“Technology confuse lizard! Lizard no like!”

I can’t figure out whether this is EPIC LIZARD-BRAIN FAIL or simply hilarious. Maybe I’ll settle for both. I especially find it amusing when, between rounds, the lizard looks up at the guy behind the camera, as if he really wants to convey his disgust at the proceedings. Here is a short clip of a …

Continue reading ‘“Technology confuse lizard! Lizard no like!”’ »

“Sony sued over PlayStation Network no-suing rules”

It’s about time someone called corporations on this type of self-serving rule change. As a business owner, I can’t blame them for trying to limit their liability. I’d probably do the same thing in their shoes (though I hope I’d find a way to be more fair about it). But as a consumer it always …

Continue reading ‘“Sony sued over PlayStation Network no-suing rules”’ »

“How Much Sleep Do You Actually Require (and Why)?”

I’ve always wondered about people who only sleep a few hours a day. I’ve found that I need at least seven and a half hours a day to feel rested (which usually means an afternoon nap since I can rarely stay asleep more than six hours at night). But it seems that a single brain …

Continue reading ‘“How Much Sleep Do You Actually Require (and Why)?”’ »

“Kids, the Internet, and the End of Privacy”

In the small mid-western hick community where my family spent the early- to mid-eighties, you didn’t dare let people know you were different in any way. Fifties McCarthyism was still alive and well, but no communists presented themselves, so it was turned on anyone who was different in any way. Kids who couldn’t fit in …

Continue reading ‘“Kids, the Internet, and the End of Privacy”’ »

“Assessing Terrorist Threats to Commercial Aviation”

I’ve talked more than a few times about terrorists, terrorism, and the TSA on this blog, often quoting security and cryptography expert Bruce Schneier. He’s posted links to a new article by a former airline advisor which sums up the problems with the TSA’s responses to date, and offers suggestions about how to do things …

Continue reading ‘“Assessing Terrorist Threats to Commercial Aviation”’ »

“The cure for US job woes: More immigrants”

I’ve been baffled by this for the last couple days. I’m not sure I follow their numbers, but I’ll accept them on faith for the moment. The thing that baffles me is the source: a very conservative think-tank. Political conservatives have railed against anyone who was different practically since the ink was dry on the …

Continue reading ‘“The cure for US job woes: More immigrants”’ »

Spambots Revisited

Back at the beginning of April, I killed about a thousand spambot accounts on this blog and added some new defenses against them. Those defenses helped quite a bit; I was still getting about ten attempts a week, but any spambot that gave an invalid e-mail address got blocked, as was any that gave a …

Continue reading ‘Spambots Revisited’ »

“US spy drone hijacked with GPS spoof hack, report says”

Ever since I heard the report about the captured US spy-drone earlier this week, I wondered how it could possibly have happened. Well, my curiosity was satisfied today: it was reputedly caught by sending it false GPS signals — a vulnerability that military officials have apparently been aware of since at least 2003, and one …

Continue reading ‘“US spy drone hijacked with GPS spoof hack, report says”’ »