I got an email from Gawker the other day that informs me I am one of a suspected 1.4 million users or commenters that have had their passwords hacked. The hacker group Gnosis apparently broke into their system. They suggested changing the password and the password for any other account that might use the same logins. You can run a test on this widget to see if your account has been similarly compromised.
The hack affects a myriad of sites, including Yahoo. If you are like me, you have probably been lazy and used the same passwords too long. Now I must begin the laborious task of changing every password. Yuck. But it is definitely time to tighten things up. I don't bank online but instantly checked my PayPal account. Millard had his hacked a few months ago by some enterprising african chap.
People are pretty stupid with their passwords. Find out the name of somebody's pets and add a birth year and you probably crack half of America. Perhaps it is better to have a letter number combination with no meaning in the English lexicon? How long before a powerful computer starts punching out algorithms with every word and two number combination in the dictionary?
Dan Ariely ran an interesting article by Alon Nir on the password subject a few months ago.
Anyhow, I got a wake up call. Ain't all this new technology fun?
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I find all the complaints from the military leaders about gays in the military a bit specious. The troops themselves overwhelmingly don't care, according to polling. Of the 115,052 active troops surveyed, 69% believe they have already worked alongside a gay service member, and 92% of those said it had a positive impact or no impact on their working relationship.
Gates and the Pentagon leadership have studied the issue and want to repeal DADT. General Amos thinks that openly gay troops would be a major distraction. Isn't their some military doctrine called insubordination?
Besides, the gays and lesbians are there now, ladies and gentlemen. Hasn't wrecked military morale yet.
Wonder what the homophobic brass are really scared of? Maybe they have their own issues...
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Speaking of insubordination and treason, did you catch Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce's act? He made some rather pithy statements about our president recently at a panel discussion at David Horowitz's Freedom Center.
"I can tell you that the best thing about 1070 is that Obama may not be visiting Arizona because we actually require papers now," said the Republican state senator at the event held by Judicial Watch.
"When you talk about jihad, that is exactly what Obama has against America, specifically the state of Arizona. Think about it. This is the first time in the history of the United States that a sitting president has sided with a foreign government to sue the citizens of its country. For defending our laws? For defending and protecting the citizens of the state of Arizona? It's outrageous and it's impeachable."
According to UPI, he signaled his belief that he sees the president's actions as "treasonous" and added, "I certainly don't want to overstate, but you know we have the Second Amendment for a reason."
Gee Russ, what exactly are you suggesting? That if you are a conservative it's alright to imply that we waste the chief executive, so long as he or she is a Democrat? That President Obama can't visit your state because he doesn't have the proper papers? You folks just ooze credibility.
2 comments:
Hi Robert,
Yes the blog has evolved into a really interesting publication. Of course I am entertained by your politics which mirror mine but there is more there than politics. The musical selections are fine, according to M. I don't listen to them often just because I often get into a hurry, but I can count on them for quality every time. The most fascinating aspect of the Blue Heron Blast for me is the various stories and recollections of Fallbrook and environs. They provide a personal insight into our town which does have its quirky side and I have no other source for such stories. You have decided to put your personal self right out there for everyone to see and it succeeds.
Your photographic efforts have been similarly successful and I suspect it is for reasons that the Blue Heron Blast works. You put your self right out there but a factor that adds to that is your have an ability to sense what works in contemporary art. You tap right into whatever the collective unconscious of photography is doing right now. It is clear to me that there are lots of different movements going in photography, often in the direction of totally straight prints or very obtuse art photographic efforts often involving gigantic prints that are sometimes rather incomprehensible. However your work is more or less in sync with much of the stuff elite photographers are doing in publications like Aperture. You have managed to harmonize this with the demands of the local market for beautiful and interesting photos, no small achievement.
I continue to peck away at my stuff. I will probably do the occasional Gum Bichromate from time to time, but overall the method turned out to be less manageable than I had hoped. Still I have access to a variety of older printmaking methods as well as digital so I remain interested in pursuing photography. I will start shooting black and white film and digital color soon with the smaller cameras I can transport around. Hopefully when my back gets better I can drag the 8x10 around and do some palladiums. The urge to make art is in our blood, we have little choice but to make it.
Adios, J
Nice compliments.
thanks,
Robert
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