Year: 2006

When appearing as a memory expert in court, you might want to remember whether or not you’ve met the prosecutor before, and things you wrote in published books and papers.  Otherwise you look like a bloody idiot in court, and risk damaging your own reputation as a memory expert.

Ryan S. at 37signals put it best when it comes to Windows Vista:

"windows in general has been like a confused and slow person.
vista is like a person who lost their meds and is
trying their best to ignore the voices"

There’s a lot of brouhaha out there about how Vista is “the most secure Windows yet”. BFD. That’s a bit like saying that something is “the least disgusting meal Jeffrey Dahmer ever cooked.” Set the bar low enough and you’ll never run short of superlatives with which to describe your newest venture. Continue reading Security by deniability: impressions of Vista security

CIA tried to silence the EU on torture flights since 2002 (and succeeded, if partially). If you ever got the impression that heads of states play with people’s lives like they were pawn on a chessboard, well, it looks like you’re right pretty much universally. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark world, apparently.

Russians scientists discover a cure for depression: whipping. Applied to the buttocks. Preferably by a member of the opposite sex. Call me a skeptic, but I get the idea that this guy’s “research” included a happy ending, if you get my drift… still, who am I to judge?

The Philosophical Health Check from The Philosopher’s Magazine. An interesting, short quiz that checks up on inconsistencies (or “tensions”) in one’s beliefs. It’s non-sectarian, and admittedly in a couple of instances it fails to distinguish between the taker’s opinion and his/her view of objective truth, but it’s otherwise pretty neat.

Deploying a Trojan Horse today. Those wacky Aussies!

Man beats, bites and chokes ex-girlfriend after she de-friends him in MySpace. With picture of said “God’s gift to women” as a bonus. Oh well, who knew that a Fox property could do so much damage? On second thought, never mind.

Towel Incident at the Westin Tokyo. An exceedingly bizarre tale of travellers who had their personal towels taken (one assumes, inadvertently) by Tokyo hotel staff, and the hilarity that ensues.

MIT Realm Kerberos accounts require a 18770-character password, apparently. If you’re afraid you’ll forget it, just pick a novel and make the whole thing — not just the title — your login. Then retype the entire thing in the password field when you want to log in!

Tonight’s special comment by Keith Olbermann. Other newsmen may be thinking the very same thing, but none of them will have the courage to say it.