short takes

[cellio]

Our landlord has installed combination locks on the restroom doors, as a security measure. Um. You already have to pass a security guard, or swipe a card, to get into the building. And if they were going to use locks anyway, wouldn't it be more secure to use those same cards instead of distributing a combination by word of mouth? (Every sys-admin known to man knows how well the shared password works over time.) Eh, whatever -- my memory for short sequences of otherwise-useless numbers is pretty good, so it doesn't harm me personally. It just seems a little odd to do it that way.

Was the Nick Berg video a fabrication? (Link from metahacker.) I can't tell if this is a case of conspiracy theories gone wild or something real, and I'm not qualified to evaluate things like Jordanian accents, but the point about the blood could be telling. (I have only second-hand information on the amount of blood, having neither the stomach nor the inclination to watch the video.)

The fine art of systems development (largish cartoon), courtesy of ommkarja.

Fun quotes from a chemistry class focusing on explosives, from anisodragnfly. My favorite: "This [fireball] should be four times bigger, but you should be okay where you are."

Seen on CNN:

Comments

[cafemusique.livejournal.com]

I liked the picture I saw on CNN a few days ago, very similar except the prices listed were:

ARM - Regular
LEG - Plus
FIRST BORN - Premium

but they were just taped over the real prices and on normal paper.

[cellio]

:-)

Of course, some of us might quibble with the implied priorities. First-born? Sure, all yours -- but stay away from my arms and legs!

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

Depending on interpretation, they might not give you gas until you have a first-born to trade them. :)

[cellio]

Oh. That does put a damper on things.