Alex Gantman

The 2025 @ieeesecdev Cybersecurity Award for Practice nominations are now OPEN! The award recognizes transformative cybersecurity achievements. Nominations are due by May 30. For more information and submission instructions, visit secdev.ieee.org/2025/awards/ #IEEESecDev

@matthewdgreen.bsky.social ping

@matthewdgreen.bsky.social ping

Ha! So much for all the "years of lead" predictions. US is a net importer of lead, with China, Canada, and Mexico among the top countries of origin. Can't have years of lead if lead is unaffordable.

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Product Security Summit

[Please boost]
The 2025 Qualcomm Product Security Summit will take place May 7-9, 2025, in San Diego, CA.
www.qualcomm.com/security-sum...

If you are interested in presenting your work or moderating a workshop, please send an abstract to: secsummit@qualcomm.com by February 11th.

Bedrooms are not separated from living rooms in plan, but are placed next to one another and the walls between them then stuffed with acoustic insulation."
Christopher Alexander, Notes on the Synthesis of Form, 1964
4/4

Instead of orienting the house carefully for sun and wind, the builder conceives its organization without concern for orientation, and light, heat, and ventilation are taken care of by fans, lamps, and other kinds of peripheral devices. 3/

"Since everything in the human environment can nowadays be modified by suitable purchases at the [store], very little actually has to be taken care of in the house’s basic organization. 2/

In this week's installment of "No New Problems Under The Sun": If you've ever thought about modern software developers being spoiled by cheap hardware, I give you capitalism ruined architecture. 1/

TIL: INUS - Insufficient, but Necessary part of an Unnecessary but Sufficient condition.
simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/INUS_co...

Looking forward to reading some good retrospectives over the next decade on the degradation of usability, dilution of brand image, and the sheer wastefulness of business resources from all the seasonal icon/UX redesigns.

The secret is to live in a place that doesn't have weather.

even when an HP-41C user has learned everything the Owner's Handbook can teach him, he is in for another treat: the list of HP-41C functions and programming capability is not limited to the properties catalogued in that Handbook. There exists, in fact, a whole class of functions and programming applications that can be used to enhance greatly the power of the calculator, even though the new functions cannot, at first, be executed or programmed with normal, simple keystrokes. The new functions, which are 'synthesized' by creating new combinations of normal program bytes, are called 'synthetic functions'; their appli- cation in programs gives rise to the expression 'synthetic programming'

Wonderfully elegant term for exploit development from 1980: "Synthetic Programming"

literature.hpcalc.org/items/1718

"There is a well-known generalization [...] that is verbally so neat that we would be reluctant to give it up even if the facts did not support it"

I actually agree with the original point, just couldn't pass up an opportunity for snark ;-)

Yes, I also delay my replies out of best intentions for the other side. The more delayed my reply, the more I care about them! 😜

🚨In Science🚨
Conspiracy beliefs famously resist correction, ya?
WRONG: We show brief convos w GPT4 reduce conspiracy beliefs by ~20%!
-Lasts over 2mo
-Works on entrenched beliefs
-Tailored AI response rebuts specific evidence offered by believers
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
1/
[X->BSky repost]

That's probable cause right there. Those who have nothing to hide have no reason to know their rights.

Only if you can figure out how

Workday

Polish government releases strategic butter reserves The decision was made in response to rising prices, which have become a major political talking point.

Poland authorizes a release from its strategic butter reserve. notesfrompoland.com/2024/12/17/p...

This must have been a fun cross. Drugs found are suppressed.
www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf...

Reading a paper so old, it refers to hardware as "ironmongery."

Railroad tracks in a narrow rut on top of a sandy ridge. Cacti laden with prickly pears on one side. Ocean on the horizon.

Sunday jog

Sony Pictures?

Embarrassing emails probably cause more damage than trade secrets.

How do transistors work, anyway? A look at one of the most important and mysterious discrete electronic components. No hydraulic analogies involved.

How do transistors work, anyway?

lcamtuf.substack.com/p/how-do-tra...

"Forgetting that planets exist" is a recurring problem for people spooked by the sky

My wife: "If it wasn't for me you would just stay indoors, never speak to anyone, and eat the same thing every day".

Me: "and despite all of that I love you very much".