Category: Fun Stuff

I recently had someone leave a key under their front door mat for me because their keypad was malfing (was so could “sit on” grandson after school). They returned, we visited, left. Got a phone call: “Where’s the key?” Well, I had not left it EXACTLY where instructed, but since THEIR keychain was on the bookcase where I’d been told to leave the key, I simply put the key on it.

Hiding in plain sight can work, but there’s “hiding in plain sight” and its idiot cousin, “Take me; I’m yours.” Don’t be the idiot cousin.

Writing down passwords can have the benefit of having them available when needed (and forgotten, but unless that list is under physical lock-and-key security, it’s “Take me; I’m yours.” Better: a secure password service, perhaps.

Better still: use passwords you can remember. No, not your dog’s name or your wedding anniversary date. (Oh, wait. That’s not somethining you’ve forgotten before, is it? *heh*) or ANYTHING ELSE derived from personal information about you. No, while easily remembered (except for the anniversary thingy), those kinds of things are available to others and so make easily “crackable” passwords. No, select a pass phrase that is memorable – title of a fav book, an aphorism, a line from a poem or song, etc., and construct your pass word using that in a way that is sensible and memorable for you.

For example, I took the “punch line” as I “misremembered” it! – from a Smothers Brothers parody of a song that was popular back in their heyday and constructed a password from that. VERY memorable for me, but since it’s from a parody of a song that’s not in the “Top Five Million” nowadays, and the line I used is NOT as it was performed in the parody, the password I constructed (an easy one) only used the first letters of each word (as “misremembered”), a “Massive Cracking Array” could take a couple of days to crack it, so not seriously secure. But then, as I said, an easy password. . . on a “Junk Mail” account designated as a SPAM catcher.so. . . *heh*