A Technology Strategy for email and a desire to go paperless with crypto

Friday, May 12, 2006

I use lots of email addresses. One for immediate attention. But each of my other email ids has a specific purpose. Politics, professional job search networking, techie stuff, Manhattan College alumni aka Jaspers, Manhattan Prep aka my high school alums, one for work, and lots of secret ones for personal use. All it costs me is setup time! Outlook can poll lots of mailboxes pretty quickly; most only get looked at once per day.

;-)

Many of the email addresses are just a random string (e.g. HJPP 0S9L C9AW EBTY  @ gmail or W363 N93A DPO8 POAS @ gmail). I have several, probably a dozen, dedicated email addresses for different purposes.

I have “lost” a lot of addresses to spammers.

In one case, I know they used an alpha progression to eventually “discover” every address.  I wised up to it when some dumb spammer had “reinke @ att.net, reinkea@, reinkez@ reinkeaa@, …” in the To field. I noted that he quit at 12 so I went to 16 character names. So, I have adopted the long random strings as the “user” part.  Since 99% of the email use is “reply”, no one cares. Also since no one invests any time in the “name”, I can change it when needed (i.e., if it starts to be spammed). 

I have many ways for people to keep in or get back in touch, so it seems to work for me. For eample, http://public.2idi.com/=reinkefj or Plaxo or LinkedIn or Corex Cardscan or … …

It makes for compartmentalizing one’s email. AND, it makes spam and phishing laughable (i.e., a financial institution coming in on the manhattan prep account can be discarded without further adieu). Each financial institution has it’s own gmail account that is never used elsewhere. Hence, an email on the proper account has a high degree of reliability.

You might want to think about what strategy would work for you.

I really really want the financial institutions and every business to truncate paper. I always seemed to be buried in it. If they offer it, I have them discontinue the paper mail. No one does yet but one can only hope they will pick the idea up.

Having a background in cryptology, public key crypto should make this trivial.

The institution could accept my public key and give me theirs. Then they could encrypt my paper (e.g., a statement; bill; receipt) with their private key. Then, they encrypt it with my public key. And put it in the public email to my registered address. I could then decrypt it by using my private key and then decrypt it by using their public key. It is worthless to anyone without my private key.

Note the order of which they do it — SEQUENCE ONE their private key first then my public key; or SEQUENCE TWO my public key then their private key — doesn't matter.

They'd have to register my public key in their keyring somewhere. But when you consider the cost of mailings, they would have to save money. And, I'd be happier.

Wonder when?

Leave a Comment » | Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

TECH: “SYNCURA” online

Friday, May 12, 2006

20060512 @ 133 zulu

I see that it's back. It don't need it right now but one has to remember it's a free beta. Can't depend on what you don't pay for.

Leave a Comment » | Ranting, Technology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

YAHOO ANSWER:How to “invest” a small amount for a few years? Buy a CD.

Friday, May 12, 2006

*** begin quote ***

I want to buy stock/share for $700 long term investment?

Can Anyone let me know, Because I want buy the stock for long term investment, I am thinking to buy walmart stock.
Please let me know the sugestion, I dont like to trade, I want to keep it for 2-3years.

Which stock that are good that 2-3 years investment.

*** end quote ***

Seven hundred dollars, while it might seem to be a lot, isn’t. You can’t get into the game with that stake. Further, long term in the stock market is ten to twenty years. That’s based on the conventional wisdom that the market hasn’t “lost” in any ten year period in modern time. May I suggest that if you are adamant about WalMart for three years that you consider using http://www.foliofn.com/index.jsp… that would allow you to get in and out without being eaten alive. Don’t get me wrong, just because you can do something doesn’t make it a good idea to do it. I’d suggest a CD until you learn more and have more.

UPDATE: Best Answer – Chosen by Asker

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Posted by reinkefj

TECH: When the internet slows down (Frustration!)

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Around 2200 zulu 10MAY tonight, all sorts of strange stuff began happening. The cable burped. Then the inet slowed down. I was so frustrated I actual shifted to vwbbie and it was slow. So I don't know what was going on. I'd rant but I don't know who to rant at? About 0030 zulu 11MAY, everything began to flow normally again. So I dropped down off vwbbie and back to wifi. Hmmmm, it certainly seems that this points to the thin client with inet versus fat client with everything local. It pointed out the flaws with RSSBANDIT that refreshes from the net. I'd have liked it if it cached the pages locally. Hmmm squared.

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Posted by reinkefj

TECH: Using MEDIAWIKI, the same software that drives WIKOPEDIA to form up a “database”

Thursday, May 11, 2006

As an avid "alumni collector" (i.e., I run an ezine for my fellow alums at http://www.jasperjottings.com), I have tried to "collect" their information using a variety of ever changing strategies. Corex Cardscan, Text Files, Plaxo, LinkedIn, Excel, Access just to name a few. Several proprietary databases like yahoo Groups, Listbot, and several I have forgotten. I've been doing this for a bunch of years. Nine to be exact. And, I STILL to this day don't have a good methodology, strategy, tactic-ology, or technology for dealing with it. But, I am now getting close. First rule is I'm not putting data into anything that doesn't give it back EVER AGAIN. So a wiki is perfect. Since it is entirely under my control. I have been working on getting my files into a form that MEDIAWIKI likes. It's pretty restrictive but it looks like HTML is OK. More when I have a break thru, or a break down.

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Posted by reinkefj

LBTY: Father Faces Felony Charges For Rushing To Injured Daughter’s Side (Had enough yet!)

Thursday, May 11, 2006

http://www.wftv.com/news/9160265/detail.html

Father Faces Felony Charges For Rushing To Injured Daughter's Side
POSTED: 12:22 pm EDT May 4, 2006
UPDATED: 6:53 am EDT May 9, 2006

***Begin Quote***

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — A panicked father who pushed past rescue workers to get to his injured daughter at the scene of a car crash now faces felony charges.

Karl Swanson of Holiday, Fla., told the St. Petersburg Times he got a call from his daughter's cell phone late Tuesday: "Listen," the caller said, "your daughter's been in a terrible accident. She's in critical condition. It doesn't look good."

Florida Highway Patrol troopers said the 48-year-old anesthesiologist drove into the accident scene, narrowly missing an emergency helicopter, then pushed past a trooper and a paramedic to get to his 18-year-old daughter's side.

Swanson was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and battery on an emergency medical care provider. He is free on $10,000 bond.

"Basically, he made a very serious and stressful situation worse," Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Larry Coggins said. "When people just relax for a second and listen to reason, we always let them see their loved one."

Swanson's daughter, 18-year-old Krystyna, remains in serious condition at a hospital. On Wednesday, he defended his response to the crash.

"They told me my daughter was dying," he said Wednesday. "They told me to go there. So that's what I did."  

***End Quote***

I particularly note the arrogance of Trooper Coggins. "We always let them see their loved one" Well, isn't that big of them.

Who died and left them in charge?

And then charge him? Now unless the cop and "the rescue worker" have severe injuries, I am not so sure that this is an appropriate response.

You are not dealing with children or serfs. That fellow is your employer and you're supposed to be "serving" him. Has he been well served? Perhaps your attitude and "service" was less than desirable.

Now I give volunteers — the First Aid squad or the VFD — a lot more lattitude. They give freely of their time and effort for their community. The paid help gets a lot less lattitude. I expect superior performance. I'm sure that the dad wouldn't have had to push his way to his daughter's side if he was been quickly escorted there.

Arghhh!

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Posted by reinkefj

TECH: “SYNCURA” offline

Thursday, May 11, 2006

20060511 @ 1437 zulu

Just when I wanted to use it. Argh! Their website isn't responding either?

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Posted by reinkefj

GUNZ: Why is the 380 a “girlie gun”?

Thursday, May 11, 2006

In a private email, I was asked why I refer to the 380 as a "girlie gun".

From my personal experience, women chose the 380 over a 9mm because of its feel. Having fired both at the range, I can feel a difference in the kick. Having said that, it is generally known around the range, based on the testimony of the old hands, that the 9mm at 20 feet is 40% better. So imho the choice between a .380 or a 9mm is still a no-brainer. Get a 9mm.

So if I was buying a personal defense handgun for a woman that I loved, because the chance existed that it might someday have to save her life, my choice would be a small Tragus 9mm PT111.

But, if she had an abusive male bothering her, I'd violate the law in the People's Republic of New Jersey and loan her one of my 1911s. No matter how deranged a man might be, that gun can be recognized at a distance. And in the hands of an scared or angry woman, one would have to believe in one's luck to threaten her futher. That pt111 does not LOOK that impressive; the 45 is! It would but one of the values of a pistol is the situations it avoids or cuts short.

Besides who wants to be around even if she misses with the 45? And, if she follows my advice — "if threatened, draw. if you draw, don't talk. shoot! if you shoot, empty it!" — then it really dangerous for that fellow to be in the area. 

So that's why the 380 is a "girlie gun".

9 Comments | GUNS | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

GUNZ: Gator kills women in FL. (Yup, it IS dangerous out there!)

Thursday, May 11, 2006

http://tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=30878

A 10 foot gator kills Miami woman 

***Begin Quote***

Miami, Florida  – Florida Fish and Wildlife Officials say a woman who took an evening jog along a canal in Miami was attacked and killed by a gator.

***End Quote***

Yup, dangerous. Dangerous for the women, the weak, the old, and all of us in general.

Now, I can't say for certainty that the previous "girlie gun" suggested that all woman carry (i.e., a 380) would have saved this woman's life. But she would have at least had a chance. I can't imagine her terror in her last minute.

I do know that the gator might have gone to a handbag factory if she was able to use it. Assuming it was close enough to bite her, she would have been close enough not to miss.

It certainly might have registered in the gator's pea brain as a threat and it might have forgone this lady as it's dinner.

As I always say, I trust women and their innate good sense to know when they need to save themselves by the use of deadly force. It's a shame the rest of our society doesn't!

It also ignores, that under different circumstances, if carry was allowed, perhaps there would be a packing Good Samaritan, who could have used their tool to save her. I'd loan her a couple of rounds from my 1911. I KNOW that would the gator on someone's dinner table! And we'd still have a fellow human around. It's unreasonable to help her UNLESS you have a tool. No one is a match for a 10 foot hunger gator.

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Hey Governor Corzine … … still wanna hear about state cars an speeding? (continued) … …

Thursday, May 11, 2006

TO BAD!

Today 11 May 06 at 0710 edst white car sg 20337 zipping down route 1 with what I assume is one state worker commuting to work in a car I am paying for. (Ain't I generous?) Anyway, speeding at I guess 65 to hurry to get to I assume trenton to protect and serve me. Thankfully the driver only got out of the left lane once while I could see it disappearing into the distance. I like the rest of the serfs can't afford a "revenue collection agent" giving me a receipt for services rendered protecting me form the dangers of speeding. No, the rest of the serfs on Route 1 have to pick our way thru West Windsor's routine radar traps. We can't speed like our rulers. But any way, I said "thankfully" because the driver of said state car doesn't signal. Not that unreasonable; no driver signals any more cause, someone will just close up on you. But the efficient police would ticket you if they ever saw a serf do it cause it's a nice "revenue enhancement".

Also, you might inquire of President Bush why also today the driver of Amtrack white truck G63-12513 thought it necessary to speedingly tailgate me in the middle lane. I guess he too, it was a he, was rushing to get to work to make the trains run on time. Of course as a serf, I recognized my place and got out of his way. No seriously, I just thought it was wise when the grill filled my back window. It was until after he zoomed by that I saw the amtrack logo and the white federal plate. I am sure glad I didn't hold up the important work of Amtrack by delaying this dedicated civil servant. There were probably meetings to go to and dougnuts to eat.

Arghhhh!

No I didn't think so. Let them eat cake! Let them drive to the right so the empire can expand. Maybe I can get a state car to go to work? No silly rabbit, that's for the ruling class.

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Posted by reinkefj

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