Spaf's provides his thoughts on.....
Too many people are prone to accepting hype and myths about computing, and that often leads to poor decisions. 20 years ago, my first post in the CERIAS blog addressed an example — the folk wisdom that monthly password changes improve security — a myth that had already survived 30 years and that NIST needed […]
Something brought the movie Ghost in the Shell to mind, and I cannot quite place what. Perhaps it was the accumulation of writing and thinking about AI and identity recently, and in particular, my three recent posts on the CERIAS blog. Whatever the trigger, I went back to the 2017 live-action film for the first […]
Washington DC — Hold for Release April 1, 2026 HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has announced a new initiative: MASA — Make America Stupid Again. A press release from his office stated, “As part of our agenda to remove all artificial items from public consumption, we will be seeking to ban Artificial Intelligence, Artificial […]
Researchers claim to have found a megastructure and a second Sphinx buried beneath the current Sphinx in Egypt. Its presence was foretold by a stele found between the “paws” of the Sphinx years ago, the text of which was translated using Google Translate and crowdsourced on Reddit, a method experts agree is how all major […]
For my US-based friends, Thursday is Thanksgiving, traditionally celebrated with a large meal with family and friends. Share your thanks with: a contribution to your local food bank, for those who have limited food (Feeding America https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank) a contribution to a local homeless shelter, for those without a home to enjoy the holiday…
One aspect of being a little gullible and not at all concerned about appearances, is that I will dress in costume for a good cause. The first real case of this, outside Halloween, was in high school. I was president of the student council. We were having a spring fair where the money raised was […]
Ok, this is actually in two related parts. Both are related to my social media posts. I often post things on Facebook and Mastadon that might be considered snarky, silly, or bizarre. But then, so am I. Part I — The Mug A couple of months ago, I made a post to the effect of […]
Want to make a donation to help the world and possibly recognize my birthday? Read on.
It’s November 7, and all the major media outlets (finally) called the election for Joe Biden/Kamala Harris. Of course, that isn’t the same thing as having the Electoral College votes accepted by Congress in January, but it is significant nonetheless. Keep in mind that Donald Trump is still President of the USA and will be […]
As I type this, I am being inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This is the mission statement of the organization: Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences honors excellence and convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of […]