Author Archives: Tim

About Tim

Minneapolis Blogger

Kevin Mitnick’s Memoirs

Posted on 5/15/2013 by Tim

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin D. Mitnick My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a fascinating book. The first fascination is his way with technology. The second was his way … Continue reading →

Posted in books, security | Leave a comment

thank you, John Stewart

Posted on 4/22/2013 by Tim

This perfectly sums up the logical fallacies of the gun lobby.

Posted in guns | 1 Comment

Tip O’Neill’s memoirs still hold up 25 years later

Posted on 2/21/2013 by Tim

Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O’Neill . by

Posted in books, history | Comments Off

They Exist: Crime Novels with Excellent Writing

Posted on 2/15/2013 by Tim

The Four Stages of Cruelty: A Novel by Keith Hollihan My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was reluctant to read this book because I thought it was going to be a sad story without much action about a young … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Minnesota, books | Comments Off

how many inaccuracies can we fit in a book summary?

Posted on 2/13/2013 by Tim

It caused real physical pain to read this. But also some pleasure at the pure fly-in-the-face-of-facts attitude and pulling in Nazis and Soviets as the ones smart enough to figure out that oil comes by magic. If I could choose … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Comments Off

Wandervogel at Wolf Ridge

Posted on 10/21/2012 by Tim

I was fortunate to be able to chaperon a weeklong field trip to Wolf Ridge environmental learning center with my son’s sixth grade class. I was in charge of a dorm room full of eleven year old boys and accompanied … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Minnesota, outdoors, parenting | 1 Comment

Charlie is my Darling

Posted on 10/20/2012 by Tim

Charlie is my Darling is a documentary film of the 1965 Rolling Stones tour in Ireland. I saw it last night at Pepito’s Parkway Theatre. I think portions of it are available online, but this version features unreleased material and … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Minneapolis, music | 2 Comments

Train by Pete Dexter

Posted on 8/26/2012 by Tim

Train: A Novel by Pete Dexter My rating: 4 of 5 stars I liked this book because it has great characters and allows them to build little worlds for themselves. In addition to the main character, Train, there is a … Continue reading →

Posted in books | Comments Off

A Roadace

Posted on 8/22/2012 by Tim

I bought a beat-up old Marushi Roadace 505 bicycle at a yard sale. $50.00 It is equipped with a mish-mash of parts including a bmx handlebars, a gigantic sofa of a seat, one shifter on the handlebar and one really … Continue reading →

Posted in bicycle, cycling | Comments Off

Life by Kieth Richards

Posted on 7/9/2012 by Tim

Purely by accident I picked up LIFE by Kieth Richards and was instantly, irredeemably hooked. Looking at it on the shelf, it had to be some kind of joke, but this book is amazingly well written and thoughtful. Keith Richards … Continue reading →

Posted in books, music | Comments Off

eating like a mcguire

Posted on 7/2/2012 by Tim

This is from someone who was taking care of Frank: My favorite Frank line: Me to Frank: Are you sure you can eat that whole thing? Frank: I can eat the whole anything.

Posted in General | Comments Off

Steve Gibson’s body is an amusement park

Posted on 7/2/2012 by Tim

As a long time Security Now listener, I find almost nothing stranger and funnier than Steve Gibson describing the day he achieved Ketosis as if it were his first orgasm.

Posted in health, science, security | Comments Off

Using the fires in Colorado for political points? I can do that too.

Posted on 6/27/2012 by Tim

I noticed that conservatives with nothing better to do are taking to the internet to blame Obama for the fires out west. In that spirit, I provide this: State and federal officials have outlawed fires and fireworks on all public … Continue reading →

Posted in General, guns | Comments Off

Swimming Discouraged

Posted on 6/25/2012 by Tim

I took my kids and some others to the new pool on our side of town. I have to say it was fun and that the climbing wall and zip line were great for the novelty factor. We saw lots … Continue reading →

Posted in General, St. Paul, health, parenting, swimming | 2 Comments

I’m sick of being treated like a criminal

Posted on 5/8/2012 by Tim

I want to record the shit I put up with around here. Four times yesterday, I was treated like a criminal: At 9:00 AM, I got notice that my dependents will lose their health insurance in 9 days if I … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 1 Comment

claymation hospital

Posted on 2/13/2012 by Tim

this was a group project with some clay and a webcam

Posted in General | Comments Off

Locking Down Facebook

Posted on 1/11/2012 by Tim

I get a lot of pleasure out of Facebook. While I’m happy to use it and even be advertised at, this free application needs to be watched. A lot of security and privacy folks have quit Facebook for their security … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Comments Off

My Sexy Shoes

Posted on 1/9/2012 by Tim

As requested, here are the shoes I mentioned in a recent post:

Posted in General | 1 Comment

6 recent attacks that could have been prevented by NoScript

Posted on 1/6/2012 by Tim

Scripting should be disabled in your browser by default. I know this partially breaks the internet experience, but it can no longer be justified to be surfing around allowing all web sites to run code on your computer when so … Continue reading →

Posted in firefox, security | Comments Off

Firefox Certificate Patrol

Posted on 1/4/2012 by Tim

Several months ago in Syria, a Facebook user noticed that Facebook’s IP address resolved strangely. He was also getting an untrusted https certificate warning. A certificate is a piece of text that sits in your browser. You can view yours … Continue reading →

Posted in General, firefox, security | Comments Off