Whose roads these are I think I know.
His house is in the gated community, though.
He will not see me shoveling here,
my driveway buried in the snow.
My little boys must think it queer,
to shovel without a snow plow near.
Between the curb and sidewalk gray,
the coldest evening of the year.
They give their kid snow shovels a shake,
to ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the scrape,
of vigilante plows and rakes.
The deficit’s scary, dark and deep,
but I have tax payments to keep.
And tons to shovel before I sleep.
And tons to shovel before i sleep.
Credit to one of my favorite poets for inspiring this.
Fun Stuff
I happened to go to (ISC)2’s web site and visit the member’s login page. I saw quite a few usability issues that escape the average security person. Read more…
Technical
I’ve been contemplating the math that my microwave uses. It’s kinda weird. If you forget that it works on time values instead of regular integers, you can get some surprising responses.
My microwave oven is digital, so I enter a set of numbers to indicate the cooking time. I’m not sure if all microwaves are like mine, but mine will accept integer values that are not logical clock values. I can enter, for example, 75, and it will run for 75 seconds. If you forget, for an instant, that you’re dealing with clock values, the inputs and outputs (what you type and how long it runs) can seem pretty weird. Read more…
Software Testing
Time Warp
Facebook is savvy about time zones and the fact that its users span the globe. But notice this conversation I had with a friend. He sent it at 12:39am on October 21st. I replied 3 hours earlier. 
Now, if you look at our profiles, Roy and I live in the same time zone. Normally this would never happen. But, I happen to be in the UK when this happened. I think I replied a couple hours after his message, but at you’ll see, it’s essentially impossible to know, given what I see. Read more…
Software Testing, Web Stuff Facebook, localization, Software Testing
I’m in the UK for a couple weeks, so I got a T-Mobile GSM Broadband adapter. (This is the one from ZTE, by the way, apparently they offer several). Rather than hook into the OS in a nice, neat way, they include their own crapware that you have to install. Danger: If you install the software on Snow Leopard, it will ruin your OS and make your system unable to boot. Read on. Read more…
MacOS, Rants, Technical