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If you, like me, are a space buff, you will find these pieces about space-shuttle safety very interesting (and follow the links too.) So check these out:
“They’re going to kill more astronauts” (from Terrestrial Musings) and “Nobody’s Perfect” (from Tech Central Station.)
Another excellent Peggy Noonan column:
I always love her stuff!“How exactly does it work? How does legitimate self-confidence become wildly inflated self-regard? How does self respect become unblinking conceit? How exactly does one's character become destabilized in Washington? …”
“…What is wrong with them? This is not a rhetorical question. I think it is unspoken question No. 1 as Americans look at so many of the individuals in our government. What is wrong with them? “ (from Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal)
This is commonly accepted wisdom: When I download and install an application on my computer (any platform) it is a accepted wisdom that if the application is signed with a recognized and valid certificate, I am practicing safe download and my computer isn’t going to be damaged.
This belief is so entrenched that I will probably be labelled as “just doesn’t get it” by the cognecenti for saying that the emperor has no clothes. In many cases for most users, there’s no additional safety.
When users download an application that is not validly signed, they get various forms of ominous warnings about their computer being exposed to grave danger. So far so good.
However if the certificate is valid, the speed bump is removed, they are happily told that the application was signed by for example “Microsoft Corporation.” and if they trust Microsoft they can download in comfort.
That’s the myth. There’s the flaw. Why? Two reasons: first, many people use software from lesser known companies… Let’s say the message is “… if you trust software from Matrix Software in Madrid Spain” then you can download in comfort. Even if you think you know Matrix Software, you certainly don’t know whether in Madrid has other companies called Matrix Technology, or Matrix Inc., or Matrix Systems, each of which could be a malware producer.
Second, related reason: Let’s say the message is “… if you trust software from Sun in London, U.K. …” then you can download in comfort. How do you know if this is the Sun Microsystems that you thin it’s about?
The myth is promulgated every time a user is reminded that it’s dangerous to run unsigned or not validly certified software and that it’s perfectly safe to run certified software. As you can see, it’s pretty easy for a malware provider to sign their software with a valid certificate and get the help from the OS vendors in gaining undeserved trust from end users.
Why has no one called out this myth for what it is? The emperor has no clothes!
Aren’t you glad, since every other blogger is blah-blah-blah’ing about it? But here is a link with some really insightful posts about it.
You can do your blogging by typing into a web browser form provided by the Movable Type service. But boy is that clumsy and awful.
So for a while now I've used so-called "blogging clients" which provide a nice rich interface to write and edit the posts, and then use the server's APIs to actually send the update or change up to the server.
On Mac, I use the fairly wonderful Ecto for OS X - Recommended!
On Windows, I tried all the free ones that I found recommended, and only w.bloggar was stable enough to actually use, although I didn't like the user interface. I also tried tried ShartMT and Ecto for Windows.
Despite my best efforts, neither one was stable enough to use. In the end, I found and am now using the BlogJet - Clean and simple.
![47385231_153147920_0[1].jpg](http://www.salas.com/weblogs/archives/weblogs/image/47385231_153147920_0[1].jpg)
What a difference this conference is from the ones I usually go to. Ten thousand or so fairly hard-core Java programmers, more or less around the clock, learning about Java in all it's mysterious variety. ![47390844_153169275_0[1].jpg](http://www.salas.com/weblogs/archives/weblogs/image/47390844_153169275_0[1].jpg)
About 3 months ago I subscribed to Atlantic Magazine, which I really like, by the way. On a lark, I gave my name as "Pito Atlantic Salas" because, well, it amused me.
It's taken about 3 months and I've received my first bit of Atlantic generated junk mail today:
Just in the unlikely event that you didn't pick it up, a couple of days ago we released BlogBridge 1.8 as a weekly release. The major new thing is SmartFeeds, which I describe at length (or ad nauseam) here, here and here. Check it out!
Technorati Tags: blogbridge, del.icio.us, feedster, findory, RSS, technorati
I have IM accounts on Yahoo, AOL and MSN. Actually I use the AOL by far the most, but I have an occasional correspondent on Yahoo and MSN. By the way, on Mac OS X, I use the terrific client "Adium" which talks all those protocols, and is free. It is a nice UI on to the well known GAIM (GNU AIM) open source project.
Almost daily I get one or two new IM pings from unknown people, or more likely, robots, with some kind of a spam element, which I have to block to stop.
The weird thing is, the IM Spam is always from Yahoo, never from AOL or MSN. Are they doing something different?
Just a final follow up on this interesting story (actually more of an event than a story because it was over so quickly:)
Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine has an interesting view on why the Wikitorial experiment (seems to have) failed, and how to do it differently:
"The LA Times didn't understand what it was doing and made three criticial mistakes. [...] 1. Collaboration vs. argument [...], 2. Care and feeding [...], 3. Newspaper ego [...]" (from Buzzmachine)
I came across a good story about ModestNeeds.org from Deborah Finn's blog, where she says:
"In other words, although philanthropy no longer looks like it did in the time when most people lived in small towns and interacted on a face-to-face basis, it is an activity and a spirit that is alive and well. I would love to see John and Paul deploying their skills as researchers to document the ModestNeeds phenomenon and its implications." (from Deborah Finn)
Check it out: ModestNeeds.org
Technorati Tags: philantropy
I wrote a few days ago about the coming LA Times initiative to create something they are calling "Wikitorials." Well they've done it, and the results are quite interesting:
Someone going by the name Hank Ramey (a real name?) does a complete 'rewrite' of the LA Times Editorial. A really provocative idea. However it's not at all clear what was rewritten though, so the effort is kind of loss.
For the more sophisticated Wiki user, a little digging reveals highly sophisticated edit trails which let you see what changes were made by one person or another. But as you can see here, it's still hard to tell what's going on, and who's opinion is where. Look particularly at the times of each of these edits on the edit history and you can see several people pulling one way or another. I am not sure how that will work over the slightly longer term.
There is also a "Discussions" area where readers can comment and discuss the Wikitorial page. You can see near the bottom, a pretty thoughtful mini essay: "Editorials without annotations are meaningless":
"When I see an editorial with no name attached, several questions about the writer of the editorial pop into my mind before I ever consider the content of the editorial. How old is she or he? What is the writer’s educational background including the amount of study of economics, science, and the law, as opposed to literature, philosophy and culture."
A very interesting experiment, for sure, and worth following. One commenter correctly points out that there is a real risk that this wiki, like many, will get corrupted by vandals etc. (Written Saturday afternoon)
Late breaking news (Sunday Night): The Wikitorials have been taken down by the LA Times:
"Where is the Wikitorial? Unfortunately, we have had to remove this feature, at least temporarily, because a few readers were flooding the site with inappropriate material. Thanks and apologies to the thousands of people who logged on in the right spirit." (from LA Times Wikitorial Page)
Technorati Tags: journalism, wiki, wikipedia
Francois, reacting to something written by Jason Calcanis, makes a very good point in this discussion about feed and blog aggregators needing to have a way to make money:
"A number of people have asked me how I handle folks lifting our RSS Feeds and putting advertising against them. The first step I take is sending an email like the one below letting people know what we allow and what we don’t allow. I always CC our legal counsel and include a screen shot."
"Where it breaks down for me is in the scenario of a company selling an aggregator to its end users (and there are some of them out there). In effect, and according to Jason's logic, that company is also making money from someone else's content."
Not computer service providers, but folks like carpenters and plumbers....
I came across ServiceMagic, which is a pretty cool site for locating and hiring people to work on projects around the house. I needed three doors repaired and on a lark I posted the project on this site. I had a phone call in 5 minutes, and 2 more within the hour. I chose one of them to come by and give me a free estimate in 2 days.
So that's pretty impressive, considering usually you don't even get a call back. Now lets see the quality of the service!
Technorati Tags: home, useful, recommended
Ok, but, unlike Simplebits, this picture doesn't horrify me :-)
Technorati Tags: funny
A couple of interesting related articles on facts and non-facts:
"Wikipedia is one of the Web's most popular sites. I asked a teenager if he understood that it carries a disclaimer; Wikipedia "can't guarantee the validity of the information found here." "That's just so that no one will sue them," he shrugged. As to the content: "It's all true, mostly." (from: New York Times)
And in a related story, the LA Times is turning their editorial page into a wiki. As Jon Stewart would say: "Huuh?":
"• Watch next week for the introduction of "wikitorials" — an online feature that will empower you to rewrite Los Angeles Times editorials." (from: LA TImes)
I thought these were interesting.
Technorati Tags: interesting, jonstewart, truth
I came across what is supposed to be the transcript of a commencement speech given by Steve Jobs (my hero :-) on June 14th. It's certainly resonates with me:
"You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do.
If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle." (from "Steve Jobs in Praise of Dropping Out")
Great advice.
Technorati Tags: interesting, stevejobs, recommended
States Ranked: Smartest to Dumbest. No Comment.
Technorati Tags: interesting
You've heard me complain about comment spam before haven't you? Comment Spam is when mysterious robot software attacks my blog and floods it with fake comments?
I came across this handy little document from Six Apart, the makers of Movable Type, the Blog software I use: "Six Apart Guide to Comment Spam":
"This document describes how malicious or unwanted comments ('comment spam') affect weblogs, the techniques spammers use to abuse weblogs, and the tactics that can be used to prevent and defend against these attacks. Also included is a review of the strengths and weaknesses of each tactic, instructions for implementing them on your weblog and ones which we recommend for the best protection."
Well it should be called of course, the "Six Apart Guide to defeating comment spam" but at any rate, I found a tip there which, for now, seems to have dealt with the problem. If you use Movable Type you might be interested in the techniques.
Technorati Tags: movabletype
If you are interested and fascinated with the Wikipedia, how it came to be, why it is the way it is, there's an absolutely gripping account of the history and origins on Slashdot:
"An impassioned debate has been raging, particularly since about the summer of 2004, about the merits of Wikipedia and the future of free online encyclopedias. This discussion has not benefitted by much detailed, accurate consideration of the origins of Wikipedia and of its parent project, Nupedia.
But it seems to me that those origins are very important -- crucial, even -- to forming a proper judgment of the current state and best future direction of free encyclopedias." (from "The early history of Nupedia and Wikipedia: A Memoir", part 1 and part 2.)
Technorati Tags: recommended, wiki, wikipedia
What would you do if you received two letters from a collection agency saying that you owed $5,000 to a firm with whom you've never had an account with?
I ignored it and the following letter, immediately smelling a rat.
What would you do further, if you got a call from that agency, and you told them that you had never heard of them, and that you had never had an account with the firm?
I told them to go to hell.
And then they asked if I was willing to just verify some information. Like the last 4 digits of my social security number.
I told them, even more forcefully, to go to hell.
And then they asked whether I would be willing to confirm the last 4 digits if they read them to me?
I told them again to go away telling them I definitely smelled a rat and thought this was some kind of identity theft scam.
He pointed out that he wasn't asking me for any information, simply that I confirm information that he was giving me. Four simple digits.
What would you do?
Technorati Tags: interesting
Get this:
"A man's severed leg - with a white Adidas sneaker still attached - plummeted from the sky onto a garage roof and bounced into the backyard of a Long Island home yesterday morning."
Technorati Tags: interesting, gross
If you work with software developers you'll appreciate these two pieces by Paul Graham, author of Hackers and Painters, a book that I also recommend heartily.
He always has interesting things to say:
"I once claimed that nerds were unpopular in secondary school mainly because they had better things to do than work full-time at being popular. Some said I was just telling people what they wanted to hear. Well, I'm now about to do that in a spectacular way: I think undergraduates are undervalued." (From "Hiring is obsolete")
I also came across this really excellent IT Conversations Podcast of a speech he gave at the Open Source Convention (OSCON), which I also highly recommend (and it would be a good introduction to IT Conversations and Podcasting if you were looking for an excuse :-)
Technorati Tags: programming, hackers, recommended
We've been experimenting with a switcharoo of the BlogBridge web site - a major overhaul conceived and prototyped by Francois. (Thanks!) The new site will be going to production tomorrow, but you get to take a look while we are putting the finishing touches on it.
What kind of a switcharoo? Well, instead of a conventional site that happened to contain a blog, we jokingly call this a 'bloeb' (blog+web) site.
You've seen web sites with blogs in them, and you've seen blogs with non blog content attached to them, right? Well here we have a full hybrid, with a traditional navigation tree on the left and a bloggish navigation tree on the right. Our FAQs are blog postings. Our announcements are blog postings. In fact it's hard to tell where the blog starts and the site begins.
What do you think?
Update: The new site is up. So far so great!
Technorati Tags: blogbridge
Another neat link I was shown:
"Ever since I was a wee programmer, I've been reminded that good code has a lot of comments. After all, code will be read many more times than it will be written. " (from "Write Sweet-smelling Comments")
Technorati Tags: programming
I just came off listening to Dan Bricklin's first podcast, an interview with Linda Hamel of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts about patents, intellectual property and open source. Quite interesting info. I am looking forward to listening to the other ones.
One link, right off the bat is to Linda Hamel's own web site with lots of interesting resources about Open Source licensing in the public arena.
Particularly cool is this huge Excel chart doing a comparison of all the multitude of open source licenses.
Technorati Tags: opensource, legal
I just saw references to these two books. I am putting them on my reading list.
Technorati Tags: book
Just add this one to your reading list:
"(XP) challenges many of the common assumptions about software development. Of these one of the most controversial is its rejection of significant effort in up-front design, in favor of a more evolutionary approach.Thought-provoking.
To its detractors this is a return to "code and fix" development - usually derided as hacking. To its fans it is often seen as a rejection of design techniques (such as the UML), principles and patterns. Don't worry about design, if you listen to your code a good design will appear." (From "Is Design Dead?")"
Technorati Tags: software, recommended, technical
This can't be good: Google closed at $288 today.
John Batelle's search blog is quoting someone as saying it will hit $300
I say, short the puppy, big time!
Technorati Tags: google
