I’ve been living full time in Phoenix, Arizona for about 5 years now, and about 2 years part time before that. This was after spending my entire adult life in Boulder Colorado thanks to parole at the age of 18 from New Jersey. Despite still preferring the Broncos over the Cardinals, I think I’ve mostly adjusted to the change.

But damn, sometimes I wonder about this place.

First there’s the heat. It’s usually pretty tolerable up to about 100-105 Fahrenheit, thanks to the low humidity. When the humidity starts to creep up in the summer it leads directly to the monsoon rains which cool things down. Usually. Right now we’re hitting humidity as high as 30% with temps breaking 110F. The high this week is expected to hit 116F. We’re talking it’s so hot that the health department issued a warning that kids could get second degree burns from the pavement.

The heat also seems to be frying brains a bit.

  • First up is our politicians, who don’t seem to realize that when you claim to be the number 2 kidnapping capital in the world (totally untrue), people might not come and visit no matter how many tourism ads you fund.
  • Then there’s my neighbor. I’m not sure exactly which neighbor, but the one that lets their dog out in the morning while the coyotes are out. I was running today when I saw the dog outside, completely unmonitored, during prime snack time. Coyotes might actually play with bigger dogs, but the little ones are pretty much yappy snausages with legs.
  • Finally, back on crime, we find the most awesome local news crime story in history. The good news? An armed home invader was shot. The bad news? By the 3 better-armed invaders already in the home holding the family hostage. It’s like the DefCon CTF. With guns.

I think it’s kind of cool I live in a state where I don’t need a gun, because if someone breaks into my home the odds are I’ll either be holed up in a trunk while my family finds ransom money, or the early bird bad guys will defend their turf and property (me and what was previously my property).

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Blog Comment of the Week

Remember, for every comment selected, Securosis makes a $25 donation to Hackers for Charity. This week’s best comment goes to Jesse Krembs, in response to Simple Ideas to Start Improving the Economics of Cybersecurity.

Having incident response costs borne by the the business unit that is breached/responsible seems like a great idea. Tying it to performance bonuses seems like an idea worth exploring as well. Maybe a little $$$ motivation for stopping people in the hall who don’t have there badge for example. It makes me think that security groups inside a company should act in a consultant/regulator roll. Enforce a minimum rule set, that each department must live up to. Sell added security to departments as needed/affordable.

Figuring out how to tie the money to security performance without rolling a giant FUD ball is key and difficult.

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