Technology
One year ago this time of year, was one of the worst times of my life. I usedcomputer a lot, innocently, and I was maliciously and viciously hacked. It wasn’t till the end of January 2020 that I was back in business, older and hopefully wiser.
It is not easy to be ‘wiser’. Most recently, today, a simple family letter with replies and a forward went somewhat awry, some recipients had trouble reading the text – too small, or too wide – the sort of thing all of us experience crossing technologies, platforms and whatever. A real letter, with stamp, is preferable, but an e-mail is so much more convenient, faster and easier to transmit to more people, instantly.
Can’t win for losing (for my family, and anyone else interested, I’m passing along the earlier communication at the end of this post, about music in my ancestral family.)
On a more positive note about technology and its partner, real paper, it is daily being confirmed that the fears of interference in the 2020 Presidential election did not materialize. On Sundays 60 Minutes former cybersecurity director Chris Krebs confirmed that this election was not disrupted by mischief. One of his biggest shoutouts was to paper ballots, which can and did confirm the accuracy and security of the technology used in this election. (Krebs was fired by Tweet by President Trump.)
High tech has great positive potential; and great potential for peril. Hackers, mis- and dis-information by global evil-doers require caution. For me, a learning from my bad experience is to no longer have passwords saved, and to go through the process of turning off the computer when I’m off-line, and re-signing in each time. Nothing is a guaranteed. But more diligence, not only just by myself, makes serious problems less likely anyway.
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Now, here’s the family story (which happens to be about music in the old days) which even non-family members might find of interest. This story essentially continues three Thanksgiving time posts on the same general topic, here, here and here.
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Music in the family: the errant e-mail chain.
Nov. 28, Mary: Hi guys and I fully expect I put the wrong e-address for Dick. Auto population and advanced years keep me sort of annoyed!
from Dick, Nov. 28: Well, quickly for now. Strasburg and Berlin are about 100 miles apart (here). Grandpa was born in 1880 and they moved to ND in 1905 and Lawrence was born in 1903, and there is no lore that the Busch’s ever met Welk, though they certainly would’ve loved the music.
Thanks! This came through very well for my computer. It’s always fun to learn more of family history. The Busch family certainly loved music!