Well, I’m still at the conference… and the hotel internet is still down :-(. Tutorials are going well; we’re getting lots of positive comments on the program. So, I guess, so far is so good.
As usual, I’m less impressed with Miami Beach (I wasn’t last year). Last night, we tried to walk to dinner. The Eden Roc, where there had been a decent eating place in the back, is closed for renovations. Most hotels are being converted to condos in the area, and it is dead dead dead. We ended up at an Italian joint in the Courtyard by Marriott. Who knows where we will end up tonight… but maybe we can find something in South Beach.
As for security related stuff, as I’m at the conference. la_observed is reporting that the NY Times has been compromised. Specifically, somebody at the New York Times bureau in Iraq apparently fell for the old password trick, and now the Baghdad Bureau e-mail address nytiraqb@yahoo.com has been compromised and will no longer be used. They have also reported that there is a new scam out there that they are calling the “Nigerian Author Scam“. A bookstore in Oakland received a call from somone who was an author of a book, claiming “My car has been stolen and I need you to help me. I’ve found a rent-a-car company that will rent to me, but I need you to send me $150 by Western Union. I can give you the address and information to send it. I’ll give you $400 when I get up there, for helping me out.” I guess writers are *really* desparate for money these days. Next thing you know, they’ll be proposing a reality series about Meter Maids. Oh, right, it’s already been done.
