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You reminded me of this anecdote, which I love:

"As with most successful racers, Yunick was a master of the grey area straddling the rules. Perhaps his most famous exploit was his #13 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle, driven by Curtis Turner. The car was so much faster than the competition during testing that they were certain that cheating was involved; some sort of aerodynamic enhancement was strongly suspected, but the car's profile seemed to be entirely stock, as the rules required. It was eventually discovered that Yunick had lowered and modified the roof and windows and raised the floor (to lower the body) of the production car. Since then, NASCAR required each race car's roof, hood, and trunk to fit templates representing the production car's exact profile. Another Yunick improvisation was getting around the regulations specifying a maximum size for the fuel tank, by using 11-foot (3 meter) coils of 2-inch (5-centimeter) diameter tubing for the fuel line to add about 5 gallons (19 liters) to the car's fuel capacity. Once, NASCAR officials came up with a list of nine items for Yunick to fix before the car would be allowed on the track. The suspicious NASCAR officials had removed the tank for inspection. Yunick started the car with no gas tank and said "Better make it ten," and drove it back to the pits. He used a basketball in the fuel tank which could be inflated when the car's fuel capacity was checked and deflated for the race."

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Wow that's a GOLDEN story! Thank you for sharing! I used to watch lots of Formula One but not so much anymore, and I can only imagine NASCAR be more intense, dramatic, and fun!

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I’ve never watched racing, but I do like a good anecdote!

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I didn't know threat modeling existed! I'm glad it does. This essay is super interesting! I love how you write complex topics in a digestible and playful way =)

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Thank you Liz =) That's what I'm trying to do, and glad it didn't end up too shabby an effort haha ;)

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Oh my gosh "threat modeling"! I am not qualified in cyber security in any way but I do think like this. I would never choose to change my life, but it's fun to think in a parallel universe I could've been a hacker. I think I would've enjoyed it. I'm so happy people like you are thinking about this. And sharing your thoughts so I can understand it and think about it too.

Also, this made me laugh "From HOA rules to the latest iPhone, there is nothing we don’t like jail-breaking."

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Ahhh thank you Michelle! And your comment just gave me an inspiration: from now on I'll just call it "parallel universe thinking" because I always feel that cyber-security world has a special lingo that drives most people away, "threat modeling" being one of the special lingo terms. "Parallel universe thinking" makes cyber-security so much more approachable, and we do need more people in the trade!

Also speaking of the HOA rules, almost every security person I know who's a homeowner makes it a point to find ways to jail-break their respective HOA rules hahaha

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What a cool way of looking at the world; indetifying threats with positive lens. Thanks for the twist on perspective

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Thank you Yehudis! <3 Haha now thinking about it, this perspective is more like an occupational hazard LOL But indeed, it's a fun way to look at the world!

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I liked this a lot, Helen. No news there. You have this gift of making the complex easy. I'm not talking about technology, necessarily. "It’s a reminder that reality-based thinking still exists in AI and technology, even when rabid sentiments dominate our conversations." -- this is such an interesting and crucial point, given where the current discourse is at. Your pieces, even the ones that you call "short", are real eye-openers for me. Thank you!

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Thank you for your always kind words, Silvio! Lots of times I feel like I'm unworthy of them LOL Indeed like you said, I try to make complex things easy -- because I believe that complexity is just simple stuff adding up by nature or by human superimposition, and we do ourselves a disservice to be overwhelmed and seduced by complexity. As E. W. Dijkstra, one of the major computer scientists in the 20th century put it best, "simplicity is a great virtue, but it requires hard work to achieve it, and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better."

The same point also applies to online discourses: extremes sell better than reality, and basing our thinking on our fateful fancies is no way to live our lives now or plan for the grand future we hope.

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"So you can imagine how much my eyeballs rolled, when two unrealistic camps emerged to argue about the impact of AI."

Always appreciate your insight and humor, Helen.

Prepare for evil and build for good! I love this. Did you come up with that?

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