The high temperatures here in Austin have been hovering at 105F / 41C for a week or two, meaning that the simple invention of air conditioning shifts from a “nice to have” to a “must have.” The irony is that despite being an essential component of houses and businesses HVAC systems are often ignored until they break down. And once...

I regret to inform you that by the time you read this article, you will have missed Burrito Day (and Rat Day?!). Not to worry, though, you still have Look Up at the Sky Day, Eat What You Want Day, and Axe Throwing Day. While the celebrations for these days vary widely (and most certainly should *not* be combined), they...

What limits the size of a city? It’s not a particular industry, nor is it a favorable setting. What limits the size of a city is the speed of its transportation. As innovation accelerated transport, cities grew larger; people could range further for school, work, and community. But even this new growth, it created a new set of problems caused...

It’s a time-worn adage: “What goes up must come down.” This took on a new meaning this past winter. On February 3, 2022, SpaceX launched 49 Starlink satellites. A day later, they were hit by a geomagnetic storm. By February 8th, SpaceX reported that 40 of the original 49 would reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrate, or they would soon. These precious...

On this episode of Mistaken Identity, Mike Kiser is joined by Katherine Teitler, VP of Research and Advisory at TAG Cyber. Her recent research illustrates the shifting role of identity—from an IT process to a foundational approach for security. While that’s the starting point, the conversation roams into disinformation, “sources of truth,” identity profiling via personal musical history, and, of course,...

Many people assume that there is some magic formula for success in identity. Is it having the right degree? Is it knowing the right people? Is it having a ”Particular set of skills?" Today on Mistaken Identity, Mike Kiser interviews three sets of people who are eminently unqualified at first glance. They’ve come from outside the expected backgrounds, the expected...

When I was seventeen, I played one of the greatest roles of my life: “Mark Jannell.” A younger student who we’ll call “Tim” (not his name, of course) had just started at my high school, and after knowing me for several weeks, asked my name. Amused that he had forgotten it, I vowed not to tell him. I stepped away...

A new season of Mistaken Identity is here with a special focus on election security, voting systems, and their impact on democracy. We have a range of guests coming to explain the ins and outs of election observing, online voting, and the current state of election security both in the United States and throughout the world. (Yes, that’s a big...

A spring without baseball allows time for reflection about the big issues in life—about what really matters. As a result of this past empty April, I’ve come to a realization: the defensive shift is good for baseball. The defensive shift occurs when the defense plays out of its typical alignment. Instead of being distributed across the field relatively evenly, the...

The moment of reckoning has come. A party of eight sit around a table, the white tablecloth strewn with the detritus of a communal meal. Coffee is slowly sipped as they contemplate how to divide the bill. Unlike in years past, this is a simple operation: mobile devices come out and money is rapidly exchanged as modern technology facilitates a...