The Liz and I were sitting down for an informal dinner tonight. "Hey Dad. I've gotten an A+ in Accelerated English". No, those aren't the magic words, but good girl.
As we discuss her latest reading, "To Kill a Mockingbird", she provides to me a framework for the story and the characters involved. "There's Scout and Dill and Jem. Scout is the storyteller and the book is narrated from her point of view. In the scene where . . ." Those are good words, but not quite magic.
After dinner, we are on our way upstairs and she turns to me and says, "Awww. I wish I would have brought that book home. I really feel like reading it". Those are magic words to my ears. An A+ is good, but when she expressed a sincere appreciation for the book and wanted to engage in reading, I knew she had experienced reading as I and many others have. This is the first time that I've heard her express genuine interest in a book that was compelling to her beyond the boundaries of school. She has always been a good reader, but this is something that I hope will be with her the rest of her life and not just something that happened in the pursuit of an A+ back in 10th Grade English. ((Scalper has a moment; one which doesn't involve calculus in any manner)).
It is rare that I link to security content on other blogs and quite honestly, I haven't established any semblance of coherence on the topic here. I'll ramble occasionally, but I don't have an agenda and I don't have a (publicly available) focus. I recently linked Adam Shostack over at Emergent Chaos because I believe that disclosure is important.(here, here, here and here). Disclosure is a difficult topic and Adam and Chris Walsh (and the rest of the Jazz Ensemble) have a way of getting to the meat of the topic.
But today, I really enjoyed a simple post by tqbf over at matasano chargen. With the blogosphere, and in particular with sites like Slashdot and digg and others, it is easy for people to attempt to establish a reputation or flame or provide commentary that while they feel is on-topic is really not on point. Many of these are noise and a waste of time and for that reason, provide the motivation for me to avoid these sites. After reading comments on a post at Slashdot, tqbf provides for skepticism, clearly cutting through any foolish views. He states:
The problem with the original article is that it says in 500 words what could reasonably be said in 50.
The problem with the Slashdot response is that it is incompetent.
Hey, tell me how you really feel. Seriously, I wish that there were more people with the simple reasoning skills that he applies. Security is difficult, but that doesn't mean that those that are unqualified should render opinions and make noise on Slashdot, digg and others. I'm humbled by the talent at matasano. tqbf distills a topic that is in need of Totally Qualified Blatant Foundations (and no that is not the abbreviation's meaning). If I learn nothing else today, I can go to sleep satisfied that this information is made clear in a public place and in such a concise manner. If I wasn't clear, READ THIS POST.
. . . and then read it again.