The Daily - Wednesday, October 3, 2018 (AM Edition)

CYBER SECURITY MONTH: A Cybersecure Home

October is Cyber Security month. We can start being safe in cyberspace by securing our home network. The SANS Institute has an excellent article on the topic:

Creating a Cybersecure Home

DEPLORABLE!

Hillary Clinton once used this term to describe all of our current Liar-In-Chief supporters. Using such a term to define a group is a dangerous maneuver as Mrs. Clinton knows all too well.

What is obvious is that the term does apply to #45. His despicable rhetoric attacking Professor Blasey Ford puts him square in the definition of deplorable. He is disgraceful, shameful, dishonorable, unworthy, inexcusable, unpardonable, unforgivable; reprehensible, despicable, abominable, contemptible, execrable, and heinous.

Such behavior is beyond reprehension. But then again, what else can we expect from a misogynistic Fake President? 

WEALTH SHAM? SCAM?

The NY Times is reporting that the wealth claimed by #45 is based on scams, lies, cheating and fraud. Here are "11 Takeaways From The Times’s Investigation Into Trump’s Wealth".

The "Scammer-In-Chief" has openly stated that he took advantage of every legal tax loophole to avoid paying taxes. It looks as if he and his family also created a few loopholes, holes large enough to allow a semi truck to go through: "Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father".

I will have two more articles in the evening edition.

HEALTH & FITNESS

To borrow a phrase from long-distance hikers, today was a "zero day." For through-hikers that means a day of rest with zero miles hiked. For me it was a day with no morning jogging, of sleeping in to further recover from the exhaustion of the weekend and the effects of the cold I have been dealing with.

I managed to do a nice stretching routine (call it, if you want, Yoga in bed), followed by a not-so-mindful meditation period, followed by a good period of affirmations. Overall, a nice morning start.

Having a "zero day" does not necessarily mean being lazy all day long. I plan to go for short brisk walks every 30 minutes or so at work. I will manage to put about 2+ miles by 3:30 PM.

The Daily - Monday, September 10, 2018

Writing Challenge - Day # 12

The European Union (EU) recently announced that they were working on discontinuing what in the USA is called Daylight Savings Time (DST). The EU citizens found that the time change was no longer applicable to a society that is not, for the most part, largely based on agriculture and farming. Europeans argue that if the aim of this time change is to maximize use of daily time, then the time change is highly ineffective at doing so. I completely concur. I firmly believe the disadvantages of DST significantly outweigh its benefits. It is time to ditch an obsolete construct and settle on Standard time. It is not as if every community in the USA follows it, anyway. I think it is time to let the time be the time and stop monkeying with the time, for time's sake! Time, after all, is just an illusion, a human construct designed to get more things done, often at the expense of actual living.

HURRICANE UPDATE

Hurricane Florence is heading our way, perhaps not as a direct hit to the SC coast, but close enough to cause havoc. Schools in our district have already been closed through next week. Our governor has issued mandatory evacuation orders for all coastal counties. Store shelves are just about empty, even this far inland.

HEALTH & FITNESS

I did a partial workout today. I simply ran out of time (and some motivation) to complete the whole thing. It is hard to get back on a workout routine once you have been off for a week or two. Tomorrow will be better.

PERSONAL GROWTH

I briefly looked online today on ways of making common, free cardboard boxes more usable for organizing efforts. Here is my suggestion: use an old pillow case to cover the box.

Shoe box with top cut off. Not pretty.

Shoe box with rolled cleaning rags. That would work.

Found an old pillow case. Slip box into pillow case.

 

Cover box with pillow case. Gently tuck material into box.

Same cleaning rags inside newly covered box. Much nicer. Easy project.

Nice covered box back in laundry room.

FINANCES

I recently mentioned the use of Mint for budgeting and expense management. Annielytics has an excellent blog post titled "8 Ways to Customize Mint to Make Budgeting Easier" that should be helpful to anyone considering or starting with Mint.

WARNING: You may owe taxes next April! Please read the article "Millions of taxpayers could wind up owing for 2018" and make adjustments to your withholding amounts as needed.

Get ready to feel the effect of #45's tariffs; please read "Why everything you buy at Walmart and Amazon is about to cost more".

POLITICS

What in the world is a mayor in Louisiana thinking? According to a news report, the mayor of Kenner City has banned the use of Nike products perhaps as a reaction to Nike's decision to use Colin Kaepernick as their spokesperson for the latest "Just Do It" campaign. I don't think the mayor of any city should interfere with free commerce and free enterprise based on their political viewpoint. Government business should be conducted without influence of personal opinions. This mayor has left their city open to a lawsuit, although I doubt Nike will do that. Nike's sales have gone through the roof as a result of their decision to hire Kaepernick. By the way, I admire Mt. Kaepernick for his valor and bravery and his firm convictions; in many ways, his courageous actions forced us to open our eyes to issues that had remained buried under the rug of ignorance for far too long. We may not have liked what he brought to light, and facing these issues has made us a better nation.

TIPS & TRICKS

An easier way to roll jeans:

TECHNOLOGY

Do you log out? It is not uncommon for computer users to allow connections to websites (such as banking sites) to expire before they logout. Often, users just close the window or tab without logging off. This is not a good practice as it potentially leaves the connection to the account vulnerable to hacking. The best thing we can do is to always log off from any resources we have connected to.