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Cognitive Impairment and Stupidity Aren’t the Same Thing

Writers and editors at The Independent had some fun with an article about a virus that, as they put it, “makes people more stupid.” The problem is that they confuse impaired cognitive function with stupidity. The headline may get attention, but it’s irresponsible.

Mood music:

http://youtu.be/4GzUh4PJVx8

The article begins with this:

A virus that infects human brains and makes us more stupid has been discovered, according to scientists in the US. The algae virus, never before observed in healthy people, was found to affect cognitive functions including visual processing and spatial awareness.

The article says 40 of 90 people studied tested positive for the so-called algae virus. “Those who tested positive performed worse on tests designed to measure the speed and accuracy of visual processing. They also achieved lower scores in tasks designed to measure attention,” the article stated.

So, we have a bacteria that can make people more stupid? Here’s a definition, for you:

stu·pid

adjective ?stü-p?d, ?styü-

: not intelligent : having or showing a lack of ability to learn and understand things

: not sensible or logical

: not able to think normally because you are drunk, tired, etc.

Source: Merriam-Webster

Thing is, hampered cognitive and visual processing is not the same as “not intelligent.”

I know many people, myself included, who endure varying degrees of mental impairment that puts a damper on cognitive function, attention and visual processing. When SAD hits me each winter, my attention span and ability to process situations in front of me go straight to the gutter. Friends and loved ones suffer similar problems at the hands of ADHD and autism.

Despite these disadvantages, we learn and gain a new understanding of things daily. We grow. We contribute value to society.

This algae bacteria sounds unpleasant, indeed. Nothing is more frustrating to a person than a body chemistry that pollutes and diminishes the senses.

But it hardly equates to stupidity.

I’ll refrain from affixing that label to the folks responsible for this article, because they too have the ability to learn and understand new things.

I hope they do so in this case.

Einstein wearing an 'I'm with Stupid' T-shirt

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Gene Simmons Can’t See the Rock Through the Dollar Signs

When KISS bassist Gene Simmons commented negatively on depression and suicide, I cheered Nikki Sixx for picking his argument apart. Now it’s my turn to pick apart a comment Simmons made.

He said rock is dead.

Mood music:

Truth is, I like Simmons. He’s given a lot to rock, and I still love listening to KISS, especially the music it put out in the 1970s and early ’80s. I love, too, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, the reality show he’s done with his family in more recent years.

But in an interview he did with his son Nick for Esquire, he said:

It’s very sad for new bands. My heart goes out to them. They just don’t have a chance. If you play guitar, it’s almost impossible. You’re better off not even learning how to play guitar or write songs, and just singing in the shower and auditioning for The X Factor. And I’m not slamming The X Factor, or pop singers. But where’s the next Bob Dylan? Where’s the next Beatles? Where are the songwriters? Where are the creators? Many of them now have to work behind the scenes, to prop up pop acts and write their stuff for them.

The more Simmons elaborates, though, the more you see that he’s talking more about the music industry’s business model than the strength of today’s music. Specifically, he blames file sharing on the Internet.

His complaints aren’t new. In the past few years I’ve heard him in interviews, lamenting how modern technology has killed the music industry. Record companies used to pay bands big bucks for their music and took care of all the musicians’ needs. Now anyone can record songs on a laptop and distribute it online.

As Billy Joel once sang, “The good old days weren’t always good and tomorrow’s not as bad as it seems.” If anything, modern technology makes it easier for musicians to be heard. I’m not yet confident enough a guitar player to put my music on SoundCloud, but I could do so anytime I want, and that’s empowering.

All that’s needed for rock to live on are musicians with the emotion and drive to keep writing, recording and playing live. Some of my personal favorites in terms of newer bands include Cage The Elephant, Avenged Sevenfold and The Pretty Reckless.

And many of the more veteran musicians I like — Zakk Wylde (of Black Label Society), Slash and Nikki Sixx (of SIXX A.M.) have or will release new music this year.

They will keep playing no matter what shape the music industry takes. As a result, the music that I rely on to get through life will never be in short supply.

Business models for the music industry will come and go. But rock will never die.

Kiss Destroyer Album Cover

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Gross Overreaction Still Haunts Kiera Wilmot

A year ago, I wrote about Kiera Wilmot, a student at Bartow (Florida) High School who was expelled and criminally charged for setting off an explosive after her science class volcano experiment backfired.

Mood music:

The trumped-up charges were eventually dropped, but Wilmot’s brush with the law continues to haunt her. According to civil liberties site Police State USA, the charges continue to taint Kiera’s record and impede her chances for success.

“All my charges have been dropped, but the lawyer says that it takes 5 years to clear each felony off the record,” Wilmot told the publication. She wants to be an engineer “building robots that can do tasks like surgeries or driving cars.” Here’s a young woman who was an honor student with no record of trouble. The principal described her as a “good kid” before expelling her anyway because he felt bound by the school’s zero-tolerance policy.

Suspending her might have been justified, but expelling her was over the top. The law slapping her with criminal charges for so obvious a mistake was shameful.

These are the incidents that make me lose faith in our institutions of education and law enforcement. The fear that has taken root in the aftermath of 9-11 and various school shootings has turned officials into overreactionary fools.

The year Wilmot has endured is tragic. Parties involved should atone for the injustice by helping the teen get back on her feet. I doubt they will, though. That would involve an admission of wrongdoing.

I suspect that Wilmot will achieve her dreams with hard work and determination, with no thanks to the society that should have supported her.

Kiera Wilmot

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Loudmouth Politics and the Damage Done

I love that we live in a country where freedom of speech is an essential right; that you can call your president names without getting thrown in jail. I also love that people are willing to debate their beliefs fervently, whatever those beliefs are.

But there’s a downside.

For some people, it’s not enough to state a political belief. They have to judge people who believe differently and resort to name calling.

Mood music:

I saw such a display recently. One person, a conservative who hates Barack Obama, was telling everyone that the president is “a piece of shit.” When someone else chimed in, saying something sympathetic to the president, the Obama hater exploded. “If you’re an Obama lover, I don’t like you!”

The Obama sympathizer had the good sense to walk away.

This is why we can’t solve the big problems. We can’t get past disagreements. Instead, we obliterate each other.

Or, more accurately, just enough people choose that approach to fuck things up for the rest of us.

If you don’t like the current occupant of the White House, good for you. If you think the problem is Congress, fine. By all means, speak your mind.

But if you can’t do it like a grownup, don’t be surprised when the rest of us walk away.

Ruined American Flag

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Bullied by the Word “Bully”

Walk into any school these days and you’ll see anti-bullying posters everywhere. I’m happy to see it, because kids need to learn what it is and how to stand up for themselves. Unfortunately, they’re taking cues from grownups who don’t always know what they’re talking about.

Mood music:

http://youtu.be/d2rmScLelmE

I was reminded of this after reading a blog post from Brian Martin, A.K.A. Jericho, of attrition.org.

Martin got into a protracted debate recently with Elizabeth Weidman, mother of security practitioner Georgia Weidman. I’m not even going to attempt to piece together the string of comments that lead to the inevitable cry of bullying, but I’ll do my best to give you the gist: Georgia tweeted something Jericho disagreed with. Jericho responded. Georgia didn’t like the response. Then Elizabeth came to her daughter’s defense:

Is this really the InfoSec community you want? Stand up for what you want. Don’t let the bullies of InfoSec do this to people. Stand up to them. Support each other loudly. If you don’t, this is the InfoSec you get. Georgia’s gone to some pretty dark places out of inexperience, out of fear, and out of mistakes she admits were her own. She’s made it out, I hope, but what about other new people in InfoSec, other people going through a hard time? Is it going to take someone dying to make you see/care?

Which led to Jericho’s response, which focuses on misuse of the word bully.

If we can arbitrarily call it “bullying” solely based on one side’s perception, then we’re all equally guilty of bullying. If I call you a jerk, and you call me an ass in return, we are both potentially guilty of it. In reality, I think we can all agree that is a bit absurd.

I don’t always agree with Jericho, but in this case he has a point. There’s a lot of snark, sarcasm and hearty disagreement in the security community. It plays out on Twitter around the clock. And while people can be assholes at times, I don’t think they can be called bullies. Not as it’s described in multiple dictionaries at least. Jericho offers a few definitions in his post, and writes:

The words threat, force, and coercion appear more than once in the definitions above and are the crux of what bullying is about. Everyone who is now equating the term “bullying” with anything less than a malicious, sustained campaign of hatefulness with the intent of coercing/threatening is the worst sort of cowardice and dishonesty. They are doing a disservice to society and themselves.

I was bullied as a kid. I also did more than my fair share of bullying. It’s something I regret. But while people can be jerks on Twitter, I don’t think it comes close to bullying.

People disagree with me frequently, which I expect and appreciate as a blogger who throws a lot of strong opinions out there.

Recently, some friends strongly disagreed with my posts suggesting we be more civil in the security community. I disagreed back, and at times I got annoyed. But I never felt bullied. I was being disagreed with, not threatened or forced to take a certain position.

If we can’t get it straight as adults, the anti-bullying education we’re trying to give children will be for nothing.

John Boehner Crying

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You See a SecBurnout Cult; I See Common Sense

Some folks are pissed over my recent posts about efforts in the security community to fight job burnout and depression. I won’t change your minds, so I’ll just clarify a few things and move along.

People have made five observations:

  1. The data is far too insufficient to declare a problem specific to the security community.
  2. Without data, all we have is opinion.
  3. The greater InfoSec Burnout movement and I have made it sound like this is an infosec problem or a workplace-centric problem rather than what it truly is: a mental health problem that the individual already has and brings to whatever job they have.
  4. I’m trying to superimpose my issues onto the rest of the community.
  5. I’ve gotten too caught up in the noise coming from the SecBurnout people.

That last line makes it sound like I’ve joined a cult of misguided infosec egotists who can’t see past their upraised noses. What follows is my opinion on each of the points above. I speak as an individual, not as part of any organized movement — security or otherwise.

  1. Data isn’t everything. I write from personal experience. Part of that includes discussions I have with distressed peers. It doesn’t always take a study to see a problem.
  2. Well-formed opinions based on experience are useful.
  3. I’ve said it repeatedly: A mentally ill person can be sent over the edge by their work circumstances, but in the final analysis the problem starts with them. I used to be crazy and work stress was a trigger. But the problem was always my inability to deal with stress. I had to be the change. I had to get treatment and find the coping tools. I had to create a new me. So it is with everyone.
  4. The notion that I’m superimposing my issues on the larger community is laughable. I didn’t start out on a mission specific to this community. It’s still not a security-only thing. But there are people who came to this community with mental illnesses who could use a helping hand. If I can share what I’ve learned in my own recovery with industry peers, I will. Maybe it’ll help them cope better with the stresses of the industry. Or maybe it’ll just help them cope better with life in general. Either way, it’s a win.
  5. I don’t believe I’m caught up in “noise.” I know where I’ve been and who I’ve talked to. When asked, I’ll always share what I’ve learned and who I learned it from. I’ll also be the first to admit I’m imperfect and still a work in progress.

This has never been about suggesting there’s a problem special to infosec. I don’t see a pandemic within the community. I see friends and colleagues grappling with territory I’m familiar with.

It’s as simple as that.

bill the cat giving rock sign

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Exploiting Tate-LaBianca Murders for Fun and Profit?

Y’all know I’ve long been obsessed about the Tate-LaBianca murders. But let’s be clear: All those stories about the spirits of Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring haunting a house a few doors down from where the murders took place? I don’t buy any of it.

Mood music:

http://youtu.be/5fvJEpdq8a8

The claim has been made by David Oman, whose home has been the subject of a Ghost Hunters episode and several other news reports.

Oman has been all too eager to invite people to his “haunted house” and those who’ve been there claim to have seen and heard strange things. But when you put someone in the spotlight, they’re bound to tell the world anything. They may even want to believe it so badly that they end up thinking they saw things that weren’t really there.

Now the house is in an episode of Ghost Adventures. People talk about having been being overcome with depression as they drove up the private way to Oman’s house. And Oman and others say the strange happenings are about more than the Tate hauntings. The site is also a Native American burial ground and a hotbed of paranormal activity, they say.

I remain skeptical. First of all, I drove up and down that street three times and never experienced any weird feelings. Secondly, Oman produced a movie loosely based on the murders called House at the End of the Drive, and I can’t help but suspect all the ghost stories are publicity to pump up the film.

There is also the fact that a lot of other residents in that neighborhood have never experienced anything abnormal.

It annoys me how people continue to exploit five murder victims who didn’t deserve the cards they were dealt. It seems we refuse to let them rest in peace.

If Oman ever invited me into his house — and I doubt he ever would — I’d go in. I’d even spend the night. One, because I’m curious. Two, because I’m always open to the possibility that I’m wrong. If I were proven wrong, I’d write about it.

But I’m not holding my breath.

Sharon Tate's House Photo by Bill Brenner. The big mansion on the left is where Sharon Tate’s house once stood. Oman’s house is on the far right.

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Coca-Cola’s “America the Beautiful” Ad and Misplaced Outrage

I finally got around to watching the Coca-Cola “America the Beautiful” ad that made so many people angry. So now I ask you: What’s the big deal?

http://youtu.be/443Vy3I0gJs

I usually avoid debates about immigration and whether people should learn to speak English in order to live here. There’s no winning debates like that. It’s a classic liberal vs. conservative argument. Those who feel strongly one way or the other are set in their views and will fly into a rage anytime someone presents a different opinion.

This commercial, originally shown during last weekend’s Super Bowl, sparked all the old outcries, including this from conservative commentator Glenn Beck:

“So somebody tweeted last night and said, ‘Glenn, what did you think of the Coke ad?,’ Beck said in a segment flagged by BuzzFeed. “And I said, ‘Why did you need that to divide us politically?’ Because that’s all this ad is. It’s in your face, and if you don’t like it, if you’re offended by it, you’re a racist. If you do like it, you’re for immigration. You’re for progress. That’s all this is: to divide people.”

Thing is, I look at this commercial and think nothing about politics. Nor do I think about Immigration Reform. I don’t think about the merits of speaking English only. I don’t think about Democrats or Republicans.

I simply see a video celebrating America’s diversity. Spanish isn’t the only language covered. It captures languages from around the world, representing all the world’s cultures. It celebrates the melting pot that is the U.S.A. Scores of cultures, living together.

There’s nothing political about it.

The only reason this ad has sparked controversy is because the typical voices from the extreme ends of the political spectrum chose to make a big deal about nothing.

Leave it to someone like Beck to take an ad promoting togetherness and turn it into a tirade about divisiveness.

Good grief.

Glenn Beck

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Sometimes, a Sex Song Is Just a Sex Song

Columnists have gone nuts since Beyoncé and husband Jay Z performed “Drunk in Love” at the Grammys. The song is about them having steamy, drunken sex. Nothing more, nothing less. Yet we can’t help pontificating about what it says of their marriage.

Here’s the Grammy Performance:

http://youtu.be/LaVeoJt0jfI

Here’s the official video, which is dirtier:

Debate over this song illustrates how we tend to overthink things.

Alyssa Rosenberg raved about the powerful case Beyoncé and Jay Z made for marriage in a Think Progress article:

Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Jay-Z got on the Grammy stage last night and did what conservatives have been dying for someone to do for ages: they made marriage look fun, and sexy, and a source of mutual professional fulfillment.

Missing here is the fact that marriage is about much, much more than sex. It’s important, to be sure, but it’s not enough to make a marriage go the distance. Have all the steamy moments you want. If two people can’t fill the gaps in each other’s souls, nothing else matters.

On the other hand, New York Post writer Naomi Schaefer Riley declares that Jay-Z is a shitty husband:

For years, these award ceremonies have pushed the envelope; Beyoncé’s booty-shaking was certainly no worse than Miley Cyrus’s twerking or any number of other performances by Madonna, for instance. But there’s something particularly icky about doing it while your husband looks on approvingly.

“Honestly, I didn’t want to watch Jay Z and Beyoncé’s foreplay,” says Charlotte Hays, author of “When Did White Trash Become the New Normal?” Indeed, the happy couple seems to have completely blurred the line between what goes on in their bedroom and what happens on national TV. So much for the woman that Michelle Obama has called “a role model who kids everywhere can look up to.”

Too much information? Maybe. Does it prove Jay Z is a pig whose idea of a strong marriage is exploiting his wife? Not really. Long before these two hooked up, they were performers who never shied away from controversy. Riley suggests Beyoncé is a victim. She doesn’t give the singer nearly enough credit for controlling her image and destiny.

Another line of debate concerns this lyric from Jay Z in the song: “Eat the cake, Anna Mae.” Beyoncé joins in on the rap, which alludes to a scene in the 1993 Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It? where abusive husband and musical partner Ike Turner forces cake on his wife in the prelude to another violent blow up:

http://youtu.be/DadlLq2yrBw

Is one line of a song proof that he espouses domestic abuse? Hardly. Since the beginning of time we’ve heard musicians sing of love publicly while being abusive in their relationships. We’ve also heard musicians talk tough in song and be anything but offstage.

The thing is, sometimes a sex song is just a sex song.

beyonce and Jay Z

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Cable News and the Justin Bieber Effect

I lost faith in cable news as a conduit for useful, balanced information long ago. Once I stopped watching, the drop in my depression and anxiety was considerable. I grew a lot less bored, too.

When I see respected journalists like MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell cutting off an interview with a former congresswoman to report breaking news about Justin Bieber’s DUI arrest, I know all the more that shutting it off was the right course of action.

With its action, MSNBC is telling us another star getting arrested is more important than all those troubling revelations about NSA spying. That’s what Mitchell was talking to former US Rep. Jane Harman about when she decided to interrupt the report. So that must be the message.

And it’s not just MSNBC. I see the same type of behavior from Fox News and CNN on a regular basis.

People love to pick on Bieber for a variety of reasons, and you all know I’m no fan. But his antics look pretty mundane when compared to the bullshit these cable news networks dish out with rushing speed.

Excuse me as I shut the news off again. I have more important things to do, like counting the socks in my drawer.

Justin Bieber MSNBC Jane Harman Illustration by Starcasm.net.