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Things I learned on my summer vacation

August 4, 2002 by Michael Boyle

Things I learned on my summer vacation
  1. The depth of field of photographs I take with my old digital camera sucks
  2. It takes but a few days to bond with a puppy, but it takes two weeks to really develop a relationship
  3. I can live without blogging just fine. I knew that already, but taking a week off confirmed it. I don’t want to or intend to stop, though
  4. Aaron, with a beard and pilot’s glasses, bears some resemblance to the old unabomber sketch that they circulated a few years ago
  5. Jish is still Jish. This is unquestionably a good thing, and it was nice to have a quick visit with the man while he was here
  6. BBQs are great cooking devices
  7. Vacations are, in general, wonderful things.

Tags: Aaron Straup Cope, Food, Jish, Personal

So Aaron

February 22, 2002 by Michael Boyle

So Aaron

, I guess it wasn’t clear that I was being sarcastic, eh? I think it’s hilarious that the Norman Bethune statue is on a traffic island in a notoriously neglected part of town that’s infested with pigeons, and that the Tim’s sign in the photo screams while Bethune’s name is comparatively a whisper straining to be heard.

Tags: Aaron Straup Cope

He’ll probably kill me

January 12, 2002 by Michael Boyle

He’ll probably kill me

but you can watch Aaron play with Radio. I don’t know of any better place to really see someone hammer the new software.

Tags: Aaron Straup Cope, Software, War

Aaron has some additional

November 2, 2001 by Michael Boyle

thoughts on the “close the post office” idea that John Robb floated the other day. Basically right on target.

In other news, I hate it when people change the facts in a post without making a note about it. Robb changed the number of employees at the USPS from 300K to 990K, but didn’t acknowledge the initial error, which I reproduced below.

But the fundamental point I made is still valid: people assume that post office operations aren’t automated and must be very old school. Those people make a drastically incorrect assumption.

Tags: Aaron Straup Cope, Error, Opera

I came across

August 27, 2001 by Michael Boyle

what I think is an important little piece via Aaronland today: Peter G. Neumann notes that where there is no authorized access control (i.e., proper security in place), there can be no breach of authority when someone gets in to a system. I’ve probably just butchered the precise meaning, but the concept is important. It cannot be enough to just enact legislation making certain things illegal. Adequate measures to prevent access have also to be put in place. Whether it’s DVDs, eBooks, or whole systems – there is a responsibility to protect your system beyond just stating ‘don’t touch’. Which is what most seem to want to do, rather than dealing with security more thoroughly.
In Montreal, you can get a ticket if you haven’t locked your car door while it’s parked on the street. The principle is that by not taking such a simple measure to keep one’s car secure, one is a drag on society as a whole, by contributing to rising insurance rates via increased theft etc. It’s the same idea.

Tags: Aaron Straup Cope, Montreal, Security

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