Yesterday's Wall St Journal had an op-ed piece headlined "Safety from Hackers -- and Trial Lawyers". The author, Brian E. Finch is a lawyer working for a "cyber security" law firm. He is advocating passage of the "Cyber Safety Act" thru Congress. This act would shield companies from law suits over security breaches.
Right now, companies can get sued down to their socks when hackers get thru their security and steal customer lists, with addresses and credit card numbers. Mr. Evans thinks this liability is horrible and discourages innovation in the tech industry.
Me, I think fear of lawsuits is the only thing preventing companies from selling even more insecure products than they do today. Suing Micro$oft for the uncounted security holes in Windows would improve world wide cyber security. The hackers that cracked the federal Office of Personal Management got their hands on my old Air Force service records and records of security clearances that I held for years after leaving the Air Force. Right now, any thoughtful company will take all the precautions it can think of to keep hackers out, for fear of dreadful law suits and market annilation when loopholes let the hackers in.
We got a lot of excess lawyers sloshing around the country, mostly causing trouble. Let's put them to work suing companies that peddle insecure products or who fail to safeguard their customer's records.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Meet Jane Walker
Big liquor company Diageo is launching a whiskey for women brand. Called Jane Walker, with a snappy new label showing a sharp looking female version of Johnny Walker. The scotch inside will be the same as what goes into Johnny Walker Black Label bottles.
Will it sell? Consider that few guys will buy a women's whiskey, which cuts the new brand off from half the population, the harder drinking half. How many women will buy a women's whiskey rather than the old reliable well known Johnny Walker? Or old reliable Cutty Sark, J&B, or Ballentine for half the price of Jane Walker ?
Will it sell? Consider that few guys will buy a women's whiskey, which cuts the new brand off from half the population, the harder drinking half. How many women will buy a women's whiskey rather than the old reliable well known Johnny Walker? Or old reliable Cutty Sark, J&B, or Ballentine for half the price of Jane Walker ?
Monday, February 26, 2018
Dr. Seuss is back on top
Wall St Journal, best selling books week ended 18 Feb.
Hardcover Fiction
Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss Number 6 in sales
One Fish Two fish Red fish Blue Fish Dr. Seuss Number 10 in sales.
Not bad for a couple of children's books that have been in print like forever.
Hardcover Fiction
Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss Number 6 in sales
One Fish Two fish Red fish Blue Fish Dr. Seuss Number 10 in sales.
Not bad for a couple of children's books that have been in print like forever.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Alternate History: WWII Might have beens
Everyone agrees that Hitler's greatest mistake was to take on the Russians before finishing off the British. In 1940 the German army had shown it was lightyears ahead of every other army. The Germans had occupied Denmark and Norway, invaded and conquered Poland, Holland, Belgium, and even France. All the Germans needed to do, to settle Britain's hash, was to get their army, actually just a small part of their army, across the English Channel. After Dunkirk the British Army was in no shape to stand off an invasion of Boy Scouts, let alone a couple of panzer divisions.
The only problem from the German point of view, was getting their army across the channel in one piece. They had about 2000 Rhine river barges to make the crossing in. These were seaworthy enough for a channel crossing in good weather. Summer weather. Trouble was, the British had a couple of hundred destroyers, fifty cruisers, and a dozen real battleships to oppose such a crossing. When the British steam up along side a river barge in a destroyer, that's the end of the river barge and all its troops, (or cargo). The Germans only had about ten destroyers, some subs, a couple of cruisers, and a couple of light duty battleships. The Royal Navy would have an enjoyable turkey shoot cleaning out that batch. The only equalizer the Germans had was the Luftwaffe, and for that to be effective it had to defeat the Royal Air Force. You cannot take out surface vessels when you have Hurricanes and Spitfires on your tail. The Germans tried to take out the RAF in the summer of 1940, resulting in what we now call the Battle of Britain. Unfortunately for Hitler, the RAF out shot the Luftwaffe that summer.
One equalizer that the Germans might have obtained, the French Navy. France was a great power, and had a sizable Navy, not quite as big as the Royal Navy, but far superior to what the Germans had in 1940. The French were pissed off at the British, they blamed the British for their defeat by the Germans that summer. According to the French, the British didn't send enough troops, enough aircraft, and they bugged out when the going got tough. If the Germans had stroked the defeated French enough, they might have been able to get the French to join them in an invasion of England, and bring along their Navy. This would have required a lot more diplomacy from the Germans than was usual for them, but it might have happened. And if so, it would have been curtains for the Brits in 1940.
This worried the British so much, that they sank a good portion of the French fleet in North Africa just to make sure they didn't join the Germans.
The only problem from the German point of view, was getting their army across the channel in one piece. They had about 2000 Rhine river barges to make the crossing in. These were seaworthy enough for a channel crossing in good weather. Summer weather. Trouble was, the British had a couple of hundred destroyers, fifty cruisers, and a dozen real battleships to oppose such a crossing. When the British steam up along side a river barge in a destroyer, that's the end of the river barge and all its troops, (or cargo). The Germans only had about ten destroyers, some subs, a couple of cruisers, and a couple of light duty battleships. The Royal Navy would have an enjoyable turkey shoot cleaning out that batch. The only equalizer the Germans had was the Luftwaffe, and for that to be effective it had to defeat the Royal Air Force. You cannot take out surface vessels when you have Hurricanes and Spitfires on your tail. The Germans tried to take out the RAF in the summer of 1940, resulting in what we now call the Battle of Britain. Unfortunately for Hitler, the RAF out shot the Luftwaffe that summer.
One equalizer that the Germans might have obtained, the French Navy. France was a great power, and had a sizable Navy, not quite as big as the Royal Navy, but far superior to what the Germans had in 1940. The French were pissed off at the British, they blamed the British for their defeat by the Germans that summer. According to the French, the British didn't send enough troops, enough aircraft, and they bugged out when the going got tough. If the Germans had stroked the defeated French enough, they might have been able to get the French to join them in an invasion of England, and bring along their Navy. This would have required a lot more diplomacy from the Germans than was usual for them, but it might have happened. And if so, it would have been curtains for the Brits in 1940.
This worried the British so much, that they sank a good portion of the French fleet in North Africa just to make sure they didn't join the Germans.
Friday, February 23, 2018
Notes for auto designers
Let's talk about the driver on the interior of the car. The dashboard has to be usable in full sun and in darkness. Those dinky little digital displays, LED's usually, just aren't bright enough to see when the sun is shining in thru the windows. Where as a good round dialface, with a nice bright pointer is readable day and night. Even better would be the system we used in the Air Force. All gauges were marked in green for their normal operating range and red for dangerous ranges. Hence the term "redline".
And the cost cutters keep pushing the cheapest kind of control, a single pole single position push button. And they make black buttons on a black control panel, with tiny little legends on the buttons. Leaving us drivers fumbling in the dark just trying to change stations on the radio. The radio on my car is so bad that Buick wired up a complete second set of radio controls on the steering wheel, to make it easier to use the radio. Fine industrial design that, dual controls on a car radio. If they just made the buttons a contrasting color to the control panel it would help a lot. And they could standardize those steering wheel stalks that work the wipers and washer, the lights, the turn signals, and the slushbox. And important controls ought to be knobs that you can feel for in the dark, not pushbuttons. For extra credit put different shaped knobs on different controls so you can tell them apart by feel in the dark.
And the cost cutters keep pushing the cheapest kind of control, a single pole single position push button. And they make black buttons on a black control panel, with tiny little legends on the buttons. Leaving us drivers fumbling in the dark just trying to change stations on the radio. The radio on my car is so bad that Buick wired up a complete second set of radio controls on the steering wheel, to make it easier to use the radio. Fine industrial design that, dual controls on a car radio. If they just made the buttons a contrasting color to the control panel it would help a lot. And they could standardize those steering wheel stalks that work the wipers and washer, the lights, the turn signals, and the slushbox. And important controls ought to be knobs that you can feel for in the dark, not pushbuttons. For extra credit put different shaped knobs on different controls so you can tell them apart by feel in the dark.
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Arming school teachers?
Depends upon the teacher. Most of my elementary teachers, Miss Shirley, Miss Gaudet, Miss Percy, Mr. Convery, Mrs Falby were courageous, determined, and cool under pressure. Miss Coyne, not so much, but five out of six ain't bad. Middle school we had Miss Macglaflin, Mr Davis and Mr Sanacandro who all would qualify as courageous and competent. High school not so much. It was a a Quaker school, with most of the faculty firm believers in the Quaker doctrine of non-violence. Although I admired many of them, they were not the kind of people to draw a bead on a school shooter and let him have it right in center of mass.
But the public school teachers came from a tougher mold, at least back in those days. I wonder how teachers are now a days.
But the public school teachers came from a tougher mold, at least back in those days. I wonder how teachers are now a days.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Effective TV commercials
They have been playing one commercial, for some kinda herbal supplement. They explain it contains a miracle ingredient from jellyfish. Well, I remember the jellyfish part, but I cannot remember the name of the product. Effective that ad was.
Then there is William Devane, distinguished looking older guy, who pitchs silver and gold on TV these days. One of his ads starts out on the deck of a retired US battleship. Devane is standing in front of the main battery giving the pitch. "When the US used battleships to make its points, things were better." Although the US launched battleships starting when they were first developed, except for the Spanish American War, a tiny sideshow long ago, we never used them in combat. By the time the US Navy became the world class force, it was WWII and the battleships had been replaced by aircraft carriers.
And I still haven't invested in silver or gold.
Then there is William Devane, distinguished looking older guy, who pitchs silver and gold on TV these days. One of his ads starts out on the deck of a retired US battleship. Devane is standing in front of the main battery giving the pitch. "When the US used battleships to make its points, things were better." Although the US launched battleships starting when they were first developed, except for the Spanish American War, a tiny sideshow long ago, we never used them in combat. By the time the US Navy became the world class force, it was WWII and the battleships had been replaced by aircraft carriers.
And I still haven't invested in silver or gold.
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