The Network Effect/Article 600

While driving down a road outside of Reedsville, PA, I took this picture of two people peacefully sharing a common space, heading toward unknown destinations as radically different from one another as the means of transportation taking them there. When looking at this, I come away with greater appreciation of the Network Effect and what it means for mankind.

For starters, the Network Effect totally depends on on/off switches generating 0's & 1's at blinding speeds as this binary way of counting enables data of endless variety to be processed, stored and distributed in effortless fashion to anyone equipped with a computer (and connected to the network) capable of deciphering the flow of bits in question. Because 0's & 1's can be overlayed by a limitless set of variables i.e. color, currency type, the letter "t" etc., etc. the computer, as Universal Machine, and the network it runs, The Web, have become prime drivers of the Network Effect or the power of individuals and groups to instantly communicate and collaborate with one another using machines linked together via the net. Flash Mobing, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter (not to mention Wikis, sites like PLOS, Blogs & news sites like Physorg & NYTimes) are just tiny samplings of information multipliers being used by millions in the attempt to better understand the profound changes happening in group consciousness being wrought by the connected age of the Network Effect.

Seen below is a graphic representation of the Network Effect from the hardware side as this is the physical construct on which everything rests in the world of digital communications.

"The law has often been illustrated using the example of fax machines: a single fax machine is useless, but the value of every fax machine increases with the total number of fax machines in the network, because the total number of people with whom each user may send and receive documents increases."

In looking at Morse Code, I now see how important rhythm is in all things musical, biological and, in the case of Morse Code, communicative. :)


Never thought the number 600 and BRT would be spoken of in the same sentence but blame it on science & tech and the impact it has on all of us rubes. :)

Robert E

It's a Gray Area

The sound of one hand clapping...

Posting

With regret, posting will now be moderated as BRT is getting spammed by bozos who have nothing better to do. We welcome valid comments, outrageous and otherwise so please don't hesitate to disagree or concur with the opinions on the blog. In a weird way, getting spammed is a perverse form of fanboydom as it shows the site's being seen.

Robert E.

Esper

This scene from Blade Runner goes deeper then just image enhancement, rather, it shows, in indirect fashion, how sifting through information is akin to going into the Rabbit Hole. In Dekard's case, it leads to the girl, in many of mine, the destination changes depending on the data found.

As example, the Gizmodo Fancy Math piece started the drill that created this piece.

"And so it goes." - Slaughterhouse 5. Kurt Vonnegut

The Grand Ruse

Gaming the Market rocks. I learn so much about the market and how it's manipulated from these guys. They and Zero Hedge really understand the abstractions and obfuscations purposefully inserted into financial "deals" in order for the guilty to cover tracks and bamboozle the uninitiated (i.e. Greece) while making billions at public expense. The graph, courtesy of Information is Beautiful, depicts monies spent on an almost endless stream of "items" ranging from serious baubles like Iraq war costs/3 trillion to the really important Gift Cards market totaling 29 billion. The video below shows how unregulated Hedgies make money.



To add fuel to the fire, consider this little gem from Investopedia

"Portfolio Pumping : The illegal act of bidding up the value of a fund's holdings right before the end of a quarter, when the fund's performance is measured. This is done by placing a large number of orders on existing holdings, which drives up the value of the fund.

Also known as "Marking the Close."

After reading Gaming's Fed Hunter Killer piece, I realized just how insightful Danial Roth is regarding finance and regulatory. Click on Transparency to see why.

"For fools rush in where angels fear to tread" - Alexander Pope

Addendum: Read Wall Street's Bailout Hustle by Matt Tiabbi to see how ignorance covers the Goldnman's of the world. Simply unbelievable but hey, we Americans accept the worst healthcare system in the world so why not be the mark for the con artists in Wall Street to swindle as well. Works for me.

Sey Hey

I only wish I could have seen Willie Mays play ball. Listening to old timers wax poetic about a supremely gifted and good guy who lit up every stadium with joy, style and plays that defied imagination, Mays, to me, epitomized what was good about baseball way back in the '50s. The best time, IMHO, would be watching Willie do The Catch in 1954 against Vic Wertz and the heavily favored Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the World Series at the Polo Grounds, a feat recognized as one of the greatest ever accomplished in the annuals of sport. (The Giants swept the series in four.)


Pete Hamil, who just reviewed the James L Hirsch book titled Willie Mays, the Life, the Legend in the NYTimes says it best...

"A long time ago in America, there was a beautiful game called baseball. This was before 30 major-league teams were scattered in a blurry variety of divisions; before 162-game seasons and extended playoffs and fans who watched World Series games in thick down jackets; before the D.H. came to the American League; before AstroTurf on baseball fields and aluminum bats on sandlots; before complete games by pitchers were a rarity; before ballparks were named for corporations instead of individuals; and long, long before the innocence of the game was permanently stained by the filthy deception of steroids.

In that vanished time, there was a ballplayer named Willie Mays."

'Nuff said.

Panopticon

"The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in 1785. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell whether they are being watched, thereby conveying what one architect has called the "sentiment of an invisible omniscience."[1]

Bentham himself described the Panopticon as "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example."[2]]

This also applies to unauthorized spying as seen by the spycam scandal rocking the quiet world of Harriton High School in Lower Merion PA.

"Plaintiffs and Class members were never informed that the webcam incorporated into the students’ personal laptop computer could be remotely activated … at the whim of the School District, and that such activation would naturally capture images of anything in front of the webcam at the time of its activation. In as much as the personal laptop computers were used by students of the high schools and their families, it is believed and therefore averred that the School District has the ability to and has captured images of Plaintiffs and Class members without their permission and authorization [and] that many of the images … may consist of images of minors and their parents or friends in compromising or embarrassing positions, including, but not limited to, in various stages of dress or undress.”

To get the real skinny on this sorry affair, click on Strye Hax, a real pro on security and surveillance. The info seen here is chilling to say the least.

We Found the Glitch, Mrs. Buttle
The truly amazing part of this story is what's coming out from comments from the students themselves. Some of the interesting points:

Possession of a monitored Macbook was required for classes

Possession of an unmonitored personal computer was forbidden and would be confiscated

Disabling the camera was impossible

Jailbreaking a school laptop in order to secure it or monitor it against intrusion was an offense which merited expulsion

When I spoke at MIT about the wealth of electronic evidence I came across regarding Chinese gymnasts, I used the phrase "compulsory transparency". I never thought I would be using the phrase to describe America, especially so soon, but that appears to be exactly the case. On a familiar note, the authorities are denying everything. As one reads comments on this story, a consistent story begins to emerge:

"My name is Manuel Tebas. I was a student at Harriton High School, in the graduating class of 2009. We were the first year on the one-to-one laptop initiative. [...] I saw your post about removing webcam capability from the Macbook. It is possible - I did it last year. I will preface this by saying that when I did it, I was almost expelled, saved only by the fact that there was, at the time, no rule against doing so."



Here's a small sampling of surveillance cameras courtesy of Panopticon

The Prisoner beckons.

Photosynth Writ Large

Remix, the 2007 BRT blurb about Photosynth, Microsoft's very cool 3D stitcher of photos, now has a big brother, PhotoCity, courtesy of Cornell and the University of Washington, the originating sources of the tech used to create the MS application.

"Computer science researchers at the University of Washington and Cornell University are deploying a system that will blend teamwork and collaboration with powerful graphics algorithms to create three-dimensional renderings of buildings, neighborhoods and potentially even entire cities."

PhotoCity's "quest is to reconstruct the world in 3D models out of pictures with your help!" could definitely come to pass if they can get the images needed to make it happen. With our input, it will.

I signed up, what the hell, I take photos all the time and the game looks like fun. Who knows, maybe their tech will help me become a better photographer as I need all the help I can get. :)