PDF & New York

Last time I was in New York was for a totally different purpose during totally different weather, so it's nice to come in the summer with a mission and lots of people to see. I'm having a great time so far at PDF - too good a time, in fact. I've gotten barely any sleep this week what with preparing for the trip, a sick tot at home, and then just wanting to follow-up on so much while I'm here.

The first day panels were really interesting and I got a lot out of them that I'm blogging about in other places (The Huffington Post, MOMocrats/the Silicon Valley Moms Blog), so I don't need to go into that here, but what I've gained outside the conference hall itself is building relationships and seeing people I know feel the same way I do about technology and its role in politics, policy and governance. These people don't downplay how it can and can't be used and they're all brilliant.

So on to day two, and hopefully a little bit of sleep...

Late Night Amusement - Russian Spam

I get the best Russian spam late at night these days - somehow it's evading both of my spam filters - but instead of deleting it, I'm using it as a chance to brush up on my reading in Russian. And the messages are a great combination of really basic words that I know, complex words that I'm able to discern meaning from given a basic understanding of spam, and cognates, which are always fun.

Yeah, so I have better things to do with my time and reading short stories or Russian newspapers would probably be better training, but this way I get a little every day to keep those neurons active in preparation for Sochi 2014. If you are interested in any great Russian spam, just drop me a line - I'd be happy to forward...

Fly, Be Free for the Holidays... Or Not

For those traveling over the holidays, check out this amusing comic at The Moderate Voice from The Hartford Courant. I still don't understand why we had to pour out one ounce of water from my daughter's sippy cup the last time we were going through a security line. (Of course the time before that, they let us through with a lot more... so random.)

Soviet Era Video Games Resurfacing

According to Wired, 32/70 of the world's only video games ever built or played in the Soviet Union have been unearthed and are now on display in an old bunker at Moscow State Technical University called the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines. Supposedly during their use (70's - 90's), most games cost 15 kopeks to play (like 15 cents, not including exchange rate). They had mechanical score counters like older pinball machines, but they didn't track high scores - it wouldn't have fit the Soviet model.

Here is the gallery of games. From pong-like to graphics more on the level of Donkey Kong, they resemble games we had in the U.S. mostly in the early 80's. One is called "Sniper-2" and still has a large rifle-like gun attached. Most of those shown in the gallery had a military angle, like "Dogfight".

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for video game emulators to take shape and multi-game boxes to develop with these games in them once students get a chance to take them apart and develop code emulators. Although as a kid who grew up with pinball machines and an Apple II in my house, playing an emulator game - even in an arcade type shell - still isn't quite the same as the original. The muscle memory just isn't there with different controls. The nostalgia still remains though.

I think when I return to Mockba (Moscow) one of these days, I may have to visit this little museum. For Bay Area locals who want to play old arcade games, check out the arcade at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz.

Green is Greater than Gold

In an international, star-studded event, tonight's Oscars captured not only a billion viewers but it conveyed a strong message of environmentalism and world cohesion. One of the films was described as "a time-bending rumination on today's global village", but that could have described many of the movies highlighted by the awards tonight.

Several Aussies, Mexicans, Spaniards, Italians, French, Taiwanese, Japanese and British actors, writers and filmmakers presented awards and received nominations and Oscars. Included in the winners was Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" for "Best Documentary Feature". As expected, it received a well-earned standing ovation. On oscar.com, you can read recommendations on how to go green. On top of that, during the show, some simple steps were listed as Melissa Etheridge sang a song, "I Need to Wake Up" from the film.

Each year of the past decade, it seems that one issue has been central at the Oscars. One year was the year of black award winners; another focused on gay rights, and this year's took a global perspective. Every year from the Golden Globes to the Oscars, I want to see all of the films nominated. I wish I had time to do so. This year, for starters, I really want to see "Babel". Having traveled much of the world, I feel a strong association with its message about how similar we all really are. Also central to tonight's Oscars was a stronger emphasis on all of the nominees. But the real winners are all of us if we can take home the message of how to stop global warming - being green will make us much a much richer planet than any gold ever could.

iPlane, iPlane!

In November, Apple announced partnerships with a number of airlines to provide iPod connectivity. The following day, Air France and KLM denied they were going to offer such service, saying it was only in initial discussions. Delta stuck with it and and now supposdly United and Continental have joined the iPod airmiles club.

Now, according to Budget Travel Online, all three airlines plan to install seat connections in planes by this summer. No more bad, censored movies with pilots cutting in to provide commentary on landmarks you've seen a hundred times over gritty, cheap headsets.

Or if you don't want to wait, depending on the type of plane you're on and its jacks, you can get the Monster iAirplay. It works with auto cigarette adaptors as well as airplane seat adaptors and has gold contacts for
higher quality.

TSA Has A Long Way To Go

I would like to believe that all of the tax dollars going toward the Transportation Security Administration are making a difference in our national security, but they just can't seem to do anything right.

Recently, I traveled and pre-travel, I brought up their site on my Mac to learn more about this whole 3oz. liquid thing and the site crashed Safari, didn't work in Mozilla or Mac ie. So I basically got nowhere. I was able to read one file that was somewhat pertiment about what's allowed and what's not. Meat cleavers are not. This doesn't really affect me, but it got me to chuckle.

Next step was to pack for the trip. I had to put everything in the wrong bag in order to fit the stupid ziplock with all of the liquids into one of my carry-ons. (Yes, I had multiple. I have an infant - it's nearly impossible to travel without multiple carry-ons with an infant in tow.) Anyway, I dealt with that and made it to the gate.

Best news of the day - TSA let us fast track through security with first class since we had a kid in a stroller. Then we got stuck behind some stuck-up goth-laden rockers carrying Louis Vuitton bags and had to wait seemingly forever. Anyway after they were moving on, the TSA people actually asked me to take off my cardigan sweater to make sure there was nothing underneath - while I was carrying my baby. Like these other people with their black jackets wouldn't be hiding something more serious than my limp little cardigan? We looked at the TSA staff like they were nuts so they let us through. We bought water in the terminal before boarding the plane so we would have enough for the 3 of us, formula, and other needs while in flight.

On the flight back, we were leaving Kansas City which doesn't have shops inside security so we couldn't buy water. I brought a few extra bottles anyway to see what they would let us have. The guy explained that the more liquid formula you bring, the less water you're allowed to take, but he allowed me to bring one bottle of water because I had a few dry packets and only one can of the liquid. Come on... and to top it off, he gave me this look like "here, you can get away with more water if you bring more packets!" Like he was doing me some favor? If this is really a security risk, why would he be telling me this? Please.

I'm not afraid of flying, airplanes, or terrorists. Maybe I should be, but I'm not. What I am afraid of is stupidity, disorganization, loopholes, wasting time and money, and above all, poor management when it comes to security. I've been through a real clearance process that was much more rigorous, I'm willing to bet, than most of the TSA employees at airports have. Security should be serious. You don't bend the rules when it comes to true security. Ever. You don't keep changing them either. And you don't waste anybody's time. You look out for what's a realistic threat and you keep your eye on the ball. (And it wouldn't hurt to have a web site that didn't crash browsers either.)

Dolby Surrounds Geek Ball

Saturday night, Thomas Dolby headlined Palo Alto's biannual Black and White Ball. This was my first time attending and it was a good event, held at the Lucie Stern theater & community center near downtown Palo Alto, funds going to support city arts programs.

I expected that with 1500 people in attendance, it would feel packed and parking would be a pain but it was easy and not so busy as I'd expected, with 3 different rooms of musical artists and food vendors throughout. Basically somebody walked down University Avenue and got every restaurant in town to come provide food, which was great, as some of them are really good. Straits Cafe and Zibbibo won the food awards of the night in my opinion.

The ball was a bit on the casual side, to be expected in the heart of Silicon Valley. Most people wore short dresses and probably the majority of men were in tuxes, but there were several other types of attire present as well. People weren't stuffy though - everyone just had a good time - from Stanford EECS professors to Elvira. We bid and won a silent auction trip to Nice, France. Can't beat shopping that goes to a good cause.

We did run into a surprising number of friends and acquaintances who I didn't know would be attending. The Silicon Valley Moms were out - we couldn't have planned to have more of us present (see Jill's post) - as were some of my favorite Junior Leaguers.

Dolby himself was a bit of a surprise - it was more like Ray Cooper meets Trent Reznor. (He looks identical to the photo on the front of his web site.) The music was fun, and everybody seemed to be enjoying it. Definitely a good choice for the crowd. "She Blinded Me With Science" was actually not as fun as I though it would be, because it didn't have any of the emotional emphasis that the video holds - probably since he's sung it a zillion times. But all in all, it was a fun night.

Security Analysis Post 9/11

I have written a lot about security over the past several years. I don't call myself a security expert because I know a lot of real security experts, but having worked in the field a long time, I am quite knowledgeable on the subject so I thought I should weigh in on how we're doing since 9/11/2001.

National Security - Better & Worse
It's better because we now have funds being directed towards infrastructure costs that were needed such as securing water treatment facilities and mail protection. Unfortunately, there are also places that are inherently week and must remain so in order to be productive. Can you imagine searching every truck that went over the Bay Bridge to make sure it did not contain explosives? Traffic would be impossible.

National Security is worse because most of our military is elsewhere. If we were attacked at home again, depending on how we were attacked, we would not necessarily be able to respond rapidly. Also the Department of Homeland Security has become a major bureaucracy without much real accountability and that accounts for some of the lack of speed.

Air Travel Security - Better
TSA (Transportation Security Administration) has become another huge entity. The government has poured tons of money into it, but in the end, it's still a guessing game as to what tactics the terrorists will try to use next and whether it will even involve transportation at all. Rules keep changing to meet with current estimates of threats, including banning liquids. However, there are always holes in that system. For example, powdered infant formula is still allowed from what I've read. It is possible to make bombs out of infant formula, for example.

Air travel security is better because people are paying more attention to what's at stake, TSA employees generally do a good job (although they tend to relax when the terror alert is low, which isn't necessarily the right thing to do) and they tend to pay more attention to social engineering. A few basic changes that were made soon after 9/11 like locking the cockpit made planes much more secure. There are still issues with securing the airports themselves. Unfortunately, requiring biometric identification for passports isn't necessarily the right direction either due to inherent flaws in most of the biometric systmes.

Computer Security - The Same
With computer and network security, the problem is decentralized. And it rests on the shoulders on every company and server administrator to keep the Internet secure. A nasty virus could be released from anywhere to cripple systems across the globe. But computer security always gets put on the back burner when money is tight because it doesn't directly make companies money (although it does save them money usually in the long run).

The Cybersecurity arm of the Department of Homeland Security still needs to gain its footing. It has changed leadership numerous times since its inception and the only places I've heard of that really sounds like the government is taking any action are in securing government labs more tightly and creating an FBI hacker army of sorts - a computer crime squad. The NSA (National Security Agency) was doing wiretaps on international calls for a while but now that has been determined to be unconstitutional. I wouldn't really call that security anyway - it was more of an investigatory method.

Local Response - Better
I think this area improved more from the failures in New Orleans than due to 9/11. Much was promised for local response, but again it's an issue of money. Security and training is expensive, so with a tough economy, local responders are the last rung on the ladder to get paid. But since we had another (natural this time) disaster, it brought attention to the weaknesses in this process. The City of Menlo Park and San Mateo County have both sent out mailers on Emergency Preparedness and I have noticed more information sessions available to residents over the past few years.

Overall - Better
It would be sad to think that all of the money, time and effort going into security was not yielding some results after five years. I think overall, security is better (but don't let that fool you - there's still a lot that needs to be done and I still think the administration has been weak in this area). Awareness has increased and that is the first and most vital step in improving security. Unfortunately, we need occasional reminders that there are still terrorists out there waiting to strike and that not every nation is friendly to us in order to stay on alert. It's a delicate balance that must be struck between security and productivity, but that is the challenge we continue to face today.

Infant Formula Bombs

With the new security rules, nearly every liquid is banned. Moms and dads will be happy to know this does not include liquid infant formula as long as a baby is in tow. However, powder infant formula is allowed, which is a bit risky.

Powdered infant formula contains crystallized components that can be faked, meaning someone could carry bomb-making agents that look similar. These powders also often contain high concentrations of metals that make it difficult to detect real formula from fake formula - including with the X-ray machines used in airports. It would be necessary, however, for this material to be mixed with another bomb-making agent in order for it to be detonated.

Theft of formulas and black market formula creation and sales is on the rise. Resulting from the high price in infant formulas, some fringe groups are actually profiting from these black market sales - potentially even terrorist groups. And in 1994, a bomb was hidden inside a can of infant formula that exploded in a church in Baghdad.

It is inconvenient to not be able to carry formula or electronics and to have our children scanned, but these are legitimate threats. Not only could a detonator be devised to look like a cell phone, but it could be hidden inside a working phone as well. And terrorists won't always keep these items on their own person - they could sneak them into our carry-on bags in a tight security line. Be careful.