January 7, 2005 Archives

Gustav pointed me to SSHKeychain. I haven't tried it yet, but if it works then it's brilliant.

When I used Linux on my desktop I'd use ssh-agent and have it span all my windows to be able to login to various boxes without typing my password a billion times a day.

SSHKeychain is supposed to do the same thing across sessions on OS X by using the OS X Keychain system. Clever. It knows to lock the keychain and ask for the password again after the computer has been asleep or had the screensaver enabled. It requires me to logout and login again to work, so I haven't tried it yet, but it looks just like what I've been missing all along.

The New York Times Magazine interviews the chairwoman of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, Jeanne L. Phillips:

I hear one of the balls will be reserved for troops who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Yes, the Commander-in-Chief Ball. That is new. It will be about 2,000 servicemen and their guests. And that should be a really fun event for them.

As an alternative way of honoring them, did you or the president ever discuss canceling the nine balls and using the $40 million inaugural budget to purchase better equipment for the troops?

I think we felt like we would have a traditional set of events and we would focus on honoring the people who are serving our country right now -- not just the people in the armed forces, but also the community volunteers, the firemen, the policemen, the teachers, the people who serve at, you know, the -- well, it's called the StewPot in Dallas, people who work with the homeless.

How do any of them benefit from the inaugural balls?

I'm not sure that they do benefit from them.

Then how, exactly, are you honoring them?

Honoring service is what our theme is about.

?!?!!?

I suppose that's why they don't let non-press people talk to the press. :-)

It's the Presidents Party