Spy Statistics

"About a quarter of the nation's core intelligence workers are contractors, perhaps as many as 37,000 private employees who work side-by-side with civil servants as analysts, technology specilists and mission managers, according to a report about government outsourcing by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence...There are about 100,000 government intelligence workers, the officials said. Contract workers each cost the government about $207,000 annually, compared with about $125,000 for a civilian government employee's salary and benefits."

Contractors Augment Intelligence Agencies
by Robert O'Harrow Jr.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/27/AR2008082703142.html

A Bike Path from Maine to the Flordia Keys?

Yes indeed. It is called the East Coast Greenway, a 2,930-mile journey.

http://www.greenway.org/

On Journalism Job Fairs & Spies

"Federal law prohibits the CIA from using journalists employed by U.S. news organizations -- note the U.S. -- unless the president or the CIA director rules otherwise on a case-by-case basis. CIA officers are not allowed to pose as journalists."

Recruiting, With Unintended Consequences
by Joe Davidson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/26/AR2008082603066.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns

Using a Browsers URL History to Predict Gender

Click on the link to see how accurate this tool is...

http://www.mikeonads.com/2008/07/13/using-your-browser-url-history-estimate-gender/

Cowen's Food Predictions & Pronoucements

"Look to eat in strip malls, not shopping malls. Low rents encourage culinary experimentation and attract immigrants."

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2004/04/how_to_think_ab.html

Why Does India Win so Few Olympic Medals?

With over 1 billion people, one would think that they'd win more than two medals...

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/08/why-does-india.html

Why are Lobster Prices Falling?

"At root, the global forces that are driving up the price of food don't significantly affect the vacation lobster business in Maine. Commercial and consumer demand doesn't vary much for off-the-boat lobster. Sure, many lobsters are sold to processing plants. But unlike other seafood products—think of canned tuna, or clam sauce, or frozen fish fillets—lobster is not produced or marketed on a mass global scale, which also means there are no speculators trying to make a killing on lobster futures. The fact that people are eating more and better in China and India isn't much boosting the demand for lobsters from Maine. Even in the United States, lobster remains to a large degree a regional product."

The Great Lobster Mystery
by Daniel Gross
http://www.slate.com/id/2196990/

Why Gossip Rules

"The reason John Edwards's adultery has more zing in our heads than a dry policy dispute that could cost taxpayers billions of dollars is that the human brain evolved in a period where there were significant suvival advantages to finding out the secrets of others. Since humans lived in small groups, the things you learned about other people's character could tell you whom to trust when you were in a tight spot."

Why Fluff-Over-Substance Makes Perfect Evolutionary Sense
by Shankar Vedantam
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/24/AR2008082401662.html?hpid=sec-nation

Does Google Earth Help Terrorists, Spies?

Of course it does, but don't you think it does more good than harm overall?
http://www.fas.org/irp/dni/osc/google.pdf

51 Things You Aren't Allowed to See on Google Maps:
http://www.itsecurity.com/features/51-things-not-on-google-maps-071508/