Hell yeah for Summercon! It lead to some good stories, and one of the best emails I've even sent to IT:

Dear Homey,

My Laptop smells like beer and the tab key doesn't work. Please fix this.

B

Summercon 2008 Official Announcement | summercon 2008

King of the Hill isn't usually funny to me and as such I don't typically watch it. However Lord TiVo (peace be upon him) has decided I should watch it and every now and then there is a great exchange like this:

Father-in-law: So... you good with computer?

Khan: Yes

Father-in-law: Then puts MP3s in my watch! I want talk radio and Frank Sinatra!

Khan: uhhh errr uhhh but that's not how it works!

Father-in-law: Do it! Drag and Drop!

Khan: but I

Father-in-law: DRAG AND DROP!

Khan: But this watch isn't even digital

Father-in-law: [growls, takes back watch]

Many times I've had the [do something technically impossible] - [technology doesn't work like that] - [growls] exchange with non-technical family members and friends. Why is it non-geeks always think that it is somehow your fault that:

-There is a pause when changing channels on a digital TV stream
-The mircowave messes with the wireless network
-They have to live near a phone exchange to get DSL
-HDMI cables are so expensive
-Word can't edit PDFs
-etc

In the race to be the first to reach the ACID3 reference rendering, Opera's software leads now with 98%, closely following by Safari with 96% and Firefox 3 beta 4 with 71%.

Update: 03/26 21:21 GMT by Z : Opera is now at 100%, apparently, with Safari close behind at 98%. Update: 03/27 by J : Public build r31356 of WebKit (Safari's rendering engine) is at 100%.

Browser wars, but fighting each other for the best compliance? Awesome beyond words! Microsoft take note.

A browser war for Compliance???!!!???

I must make this

YouTube - How to make a BristleBot - Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

... and I abuse my admin privileges from time to time :-)

So where's my moral parallel?

YouTube - Amy Winehouse - Amy, Amy, Amy

The case of the Halting Problem is often brought up to suggest that it is impossible to write perfect application security assessment tools. While this is formally true, take the limitations posed upon the abilities of static code analysis tools for example (true, but static code analysis tools are useful regardless, more on this below), I’ve come across numerous situations where people invoke the Halting Problem to form irrational arguments. The conclusions reached in these situations may end up being true, but the arguments are themselves illogical if the premises and inference do not flow into the conclusion.

Interesting tack. Invoking terms incorrect is something that plagues many industries, including security.

Illogical Arguments in the Name of Alan Turing

Health concerns over the Red Bull energy drink were fuelled yesterday after Europe's highest court upheld a French ban on the product.

The fizzy drink has been linked to several deaths and some experts have criticized its high levels of caffeine and other stimulants.

Red Bull is Britain's best-selling energy drink, with 213 million cans consumed last year. It has been dubbed the 'clubbers' drink', and is often mixed with vodka. The popular adverts claiming that Red Bull 'gives you wings', have led to the brand being described as 'the Porsche of soft drinks'.

Red bull + Vodka = the most self destructive drink evah!

French ban on Red Bull (drink) upheld by European Court

So for the last 24 hours or so I've been flooded with pictures of what a $4300+ call girl looks like. Which lead me to wonder what would be involved that costs $4300. Which lead me to thinking about my friend Kaiser, whom I met several years back some of the odd hacker/geek social circles in Atlanta (Billy -> Mike -> Timball -> (Ryan | K | Kaiser | ...)

Kaiser is a odd duck and one of the things he does is apply a zero to 4 star rating to Everything. Taco Cabana? 3 out of 4 stars. Which lead me to think about Kaiser's ever elusive 4 out of 4 stars. I only know of 2 things that have received 4 out of 4 stars from Kaiser, and both are on par with the services a $4300 a night call girl.

Memestreamer Cyan got $7 million in funding for Zivity!

The site allows both amateur and professional models and photographers to show their stuff. Users vote on those that they like, which channel real dollars to the talent. The more votes, the more money. The basic site is free, but users must pay to vote. About 40% of gross revenue is given directly to the talent. With a recent redesign, the site is focused much more on social networking - users and talent have profile pages and can add each other as friends. They’ve even added a news feed feature that shows who is adding who as friends, and which models users have voted for.

Go Cyan!

Zivity Takes $7 Million In Venture Financing