The Bastard Academic

I've not written about this disaster here before, mostly because trying to make sense of it has been ludicrously difficult. But here it goes, my tuppence worth: What a fucking calamity. I don't care what side of this debate you fall on, unless you are deliberately ignorant of reality, or stand to make an absolute fortune, there's no way you can be happy with the way things have gone. No deal will please anyone, not entirely. The current, and only deal on offer, pleases people less than no deal at all, which has also been rejected. This leaves extension or not leaving. Now, leaving aside my preference (remaining) for now, I think we can all agree that this whole project has been a complete catastrophe from the beginning. A move made solely to sort internal Tory party issues, the referendum (which was a non-binding advisory vote, essentially and opinion poll) ended up with that failing miserably, and "Call Me Dave" Cameron doing a runner (despite promising oth...

“I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member” Groucho Marx Much of the past 17 years has been dedicated to fighting fundamentalist extremism, largely of the religious persuasion. This is understandable, as the religious mindset, certainly in those areas of the globe where faith is a majority holding, affects and informs the cultural values of society, and certainly in the West we have found ourselves at odds with extremist Islamic groups. Fundies of the Muslim persuasion have been at the forefront f these combative efforts, although we have also seen the dangers of the looming Christian theocratic state. It is fair to say while this will be an ongoing struggle, it is one we are coming to understand very well and are able to combat. But what of other types of fundamentalist creeds? What of political fundamentalism? This is, I fear, something we are neglecting to talk about, instead preferring to remain steadfastly tribalised to the point where discuss...

As a Welshman, I have always been cautious of independence: I have always wanted it for my nation, but years of political mistrust and abuse by England have not left us in a good enough state economically to do much of anything to change this state of affairs. Which brings us to the trigger event for this post, and why I'm particularly miffed. The Swansea Tidal Lagoon project had all the hallmarks of Something Good: a renewable energy technology that would create not just jobs at the site, but create employment opportunities and new businesses along the supply chain, as well as regenerate a coastal area. It would also serve as a template business and regeneration project that could be replicated around the UK, and possibly exported abroad. And all for a little more than the cost of a DUP bribe  £1.3 billion. My opening paragraph has probably given away that not all is well with this. Instead of investing in not just a one-off project, but the full rejuvenation of industry and c...

Nice, long, big word there as a title. I'll shorten it for you: polymath. A person of wide knowledge or expertise. The desired human state. I have long been an advocate for something I call wide-spectrum literacy: competence in reading, writing, arithmetic, science, technology, politics, philosophy, economics, to say the least. I have what you could mildly call a vehement dislike of ignorance, particularly wilful ignorance: I find little to no excuse for it, especially in developed nations where access to technological marvels which act as gateways to endless learning and knowledge, most of it free, is commonplace to the point of being carried around in pockets. You can imagine, then, my sickening disgust at the state of the world, and the horror of facing an international society in which ignorance, bigotry, and mendacity don't just roam freely, but are actively pursued as if they were the highest virtues.  Now, I'm not going to lay the blame entirely at the feet of...

Yes, this is the inevitable blog about Cambridge Analytica, Strategic Communications Laboratories and Facebook, because this is a cyber security blog and this counts as compromised security. First things first, the old admonition: if you are getting something for free, you are the product. Maybe it’s not that old, but it definitely applies. Facebook offers a lot, and offers it, ostensibly, for free. Now you could say that advertising revenue pays for it, and to some degree you would be correct, but one thing the former Harvard female ranking website has plenty of is information: data. And data, particularly the specific kinds you feed the Zuckerbergian Machine every 30 seconds, is worth more than its weight in gold. Machine Learning and AI companies need as much as possible to teach their silicon brains, and advertising departments and companies love knowing how to manipulate you into buying things help you choose their products. Here’s where Cambridge Analytica, and their parent ...

Roll-up! Roll-Up! Step right up, ladies, gentlemen and all manner of horrible creatures! Welcome to my domain, one and all. As you walk in, please check you haven't left your humour at the door, and that you have some idea why you are here! This is going to be a bit of an odd blog. That is because it isn't one blog, it is a weird amalgamation of several blogs: one large part Cyber Security (shared with my main CyberSec blog for CoderSource.io); one part technology review and tutorial; three shakes of writing, and a smattering of philosophy, politics (local and global), and anything else that takes my fancy. As for me? Well, I am a student, both auto-didactic and actual academic (kind-of, I'm taking a break) of many different domains, although primarily Cyber Security. While I won't feature all of my work for CoderSource (a coders recruitment agency) here, most of it will end up on these pages, as will all kinds of supplementary information and resources to keep i...