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The WikiLeaks Saga Goes On: New Data Center in Bunker

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Julian Assange
Every once in a while, something big breaks out and the whole world is caught up in the mess. The most recent worldwide source of a lot of yakking is WikiLeaks, the web site that is releasing juicy secrets of the United States government. Whatever you may think of the issue, the fact remains that the hullabaloo is far from over.

Just the other day, we heard about founder Julian Assange being arrested surrendering himself in the United Kingdom. More developments have been coming up – various entities have been dropping WikiLeaks as if it were hotcakes. Financial institutions have blocked funds. Even Amazon has stopped providing access to their servers.

All this has not stopped the controversial site from operating. As of this writing, WikiLeaks can still be accessed – try it by clicking on the first link in this post. How is this possible? They now have a new home in a Cold War bunker somewhere in Switzerland. The company that is providing the hosting services is called Bahnhof, and the physical equipment is protected by 30 meters of rocky ground, thick metal doors, and backup generators from German submarines – among many other security measures, for sure. Here’s an impressive video.

I guess it really is not a surprise that WikiLeaks has been able to find a new data center that quickly. In spite of how controversial it is – or maybe because of the controversy, actually – many international data service centers would probably jump at the chance to be part of this whole thing. Of course, some will not go anywhere near a mile of Assange at this point, but the same cannot be said of everyone.

I reckon we will be hearing from – and about – WikiLeaks for the foreseeable future.

Typo In Cookbook Causes Stir

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My day job requires a lot of proofreading on a regular basis. Indeed, proofreading has become so much of a habit that I do it all the time. Sometimes, the habit actually becomes irritating, especially when I am reading for the sheer pleasure of it.

Still, no one can deny the importance of this task. I am pretty sure that the editing staff at Penguin Group Australia is beating themselves up for a “slight” proofreading error. What happened?

A cookbook dubbed the Pasta Bible has been published and released with a typo. So what’s the big deal? We all know that despite the rigorous processes involved in writing, editing, and publishing books, things do slip by people. That’s why we are called human.

In the case of the Pasta Bible, however, the slip is quite a significant one: one recipe calls for “salt and freshly ground black people!”

Obviously, this one-word typo is simply that – a typo. The implications of the incorrect word and the possible repercussions are quite intimidating, though.

On the part of Penguin, they are downplaying the issue. Bob Sessions, the head of publishing, says that it is nothing but a “silly” mistake, and agrees that the proofreader should have caught it. He further says that “We’re mortified that this has become an issue of any kind and why anyone would be offended, we don’t know. We’ve said to bookstores that if anyone is small-minded enough to complain about this … silly mistake, we will happily replace (the book) for them.”

Did Your Career Suffer A Hit In 2009?

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architectMain
At the beginning of the year 2009, a Chinese friend told me that astrologers predicted that it would be the worst year for a lot of people. I dismissed it offhandedly, saying that no one can predict such things. Unfortunately, it did turn out to be rather bad for a LOT. In terms of career, here are the worst hit jobs in the past year, courtesy of MSN Career Builder.

Architects – according to statistics, many architects did not survive the year. A whopping 17.8 percent lost their jobs in the first three quarters of 2009 alone! This is not really that surprising as not many were into building in the past year.

Carpenters – what happened to the architects happened to carpenters as well. Throughout the various levels of the carpentry profession, job losses were experienced in the past year. The numbers are quite shocking – around 270,000 carpenters lost their jobs in 2009.

Pilots – now this is quite a surprise, isn’t it? I would have thought that being a pilot afforded reasonable job security. However, all the issues facing the airline industry also extended to the pilots. In the past year, jobs for pilots (as well as flight engineers) spiraled down by 30.4 percent!

Computer (software) engineers – this is also a surprise for me. I have always thought that this profession was stable. The figures quoted were for the American job market, though; and the reason for the decline in jobs was that they were outsourced to countries where the labor is cheaper.

There is a longer list at MSN if you’re interested.

Now enough bad news. In a couple of days, we will be leaving 2009 behind and we will be welcoming a brand new year. Let’s take on a more positive outlook, shall we?