Live from Lithuania

Finally got a reliable Internet connection in Lithuania after no luck on board the ship we are sailing. I am a few days into the trip now and have been through Copenhagen, Poland, and now Lithuania. Tomorrow we head to Riga, Latvia, which is supposed to be great. So far the highlight has been Copenhagen but it is not really fair to compare the other Baltic states since history, and especially the Russians, have not treated them well.

Nothing major to report yet as most of our time has been spent on board the ship either eating, drinking, or singing show tunes by the piano. When we docked in Poland we did have the former Polish President, Lech Walesa, come on board for a brief discussion on the future of democracy both in Poland and throughout the world.

More later when I have a better connection. Enjoy some new flickr sets:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsolomon/

Leaving DC...

Heading out today, first stop Copenhagen and will arrive in China on June 28.

Check back for updates and photos.

Brave New War

I have been following John Robb's Blog for about a year now and he always has a lot of great insight into issues of national security, especially terrorism, insurgency, and infrastructure protection. He recently completed a new book, titled Brave New War. I have not read it yet but it apparently relates to a lot of what he writes about on his blog. Wired has a great two part series on John Robb's new book:

Part 1

Part 2

This book focuses on fourth generation warfare and how conflict is moving towards insurgent type attacks (Iraq, Lebanon, etc.) instead of state-on-state conflict. I think it is very interesting that Hugo Chavez is studying the tactics of Iraqi insurgents.

Two key items I took from this:
1) Robb's emphasis on culture and language training is great to see and we all know what happens with a lack of this--Iraq.

2) The current Federal bureaucracy is based on an outdated system (maybe this is too much credit to say it was once 'dated') that is not flexible enough to adapt to these new threats. I could post pages and pages on this but probably won't until I have time to reflect on working in it the past 4 years.

Robb also has a great post on the latest conflict between Russia and Estonia, or what he deems the new 21st century state on state conflict--cyber war.

Chairman Gates

Great article in Wired today on how Bill Gates is the new Mao in China. He has apparently become the new idol of youths across China. I thought this was very interesting:

"During his recent tour of China, Gates predicted the next global leader might be born here: "There was a survey done in the U.S. that asked where the next Bill Gates will come from," he said. "Sixty percent of the U.S. said the next stunning success would come from Asia.""

Will report back...

The rise of Jonathan Coulton

I have been following Jonathan Coulton for a few months now after hearing about him on Merlin Mann's (43 Folders) new podcast. Impressive to see him featured in NY Times Magazine and the quasi "poster child" now for independent musicians trying to make it on their own through the use of the Internet. Coulton sells most of his music through his website and iTunes without the middleman record label.

He quit his day job as a programmer back in 2005 to pursue his online music career. His popularity rose out of his "thing a week" series where he would write a new song, some becoming very popular, each week for I believe a whole year.

Although I had heard of Coulton previously, one thing really struck a cord with me--his fan base. The article recalls countless stories of fans helping Coulton with everything from graphic design to song lyrics. He receives hundreds of emails a day and countless myspace friend requests. But why? People love a good story. His popularity is largely based on the exciting idea of a fledgling musician trying to make it on the Internet--no less with a girlfriend and kid to support. Who doesn't like the idea of someone sticking it to the man by quiting the day job and sticking it to the music industry by going out on his own. No royalties to the big labels here. And throughout history we keep falling for this same great tale.

We all love this story and cheer for Coulton because we are all living vicariously through him. Who doesn't want to quit the day job and be a musician or artist? Although Coulton will argue that it is not that simple and I could only imagine so but still, lets keep it simple, he is the underdog that we all want to see succeed. A modern day seabiscuit or the current Golden State Warriors

The Internet is clearly a major force in leveling the playing field and changing the way we can access art, music, news, and information. Call it Music 2.0, Art 2.0, or whatever, either way it changes the game. This honesty and transparency is awesome and we are seeing it more from governments to major corporations. I can only hope to have the same results as we continue to push forward with our efforts in bringing our crazy idea to the masses.

BK Video -- Finally

Threw this together last fall when BK left DC, enjoy.

Inspiration for my next journey...

Recent inspiration for my next move in life as I finish up my thesis, defending on Wednesday, and close our current client engagements...

I am not sure if I am enough of a nihilist to enjoy such a life but it would be fun to try. This guy also has some interesting posts on his blog.

More to come...

Technology and Small Businesses

As you may know the new family business, Nankeen, is making huge strides as we get set to launch the new website and product line. I have been assisting in various capacities over the past year mostly on the business and technology side.

Currently, I am up in Rhode Island and have been spending my days at the new factory with our mascot (left). Mostly I have working to get the new business applications to work on the back end of the new site. Right now the trick is to get the shopping cart to talk with our order processing center in Rhode Island. In an ideal world, the order comes in, we process it through the web interface, print out the shipping label, invoices, and send it to the packaging group (right now my mother). These web application are both remarkedably smart but also very complex. You can do almost everything from the web control panel from changing product descriptions, to cross-selling, to tracking inventory. Now once this is all up and running it will be awesome and so efficient, getting there is another story.

I find this a lot when developing business processes and applications both at Booz Allen and in this environment. The "bells and whistles" solution is only as good as the ease of use, training, and user capability. The ultimate solution may appear to solve every problem but if your employees cannot even figure out half the functions it can be a waste. That is why smooth and simple user interfaces are so important. I believe this is why Google has been so successful. They make it simple but also include advanced features hidden in shortcuts to allow the more advanced user to really dig in.

As I continue down this journey, helping get the family business off the ground, will report back. The new site will soon be up at www.nankeenstyle.com so start spreading the word.

Next Experiment - Naps

I am clearly in thesis land as I just noticed that it has been exactly a month since I posted last. While I have been inspired by a number of subjects and articles lately that I wanted to post on, I have not had the time nor the energy. I did, however, come across a great tip from my buddy Ted on power napping.

The software, created by Pzizz, essentially generates MP3 files that you can listen to for either taking an energizing nap or putting yourself into a deep sleep. You can download a free sample but the benefits of purchasing the software enables youto create a new nap each time with different durations, sounds, etc.

Since I am currently getting about 4-5 hours of sleep per day trying to finish my first thesis draft, I have decided to give this a try. I took an "energizing nap" last night and definetly fell asleep. The track claims it will wake you up after 15 minutes but I only woke up when the next track, a Jurassic 5 tune, jolted me back into the real world. I must say for not using headphones the first time, which is highly recommended, it seemed to have some stimulating effects and I worked until 2 am.

Will continue to test this and keep you all updated. Check it out and report back.

Flaming Lips, Happiness, and Long John Silver's

I have been reading an interesting book as of late titled Stumbling Upon Happiness. Yes it sounds a little self helpish but it was recommended to me by a friend and it is very insightful on how to assess happiness and the science behind some of the theories. I would say if you have read and liked The Tipping Point, Freakanomics, or Blink, you will probably like this...similar themes.

Even better than this book, however, was an essay I heard this past week. As I was heading to work on Wednesday, I caught the tail end of one my favorite series, This I Believe on NPR. The author was speaking about his views on happiness that were formed early in life when he worked at Long John Silver's. I liked the essay and when I went to look it up later, little did I know that the author was the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, The Flaming Lips. I think he makes a good point and he basically gets at the key points of the book I am reading.

Enjoy:

Creating Our Own Happiness
by: Wayne Coyne

I believe we have the power to create our own happiness. I believe the real magic in the world is done by humans. I believe normal life is extraordinary.

I was sitting in my car at a stoplight intersection listening to the radio. I was, I guess, lost in the moment, thinking how happy I was to be inside my nice warm car. It was cold and windy outside, and I thought, "Life is good."

Now, this was a long light. As I waited, I noticed two people huddled together at the bus stop. To my eyes, they looked uncomfortable; they looked cold and they looked poor. Their coats looked like they came from a thrift store. They weren't wearing stuff from The Gap. I knew it because I'd been there.

The couple seemed to be doing their best to keep warm. They were huddled together, and I thought to myself, "Oh, those poor people in that punishing wind."

But then I saw their faces. Yes, they were huddling, but they were also laughing. They looked to be sharing a good joke, and suddenly, instead of pitying them, I envied them. I thought, "Huh, what's so funny?" They didn't notice the wind. They weren't worried about their clothes. They weren't looking at my car thinking, "I wish I had that."

You know when a single moment feels like an hour? Well, in that moment, I realized I had assumed this couple needed my pity, but they didn't. I assumed things were all bad for them, but they weren't. And I understood we all have the power to make moments of happiness happen.

Now, maybe that's easy for me to say. I feel lucky to have fans around the world, a house with a roof and a wife who puts up with me. But I felt this way even when I was working at Long John Silver's. I worked there for 11 years as a fry cook. When you work at a place that long, you see teenagers coming in on their first dates; then they're married; then they're bringing in their kids. You witness whole sections of people's lives.

In the beginning, it seemed like a dead end job. But at least I had a job. And frankly, it was easy. After two weeks, I knew all I needed to know, and it freed my mind. The job allowed me to dream about what my life could become.

The first year I worked there, we got robbed. I lay on the floor. I thought I was going to die. I didn't think I stood a chance. But everything turned out all right. A lot of people look at life as a series of miserable tasks, but after that, I didn't.

I believe this is something all of us can do: Try to be happy within the context of the life we are actually living. Happiness is not a situation to be longed for or a convergence of lucky happenstance. Through the power of our own minds, we can help ourselves. This I believe.

Back from SE Asia

My annual SE Asia trip this year took me to Singapore and Malaysia. I went with family to meet my sister who is teaching English in China. It was a great trip with time to relax and perfect weather and food.

Singapore is a beautiful and very modern city. Luckily, friends of friends took care of me there so got to mingle a bit with the locals. From Singapore we went to the island of Penang off the coast of Malaysia. It had a similar feeling to Thailand with beautiful beaches, great food, and nice people. There we celebrating my grandma's 81 birthday and valentine's day. All and all it was a great trip and nice to get away from the east coast winter. I even got to fly around the world! On the way to Singapore we flew across the Atlantic Ocean, across European, the Middle East, etc and on the way back we flew across the Pacific.

Favorite Experiences:
- Going out with the locals (thanks John and Edwin!)
- Getting a reflexology massage
- Valentine's day dinner at the hotel with family, which included locals singing Country Roads and Achy Breaky Heart.

All the pictures can be viewed here.

Thesis Topic, Finally

As many of you know, I am currently entering my last semester at John Hopkins University where I am attempting to obtain my Masters in Government. I am now in the middle of writing it as I must defend at the end of April. I decided to go down the path of researching something that relates to work, cyber security, in the hopes of maybe furthering my career or thoroughly confusing/boring the thesis panel enough to just pass me.

Wait, cyber security, you? I know all of you back home on the left coast are probably thinking I have sold out to big brother evil Department of Homeland Security, who is watching your every move on the Internet...ah, if only the government were that capable. I could never believe in any conspiracy theories having to do with the government because no one can keep a secret and there are far too many leaks in this town.

So what have I been doing and how does this relate to anything I am talking about? For the past year, I have been supporting the government in the area of cyber security and critical infrastructure protection. Now how did a liberal arts major in international relations with a minor in German get involved with this you may ask, well great question! I have been "consulting" on many issues during my tenure at Booz Allen, including the threat to our Nation from a cyber attack. Since 1991 and especially after 9-11, there have been repeated calls that our "enemies" will soon have the power to conduct another major attack through the click of a button. Former counter-terrorism official, Richard Clarke, repeatedly warned of a "digital Pearl Harbor" and a lot of money has been spent on building up our cyber defense. This all seems to make sense except for one major issue-- there has never been an act of cyber terrorism. Hey, this is a good thing, our government is actually doing something to protect us, right? Well I would like to think so but that is not a conclusion I want to jump to right away. Instead, I am guessing that while many firms and government agencies have been profiting off of the fear from a very unknown and technical issue, terrorist groups have never been happier about the proliferation of information technology.

How great is it that IT has allowed us to work virtually, share photos and videos, network, and find unprecedented amounts of information. Now, how great is it that terrorists can interact virtually without the reliance on a nation state, share best practices on roadside bombs, spread propaganda videos of U.S. soldiers being ambushed, and raise money? Great for them, bad for us. Recruitment, training, fundraising, and communication have never been easier for terrorists and non-state actors. Why would they ever want to jeopardize this by launching an attack on the Internet or even both developing advanced capabilities when IT is actually making physical attacks easier?

I believe that while we have been building up our cyber defenses at home, we have missed the boat on the proliferation of web site and online forums where vital intelligence could be gained. We need Arabic speakers by the 100s as only a few groups are translating and tracking these sites but there is a wealth of information on these sites that would probably lead to some indications and warnings. I do not believe terrorist have the intent to launch cyber attacks as long as information technology continues to make physical attacks easier. At some point this may change and I hope to identify some circumstances that would have to be in place to change their intent. The intent of terrorist to attack our cyber infrastructure is the focal point of my thesis.

Have I completely lost you all? Let me know if you have any thoughts. A good article just came out that deals exactly with this topic, titled The Real Online Terrorist Threat.

You can also check out some of my bookmarked sources here on my del.icio.us page.

Books Via Email

Happy new year to all, a quick post here on a cool site I found through the Diggnation podcast: http://www.dailylit.com/

This site allows you to receive a daily email with an excerpt from a book of your choosing until you have finished the book. I have Moby Dick set to arrive each morning and will we will see if I can actually keep up.

Interesting concept if you need to look like you are emailing while catching up on classic novels. I am already sick of all the email I currently receive but maybe this will work.

Worth a try and it is free!

The Year that Was 2006, according to Google

What did we ever do without Google for search engine entertainment and taking our cultural pulse?

I was checking out Google's annual Zeitgeist for the past year and I couldn't help but opine on the results. Google Zeitgeist aggregates user searches over the past year in various categories displaying our collective consciousness and online activity. With roughly 70% of the U.S. now on the Internet and with Google now controlling over 50% of the search engine market I think it is safe to safe that Google Zeitgeist captures the "pulse" of our society.

Read and interpret it as you would like but this is what I learned:

- According to the top search results, social networking is here to stay and we are only going to spend more countless hours on Myspace, Bebo, and Wikipedia.

- A review of Google News searches reveals that we wanted the latest information on Paris Hilton and Orlando Bloom over both cancer and Hurricane Katrina. Last year Janet Jackson beat out Hurricane Katrina.

- The item we wanted defined most was "promiscuous" and we really wanted to learn how to "refinance."

- The Duke Lacrosse scandal received three of the top five spots for "US Scandals"

- Suri beat out Shiloh in searches and Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise came in #1 and #2 for wedding searches

- The most coveted ticket this year was for the Cheetah Girls

- The World Cup killed the Olympics this year and Bob Baker's retirement beat out Tiki Barber, Samy Sosa and Bill Gates.

Interesting year, 2007 predictions? Check out the 2005 results here.

Digging Iraq

It is Christmas eve and you would think I had something better to do than post to Digg but I was reading the New Yorker and there was a great article. The article is on Iraq and I would highly recommend it. Really gets to the heart of the issue and has some ties with what I am going to write my thesis on. I am going to write about it more but first I posted it to Digg--social networking site where articles are posted and based on how many people "digg" your story it gets a higher ranking.

Cool to get hits on your stories and people still care about this issue.

Check it out here

My Sister, 1000 Chinese Students and Christmas

As many of you know my rock star sister, Natalie, is in rural China (Hunan Province) teaching English. She has been blogging on her trials and tribulations since September and the stories have been amazing. I just read her latest post and it is a must read as it is so indicative of how great of a job she is doing over there. It blows my mind that this little white girl has such confidence, charisma, and creativity in a foreign communist land. I really hope she took pictures as I can only imagine the scene.

Nat, I really hope you turn all your writings into a book someday!

Check out her blog here and the latest post here.

Best Albums of 2006

I just listened to NPR's All Songs Considered Best Songs of 2006 and I would highly recommend a listen. A lot of the bands are fairly obvious since there have been some standout albums this year, including the Decembrists, Bob Dylan, Beck, etc. but I also downloaded some new albums that are really awesome.

New albums I am listening to:
The Gourds: Heavy Ornamentals
Jenny Lewis: Rabbit Fur Coat
TV On the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain
M. Ward: Post War

My favorite albums of the year include:
Belle and Sebastian: The Life Pursuit
Flaming Lips: At War With The Mystics
Bob Dylan: Modern Times

Others?

Nerdy Water Bottles

I was reading Wired magazine last night and aside from staying in on a Friday night, reading Wired magazine, I came across an incredible yet nerdy device--the HydraCoach. Basically, the device monitors how much water you are drinking out of this high tech water bottle and makes sure you drink the "recommended" amount. I know what you are thinking, are you kidding me, who needs an electronic water bottle to monitor how much you drink??

I , however, see this as an inredible idea not just because it is a new toy to play with but it does all the work for you. We all know that drinking water is supposed to be good for us and most people do not drink nearly enough. This gadget beeps and hollers whenever you are not drinking enough. How cool is that!? Just keep in next to you during the day in your cage/cubicle and piss off your co-workers with the beeping bottle of water that is keeping you hydrated. Especially in this world of high coffee and booze intake, this is a great thing. It is only $30 as well.

Ok, someone buy me one for Christmas, please!

No Google = Threat to National Security?

While attempting to write my thesis proposal tonight, I got distracted by a very disturbing article. The article was in the Washington Post today and titled "Seeking Iran Intelligence, U.S. Tries Google." It begins:

When the State Department recently asked the CIA for names of Iranians who could be sanctioned for their involvement in a clandestine nuclear weapons program, the agency refused, citing a large workload and a desire to protect its sources and tradecraft.

Frustrated, the State Department assigned a junior Foreign Service officer to find the names another way -- by using Google. Those with the most hits under search terms such as "Iran and nuclear," three officials said, became targets for international rebuke Friday when a sanctions resolution circulated at the United Nations.

This article begs the question: How much does our national security apparatus rely on Google? Personally, at my government client site, we depend on the use of search engines, such as Google, to conduct open source research all the time. When I worked at USAID in the Office of Iraq Reconstruction, we did not turn to the Department of Defense or State Department for statistics on reconstruction costs, the Iraq population, or foreign development projects--we turned to Google. With our information sharing mechanisms within the government in such disarray, I wonder whether it would be a bigger national security risk if one of the U.S. classified computer networks went down or Google? This might seem like a ridiculous claim but it would not surprise me to find that Google would cause a greater risk. I am not going to go into the tiresome debate about how miserably the U.S. Government adopts new technology but it does bring up an interesting issue about whether the government has a responsibility to help protect private information technology, such as Google.

Much government focus is on protecting national security systems but when does a non-classified and open system become such a powerful aggregator that it itself becomes a national security system?

Showing Thanks as the IT Guy

I have been visiting my family up in Rhode Island this whole week and I have been showing my appreciate and gratitude by answering all their IT related questions. You may be say, John helping your grandma setup her email is not that bad. Yes, true, if that were the only challenge. My mom and Charlie have between them, two desktops, one laptop, one blackberry and eight (yes eight) email accounts between the two of them. Getting them all to sync on each computer was the first challenge. Other tasks have included setting up IM accounts, Skype, DVD players, etc. Happy to do it but exhausting. Now to all those things I was supposed to get done: thesis, learn chinese, catchup on Scrubs and the Office.

Also have been helping out a lot with their new business venture, Nankeen. As many of you know my folks have been importing several items from China that they have designed to eventually sell on the Internet. Nankeen, formally Tiverton Trading Company, is now undergoing version 2.0 of the company with a new marketing guy, wed designer, and business model. We are working on marketing strategies, design, and back office software integration. It is really interesting witnessing a startup venture and I am very glad to be involved. There is so much to do and then there is the huge variable of China with limited laws and regulations. Luckily we have a contact out there who has been helping us. I believe we are looking to launch the new site and product line in mid-January so stay tuned. I hope to get out to China at some point and help them, maybe after I graduate next summer.

Hope you all are enjoying your break as well, not looking forward to Monday back at the grind...