Posted 6:02 PM (3) comments

The worst natural disaster within my lifetime

The Sumatra earthquake and subsequent Tsunami are, by far, the worst natural disaster of my almost 60 years on this planet.

The death and immediate destruction (currently, 125,000 dead but that's expected to double in the weeks to come) are bad enough and would be terrible if they were the result of a major earthquake in, say, China, Japan or Mexico. But so many people were affected in so many countries from Somalia to Indonesia. Some islands and provinces will see 90% or more of their populations wiped out.

It's reported that over 1000 Swedes perished in the tidal wave!

The fate of tens of thousands may never be known. Tourists, in particular, won't be known because hotel registers were wiped out and destroyed. Unless friends and relatives back home were aware of their destination, they may simply be marked as "missing." Indeed, some people make take advantage of this to actually go missing - and start a new life.

But, on top of all that, the earthquake affected the earth's rotation! Our days are now 3 milliseconds shorter. It may not seem like much, but over time it adds up and will affect us in more ways than we can imagine. Hopefully it can put a lot of our petty squabbles into perspective.

Posted 1:20 PM (0) comments

The fifth law

Kim Cameron has posted his Fifth Law of Identity, called:

The Law of Pluralism. 

A universal identity system MUST channel and enable the interworking of multiple identity technologies run by multiple identity providers, such that an identity ecology can emerge and evolve.

In other words, to be successful an identity system must be ubiquitous, pervasive, federated and distributed. This, once again, calls to mind the personal identity system which I've advocated for so long. Perhaps it's time to push more forcefully for a conference or meeting which could explore this topic more fully.