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Every so often I check my site statistics which tell me interesting things like how many folks are visiting my blog, how many times they visit, how often and where they came from (referring URLs. Most of those are from Brian’s blog and HazzardNet. Khee!). However, also listed in the stats are the top search strings that have apparently brought some unsuspecting souls to my blog. For the month of December my top ten search strings were… 

“5 million of our older americans have not signed up yet for the”

“ate moldy peanuts”

“dunkaccino news”

“how to make coffee coolata”

“ill peanut butter keep you awake”

“looking for inmates of texas”

“moldy peanuts”

“non-baked stuffing”

“scary colorings”

“stuffed turkey for idiots”

Holy moldy peanuts Batman! Somebody’s actually searching for stuff about moldy peanuts! Well, hopefully I was able to provide some sound advice to those lost moldy peanut souls out there, which basically is DON’T EAT MOLDY PEANUTS!! Please and thank you.

As for the person looking for inmates of Texas….uhh….sorry, none here. This ain’t no personals site ya know…

I can’t wait to see what my top ten search strings are for January!

Okay, we’ve all seen the forwarded jokes, Deep Thoughts, Things That Should Morally and/or Ethically Outrage You and You’re My Friend (but only if you send this back to me!) emails. You’ve either recevied one or you’re the guilty party who forwarded one.

I got this forwarded email from a co-worker….

Are things upside-down or what 

What a country………………………………….. 

5 million of our older Americans have not signed up yet for their Medicare, part D, drug plan——they are old and confused. Yet we are not going to grant them an extension.

However, 12 million illegal aliens are in our country and we are going to allow them to stay, protest, procreate, receive support monies, attend schools, avoid paying income taxes, have our teachers take 300 hours of ESL (English as a Second Language) training at our expense, etc.

WE MUST REALLY DISLIKE OUR OLD PEOPLE.

If it ticks you off, pass it on, if it doesn’t, shame on you.

Now it’s not the content of the email that got me fired up (that’s a seperate issue to be scathingly commented on in a future blog entry). It’s that last line there…”If it ticks you off, pass it on, if it doesn’t, shame on you.” 

Y’know, stuff like this does tick me off but I’ll be damned I’ve got to prove it by passing it along! If stuff like this upsets you, this is where being more activist instead of passive comes into play. Passing along an email to all your net buddies for the collective nodding of heads (or maybe not) does not change policy or rules in our society. People getting off their duffs, taking an active role in their community and/or government, (voting is a great start) is what changes things.

Of course, passivisim changes things too. With nobody there to actively stop the slow change that is taking place, the change will take place.

Something to think about.

Now pass this on and prove you’re an active “passivist!”

Or don’t. And prove instead you know of a more constructive way to do something about the issue.

Since Glenn Miller is a reacurring source for topics in my blog, I thought it only appropriate to note this somber date in history. On December 15th, 1944, Major Miller boarded a plane at Twinwood Farm Airfield in England, bound for Paris.

He never arrived and was never seen again…

Man, I don’t know about you, but I’ve got more passwords to remember than Carter has liver pills. Passwords for email, voicemail, ATM, online banking (which I blow up everytime), eBay, PayPal, all my websites, HNet, shopping sites….the list is endless.

It seems now that everything we touch has to have a password or ID code. The other day, as I walked to my car in the parking lot of the grocery store, I noticed I was parked next to one of those new fangled cars with the keyless entry. You know, they got the little number pad near the door handle? And I wondered if folks who have this kind of car ever forget their codenumber? And then what do they do? Call AAA? And end up with a Bubba’s Autowrecking Service towtruck coming out (three hours later) and smashing the window out so they can get into the car?

Is keyless entry really worth that? Especially if after they get the window fixed they realize they still don’t know their code and end up locking themselves out of the car again?

I’ll stick to my 20 year old Firebird thankyouverymuch.

But passwords are everywhere. And it amazes me that tech security gurus advise us not to use things like birthdates or names or some such combination (something we could actually remember!), but to use something that somebody else won’t so easily figure out. Problem is, in trying to be good tech citizens and adhere to that advice, we inadvertently come up with passwords that we can’t so easily figure out.

Various websites of course will have a password reminder or reset question, for those times when you forget your password. But then what do you do when you can’t remember the answer to the reset question? Or, in my case, you don’t answer the question the EXACT same way as when you established the answer to begin with?

For example, a common reset question is “What was your first car?”

Your answer is “1973 Ford Pinto.” And that’s exactly what you have to type for you answer. Variations of that answer won’t work. Such as…

“‘73 Ford Pinto.”

“1973 Pinto.”

“Early 70’s DeathBox!”

“Early 70’s Dude (or Chick) Repellent!”

“That $&*(#!%ing Ford Pinto that I hated with a passion!”

“Whattya mean that’s not the right answer?! I oughta know what the hell my first car was! I’m not proud but how could anyone forget a butt ugly car like that?!” 

ARGH! Now we gotta chose the “I’m Stupid And Can’t Remember *%&#$! So Please Email Me What The Hell I Need To Know” option where your password is reset and a notification is sent to the email address you signed up with.

But wait!! You’ve changed email providers! You don’t have that email account anymore! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! #$%*&*!!!

By this point you feel like doing your own AAA fix and smashing a crowbar through your computer screen.

Unfortunately, I have no good advice about remembering passwords. To be honest, all of mine are written down in a notebook, protected in a steel reinforced concrete bunker with six layer security entry, including armed guards, passwords, retinal scan and use of a decoder ring.  

And guess what? I lost my decoder ring, the lasic surgery screwed up my eye and I can’t remember the passwords. And the armed guards won’t let me in even though they know who I am and I bring them donuts every day!

Listen…

History’s echo can still be heard…

Never forget…