The recent ruling by the European Parliament not to honor a US request for copies of all European Bank Transactions made a few small waves in the news but seems not to have elicited the conversation that is truly necessary. (Source:)
The US has had access to the requested SWIFT data since 2001 but now that SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial) has moved all of their serves outside the U.S. the access is no longer guaranteed. Of course if SWIFT had not moved their servers the issue would be immaterial. So, why did they move them?
“The existence of the US server allowed American authorities to use American anti-terror laws to access European transaction data. EU law would have barred such access had the servers been on European soil.” (Source)

In other words, because of a server being in the U.S., it was routine for the U.S to inspect the banking transactions of European citizens. So if a Danish mother wired money to her daughter studying in Madrid, Spain this was vitally important for the U.S. Government to know. Why? The argument of course is anti-terrorism efforts, that tracking money movements lead authorities to terrorists. Now please understand, until the server migration, this kind of European money transfer tracking had been going on for more than seven years. However, when trying to find evidence of its effectiveness I got nothing. I have been able to find zero reports of finding terrorists via European money transfers since the monitoring of SWIFT transactions was implemented (in secret of course) in 2001.
[Note: Many financial tracking advocates use the Sauerland Group, a thwarted terror cell in Germany as proof that tracking financials works. However, it is known that NSA surveillance of emails from Germany to Pakistan were what prompted diligent observation (to eventually include financials) which in turn led to a successful raid of the group and the arrest of its members. In short, tracking financials did NOT break or even make this case. (Source)]

In light of the EU parliament decision, the discussion to be had then is not about Europe or the new EU Parliament flexing muscles, but about the U.S. and its seeming addiction to information. Since 2001 U.S. domestic (and international) surveillance has mushroomed, from the warrantless wireless wiretapping programs enacted under the Bush administration, to the NSA installing the NarusInsight supercomputer(s) on the AT&T Internet backbone in San Fancisco (and other cities) enabling the real time monitoring of millions of pieces of internet traffic simultaneously. (Source) These kinds of data collection transcend politics as President Obama on more than one occasion has elected to keep these tools and advocated honoring the revised FISA law granting anonymity and retro-active immunity for telecommunications companies which provided domestic telephone and email/chat logs to the FBI and CIA.

Therefore, the U.S. SWIFT request, that blanket monitoring on Non-U.S bank transactions continue unabated, is merely a request to preserve the status quo; the continued collection of mountains of information on citizens of other countries for little or no gain. There should be an obvious question here: After more than seven years of this domestic and international information gathering, what are the results? Is there any kind of justification for continuing to do it? In the absence of any easily found confirmation, does it even work?

I began contemplating, compiling and writing this article before the tragic and senseless actions of an unstable and cowardly man who intentionally flew his private plane into an IRS building in Texas. (Source). I would much rather have posted it as an abstract thought exercise as was my original intention. However the events in Texas made the abstract concrete. The particulars of Andrew Stack’s professional life are particularly germane because they cover both issues I have raised above; scrutiny of financial records and surveillance of internet traffic.
Andrew Stack, the perpetrator, was well known to the IRS and had his financials scrutinized diligently and repeatedly due to a spotty tax record. In addition Stack not only was the president of a computer software company but he also repeatedly composed his ‘suicide note’ online and posted it eight hours in advance of aerial his attack on the IRS building. (Source) What he posted is not vague or something misleading like a shopping list, it’s a rather specific 5 page screed that states more than once that he will be committing violent suicide in defense of freedom and to help wake people up. He rails against the US government and uses inflammatory and extreme anti-US rhetoric throughout. He even cites the FAA towards the end of the letter, surely a solid hint that his FAA registered plane might be part of his plan. (Source)

Please consider that all relevant information pertaining to Stack was domestic and thus easily available for authorities in advance under current anti-terror laws. The Narus machines are still operating, sorting internet traffic for suspicious or violently anti-US rhetoric (such as Stack’s letter?) and US financial transactions continue to be scrutinized daily and the IRS confirmed that they were well aware of Andrew Stack. Given these, plus emerging details of Stack’s increasingly erratic behavior (causing his wife and child to flee the family home) and his obvious crafting and re-crafting his last words on an internet site then posting it well in advance of his final flight, why was the attack not foiled?
There are undoubtedly as many answers to this question as there are fish in the sea. However the most obvious answer may be the closest to the truth. Information is itself, insufficient, information must be understood. Simply vacuuming up data as the U.S has been and continues to do is ineffective. It has been more than seven years since these sweeping information gathering programs have been enacted. Results are minimal and cases like Andrew Stack clearly demonstrate that these methods are ineffective. Addiction to information is like any addiction, destructive and short-sighted. I recommend the exploration of alternatives.

Nina and I spent a few days in Amsterdam. These are my thoughts…

*The city is young, in the city center, which is quite vast, youth is served throughout, and only occasional was the sighting of a person over 40 years old.

* The city was and still is rich. Much like London when touring Amsterdam it is easy to see both the stamp of new wealth, in gleaming buildings and fashionable cafes but also the epic scale of colonial power as evidenced by frequent statuary in strange places and colossal city squares bordered by monolithic buildings

* The Red Light District: I found it to be surprisingly clean and presentable considering it is awash in sex and “coffee (read hash) bars”. Transactions were conducted openly and with surprisingly little fanfare, a stark contrast to the consumption of drugs and commercial sex in North America.

Conclusions: I like Amsterdam, it is vibrant (a bit too vibrant around the train station, where crossing the street is a risk of life and limb), very photogenic and a spectacularly easy place to get around in if you know English.

For a visual essay of Amsterdam, click here: http://www.cobalisk.com/content/category/39/1/Amsterdam-2010/

When you move long distances you invariably pass through time zones. Now, time zones are artificial, but the reasons for them are real enough. For example New York is not really 4 hours ahead of San Francisco, but, since it is possible for it to be good and dark in New York and still light in Frisco they can’t both be at the same time. Railroads, both in England and America drove the point home that time needed to be standardized and then divided. In England, not an especially large country, the issue was getting everyone on the same clock so people did not leave Birmingham at noon and arrive in Leeds at 11:45am.
In the US, due to its vast size the need for large zones spanning multiple hours was made apparent by rail travel. The systems work hence the division of the globe into 24 rather oddly shaped zones. So now Muenster, Germany is 8 hours ahead of Phoenix, Arizona. Which of course makes sense, when it is 6pm and dark in Muenster, it is 10am and the day is beginning in Phoenix. Such a large gap makes contact between the two cities rather cumbersome as I am quickly discovering. Nevertheless, no point in blaming time zones, they are just the messengers.

Only those small islands in the Pacific clustered around the International Date Line really have a gripe about Time zones themselves. The distance between Samoa and Fiji is about 600 miles, a short flight but the time difference is 23 hours due to the stretch of ocean between them being cut in half by the date line. In this case it is of course absurd to insist that Fiji and Samoa are really that far apart in time. The phenomenon is little more than a seam on the baseball of the world.

For further reading on the history of Time zones, the Wiki is quite good. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_zone

For a map of world time zones, please click here: Map of time zones

Wishing you and yours the very best this Holiday Season!
This is an exciting time, we recently created a new Facebook page and will be executing a continental relocation in mere weeks.
Also, some new flash techniques are in the works and I hope to display them in the X-Mas photos to come.

Merry Christmas!

I must give George W. Bush some credit, his use of the phrase “Ownership Society” was as prescient as it was accurate. While he meant it in a different manner than it will mean in the future it’s a great description of America. America is the land where it can be owned; a house, a TV, a car, land, mineral rights, even problems and conditions, or responsibility. Athletes and coaches often speak of “owning it” parents and teachers use the phrase “owning up to it”. Yes, in America, almost anything can be owned, often to exclusion. When the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi bought Rockefeller Center in New York (where they have the public ice skating and the giant x-mas tree every year) it was a huge swipe at the national pride because it was no longer American Owned. Mind you, it stayed in New York its not like the Japanese moved it to Sapporo.

Here lies the crux, the breakthrough, the germ of thought from where the new perspective is born. From the way things were seen before to how they are viewed now. Take a moment to think about Rockefeller Center, does it matter who owns it? The building is still there, you can still visit it, they still put up a giant Christmas Tree every Holiday Season, still have the giant skating pond… In other words, the building is still being used as it always has and the invisible transfers of ownership over the years have changed little.

However, it would be silly not to acknowledge that there is the potential that any new owner could radically alter how something is used or viewed. Again to use Rockefeller Center, the Japanese could have closed the building to the public and use it store Japanese kimonos or shredded junk bonds. Perhaps this fear or alternation was at the root of the uproar, because owners can change that which they own because ownership means power…Right?

It is disheartening, and frustrating to see that mere minutes after current US President Barack Obama is given the Nobel Peace Prize, he is torn apart by virtually half of the US media, most Republicans and many pundits all of whom are singing from the same song..loosely titled…”He does not deserve it”.
The tragedy is that there is a pervasive blindness about peace and how it is accomplished. Signing agreements do not make peace happen, bullying aggressors at Martha’ Vineyard or Camp David does not ensure peace, if it did, Isreal and Palestine would have settled differences long ago.
Peace is a slow process but one that has so far always begun by flexibility and open lines of communication. Peace is achieved by establishing dialogue, communicating positions and being flexible about solutions, showing a willingness to actually communicate, not just broadcast agression.
In selecting Obama the Nobel committee countermanded most perceptions of peace and how peace is achieved today, something they have done before.
Perhaps, they are seeing deeper than the naysayers, perhaps not, I am not them so I cannot say. However, if one looks at ‘tone’ in international dialogue, foreign newspapers and even U.S. magazines, war does in fact seem to have receded. By scrapping the proposed missile shield that so angered Russia and China, having direct talks with Iran, lobbying for total nuclear disarmament and allowing Brazil to diffuse the crises in Honduras without conflict, Obama actually has achieved some measurable accomplishments for peace. However a quick daily read of headlines is the best testament to now being a more peaceable time. Most nations are now focusing on financial restructuring, international summits like the G20, the impacts of the Treaty of Lisbon vote in Ireland, recent elections and congratulating Rio on the 2016 Olympics. What has almost completely disappeared is international saber rattling.
Sometimes the absence of a thing  is hard to see but once you do see it, you can’t miss it. The bully pulpit so favored by others has been put away by Obama and consequently, international tensions have gradually ebbed now for the better part of a year. Previously unimportant international meetings now take center stage and the biggest public contest was for the Olympics, surely this is a good indicator that perhaps the Nobel Committee was looking with different eyes.

I will avoid the tortured metaphors of life being a highway or train tracks or whatever. Simply put, the great advantage and Achilles’ heel of being human is the ability to work on different things, leading in different directions simultaneously. It’s great for service or information companies, you can answer the phone and review a spreadsheet at the same time, very efficient.
Modern measurements of efficiency were simply not possible in the old manufacturing economy when, for safety’s sake, or for speed, a person was required to perform a specific task over as quickly as possible or perhaps a set of tasks in sequence, very rapidly. These things take concentration, because people can only move very fast if they are intentionally trying to do so.
In information dependent companies employees do many different things, often simultaneously. We usually call this multi-tasking and do it in our personal lives all the time.
Of course, it can get out of hand, applying for new jobs while holding down another one can get very sticky if you have inconveniently scheduled interviews, driving while talking on the phone is universally denounced, justifiably. In the end, perhaps work has finally merged with our own private lives, we live the way we work and often work the way we live. I suppose in a way, it resembles farming which was a lifestyle more than a job. Is that good?

As the new year dawns there seems to be a common thread in TV, print and blogger media; a rejection, or at least rapid dismissal, of the year 2008. Of course such a reaction is understandable, 2008 was a pretty lousy year overall, though certainly it had some spectacular bright spots. Nevertheless, as 2008 limped to a close with its global recession, massive bailouts, terrible sales figures and a new war in the Middle East erupting, it certainly makes sense to wish good bye to all of that.

Some even argue it should be forgotten, 2008 might be the year to forget. But nothing could be further from the truth. We should not forget 2008, in fact we should make it a point to remember this malignant year because, after all, forgetting is what got us here.

When the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas expired in late December, home-made rockets began plunking into Israel, provoking the large response escaltiing into open warfare that we witness today and is now being called “intifada 3″ by Hamas. Clearly Hamas forgot the results of the first 2 intifadas…

The global financial crises was born of the global credit crises which itself was born of the American housing crises and the wildly out of sync debt leveraging that was taking place because American politicians and business leaders forgot that financial regulations actually have value. Repealing effective market regulation leads to over-exuberant market speculation <–Remember that.

Icelandic banks, by far the hardest hit in the global meltdown apparently forgot that carrying debt several times greater than the GDP of the entire country would render them insolvent and so, insolvent they became. I’m not advocating pointing fingers, only advocating that we not be so quick to forget the lessons of the past.

Memory is a valuable tool, just like the ability to think on your feet is a valuable tool, it won’t solve everything but it certainly can ease the pain of repetition which so often comes from forgetting.

She walked away from the convulsing man, trying not to see. For sight often carries that corollary, action. By ‘unseeing’ or pretending not to see this woman could discard the obligation, leaving the man to die. I am made of some other more humane material, I LOOKED, I saw the man was severely underdressed, jeans and a thin sweater. It was minus 15 degrees out! He had no jacket, or gloves, his hands were white. He was convulsing, face down on the pavement, spasming, jerking around. It was disturbing, no doubt about it, you can see why the lady looked away. But of course she walked away. This man would die if left unattended, I was convinced of this.

I went into the store and approached a security guard, someone who I knew was being paid not to look away. I took her outside to see what I had seen and she sprang to action. An ambulance was called, medical attention was provided.

I curse that woman who was such a coward as to walk away from a dying man on a sidewalk. Who was too weak to carry the small burden of sight.

A continuing and disturbing trend in the United States is disregard for expert opinion. Or at least equating what an expert says with what a reporter says or your neighbor. The idea that all opinion is the same, typically when an expert talks about their field of expertise it is not really their opinion, its the most likely outcome.  Certainly the bona fides of some “experts” should be called into question. An expert in dinosaur bones should not be on TV talking about plastic recycling. A healthy skepticism that leads the curious to dig a little deeper is a good thing.

Now, however we are not seeing skepticism, we see a cynical arrogance. If an expert does not agree with someone’s opinion, they must be full of it. I mean we are an informed public right? This belief, that common sense or faith or intuition can somehow guide a person through difficult or complex issues just as well as high levels of education and years of professional experience. Its not true, sorry but its not. Ever try to do regression analysis for a 200 apples sprayed with pesticide or derive how much pollution tax should be put on 5 power plants in different cities? You can’t guess that stuff, or look it up on a blog.

A person who takes an Economics course, or Statistics, Engineering, Medicine, Physics, Chemistry and on and on will tell you flat out, you cannot use ‘common sense’ to understand anything beyond the most rudimentary, and in fact, “common” things. If you did not study, you would fail these subjects, miserably. Why? Well this is not the Middle Ages, most fields are very well developed and require critical skills, analysis and formula or logic that everyday in the 9 to 5 does not. A whole lot of really smart people have combined to make this modern world what it is today. This is why a person must LEARN a field, they cannot guess it.

Yet when it comes to administering a town or city our country, a portfolio with billions in assets or a company with offices in 5 countries, we think people with everyday experience can do just fine. Its absurd. Look around, why are bridges collapsing, homes being washed away and the economy staggering spectacularly? Because the idea that you really don’t need experts has taken hold. The cities structural engineers are telling the city council that they need more money, the bridges are falling into disrepair. The council ignores them, with the public’s blessing; they just have their hand out, sucking off the tit of public funding. Two years later a major bridge collapses killing dozens. Hmm, maybe those structural engineers actually knew what they were talking about!

While a welder or stock broker is a valuable asset in any society they do not replace the architect, engineer or economist. Investors and brokers ignored Warren Buffet who for years had called derivatives trading a ‘time bomb’, now only 2 Wall Street firms with large derivative portfolios exist. School boards ignore overwhelming evidence of natural selection and try to force “intelligent design” into the curriculum as some kind of reasonable alternative. A conservative court justice rules against this policy calling it a gross violation of authority and contrary to the very concept of education. Arrogance and lack of knowledge power both of these examples.

Welders do not draft the blueprints any more than the building architect welds the girders. If the architect was welding the girders, that’s one building I would never go in.  I want competent and certified people doing the work and educated people doing the design.  Think of it, if a chemist was suddenly called upon to run a lathe for the aluminum fabrication facility they would be awful, wrecking valuable material and wasting money and time in the process. Of course, unless the chemist was an egotist, they would tell you that, freely volunteering the limits of their capability and knowledge. Maybe the fact that the chemist would freely admit this should tell you something.  The myth of the superhero is just that, a myth, perhaps its time to listen to those who really do know what they are talking about.