Bad Day For LinkedIn: 6.5m Hashed Passwords Reportedly Leaked

This is bad. Very, very bad. Unhashed passwords are a no-no. I’m shocked that LinkedIn has been so careless.

If you have a LinkedIn account, you should change your password immediately!

And always, always use a unique password for each and every service you use.

Already in the spotlight over concerns that its iOS app collects full meeting notes and details from a device’s calendar and sends them back to the company in plain text, LinkedIn user accounts are now said to have been compromised, with 6.5 million hashed and encrypted passwords reportedly leaked.

Norweigan IT webite Dagens IT reported the breach, with 6.5 million encrypted passwords posted to a Russian hacker site. Security researcher Per Thorsheim has also confirmed reports via his Twitter feed, stating that the attackers have posted the encrypted passwords to request help cracking them.

via Bad Day For LinkedIn: 6.5m Hashed Passwords Reportedly Leaked.

House Creek Greenway opening in September now

I got the word about why Raleigh’s much-anticipated House Creek Greenway will be opening in early September now, rather than the July 19th I had initially mentioned. The delay comes as a result of the contractor needing to put up over 3,000 feet of railing along the top of the retaining wall.

House Creek Greenway covers some challenging topography. It’s a big project that has been anticipated for many years. While it would be great if it was open now, another few months are worth the investment to get it right.

Don’t Mean To Be Alarmist, But The TV Business May Be Starting To Collapse

This is right on the money. Business Insider is proving what I’ve been saying for years about the television business: it must change or die.

Today’s “cord cutters” might be considered the “early adopters” (if there is such a thing when people skip a service) but soon the masses will begin eschewing traditional television and then TV as we know it will collapse.

We still consume some TV content, but we consume it when and where we want it, and we consume it deliberately: In other words, we don’t settle down in front of the TV and watch “what’s on.” And, again with the exception of live sports, we’ve gotten so used to watching shows and series without ads that ads now seem extraordinarily intrusive and annoying. Our kids see TV ads so rarely that they’re actually curious about and confused by them: “What is that? A commercial?”

via Don’t Mean To Be Alarmist, But The TV Business May Be Starting To Collapse – Business Insider.

Coyotes and deer in Raleigh

A discussion on the Mordecai email list about our urban deer got me wondering about their natural predators. It just so happens that the rumors about coyotes in our area appear to be real.

I found this interesting report from an exotic animal veterinarian of a coyote brought in last December. It’s cool that so many critters are finding room to live here in downtown Raleigh.

Well, the guy comes back in carrying a canine of some sort by the armpits, rear end dangling, with a large bunch of towels wrapped around the head to keep him from being bitten (Good idea!). The animal was in bad shape: skinny, wet, matted fur, lice crawling all over, and a strong odor of filth. I had him lay his bundle on the exam table, donned a pair of leather falconer’s gloves, and began to unwrap the front half of this dog to see what we were dealing with. To my surprise, staring back at me was a genuine, bonafide, roadrunner-eating COYOTE!

via It’s a Coyote, for Real! | Avian and Exotic Animal Care, Raleigh, NC.

Neighborhood break-in causes little concern

RPD is just a phone call away


Thursday provided a bit of unexpected excitement in the neighborhood. I had just stepped away from my home office desk for lunch when I read an email from a neighbor, saying that she had seen suspicious men at another neighbor’s home and had called the police. Looking out the window, I was amazed to see three Raleigh Police cruisers parked down the street!

I found out from other neighbors who were outside that the house at the end of the neighboring street had been broken into. Officers had the house surrounded, believing the perpetrators were still inside. I chatted a bit with my neighbors until a K-9 officer returning his dog to his car let us know that no one was inside.

It seems the perpetrators left out the back door as officers arrived, having had time to stack TVs and an Xbox outside but no time to take them with them. Fortunately for the police, the burglars very thoughtfully left their getaway car sitting in the driveway! I smiled as I watched the car being towed away, knowing how much evidence the burglars must have left in it. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the hapless burglars are caught.
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Save the date. Every one of them.

Along with Kelly, I went to a volunteer luncheon at Conn Elementary yesterday. One of our favorite teachers, Nicole Jackson, sat down with us and chatted a bit.

“He was the cutest little boy!” she said of Travis as she told another volunteer how he used to play “peek-a-boo” with her as he passed through the hallways with us, not yet old enough to attend Conn himself.
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Running low on road revenue

The Republican leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly wants to cap our state’s gasoline tax. How is this anything but a stupid idea? Sure, it’d be nice for folks not to pay anything, anytime, but that’s not how it works. If you build roads, you damn sure better be willing to maintain them.

The gasoline tax pays for roads: roads that are in dire need of repair. We either pay to fix them or we pay when commerce in our state grinds to a halt.

Another ill-advised bill making its way through the NCGA would bar I-95 from becoming a toll road. One legislator said that companies would move their operations elsewhere if the tolls went into effect. If you think tolls will drive business away, imagine what will happen if I-95 becomes a pothole-filled parking lot because it’s crumbling and outdated.

There’s no complicated problem without a solution that’s simple, logical – and wrong. H.L. Mencken said something much like that years ago, and life still has a way of proving the caustic journalist right. Take the gasoline tax.

North Carolina’s state tax on gasoline sold at the pump, currently 38.9 cents, is relatively steep. It ranks sixth highest in the land (an additional federal tax of 18.4 cents on each gallon applies throughout the country). Our state’s tax is also an unusual one, in that a portion of it adjusts every six months in tune with the wholesale price of gasoline. So: Higher-priced gas equals a higher state gas tax.

To motorists with wallets pumped dry, that doesn’t seem fair, or right. No wonder politicians eagerly offer solutions

via Running low on road revenue – Editorials – NewsObserver.com.

NC Considers Making Sea Level Rise Illegal

My friend Scott Huler takes down the attempt by coastal developers and the Republican leadership in North Carolina General Assembly to pretend climate change doesn’t exist.

According to North Carolina law, I am a billionaire. I have a full-time nanny for my children, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and I get to spend the entire year taking guitar lessons from Mark Knopfler. Oh, my avatar? I haven’t got around to changing it, but by law, I now look like George Clooney. There’s also a supermodel clause, but discussing the details would be boasting.

You think I’m kidding, but listen to me: I’m from North Carolina, and that’s how we roll. We take what we want to be reality, and we just make it law. So I’m having my state senator introduce legislation writing into law all the stuff I mentioned above. This is North Carolina, state motto: “Because that’s how I WANT it to be.”

via NC Considers Making Sea Level Rise Illegal | Plugged In, Scientific American Blog Network.

Warren Buffett’s letter to his editors and publishers

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett wrote a wonderful letter to the newspaper editors who became his employees. He touted the value of local journalism.

I thought about his words this week when, as I was read the Raleigh News and Observer, I realized I had learned of 90% of its stories from other sources. That’s fine for a newspaper, actually, if (and only if) the newspaper brings me depth I cannot get from other sources.

I expect to get the full story from the paper, not just a “teaser” for which the TV news is infamous. If all you’re bringing me is an abridged version of a story I’ve already read online, you’re not bringing me any value.

Though the economics of the business have drastically changed since our purchase of The Buffalo News, I believe newspapers that intensively cover their communities will have a good future. It’s your job to make your paper indispensable to anyone who cares about what is going on in your city or town.

That will mean both maintaining your news hole — a newspaper that reduces its coverage of the news important to its community is certain to reduce its readership as well — and thoroughly covering all aspects of area life, particularly local sports. No one has ever stopped reading when half-way through a story that was about them or their neighbors.

via Warren Buffett’s letter to his editors and publishers | JIMROMENESKO.COM.

Coastal N.C. counties fighting sea-level rise prediction

While there’s still enough sand left on our coast to do so, state lawmakers and coastal county officials intend to bury their heads in it.

State lawmakers are considering a measure that would limit how North Carolina prepares for sea-level rise, which many scientists consider one of the surest results of climate change.

Federal authorities say the North Carolina coast is vulnerable because of its low, flat land and thin fringe of barrier islands. A state-appointed science panel has reported that a 1-meter rise in sea level is likely by 2100.

The calculation, prepared for the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission, was intended to help the state plan for rising water that could threaten 2,000 square miles. Critics say it could thwart economic development on just as large a scale.

A coastal economic development group called NC-20 attacked the report, insisting the scientific research it cited is flawed. The science panel last month confirmed its findings, recommending that they be reassessed every five years.

via Coastal N.C. counties fighting sea-level rise prediction – Local/State – NewsObserver.com.