5 Thoughts for August 11, 2016

1. Donald's Dangerous Speech: Donald boldly incited violence against Hillary, earlier this week. The oddest part about it was the reaction from his apologists who offered three excuses: (1) He was joking; (2) He was doing public service by warning people about the threat of violence; (3) He was encouraging people to get out and vote for him. Everyone else understood what he was trying to do. This time he went beyond embarrassing; he crossed the line into what is called stochastic terrorism. In a normal year that would automatically disqualify him, but this year, people are okay with violent speech and violent acts. Lest anyone forget, Donald actively encouraged his audience to punch a protester in the face, and one obliged.
2. NOlympics Update: I still haven't watched a single second of the Olympics. It appears that others are following suit, too. Ratings are way down going back a decade, and attendance is very poor. Apparently, even the athletes are publicly showing their disdain for the IOC and its corruption, by calling out cheaters who were allowed to compete with barely a slap on the hand.
3. Google Fiber in Portland: Looks like there's been a major change in course for Google, nearly two months following its acquisition of Webpass. They've filed a plan with the FCC to test wireless P2P in the 3.4 - 3.8Ghz range in multiple cities and Portland is on the list of 'potential' test locations. Its potential testing range is a 30km radius which would encompass Hillsboro, Wilsonville, Gresham and Vancouver. I'm biased in favor of wireless, as despite the flaws of WiMax have shown me, not having to wait until a company has wired your street / home / apartment means a much shorter wait and fewer dependencies. Of course, fixed P2P gigabit wireless is already here: Stephouse Networks. Stephouse offers the same 1 Gbps speed for the same price ($69), but without the wait.
4. Long Passwords and Best Practices: I've long written here that a lot of what you've heard about what constitutes a good password, is in fact, wrong. It is not correct that complex passwords are necessarily better, if they're very short. Instead, the best defense is actually the very long password. Looks like the NIST has caught up. Unfortunately, there is another problem at work here: Breached sites where passwords are stolen. It meant that one could not safely reuse the same password, even if it were a very long password. As much as I loved using long passwords, I could not manage to memorize 77 unique, very long passwords. I use a password manager to maintain best practices.
5. I Was Wrong About GOP and Donald: I used to think that at the very least one could say that the GOP had 'different' ideas. It turns out that I was wrong, and I was also incorrect when I said that Donald had a floor of roughly 70%. It's actually 72% and the GOP is pretty much brain dead. 72% of Republicans either believe that Obama wasn't born in the US or don't know where he was born. You can't fix dumb, ergo the GOP is nothing more than a zombie political party full of people without a hint of intelligence.