Round-up – August 5

Of interest:

The true face of Medicare fraud (ie the real “welfare queens” aren’t the people most people picture when talking about Medicare abuse).

Don’t commit a crime while wearing a FitBit.

The reason your city can’t have fast internet access.

The truth is finally revealed: I’ve Been Kenyan This Whole Time.

Bloom County Returns!

Seth Godin: Telling, Not Showing

Semi-related:

Satanic baby killers are putting dead babies in Pepsi.

Airlines made $38 billion from extra fees (and it’s only the beginning). For the last couple months, I’ve been doing a lot of traveling (and flying) for work. While most of the associated hassles of air travel don’t really bother me all that much – crowded flights, the herd mentality that surrounds getting on and off planes, TSA checks, etc., the extra fees is the one that really bothers me.

Who said it? Donald Trump or Frank Reynolds?

Related: Trump Tells Iowa Dairy Farmers 500 Times Bigger than Theirs

How experts protect themselves online. This is a really good list of how the “normal” computer users attempts to secure their information differ from how most security experts secure their systems. Glad to see that my strategy has fallen closer to the “security expert” side. Key points:

  • Keep your system updated
  • Use two-factor authentication (ie have Google, Facebook, etc send you a text message when you log into their servers from a new computer so they know it is really you – it is extra work, but makes a HUGE difference).
  • Use unique and strong passwords and use a password manager. The graphic breaks these down into three different areas, but really they are interrelated. Installing a program like LastPass not only lets you store all your passwords in one location but is excellent at generating new passwords – therefore you can have it create complex passwords like: g9xDJisX5F@3 that have an incredibly low likelihood of every being guessed by a brute-force attack (hack), and you can have a different password for every site you use, instead of always using the same password for multiple sites, with something that is a common word or phrase that is easy to guess. 

25 things you should know about Detroit.

How to piss off someone from Iowa. Numbers 6-9 are probably my favorite with #9 being a must read.

Dan Dick: Who are we again? – excellent reflection on United Methodist identity.

Semi-related: Jeremy Smith’s article: While the UMC was distracted by Covenant, Wesley Church broke the Connection.

Just stumbled upon this great video by Kalle Mattson, like the song quite a bit too, called “Avalanche”:

And since it has been a while since I’ve given this blog any love, here’s another song, Yo La Tengo covering The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love”. If there was a KRUI (college radio station I worked at) for old people, I’d have this in heavy rotation.


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