That's no moon!

The same talk -- or at least a very similar one, by the same people -- is scheduled to be given at Defcon. Anyone know the status of that? I doubt Defcon is very susceptible to outside pressure, but since the speaker does business in Taiwan he may be reluctant to defy them.

Alternate hypothesis: all those people were trying to click the back button, but missed.

And see how he really felt about James Bond.

Here is the secret to advancing in virtually any endeavor you pursue, with the possible exception of politics: always take the blame, never accept the credit. If something goes wrong and you had the slightest smidgen of responsibility for it, step up and say you messed up. Don't mention anyone else's culpability. Bring up solutions for how to fix it. But if something goes well, credit the whole team, even if you did 99% of the work. When describing a success, get used to using the word "we." Believe me, people will figure out how much you were actually involved in both successes and failures.

I'm sorry, but that's just flat out incorrect. And worse, it's counterproductive.

Do our regulatory structures need serious reform? Are there areas we are extremely ineffective at regulating? Do companies often find ways to wiggle around stringent regulations? Have politicians gutted good regulations for ideological or fund-raising reasons? Yes yes yes and yes. But to argue that there is "no such thing" as government regulation anymore is to deny evidence all around us. Look at our environment, specifically air and drinking water quality. Look at workplace safety, medical procedures and drugs, automobiles, construction, fishery management, etc etc etc. Now compare them to countries that really don't have any enforced regulations or periods in history where the US didn't; the difference is profound. If you want to see what "no regulations" looks like, go live in Africa or southeast Asia for a while. Then come back and we'll talk.

To say that regulation is dead is to just give up on the idea that we can improve our regulatory systems. It's the same cynical bullshit we see all the time on slashdot. If there's one reason we don't have perfect regulation, it's that people sat around moaning about how it's impossible.

I'll tell you what doesn't go down well in America: lack of reading comprehension. Israel is not "exempted" -- they are a nuclear state. Iraq is not exempted either, as, having no nuclear weapons, they don't need an exemption. The "exemptions" you are worried about are for non-nuclear states that are considered (by the US) to be in non-compliance with NPT requirements. You're free to disagree with the policy, but at this point it doesn't seem as if you have any idea what you're disagreeing with.

No, it's sugary AND fatty foods that the rats were being fed. The summary ignores the sugar, but you're not being any better by ignoring the fat. When the rats get addicted to plain bread or just piles of granulated sugar, then we can talk about your theory.

You've looked at clouds from both sides now,
From up and down, and still somehow,
Nine billion dollars, I recall
You really don't know clouds, at all.

Yar, it were the Year of Our Lord twenty ought seven, and me shipmates and I did embarke on a trip of weighty providence. Our employer, having determined a need for many tonnes of fine whale oil, dispatched our doughty crew to 100 leagues off the shores of Greenland, there to hunt the mighty Leviathan from his home in murky depths. As be my wont, I packed my usual accoutrement for such a journey: a flask of Kentucky bourbon, a two-flue iron harpoon, and me trusty iPhone.

But lo, did we search from dawn to dusk for many days, sighting neither tail nor spout. We were discouraged, yes, but we salty dogs of the ocean kept our spirits high with rousing sea shanties, strong grog, and the freshest games direct from the app store. And then one night, as I whiled away my pre-dawn watch playing Galcon, a true sea monster of terrible size and power breached up before our bow. "Ahoy, mateys!" I cried, but hardly had the words left my mouth when the creature did smite our whaler with his mighty tail. Not a few sailors did he launch into the sea that day with his blow, and also me unlucky iPhone, which slipp'd me hands and tumbled into the gray and churning ocean. Old Nob, satisfied with his destruction, followed it down before we could get hook or shot on him.

And yet, that is not the end of this tale! Indeed, it were not a fortnight hence when we brought in our first catch of the journey. A small fellow, yes, but rich in blubber. As the boys flensed this beast for his oil, one suddenly raised a cry: "Hark! An iPhone!" And there it were, a deep as Jonah in the belly of this whale; me trusty old iPhone, good a new. Immediately I turned her on, and by the Good Lord did not me contacts, me apps, and all me videos of dancing cats came back at once. It were a miracle!

Exactly. See: http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/02/more_details_on.html

The rumor that China used a system Google put in place to enable lawful intercepts, which I used as a news hook for this essay, has not been confirmed. At this point, I doubt that it's true.

Seriously slashdot, you're not even trying. Although, I have to say it was somewhat irresponsible of Schneier, who in general I have enormous respect for, to write an essay predicated on an unconfirmed rumor.

I'm a bit confused. You prefer movies that introduce elements at random and then never incorporate them into the plot? Red Herring: The Film? As I think Ensign Chekhov said, if you put a giant freakin' pterodactyl in the first act, it absolutely must swoop down on a futuristic helicopter in the third.

Of course, the story was still silly. But not because it followed basic plot structures that have been in place since Aristotle.

Crap, no work emails on Christmas Eve? Whatever shall we do?