It’s hard to believe, but here in Los Angeles we are less than a month away from an election. Alas, we can’t vote Trump out yet (oh, that we could), but we do have some significant issues on the ballot. As I do with every ballot, I try to present my recommendations for you to refute and argue with, and to let me know WWTD — What Would Trump Do (so I can vote the other way). Note that I’m not doing these in ballot order; I’m moving the country measure with the city measures for pedagogical purposes.
Day: February 11, 2017
Good Advice
Let’s take a breather from TrumpNews (oh, that we could). Allan Sherman once sang, “Good advice, good advice. Good advice costs nothing, and it’s worth the price. It’s fruitful as can be, And it’s absolutely free. My good advice.” As I’ve been going through the news, I’ve found some items that fall into the category of Good Advice. Further, they’re absolutely free because they’re from the Internet.
- News Fatigue. The New York Times has a number of suggestions for dealing with News Fatigue, or as they put it, “It feels as if we are living in a Superconducting Super Collider of news, with information bombarding us at a head-spinning velocity. The result is a fatigue about the headlines — lately about politics — that has prompted some people to withdraw from the news, or curb their consumption of it.” Their suggestions? (1) Focus on positive news; (2) don’t read or watch any just before bedtime because thoughts of how to respond to it can disrupt sleep — watch the sports or weather instead; (3) read a physical paper instead of the Internet; (4) watch cute animals on Twitter.
- Painting. From the Jewish Journal (because we all love Jews with Tools), some advice on pain free painting. No, it isn’t “go out and hire someone”. Rather, it actually is good advice on colors, supplies, and the process.
- Your Parent’s Stuff. Here’s an interesting article from NextAvenue on what happens when Boomers inherit their parent’s stuff. This is something we’re dealing with right now — I’m still getting rid of my dad’s stuff from 2004, and we’re working on my mother-in-laws place. There’s all this stuff that they thought had value, or you would think had value (first day covers and framed maxim cards — I’m looking at you)…. but probably don’t, and yet you can’t just throw them away.
- Computer DVD Drives. DId you know if that if you owned a computer with a DVD drive, you might be able to get $10? There’s a class action lawsuit that is taking names.
- Home Device Hijacking. Here is some good advice from the NY Times on how to prevent your home devices from being hijacked. The TL;DR (especially as they have a paywall) is: (1) Research the devices before you buy to know whether it has objectionable behavior or known vulnerabilities; (2) strengthen your wi-fi security (and consider having a separate wi-fi network for just IOT things); (3) beef up your passwords (and use a good password manager and generator – I use Lastpass) : (4) Regularly update the firmware, if you can; (5) when in doubt, hit “mute” or tape over that camera.
- Passwords. Lastly, here’s some updated password requirements promulgated by the Trump administration. Related to that, always remember to check your sources for authenticity, and remember that free advice is often worth every penny you paid for it.