DARPA is investing in developing a new kind of helicopter, one with what they're calling a Disc-Rotor. What makes a Disc-Rotor Helicopter different than a boring old helicopter? Well, when the blades start spinning fast, they're retracted into a disc. This disc continues to rotate, and it acts as a "rotating circular wing." The benefit of such a system would be to provide " mobility and responsiveness for troop and cargo insertion, satisfy an ongoing military interest for higher speed VTOL and hover capable vehicles, be survivable and bridge the gap in helicopter escort and insertion missions." Ho-Kay! I don't get it, but it sure will be neat looking, so I guess I'm on board. [The Register]

Teenagers Are Better Financial Planners Than Their Parents Teenagers of today are far more aware of the expenses for higher education and are taking necessary steps to avoid getting into debts.

I've heard it said by Dave Winer and many many others: if only Dean had reinvested half the money raised into the Internet, then ...

OK, so you're the Dean Campaign Chief Information Officer in August 2003. The money starts to roll in. $20 million over six months, $2-4 million per month.

What would you spend the money on?

1. What does your monthly budget look like?
2. What is your application and infrastructure portfolio?
3. How much will you allocate to maintenance?
4. You're building from scratch, so what problems do you hope to avoid through wise architecture?
5. What are your big milestones?
6. Who are your key vendors?

How do you spend in consonance with the campaign strategy?

1. How will you use the Internet to bring offline voters into the campaign at the same numbers as radio or television broadcasts?
2. What is your online strategy for responding to attack ads and opposition pundits in radio, television and print?
3. Online community takes time to build and is very hard to organize geographically. What will you do to match the state-by-state primary schedule?
4. What can you do with online services to serve the campaign in caucus states?
5. You are preparing for Bush to launch in Spring 2004. What are your countermeasures to reach out to moderate Republicans online while the GOP uses its advanced voter email systems to barrage 200 million validated email addresses?
6. How will you lower the cost-per-vote vs. the GOP?

I have just moved my personal site over to a new Typepad location.  You are all welcome to visit.

The site's archive will remain intact here until I can figure out how to map it to a new location.

Flood warnings are in place in Wales and parts of England as heavy rain sweeps across the country.