Mile
Zero

I feel like all links are symbolic of something, personally.

• The executive producer for Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles wrote up a blog entry on cancelation, office spaces, and the trunk check. Coming from someone who liked the show: if it had been consistently as well-written as that post, it might still be on the air.
• Hackaday has some notes on Slow Loris, a denial-of-service attack that only requires one computer and doesn't use a flood. Seems like you could fix it on the server side, though. It's not a new kind of attack--I'm surprised it still works.
• On the topic of security, Patrick Meier has been writing some really good stuff lately. Check out his guide to communicating securely in repressive environments and his review of How to Lie with Maps.
• Laptops and Appropriate Technology is a post about XO laptops by a teacher in Malawi. An interesting read, even for a cranky skeptic like myself.
• Libertarians on Boats: The Saga Continues. You know, I mock these guys a lot, but there's something impressive about the amount of coverage they get. For all the articles that are written, you'd think it was some kind of vast movement across the entire libertarian party--but then you actually read further, and it's really just the same small group every time, somehow always just thiiiiis close to their seasteading paradise. Until next time, guys.
• So we are holding a Rock Band party this weekend, which is cause for much excitement. But it's also cause for consternation: where do you get the second guitar, so people can play bass and mock my real-life instrumentation? I'm sure they're very nice, but spare instruments for the game are $80, which (plus the cost of boarding an over-excitable dog) is really more than I wanted to spend. But once you start looking into borrowing, the market segmentation really becomes a hassle: not only do music games fail to play nicely with each other, but you can't use controllers from the same game on different consoles. My friends with the PS2 version wouldn't have any place to plug in. Apparently even the USB microphone isn't cross-platform. Finally, we found someone who knew someone else with an XBox 360 guitar. The heavens opened, and the faint sounds of Iron Maiden could once again be heard.
• One of the amazing things about Stephen Colbert's act is that he almost never breaks character. Talking Points Memo has a clip of him backstage with John Kerry a couple of years ago. It's bizarre just to see him talking softly.
• 15 Travel Tips for Africa, or anywhere really.