A few years ago, I read a book about the big terrorist bombing in New York. You know, the one in 1920. And it got me interested in the turmoil of the time – a time when, largely due to the depression, Americans were realizing that capitalism wasn’t quite their friend after all. So I wound up reading about the bonus army and how they were suppressed with cavalry and tanks commanded by heroes.
Margaret Hamilton’s impact on computing would be hard to overstate. For one thing, I nearly wrote “impact on software engineering” but apparently that’s a term she had a lot to do with promoting, during her tenure at NASA.
After the Yahoo! disclosure, there was some general falling all over oneself from some of the other large providers, “we didn’t!” “no, not us!” etc.
Methinks they doth protest too much.
Cyberwar is the Department of Stone Throwing, promoting the increased use of stone projectiles, from the safety of its offices – which are in the Department of Glass Houses.
A friend of mine once described gambling as a tax upon the people who never studied statistics.
I’m gonna be offline until the 3rd, and then I am into my crazy busy-season.
Philly the 4,5,6
LA the 14,15,16 for a weeeeding
Atlanta the 17,18,19
Raleigh, NC the 20,21
then home for a week and off to Boston, Vienna Austria, and LA.
These are all work gigs; if you want to grab me and talk computer security, I’ll be being “Mister Security” not “Mister soapmaker and general purpose weirdo.”
I’ll keep trying to post stuff but I may not be maintaining a regular schedule or high quality output* unless something happens like I get stuck overnight at the “Gate 4C Motel” – which is where a lot of my stuff gets written and queued up.
Don’t break into my house while I’m away. There are cameras and other things.
(* “High quality output” is aspirational)
When I graduated, the first place I sent my resume to was Loizeaux Freres, in Towson, Maryland – about a half hour bicycle ride from my house. I believe I said something stupid in my cover-letter about how computerized process control was the way of the future and blah blah blah.
I got back a letter explaining that they mostly hire family, and what they do is serious stuff and they don’t hire entry-level positions. “Thank you.”
Whenever rational people are making fun of the “Noah’s Ark” myth, it’s inevitable that someone points out that Zheng He‘s treasure fleet was cooler than the biblical ark, and had the virtue of actually existing.
What I didn’t know is that the Chinese don’t mess around when they decide to build a reproduction.
Making incense is fun and easy. It does, however, require a sacrificial grinder (so be forewarned)!
Whenever I make my incense I find myself pondering how the ingredients would be worth their weight in gold two thousand years ago. When the “three wise men” in the bible allegedly brought jesus frankincense and myrrh, they were bringing him valuable bling. Nowadays, I suspect it’d be an iPhone, bluetooth headphones with Swarovski crystals on them, Louboutins,* Louis Vuitton luggage, and a Lamborghini.
I am disappointed by America’s Test Kitchen Podcast. Not deeply, but slightly.
Listening to a few back-episodes there was a brief mention that the problem of making hard-boiled eggs that peel perfectly “is not understood.” These are the people who do experiments on all kinds of stuff – but perhaps the experiments they do in the test kitchen are all just a cover-project for eating lots of cake and spare ribs, or something.
After tackling this problem using science I wrote ATK a quick explanation, but I’m sure they don’t care. Because, if they did, they would have done some thinking and figured it out themselves. For the record: I don’t care either. I eat a lot of hard-boiled eggs, so it was an easy experiment to perform.