November 22, 2024

Archives for 2002

A Stroll Through the Logs

The website statistics program I use (webalizer) lets me see what search strings people are using when they find this site via the usual search engines. November’s report is amusing.

The most common search string that led to the site is “tinker.” No surprise there. Number two, though, was “fart noises.” (That matches a Fritz’s Hit List entry, in case you’re wondering.)

This raises important questions that merit future research. Is this site known primarily for its material on fart noises? Or are there lots of people out there searching for “fart noises” and then stumbling onto this site? Readers are invited to submit explanations.

(“Fart noises” ranked highly in October, too, behind only “tinker,” “freedom to tinker,” and “fritz’s hit list”.)

Also interesting is the fact that more people found this site by searching for “ed felton” (with my last name spelled incorrectly) than for “ed felten” (the correct spelling). The misspelling appears nowhere on this site, so it must be that people link to the site using the misspelled name, or that some search engines are smart enough to correct for the misspelling.

In a related story, click here for an explanation of how Eugene Volokh’s serious, non-porn site was a search result for “kazakh girls nude”.

More Great Stuff From Seth Schoen

If you want to understand what the whole Palladium/LaGrande/”trusted computing” issue is about, you should read Seth Schoen’s recent writing. His analysis is insightful, technically sound, independent, and hype-free. For the latest example, click here, scroll down to “Trusted Computing,” and read the next several sections.

Early Release of MS Decision Just a Blunder

Ted Bridis at AP confirms, based on an internal investigation by court staff, that the early release to the Web of Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s rulings in the Microsoft case was just a mistake by someone on the staff.

Garfinkel on Mitnick's Book

Simson Garfinkel has an interesting reaction to Kevin Mitnick’s recent book.

Mitnick, “the most famous computer hacker of our time,” claims to have operated mainly by social engineering, that is, by conning people into giving him restricted information. Garfinkel describes how Mitnick-type attacks can be mitigated by wisely-designed technology.

I'm Back

London was fabulous, though Northwest Airlines did give us an extra “bonus” day at Gatwick airport on the return trip.

Posting will resume later today, once I’ve crawled out from under the pile in my inbox.