Surreal Saturday: Saturn's Hexagons... (DailyMotion Via Neatorama)

...is not the name of a rock band. Nor is it the name of a science fiction novel. It is even weirder than that.

It is a real phenomena on Saturn that the Cassini probe confirms has lasted for at least 20 years.

Very cool video on DailyMotion (via Neatorama) below along with very interesting possible explanation on Softpedia (also via Neatorama)...

The Mystery Hexagon on SATURN
by the-pho3nix

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Building A Better Analyst With Technology (10/GUI via FlowingData)

One of the ways to make analysts better is to make them faster. It has always been surprising to me that the various intelligence communities don't do more research into speed reading, for example, in order to figure out how to make analysts be able to access information faster on the job.

Another fairly archaic approach is the QWERTY keyboard and mouse as the primary input devices for computers. There have been lots of attempts to improve on this model (voice recognition, for example, is pretty much there already) but none of them have been able to knock King QWERTY and his trusty sidekick Mouse from the hill.

The most recent entries have been touchscreens but there are lots of problems with them beyond mobile and occasional big screen use (see CNN at just about any time of the day or night...).

The latest entry into this competition is 10/GUI. There seems to be some pretty interesting human-computer interface oriented thought that has gone into the tool. Not sure if it going to sweep the nation but it is worth reviewing and thinking about. See the video below...

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

I thought it was pretty cool but I have two concerns. The first is learning the new workflow. I am not too worried about that as it looked like something I would pick up fairly quickly (I figure you have to put in some time on any new piece of equipment and this doesn't look like it would take much more than normal).

I think I would also like to see the left hand functions and the right hand functions on two separate pads, one to the left and one to the right (or at least have this as an option). It looks like it is going to be cramped (particularly for people with big hands).

How would you improve the interface? Leave a comment!

How To Get A Job In Intelligence (Final Version With Abstract)

Abstract:

I wrote this series of posts to help entry-level job seekers understand the broader market for intelligence professionals and, particularly, intelligence analysts. I start by taking a look at not only national security but also business and law enforcement employment prospects for intelligence professionals and continue with detailed advice along with a number of places to look for employment. The series contains multiple links for job hunters as well as a substantial amount of background information on everything from resumes to interview skills to appropriate dress. Of particular interest to most job hunters should be the extensive and often lengthy comments to many of these posts.

HTML Version:

Part 1 -- Introduction
Part 2 -- The Intelligence Job Market From 20,000 Feet
Part 3 -- The Good News!
Part 4 -- Even Better News!
Part 5 -- Beyond The Big Three
Part 6 -- Beyond Borders
Part 7 -- Beyond Borders: India, Europe And South Africa
Part 8 -- Going It On Your Own
Part 9 -- The 5 Things You Must Have
Part 10 -- Advice From The Trenches
Special Report: Where The Jobs Are, 2009
Part 11 -- Advice From Intelligence Veterans
Part 12 -- Intelligence Job Links
Annex 1 -- "Plan B" Careers

Intel Analyst One Of The Best Jobs In America! (CNNMoney.com)

CNN and Money Magazine just announced their list of the 50 best kinds of jobs in the US. Coming in at number 9 this year was Intelligence Analyst (Thanks, Dave and Rachel!).

This is a pretty big deal for a job category that does not even have a Bureau of Labor Statistics code.

CNN and Money cited personal satisfaction, future growth and benefit to society as major reasons why being an intelligence analyst was such a good job. Job security was considered good but not great and the high stress of the job was cited as the major negative factor.

The report focused only on intel analyst jobs in the US government but did appear to include those analysts who work for contractors who support the US national security intelligence community. The study estimated that there were 51,000 analyst positions in the USG (which sounds a little high, even with the contractors thrown in...).

Fun fact #1: I looked at all of the top ten jobs and each already had a number off comments sent in by readers. The only job category not to have any comments was ... you guessed it ... intel analyst.

Fun fact #2: College professor came in at #3. If this were the BCS, then I would have the best job in America!

Related Posts:
How To Get A Job In Intelligence (series)

Email Hoaxes Aimed At Intel Professionals (!), New Report On The Pakistani Military And Rising Ethnic Violence In The UK (Link List)

A number of interesting reports have come out over the last several days. Here are three that caught my eye:

• The FBI is warning that three fraudulent email hoaxes have been circulating recently. With subject lines that read, “Intelligence Bulletin No. 267,” “New DHS Report” and “RE: Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate," these seem to be specifically targeting law enforcement, military and intelligence professionals. The FBI warns that the attachments (all .exe files) "may contain files that are harmful to the recipient’s system and may try to steal user credentials."

• The Institute of South Asian Studies (out of the National University of Singapore and via the ISN) has recently issued a report on the Pakistani military under General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Given all the recent bad news about Afghanistan, this report is remarkably optimistic, claiming that Kayani "does not harbor ambitions of interfering in politics" and that "crushing the Taliban now seems to be an objective that General Kayani is strongly committed to."

• ISN has also just published an Intel Brief on the rising ethnic tension in the UK between Islamic and Skinhead groups. The article, written by Mercyhurst alumna, Ania Dunin, claims that the right-wing English Defense League has been "deliberately trying to provoke a response from ethnic minorities in order to create wider violence and mayhem" and that the extremist groups "will likely pose a significant security threat in the UK in the near future, not due to their manpower, but to their tactics."