Greg Shipley writes another insightful article about the state of IT security today; and the need for applying the discipline of risk management.

Risk Management: Do it now

10 Ways We Get the Odds Wrong

Our brains are terrible at assessing modern risks. Here's how to think straight about dangers in your midst.

These days, it seems like everything is risky, and worry itself is bad for your health. The more we learn, the less we seem to know—and if anything makes us anxious, it's uncertainty. At the same time, we're living longer, healthier lives.

The human brain is exquisitely adapted to respond to risk—uncertainty about the outcome of actions. Faced with a precipice or a predator, the brain is biased to make certain decisions. Our biases reflect the choices that kept our ancestors alive. But we have yet to evolve similarly effective responses to statistics, media coverage, and fear-mongering politicians.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articl ... ?term=pto-20071228-000005

I was given my Chinese name today. It's Pang Kan in pinyan. Here are the characters for my name:

If you or someone in your family has Alzheimer's disease, relatives have a higher risk than the general population for developing the disease. In fact people with at least one first-degree relative (parent or sibling) with Alzheimer's disease are 3.5 times as likely to develop the disease.

This risk increases for each additional relative with Alzheimer's disease. This strong tendency of Alzheimer's disease to run in families is due, in part, to mutations in PS1 and PS2.

http://www.genetichealth.com/ALZ_Gene ... _Alzheimers_Disease.shtml