short takes

[cellio]

It's a pity that all waivers aren't this straightforward (link from Dani). I particularly like: In other words, you guys won't sue us guys. We could drag this part out for pages, but you are racers, not namby-pamby whiners who sit up late at night watching TV commercials that have some lawyer telling you to call 1-800-SUETHEM.

dglenn re-posted a link to the spoons essay that attempts to explain living with chronic pain to healthy folks like me. It's a powerful anology that I've known about for a long time, but I wanted to (1) cache the link and (2) spread it.

Bruce Shneier on the new national ID card (link from goldsquare). Bruce has a lot of good things to say about why this is a bad idea. While I have some minor quibbles, I agree with what he's saying here.

I think I finally have my spam filters working reasonably well. (That is, as well as they can based just on SpamAssassin ratings and a few repeat offenders who warrant special treatment.) I occasionally get false positives, so I want to be able to glance through candidates, but at ~100/day that's tedious. It appears that sending messages rated 7 or higher to the bit bucket, while keeping 5-6 to inspect, will work. I've been using these settings for a week and during that time the "maybe spam" folder has only accumulated 80 messages (compared to 600 in "almost definitely spam"). Sadly, the spam that makes it to my inbox usually comes through with scores under 2, and much of my legitimate mail is that high, so I can't do much about that.

Comments

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'd never read the "spoons" essay before, but it makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing it.

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

One of these days, I'm going to get my hands on the waiver for the annual blacksmith competition that's held in Erie County and scan it in. Paraphrasing: "And I know that if I play with things that are hot or heavy or sharp and I'm not careful I may hurt myself" ... "And if I should die because I did something incredibly stupid, don't mourn for me because I went out doing what I love most ... blacksmithing!"

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

I travelled by air this weekend.

Before entering security, they checked my ID and ticket. I went through the scanner thingy, and on the way out, 25' away, they checked my ID and ticket again. WTF, like I would suddenly become a different person or no longer be on a flight in that 25 feet?

If I were a terrorist, wouldn't I just get a fake ID and buy a real ticket? This ticket-checking nonsense only serves to hurt the businesses in the airside mall.

[nickjong.livejournal.com]

I also just wanted to thank you for sharing the spoons essay.