Sunday, 24 January 2016

Podcasts in 2016: Part 1

As I mentioned recently, I'm making 2016 the Year of the Podcast. I've made a spreadsheet in which I'm tracking what I've listened to. Thus far, in January (and the waning days of December), here's what I've been listening to:

  • Risk Management: Security Professionals: SPP 000: Introduction
  • Risk Management: Security Professionals: SPP 001: Firearm Selection with Massad Ayoob
  • Risk Management: Security Professionals: SPP 002: Provoking an Attack
  • Risk Management: Security Professionals: SPP 003: Fugitive Recovery with Dan Magnus, Part 1
  • Risk Management: Security Professionals: SPP 004: Fugitive Recovery with Dan Magnus, Part 2
  • Risk Management: Security Professionals: SPP 005: Fugitive Recovery with Dan Magnus, Part 3
  • Risk Management: Security Professionals: SPP 006: "Grows" and Clandestine Drug Labs (Extended Edition)
  • Risk Management: Security Professionals: SPP 007: Command Presence
  • Risk Management: Security Professionals: SPP 008: Training Records
  • Risk Management: ASIS Security Management: BONUS: Terrorism and the Planned Parenthood Shooting
  • Risk Management: ASIS Security Management: Security Management Highlights December 2015
  • Risk Management: EuroTrash Security: Episode 1
  • Risk Management: EuroTrash Security: Episode 2: Didier Stevens
  • Risk Management: EuroTrash Security: Episode 3: Ewout Meij
  • Risk Management: Southern Fried Security: Episode 171 - 2015 in Review
  • Risk Management: Risky Business: Risky Business #394 - Matthew Green talks "crypto bans"
  • Geographic Information Systems: Directions Magazine: Podcast: Are GIS Pros Choosing Esri Community Maps over OpenStreetMap?
  • Geographic Information Systems: Directions Magazine: Podcast: A Changing LBS Ecosystem, An Executive One-on-One Interview with Kanwar Chadha, CSR plc
  • Geographic Information Systems: Directions Magazine: Podcast: Do We Need Maps in our Location-based Apps?
  • Geographic Information Systems: Directions Magazine: Podcast: Is it Time to Reposition LBS and VGI?
  • Geographic Information Systems: Directions Magazine: Podcast: FOSS4G 2010 Takeaways and Themes
  • Geographic Information Systems: Directions Magazine: Podcast: Teasing Google's Geo Vision from its Latest ...
  • Geographic Information Systems: Directions Magazine: Podcast: When a Geospatial Leader Steps Down
  • Geographic Information Systems: Directions Magazine: Podcast: Defining and Sizing the Geospatial Marketplace
  • Geographic Information Systems: Directions Magazine: Podcast: Will Spatial Queries in Google Fusion Tables Change the World?
  • Geographic Information Systems: A VerySpatial Podcast: A VerySpatial Podcast - Episode 001
  • Geographic Information Systems: A VerySpatial Podcast: A VerySpatial Podcast - Episode 002
  • Geographic Information Systems: A VerySpatial Podcast: A VerySpatial Podcast - Episode 003
  • Geographic Information Systems: A VerySpatial Podcast: A VerySpatial Podcast - Episode 004
  • Geographic Information Systems: A VerySpatial Podcast: A VerySpatial Podcast - Episode 005
  • Geographic Information Systems: A VerySpatial Podcast: A VerySpatial Podcast - Episode 533
  • First World War: MacArthur Memorial Podcast: The USS Olympia in World War I
  • First World War: MacArthur Memorial Podcast: The Miracle at the Marne
  • First World War: MacArthur Memorial Podcast: Douglas MacArthur in the First World War – Part I: The Formation of the Rainbow Division
  • First World War: MacArthur Memorial Podcast: Douglas MacArthur in the First World War – Part II: Camp Mills
  • First World War: MacArthur Memorial Podcast: Dazzle Painting
  • First World War: Imperial War Museum: Voices of the First World War: Episode 11: War at Sea
  • First World War: Imperial War Museum: Voices of the First World War: Episode 12: Zeppelins over Britain
  • First World War: Imperial War Museum: Voices of the First World War: Episode 13: Gas Attack at Ypres
  • First World War: Imperial War Museum: Voices of the First World War: Episode 14: Gallipoli
  • Strategy: Control Risks: Prospects for Cuba in 2016
  • Strategy: Control Risks: Doing business in 2016 and the Made in China strategy
  • Strategy: Control Risks: Geostrategy and the Syrian conflict
  • Strategy: Control Risks: Africa and the commodities slow down
  • Strategy: Control Risks: RiskMap Podcast: The US chairs the UN Security Council; fighting IS; the Paris climate change conference.
  • Strategy: Control Risks: Mobile malware: an evolving threat
  • Strategy: Control Risks: RiskMap Podcast: We look ahead to the coming year and discuss some of the key themes addressed in our RiskMap 2016.
  • Strategy: BBC Documentaries: DocArchive: Meeting the Houthis and Their Enemies in Yemen
  • Strategy: BBC Documentaries: DocArchive: Crypto Wars
  • Strategy: Middle East Week: Tunisian Jihadism with Bridget Moreng
  • Strategy: Middle East Week: Iran-Saudi Arabia Conflict and Its Regional Effects with Phillip Smyth
  • Strategy: Middle East Week: UK's Role in Syria & Recent Diplomatic Efforts with Michael Stephens
  • Strategy: The Heritage Foundation: Perspectives on the State of the TSA: Exploring Possible Reforms to the Transportation Security Administration
  • Strategy: SpyCast: Author Debriefing: Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler
  • Strategy: SpyCast: Intelligence and the Middle East
  • Strategy: RUSI: Does Strategy Matter?
  • Strategy: RUSI: Cyber Weapons
  • Strategy: BBC Inquiry: Inquiry: What Does the President Need to know?
  • Strategy: BBC Inquiry: Inquiry: Is Cyber Warfare Really That Scary?
  • Strategy: BBC Inquiry: Inquiry: What Is The Yemen Conflict Really About?
  • Strategy: BBC Inquiry: Inquiry: How Strong is NATO?
  • Strategy: BBC Inquiry: Inquiry: Can We Learn to Live with Nuclear Power?
  • Strategy: Reuters War College: Women Fighting ISIS
  • Strategy: KCL War Studies Podcast: Strategy and Security in Cyberspace
  • Strategy: KCL War Studies Podcast: Western Sahara & Egypt after the Arab Spring
  • General Interest: The John Batchelor Show: Sat 9/12/15 JBS Author: Fallujah Awakens, Bill Ardolino
  • General Interest: The John Batchelor Show: Thurs 9/10/15 Hr 4 JBS: Billy Mitchell's War with the Navy, Thomas Wildenberg
  • General Interest: The John Batchelor Show: Sun 9/13/15 JBS Author: The Road to Fatima Gate, Michael Totten
  • General Interest: BBC Radio Orkney: Bruck - Monday 11th January 2016.
  • General Interest: BBC Radio Orkney: Whassigo - Wednesday 6th January 2016
  • General Interest: BBC Documentaries: DocArchive: Freedom of the Mind
  • General Interest: BBC Documentaries: DocArchive: Freedom of the Mind
  • General Interest: BBC Documentaries: DocArchive: Musa's Money
  • General Interest: BBC Documentaries: DocArchive: PJ O'Rourke on the UK Campaign Trail
  • General Interest: BBC Documentaries: DocArchive: PJ O'Rourke on the UK Election Trail
  • General Interest: BBC Documentaries: DocArchive: The Great Space Hunt
  • General Interest: Serial Podcast: Serial S02 Episode 04: The Captors
  • General Interest: Serial Podcast: Serial S02 Episode 05: Meanwhile, in Tampa
  • General Interest: Slate Serial Spoilers Special: Serial Season 2, Episode 1: Slate's Spoiler Special
  • General Interest: Slate Serial Spoilers Special: Serial Season 2, Episode 2: Slate’s Spoiler Special
  • General Interest: Slate Serial Spoilers Special: Serial Season 2, Episode 3: Slate’s Spoiler Special
  • General Interest: Slate Serial Spoilers Special: Serial Season 2, Episode 4: Slate’s Spoiler Special
  • General Interest: Slate Serial Spoilers Special: Serial Spoiler Special: Jay Talks (But Not To Sarah)
  • General Interest: Task & Purpose Radio: Task & Purpose Radio, Episode 00: Introductions
  • General Interest: Task & Purpose Radio: Task & Purpose Radio, Episode 01: Bergdahl’s Perception of Reality
  • General Interest: Task & Purpose Radio: Task & Purpose Radio, Episode 02: A Question of Accounts
  • General Interest: Task & Purpose Radio: Task & Purpose Radio, Episode 03: Should We Believe Bergdahl?
  • General Interest: Task & Purpose Radio: Task & Purpose Radio, Episode 04: The Stuff Of Conspiracy Theories
  • General Interest: Task & Purpose Radio: Task & Purpose Radio, Episode 05: A Ground Perspective

    At this point, I have literally thousands of podcasts to listen to. I don't expect to accomplish that over the course of 2015, but I can chew through a lot of them. At this point, I'm trying to check off at least one podcast from each category (Strategy, Security Risk Management, Geographic Information Systems, and the First World War) on each work day.

    Stay tuned. More to come.
  • Friday, 22 January 2016

    I Am Not Dead

    I have been altogether absent from blogging for awhile. I'm going to try to remedy that.

    Let's start with a bit of an update. On New Year's Eve Day, I accepted an offer to take a new job. It's a lateral move, but the money's a bit better, the company's a lot better, and the position itself is a good pivot point for future opportunities. I'm using the change as an excuse to switch a few more things up.

    One thing I'm going to try to do in 2016 is cook more often. By and large, I've been able to justify a near-exclusive restaurant diet because it saved me the headache of a lot of cleanup, and it wasn't a significantly different cost compared to what it would cost me to cook something. Whereas my old office was located within a block of many fine purveyors of sustenance, my new office has a single hole-in-the-wall cafe within walking distance. So, in order to try to save money and improve the quality of my diet, I'm going to try to cook two new recipes each month.

    Before I got the job offer, I had decided to focus and document my podcast listening habits in 2016 to developing marketable job skills. Initially, I was going to focus on security risk management and geographic information systems (GIS). I added two additioal categories: strategy, and the First World War. The whole thing has led me to do some sorting of my mp3 library, and I created a massive spreadsheet - initially to track the GIS stuff, then to track the security stuff, and eventually to track everything.

    I didn't end up sustaining my reading goals from last year, so I'm going to attempt eight books again this year. I still need to complete The Devil's Sandbox. I'm working to finalize that list, and once I have, I'll post it - and hopefully keep better track of my progress here than I did last year.

    Stay tuned.

    Thursday, 8 October 2015

    New (to Me!) Science Fiction Podcasts

    Ben De Bono and Matt Anderson sent me down a rabbit hole.

    During the waning months of my time in the Middle East, I was stuck in a back office with about fourteen or fifteen hours of time to kill each day. I've been a fan of podcasts since I was first able to listen to them in mid-2007, and I decided to use that time to find a few new podcasts. Highlights included The History Chicks, The Faroe Islands Podcast, and The Sci-Fi Christian. I sort of keep up on all of these as I'm able. Last night, when I was checking my RSS feeds for new podcasts, I saw that The Sci-Fi Christian - which I probably hadn't listened to in over a year - had done an episode on one of my old favorites, Dune. I need to give it another listen, but it was really interesting to see some of the comparisons with Star Wars, and also with Lawrence of Arabia.

    That got me to thinking: are there any other podcasts about Dune? What about one of my other favorites, Starship Troopers? So, I did some looking, and I found a bunch of stuff. Take Me To Your Reader had De-Bounced (Starship Troopers). The Sci Phi Show, which discusses science fiction and philosophy, has two episodes: Starship Troopers: When is it ok to go to war? Part 1, and Starship Troopers: How to fight a war? Part 2. I decided to listen to TMTYR's episode on Contact, and one of the guys mentioned the Sci-Fi Movie Podcast, so I checked their website, and they have a podcast about Starship Troopers and, finally, a podcast about Dune.

    So... As if I didn't have enough to listen to already, I now have more!

    Thursday, 24 September 2015

    Future Reading: Dhofar Rebellion


    Future Reading: The Dhofar Rebellion As I've noted in detail elsewhere, I've spent much of the last four years - and most of my time in Aberdeen - working to become one of the world's foremost leading experts in a forgotten 1970's counterinsurgency campaign. I'm currently (sporadically) working on OGHAP, and that's going to require me to read (or reread) The Gordon Highlanders: A Concise History and Life of a Regiment, Volume 4. Once I finish my manuscript, I'll start work on a book about Dhofar. That's going to require me to read some books that I have yet to get to.

  • Coup D'état Oman by Ray Kane: In the last few years, several British veterans of the Dhofar Rebellion have published their memoirs of the conflict. Ray Kane actually commented on a prior post in which I mentioned his book as a future reading goal, so I'm excited to read his account and possibly get in touch with him.
  • Dangerous Frontiers: Campaigning in Somaliland and Oman by Bryan Ray: Whereas Ray Kane's book came out after I completed my dissertation, Bryan Ray's book seems to have come out before I arrived in Aberdeen. I'm looking forward to reading about his experiences in both Oman and Somaliland.
  • Oman and the World: The Emergence of an Independent Foreign Policy by Joseph A. Kechichian: Kechichian is one of the few scholars whose work focuses on Oman, and I'll be consulting his book (in digital form - thank God for my Kindle!) for context on the modern Sultanate and its post-Dhofar foreign policy.
  • Oman's Insurgencies: The Sultanate's Struggle for Supremacy by J.E. Peterson: I actually enjoyed the extended loan of Peterson's book, Defending Arabia, from the Director when CN Odin and I were working on our article. I haven't purchased this book yet because it's exorbitantly expensive, but it will probably have to join my slowly growing pantheon of sources in due course of time. I'm not sure whether I'll try to procure a copy of Arabia the Gulf & the West by B.J. Kelly, but as used copies appear to be quite reasonably priced, it may be worth the investment.
  • SAS Secret War: Operation Storm in the Middle East by Tony Jeapes: I actually have three different copies of this book and, I think, the two different versions. Along with John Akehurst's book, Jeapes' volume on the war is one of the two authoritative sources on the conflict. I consulted Jeapes' book while writing my dissertation, but I'll have to read the whole thing for my book.
  • The Rough Guide to Oman: Travel guides can be a good source of information about a particular country, and in addition to my own trip there in 2012, I plan to use this and other sources to paint a picture of the modern Sultanate.
  • The Secret War: Dhofar 1971/1972 by David C. Arkless: This is the first of two books written specifically about the role of aviation in the Dhofar Rebellion. I'll probably dedicate a chapter to aviation in Dhofar, so I'll utilize this source for that portion of my manuscript.
  • Storm Front: The Epic True Story of a Secret War, the SAS's Greatest Battle, and the British Pilots Who Saved Them by Rowland White: This is the second of two books written specifically about the role of aviation in the Dhofar Rebellion.
  • Warlords of Oman by P.S. Allfree: As I've noted previously, I've finished this book, which deals with the Jebel Akhdar War, which preceded the major combat phase of the Dhofar Rebellion by about a decade. I'll use it for a bit of pre-war context, in conjunction with Thesiger's Arabian Sands.
  • We Won a War: The Campaign in Oman 1965-1975 by John Akehurst: Along with Jeapes' book, Akehurst offers one of the two authoritative accounts of the conflict. I leaned on this book while writing my dissertation, but to write my book, I'll have to read the whole thing. I'll be reading many other books and shorter sources as I conduct my research, and at some point I may post a near-comprehensive list. However, these are at the top of the Dhofar docket once I'm finished with OGHAP.

    More to come.
  • Wednesday, 16 September 2015

    Future Reading: Leisure


    As much time as I try to spend my time on professional or academic reading of one sort or another, I occasionally introduce something recreational into the mix - The Martian, to name but one. Here are some of the medium-term leisure reading options I've identified thus far.

  • Animal Farm by George Orwell
  • Armor by John Steakley
  • Commando Country by Stuart Allan
  • Commando: Winning World War II Behind Enemy Lines by James Owen
  • For Your Eyes Only by Ian Fleming
  • Gurkhas at War: Eyewitness Accounts from World War II to Iraq by J.P. Cross and Buddhiman Gurung
  • Micro by Michael Crichton
  • Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville
  • Next by Michael Crichton
  • On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming
  • Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
  • Prey by Michael Crichton
  • Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories by Ian Fleming
  • State of Fear by Michael Crichton
  • The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
  • The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
  • The Man With the Golden Gun by Ian Fleming
  • The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
  • The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming
  • The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton
  • The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
  • Thunderball by Ian Fleming
  • Timeline by Michael Crichton
  • You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming

    More to come.
  • Tuesday, 15 September 2015

    Future Reading: Faith and Philosophy


    It's time for another installment of my long-term reading list. While I was living in Hampton Roads, Virginia a few years ago, I went through a phase when I was doing pretty well at reading a chapter from the Bible, a few prayers from the Book of Common Prayer, and another book on faith or philosophy. Those included Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, Confessions by St. Augustine, and - unfortunately - Gifts of the Jews by Thomas Cahill. At some point in the foreseeable future, I hope to get back into that habit.

    Over the Summer, Lady Jaye (who is Catholic) and I (who, like C.S. Lewis, am Anglican) visited the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and I walked away with a copy of C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church by Joseph Pearce. I've started reading it, so this will probably the first one I'll read. Aside from that, I was assigned a number of books in a couple of my undergraduate history courses that focused on the relationship between science and religion. Those courses were pretty seminal for me, but I didn't have a chance to read most of the assigned textbooks, so I'd like to read the following texts at some point in the next couple of years: Christian Apologetics by Norman L. Geisler; The Galileo Connection by Charles E. Hummel; Reason in the Balance by Phillip E. Johnson; Science & its Limits by Del Ratzsch; and Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction, edited by Gary B. Ferngren. I'd also like to throw in some history, such as The Dead Sea Scrolls by Michael Wise, Martin Abegg, Jr., and Edward Cook; History of the Church by Eusebius; or Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish Wars by Flavius Josephus. I may also include a bit more Lewis (maybe a reread of Mere Christianity, or a reading of The Great Divorce?), but that's yet to be determined.

    More to come.

    Sunday, 13 September 2015

    Great War Podcasts, Part 6: KCL WSD

    It's been a long time since I posted some podcasts about the First World War. In the last few months, the Department of War Studies at King's College London has had a couple of good ones. The first is an interview with William Philpott about his book War of Attrition: Fighting the First World War. The second is more recent, and it features several speakers discussing the sideshows of the Great War - a topic which was also covered in an excellent podcast that I've linked to previously. Go check 'em out!