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Lizzie

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Posts posted by Lizzie

  1. I'm sure Koach or Stormy know much more about this than I do. I am assuming based on something Koach said in chat many years ago that the MSN staff was using comic chat many years ago. I suspect at a minimum comic chat was no longer supported past at least 2006. It is even possible that comic chat was coded for DOS versions of early Windows. This kind of reminds me of when I upgraded from XP to Vista. I finally had to just go buy a new 3 in 1 scanner printer. I was looking through some of my old containers a while back. I imagine I have at least $1500 worth of old software that will no longer run in Windows 10 or 11 without running a virtual machine. While I agree with Koach about the information being helpful, sometimes I think it is best to not live in the past!

    Peace

  2. I would suspect that too. The thing is I have letters and cards going back to the late part of the 1800s with writing and signatures that look like that. People today fail to understand that back then a large portion of the population was in fact illiterate in the US. Gramps might have attempted to pull a fast one, then again maybe he did not. I am shocked the writing on that paper is still legible. Most of mine is hard to see. 

  3. I was looking through some old comments and took notice of this one. Still miss Smiley. My husband and I recently attended the services of what he called one of his mentors going all the way back to his days at the Academy. A Veteran of both Korea and Vietnam. He served on too many ships to list here. He had retired in the 1980s from the Navy but was working at the Academy for years afterward. His services were a bit subdued because of Covid and social distancing. I was surprised to see bagpipes being played after the service and his body being removed for burial. This song was played. Later I asked my husband what that song was? He said it was "Abide with me" and it was not the first time he had heard it played at a funeral. 

     

    ABIDE WITH ME!

  4. It is always sad when beloved pets fight like that. My oldest sister had to separate her two toms many years ago because of this. She sent one to go live with a cousin that also lives in Greenwood. Both are gone now, however, afterward both lived full comfortable lives, sadly apart!

  5. LINK

     

    If you use Alexa, Echo, or many other Amazon devices, you have only 10 days until you're opted in to an experiment that leaves your personal privacy and security hanging in the balance.

    On June 8, the merchant, Web host, and entertainment behemoth will automatically enroll the devices in Amazon Sidewalk. The new wireless mesh service will share a small slice of your Internet bandwidth with neighboring Sidewalk-capable devices that don’t have connectivity. Sidewalk will also help your Amazon devices to a sliver of bandwidth from other Sidewalk users when you don’t have a connection.

    By default, a variety of Amazon devices will enroll in the system come June 8. And since only a tiny fraction of people take the time to change default settings, that means millions of people will be co-opted into the program whether they know anything about it or not. The Amazon webpage linked above says Sidewalk "is currently only available in the US." The full list of devices that can act as Sidewalk bridges is Ring Floodlight Cam (2019), Ring Spotlight Cam Wired (2019), Ring Spotlight Cam Mount (2019), Echo (3rd gen and newer), Echo Dot (3rd gen and newer), Echo Dot for Kids (3rd gen and newer), Echo Dot with Clock (3rd gen and newer), Echo Plus (all generations), Echo Show (all models and generations), Echo Spot, Echo Studio, Echo Input, and Echo Flex.

    Amazon has published a white paper detailing the technical underpinnings and service terms that it says will protect the privacy and security of this bold undertaking. To be fair, the paper is fairly comprehensive, and so far no one has pointed out specific flaws that undermine the encryption or other safeguards being put in place. But there are enough theoretical risks to give users pause.

     

    Wireless technologies like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have a history of being insecure. Remember WEP, the encryption scheme that protected Wi-Fi traffic from being monitored by nearby parties? It was widely used for four years before researchers exposed flaws that made decrypting data relatively easy for attackers. WPA, the technology that replaced WEP, is much more robust, but it also has a checkered history.

    Bluetooth has had its share of similar vulnerabilities over the years, too, either in the Bluetooth standard or in the way it’s implemented in various products.

    If industry-standard wireless technologies have such a poor track record, why are we to believe a proprietary wireless scheme will have one that’s any better?

     

    The omnipotent juggernaut

    Next, consider the wealth of intimate details Amazon devices are privy to. They see who knocks on our doors, and in some homes they peer into our living rooms. They hear the conversations we’re having with friends and family. They control locks and other security systems in our home.

    Extending the reach of all this encrypted data to the sidewalk and living rooms of neighbors requires a level of confidence that’s not warranted for a technology that has never seen widespread testing.

    Last, let’s not forget who’s providing this new way for everyone to share and share alike. As independent privacy researcher Ashkan Soltani puts it: “In addition to capturing everyone’s shopping habits (from amazon.com) and their internet activity (as AWS is one of the most dominant web hosting services)... now they are also effectively becoming a global ISP with a flick of a switch, all without even having to lay a single foot of fiber.”

    Amazon’s decision to make Sidewalk an opt-out service rather than an opt-in one is also telling. The company knows the only chance of the service gaining critical mass is to turn it on by default, so that’s what it’s doing. Fortunately, turning Sidewalk off is relatively painless. It involves:

    1. Opening the Alexa app
    2. Opening More and selecting Settings
    3. Selecting Account Settings
    4. Selecting Amazon Sidewalk
    5. Turning Amazon Sidewalk Off

    No doubt, the benefits of Sidewalk for some people will outweigh the risks. But for the many, if not the vast majority of users, there’s little upside and plenty of downside. Amazon representatives didn’t respond to a request for comment.

  6. I have looked for an old photo I have of a strike. My father took this photo by accident while doing some time lapse photography. You can see the main bolt in the distance and this was a small streamer off that main bolt. As I stated I can't find the photo, but I took a few minutes to find this old Youtube video. This streamer I am talking about looked like the one showing in the video. These things are dangerous too!

     

     

  7. One of my uncles is a retired USAF Colonel. Back a few years ago I accompanied him to a funeral at "The Garden"  for one of his old Commanding General. This General started his career in the US Army Air Corps. As a military spouse I have also been to more military funerals then I would like. Taps does not go through my spirit like hearing Amazing Grace played on the Bagpipes does. I long for the day when we can beat all our Swords into Plowshares and learn war no more! 

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