An unusual article from the Washington Post.

The X-47B, skychief without a human master. Lands on carriers.

so who's accountable? from the L.A. Times.

Made as the radical underground began organizing into violent factions, Peter Watkins's Punishment Park is a window into late 60's extremism. Portrayed as a documentary, this fictional window into law-enforcement and justice showcases a brilliantly realized manhunt through desert terrain, with convicted extremists forced to run literally for their lives towards a 58 mile distant flag to escape sentences of up to 21 years for sedition. The deal is quite simple, make it to the flag and your sentence will be vacated. Told explicitly, with some threads well developed, others staccato (as if the crews lost their subjects), the film begins with the convicts' arrival at a makeshift court clearly outside the bounds of constitutional law, with a council of judges made up hastily from the locale status quo (California). A lone civil rights lawyer tries to add balance to the proceedings but is little more than a gnat in the face of a slowly moving elephant. It bears some resemblance to our current fears, the desert locale has an eerie nuance and the procedures seem to predict Guantanamo. Unknown actors provide pivotal performances. A cold satire of both sides. An early demonstration of hunting techniques by a policeman must be seen.

U.S. criminology appears simplistic compared to this network.

"Here, he must show me. A proper execution requires planning. First, the Eyes study the target for days, usually at least a week. His schedule at home is noted, when he gets up, when he leaves for work, when he comes home, everything about his routines in his domestic life is recorded by the Eyes. Then the Mind takes over. He studies the man’s habits in the city itself: his day at work, where he lunches, where he drinks, how often he visits his mistress and where she lives and what her habits are. Between the Eyes and the Mind a portrait is possible. Now there is a meeting of the crew, which is six to eight people. There will be two police cars with officers and two other cars withsicarios. A street will be selected for the hit, one that can easily be blocked off. Timing will be carefully worked out, and the hit will take place within a half dozen blocks of a safe house—an easy matter since there are so many in the city."

-"The Sicario: A Juarez Hit-Man Speaks" by Charles Bowden

The New Year's Arsonist (resultant fear: don't stay inside)

Sunset & Vine Shooter (resultant fear: don't go outside)

Reading's must-read book examines the devolution of educational institutions and the programmatic use of catch-phrases ("excellence") to overtake our understanding of qualities, like skill and knowledge. A devastating short probe into the west's subtle, elemental collapse.

Unlike Karl Mannheim, who saw ideology through a generalized lens, Bruehl viewed ideoloy as a window into archetypes, neurosis and personality; in effect, she saw the breaking down of racism/sexism/ethnicism as a struggle for psychonanlysis to bear. More 20th century front-loading, but still an involving read. There are fairy-tale abstractions in Bruehl's approach to psychonanlysis.

Monastic towers were discovered in English graveyards, populated with the graves of the monks slaughtered by the conquering Vikings, and continuing as a dormant doorway to Christian sympathies. Usually the sole remains of the monastery's destruction, the towers' purpose shifted.

A multi-front conflict: The Cartel Wars of the Americas vs. Anonymous.

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/anonymous-cancels-operations-against-drug-cartel-say-kidnapped-member-has-been-found/2011/11/04/gIQA11SzmM_blog.html