All of my computers have the password 00000000

All of my computers have the password 00000000. Apparently I have a beard.

However.

They are located throughout America in hidden and heavily protected areas., with trip wires, snipers, a tank or two, and some big mean dogs. Also, they are buried about 1/4 mile down in concrete bunkers.

Oh, one more thing. To login, the two armed guards sitting at opposite ends of the room need to receive a message from me, then turn their respective keys simultaneously.

THEN someone gets to enter the password.

If you use 00000000 as your password under any other circumstances, yes, your computer is insecure. You might want to try using 1Password which really is a pretty good password utility. It remembers your existing passwords, generates new unguessable ones, has all sorts of browser plugins, and syncs across devices.

Of course, having super-duper complex passwords unique to each site you use is great, but it doesn’t protect you from data-theft at the actual site holding your username and password, something that happens with alarming frequency these days.

Oh geez. That reminds me. Has anyone brought food to those armed guards 1/4 mile down in the bunkers recently?

For 20 Years the Nuclear Launch Code at US Minuteman Silos Was 00000000

 

 

The purpose of Rock Music

A friend of mine is officially old. I imagine that may mean I am too, since we went to high school together.

She's a nice lady who does cool things for a living, but, yeah, she's old. She recently posted the lyrics to Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines with some ‘what about the children’ outrage

“Hustle Gang Homie
One thing I ask of you
Lemme be the one you back that ass up to
From Malibu to Paris boo
Had a bitch, but she ain't bad as you
So, hit me up when you pass through
I'll give you something big enough to tear your ass in two
Swag on 'em even when you dress casual
I mean, it's almost unbearable
In a hundred years not dare would I
Pull a Pharcyde, let you pass me by
Nothin' like your last guy, he too square for you
He don't smack that ass and pull your hair like that
So I'm just watching and waitin'
For you to salute the true big pimpin'
Not many women can refuse this pimping
I'm a nice guy, but don't get confused, this pimpin'”

First off, while a popular song, and one that got your attention because of leering no-talent Twerkmeistress Miley Cyrus backed her ass up on an awards show, and Thicke though to have an video of the song with topless models, this is as much what ‘kids’ (for some value of kids) listen to as their Facebook accounts are where they actually hang out. This is a sop for the parents, to divert them from the real goings on in any number of other songs, or on Instagram and ask.fm, as it were.

Yeah, ok, wooo! Outrageous. Yawn. I’m more concerned about kids listening to banal pop-music. What about the punk rockers?!? God, do punk rockers even exist anymore or do they do that just to be ironic? So confused! So old.

At one point, I caught a reference posted by my 14 year-old niece to a song by some random rapper – the touching tale of a man who wanted to cum on a girl’s tits after she gave him oral sex, then turn her around and do her anally. That’s more like it! Completely outrageous, sexist, violent, everything we expect from rock music for kids. I was completely outraged. As I should be.

After all, do we really expect kids to be talking about an upcoming cotillion? Planning to hold hands at the next church social?

By the time I was 15, in the mid-70s I’d listened to songs by a omni-sexual glam god (Bowie) and tunes about heroin, Bondage & Domination, and transgendered prostitution by Lou Reed.

HEROIN

“I don't know just where I'm going
But I'm gonna try for the kingdom, if I can
'Cause it makes me feel like I'm a man
When I put a spike into my vein
And I'll tell ya, things aren't quite the same
When I'm rushing on my run
And I feel just like Jesus' son
And I guess that I just don't know”

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

“Holly came from Miami F.L.A.

Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A.

Plucked her eyebrows on the way

Shaved her legs and then he was a she

She said, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side,

Said, hey honey, take a walk on the wild side.
Candy came from out on the island,

In the backroom she was everybody's darling,

But she never lost her head

Even when she was giving head

She says, hey baby, take a walk on the wild side

Said, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side

And the colored girls go …"

I had heard the Rolling Stones sing the virtues of a slave-master fucking his property:

BROWN SUGAR

Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields,
Sold in a market down in new orleans.
Scarred old slaver know he's doin alright.
Hear him whip the women just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl should
A-huh.

So … did listening to any of this turn me gay, or into a heroin addict, or a slaver? As best as I can tell, no. While kids are impressionable, the real value of music is to make parents and other old people have conniptions and become outraged. Mission accomplished, Robin Thicke, Mission Accomplished Miley Cyrus. (Just for the record, both of these people are pap, contrived outrageousness. They are products of the music industry, they are not originators, nor original, nor even slightly interesting. They are product.)

By the time I was 18 I had discovered The Clash, and heard about socially conscious, intelligent issues.

I’m So Bored With The U.S.A.

Kids are people, and will fall into, or reject the same prejudices we all did. Is telling teen girls they are sex objects healthy? Of course not! But neither is extolling the virtues of heroin, or prostitution, or slavery. All we can do is hope kids choose healthier alternatives, and no, that doesn’t mean yet another ineffectual web campaign. It means just sit back and cross your fingers that they figure it out for themselves, just as we all did. Or, in some cases, due to a terminal case of arrested development, didn’t.

"I'm Sorry You Are A Weasel" Baby's First Apology

How to Apologize

It seems like an easy thing, to apologize. But yet apologies have been winnowed down from the unmitigated to weasel words.

Here is a handy primer on how to apologize.

Executive summary (presumably because executives are simpletons who can't do any deep reading):

Rule #1: Don't be a weasel.

Apologize quickly

Make your amends in life as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the issue will fester with the aggrieved party, or even with yourself. I once apologized to someone after 20 years. It had been weighing heavily on my mind, but she didn’t even remember the initial problem. What a total waste of my time!

Apologize unreservedly

Everyone has heard that phrase ‘IF I offended you, I apologize’. Have you ever said it?

You have? Well then, fuck you. You already know you have offended someone, they’ve told you so, so there are no ‘if’s’ about it. Yeah, I know it’s in the Bible (Samuel 25:28) but in this case the word of God is wrong. Probably a typo or something. 

Only apologize if you mean it

Don’t apologize because it makes good business sense. Apologize like you mean it, because you do mean it. Otherwise, stand your ground. Don’t be a weasel.

Apologies should be tangible

Learn from your mistakes. Don’t repeat the same mistake again – there are so many in the world to make, find something new to fuck up over.

Take responsibility

Something might not be your doing, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t your fault. Step up and seize the opportunity to apologize for something that you could have helped to prevent.

You don’t have to apologize for everything

Causing offense is inevitable, there is someone, somewhere on this planet who will take offense to you saying ‘hello’. I expect I may have offended some people with this post. Be forewarned: I’m unapologetic. Always assess the situation like an adult, and decide if you were wrong, and do the right thing.

Apologies are inevitable

Everybody makes mistakes – both big and small. Make the most of them by apologizing while knowing you are merely human.

Remember: Don’t be a weasel

You’ve already fucked up, don’t compound it.