Work/Nimda/Aftermath
Sept. 19, 2001
I haven't posted in a while. This is probably because I'm used to posting late at night, and I rarely see "late at night" anymore. I'm having a so-so time getting used to my new 7 AM wake up time. I don't think I've gotten up that early on a consistent basis since my freshman year of college, when I had a 7:25 Wed. Tech Writing lab. Blah.
I'm enjoying my work at Press Ganey. I'm working on my full project now, which is something called Infoedge. Its basically a data mining sort of tool that allows clients to generate various reports from their survey data. I've had to make a number of crazy Swing widgets, mostly melding checkboxes with other Swing componenets.
The last few days at work have been a little odd, due to the new "Nimda" virus/worm wreaking havoc on the Internet. I've officially changed my web browser to Mozilla. Goodbye IE.
I think I probably should download as much strong crypto software as I can in the next few days, since we'll likely see a sharp decline in its availability in the US when Congress gets back to work soon. No one seems to understand that passing laws banning things in the US doesn't stop people in foreign countries from using it. A growing trend I've noticed in our country: rather than improving a flawed security system which people have found ways to exploit, instead pass laws that make it illegal to use those exploits. I guess its easier to pass laws than improve system security.
Many of this past week's events have made me simultaneously proud of and despairing over our country. The compassion and generosity that has always been an American virtue came out in full force. People lined up everywhere to give blood. Companies donated large amounts of money to victims. Many churches and organizations held special services and prayers for the victims of the disaster. All Good Things.
However, at the same time, people were out assaulting and otherwise harassing Muslims and anyone who looked like an Arab. Politicians were calling (as usual) for a severe restriction of civil liberties. And the President is calling for a war against "evildoers." I hope this doesn't turn into another vague war, like the war on drugs, war on crime, or war on poverty.
I'm trying hard to remain optimistic about this, and concentrate on those good things. Maybe I'll just read some more crackpot web pages and laugh myself into good cheer. :)