language NaBloPoMo · 450 words
The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary. Terry Pratchett The law leaves indelible traces in our language. In the UK, cars have to undergo an annual vehicle…
Continue reading →conferences NaBloPoMo · 200 words · Viewed ~498 times
I'd recently given a talk at a conference and was gently basking in the glow of people telling me how fabulous I was, when some entitled prick came up to me and said... Great talk, mate! Really interesting stuff. But... "Oh great!" I thought. "Here it comes..." To play Devil's Advocate for a moment, have you... "No. Stop." I said. And, to my surprise, he did. "The Devil doesn't need any more …
Continue reading →economics NaBloPoMo · 1 comment · 1,350 words · Viewed ~672 times
I am not an economist - so perhaps someone more intellectually equipped than me has already written a better version of this blog post. "I, Pencil" by Leonard E. Read is an influential essay on the nature of free-market capitalism. It correctly points out that the modern world is so complex and interdependent that no one man can know his true place in it. The world is impossible to control, so …
Continue reading →NaBloPoMo WeekNotes work · 1 comment · 800 words · Viewed ~614 times
These are the lyrics to my constant earworm: Sometimes my life it feels like fiction Some of the days it's really quite surreal George Harrison - Pisces Fish I occasionally find myself having meetings in the Palace of Westminster with People From The News. I want to talk about what that's like. I'm waiting to go in to an office, quietly rehearsing what answers I'm going to give. Sat over…
Continue reading →art data NaBloPoMo python tfl wikipedia · 15 comments · 2,500 words · Viewed ~7,465 times
One of my favourite works of art is The Great Bear by Simon Patterson. At first glance, it appears to be a normal London Tube map. But look closer... Cool! But there is something about it which has always bothered me. Each Tube line represents a theme - therefore, a station at the intersection of multiple lines should be represented by someone who matches all of those themes. For example,…
Continue reading →gender NaBloPoMo satire tech · 600 words · Viewed ~337 times
There's been lots of talk recently of the dearth of women attending technical conferences. This problem is blown out of all proportion! There are many excellent reasons to attend an all-male tech event: Reduced chance of having an affair while away on business ⚤ Hetrosexuals only! Won't accidentally mistake a CEO for a cocktail waitress 💁🍸 embarrassing! Excellent networking opportunities i…
Continue reading →hack javascript NaBloPoMo Responsible Disclosure security sri · 12 comments · 700 words · Viewed ~34,598 times
A few months ago, British Airways' customers had their credit card details stolen. How was this possible? The best guess goes something like this: BA had 3rd party JS on its payment page <script src="https://example.com/whatever.js"></script> The 3rd party's site was hacked, and the JS was changed. BA's customers ran the script, which then harvested their credit card details as they were…
Continue reading →alexa IoT NaBloPoMo Smart Home · 10 comments · 600 words · Viewed ~9,629 times
One evening, my wife turned to me in bed and said, "Winter is coming..." Well, what she actually said was "Get your frozen feet away from me, you cold-blooded monster!" The only way to save our marriage? HOOK OUR BED UP TO THE INTERNET! I couldn't find an electric blanket with IoT connectivity - so I built my own. Why? As a person with cold feet, I want to yell at my robot servant to…
Continue reading →NaBloPoMo security sri · 2 comments · 250 words · Viewed ~747 times
Here's a curiosity which I found while stumbling through the Sony PlayStation store. The website loads internally hosted scripts using SRI (SubResource Integrity). Why? Does your work require you to swipe an ID card to access the building? That seems pretty normal. Does your work also remind you to keep your badge visible, and to challenge people who aren't wearing theirs? That also seems…
Continue reading →NaBloPoMo ODcamp Open Data OpenBenches · 4 comments · 500 words · Viewed ~489 times
For the last year-and-a-bit, Liz and I have been running OpenBenches.org. An open data website dedicated to memorial benches. Here are some rough and ready numbers about how it has gone so far. 9,870 Benches At the time of writing, we're a little shy of 10,000 benches. As you can see, we have photos from all around the world. 9,000 UK Benches The majority of our benches are in the UK. …
Continue reading →health meta NaBloPoMo · 2 comments · 200 words · Viewed ~237 times
I've recently been suffering from a nasty bout of RSI. Thanks to the NHS, I know it isn't full Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which is good. But I do need to take better care of myself. My usual kit is the MS 4000 ergonomic keyboard and an Evoluent Vertical Mouse. But recently I've been travelling a lot, and cramping over a MacBook's tiny keyboard. And that's taken a toll on me. The pain in my…
Continue reading →NaBloPoMo security sri · 2 comments · 550 words · Viewed ~2,191 times
Some external JavaScript libraries are dynamic. That's a problem for the SRI model of security. How can this be fixed? Definitions Suppose I want my website to have the latest version of the jQuery library. I might use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to serve the code for me. <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script> If an attacker were to…
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