How To: Send Free Text Messages Through Email (All Things Marked)

Nice trick to know. It works for Verizon at least (I tried it).

Update: Josh, over at Madkast (they are the good people who make it easy to share the posts on Sources and Methods with others -- just click on the green box that says share after the title), says that Zemble is another way to send text messages to individuals or groups over email. Thanks, Josh!

Digital Tampering in the Media, Politics and Law (Dartmouth)

Extremely cool website at Dartmouth that talks about the history of photo deception and fakery. In fact, it seems to have begun shortly after the invention of the camera (Note Lincoln's head on John C. Calhoun's body to the left)...

Bad Intelligence: America's History of Bungled Spying (Alternet.org)

Interesting article by Larry Beinhart about the costs of secrecy and the intel capabilities of the US on Alternet this morning. It seems to focus on the negatives and, even the few positives it reports, it manages to turn into negatives. It is likely that only an intel historian with a deep knowledge of the facts would be able to contradict or even add nuance to the parade of horribles. CIA historian Nicholas Dujmovic tried to do exactly that in a recent edition of CIA's in-house journal, Studies In Intelligence, with respect to Tim Weiner's recent book Legacy of Ashes (which Beinhart cites). Weiner, a Pulitzer Prize winner, went on to receive the National Book Award for Legacy of Ashes.

The Mercyhurst Alumni Research Colloquium (MARC)

Based on feedback elicited from alumni, friends, partners and employers of the Mercyhurst Intel Studies Program, I am trying to develop a collaborative vision of an alumni focused research colloquium for Spring 08.

What do I have in mind?

The purpose of this colloquium would be to give a professionally related reason for alumni from the Mercyhurst Intel program (all years, grad, undergrad and graduate certificate) to come back to Mercyhurst to learn and network.

Attendance would be limited to Mercyhurst Intel graduates and certain select others from among MCIIS's partners, employers, sponsors and friends.

The dual centerpieces of the event will be 1) the presentation of new and relevant research into the field of intelligence by Mercyhurst's current graduate students and faculty and by Mercyhurst's partners, employers, sponsors and friends and 2) networking among the students, faculty, alumni, partners, employers and friends. The intent is to share what we are learning about how to do intel better and to share it first with the people we care about the most -- our graduates.

Below are some initial thoughts about what should be contained in the colloquium and the questions that are still outstanding. Additional input would be most welcome...

The Holiday Madness Begins (Bentobjects.blogspot.com)

I found this wonderful blog purely by accident. What this guy does with paperclips, toothpicks and household objects is both odd and brilliant. The gherkin vs. the olive fight reminded me of the season and the unspeakable madness of Black Friday, etc. but his images riff on everything from love and family to censorship, racism, drugs and sex.

(Thanks to the Creative Generalist for highlighting it!)