Nothing is as simple as we hope it will be

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94332572009-11-09T18:36:05.502-08:00Nothing is as simple as we hope it will beItems of interest in computer and network security, privacy, voting, public policy, etc., plus a few that just tickled my fancy or provoked my outrage.Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.comBlogger495125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-69674656733531488732009-08-31T20:49:00.000-07:002009-08-31T20:54:05.605-07:00Must-read piece in Business Week on reviving American research

Name an industry that can produce 1 million new, high-paying jobs over the next three years. You can't, because there isn't one. And that's the problem. America needs good jobs, soon. We need 6.7 million just to replace losses from the current recession, then another 10 million to spark demand over the next decade. That's 15 million to 17 million new jobs. In the 1990s, the U.S. economy created

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-74950463571278082072009-07-31T23:56:00.000-07:002009-08-01T00:02:38.300-07:00I've left SPARTA, Inc., doing business as Cobham Analytic Solutions.

I've parted amicably from SPARTA, and am preparing to join Advanced Elemental Technologies. No, I can't tell you yet what AET does, but I can say that I'm excited about the opportunity.

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-58672168341677818602009-04-11T14:35:00.000-07:002009-04-11T15:36:46.283-07:00CIA agent: Beware mixing votes and electrons

An interesting story by Greg Gordon of McClatchy Newspapers on testimony by CIA agent Steven Stigall to the US Election Assistance Commission.Basically what I'm saying, you heard the old adage, follow the money. Here I follow the vote. And wherever the vote becomes an electron and touches a computer, that's an opportunity for a malicious actor potentially to get into the system and tamper with

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-61740121795480753492009-04-05T01:02:00.000-07:002009-04-05T01:17:49.923-07:00Antarctic ice shelves continue retreat

Global warming brings more bad news from the Antarctic: Several ice shelves are collapsing, breaking up, or floating away.2009: Wilkins2009: Wordie2009: Northern Larsen2003: Ward Hunt2003: West Antarctic2002: Larsen BRecent Reuters story.Other news stories.

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-49477612555276321942009-03-31T11:33:00.000-07:002009-04-05T01:18:22.743-07:00SPARTA rebranded as Cobham

As of today, my employer, SPARTA, Inc., will be doing business under the Cobham brand. More specifically, it will be known as "SPARTA, Inc., doing business as Cobham Analytic Solutions."My new email address is the same as the old, with "Cobham" substituted for "SPARTA". Telephone remains the same.More about Cobham.Jim HorningSPARTA National Security SectorCobham Analytic Solutions710 Lakeway

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-23740185092015353082009-03-13T16:27:00.000-07:002009-03-13T16:37:07.680-07:00Visualize a trillion dollars; visually compare bailouts.

A trillion dollars.How various bailouts and other government budgets compare.It's not so long ago that I was told, "It takes a very big company to lose a billion dollars." Times have changed.

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-88499038224214807242009-03-10T10:26:00.000-07:002009-03-10T18:50:54.794-07:00Barbara Liskov wins A.M. Turing Award

ACM has just announced that Barbara Liskov is the winner of this year's A.M. Turing Award, widely considered to be "the Nobel Prize of computing."I am especially pleased at this award. Barbara is not only a wonderful person, she is the one who introduced me to the concept of abstract data types, and her student, Steve Zilles, introduced me to algebraic specifications. These ideas had a major

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-62710755924665200412008-12-09T13:15:00.000-08:002008-12-09T13:30:19.128-08:00The more you check, the more errors you find.

Freedom to Tinker has a good post by Ed Felten on a discovery by the Humboldt County Election Transparency Project, as reported in Wired. Election officials in a small county in California discovered by chance last week that the tabulation software they used to tally votes in this year's general election dropped 197 paper ballots from the totals at one precinct. The system's audit log also

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-37172677783446520132008-12-01T17:17:00.000-08:002008-12-01T17:29:10.775-08:00The Science of Victory

The US Department of Defense Science & Technology program has released a very effective five-minute video commercial on YouTube, making the case for basic research as a practical necessity, not an optional luxury. The fact that they have a vested interest should not detract from its message.

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-43987764394771923282008-11-30T23:15:00.000-08:002008-11-30T23:29:52.666-08:00The Tan Sox Explanation

The December 1 issue of The New Yorker has an excellent article by John Cassidy about Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank. It contains a brief anecdote that I think provides a pretty good illustration of why George Bush has been able to preside so nonchalantly over the greatest financial debacle of his (or my) lifetime.In June, 2005, Bernanke was sworn in at the Eisenhower

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-57984612899489840182008-11-17T15:00:00.000-08:002008-11-17T15:18:28.363-08:00Computer Science Outside the Box

Although the "outside the box" metaphor has become overworked, don't let that stop you from reading Ed Lazowska's post on the CCC Blog. I won't quote from it here, because it's pretty short, and worth reading in its entirety.

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-58284827014206203202008-11-17T14:19:00.000-08:002008-11-17T14:32:58.503-08:00The Laws of IT Physics

As found in Congressional testimony titled "Actions to Avoid 'IT' Train-wrecks: An Agenda for Change," by Norm. V. Brown, Executive Director, Center for Program Transformation.Planning is a continuous process, not a one-time event.Complexity kills IT projects since defects and security vulnerabilities increase nonlinearly with increased complexity.Schedules and project chaos create Event Horizons

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-12186407814786211112008-11-14T13:10:00.000-08:002008-11-14T16:30:53.951-08:00California Climate Risk and Response

The costs of currently predicted climate changes in California over the next century could be as low as $7.3 billion per year, or as high as $46.6 billion per year, according to a new report by two University of California-Berkeley agricultural and resource economics professors. The 127-page report was funded by the nonprofit Next 10 foundation that studies California's future and the

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-77790313780604717582008-11-10T15:52:00.000-08:002008-11-10T16:26:05.435-08:00The "Curb Cuts" approach to computing

Very thoughtful blog post on As Your World Changes about how accommodation of various disabilities can benefit us all. Curb cuts for wheelchairs also guide blind persons into street crossings and prevent accidents for baby strollers, bicyclists, skateboarders, and inattentive walkers. The “curb cuts” principle is that removing a barrier for persons with disabilities improves the situation for

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-69741735524488082232008-09-25T11:46:00.001-07:002008-09-25T11:57:54.923-07:00What the "McCain Commission" should ask (and who)

Highly relevant Wall Street Journal piece by Thomas Frank: Last week, Republican presidential candidate John McCain called for a commission to "find out what went wrong" on Wall Street. It was an excellent suggestion: Public inquiries into Wall Street practices served the country well in the 1930s.And Mr. McCain has a special advantage to bring to any such investigation -- many of the relevant

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-26158681203010607852008-09-23T22:32:00.001-07:002008-09-23T22:35:53.262-07:00Message to Congress

[Text of emails sent to my Senators and Congresswoman.]While I support rapid action to free up the credit markets, I think the suggestions by various Democratic legislators are an essential part of the solution:1) Relief for homeowners who cannot afford the mortgages they got; at least half the money should go to their direct relief.2) A substantial equity position by the US in any financial

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-9213368288140651682008-09-20T22:49:00.000-07:002008-09-21T16:12:31.165-07:00"The economy is fundamentally sound."

Déjà vu (history, comments and contemporary quotations):12/31: New York Times Industrials close at 331.JuneNew York Times Industrials gain 52 to close at 391.JulyNew York Times Industrials gain 25 to close at 416.AugustNew York Times Industrials gain 33 to close at 449.September9/3: New York Times Industrials close at 452.In retrospect, the great bull market of the decade comes to an end.9/5:

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-87249318916067279452008-09-15T18:13:00.000-07:002008-09-15T18:20:52.279-07:00Auditing election results

Spotted in a ComputerWorld article by Grant Gross: The groups, including Common Cause, Verified Voting and the Brennan Center for Justice, called on states to require post-election audits of electronic voting systems, including touch-screen voting machines and optical scan systems. The groups also released a set of recommendations (PDF format) for best practices in election audits...Three

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-74576787248447118032008-09-04T12:00:00.000-07:002008-09-20T23:23:44.705-07:00Privacy policy readability

Most of us are now exposed to the privacy policies of many companies that we deal with, via annual mailings, clickthrough licenses, or pages on their websites. The cynical among us tend to think that these policies are carefully prepared with the intent that they not be understood.This blog post by Erik Sherman supports the cynics' view.See also this 2005 paper by Annie I. Antón, et al., focusing

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-59008189313377293622008-08-27T14:01:00.000-07:002008-08-27T14:12:44.049-07:00It's a start

Google has taken an interesting step in the quest to reverse the decline in students majoring in computer science--especially students in under-represented groups, where the decline is even more precipitous. At a time when more and more digital technologies are becoming indispensable to millions of people, the field of computer science (CS) is in trouble. Enrollment and retention of CS students,

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-3047283457526813572008-08-27T11:47:00.000-07:002008-08-27T14:11:20.069-07:00(Computer) Virus to Outer Space

Interesting BBC story. It is thought that the virus might have travelled via a flash or USB drive owned by an astronaut and taken into space.The space agency also plans to put in place security systems to stop such incidents happening in the future.

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-83375899101236324192008-07-17T18:59:00.000-07:002008-07-17T19:01:31.083-07:00Bush Memorial Sewage Plant?

It's qualified for the November ballot in San Francisco.

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-65100554318199033722008-07-15T12:33:00.000-07:002008-07-15T12:42:44.985-07:00Putting too much trust in one person

The San Francisco Chronicle has a story by Jaxon Van Derbeken about how a disgruntled programmer has managed to lock San Francisco officials out of major parts of the city's computer system. Apparently he was able to put a non-escrowed password, known only to himself, on the system--as job insurance.Prosecutors say Childs, who works in the Department of Technology at a base salary of just over

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-44394468089684744502008-07-11T16:31:00.000-07:002008-07-11T17:17:53.890-07:00Who's shooting whose foot?

[I should note at the outset that I am still a fan of both Java and Adobe products.]For reasons that need not concern us here, my desktop machine was current on Microsoft updates, but had fallen behind on Java, Adobe Reader, and Flash. I have spent the better part of a working day getting current versions of these programs installed.My initial tries to update Java, Reader, and Flash all failed,

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9433257.post-7309112351225415732008-06-18T22:37:00.000-07:002008-06-18T22:45:35.900-07:00Ice-free Arctic: Have we reached the tipping point?

Good BBC News story by Richard Black.Nothing to worry about for the next five years, as long as you don't depend on anything or anyone located less than 22 feet above sea level.A few years ago, scientists were predicting ice-free Arctic summers by about 2080. Then computer models started projecting earlier dates, around 2030 to 2050. Then came the 2007 summer that saw Arctic sea ice shrink to the

Jim Horninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01813631663553781471noreply@blogger.com0