kasia in a nutshell

It seems Information Week is having an exceedingly slow news week.. either that or they decided to start boosting their traffic with scare-nonsense stories.

Login page not displayed via SSL! Gee.. who in the world cares? Then again this thread in a "security" related forum is full of panicking users already..

Encrypting a page that contains absolutely no sensitive information is a waste of CPU cycles..

Posted by kasia at 08:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (1)

Conversation overhead in line at a bagel place

(Service person is preparing a bagel with salmon for a customer)
clerk: ew.. it smells like fish!
customer: it is fish.. it's salmon..
clerk: Really? Shit, never heard of the damn thing

That's when you turn around and search for a breakfast place that trains their employees a little better..

Posted by kasia at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

• gps in cell phones (although you can turn that off on some phones)
• Traffic cameras
• Cameras on ATMs
• Credit card purchases
• Discount cards in stores
• RFID chips in conference badges (JavaOne this year)
• Spyware in windows (they're getting more and more sneaky about it too)
• RFID chips used to track inventory in some stores (and potentially you after you purchase the item)
• Library borrowing habits
• GPS systems in cars (onstar type, not the 'receiver only help-i'm-lost' type)
• Surveillance and security cameras
• Digital cable (what you're watching!)
• Software registration & verification (XP)
• Warranty registration cards (never send those in!)

I'm sure I missed some.. All that and people volunteer for more!.

Want some anonymity online? Check out Tor.

I'm not doing anything wrong so have nothing to fear! Right! (No, I'm not moving into the woods and writing manifestos.. yet...)

Posted by kasia at 08:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (1)

Move along.. nothing to see here..

Intelligent Design

[Asking yourself wtf? that.. ]

Posted by kasia at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (3)

Letting your kitty cat lick a wasabi-covered peanut. Fun times!

Posted by kasia at 07:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Nothing riles up programmers more than a good "goto" discussion as evidenced by today's daily WTF [0]. I sometimes use labels in Java to simplify code.. every now and then that produces the following discussion;

someone: "Hey, that's a goto! You can't use a goto!"
me: "why not"
someone: "they're evil!"
me: "why?" [1]
someone: "Everyone knows that?"
me: "Okay, I must be stupid, why is this bad?"
someone: *mumble* *mumble* *run away*

Perhaps that wasn't verbatim, but it gets the idea across. Often, programmers will scream about something they don't completely understand [2]. I think the best argument against such knee-jerk reactions I've ever seen went something like this..

me: "would you use a return statement in a middle of the method?"
someone: "oh sure! I do that all the time, makes flow easier!" [3]
me: "How about something like this:"

public void someMethod() 
{
   if(something != something_else) 
   {
      goto end;
   } 
   else 
   {
      do_something_else;
   }
   end:
}

someone: "err.."

Of course the above was not Java, but the example is meant to illustrate the fact that maybe a "goto" isn't such a horrible, evil thing when applied correctly.

[0] .. and reading it daily really makes you appreciate your co-workers quite a bit more!
[1] Don't forget, we're talking Java here, there is no unconditional branching in Java
[2] Many will say that about me and often they will be right!
[3] Amusingly enough, that's something I don't like at all and avoid doing.. but try not to preach about, it's often style over substance.

Posted by kasia at 06:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)