Tap-and-Pay Apps?

How Hackers Can “Tap” Your Bank Accounts

Yeh, nope. Tap-and-pay may be convenient, but I have never been persuaded that it is safe, and so have never enabled it. I’m far safer carrying cash (because muggers? *heh* No, for many reasons).

Condition Yellow should apply at all times to data/device security, not just physical security.
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For online purchases–another area of banking insecurity–I rely on several different tactics, including the careful use of a debit card tied to an account at my local bank that is designated for such use. . . a bank where my next door neighbor is head teller, and I know all the other folks in the bank as well. They look out for any anomalies very well.

Room to Swing a Cat

Whenever I hear or read that phrase, I always catch at least a glimpse of my 5-y.o. self grabbing the tail of the mean cat from next door and hammer-throwing it back across the fence. Good times. . .

It’s the Little Things #4,831 *heh*

I kinda wonder sometimes. . . I see snippets of TV (because I rarely see anything worth watching for a longer time), and programs that show characters riding horseback are, at best, a mixed bag. Sometimes, they’re just sacks of potatoes jouncing along. Painfully. At other times, I see riders posting the trot, but even then it’s usually very badly–often because their stirrups are badly hung.

I really have to wonder what the various people involved in the filming–from the actors to the directors to, well, whatever horse wrangler they may (or may not?) have are thinking. *smh*

But then, there’s the “Little Thing” #10 (and I am surprised there are any more highly ranked, but then. . . ): complete, total, and absolute blank space where firearms knowledge should exist in the script, direction, and action. That’s higher ranked, of course, because it’s dangerous (and not only on the set!).

SpyWear™

“Smart” clothing?

How dumb do people have to be to call SpyWear™ “Smart Clothes”? Sure, it doesn’t HAVE to be that way, but unless folks make sure their data is kept locally, more than just air-gapped from the web, their private info. . . isn’t. I do use a fitness tracking device that coordinates with an old phone that is disconnected from _any_ network (including my local network). I can evaluate the data collected, so I get the benefits w/o “sharing” my data.

BTW, yeh, all the apps I have on that old phone do gripe at me, wanting network access, when they fail to phone home. I just smile and enjoy those gripes. (And yeh, I don’t just rely on disconnecting it from my network. I have it blocked at my router. 🙂 )

Never Thought of That Before. . .

Just read a narrative describing some “eastern Über-urban greenhorns'” first experience tacking up and riding horses. I had never before considered just how intimidating horses could be to someone from such sheltered backgrounds. *shrugs* It had just never occurred to me.

*heh* Further descriptive narrative from short “horse trek” event: “Watch that back leg so he can’t cock his guns and [‘cow’-] kick you, and mind yer back when you pull off the bridle so he can’t bite you. . .” Yeh, probably the second and third lessons taught me by one cantankerous old guy. The first one was memorable (and I still remember it when the weather changes): watch your feet–or better yet, the horse’s feet.

My Ever-Expanding World!

Left the house for the first time in nearly two weeks this morning. Went 10 yards. Installed new headlamp in Son&Heir’s car. Came back in. That’s enough for this week.

Checklist

Runny nose — Check
Headache — Check
Fatigue — Check
Sneezing — 60%.
Sore throat — Check (minor, from drainage; progressed to major, for a few hours until ameliorative effects too hold)
Persistent cough — Check (Well, intermittently persistent *heh*)
Hoarse voice — Check (But that’s pretty normal from time ti time nowadays; progressed to full-blown laryngitis, but that’s been a lifelong likelihood with such illesses)
Chills or shivers — Check
Fever — Check
Dizziness — Check
Brain fog — Check (Or is that Olde Pharte Syndrome?)
Muscle pains — Check
Loss of smell — Nope. (Just slightly dulled)
Chest pain — Check

So, pretty much a Winter cold. Fever was pretty bad last night, but broke this AM (somewhere between 0444 and 1038 — I got back to sleep between those times, so can’t pin down the time any better).

Is it Omicron? I do not care. Apparently, I’m going to survive a Winter cold. Who knew? Been doing that for 70+ years, so there was a decent chance I’d live through it.


Oh, earaches, but again, those are pretty much normal for me with colds. Lil warm olive oil, cotton balls. Worked a charm.


One week beyond the above: I see to have mostly seen the back of this checklist, apart from muscle aches and fatigue, which are still very much hanging on, but I understand from my primary care doc that I should expect a slow recovery from those symptoms. My blood oximeter readings are not all that encouraging, falling below both my own norms and what is considered a baseline optimum of 95. Deep breathing exercises seem to ameliorate this, though.

“Dark” Matter/”Dark” Energy

In describing, in laymans’ terms, “dark” energy and “dark” matter the invisibility and undetectability of these postulates is invariably a point of discussion. Colossians 1:16-17nmay hold a couple of clues for lay consideration. . .

“For by him (Christ) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

“And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

Or, as my Wonder Woman used to say, “He is the Elmer’s G;ue of the universe” (giving Elmer’s Glue a bit too much credit for adhesive property, but still 😉 ).