The Blog of Harald

Fall TV, Thursday edition:

| 8:00 | Bones |
| 8:00 | Flash Forward |
| 8:00 | The Vampire Diaries |
| 9:00 | C.S.I. |
| 9:00 | Supernatural |
| 9:00 | Fringe |

Supernatural and Fringe are both also on Space, which is handy because they rebroadcast in the wee hours of the morning. So the real conflict is 8pm, and I don’t _really_ need to see Vampire Diaries, now do I?

Speaking of Space, they’ll be showing Stargate:Universe this season, instead of delaying 2 seasons like the previous Stargates. Yay!

Debugging problems with an executive’s RSA token:

“1285E8 & More Highly Specialized Support”:http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/1285E8–More-Highly-Specialized-Support.aspx

(via “The Daily WTF”:http://thedailywtf.com/)

Quotation of the Day for September 17, 2009

“Managers may truly believe that, without their unremitting efforts, all work would quickly grind to a halt. That is not my impression. While I encountered some cynics and plenty of people who had learned to budget their energy, I never met an actual slacker or, for that matter, a drug addict or thief. On the contrary, I was amazed and sometimes saddened by the pride people took in jobs that rewarded them so meagerly, either in wages or in recognition. Often, in fact, these people experienced management as an obstacle to getting the job done as it should be done. Waitresses chafed at managers’ stinginess toward the customers; housecleaners resented the time constraints that sometimes made them cut corners; retail workers wanted the floor to be beautiful, not cluttered with excess stock as management required. Left to themselves, they devised systems of cooperation and work sharing; when there was a crisis, they rose to it. In fact, it was often hard to see what the function of management was, other than to exact obeisance.”

– Barbara Ehrenreich, in Nickel and Dimed.

Submitted by: Chris Doherty
Aug. 25, 2009

(via the Quotation of the Day mailing list).

An “elite hacker” appears on the CodeSmith online community, asking for free activation keys. Check out the keys the community gives him to try…

Need serial key – CodeSmith Community.

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

bq. With the backing of the government, farmers are producing more calories — some 500 more per person per day since the 1970s — but too many are unhealthy calories. Given that, it’s no surprise we’re so fat; it simply costs too much to be thin.

Schneier on Security: Risk Intuition

bq. Given this accurate risk analysis, any rational employee will regularly circumvent security to get his or her job done. That’s what the company rewards, and that’s what the company actually wants.

Schneier on Security: Security vs. Usability

bq. The more secure you make something, the less secure it becomes. Why? Because when security gets in the way, sensible, well-meaning, dedicated people develop hacks and workarounds that defeat the security. Hence the prevalence of doors propped open by bricks and wastebaskets, of passwords pasted on the fronts of monitors or hidden under the keyboard or in the drawer, of home keys hidden under the mat or above the doorframe or under fake rocks that can be purchased for this purpose.

Are kilts history? – The Globe and Mail

I’ve been hearing anecdotes about the battle between students and educators over kilts (and in particular, kilt length and related ‘tarty’ dress) since I was in private school, 20-mumble years ago. I don’t think the ’00s are that different from the ’80s, somehow…