T.A. lessons

On a TA exercise we had an observation exercise. We had a load of objects hidden in the field in front of us. I must at this point congratulate the Army in making most things green, it makes it a damn lot harder to spot things due to camoflage.
But once all the items had been found we could tell what we were the enemy were going to be like.

 food and drink wrappers- well supplied and probably well moraled.
empty ammo boxes- armed and again well supplied, plus the type of weapon.
muddy footprints- rough guide to the size of at least one of the men.
burnt grass – stopped for a brew- well supplied with water, had time to stop and cook.

you see how a picture can be painted by just four tell tale signs.

In one of our military training qualification we were taught about factor, deduction and task.
What the thing is, what it means and what we have to do about it…is profiling an asbracted version of this ?

Vain or confident…Let’s just focus on the negatives.

Is it wrong to be vain ? Where is the line between vain and confidence of performing well ?
Why is it so socailly unaccepted to be able to say that you are good at something. Being confident you are said to have a large ego (which is viewed as a negative thing).
 However admitting your faults and complaining about difficulties is seen as normal.
It seems that is better to be negative, because if you aren’t people will be negative towards you (or worse behind your back.) It seems that no one likes a winner that beats them !

Before technology

I always thought that I was pretty old school. I prefer using note pads and exercise books. Writing feels better than typing and I love my fountain pens.
After a laptop failure I’ve realised the importance of the internet. What did we do before it.  Emails and update- although keeping everything in my notebook is fun, and phoning people is more personal lots of people and messages are only shared internet wise.
How much has the internet changed our lives ?
Following these thoughts I decided to have a miniture experiment and went without my mobile phone for 2 days.
I did not mind it, others did. I did have to buy a watch as I usually use my phone for a clock.
 It meant that I had to plan when and where I was meeting people. People have become more flexible due to mobiles. Being able to talk to people whenever wherever has stopped people from forward planning.
e.g. I was having a drink in town and wondered if my friend would like to meet me.
My friend was running an hour late from coming up from London and I was waiting to meet her.

Saying this it gives people the feeling that they are not alone, and in emergencies, mobile phones can ease situations. Mobiles are continuing to develop with added functions and have become a fashion accesories. Maybe in the future they will be implanted in our ears….. 

Death Star canteen

I saw this and thought it needed to be shared.

Personality

What separates me from being you ?
We look different but surely this is just a different arrangement of cells.
We have different clothes but again its just a different collection of the clothing that shops sell.
We have different hobbies but they are just a choice out of the selection that most people have.

Bradshaw says:

“An individual’s personality is an aggregate conglomeration of decisions we’ve made throughout our lives.”

I believe this is true. I think that you ‘knock’ a personality into shape with the bumps of the road of life. How are personalities started ? do we all start as a blank piece of paper like a droid waiting to be programmed ? And if so why are only some of us curious and some not. Some out going and some shy ?  Is it all preditirmined by our surroundings and genes ?
 How do we make the choices that further our personal development ? How do you become the person that you are today ? Can you predict someone’s choice of life just by random information about them ?

Information is not identity

I recently needed to enter my bank details to pay to enter a charity marathon…an absurd idea in itself…paying to be sponsered to jog 10 km !!
I could not remember my barclays password and just by having the card in my hand and knowing my date of birth and postcode I was able to change my password. Which enabled me to buy and spend whatever I wanted.
But why is it called it identity fraud…they haven’t stolen your identity, just your information. What makes an identity ?

Roger Clarke’s Profiling Paper and How profiling works.

http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/DV/PaperProfiling.html

When searching the internet I came across this interesting paper.
It seems to give a good general overview of profiling as a whole.
I feel like it is just an intro and a very simple one at that but still very interesting. 

http://people.howstuffworks.com/profiling.htm

This website was a more in depth introduction.  In introduces two main types of BASIC profiling :
Be On the Lookout (BOLO) and All-Points Bulletin (APB).

 

Money and cyberspace

Can the Queen use money or a stamp as I.D. ? It doesn’t have have her date of birth but does have a picture and her name. 

It also promises the bearer £5 or however much it is…but what is £5 ? It is a piece of paper ? Gold ? Silver ? corn ? flour ? 

Another thought where is cyberspace ? If everyone turned off their computers the internet and the infomation would still be there…but where is it ? How is it saved. Will we run out of space ? Who owns the internet ?…Hmmm

Clothist ?

Hoodies are offensive yet burkas aren’t….is that being clothist ?

Endnote…it is actually the end of my crazy notes !!!

Today I leant about endnote. I’m still a bit sketchy but there might be an endnote crs that I’ll pop along to in September. I no longer need to write all my references on scraps or worry about how to write references. Ed seems to understand it so hopefully i will be able to bribe him with sweeties (he’s not a child, but children seem to be more technonologiaclly advanced than me, God I feel like an old woman !!)