I thought I’d join in with the general theme of the BBC News coverage of the election just now and post something just for the sake of it. I’ve arrived at the ‘election party’, and am ready for the results to come through.
If only something would happen…
If you’re looking for some good music to get you in the mood for election night (and after all, no matter what the result is, it’s good to start in a good mood), head over to Studio Brussel, and click on “Luister Live”, then “naar de radiospeler” to hear the, mostly pro-Obama, songs they’re adding to tonight’s playlist.
Update
Try streaming it from this page:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
You may have noticed that I’ve put a special election theme on my blog for today and tomorrow. I’m quite excited because this is the first US election where I’ve really followed what is going on, and certainly the first where I’ve had a political blog (my first blog post was in 2005).
Also, in a break from my usual election night activities (drinking cheap tea at the count), I’m spending this one at an ‘election party’ type thing.
I’ll probably be blogging a bit, later on when the results start to come through, and I’ll try to keep the results panel updated as well, which leaves me little to say just now, other than good luck Barrack.
Why are the words “the data breach is the latest in a series of embarrassing blunders regarding government information” now common-place on BBC News? Some user-names and passwords on a USB flash drive have been left in a pub car-park. The thing which I don’t fully understand is why such data is placed on portable drives in the first place. It is perfectly possible to store the data on secure servers and transfer it using an encrypted network connection. Even when the network that a computer is attached to is not secure (for example public Wi-Fi in a café), VPN tunnels can link into a secure network, and provide the protection that is needed.
Any computers which are taken out of safe offices should have their hard-drives encrypted, and smart-phones should have a kill-switch on them so they can be rendered useless (and data can be wiped) as soon as they are reported missing.
I imagine those higher-up in the hierarchy are all too aware of the problems, and trying to do something about them, but so long as there are plenty of people who need to handle sensitive data, but have no clue about security, I have a feeling that these things will continue to pop up in the news over and over again.
One of the good things about listening to the World Service news is that it cuts through the nonsense of most domestic news. One story that I mightn’t have otherwise heard is that Russia and Georgia didn’t just fight their summer war with guns.
Both sides apparently employed media relations companies in Brussel to fight their cause with the press. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Twenty-four hour news output on all platforms imaginable makes having some form of control on what goes out there important, and professional PR firms certainly aren’t foreign in other areas where you might not expect them to operate.
I don’t go to it nearly enough, but one of the things I really like about Edinburgh is the farmers’ market. So it’s not particularly good that it has been temporarily cancelled. Hopefully Essential Edinburgh will sort things out by the time I’m next home.