If you don't like Doctor Frank, you should. And if you haven't told a friend yet, you also should.#

Charles Miller covers it the best.#

One reason Microsoft Internet Explorer annoys me is the typo feature. When you mistype a domain, rather than give you back an error-message, it redirects you to MSN's search site. I don't like this for two reasons: firstly it adds significantly to the time it takes to just correct the typo and load the right page. Secondly, it makes an annoying assumption at which search engine I might want to use. (Hint: it's not MSN)

This is one reason I try not to use MSIE. Mozilla throws up an error message when it can't find a domain, and makes it very easy for me to choose Google as my default search-engine.

Verisign, it seems, have the trump-card. By putting a wildcard DNS on '.net' and '.com', they are redirecting every single domain typo to their own search page. I can't even begin to describe how much this whole idea annoys me.

It's disreputable. I've always considered typo-squatting—the practise of registering domains that are similar to popular sites so as to get hits from typos—to be a pretty underhand tactic: something you'd expect from the second-hand car salesman school of marketing. Now Verisign are planning to typo-squat probably half the Internet.

Charles Miller on Apple's prowess.#

It occurred to me, as I was sitting on IRC watching the news filter across various networks, through some people who deliberately stayed up through the night to be awake while Steve Jobs gave his keynote in Paris, that Apple is really the only hardware company in the world that can get this level of interest in what are essentially incremental upgrades.

Gordon Weakliem comments on a quote that I posted the other from the book, Computer...#

Over at je apostrophe, there's a quote from one of the early conferences on software engineering: "We build systems like the Wright brothers built airplanes-build the whole thing, push it off the cliff, let it crash, and start over again." I've been reading To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight. The book (at least the early chapters) is basically a contrast between the efforts of Samuel Langley at the Smithsonian Instutition and the Wright Brothers. Langley's method was in fact much like what the quote describes: build the whole plane, launch it, and pick up the pieces. The Wrights took a much different approach - these days, we might call it an "Agile" process.

Read for the details. This is an example of me noting knowing about the truth behind things I quote, but rather, finding them interesting for what they mean allegorically. I think I will read the book he mentions.

Ryan McGee is a bitter romantic.#

Thing is, you stuck out so clearly in September that I find it hard to think I could have met you earlier and not remembered. You had this glow about you, this very "Arwen in 'Lord of the Rings'" aura (and yes, I made a LOTR reference…I don't have to see your furrowed brow, so I can slip one last one in). Wasn't so much how you looked (tattered jeans, black sweater over white tank top), but how you carried yourself. Moreover, how you carried yourself to me. Shoulder towards my body, space invaded, eyes attentive. All towards me. Made me feel interesting, funny, like I was the only one there. You did this thing with your hair, and it just...

Played it as cool as I could, but thing is, I get these crushes pretty fast. You seemed to know it. You've always known it. Known my type. So easy to get the attention you want, all you gotta do is give guys like me the attention we need. Little investment for a large return. You'd do well as a venture capitalist. I'd take a few tips from you in that arena. About the only advice I'd take from you know. In business, you need a cold heart, and that's what you've got.

Moxie is my kind of story teller.#

The last channel I got with my shabby rabbit ears had some sort of Tony Robbins infomercial. That'll do, I thought. I make fun of him from time to time but happy, positive thoughts are what I need as I scrape cat shit and wash moldy dishes.

So I listened. You know, people who were so enthused about Tony Robbin's 7 day program that they spit positive thinking while bouncing all over the golf green. Talking crazy-talk about how they made 5 billion dollars yesterday. Exactly three days after listening to Tony's CD's.

Who can forget the woman whose entire family was living out of her 1971 Ford Pinto. Her 6 kids ate nothing but sardines — no wonder since somehow they scraped together 210 bucks and GOD (glances upward) only knows how they were delivered to her car or how she found (stole) a CD player to listen to them. Almost as miraculous as the Robbin's delivery, a month later she found a rich husband. Thanks to that initial sacrifice Pinto-woman now lives in Bel-Air and enjoys a successful career as a journalist for the LA Times, even though she dropped out of school during the 4th grade and never quite mastered reading and writing.

Tony Pierce and words of wisdom.#

rosalita is a great kisser. when i kiss her i think that kissing is something that is a natural thing. you cant really teach it, it just is. first time we kissed it was perfect. and every time after only got better.

im starting to think that kissing is like fishing. either you get it the first time and youre great at it, or youre constantly going for it and failing. but its better to have a crappy day fishing than a great day digging a ditch.

i think the same goes for kissing, but ive lost myself in there somewhere.

Let it be.

Tony Pierce writes some other great stuff...#

writers can be obsessive about what they love, the same way others can. its all bad. everything should be in moderation. what i do has no moderation. super hot chick was over the other day. great ass. i walked over to my computer out of habit and she said, where ya goin? and tapped the empty sofa spot next to her and i had to think to myself, yeah where the hell are you going?

im going nowhere.

fast as i know how.

had the pleasant opportunity to talk to anna kournikova today. she was touched by the little thing i wrote about her. she asked me how much of it i meant.

i told her that i didnt mean any of it, that i just wrote it to fool people into thinking that i was romantical.

f anna.

I actually like having just one button.#

Madpony addresses the critics. (This phrase stolen from Tony.)#

with fame comes adversity. we of madpony have experienced a brush with fame lately, thanks to the mad love from blogger.com, instapundit, and the continued support of tony p. however, our moment in the sun could not help but draw a few detractors. over the past week, we have been accused of being - now, brace yourselves - lightweights of the blogging world. apparently some people do not see the true gravity of topics like sororities, working out, ad campaigns, college life, and boys.

alarmed by these weighty accusations, we called an emergency summit at madpony headquarters. after an intense discussion over a carton of braum's mint chocolate chip, we came to a difficult yet necessary conclusion. with our newfound fame comes a certain responsibility to society, a certain need to provide more than simply makeup tips and man advice.

Bruce Scheier has a new CRYPTOGRAM out.#

An interesting quote about accidents versus attacks.

At a time when we're worried about attacks -- by terrorists, hackers, and ordinary criminals -- it's worth spending some time talking about accidents.

Some years ago computer-security researcher Ross Anderson described the difference as Murphy vs. Satan. Defending against accidents, he said, means designing and engineering in a world ruled by Murphy's Law. Things go wrong because, well, because things go wrong. When you're designing for safety, you're designing for a world where random faults occur. You're designing a bridge that will not collapse if there's an earthquake, bed sheets that won't burst into flames if there's a fire, computer systems that will still work -- or at least fail gracefully -- in a power blackout. Sometimes you're designing for large-scale events -- tornadoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters -- and sometimes you're designing for individual events: someone slipping on the bathroom floor, a child sticking a fork into something (accidental from the parent's point of view, even though the child may have done it on purpose), a tree falling on a building's roof.

Security is different. In addition to worrying about accidents, you also have to think about nonrandom events. Defending against attacks means engineering in a world ruled by Satan's Law. Things go wrong because there is a malicious and intelligent adversary trying to force things to go wrong, at the very worst time, with the very worst results. The differences between attacks and accidents are intent, intelligence, and control.