Jul
13
2006

URLs du Jour

2006-07-13

  • First, check out Shawn on the Big Dig. In related news, Mrs. Salad has forbidden me to use the tunnels to get to Logan Airport. She's apparently convinced that driving through Saugus and Revere is less risky, even though my cardiologist might disagree.

  • Bruce Schneier has an interesting post on an alleged large overlap between identity thieves and methamphetamine users:
    Supposedly meth users are ideally suited to be computer hackers[.]
    … and hence (again, supposedly) use their hacking skills for ID theft, to get more money, so they can buy more meth. Good plan! Schneier points to a New York Times article which quotes one Richard Rawson, a UCLA researcher:
    "Crack users and heroin users are so disorganized and get in these frantic binges, they're not going to sit still and do anything in an organized way for very long," Dr. Rawson said. "Meth users, on the other hand, that's all they have, is time. The drug stimulates the part of the brain that perseverates on things. So you get people perseverating on things, and if you sit down at a computer terminal you can go for hours and hours."
    I'm, like, totally out of the illicit drug scene, man, but:

    1. As a low-grade hacker (in this sense) myself, it's kind of frightening to think there's something out there that could enhance my productivity and probably wreck my life. Hmmm … well, don't tell my managers about it, they'll probably go out and get me some.

    2. Highfalutin UCLA researchers say "perseverate" when they could have just said "persevere." It's like saying "utilize" instead of "use." Sheesh.

  • Check out Radley Balko's most excellent column at Fox News, where he discusses student loan debt.
    The solution is to put more consumer pressure on higher education by getting government out of the business of paying for it. Competition made America's colleges and universities the best in the world, not government subsidies. Increasing the government's role in higher education will devolve our institutions of higher learning into something akin to the public schools.
    OK, that's kind of an eat-your-peas topic, but along the way, Radley eviscerates CBS News, a couple of whiny self-indulgent yuppies, and (most especially) the tedious Ms. Anya Kamenetz. So it's both (a) good, and (b) good for you.

  • [Katie! Aieee!]

    Yeah … I think I saw a similar scene in a vampire movie once. Or was it Jaws?


Last Modified 2008-09-12 6:13 AM EDT