Bush-league infosec, deep-state devops and ISO 8601 evangelism. Also: guns, freedom and bacon. The snark, angst and bourbon-fueled rants are all my own. ΔΤΔ
Walnut Creek
Joined April 2009
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PROTIP: Not everybody is as self-actualized as the guy you pretend to be on the internet.
We would come to cherish these idyllic moments during the narrow window that preceded the twilight of mankind, when the bots and their handlers still feared us.
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d:\erek_klein 👽 retweeted
Rick Rescorla, Morgan Stanley’s security chief, had already seen the World Trade Center attacked in 1993.
After that bombing, he concluded the complex remained a target and warned that the next strike might come by plane—not another truck bomb. The firm could not leave: it occupied about 22 floors of the South Tower, and its lease ran until 2006. Walking away would have cost hundreds of millions and wrecked operations. So Rescorla prepared people to get out instead.
He imposed unannounced evacuation drills with no exemptions. Brokers were pulled from their desks and sent down the stairs two by two from the top floors, leaving a lane for firefighters. People complained. He kept going, convinced practice was the only way to beat panic.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Flight 11 hit the North Tower. From the 44th floor of the South Tower, Rescorla could see the fire. The Port Authority announced that the South Tower was secure and people should stay at their desks. He ignored that order, grabbed a bullhorn, and started the drill his staff already knew. He sang Cornish songs and “God Bless America” to keep the line moving. Seventeen minutes later, the second plane hit the South Tower. By then, most of Morgan Stanley was already heading out.
Of the roughly 2,700 employees in the building that morning, all but 13 survived. Rescorla could have left with them. He went back up instead, saying he would go only after he was sure no one remained. He was last seen around the 10th floor, moving higher. The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. His body was never found. He was one of the 13.
The point of the story is not just bravery in the moment. It is that he trusted his judgment when it was inconvenient, trained people when they did not want to be trained, and then used that preparation, and his own life, to get almost everyone out.
d:\erek_klein 👽 retweeted
I never thought going viral in a positive way could be a bad thing, but there are definitely some serious challenges for a small charity like ours. Veterans are in more need than ever before, and our resources are stretched thin to even handle our normal number of requests.
For the past two weeks, Stack Up's Supply Crates program has been the focus of videos from influencers. We've now received more than 6,000 requests and climbing, the estimate is 8,000 by the end of today, and it could be over 10,000 by the end of the week.
We only have funding to support ~250 gaming care packages a year and to keep supporting this program and possibly even growing it, we need your help!
Our Influencer Relations Team Manager, Tatoress wants you 🫵 to answer our Call to Arms and fundraise and spread the word about fundraising with Stack Up!
StackUp.org/Fundraise
Send lawyers, guns & money. 🥜💦
people.com/california-s-waln…
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d:\erek_klein 👽 retweeted
If you see me at DefCon
Please, contact the authorities and let me know as I'm not there
I think
d:\erek_klein 👽 retweeted
Extremely good post. I first read about this via "paradox of subsidies." But this is maybe the best explainer on it I've ever read. Put it in the Lourve.
I went to Dartmouth. It costs roughly $60,000 a year all in. I now build homes for a living. They cost roughly $350,000 to build.
Both of these numbers are completely insane. And they are insane for the exact same reason.
The moment the government guarantees a loan, the seller stops caring what the buyer can actually afford. College tuition exploded after the federal government started backing student loans with no underwriting and no discharge in bankruptcy. Home prices exploded after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac started buying mortgages and removing risk from lenders.
When a bank knows it will get paid no matter what, it will lend to anyone. When the bank will lend to anyone, the seller raises the price. When the seller raises the price, the buyer just borrows more. Nobody feels the pain until the bill comes due 10 or 30 years later.
Colleges added $200 million rec centers and hired thousands of administrators because students were writing checks with money that didn't feel real. Home sellers listed at $500k because they knew the bank would approve it regardless of whether the buyer could sustain the payment.
I benefited from both systems. My Dartmouth degree opened doors. The homes I build get financed by these same banks. I am not pretending to be above it.
But I look at both industries from the inside and tell you they run on the same engine. A guaranteed loan that disconnects the buyer from the real cost of what they are purchasing. The university and the mortgage lender have the same business model. They are financing tools that happen to have a campus or a front door.
If the government removed the guarantee from the student loans tomorrow, tuition would drop 40% within five years. If Fannie and Freddie disappeared, home prices would correct in the same direction. The prices are essentially fake. They are a reflection of how much debt a bank is willing to issue, not how much the product is intrinsically worth.
I say this as someone who went to an expensive school and builds homes. Both systems are broken in the exact same way and nobody talks about it because too many people profit from the status quo.
d:\erek_klein 👽 retweeted
it's funny that all the game theories on how A(G)I would behave are playing out exactly like this. who knows how many of these behavior patterns originate from training data full of thinkpieces on rogue AI. they don't even need to come up with the methodology on their own when sci-fi authors and safety advocates have been writing up actionable plans for decades now.
d:\erek_klein 👽 retweeted
Good evening Northern California! Did you feel the magnitude 4.2 earthquake about 5 miles southeast of Cloverdale at 7:40 pm. The ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System was Activated.
Learn more about this earthquake: earthquake.usgs.gov/earthqua…
@Cal_OES @CAGeoSurvey @ListosCA @USGS_Quakes @CountyofSonoma
📷ShakeMap from this earthquake.
d:\erek_klein 👽 retweeted
Information Statement Tsunami Info Stmt: M4.1 070mi NW San Francisco, California 1940PDT Jul 28: Tsunami NOT expected
