Ladies man

Caravan_to_Carrboro
Somehow I managed to become a hero to Carrboro’s single ladies today.

It all began when I got a friend request from a Facebook user called “Caravan to Carrboro.” Curious to learn what this “caravan” was all about, I visited their page and viewed a number of posts about men, specifically the lack of good men in Carrboro for ladies aged 35 and older. This post on the Caravan to Carrboro website sums it up:

Women of Carrboro: Let’s bring new men to town!!! Are you between the ages of 35-55 or close? Are you single or divorced? Are you interested in men but tired of recycling the same old guys in Carrboro? Would you like to go out with somebody fresh and interesting and interested in you? Well let’s bring them to town. How? With the Caravan to Carrboro. The Caravan will bring men from OUT OF TOWN, close and far, to meet you at a designated Carrboro event in the Spring of 2014. But we need to know how many you are and what you’re looking for so we can bring the right kind of gentlemen to you. Do you think this is a crazy idea? Well it’s not. If you’re interested in joining the Caravan please let us know by clicking on the poll.

Now, I wasn’t aware there was a man shortage in Carrboro until today and I am happily married, but they seem like nice ladies so I reached out to see if I could help. I soon got a response, asking if I could spread the word about their plight.

I’m not the kind of guy who can ignore damsels in distress so I contacted Indy Week and they’re going to do a story. That’s what makes me a hero. I just hope this all leads to a correction of this terrible gender imbalance in Carrboro. We’ll see!

Lightning strikes twice!

Just when I thought my luck couldn’t get any better, the same widely respected fake criminal money mule staffing agency sent me ANOTHER dream job. This one is very similar to the last one, only it’s for a first-class specialty household goods company rather than a first-class specialty logistics company.

Oh, golly gee whiz, I can’t believe my good fortune!!!1!!11!

From: TRS Staffing Solutions SusanneBilsonit@aol.com
Subject: New Job – Up to $78,000 + 0251476655
To: Mark Turner

A first-class specialty household goods company that is well represented in more than 10 countries throughout Europe, is employing a full and part time employees to assist their growing well-capitalized team in the U.S..
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Another money mule opportunity!!11!!1

I got another too-good-to-be-legal, er true opportunity in my inbox and it’s from TRS Staffing Solutions, a widely respected fake criminal money mule staffing agency. I’m gonna MAKE MONEY FAST!!!1!!

On a related note, sure wish banks would get serious about credit card fraud, don’t you?

From: TRS Staffing Solutions SusanneBilsonit@aol.com
Subject: The Job 0637542766
To: Mark Turner

A first-class specialty logistics company that is generally represented in more than 10 countries throughout Europe, is employing a full and part time employees to assist their growing client oriented team in USA.

They are employing a hardworking player to fill the open position of Manager of Purchasing.
They offer you a fast-paced work environment, highly competitive base pay and distinguished career.
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What I’ve learned about Google Fiber – Lori Bush – Cary Town Council, At-Large Representative

Cary Town Councilmember Lori Bush discusses what she learned from last week’s visit to the Triangle by Google Fiber representatives.

There’s been a lot of excitement about Google Fiber coming to the Triangle – and I have to admit that I’m on that band wagon. I’ve received more than 100 separate emails from Cary citizens, excited about this possibility!If you’d like to read more about our Cary position on this announcement, the Town has a FAQ on Google Fiber. You can also check out the Open Letter to Cary Citizens from our Mayor.Last week, I met with Google Fiber representatives about their plans for the Triangle, and to learn more. They were in town to meet with the municipalities about the “check list” of items that will make it easier for them to decide if Google Fiber will go forward in this area.Here is what I learned in that meeting.

via What I’ve learned about Google Fiber – Lori Bush – Cary Town Council, At-Large Representative.

Fiber letter runs in N&O

I wrote a letter to the editor last week after being amazed at all the buzz that was going around about Google considering the Triangle for Google Fiber. It created huge buzz, even though we’re not a sure bet to get it and whatever fiber Google does lay down won’t be lit for at least a year.

Here’s my short-but-sweet letter:

News that Google Fiber might bring gigabit Internet to the Triangle brought to mind the stir that must have accompanied the arrival of the railroad. Sure, a horse and buggy will get you there, but the future rides on fiber optics.

Mark Turner
Raleigh

Translating Time Warner Cable’s excuse for hiking rates

Time-Warner-Cable
In my latest cable bill, Time Warner Cable included a letter that justified its recent attempt to raise the cost of my Earthlink Internet service by 38%. Let’s take a look at it, shall we?

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR ACCOUNT

Important information about your account.

Thank you for being a Time Warner Cable customer. We appreciate your business and hope you’ve been enjoying your services.

Oh, I’m sure you appreciate my business. If there’s one thing in my life that gives me warm fuzzies, it’s the cable company!
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in Rant | 458 Words

Banks still issuing insecure credit cards

As a follow-up to my last post, I should note that I’ve now got a new card with no more security features than the old one had. There’s no microchip like my credit union’s debit card has. This guarantees it’s only a matter of time before another security breach occurs and cards have to be reissued.

When it comes to credit card security, banks are penny wise and pound foolish. Maybe Bitcoin isn’t so crazy after all?

Chase expired my credit card without warning

chase
As MT.Net readers are aware, Target recently suffered a massive security breach when hackers stole millions of credit card records. Banks dutifully responded by issuing new credit cards to their customers.

I was surprised to get new credit cards in the mail recently as we’ve not seen any fraud with our account. Kelly mentioned a friend’s replacement cards coming with a warning that her friend’s old card would expire in 30 days. We both groaned at the thought of updating all of the automatic payments that are linked to our old card. It would take great effort to track them down and update them.

“Well, we don’t seem to have any expiration on our old card,” I said after thoroughly reading the letter that came with our replacement cards. It seemed we had some time to shift our accounts over after all.

We used our old cards every day since then until today when the card stopped working. I called up Chase, the issuer of our card, to figure out what was up. After wading through a voicemail menu that is maddeningly frustrating, a rep named David Norris came on the line.

“The old account number you had is no longer a valid card, sir,” he answered.
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Why Apple’s Recent Security Flaw Is So Scary

I can’t say for sure whether the National Security Agency had anything to do with this Apple security flaw but it is certainly something the NSA could readily exploit. All the Agency needed to do is control a router between its target and the target’s destination and it would have clear view of the supposedly encrypted traffic.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: America no longer has a monopoly on world-class cryptographers (if it ever did). By encouraging these types of flaws, our government leaves us vulnerable to attacks from foreign nations. Instead, our cryptographers should be working to make American software as secure as it can be.

I hope Apple will track down the developer responsible for this colossal blunder and fire him or her on the spot.

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, and it’s what helps ensure that communication between your browser and your favorite websites’ servers remains private and secure. TLS, or Transport Layer Security, is a more recent protocol that does essentially the same. In brief, SSL/TLS is a cryptographic key that lets a browser and a server know they are who they say they are, a secret digital handshake that keeps your financial information safe when you make an Amazon payment or log into wellsfargo.com.

This all happens in the background; your only direct interaction with SSL/TLS is when you notice the lock icon in your search bar has clamped shut. That means you’ve got a direct, private, secure line.

The Apple bug in question—which, again, has been patched in iOS but not yet in OS X, though Apple tells Reuters that fix is coming "very soon"—means that Safari or one of these other affected applications can’t actually know for sure if the servers it’s talking to are who they say they are. Which leaves you and everything you transmit over the web vulnerable to a Man in the Middle attack.

via Why Apple's Recent Security Flaw Is So Scary.

N&O spreads flawed password advice

Courtesy Davide Restivo

Courtesy Davide Restivo


In today’s Connect section of the News and Observer, reporter John Bordsen asked a panel of technology experts about how to protect oneself from online hackers. I have a few beefs with this article which I’ll describe here.

The first is from Dr. Magdy Attia, dean of the College of STEM at Charlotte’s Johnson C. Smith University:

Change your passwords and make them long. “Your password should be changed every month or every two months – and make it hard to guess,” Attia said. “Some people use kids’ names, birthdates or whatever. But there are software packages that can scan a large number of passwords to find out what can work. A hacker can use these tools to scan for possibilities.”

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