Hearing as I get older

The other day I was telling Kelly how I seem to have to ask Travis to repeat what he’s saying a few times. Travis always has a lot to say regardless and I don’t always listen as closely as I could as that would be akin to drinking from a firehose. Even so, it seems that more often I have had to ask him to repeat himself. Kelly responded that the issue isn’t all mine, that Travis does have a habit of mumbling at times.

I also know that my hearing isn’t what it used to be, and that thought brought me back to when I was Travis’s age. I would mumble as a kid and thought it was strange when my parents or other grownups couldn’t understand me. Now as I’m older I appreciate how much more acute a kid’s hearing is compared to an older adult. I have to say that it’s a little uncomfortable being on this side of the communicaton gap!

Creative outlets

"The Highlanders" in a May 2012 performance.

“The Highlanders” in a May 2012 performance.


Since we got back from visiting Kelly’s family in Wisconsin over the Fourth of July holiday, I’ve been feeling the need to be more creative. Part of our time there was spent by me sitting around and playing guitar with Kelly’s uncle. I only knew a handful of chords (and songs) so we didn’t play many songs. The few songs we did play was enough for me to reignite my interest in guitar.

This summer we’ve been doing more with music as a family, too. Both kids’ recitals this year had a portion where the families of the students could perform a piece. Our family performed Ashokin Farewell as “The Highlanders.” Every Sunday evening we would practice the song together, me on guitar, Kelly on flute, Hallie on violin, and Travis on piano. I came to crave this hour each week set aside to play music.
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Wake County manager to retire :: WRAL.com

David Cooke is retiring as Wake County Manager after a 17 year career there. I couldn’t help but think what Cooke might do after he retires, since I happen to know of a local opening for city manager.

Hmm … I wonder if Cooke has any plans?

Wake County Manager David Cooke announced Thursday that he plans to retire at the end of November.Cooke has worked for the county for 17 years, the last 13 as county manager."The past 13 years have been truly wonderful and gratifying," Cooke said in a statement. "I have been very fortunate to work with very capable and dedicated elected officials, smart and talented county employees and an innovative management team. Our collective efforts are what make Wake County a great place to live, work and play."

via Wake County manager to retire :: WRAL.com.

WordPress brute force hack attacks

Since this spring, the world’s WordPress sites have seen a surge of brute-force hacking attempts, where scripts running from “botnets” have been steadily trying one dictionary word after another in an attempt to take over their victim sites.

I was alarmed to discover this traffic hitting my website earlier this week and was stymied as to how to prevent it. Normally when one gets a hacking attempt, it’s a simple thing to block that site’s IP address using firewall rules. In this case, however, the attackers are using a massive array of hacked computers scattered around the world. Each hack attempt comes from a different IP address, making it impractical to block them all.

Wondering if my site would soon fall to these script kiddies, I took some time to configure some analysis tools to get a better idea of what I was facing.

I needn’t have worried. This is what these genius password attempts look like:
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Your gun rights end at my property line

Let me preface this post to say that I support all the rights we Americans enjoy through the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. I put on a uniform and faced down America’s enemies in order to uphold those rights, so I take them very seriously.

Thus my support of our rights includes Americans’ right to bear arms. I’ve fired weapons many times during my military service and stood countless watches as my ship’s roving patrol, armed with a .45. Like it or not, guns are a reality in our country and I fully support the right to protect oneself and one’s property with whatever means are necessary.
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Poor password management by banks

I recently signed up to the site of one of my (many) 401K administrators. When it came time to pick a password for my account, I was disappointed to see the kind of restrictions the bank put on my choice of password:

Password requirements:

Must contain 8 – 20 characters
Must contain at least one letter and one number
Is case sensitive (e.g. “MyPassword” with an uppercase “M” and “P” is different from “mypassword” with a lowercase “m” and “p”)
Cannot contain any spaces
Cannot contain special characters (e.g. !#$%^&@,;*( )+~?<>‘\”)
Cannot contain more than 2 of the same consecutive letters or numbers (e.g. aaa or 222)
Cannot be the same as your previous 6 passwords
Cannot be the same as your Username

I understand some of these, but not allowing spaces or special characters? That significantly reduces the complexity of available passwords, making the password easier to crack. Now perhaps they get around this by giving the user x number of tried before locking her out, but why not just allow special characters?
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Nathan Woessner, rescued from sand dune, now in good condition

I remember reading the news that this 6-year-old boy had survived after being buried in a sand dune for hours. His condition was just upgraded to “good” and he could make a full recovery.

There are still things that science cannot fully explain. It’s a miracle this boy is alive.

The boy rescued last week after being buried for hours in an Indiana sand dune has had his condition upgraded to good as his health continues to improve, hospital officials said today.

Thursday, word came that Nathan Woessner was sitting up, watching cartoons and talking. He was taken off a ventilator and had begun to breathe on his own.

via Nathan Woessner, rescued from sand dune, now in good condition – chicagotribune.com.

Helen Thomas, bulldog reporter, passes away

Helen Thomas, legendary White House reporter, died today.

Helen Thomas, whose keen curiosity, unquenchable drive and celebrated constancy made her a trailblazing White House correspondent in a press corps dominated by men and later the dean of the White House briefing room, died Saturday at home in Washington. She was 92.

Ms. Thomas covered every president from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama for United Press International and, later, Hearst Newspapers. To her colleagues, she was the unofficial but undisputed head of the press corps — her status ratified by her signature line at the end of every White House news conference, “Thank you, Mr. President.”

I loved Helen Thomas. She was a reporter who wasn’t afraid to ask the tough questions – and to keep on asking them if she didn’t get a straight answer.
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Sen. Hunt’s school board bill

Sen. Neal Hunt sponsored a bill stripping the Wake County Board of Education’s responsibility for school construction and giving it to the Wake County Commissioners.

In the Senate debate on the bill, Sen. Hunt claimed it was a “common sense bill” that would save taxpayers money. He cited an offer to purchase a school site that was twice the property’s appraised value.

The only problem is that the purchase was vetted first by a committee consisting of citizens jointly appointed by the school board and the Wake Commissioners. It wasn’t just the school board’s responsibility.

And do you think the inflated price had anything to do with the fact that the committee co-chair Billie Redmond’s Trademark Properties real estate firm stood to make $250,000 on the sale? Certainly not.

Ultimately, both boards rejected the offer and, in any case, the Wake Commissioners always have the last say in land purchases. So why the need for a separate bill? It’s just another example of the state butting into the business of local governments. These supposedly small-government Republicans are anything but.