Actually, this whole terrorism futures thing was kind of an outside-the-box idea - might have worked. The markets as an aggregate of otherwise withheld/partial opinion can be surprisingly accurate. It tells us something uncomfortable about us that the most vehement responses mostly decried how unseemly the idea was; what's bad taste got to do with it? The government shot themselves in the foot (again) with the clumsy presentation...if they'd had the right front, they could have gotten the data without the complaints. Maybe this one will be successful.

 The Terrorism Futures Market is back...

...sort of. Bereft of DARPA's $8m budget, but also of the political correctness now hanging around that institution, the folks at Rantburg - an open intelligence site that is definitely not fair and balanced - have decided to cook up their own. The first sketchy implementation is here. I expect they will have some fun figuring out how to get meaningful input without troll overrun, but it should be amusing and informative to watch. No funding, no oversight, no shit - the blogosphere in action. [Due Diligence]

3:41:34 PM    

On the Internet, they know when it's a dog

The movie industry starts to feel the bite of greater inter-personal communications. It's not P2P, but instead text messaging of instant reviews by movie goers. Word of mouth is swamping out opening week marketing blitzes, spreading the word if the flick is a canine.

Hunters, not sheep. Get used to it.

Via Smart Mobs [Due Diligence]

3:37:31 PM