Archive for August 9th, 2023

DEFCON 31 notes.

Wednesday, August 9th, 2023

The Black Hat Briefings in Las Vegas started today.

DEFCON 31 starts tomorrow, though it seems like Friday is when things pick up.

Despite the recent, and much appreciated, shout-out from Borepatch, I’m feeling kind of ambivalent about trying to keep up with DEFCON this year.

My recent trip (write-up coming in the next few days, promise) blew a pretty big hole in my schedule. I haven’t had any time to do prep work for DEFCON/Black Hat. And I have a whole bunch of things I want to do, and so little time to do them in.

I also rely heavily on Twitter for links to presentations. And the current state of Twitter makes that almost impossible.

It also feels like DEFCON has moved past me. It used to feel like a gathering of one of my tribes. Now it feels like…something else. I note that DEFCON admission is now $460. And you don’t get free admission, or even a discount, if you go to Black Hat.

Still, tradition is tradition. So let’s see how badly I can do this.

(more…)

Posted in Android, DEFCON, DEFCON 31, Phones, Radio | Comments Closed

Found objects.

Wednesday, August 9th, 2023

One thing you can say about travel: it is good for blog content.

Some things I found while I was on the road. Why don’t we start off with my “You can call me Jimmy Lileks” mode.

My family sort of has a tradition of accumulating matchbooks. There were a lot of matchbooks where I was, many for restaurants that have gone out of business.

The significance of the “Cathedral Buffet” explained here.

I like ships. I like maritime history. I picked this out because I was curious about the history of the SS Mardi Gras.

Turns out, the SS Mardi Gras was the very first Carnival Cruise Lines ship.

RMS Empress of Canada was an ocean liner built in 1961 by Vickers-Armstrongs, Walker-on-Tyne, England, for Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd. The liner sailed in the trans-Atlantic trade between Liverpool and Canada.

Ted Arison bought the ship in 1972, renamed it, and it went out for its first Carnival cruise on March 11, 1972. It sailed for Carnival until 1993, bounced around various other cruise lines, and was finally broken up for scrap in 2003.

I remember Billy Beer, even though I wasn’t of drinking age at the time. But I do not have any recollection of “J.R. Ewing’s Private Stock”. (It should come as no surprise to the Texas contingent among my readers that “Private Stock” was produced at the Pearl Brewery.)

Just for fun.

Also, just for fun, regional variations among snack flavors:

The Old Bay flavored cheese curls (there are also potato chips) are a little weird, but not that surprising to me. I recently bought some Old Bay flavored goldfish for the Saturday Dining Conspiracy’s collection of odd snacks.

“Roast Pork Sandwich” does seem a little odd to me.

Someone asked me what the difference between “tomato pie” and “deep dish pizza with no meat or cheese” was. This led me to look up “tomato pie”, and I wish I had not.

Posted in Food, History | Comments Closed

Obit watch: August 9, 2023.

Wednesday, August 9th, 2023

I’m home now. Regular blogging will resume later, including something of a trip report. And some more gun book blogging is coming soon.

In the meantime:

Robert Swan, actor.

Other credits include “C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America”, “Somewhere in Time”, and (interestingly) the “Nightcrawlers” episode of the 1985 “Twilight Zone” revival. Lawrence is right: that is one heck of a segment.

Rodriguez, the singer/songwriter who was the subject of “Searching for Sugar Man”. I feel bad whenever I post a music related obit, as I just don’t have the knowledge to be able to do these well. pigpen51, would you like to step in here?

Posted in 1970s, Music, Obits, TV | Comments Closed