A FoKerr tells me that NPR has “Hot Iran Action”:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112119429 going all week.
Iran on NPR
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Boese-Mania
My friend and old colleague Wade Boese has a “new gig,”:http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/08/19/tauscher_sworn_in_t_bureau_takes_shape according to L Rozen. Congratulations to him.
Not At All Relevant
But I feel compelled to remind people that “George Tenet and Ron Jeremy were high school classmates.”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/1430/jeffrey-on-tenet-and-libya
Nuclear Weapons-Themed Radio Show
I have yet to listen to it, but my old debate coach and former fellow WRUV DJ posted “this radio show”:http://collegeofmusicalknowledge.blogspot.com/2009/08/1984-08-17-atomic-mixpost-nuclear-party.html from 1984 that’s all about nuclear weapons.
I am thinking seriously about making this blog mostly about WMD and heavy metal.
Thinking…
about posting documents and going meta every now and again. I figure I’ve earned the right to pontificate a little after all these years.
ACA Pr0n
I did not know about “Arms Control TV”:http://www.armscontrol.org/armscontroltv until just now.
I used to be on TV too. Just saying.
Watch This Space
I’ve got some irons…
Farewell to Josh
His departure has made me quite sad. You all know that he’s got a gift for Teh Blogging, so read him at ACW or wherever else he may end up; personally, I hope he takes an ACW commenter’s suggestion and starts a blog called Complete Pollacks.
I always knew Josh was smart, but I didn’t realize that he’s really fucking funny as well.
Because it’s Time
Some places are fun to blog at. This has been one of ’em, Lord knows.
But it’s become apparent that TW.com is no longer Paul Kerr’s Arms Control blog, as advertised at the upper right. It’s a shame, but it’s a fact. Instead, it’s just this Joshua Pollack guy posting here every now and again. And that makes things a touch awkward.
Paul has been compelled to fall silent, and I can’t really hold up my end as I once did. Life has gotten busy, fast. So it’s time for me to bow out.
If you’ve enjoyed following my random thoughts, fear not. I plan to continue making occasional contributions at ACW. Like this one on “North Korea’s missile program”:http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/2404/what-is-north-korea-capable-of.
Thanks, Paul! It’s been a pleasure.
And here it is: your final “musical bonus”:http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4rnk_dion-the-wanderer_music!
Quality, Secrecy, Dedication
Those are the “core values”:http://www.nosotek.com/about_us/philosophy.html of a Pyongyang-based software outsourcing operation whose website was just “flagged”:http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2009/08/02/nosotek/ by NK Econ Watch:
bq.. Nosotek is the first western IT venture in DPRK (North Korea).
In DPRK, software engineers are selected from the mathematics elite and learn programming from the ground-up, such as assembler to C#, but also Linux kernel and Visual Basic macros.
Among them, Nosotek has attracted the cream of local talent as the only company in Pyongyang offering western working conditions and Internet access.
In addition to the accessible skill level Nosotek was set-up in DPRK because IP secrecy and minimum employee churn rate are structurally guaranteed.
Nosotek sells direct access to its 50+ programmers jointly managed by western and local managers.
p. So, how good is the DPRK mathematics elite? Offhand, I’d say pretty damned good. Their team just came in fifth in the 2009 “International Mathematics Olympiad”:http://www.imo-official.org/results.aspx, a high-school contest where dozens of nations compete annually. (China has taken top honors in most years since 1989, a pretty good indicator that the competition is on the level.)
About a month ago, I shared some observations about the quality of NK engineering (“here”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/2060/nk-engineering-rough-and-ready and “here”:http://www.totalwonkerr.net/2061/tolkiens-dwarves-with-a-slide-projector). This is leading up to something, I promise!
Update: “See here”:http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/2406/reasons-not-to-underestimate-north-korea.