Once More Into the Breach

. . .or not.

I see articles occasionally about the death of passwords, creating effective passwords, blah-blah. Well, passwords and the insecurities created by stupid (or lazy. . . or more like both) people and their password habits aren’t going away any time soon, and most of the articles suggesting improvements are seriously lacking in effective counsel. Most now suggest pass phrases with common substitutions of symbols and numbers for letters, but really, how many folks will do that? Others suggest using password managers (I often suggest this, myself, but even users who have PAID me for consulting rarely make even the exceptionally minimal effort to effect this change in their behavior *sigh*).

So, what’s a solution? When it comes to ID10T errors like lazy or stupid (or both) password behavior, the only solutions seem to be either eliminating the users or letting them reap the effects of their bad behaviors.

*meh*

Now, I’ll admit that my own normative password policies would definitely not appeal to most users, although it baffles me why that case is, save for excessive laziness on their part. OK, so here’s a loose outline of a process that’s super simple and easier than most pass phrase processes. That it is similar to my own is purely coincidental. 😉

Select a song from childhood or early youth that can you reliably “sing” mentally. Or choose a memory shared only with people you have not seen for many years.
Extract an inner verse from the song or a visual from the selected memory.
Using the verse as a passphrase, extract ONLY the first letter of each word in the verse; using the visual of the memory, create a passphrase and do the same thing.
Now, with those passwords extracted from the passphrases, make your substitutions of symbols and numbers, as appropriate.

There. Relatively long, complex, fairly uncrackasble (in any reasonable amount ot time), easy to remember passwords. I have a couple passwords created by means similar to this that are 60-some-odd characters long, though most websites don’t allow passwords that are really all that long. No problem typing such passwords, because the pass phrases they are built on are extremely memorable, and I really don’t have problem typing long passwords.

Of course, for non-critical sites, I go ahead and use LastPass. *shrugs* I only allow it to autologon to sites that have no (genuine) PII for me and where I DGARA about some bad actor getting in, but I still use strong passwords, anyway. Oh, and a good VPN ALWAYS when online.

As for my devices, a good firewall (actually, firewalls on the devices that do not conflict with a hardware firewall for the network), strong passwords, encrypted PII, solid backups of data, and physical control of access will have to suffice.

Still, I cannot recall the number of calls (OK, I could go back on my records, but that’s where I will pead laziness *heh*) I have had from folks who “forgot” (or worse, “mislaid”–which means they had it written down somewhere) the passwords for their computers. *smh* Baffles me. It truly does.

“Teach Your Children Well. . . “

Lovely Daughter commented today after Mother’s funeral, graveside service, and the funeral dinner at the church (at which neither she not I found anything to eat, though there was some palatable–just!–coffee) regarding my (successful!) efforts when she was a small girl (a talkative three year old? About that) to teach her to say to my mom, “Grandma, please take me to Chik-Fil-A.”

So, in honor of her grandmother, she had her lunch at. . . Chik-Fil-A.

🙂

The Proper Use of a “Splainsit Stick”

Any time I see “[Whatever]-splaining” used by someone to dismiss an argument, I know the person using the term is really saying, “I don’t have an argument, and I just don’t want to listen, so I’ll use this nonsense term instead of putting my fingers in my ears and chanting, ‘la-la-la-la. . .’ and maybe the horrible person using facts and reason will just go away and leave me with my chosen, ignorant opinions.”

At that point, I realize that the only proper response is raucous mocking.

And that, dear reader, is how one uses a “Splainsit Stick.”

Santa Claus?

He’s always been a little hinky, but the “naughty-nice” list is an invasion of privacy that even the NSA would quail at.

As I recall it, when I was six, it was a relief when my eight-year-old sister explained that Santa Claus wasn’t real. Oh, I uttered the obligatory defenses, as I recall it, but I’d had my suspicions. . .

“Gunsplaining,” “Mansplaining,” and Other Lame Excuses for Ignorance

Any time I see “[Whatever]-splaining” used by someone to dismiss an argument, I know the person using the term is really saying, “I don’t have an argument, and I just don’t want to listen, so I’ll use this nonsense term instead of putting my fingers in my ears and chanting, ‘na-na-na-na. . .’ and maybe the horrible person using facts and reason will just go away and leave me with my chosen, ignorant opinions.”

At that point, I realize that the only proper response is raucous mocking.

A General Summary (Voting Guide) from Six Years Ago

These are just a few examples from which to generalize. Not all will have any direct application to any one election.

This year, again, I’m voting primarily against stupidity and evil.

Stupid or evil? (Or both?)

“Pro-choice” (which is really, “Deny ANY choice to the unborn”)
The Thugs Standing Around program of full employment for goons and petty tyrants
“feddle gummint” tyrannical meddling in citizens’ lives while actively enabling outlaws
The Cult of Anthropogenic Climate Scare-ism
Enablers and apologists for the hate cult of the Butcher of Medina evil
One can select any issue dominated by the lies of the Mass MEdia Podpeople Hivemind, politicians *gag-spew*
and Academia Nut Fruitcakes and plug it right into the “Stupid or Evil” matrix for consideration.
Punishing job producers for success
Encouraging sloth and greed by robbing those who are productive to give to those who are not (including cronies of politicians who milk the public purse and abscond with our grandchildren’s futures)
You get the drift.