Bill Brenner

How To Avoid Becoming #RSAC Roadkill

by Bill Brenner February 19, 2013 Coping tools

Last year was a first: I had a stay-at-home vacation a week before flying out to a big conference. We took the kids to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and did a lot of relaxing. It worked so well I’m doing it again. Mood music: The kids are on their February school vacation, which was my main reason for choosing this week. That it fell the week before RSA — one of the…  [Read More]

What’s Your Phobia?

by Bill Brenner February 18, 2013 Fear and anxiety

I’ve recently come across a couple of interesting phobia lists, and being the OCD head I am, I decided to carefully go through the lists to see which applied to me. Mood music: [spotify:track:2b9lp5A6CqSzwOrBfAFhof] The Phobia List is a straight-up dictionary of phobias, in alphabetical order. Here are some of the phobias that have applied to me at various points: Agateophobia: The fear of insanity. Who’s not afraid of insanity? Aviophobia or aviatophobia: The fear…  [Read More]

Why I Skipped #ShmooCon — Again

by Bill Brenner February 16, 2013 Family

Like last year, a lot of people have asked me why I’m not at the ShmooCon security conference in Washington D.C. After all, it is one of my favorite events. Mood music: [spotify:track:3xMZrNrfyKUUqQVtoR13ml] Simply put, it’s too close to the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco the week after next. Being away from home for multiple days for two weeks inside a month is simply more than my family can handle these days. Last year…  [Read More]

If You Saw It on Facebook, It’s Probably a Lie

by Bill Brenner February 14, 2013 Communication Skills

People on Facebook love to get all self-righteous. That’s fine by me, as long as the emotion is based on truth. The problem these days is that people are increasingly gullible, accepting memes as gospel when they are in fact bullshit. Mood music: [spotify:track:1lnRSUq00nBW9fpNeICZQN] One example is a picture of a letter reported to be written by a U.S. service man claiming, essentially, that Starbucks hates soldiers and won’t let them have their coffee. The…  [Read More]

Truth in Advertising at the Heart Attack Grill?

by Bill Brenner February 13, 2013 Food

I admit to some laughter when I read the news that John Alleman, unofficial spokesman and mascot for Las Vegas’ infamous Heart Attack Grill, dropped dead of a heart attack outside the restaurant. “Talk about truth in advertising,” I thought to myself. Then I felt like an asshole. Mood music: [spotify:track:4dIv6OPKSfGNfWuhv1hEDV] Finding humor in someone’s death is bad enough, but I could have easily been this guy. Frankly, I still could be. The Heart Attack Grill…  [Read More]

What Do You Mean I Don’t Believe in God? I Talk To Him Everyday…

by Bill Brenner February 13, 2013 Faith

Here we are at the start of Lent, and I’m still at a loss as to what I should be sacrificing for the next 40 days. Alcohol? Food items? I’ve already permanently sacrificed those things. Mood music: [spotify:track:3090goAxG6IlpCifA8m9xB] Lent is a time to sacrifice habits you love, gain a true appreciation for the sacrifices Jesus made [which were well beyond anything mortal man can comprehend) and draw closer to God. [More on my Faith in Absolute…  [Read More]

A Few Thoughts About Pope Benedict XVI

by Bill Brenner February 12, 2013 Faith

I’ve had 24 hours to absorb the news that Pope Benedict XVI is stepping down at the end of the month. I think he’s doing the right thing and showing some true fortitude. But I’m also glad because there’s an opportunity for the Catholic Church to right some wrongs. Mood music: [spotify:track:2C9RcoXlyJEV0IJUNWWCVM] The Church has stubbornly held on to backward beliefs about the role of women, the status of a person’s Catholicism after a divorce, and…  [Read More]

The Information Technology Burnout Project

by Bill Brenner February 11, 2013 Depression

The Information Technology Burnout Project, created by friends in the security community, addresses something most of us experience at one point or another: work-induced depression. Mood music: The website is only part of the project. Project members have also held panel discussions about job stress and burnout at various security conferences across the United States. During those discussions, people have been open about the depression, despair and hopelessness they’ve traveled through in the face of…  [Read More]

Naming Winter Storms: Good Intentions, Bad Idea

by Bill Brenner February 8, 2013 Fear and anxiety

Here we are, waiting for another “potentially historic” storm to strike the Boston area. Two feet of snow is expected, along with high winds and five-foot snow drifts. Fair enough. It’s winter and we haven’t had a significant snowfall yet. But I’m baffled by the logic behind naming these storms. Mood music: [spotify:track:2JsiEwxDXXPAf0WFnE142f] The weather forecasters have named this storm Nemo, presumably in honor of the clownfish from Finding Nemo, a movie that has nothing…  [Read More]

The Boy Scouts of America Acted Cowardly

by Bill Brenner February 7, 2013 For misfits

Yesterday I opined that the Boy Scouts of America should allow gays into the organization. I suggested that the organization was being cowardly by leaving it up to individual chapters to do the right thing, but a friend disagreed. Mood music: [spotify:track:3SHPJOuQ357m5S1AjyNpKU] Wrote my friend: At a local level, the scouts are heavily supported by churches and religious groups. An all-out and immediate change would result in a mass exodus of sponsoring organizations, which would…  [Read More]

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