Category: Random Ramblings

While asbestos has been around for a long time, it really took off in the late 19th century as something of a wonder material given its light weight and fire/heat/electrical resistance. Of course, given how bad we later learned the material is for lungs, some of that luster has faded. So when I found a website which presented a list of the worst asbestos-laced products, I just had to share it. My favorite WTF product? Why, number 3:

Um, no more ciggarette [sic] burns? Just what the hell are you people doing with your babies in Australia?!?

I have a great interest in computer security. I used to work in a job with a team of network/computer security specialists. I had to leave that job when the wife found work elsewhere, but I’ve never lost my love for the field. So when I saw this tweet today about a Cyber Security Skills Report, I figured I’d head over, sign up, and download the guide.

If you are interested, you can head to Security Colony and create an account so you can download the guide. It was created with an Australian focus, but from what little I’ve read of the guide so far, I think it is relevant to security practitioners elsewhere.

In a tweet I can no longer find (I’ve searched and found many about this, but not the exact one which made me look up the fire), I learned today of The Great Whiskey Fire of Dublin, 1875. This may be the most Irish historic event I can recall:

The Illustrated London Times noted that: “Crowds of people assembled, and took off their hats and boots to collect the whisky, which ran in streams along the streets. Four persons have died in the hospital from the effects of drinking the whisky, which was burning hot as it flowed. Two corn-porters, named Healy and M’Nulty, were found in a lane off Cork street, lying insensible, with their boots off, which they had evidently used to collect the liquor. There are many other persons in the hospital who are suffering from the same cause. Two boys are reported to be dying, and it is feared that other deaths will follow.”

It is a little sad to read about those who suffered, but yet one can’t help but think “That could only happen in Ireland.” Right?

And reading about this makes me think about the Great Molasses Flood in Boston, 1919:

At around 12:40 p.m., the mid-afternoon calm was broken by the sound of a metallic roar. Before residents had time to register what was happening, the recently refilled molasses tank ripped wide open and unleashed 2.3 million gallons of dark-brown sludge. “A rumble, a hiss—some say a boom and a swish—and the wave of molasses swept out,” the Boston Post later wrote. A fifteen-foot wall of syrup cascaded over Commercial Street at 35 miles per hour, obliterating all the people, horses, buildings and electrical poles in its path.

But I think Dublin had it worse in comparing these 2 events. Fire vs. wave of sludge? Just my thinking.

Ever since I predicted poor success for the iPhone, I’ve wanted to return and try to figure out why I was so wrong. I mean, with Apple recently becoming the first company worth $1 trillion, it’s pretty clear I was really far off in my prediction. I still can’t say for sure why I was so wrong, but I can make some hindsight guesses that are probably accurate. And 11 years later seems as good a time as any to reflect on how dumb I can be.

What I’m wondering on this, though, is why get a phone with all those features if it is going to cost that much? I’ll admit that I’m probably not the target demographic for this whiz-bang gadget. I like to get single task gadgets for the most part

Back in the early 90s, a company named General Magic came up with the idea for, and actually created, what we now call smart-phones. They failed, but the story of what they did is still pretty fascinating.

I used to play the hell out of City of Heroes (CoH) and City of Villains (CoV). To the point where it probably affected my parenting and my marital status. Sadly for me, the game shut down in November 2012. But I still see people online talking about the game quite a bit, as it was very unlike any other MMORPG out there. Even the similarly-themed Champions Online (CO) and DC Universe Online (DCUO) played so differently that I personally never enjoyed them enough to stick around (although I paid for lifetime subscriptions to both prior to launch in hopes either would replace CoH/CoV for me). My most recent spotting of CoH/CoV talk is this Massively Overpowered article on some of the history of the games, including launch, the Marvel lawsuit, going free-to-play, and issue roll-outs.

One of the perks of this subscription was the delivery of a monthly City of Heroes comic book. That was a neat idea, but gradually this deal changed, with NCsoft charging an additional fee for the comic and then scrapping the physical book entirelly and making them available only on the website. The first issue came out in June 2004 and the 32nd and last arrived in August 2007.