The other day I came across this tech blog called worldchanging while reading Crypto-Gram: there was a link to a Wired blog by Bruce Sterling, and which linked to the entry on worldchanging on fabrication services. One road leads to another.

I finished Bruce Schneier's Beyond Fear recently (Monday?—the days all blur together). This is a book that every politician should be required to read. Twice. Maybe more, depending on how dull they are. To me, many of the points were obvious and logical, and so agreed with the positioning I already had. *grin* What I liked about the book is it clarified my thinking on the concept of security, reinforcing the fact that there's no such thing as being perfectly secure or being perfectly without risk. Life is a game of risk management, whether it be choosing stocks, selecting a spouse, or designing mechanisms for securing one's country. Schneier frames the 9/11 attacks in the context of the "big picture", mostly noting that it's the emotional, knee-jerk response to terrorism that gives it its power. With travesties like the Patriot Act in force and dumb ideas like national ID cards being proposed, all the U.S. politicos seem capable of is ill-conceived plans and legislature. This book is a must-read for anyone who intends to discuss politics, for the U.S.'s reactions to perceived national security threats, both real and imagined, strongly impacts the political climate of the entire world.

No time to write a book review, unfortunately. However, this is one book that should be required reading for every voter in the U.S.