Somebody asked whether it’s a good idea to encrypt database columns in a web application. My answer: “It probably won’t help much.” Why? Figure out your threat model Best practice: figure out your threat model before you spend time and money securing your system. If you build complex security measures without a clear idea of your threat model, you’ll trick… Read more →
Sample letter to state legislator about regulating credit bureaus.
Here’s the letter I sent by email to our local State Senator after the Equifax data breach. You are free to adapt it any way you want and send it to whomever you want. OpenStates.org offers a service helping you identify your legislators. Dear Sen. O’Connor-Ives: The recent screwup at the Equifax credit bureau may not be as newsworthy as… Read more →
Cybercrooks stole my data from Equifax! What now? Credit freezes.
On September 7th, 2017, the credit bureau Equifax announced that cybercriminals broke in to its company servers sometime in mid-May 2017 and stole copies of information like Social Security Numbers, driver’s license numbers, birth dates, and home addresses for as many as 143 million residents of the US. The total population is about 329 million, counting children, so there’s a… Read more →
Social media and René Girard’s memetics
OK, among people who’ve heard of Dr. Girard, I’m probably the last guy to realize this. But the big social media outfits (FB, Twitter, Instagram, the usual suspects) make their money by exploiting the “I’ll have what he’s having” streak in human nature. The old joke: Russian waiter: What would you like, sir? Diner: Tilting his head at a fellow… Read more →
Test HTML spacing
This is a test of some html spacing items, in particular the em-space   and en-space   . Here’s lines of em spaces and M letters. In Open Sans, the em space is a little wider than the uppercase M. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M Here’s lines of en spaces and M letters. In Open Sans, the em space is a little narrower… Read more →
Time Zones in MySQL
Suppose you’re working on a web application to support users in multiple time zones. How do you handle dates and times? If your users all live in one time zone, it’s easy. Simply store important date and time data in DATETIME or TIMESTAMP columns, and be done with it. But, what application has users in just one time zone? Maybe a municipal… Read more →
Taiz, Yemen, April – May 1967
In the winter and spring of 1967, a half-century ago, my father Ellis O. Jones of blessed memory, then 39 years old, served as a United States Foreign Service Officer in Taiz, Yemen. Taiz is in the southern part of that country, on the road from the port of Mocha to the present capital of Sana’a. When Dad went to… Read more →
University students: beware the people who lend you money!
Bloomberg News published an article today putting the lie to Navient’s claim to helping manage student debt. In a court filing, the company (which used to be part of the Sallie Mae US federal student lending agency) said it was a conflict of interest to help students. Their primary role is collecting on loans. Dear students: Companies and governments who… Read more →
Mondo Bizarro … FBI Director uses Pastor Niebuhr’s name for a twitter name
An investigative reporter at Gizmodo has found the FBI director’s twitter account. He’s using the pseudonym Reinhold Niebuhr. Pastor Niebuhr was a twentieth-century theologian and ethicist. Among his many books is The Irony of American History, analyzing how USA exceptionalism is a tremendous temptation to arrogance and contains the seeds of its own destruction. That title pretty much sums up… Read more →
To the Mountain and Back — A sermon for First Parish in Newbury
Sermon Text: Matthew 17:1-9 The Transfiguration of Jesus Grace to you, and peace, from God our creator and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen Mountaintop experiences. We’ve all had them. I invite you to think about your personal mountaintop experiences. They could be anything. Maybe yours was something huge and visible and shared like a wedding or a graduation. Or maybe… Read more →