March 2006 Archives

Am back in Brisbane after another flying visit - this time to Sydney for meetings with Qantas and to see my brother and sister-in-law, as well as my Mum, who also spent the weekend in our old home town. Will have pics up tonight of the wedding from last week and a couple of pics of my family later tonight.

Now desperately trying to catch up with work I didn't get to over the weekend!

Also, stay tuned for a major post this evening on the Ideas Festival. It's this week folks!!! Don't forget!!!

... and unlike most posts to this blog, or news items in the media, the title of this post can be taken as a literal interpretation of the subject matter of this post.

As I sat with my fabulous mother watching the Commonwealth Games coverage during the weekend I noted that the floral bouquets presented to medal winners in the swimming competition looked like some kind of hideous weapon. Mum chuckled, but she said she thought they were lovely. We both had a laugh and that was it. But I was curious. I looked more closely and noted that in close-ups, the bouquets actually contained red gerberas. "They're not native," I proclaimed (in total ignorance, but with some sense that I might well be right). As it turns out, gerberas are native to South Africa. Also in the bouquet were the long, red and spiky Birds of Paradise. Mum thought they might have been Kangaroo Paw - and at the distance we were seeing them, they could have been - but I think upon closer inspection they are Birds of Paradise or at least some species of Heliconia. Birds of Paradise and Heliconia are native to South America.

Then the bouquet is surrounded by what has apparently been described as yellow "pom poms". I assume this is some bastardisation of the Australian wattle.

To be honest, I'm outraged that the bouquets presented to medallists at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games are made up of South American, South African and imitation Australian flora.

Am I alone in this, or do others feel that Australian flora ought to be presented at an Australian sporting event?

Am home safely after a flying visit to Melbourne for meetings and for my cousin's wedding. My beautiful cousins were all gorgeous, and the bride was a vision of loveliness. My love and my very best wishes to Emma and Adam for a happy and fulfilling life together! (More pics to come of my stunning cousins next week, I promise!)

Love and thanks also to my Mum for having me to stay again, and for Auntie Lyn and Uncle John for having me at the wedding.... Thanks also to my fabulous uncle, David, and his partner, Julia for their company today - was lovely to spend time with my family again.

It's often been said that the weakest security link in a computer network is the user. In the story described by Bruce Schneier on Security, a basketball team on the west coast of the US decided to use a chat system the night before a big match to psyche out a major player from the opposing team, and effectively preventing him from performing at his best. Using chants and "YOU'VE BEEN HAACKED!" statements during the game, the player was utterly demoralised, and his concentration on the game was shattered.

This is Social Engineering - something Kevin Mitnick is famous for. But in this case, rather than using a real world trap to access a digital system, digital communications in a chat room were used to trap someone into compromising a real world function.

Ethically, of course, social engineering is completely taboo. But we're seeing it used increasingly in business, politics and of course, in hacking. The trick is to know when it's happening, and to take all measures to ensure networks - and even basketball teams - remain secure. That's a tough ask, but with adequate training it can be done. In the meantime, I foresee a time when sporting teams are banned from chat rooms the night before games.

Thanks to Jeremy Williams for his pointer to the Doonesbury strip from yesterday... I so stole this for my blog :)

Most people know I bruise easily. I'll never forget the bruising I received in my dancing days, when I had thumb marks almost permanently imprinted on the base of the rib cage on my back, and finger pad circles across my stomach, where my partner used to have to hold me during lifts, turns and en pointe. Or when I sprained my ankle so badly that my foot blew up to the size of a small football and my leg was bruised black from my knee to my baby toe.

And most of my life my thighs tend to have bruises on them, I suppose because at some point or another I've knocked into a chair or a corner of something and haven't paid much attention.

This morning I have an absolute shocker, with spots of bruising right up near my hip and reaching down the side of my leg to just above my knee. Hurts like hell. It's not terribly impressive, because it's not really that black, but it's still rather sore. I have no idea how I got it. But I shall once again blame my high pain tolerance and natural clumsiness. In the meantime.... Ow. :-(

* Many thanks to Mark for wishing me a very happy International Women's Day yesterday. It was fabulous to be made to feel special. Thanks Mark - you rock.

* The O'Reilly E-Tech Conference is in full swing in California, and blog entries on the papers being presented are popping up every hour. Eventually I suspect these presentations will be available as downloadable presentations on ITConversations.com, but in the meantime even the blog entries are fascinating.

* The case surrounding the Blackberry dispute between the Canadian firm Research In Motion (RIM), the makers of the personal digital communications device, and patent holders, NTP, has now been settled, allowing the device to continue to be sold in the US. This is a fascinating case in terms of patent law, and market share. The moral at the end of the story is that if you have enough market share, you can even buy out the original owners of the patent. Although I'm not entirely sure the acts which led to the dispute are entirely moral.

* A couple of Google related stories. Techcrunch have exclusive images of the new Google Calendar service, which looks remarkably like Outlook Calendar but probably crashes less often. And Greg Linden's review of the Google Analyst day presentation is rather noteworthy for the omissions it highlights than the inclusions.

* The Ideas Festival is now less than 3 weeks away. BOOK NOW! TICKETS ARE GOING FAST!!!!!

I have a background in working for media. So does my brother. We understand deadlines. The research community does not. The research community apparently also doesn't understand the legal implications of obfuscation and negligence. As a result, I worked till midnight last night and was up at 4am today to attempt to meet the deadlines facing a project that is not even mine. I would have done an all-nighter, only there was very little I could do.

Needless to say, I am not in the best mood today.

Anyone who hasn't already seen the video of the introduction to The Simpsons (ie: Matt Groening's cartoon) made with real people (reportedly made in England?) really should see this awesome little clip. The attention to detail is remarkable.

Also. Australia wins! YAY!

I have the worst headache ever. Will be back to blogging when the pain goes away.

Sleeping better is a good thing. However, going to bed at 10pm is dumb when I wake at 3am.