1) Humorous look (albeit sadly accurate!) at the maladies of social media addicts.

Seven psychological complaints of bloggers and social media addicts, from the Online Journalism Blog

2) I like this post from daylife, about the impact and trends in social media, because it includes an article from July 16, 2004, when blogging and social media were still in their infancy. Read the article if you have a chance. There is also a link to a study by Universal McCann called, "Power to the People Social Media Tracker. Wave.3" It's an 80-page study, and I've barely scratched the surface of it, but so far it's very informative and useful.

3) I've been following this news to see what happens next: The Coast Guard is getting ready to "lay out their policy for blogs and other new media." Read here for more on it. I'm always interested to see how the various armed forces branches, and other government entities, handle social media. I've been busy writing new-media policies (blogging, YouTube, and Wikipedia so far) for the branch that flies and it's kind of an uphill battle. Just when we think that we have a fair policy that abides by OPSEC guidelines, something else changes and it's back to the drawing board. So I'm curious if the Coast Guard will have a fair shake and if the OPSEC folks there have been reading the Internet discussions about DoD guidelines and the opinions of the people who serve.

Overall, I guess a way to wrap this up is in terms of the article cited above from 2004. We are now in 2008 and people are still afraid of social media. You would think that more has changed in 4 years. Web 2.0 itself has certainly changed, but opinions are still slow to adapt. That makes the successful implementation of Web 2.0 applications a real challenge. Everybody wants to throw around buzzwords and scream out "We need a presence on YouTube!!!!" or "Where's our MySpace page?????" But when you go in and try to create that presence or page and you are blocked from doing so, isn't it a bit counterintuitive? I think it is. So perhaps this is my plea to network security admins, OPSEC folks, IA, and anybody else who makes decisions on what to block from a network--DON'T FEAR WEB 2.0!! It's not that scary and your network will not break. If you're really worried, allow us to download Firefox. Or better yet, include it on our desktops. And if you're trying to block information and applications from the rank and file, always remember that we have ways of working around most of the basic blockages with a little creative engineering.

 It's time for the U.S. military to join the Web 2.0.  A Youtube channel is great, but they have to rescind this new OPSEC regulation on milblogs.  New OPSEC = FUBAR + SNAFU + WTF.

Via the Utube Blog.

Somehow, I doubt I'm revealing in this post a great new strategy which will now be adopted and pursued by strategists everywhere. If so, my apologies to wikileaks, since I'm going to have to assume in that case that you are now going to be hit with a barrage of useless, outdated and/or incorrect garbage to sort through.

The fleet was liberated from captivity by our brave military pilots, infantry and OPSEC teams, who triumphantly returned to drive away the monsters.

In a huge battle that integrated all of our forces from Marines, OPSEC, Viper pilots and Raptor pilots, Cylons were at last driven back. There were many casualties, and reports are not yet available, but rumor has it that Pacifica Sick Bay is full of wounded fighters.

After the Basestar was neutralized, OPSEC teams swept the fleet for Cylons, freeing civilians and accepting the tearful gratitude of people who had feared for their lives daily for far too long.

When the fleet was separated several weeks ago, civilians were captured and rounded up by the Cylons on 7th Heaven. The desperate citizens managed to secure some weapons and escape to the Tylium Queen. There, led by Cobb Compton and Ensign Serp Auer, brave citizens who were unfamiliar with weaponry or explosives managed to hold the Cylons off for nearly a week. Many died in the siege.

Fierce resistance was encountered on the Conneva, where a large number of Centurians made a stand in the engine room. An entire team of our people was lost in the sweep of the ship, and Pacifica fired on the ship to eliminate the threat, then sent a second team to search for survivors. None of the 18 registered residents of Conneva were found, and only 3 bodies were recovered. The ship was scuttled. It is presumed that the Centurions had killed all citizens before Pacifica arrived.

Admiral Angelica Nephilim, known for being a soldier of few words, was reached while still coordinating the aftermath of the attack. "It was a hard fought battle, but failure was not in our lexicon. I am proud of the fighting soldiers of Pacifica," she said before turning away to speak to members of her command.

Colonial President Tanya Halberd expressed great sadness when told of the many civilian deaths, including Quorum Representative Conell Dagger, who died with many others defending the families on the Tylium Queen. President Halberd spoke haltingly over the wireless, expressing both joy and grief as she explained that every single member of the Pacifica crew was single-mindedly gutwrenched trying ready the Pacifica to return as soon as possible. She said she would never be able to fully express the relief she felt when OPSEC teams reported that the civilian ships were secured, one by one. She said she wanted to personally thank every one in the fleet who risked their lives to drive out the menace.

Work commenced immediately to repair the sabotaged FTL drives on the civilian fleet ships. It was the failure of those drives that caused the fleet to get separated initially. Captain Starbuckk Serapis coordinated the effort, called on all available engineers to assist, and was able to get the whole fleet to jump away from the cursed place in a fairly short time.

Many tears of joy and sadness will be shared tonight. So say we all!!!

Sable Babii - Fleet News Reporter

The attempt on Commander Nephilim's life was deemed to be an act of desperation, rather than the main goal of the group.

Co-conspirators Dr. Shaheen Innis and Anaxamander Barbosa confessed their involvement, cooperated with the investigation, and were given relatively light sentences. Both of them are said to be in good spirits, however Dr. Innis is understandably upset over the execution of Saunders, which was done in her presence.

Investigators said that they don't believe that all of the conspirators were captured, but that they "went back in the woodwork." Several members of the fleet military were involved and were very cooperative, and will remain unnamed, investigators said. One remaining lead is that Saunders was affiliated with a certain political party that denied any knowledge of him, raising suspicions.

"We hope that Dr. Innis and Mr. Barbosa are able to put this behind them, and other members of the fleet will forgive their seemingly unwitting involvement in this hate group," said one investigator who asked not to be named.

Sable Babii - Fleet News Reporter

The military individual in the brig is Anaxamander Barbossa and the civilians being held on River Delta are Seifert Saunders (relieved of his military commission) and Quorum Representative Shaheen Innis. Dr. Innis has been relieved of her responsibilities pending the outcome of these investigations.

In another shocking track, apparently a number of military officers and civilians have been implicated. Some have come forward and are cooperating with authorities. Others have not, and it may soon be too late for them to extricate themselves from this tsunami of mutinies.

Ironically, all of this came to light as a result of the incredible bravado and hubris of one Seifert Saunders, who was in Afterburners bragging that "his group" would bring down the military chain of command.

When asked to expound on these events, the enigmatic Commander Nephilim said, "No comment."

Investigators have asked that you bring forward any information related to this incredible and bizarre plot. Contact Commander Nephilim or Onyx Syakumi directly.

Sable Babii - The News-Review

In a very strange turn of events, military officer Seifer Saunders was arrested last night and taken to the brig. In the process of relieving him of his commission (he was ejected from military service), a second military officer and a civilian were arrested in connection with Mr. Saunders' arrest and an attempt was made on the Commander's life.

Mr. Saunders was subsequently rearrested as a civilian and placed into civilian custody. The names of the other two individuals have not been released. All of the individuals face numerous serious charges, including conspiracy.

As the investigation is on-going, readers who have knowledge of the activities of Mr. Saunders are asked to contact Commander Nephilim or Onyx Syakumi directly. People who come forward will be viewed favorably in the investigation, we are told. The investigation is widening, and apparently one individual is cooperating with officials.

More details will be posted as they become available.

Sable Babii - The News-Review

Here’s a piece of bad news: Operational Security (OPSEC) wants to censor all blog and message board posts done by American soldiers in Iraq. Censored war news in a free nation sounds like a contradiction and makes me question the integrity of America’s leaders. Nearly $600 billion has been spent on this war and American soldiers are suffering physically and mentally every day. It doesn’t look like the war is coming to an end anytime soon, so U.S. citizens deserve an inside scoop, don’t you think?

Here’s the best news: It’s nearly impossible to censor all insiders and embedded bloggers. Many American soldiers feel a need to share their experiences in Iraq and broadcast the desire to return home, regardless of traditional war procedures. And most importantly, blogging may be the best form of therapy that troops and concerned U.S. citizens can look forward to.

This American soldier describes the haunting images that the war has left in his mind, and his wife blogs about her painful experience at home. The soldier points out that if it weren’t for enlisting in the military, he wouldn’t have published an award-winning and informative blog and book about the war. Timing is everything and President Bush needs to rethink the idea of war during this information/technology boom.

Needless to say, the best news about this war is the bad news that has come to the surface from the soldiers and Iraqi’s. We don’t need to be deceived by professional reporters and journalists who study how to stay on the fence in their news briefs and objective articles. We should listen to the thoughts and stories of both American troops and Iraqi’s…maybe this will get us a little closer to the truth about our government.