Observations on The Truth Imperative

Have You Taken Your Security Pills

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 15:02:00 -0700

The other day, I made what I think is a very apt analogy comparing the security product industry to the diet and herbal supplement industry.

Both operate with little to no oversight or regulation (though security at least has bloggers and scientists willing to call out some of the more egregious offenders)
Products often have little to no academic, scientific or factual basis for their designs or claims
Products tend toward the panacea/“silver bullet” realm and claim to solve all your ills

A Fallacy By Any Other Name

Sat, 17 Jun 2006 17:24:00 -0700

But this here herring is so obviously red at Pandagon

I love the way they cut through the bullshit in this argument and reveal the naked fallacy underpinning it. It is a shame when proponents use the fact that society (wrongly) denigrates some activity (prostitution, homosexuality, gay marriage, being single, being a nontheist, etc.) that in itself has nothing to do with them and on its face is not “immoral” and has nothing to do with those who denigrate it and then writes off the fact that those engaging in the activity get victimized (wrongly) by saying that they knew the consequences ahead of time, so what’s the big deal? Really irritating tactics.

Lawyers Gone Wild

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 11:44:00 -0800

When Legal Strikes—Chaos Theory Meets DRM

Sadly, as management gets more cautious about legal repercussions, lawyers get a voice in decisions in which they not only have no expertise (such as IT), but in customer-facing initiatives, as well.

Sony’s aggressive spyware approach to DRM smells to high hell of the kind of good-intentions-turned-cognitive-dirty-bomb so many Legal-inspired projects descend into.

This is an interesting opinion that I think is only potentially applicable to situations where the lawyer in question is representing the company’s explicit interest. I haven’t seen this happen in general though–particularly where the corporate lawyers are addressing issues that are _not_ in regards to the company interest (e.g. privacy law).

Instructions For Life In The New Millennium From The Dalai Lama

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 12:14:00 -0800

-lama

Earlier this year, I got a chain email containing a powerpoint (!!) that I’m not going to pass on via email, but I liked the majority of the advice so here is a transcription.

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
Follow the three R’s: Respect for self, Respect for others, Responsibility for all your actions .
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.