Wednesday, October 09, 2002

Going through airport security this morning, I set off the metal detector and had to be wanded.  (Gotta remember to lose the belt and watch....)  No biggie.  Philadelphia is one of the earlier airports to have federal Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) personnel handling security.  The TSA staff acted with an almost exaggerted courtesy, which I've experienced every time I've dealt with them.  It's a noticeable contrast from the staff of the private contractors who ran airport security pre-9/11.  But why?  The TSA workers are better paid and screened, so I would expect them to be more effective and efficient.  That doesn't necessarily make them nicer.  Federal bureaucracies don't exactly have a great reputation for customer service, and you would think that in this case all the emphasis would be on security rather than politeness.  TSA management must be making a point of training employees to be courteous.   Make no mistake, I'm not complaining.  I'm just pleasantly surprised. [Werblog] I'm glad to hear that things are getting better.  I have been avoiding flying because of all the stupid crap that had been going on.  Maybe it's time to fly the friendly skys again. 12:29:38 AM

Report: Wi-Fi Networks Too Risky. Consumers and businesses lulled by the ease and speed of wireless networks, be warned: The federal government has deemed Wi-Fi LANs not secure enough. Wireless tech providers ask, 'What else is new?' By Elisa Batista. [Wired News] It's not a closed system.  You can do what you can, but in the end going with wireless connectivity is a decision to sacrifice some security to gain some freedom.  Freedom of movement in this case, but it's a classic trade-off. 12:21:43 AM

Mark Pilgrim: In praise of evolvable formats. "If it were April Fool’s Day, the Net’s only official holiday, and you wanted to design a 'novelty format' to slip by the W3C as a joke, it might look something like RSS 0.9x/2.0." A beautiful essay. I laughed out loud a dozen times reading it. If you aspire to design real-world formats and protocols, or if you just want to understand how they evolve, this is a must-read. [Scripting News] 12:13:32 AM