Failure of Intelligence

As more and more news is coming out regarding what is now called by the news media as the underpants Bomber (the Nigerian Guy), it is now become clearer that there was a huge failure of intelligence. There were so many signs that he could have been caught before hand, but whatever is the case, we have spent so much money on intelligence and still the result is that the best way to prevent is as simple as people besides the alleged bomber stop them. No amount of money can replace this simple tactics.

There has always been this case that the intelligence agencies don’t share information among them or pass it along as it seems (by account of the news) and they jealously guard their turf. I don’t understand this if this is the country we have to defend why hesitant in sharing information. If something does happens what kind of turf they would be defending if that turf is destroyed by internal bickering. We need to make absolutely sure that every intelligence agency is on the same page and intelligence and information is shared immediately no matter what little information each agency has. And if it does not happen than heads should roll immediately. I am sick and tired of paying my taxes and at the end of the day what I get is poor response and confused statements and lax security. I go through the security like every body does and if the civil rights are violated so that it makes me secure than I am willing to have that.

Drying up of Credit lines.

In this economy when you really need the money and you can tap into your home equity lines of credit, the banks are refusing to extend or give lines of credit since they believe that the homes will be worth less than what they have assessed or the prices of the houses will come down by the time the lines of credit are approved.

I have read stories about people whose lines of credit were approved but right in the middle of them renovating their houses, their lines we cut out because the bank believes that the house prices have dropped.

It is one extreme measure of what is happening to the credit market. On the one extreme in the previous years, credit lines were extended way too much and there was almost no check as long as the banks believe that the home prices are rising. But now after the collapse of the housing market, the banks have switched on the other side of the spectrum and have curtailed all sorts of credit but especially home equity lines of credit.

Being overly reckless and now overly cautious are the two extremes that the banks are implementing and they don’t seem to get a grasp of what they should be doing in terms of lending out. They should be working towards the middle but they don’t know what the middle is. It is a tragedy and it will keep on cramping the economy unless a kind of balance between the income and credit has been established.

On top of this the government encourages the banks to give out loans and on the other hand guide the banks to check every kind of collateral before giving out money. Everybody right now is in a state of confusion and caution which will have to end if we want the economy to move forward from this state of paralysis.

The growing Cheat Sheet

There is now a growing tendency to outsource your homework to other people and other countries. Although it has been going for a long time but now due to the easy accessibility of the internet, students can easily find their assignments either done by other people or they just download outright from the internet from the various sites that have sprout up to cater to the mostly American Students.

Instead of using their brains and work hard to do the essays, due to many reasons the students find it convenient to either download ideas or whole essays from the internet or just outsource their assignments to third world countries where there is need for the money and have the time to cater to this growing American audience. I am not saying that all students indulge in this practice but it is growing which is just a shame.

The reasons may be many for this growing tendency like students may be hard pressed for time, trying to take on too much course load, partying till the last minute or just easy availability of the subject matter that they are looking for which is ready made. I am also a student and I do go on the internet to research stuff but you know I feel more enjoyment giving my two cents than to have other people give theirs about a topic which they don’t know anything about. Even if they know the topic they would not know how I will be able to present it or articulate it in my own words. And now due to this tendency there sites where the professor can just screen the essay or assignment to find out that if that is really the students or just downloaded off the internet.

So my words to the students or anybody who have been assignment a topic to write about something, try to write in your own words even if you are short of time, because if you get caught then it will be more than embarrassment that you will encounter.

The Great (technological) leap forward:

We are constantly being bombarded by technological innovations which we thought of as luxury a few years ago and now it is being labeled as necessity. If you look at everywhere, the buzz word is now smart. Smart cards, Smart phones, Smart books, Smart chips, anything which is new and somewhat different and advanced is now labeled as smart, like we were using dumb stuff before.

In the last century every thing that was invented was smart for that era but the new century’s so called “Smart” term is being used to signal that we need not have to be located at a certain place (like home or office) to access information or news or be in contact with someone. In other words, every thing is portable or mobile.

The latest to come out with the smart name is Smart books. These are not books technically but ultra small computer competing between the net book and the laptops.

In the beginning there was a desktop computer. People felt constrained to work at a certain place to access their information. Then came the laptop-the need for people to take their work and information everywhere they wanted to go. Then when laptop became a little big expensive and bulky and internet became popular, these news net books came which is used primarily for surfing the internet and checking emails.

Now the newest thing to come to the market later next year is the Smart Book. This has less capability and cheaper than net books but has the features of smart phones.

People are already accessing all the information via their smart phones like internet and email and shopping etc.It is nice to be able to access all the information and knowledge that we can have right at our fingertips but is this technology making us too lazy and easy going or making us really smart in the longer run. Time will tell this but in the meanwhile we can keep on enjoying new and exciting technological advances to come in the future.