Perils of carrying a nice camera

I've become somewhat adjusted to people making comments about my camera and/or lenses I'm carrying. Most I don't mind, including the requests to take pictures for people. Although the ones where someone walking by kinda mutters quietly to a friend Ooh, that's a nice camera still catch my attention and make me wonder. However some interactions can add fun to the day. My favorite from my recent vacation was this, while I was standing along the bay.

Guy: You have a camera. <holds up his camera> Can you take a picture of me while I'm in San Francisco?
Me: Sure, what do you want in the background?
Guy: I don't know. <Looks around, spots distinctive sign about a block away> Hooters-n-shit?

Complicit or Sadistic?

I was researching an issue, and in looking up a netblock found this:

remarks:        *************************************************************
remarks:        *                                                           *
remarks:        *  For issues of abuse related to this IP address block,    *
remarks:        *  including spam, please send email to at <netblock>:      *
remarks:        *                                                           *
remarks:        *       goodnews@<domain>                     *
remarks:        *                                                           *
remarks:        *************************************************************

Since when are abuse reports good news?

Wash is my Copilot

I saw this Sunday while driving near my house, and thought it was worth sharing.

Lunar Eclipse

I took some photos during last week's lunar eclipse.

Tracking and ZIP codes

I'm glad the package is safely in my hands despite what the page says. The apparent state of the USPS tracking system makes me wonder about using them in the future though.

Bypassing Full Disk encryption

This analysis brings up some interesting points. One thing I think is important to note is this isn't breaking the encryption, but bypassing it by gaining access to the keys. Hopefully it'll be enough to push people to use FDE with manually entered keys and hibernate rather than sleep, at least until hardware is adapted to deal with this. I'd like to see a memory controller do native speed memory encryption with self-sufficient tamper detection for the keys. Maybe this publicity will get Apple will officially support hibernate outside of low-battery situations, and add an option for password to wake.

Wildly Cherry M&Ms

A few are OK, but I'm not a fan.

Macbook Air v. others

When the Air was announced, I was one of the people who wondered if we were back in 1998. I actually pulled the Sojourn out of the closet at home to measure it (without the media slice of course). Last week I saw this video which made me laugh. There are several variations if you look at the related videos as well.

While I still haven't actually pulled out my old phone to take pictures (my 1998 cell phone is smaller than my 2008 one, and I grabbed the 1998 one from my parents' place in December intending to take photos), this comparison apparently motivated me more. I borrowed a MacBook Air and brought a Sojourn and my camera and took some comparison photos. Unfortunately I did it on a table in a somewhat small space and not-so-great lighting, but the comparisons can be seen. While the Air is definitely thinner, both closed and open it appears to take a bit more space. MacBook Air vs HP Sojourn photos

When little things cause bigger problems

Can you spot the problem?

Whiteboards and a computer lab

What happens when someone draws a basic island scene on the whiteboard in the entryway to a computer lab at a college on the day before LOST?