LookIt

Skeptical is not the same as cynical

I have not forgotten that Bush and Blair lied to us about the so-called "weapons of mass destruction" in order to scare the crap out of us. Apparently, Jamie Zawinsky, my long-lost conspirator on RFC 2368, reads blogs of other people who haven't forgotten either. And zefrank says it if you don't want to read it.

Pushing the silly color code to red shows how over-the-top these "leaders" are. They are sure they captured all the perps, but they want us to feel scared anyway. No wonder so few of us listen to them any more.

Updated: Bruce Schneier has a way with words: "Last week's foiling of a major terrorist plot and the subsequent airport security graphically illustrates the difference between effective security and security theater."

Updated again: Eric Rescorla points out another flaw in TSA's silly "logic": " Either you believe that it's possible to get contraband into the sterile area or you don't."

Updated yet again: Ryanair threatens government over airport security. You mean that the losses we all have to suffer because our government doesn't know how to implement reasonable security might have consequences? Who would have thought...

Local holidays

I was talking a Canadian friend today who said he didn't really want to talk about work because it was a holiday. I asked him which, and he didn't really know. That seemed odd to me, but after looking at the entry on the Wikipedia, his not knowing makes perfect sense:

Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Saskatchewan have civic holidays on the first Monday in August. In Alberta it is called Heritage Day; in British Columbia it is called B.C. Day, similar in New Brunswick with New Brunswick Day, while in Ontario it is generally referred to as Civic Holiday but is named differently in some cities. In Toronto it is Simcoe Day while in Ottawa it is Colonel By Day (though the last name is not in widespread use).

Another thing I'm doing

The Domain Assurance Council is a new industry trade association focused on certification and reputation of email senders. John Levine and I started it rolling, and it has five fine Founding Members. This won't take a heck of a lot of our time, but we think we can help this important part of the industry come up with good standards, and to grow in visibility.