HBO's Game of Thrones has definitely been delivering on it's promise of expressing all the brutal politics from the books and the latest episode is probably the most pivotal of the series so far. EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD..

Tyrion continues to be my favorite character in the series and the Emmy Awards better be thinking about putting a milk crate next to the acceptance stand this year for Peter Dinklage. It's a particular testament to his performance so far that the character's absence brought the quality of the episode down a bit.  Other than that I have few complaints with it and it's probably obvious to anyone who has seen it that the game is on now and things take an uncontrolled slide from here on out.

I continue to really enjoy Jon and Sam, their performances are fantastic as is the performance of Danny and Drogo.  I'm still fascinated to see how these storylines will hold up against the one in Kings Landing as the series progresses.  It feels like sooner or later one has to emerge in the series as the "lead" storyline and I just don't see how the series can maintain it's integrity if that happens.  It's going to take some brilliant writing and filing to keep that from happening but if they keep the level of talent they've displayed so far I think they can pull it off.

I'm loving and hating the same characters as I did in the book despite some apparent changes in how they develop so It'll be interesting to see how I feel a few seasons in.  

Good Riddance to Robert btw.  Again a great performance because the character felt exactly like he should, like he ...

The Pentagon issued a much needed policy on cyber-attacks against the U.S. today, putting it in the same category as any other attack on the infrastructure.  Linked and quoting the opening below from the AFP for reference...

US 'to view major cyber attacks as acts of war

The Pentagon has adopted a new strategy that will classify major cyber attacks as acts of war, paving the way for possible military retaliation, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper said the Pentagon plans to unveil its first-ever strategy regarding cyber warfare next month, in part as a warning to foes that may try to sabotage the country's electricity grid, subways or pipelines.

Every nation is eventually going to have to express a policy related to cyber-warfare but this is less than half the picture.  It's not enough to just issue a policy related to acts against the country and we're going to struggle culturally with what we're ethically comfortable with in terms of launching cyber attacks.

The world breathed a collective sigh of relief when the STUXNET worm infected Iranian uranium enrichment plants, setting their nuclear program back a several years.  The mysterious originators of the virus were applauded for their innovation and service done to the world.  Following the pentagon policy however, this is an act of war and had Iran retaliated as such would they have been within their rights under international law?  That doesn't feel right of course but I think it expresses the fact that we're going to have to fully realize the implications of any policy related to cyber-attacks.

One of the great benefits of the internet and the information age is that it allows individuals or small groups to act on a scale previously reserved for ...