Opuscula Thoughts on December 25

CALL ME A “SCROOGE” OR the Grinch, but December 25 is depressing.
The tv “news” shows clips of needy people receiving hot meals.

That’s a good thing, but the meals only are handed out two or three days a year (Thanksgiving, December 25, and maybe, Easter).

What will the needy eat the remaining 363 days? Dumpster^™ delight?

Homeless person searching for food in Dumpster^™ (http://tinyurl.com/y9t9v586)

I also see, thanks to the “boob tube,” commercials begging for money to aid wounded veterans.

Wounded Warriors, Disabled American Veterans (DAV), and at least one other, all beg for financial help. “Only $19 a month.”

I don’t begrudge the organizations’ appeal and I applaud their efforts on behalf of veterans.

But I am ashamed that we — as a nation — fail to provide our veterans with the physical and mental care they deserve; after all, they were wounded in defense of our freedoms, and many were “volunteered” (drafted) so their wounds are all the more grievous.

I shouldn’t be surprised. We celebrate Memorial Day at the race track or the beach; paper poppies have all but disappeared.

Appeals from other groups, such as St. Jude Hospital,the Shriners’ hospitals for kids, and Ronald McDonald houses I consider are reasonable. The U.S. lacks social medicine or national health care.

But is national health care so good? I have lived where there IS “national health care” and I know there are gaping holes in it; I also know there are frequent appeals to donate money so a patient can go elsewhere for treatment unavailable under the health care system.

I watch as this aid group or that appeals for my limited dollars to support medical care for children in this or that country, while children in America lack sufficient food, clothing, and medical care.

A famous Jewish doctor-philosopher said, essentially, that charity begins at home. Take care of your family, then your community, then your country, and if anything is left, “the world.” I agree with that — let us succor America’s needy first, and then care for “the world.”

Finally, December 25 reminds me that it is the alleged birthday of a god. (Most agree that Jesus was born sometime OTHER THAN December 25. The date is close to the Winter Solstice when the days begin to lengthen and the frightened masses had hope spring would return.)

Millions of people have been slaughtered or enslaved in Jesus’ name. He was supposed to be a god of love; instead we have pogroms, inquisitions, holocausts. His followers make no distinction among non-believers; if you don’t believe, you stand a very good chance of being killed or, at worst, being discriminated against. It’s not “just” Jews. The crusades, while they managed to murder a number of Jews on the way to the Holy Land, were aimed at the Muslims who held Jerusalem — a town, by the way, with “peace” (salem) in its name. Consider genocide around the world. Wikipedia has a chart (http://tinyurl.com/nt96bjw), and United to End Genocide (http://tinyurl.com/njtw4bw) lists slaughters since 1915, when the Turks rounded up, deported, and executed Armenians.

The least that can happen to someone who refuses to Jesus as a god is that the person will be condemned to eternal damnation.

And you thought Islam invented “death to infidels.” Death to non-believers predates even Mohamed.

This morning — again thanks to the tv in the kitchen — I learned that the leader of the Catholic church called his followers to share their wealth with the less fortunate. This from a man whose “corporate” property makes him one of the wealthiest people alive. I would dare to suggest that rather than ask his followers to share their wealth, he should set an example by opening the church’s coffers to feed, house, and medicate and educate the poor.

December 25th ranks slightly lower than Thanksgiving. At least on Thanksgiving most Americans (and Canadians on their day) make an effort to put aside religious, if not political, differences. There are those, such as my daughter and a few “religious” leaders, who — for different reasons: my daughter because of the mistreatment of Indians, a/k/a “native Americans,” and the “religious” few who object to any holiday that is not their holiday — refuse to celebrate the day — albeit some acknowledge it by outward manifestations (mac & cheese in lieu of turkey).

As I age — not gracefully but inexorably — I notice less and less religious connection to December 25 and more and more the Hallmark^™ connection. I’m not sure if that is good or bad.

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Why the small captions under images? To meet ADA requirements to accommodate screen readers.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on December 25

Opuscula Migration

I AM (TRYING) TO MIGRATE FROM Microsoft Windows and its applications to Linux Ubuntu.

I’ve been using LibreOffice — also available on Mac and Windows — or several months. It’s almost as functional as Microsoft Office and it has the same form, fit, and function as MS Office.

My #2 Son the computer guru, installed Ubuntu, a/k/a Ubu (“you-boo”) and everything was fine.

UNTIL

Until the Ubu software was updated.

Suddenly I lost Internet connectivity — the modem/router and HP laptop wi-fi connection was lost, gone, AWOL.

This is not the first time a Ubu update has done”mean and nasty” things to the system.

Several years ago I installed Ubu — it came complete on a CD so even I could install it — and it was fine until The Dreaded Update was downloaded — good bye Ubuntu.

Then, as now, Ubu was loaded alongside MS Windows; life went on.

Most Microsoft Windows applications and utilities play together nicely and most share a lot of “across-the-board” commonality.

Lots of Linux applications and utilities play together nicely, and many share an “across-the-board” commonality

Still, since Linux software is generally free (donations graciously accepted), the Linux “environment” is less controlled than either Microsoft or Mac environments (operating systems).

Which may explain why when “Application 1001” was updated to “1001-a” there was an unforeseen impact on my wi-fi connectivity.

Shift + number key

I am “blessed” with a number pad on both the computer’s keyboard and in an external keyboard. Because I am NOT an accountant or number cruncher, the number pad’s are most often used to move the cursor: 4 = left arrow, 8 = up arrow, 6=right arrow, and 2 = down arrow. A, 7, 3, and 9 also have move functions.

With MS Office, pressing the Shift key and one of the number pad keys extends a block of text (or whatever).

I

Sample of blocked text

Not so with Ubu. Press Shift and a number pad key and the digit appears.

After years of Shift+number key with MS Office, it is a hard habit to beat. Shift+non-number pad keys, e.g., Shift+Home blocks everything from the cursor to the beginning of the line. Not a problem for a number cruncher who only uses the number pad for calculations, but for me . . . a habit to break.

Many of Ubu’s shortcut keys are the same as MS’ shortcut keys. Ctrl-S=Save; F1=Help , F7=Spell check to name a few.

There are a few things LibreOffice does that MS Office cannot.

LibreOffice can open and save in MS Office format as well as several others. MS Office can neither save in LibreOffice’s “od*” formats nor open an od* file.

There are some things that seem to simply work better with MS. Creating a PDF fillable form is easier (for me, at any rate) using Cute PDF than LibreOffice’s Draw.

The more I use and “poke around” the applications available on Linux, the more I find things that compare favorably with MS Office products.

I was bemoaning the loss of MS Office Picture Manager until I “discovered” Shotwell, a pleasant surprise.

Linux lacks FrameMaker — actually, FrameMaker lacks Linux — and while it offers page composition applications, I have (so far) seen nothing to compare to FrameMaker or Ventura (before Corel) or even the late and unlamented Interleaf. Neither Word nor LibreWriter is made for long, multi-chapter, highly indexed manuals with graphics and tables. It can be done — I know masochists who did it — but dedicated page composition software does it better, faster, and with less user aggravation.

No, Virginia, Linux is not exactly like Microsoft (or Mac), but with a little patience and being prepared for the occasional upgrade glitch — blowing away the wi-fi connectivity — it is a legitimate option to Microsoft.

Screen capture of some Linux applications & utilities

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Bye, Wi-Fi

Opuscula U.S. Congress: At Work? Not for voters

As Dwayne Schneider (Pat Harrington Jr. [1929–2016] right) on the original One day at a time tv series oft opined: ”Always remember and never forget...”? voters — ALL voters — need to remember the “gift” Congress gave Federal employees for Christmas, 2018.
With the government shut down because the Democrats and Republicans were at odds regarding the nation’s security, our congressional representatives went home with their salaries and benefits intact while the government’s employees were wondering how they could pay for the gifts under their trees.

They can join the General Motors workers who were laid off when GM decided factories outside of the U.S. could make cars cheaper — no, Virginia, I did not write “less expensive” — than long-time employees in the U.S. could make quality products.

It would be interesting to see how GM executives’ bonuses will reflect this end-of-year generosity to their (former) U.S. work force.

One more thing to “always remember and never forget” when voters step into the voting booth. Which members of Congress objected to GM’s “send work elsewhere” decision.
In the last presidential elections, candidate Trump promised the American voter he would “build a wall” to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants across the U.S. - Mexican border. The people put him into office to keep his promises.

Ex-president Obama paid for a wall across Mexico’s SOUTHERN border ; Democrats, Republicans, and Bernie Sanders were silent. Go figure.

Trump also promised the voters he would replace Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act , a/k/a Obama care, with a better plan.
Where is it?
Ask congress.
I know I don’t have to repeat myself, but I will: One more thing to “always remember and never forget” when voters step into the voting booth.
I’ve been around long enough to have seen a number of presidents come and go. Some, like Richard M. Nixon and Lyndon Baines Johnson, were heartily hated by many Americans. But they still got things through congress; both, having been in congress, knew where the bodies were (are?) buried and could “convince” the reluctant representatives and senators to get off their well-appointed behinds and vote as America’s CEO needed.
Trump, of course, lacks that clout.

On the other hand, there were some presidents who could do no wrong, even when caught in the act.

For years many Americans have been complaining about Americans fighting upon foreign soil. Ex-president Obama wanted to get the U.S. out of Iraq and the war he declared was a “dumb war; a rash war; a war based not on reason, but on passion; not on principle, but on politics.” (http://tinyurl.com/y9pf9w43). No one complained except perhaps the realists who knew Iraq would soon draw the U.S. back. (He apparently had no objection to keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan.)
Trump calls for the U.S. to get out of Syria. He claims ISIS in Syria is defeated — I think he is very wrong — and his political foes on both sides of the aisle castigate him. He claims to have made a deal with Turkey's dictator, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to keep the Iranians in check. It is doubtful that anyone, except perhaps Israel, can keep the Iranians in check. The Israelis, incidentally, are of mixed opinion about the Syrian pull-out.
It is unfortunate that voters do not “always remember and never forget.” Voters in one south Florida congressional district apparently forgot one congress person being booted out of her position as chair of her party. They also forgot that when asked to assist her constituents, she almost always ignores or fails them. Yet she is re-elected.
As for this scrivener, I will remember Pat Harrington Jr. and his admonition to “always remember and never forget.”

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Always remember

Opuscula If it’s Florida Can it be cold?

THE AIR TEMPERATURE (vs. the water temperature) in my neighborhood is, as I key this, 58^o F. It went up a couple of degrees since I awoke.
I’m sitting in the “office” in a heavy robe my daughter gave me — it has סבא written on it — and thinking about my First Year in the Sunshine State, c 1954.

I came to Florida from the Hoosier State, Indiana, where it is noticeably colder in the winter.
I recall walking around in a “t” shirt while kids who grew up here shivered in sweaters and jackets.
The next year I was wearing a jacket.
The other day, with the thermometer hovering at 60^o F, I walked several blocks to a neighbor’s house in short sleeves. Others arrived in sweaters and a few in light jackets.
Something is amiss.
While I have been in and out of Florida most of my adult life, often ending up where cold and wind combine to provide a “feels like” temperature of 20 below (Gillette WY), south Florida has been “home” for more than 10 years running.
I should be cold when the temperature is in the 60s or less.
But, since there was no appreciable wind . . .
When I was a teen I was in Civil Air Patrol (Miami Composite Squadron 2, since dissolved) I spent a couple of summer weeks at Eglin AFB in north Florida.
Eglin had — maybe still has — a “climatic hanger,” a huge building in which the environment can be strictly controlled.
It was a warm summer day when we were ushered into a room in the hanger. The temperature was 0^o F, the humidity was 0% RH, and wind speed was 0 mph. Cadets were dressed in “t” shirts.
DELIGHTFUL.
Because there was no wind, the respite from Florida’s heat was not only welcome, but enjoyable.
Of course all good things must end and after a few minutes we were ushered out of the 0/0/0 room and back unto the heat and humidity of north Florida.
I thought that in my “senior” years “cold” would commence at — say — 75^o F. Apparently I’m made of “sterner stuff.” True, as I made the jaunt to the neighbors — a mere 4 city blocks — — the wind was negligible and the sun shore brightly, but it WAS only 60^o F yet I considered it a beautiful day.
Today, it truth be told, the air temperature in the early morning hours was mid-50s. My friend in north Florida welcomed an air temperature of less than 40^o F.
While I am loathe to visit any state in the winter where signs read Bridges freeze before roadways or similar, I still have my overcoat and its zip-in lining and I still hang on to my winter coat with parka and the thick, lined gloves I wore “up north.” Sweaters remain on hangers.
I thought I was fully acclimatized to Florida’s winters (it’s only late December; there is more to come), but perhaps my internal thermostat is resetting to a time when I was new to the state and “cold” was only something you read about in other places.

What’s the “big deal” about “air temperature”?
When the wind blows from the east, it’s coming off the Atlantic. The water temperature in the winter normally is warmer that the air temperature, so being close to the ocean mitigates the air temperature. On the state’s west coast, the temperature easily can be 10 degrees cooler. On the other hand, when the wind is off the Gulf of Mexico, the west coast enjoys warmer temperatures. I have managed to “forget” how that works in places such as Michigan when temperatures come off the lakes, but I’m getting cold just thinking about it.

There is a lot to be said for cold weather, especially if someone enjoys ice fishing, ice skating, building snow men, and skiing on snow. (I prefer my skiing on warm water.) Anyone who enjoys “that sort of thing” is welcome to it. As for me, give me sunshine and short-sleeve shirt weather.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Cold thoughts

Opuscula Forbidden words

NO, VIRGINIA, THIS IS NOT ABOUT “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.”

It is about trademarks and what the trademark holders do to protect the mark.

ASPIRIN used to be a trademark. It is not a trademark any more.

What do you call a big yellow earth mover? When I worked for newspapers, if I called that earth mover a “Cat” or “Caterpillar” I might get a letter from Peoria IL that (a) Cat and Caterpillar are registered trademarks, (b) Caterpillar makes more than “just” tracked earth moving machines (see http://tinyurl.com/y7scxr2l), and although probably NOT mentioned in the letter, that (c) just because the earth moving machine was on tracks and was yellow does not necessarily mean it was a Caterpillar product.

If a writer wrote “catterpillar” with a lower case (small) “c,” the writer best be writing about a creepy-crawly.

All soft drinks are not Coke.

Call it a “soft drink” or “soda,” but calling a non-Coca-Cola drink a “coke” — or even a “Coke” with a capital “C” — is liable to get someone in Atlanta GA to compose a message explaining that Coke and Coca-Cola are registered trademarks and not to be used generically.

Some folks stick things together with “scotch tape.” Publish that and someone, possibly a lawyer, will let you know that it is “Scotch brand” cellophane tape from 3M and that it is a closely guarded trademark.

What do you call decaffeinated coffee? Many people simply ask for a “sanka.”

It’s OK to SAY “sanka,” but if it is written out, it is “Sanka” with capital “S.”

The coffee may not keep anyone awake at night, but a letter from the company might. Sanka, incidentally,was “born” in Germany but got its name in France where it was “sans caféine” (information from Wikipedia). Sanka, now owned by KraftHeinz Food Service, no longer demands that the name “Sanka” be followed by “Brand.”

What’s the big deal?

The big deal is trademark protection.

The thing that prompted this piece was an article on school security. (See School safety: Did anyone ask Risk professional? elsewhere on this site.)

I was about to write “taser,” but thinking of Cat , Coke, Scotch, and Sanka I thought it wise to check out the word.

It turns out that TASER

(a) stands for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle
(b) is a registered trademark of Axon, nee’ Taser International, which insists that the Taser (with a capital “T”) is not a “generic stun gun.”

According to Business Insider (http://tinyurl.com/y9unsu54), there are more than 31 trademarked names that have become “household” words, words that have, through common usage and modification (e.g., Google to “googled” and “Xerox” to “xeroxed”) lost their value as trademarks. It’s an article worth reading.

As long as the owners of these trademarked names continue to send out communications advising people who “misuse” the name, the owners maintain some standing in court should the communication fail to correct the problem.

It may be a losing battle for the trademark owner, but it can be an expensive win for the writer.

If in doubt, use a search engine to check (but do not “google”) if the term is trademarked.

One final thought and credit where it is due: the “tinyurl” in the links used on this site is a trademark of TinyURL, Inc.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

BCPLANNER: Comments on (Trademarks)

Enterprise Risk Management School safety: Did anyone ask Risk professional?

I LIVE FAIRLY CLOSE TO the Major Stoneman Douglas High School in south Florida.

I’ve also been an Enterprise Risk Management practitioner for more than a few years.

The disaster, the murder of 17 people and the wounding of many others, could have been prevented.

Seventeen people, 14 students and three staff, were murdered by a former student who entered a building armed with an AK‑47 rifle.

A number of years ago I was a technical writer at a manufacturing facility in Fort Lauderdale FL. A guy who had a fight with his girlfriend, an employee, walked into the plant and shot the woman.

That was my first workplace murder and although I was not a risk management practitioner at the time it started me thinking: How could this have been avoided?

The easiest way was LOCK THE DOORS.

The shooter came in through an employee entrance.

The victim should have told someone she was in danger (assuming she was aware). HR would have made certain employees entered via a different door and would have made certain no unknown people would come into the building. (It was an unusually good HR team.)

Having push-bar emergency exit doors and making it mandatory to make sure the doors were tightly shut would satisfy both the Fire Marshal and the risk manager. So how would employees enter? During a specified time when the door could be open and monitored.

The company could have installed (employee ID) card readers to open an employee entrance, or installed metal detectors, but in those days, work place shootings were unusual so the cost probably would have been too much to justify on a low risk event. Times have changed.

Likewise stationing a guard would have been considered too costly against the risk in 1980.

Again, times have changed.

ONE OF THE PROBLEMS at Marjory Stoneman Douglas was that the law enforcement officers (LEOs) were on not only “different pages” but on different radio frequencies. The “right hand” didn’t know what the”left hand” was doing or needed. Putting everyone on the same frequency became a “to do” item following the shooting. Whether or not multi-jurisdictional active shooter exercises also made the “to do” list is an unknown, but it should be near the top of the list.

Another problem, according to the post-event finger pointing, is that the school lacked a well-published and practiced “red alert” or “lock down” procedure. Like a fire drill, this must be practiced again and again and yet again.

My son the cop does not fault the sheriff’s deputy for not rushing into the school to confront the shooter. What good would it do, he posits, to be shot looking for the shooter. My son’s department policy is to call for backup and then go in. Even if the deputy had a “bulletproof” vest, unless it is military grade and “weighs a ton,” it won’t stop a rifle bullet. (Besides, a bullet might hit the head or cut the femoral artery; the end result would be a dead cop and no protection for the people under attack.)

Once again, because the sheriff and local cops failed to share a frequency, the nearest cop might have been a local who didn’t get the expeditiously message.

Blame that on the politicians.

Still on “sharing information,” apparently the FBI failed to share information it had on the shooter with either the local LEOs or with the schools. Unfortunately, the FBI is becoming INfamous for keeping information within each office — that contributed to 9‑11‑2001 according to that disaster’s after action review.

Metal detectors might have helped, but the shooter was blatantly carrying a rifle and no one reacted.

When I went to high school, back when Hector was a pup, we had student hall monitors. A hall monitor could have seen the gun and could have set off a lock down alarm assuming the school HAD hall monitors and a publicized and practiced procedure. The hall monitor would NOT have been expected to attack the guy with a gun — just report what was seen.

Having a single entryway might not be feasible during the morning influx and afternoon exodus of students, but those portals COULD be monitored, both with personnel and by a camera system.

Should teachers be armed? The county’s school superintendent thinks not.

Meanwhile, taxpayers are footing the bill for increased LEO presence at all schools. Is the increased presence really necessary? Is there a better way? I think there is.

Limit entry and egress to managed portals.

Utilize technology — e.g., cameras, metal detectors — to monitor hallways.

Develop AND PRACTICE policies and procedures for red alerts and lock downs.

While the schools are beefing up security, make certain someone can’t smash through a door with a vehicle. Schools don‘t need tank traps, but re-enforced statuary could add to the school’s image while preventing a “drive in” attack.

Should school staff be armed? Tough question.

Armed staff must be trained when, and much more importantly, when NOT to use a weapon. Even then, having a weapon doesn’t mean that when “push comes to shove,” the school employee will use it. It is one thing to “kill” a paper target; it is quite another to see and shoot a living thing. No one knows what their reaction will be if a situation arises. Then there are the issues of (a) who buys the weapons and ammunition, (b) will employees be paid for their time at the firing range, (c) what ammunition will be allowed, (d) would a stun gun be sufficient?
While not against arming school personnel, it is a poor second to preventing a threat from entering the facility.

What schools need is to work with an Enterprise Risk Management practitioner who has a curious mind and is willing to play the “What If?” game.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on School safety

Opuscula Facebook Security Is a farce

IF THE MEDIA IS TO BE BELIEVED — and that may be asking a lot — Facebook has once again been caught with its security down.

If it actually HAD subscriber security.

According to

CNBC (http://tinyurl.com/ycu7pt5v and http://tinyurl.com/yclbafcq)
The New York Times (http://tinyurl.com/yb9sn8hb)
Wall Street Journal (http://tinyurl.com/ybakwbbc)
Wired (http://tinyurl.com/ycomlodn)

Facebook allowed — gave, sold, or traded — a number of organizations to access Facebook subscriber personal information and private postings.

According to Wired.com, Unlike the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a third-party company erroneously accessed data that a then-legitimate quiz app had siphoned up, this vulnerability allowed attackers to directly take over user accounts..

The web site 9to5mac.com (http://tinyurl.com/yca5m3gt) contends that Facebook, subscribers’ information was shared with

Amazon
Microsoft’s Bing
Netflix
Royal Bank of Canada
Spotify
Yahoo

in some cases, allowed organizations to read, write and delete users’ private messages, and to see all participants on a thread — privileges that appeared to go beyond what the companies needed to integrate Facebook into their systems.

The site noted that Facebook empowered Apple to hide from Facebook users all indicators that its devices were asking for data. Apple devices also had access to the contact numbers and calendar entries of people who had changed their account settings to disable all sharing, the records show.

Apple officials said they were not aware that Facebook had granted its devices any special access. They added that any shared data remained on the devices and was not available to anyone other than the users.

Since I am not a social media subscriber — no Facebook, no Twitter, no WhatsApp,
Tumbler, Instagram, or Google+ — I’m fairly safe. Not 100 percent; I have email accounts, and the government — which HAS been hacked — has more information that I would care to share.

Do “social media” ask for subscriber’s Social Security information?

What confounds me is why a person’s Social Security number is requested by every Tom, Dick, and Harry when the ONLY people that need it are reporting financial information to the Federal government.

Doctors routinely ask for a patient’s Social Security number. No reason. (I never give mine.)

Social Security was never intended to be a national ID. If Congress was smart — like the media being truthful — there would be a law banning the use of Social Security numbers for anything that is not connected to the Treasury or IRS.

The next time someone asks for my Social Security information I’ll respond: I’ll show you mine after you show me yours.” I’ll bet that ends the request in a hurry.

According to most “experts,” nothing every goes away once it gets into the WWW .

While users may think their personal information and personal comments are secure, they are, sadly, very wrong.

It’s bad enough when a data base is hacked, but worse when the information is sold, trades, or otherwise surrendered to organizations in which the subscriber has no interest.

The only way to assure privacy is to avoid social media and to stop posting your most intimate thoughts online.

In other words,

THINK BEFORE GIVING UP PERSONAL INFORMATION
THINK BEFORE POSTING ANYTHING ON THE INTERNET.

It is just common sense, but perhaps common sense isn’t so common anymore.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Facebook

Opuscula Facebook Freedom Of Speech

FREEDOM OF SPEECH may be a hallmark of American civil rights, but on Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook, those rights can be suspended for Jews.

According to Israel HaYom (http://tinyurl.com/y8cjnwob),

Facebook blocks Yair Netanyahu for 24 hours for post calling social media giant "thought police" • PM's son had blasted social media platform for removing earlier post in which he called for "avenging the deaths" of IDF soldiers killed in Samaria attack.

Facebook users supposedly control content on the “social” media site by complaining about other users’ posts.

If a post is found egregious by a number of users, the post is deleted and, in some cases, the poster has his or her privileges suspended or revoked.

Assuming Israel HaYom’s reporting is accurate, fellow Facebookers took issue with Yair Netanyahu’s post calling for ”avenging the deaths" of two Israeli soldiers killed last week by Palestinian gunmen in Samaria and calling for the expulsion of Palestinians. He shared a screenshot of the earlier post in violation of Facebook's community rules.

I’m not certain if his call for ”avenging the deaths of two Israeli soldiers by Palestinian gunmen” or calling for the expulsion of Palestinians caused the umbrage

I am not a Facebook subscriber, nor do I subscribe to Twitter or any other “social” media.

From Facebook pull-outs and quotes I have seen on other sites, it appears Facebook followers have a double-standard.

One allows denigration of Jews in general and Israel specifically.

The other restricts similar verbiage from Jews.

It makes me suspicious that not only has the UN raison d’etre been subsumed by a special interest but that Facebook et al also has fallen victim to, as Netanyahu fils contends, “thought police.”

In the United States, non-conforming thoughts, i.e., conservative thoughts, may be shouted down by liberal opponents, albeit this is not a valid response by conservatives when a liberal espouses something.

The liberals are not solely to blame for this condition; the conservatives must share the blame for allowing this to occur.

If my understanding of Facebook, and similar “social” media, is correct, then the conservatives must learn from the liberals and counter liberal “thought control.”

It is one thing to shout FIRE! In a crowed theater or to promote aggression against a person or a people; it is far different to suggest avenging a crime — did Netanyahu suggest killing the “Palestinians” who murdered the Israelis? — a feeling most humans harbor when a crime — especially murder — is committed against them or their fellows.

As far as expulsion, perhaps Netanyahu is taking a page from the United States history. The U.S. government expelled the indigenous population in Georgia when gold was thought to be had from the land. The expulsion led to the Trail of Tears (http://tinyurl.com/yc27bso7). On Dec. 17, 1862, U.S. Grant expelled Jews from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi. Lincoln revoked the order (http://tinyurl.com/yd6tn65f). These were mass expulsions, not simply an individual or family, but hundreds of people.

The United States was simply following the lead of many European nations who expelled not only Jews but others as well, depending upon political whim (and in some cases, the state of the national treasury).

Perhaps Netanyahu’s call to avenge murders was found offensive to the sensibilities of many Facebook subscribers. Perhaps expelling criminals was the issue. Countries expel criminals — it’s called “deportation.”

I wonder what the reaction would be had Netanyahu dared suggest the criminals be rounded up and forced into ghettos, a la Europe, and prevented from leaving the confined area — call it a “reservation.” Democrat FDR did that to Japanse-Americans and a very few Germans and Italians. “Palestinians” in UN camps are free to leave whenever they wish and a few do leave.

Free speech in the U.S. in 2018 is not free. It must be “politically correct” and not offensive to the liberal, albeit loud, minority.

Free speech and “social” media apparently are mutually exclusive.

Pity.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Free Speech

Enterprise Risk Management Password Catch 22

I HAVE A YAHOO EMAIL account I rarely use.

From time to time I log in to clean house. Mostly Yahoo fills up with spam.

It is the one email account that has a static password. (My “real” email accounts, ones that forward mail to my email consolidator — Outlook on Windows or Evolution on Linux — are elsewhere.)

Yahoo logo

THIS MORNING I tried to log on to the Yahoo account. Something went “bump in the night” and Yahoo had a problem with my password.

Not a problem.

Yahoo has a password recovery process.

The process requires a phone that has text messaging capabilities.

My phone’s text messaging is turned off.

In other words, I’ll never be able to clean out all the spam in my Yahoo account.

Eventually Yahoo will delete the account; that’s fine with me.

But as an Enterprise Risk Management practitioner, I have a problem with Yahoo’s procedure.

Even if my phones had text messaging, what happens if

a. The phones are disabled?
b. Lost?
c. The number is changed?

or any other possibilities that would prevent receiving a text message?

Other emails have multiple options.

Granted, Yahoo has been around a long time.

Now it’s a unit of Verizon, along with what was AOL.

I’ve had AOL and Verizon accounts, but my first email was a local, no frills *.us service.

Verizon acquired Yahoo in 2017, but apparently has failed to look closely at its functionality. The acquisition apparently was not to enhance Yahoo services but to add Yahoo marketing assets to Verizon.

Whenever I think of Yahoo I recall an old joke which ended with the question: “Are you still using that greasy kid stuff?” (I don’t recall the entire joke, but since it dates backs to my junior high days, it probably is not suited for a “G-rated” blog.)

I wonder if Yahoo ever had a risk management practitioner on staff and if if did, did anyone LISTEN to the practitioner? I’m certain Yahoo had IT Disaster Recovery and may have had Business Continuity, but enterprise risk management? Based on the password recovery options Yahoo lacks, my 2¢ are on “Never heard of Enterprise Risk Management at Yahoo.” I’m not even sure about Verizon.

If Enterprise Risk Management is unknown at Verizon/AOL/Yahoo, it is not surprising. It never fails but to amaze me that some major organizations — including defense contractors — dismiss Enterprise Risk Management as a bothersome, no ROI, exercise, proving management is “penny wise and pound foolish.”

Yahoo is not losing a customer, but it is wasting storage space on email I never will see.

Pity.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Yahoo

Opuscula Do homework Before buying

MOST OF US DO AT LEAST A LITTLE homework before making a purchase of more than a few coins.

Most of the homework is cursory.

That’s not enough.

IF YOU REALLY WANT that Benz E350 and only care about flaunting your wealth, skip the homework.

But if you want something that won’t cost an arm and a leg later, do the homework.

The Benz may be perfect for some people.

My Second Born son used to buy – perhaps still does – Lexmark laser printers.

My Daughter bought a Canon MG2520 bubble jet.

Both printers have the same problem: the replacement ink costs more than the printer’s retail price.

Walmart sells the Canon for $25 and tax. ComboInk sells the printer’s two replacement cartridges (245XL and 246XL) for $36.78 and shipping.¹ The ink is not the more expensive Canon ink.

My son’s laser printers have the same problem: it costs more to buy the toner than to buy a replacement printer (albeit the replacement printer’s toner may not be as full as the replacement toner).

But the printers’ purchase prices look good and, in the case of Canon, the printers have a good provenance. (I have two Canon bubblejet printers that, like a Timex watch, take a licking and keep on ticking; I also have four Canon cameras – two film and two digital.)

I have an “inexpensive” car – Hyundai Elantra c 2008. It should be like my old (1956) Ford Custom: easy for a non-mechanic to do minor maintenance (such as changing a headlight).

While the Hyundai IS much more owner friendly than a 1990 Jaguar XJ6 (X40), it still is a pain in the patience to change the driver’s side headlight. In order to change a sealed beam headlight on the Ford, remove a few screws, remove the old lamp and install the new lamp. In order to change a headlight in the Jaguar XJ6, the entire grill assembly must be removed! To replace the bulb in the Hyundai, the battery must be removed (and then reset clock and radio). I no longer have the Ford or the Jag.

Never mind about the Benz.

To change windshield wiper blades – if the owner’s manual is to be believed – means spending more than $100 at a Benz dealer’s shop. This is for an E350. (I saw a receipt.) By contrast, a set of wiper blades for the Hyundai cost as little as $8, complete with “how to install” instructions.

The old and beautiful Benz 300SL gull wing’s engine compartment was so tightly crammed with metal that a mechanic had to have very small hands to access anything. The Datsun (now Nissan) 3000 with four in-line SU carburetors was roomier.

All the above is not to claim that today’s flivers are not more reliable. They simply are more difficult to repair . . . even minor things (e.g., headlights).

Computerization of everything has accomplished two things: greatly reduced troubleshooting time and greatly increased cost to repair. That statement applies across the board: cars, tvs, airplanes, stoves, and more.

I have a mechanic who, while he HAS the gear to connect to a car’s computer, his EXPERIENCE over the years has given him the knowledge to diagnose my car’s woes using only his senses: vision, hearing, touch, and – perhaps most important – common.

I once watched a mechanic near Okeechobee FL tune a car’s engine. He adjusted the timing, listened, and tweaked the timing until he was satisfied. THEN he got out the timing light to confirm what he already knew. He was better than the mechanic that changed the timing belt on a Subaru Legacy with a timing light … the timing was way off.

While many prospective buyers read the spec (specification) sheets, few actually concern themselves with routine maintenance: changing light bulbs or printer ink/toner, power sources (AC, DC, 115 ±10% - 230 ±10%, NTSC/PAL (tv and video cameras), power requirements for electric tools and appliances (voltage, Amperage, Watts), fuel octane and more). Even mobile (cell) phones; what works in one country may not work in another.

If the product’s spec sheet fails to provide the information, ask the vendor. If the vendor lacks the information, perhaps there is an online user manual.

Doing your homework is more than just looking at a product and its purchase price.

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Sources

1. Internet prices as of 17 June 2018.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Homework

Opuscula Resignation Second Thoughts

FIRST IT WAS FLORIDA GUBERNATORIAL candidate Andrew Gillum; now it is Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes.

Gillum conceded the election to Ron DeSantis then withdrew the concession when it became clear the vote was closer than he originally thought.

Snipes tendered her resignation then, when incumbent governor Rick Scott suspended Snipes, she withdrew her resignation.

First you say you will, then you won’t; then you say you do,then you don’t^{1, 2}

Left: Ron Gillum; Right: Brenda Snipes
Politicians who resigned then reneged

Dr. Snipes — she has a PhD in “Educational Leadership” from Nova Southeastern University³ — was appointed to fill an unexpired term by Republican Jeb Bush in 2003 and has won election every four years thereafter. Snipes is a Democrat in heavily Democrat Broward County.

According to the Miami Herald⁴

(Gov.) Scott signed an executive order Friday ordering that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement oversee Snipes’ exit, effective immediately. He cited “misfeasance, incompetence and neglect of duty” in removing the 15-year elections veteran, who had hoped to quietly step down in early January following a tumultuous election and recount.

“Every eligible voter in Florida deserves their vote to be counted and should have confidence in Florida’s elections process,” Scott said in a statement. “After a series of inexcusable actions, it’s clear that there needs to be an immediate change in Broward County and taxpayers should no longer be burdened by paying a salary for a supervisor of elections who has already announced resignation.”

The Herald continued

Scott’s executive order lacks any allegations of fraud, it points to Snipes’ inability to provide basic information to the public and media after Election Day, and to a successful lawsuit demanding public records and information related to counted and uncounted votes. It notes that during the count and recount, Snipes’ staff misplaced thousands of ballots, missed a deadline to turn in updated vote tallies, and separated hundreds of anonymous provisional ballots from their signed envelopes, resulting in Broward’s submission of about two dozen invalid ballots to the state as part of its official vote count.

By the time she submitted her resignation, Snipes — whose office had already dealt with years of missteps — had lost support among Democrats, some of whom blamed her for possibly designing a ballot that led to thousands of voters in a heavily Democratic county overlooking the Senate race.

The problem with the ballot is that the race for U.S. Senate between long-time incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson and senator-elect Scott was incorrectly placed on the ballot and, according to some, was overlooked by many voters. Nelson belatedly conceded to Scott when it was obvious the Republican won the senate seat.

The Tampa Tribune⁵ reports that Burnadette Norris-Weeks, Snipes' contracted attorney, during a press conference Saturday said

"We will be fighting this. In additional^sic to that, Dr. Snipes hereby rescinds her resignation which would have been effective on the fourth of January. She rescinds that resignation as we go forward and fight these…allegations that are frivolous. The supervisor is being held to a standard that no other supervisor has been held to in the state of Florida," she said. "We are disheartened by the governor's actions. We believe it is a malicious action that should not have happened.

It has been suggested that Snipes is fighting the executive order because she might forfeit a pension for her tenure as Supervisor of Elections (SOE). She will lose her pay and benefits.

The Sun-Sentinel⁶ reports that Snipes

was set to receive $71,000 a year pension from her time in the elections office. The job itself paid $178,865 annually.

Although unlikely, it is possible that Snipes could remain in office despite Scott’s executive order since, according to the Tampa newspaper,

The Florida Constitution mandates that the Florida Senate is required to hold a hearing to remove Snipes from office. The Senate has three months to begin its proceedings.

NBC6, a south Florida tv channel⁶ notes that

In 2004, Snipes said 58,000 absentee ballots in heavily Democratic Broward County were lost – a detriment to the campaign of John Kerry's campaign.

In 2016 her office illegally destroyed 6,000 ballots after they were counted but a judge ordered them to be preserved.

Things became so bad in Snipes’ office that ex-governor Bush, the man who appointed her, said⁶

“There is no question that Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes failed to comply with Florida law on multiple counts, undermining Floridians’ confidence in our electoral process, Supervisor Snipes should be removed from her office following the recounts.”

According to the same source,

The 2018 midterms weren’t the office’s first brush with controversy. It broke federal law by destroying ballots that a failed candidate had a legal right to review, a judge ruled this year. About the same time, Snipes lost a court case against the Republican Party of Florida over the way she handled vote-by-mail absentee ballots. In 2016, she sent out a handful of misprinted absentee ballots as well.

As far back as 2004 — her first major election as supervisor — Snipes reported that 58,000 absentee ballots were lost.

The problems in Broward preceded Snipes. Her predecessor, Miriam Oliphant, was suspended from office by then-Gov. Jeb Bush in 2003 after botching the 2002 primary. He replaced her with Snipes, who was subsequently reelected. Along with President Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio, Bush called on either Scott or DeSantis to kick Snipes out of office.

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On a personal note; since the county was last gerrymandered and voters moved to new districts and polling places, this voter has failed to receive any documents by mail from the office: no new voter registration card, no absentee ballots. This despite complaining numerous times to the office via email and in person.

Although I have a Fort Lauderdale address (due to the USPS failure to accept reality), I am able to receive mail to my city address provided it has the fill 5+4 ZIP code. Apparently the SOE’s office is unable to append the last four digits and my mail goes … frankly, I have no idea where the mail goes other than it does NOT end up in my mail box (or my neighbors’ which often is the case).

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Sources

1. Undecided lyrics: http://tinyurl.com/ybq3vt2l

2. Undecided song: https://youtu.be/-sjUVhHa73E

3. http://tinyurl.com/y6uez6ls

4. http://tinyurl.com/y867l9fp

5. http://tinyurl.com/yc9ts6y6

6: http://tinyurl.com/y8dnt52b

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Second Thoughts