming are like everything else, if you simply just philosophize, you’ll never get better. Quantity commonly trumps Quality.
• (true == false)? Apparently it does in PHP.
• Rocket fuel found on Mars? Doesn’t this simply make future return missions easier?
• All your base belong to me. The trolls of the web.
• If you like Alain de Botton, then sign up for his School of Life.
• The difference between developers and hackers demonstrated.
• 10 lessons about lecturing. 10 lessons about life.
• An excellent discussion on science and religion. Also, here’s some enlightening commentary on PZ Myers.
• How the Soviet Union envisaged the future.
• uhh.. ummm.. eerrr… the real McCain.

1h

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I normally never forward these unsubstantiated things, but these facts about Obama are simply too shocking and Americans need to keep them in mind when the election in November comes:
—-

There are many things people do not know about BARACK OBAMA. It is every American’s duty to read this message and pass it along to all of their friends and loved ones.

Barack Obama wears a FLAG PIN at all times. Even in the shower.

Barack Obama says the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE every time he sees an American flag. He also ends every sentence by saying, “WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.” Click here for video of Obama quietly mouthing the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE in his sleep.

A tape exists of Michelle Obama saying the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE at a conference on PATRIOTISM.

Every weekend, Barack and Michelle take their daughters HUNTING.

Barack Obama is a PATRIOTIC AMERICAN. He has one HAND over his HEART at all times. He occasionally switches when one arm gets tired, which is almost never because he is STRONG.

Barack Obama has the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE tattooed on his stomach. It’s upside-down, so he can read it while doing sit-ups.

There’s only one artist on Barack Obama’s iPod: FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.

Barack Obama is a DEVOUT CHRISTIAN. His favorite book is the BIBLE, which he has memorized. His name means HE WHO LOVES JESUS in the ancient language of Aramaic. He is PROUD that Jesus was an American.

Barack Obama goes to church every morning. He goes to church every afternoon. He goes to church every evening. He is IN CHURCH RIGHT NOW.

Barack Obama’s new airplane includes a conference room, a kitchen, and a MEGACHURCH.

Barack Obama’s skin is the color of AMERICAN SOIL.

Barack Obama buys AMERICAN STUFF. He owns a FORD, a BASEBALL TEAM, and a COMPUTER HE BUILT HIMSELF FROM AMERICAN PARTS. He travels mostly by FORKLIFT powered by biofuels made from IOWA CORN and genuine AMERICAN PATRIOTISM.

Barack Obama says that Americans cling to GUNS and RELIGION because they are AWESOME.

1h

Al Gore endorses Obama:

Pt. 1

Pt. 2

Great speech.

1h

While McCain sends his prayers and such, Obama actually goes and gets his hands dirty trying to, you know, save lives.

This is impressive, I must admit.

1h

Image via Wikipedia

Tons of interesting links for political, technical, and mathematical fans out there. So let the waters rise, here comes the next link flood.

• Google Shell. For people who find the GUI interface of the internet to be too complicated. This is actually pretty fun to use for surfing the web.
• The singularity is coming, but which one?
• It’s been 40 years since the mouse, hyperlink, and a long list of other innovations were invented.
• Want to get ripped? Well here’s a useful site with “The Six Habits for a Six-Pack“
• It’s nice to see proactive political work. Obama has set up a website to counter the lies being spread about him.
• ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.‘
• Are you sure you want to vote for McCain? are you sure? seriously? If so, then you should let everyone know you are voting Republican.
• This is awesome, an open source 3-D printer that makes all of the custom parts for itself. Now if they can only get it to make the non-custom parts as well.
• From printing printers, to printing entire buildings.
• Well, that’s a relief, I guess. Too bad it’s not over in Africa or for homosexuals in China.
• Kaspersky labs either have completely lost their mind, or they have invented an entirely new way of factoring numbers. While there is no money in it anymore, if they honestly believe they can do this, they should take on the RSA Challenge numbers.
• For those WOW fans, watch out for your level 52 battle terror mage. The government may have a few questions for you.
• Yes, because kids were spending time with family, and not playing on their Playstation and watching TV all the time in the 90s, or their NES in the 80s, or listening to that darned rock and roll in the 60s. Oh yeah, get off my lawn!
• This is why I want a full 2 week wake until my body starts decomposing before anyone takes out my organs or replaces my blood with Formalin.
• And if you still have time left after all of that, here’s Little Brother, a great creative commons novel which is free for download.

Well, how much fun was that! Stay tuned to 1337hax0r.com for more ways to waste your time and drown in links.

1h

This is a picture of Obama being hugged by his wife Michelle in New Hampshire.

It’s just amazing. It’s so personal, and intimate. I know exactly that feeling of peace and happiness that can be seen on Obama’s face when you are hugged from behind like that by your wife. It is simply awesome.

I just had to share this one with everyone after I saw it… It’s just such a nice picture of them and really brought a smile to my day.

1h

h/t Muzikal203