(In)Security. Here's another of the TED talks I accumulate from various places; unfortunately I no longer remember who to credit for the tip. Security expert Bruce Schneier speaks on our models of security, our feelings of security, and why these often differ from the reality of our security. I wish he had given more concrete examples, but it's still a good talk, especially at the beginning when he makes the point that all security decisions are tradeoffs, and the proper question to ask is not so much, "Does this make us safer?" as "Is it worth the cost?" He's probably thinking about national and computer security, but the application that immediately jumps to my mind is parenthood. Whether it's airport body scanners, tamper-proof bottles, or removing tall slides from playgrounds, it's important to realize that security—or even the illusion of security—comes at a cost.
UPDATE 8/15/19: At some point over time, a large chunck of this post—numbers 2-7—went missing. I have no idea why. The video below obviously went with one of the missing posts.
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I've been following Bruce Schneier's blog for a while.
As for the (awesome) Logos vacation policy, I'm in the middle of a week-long vacation right now. :) But so far I'm not taking any more or less vacation than I did before the change. It's nice not to have to report it to accounting, though.
Thanks for the update, Peter. May such enlightened attitudes about vacation spread quickly from the West Coast to the East! Is it, in a away, like being self-employed? You can take vacation whenever you want, but don't abuse it because there is work to be done?
And what do you think of Schneier's theories?
Yes, we don't abuse it because there's work to be done. And also to avoid being seen as a slacker; maybe the self-employed don't have to worry about that. :)
I usually tend to agree with Schneier.
