Microsoft said it was removing periodic password changes from the security baseline settings it recommends for customers and auditors. After decades of Microsoft recommending passwords be changed regularly, Microsoft employee Aaron Margosis said the requirement is an “ancient and obsolete mitigation of very low value.”
I use 1Password to reduce my own security risk by allowing it to automatically generate random passwords as required, but I’m not most people.
It’s good to see one of the industry giants admitting to the risks posed by security theatre and changing its best-practice recommendations for password management.
I have ploughed hours of time into Zelda and I still feel that I’m only just scratching the surface.
It’s not particularly easy getting into the swing of work after an extended absence. Today is my first day with my legs back under the desk after enjoying an extended break.
This is a time of reacquainting myself with things. Picking up projects and tasks that have laid idle for some time, waiting for my return. Checking in on others and hoping that progress has been made in my absence.
This first day back has not been productive in the sense that tangible and visible work has not been completed. Nevertheless, it’s given me a chance to refamiliarise myself with the job. I’ve got some fresh perspectives on how I want to do the work, so I’ve been able to think on how those might be incorporated.
Of course, I’ve also had that lovely job of reading through hundreds of emails that have built up. Fortunately, with the help of Sanebox, my inbox had been automatically sorted into groups ranging from ‘totally useless’, through ‘probably not useful’ ending in ‘aged, but still probably worth reading’. This made me email triage job quick and easy. At the same time, I was able to unsubscribe from some mail that was clearly junk.
So, today is the day where my engine has been started, and left to idle gently while it warms up. Over the next couple of days, I would expect I might be able to get out of the driveway. We shall see.
I dislike my current home screen.
Beautiful weather for my first time at Perth’s new stadium. This place is magnificent.
I’ve been noodling around trying to figure out the most effective way to write and publish onto this Blot-powered page, especially from iOS, but also recognising that I do also use macOS.
The answer is always Drafts, isn’t it? That app that I keep trying to incorporate into my workflow, and then keep forgetting about.
Thanks to @vasta and galexa I should be able to develop a better/faster/more efficient process.
In fact, this post has been written in Drafts, utilising its share sheet extension as suggested.
I’ve been noodling around trying to figure out the most effective way to write and publish onto this Blot-powered page, especially from iOS, but also recognising that I do also use macOS.
This is theoretically easy, since Blot just needs a file to exist in a Dropbox folder. Where I’ve found some problems, though, is in the production of link blog posts. Recent experimentation on my other blog using MarsEdit and its lovely Safari extension for the creation of link posts has made me more frustrated with my current workflow for link posts here on Blot.
While a work in progress, this is the process I have developed to ‘simplify’ publishing a link post:
Write the file in Notebooks app. Invoke a TextExpander .link shortcut to prepare the file metadata and paste the contents of a clipboard (that would contain the URL of the page to be shared) into a prepared Markdownified URL.
Rename the automatically generated filename to one suitable name for Dropbox. Consider use of TextExpander .ds shortcut.
Copy and paste/drag and drop quoted content from original webpage.
Add additional commentary.
Invoke the share sheet and select a Siri Shortcut.
Choose the Blot Post shortcut.
Select where within my Dropbox Blot structure to save the file.
Not as seamless as a Safari extension, but probably easier than what I’ve been doing to date. If anybody can suggest improvements, I’m all ears.
Print and television giant Seven West Media has taken control of Community Newspaper Group in a deal that gives the company increased control over the West Australian media landscape, but has brought fears more jobs could be lost.
The deal brings several of Perth’s major suburban newspapers under the same company that owns The West Australian and Sunday Times newspapers, and top-rating TV news destination Seven News.
Well, this is depressing. As if our local media scene was not already enough of a monoculture.
I’ve spent the last few days in Albany, in the southwest of Western Australia. I haven’t been here for years. I had a memory of loving it, and I can confirm I do love it.
Horizontal reading rules the day. What I do when I look at Twitter is less akin to reading a book than to the encounter I have with a recipe’s instructions or the fine print of a receipt: I’m taking in information, not enlightenment. It’s a way to pass the time, not to live in it. Reading—real reading, the kind Birkerts makes his impassioned case for—draws on our vertical sensibility, however latent, and “where it does not assume depth, it creates it.”
This article provides an interesting insight into the value that reading can offer the mind; how it can engage in a way that the shallows of the internet’s social platforms cannot (and will not, because they’re optimised for engagement, not consideration).
How can so many watch and enjoy inane, superficial television shows? Why does the population focus more on sporting events than geopolitical disasters? Why is consumerism celebrated and the rise of social media ‘influencers’ followed with such passion?
I feel as though our civilisation is being incessantly dumbed down. Our attention is the commodity that every company, every ‘influencer’, every entertainment option wants to attract, and competition is fierce. Rather than recognise the value of our attention, we seem willing to give it away for little to nothing in return. I would like for us elevate ourselves and dedicate our focus and attention on things of genuine importance. Yet we prefer being closeted by the warm embrace of ignorance, simplification and superficiality.
It’s tempting to resign myself as a misfit within our society. To disconnect from others. To adopt a misanthropic view of the world. To think about ways in which I might step out of the society in which I find myself.
This, however, would be the choice of weakness on my behalf. Instead, I need to dig in and find ways to stay interested in the world. I need to find others who are similarly frustrated by the banality of everyday life and engage intelligently with them. I need to find outlets of interest that will help me cope with the frustration of being part of a society, swathes of which I don’t identify with nor understand.
With Keyboard Maestro, you can automate just about anything. In addition to teaching you all of the mechanics of Keyboard Maestro, this course includes a number of walkthroughs of automation workflows you can use, download, or alter to automate your own Mac.
Keyboard Maestro is one of the Mac apps, alongside other automation tools Hazel and Textexpander, that ensure I get 40 hours of work done each week with about 30 hours of effort.
Now MarsEdit has been made available as part of my Setapp subscription, so I’m able to give it another go, this time as a paying customer. This post is being written and published using MarsEdit.
It will be interesting to see if the software establishes itself as a consistent part of my blogging workflow. The big challenge is that there are so many great writing apps on macOS (and iOS), so competition is intense.
Not having to go to work each day has allowed me to really find a rhythm in terms of household management. I could really get used to being a house-husband.
What Went Well at Work?
Another month of not being there — thanks Long Service Leave! Interestingly, I am not missing it at all. Clearly, I have a good mental balance between work and life.
Highlights
Meeting and catching up with a range of interesting people from all walks of life. This includes old friends, people I hope to be new friends, business people, artists and politicians. It’s been a busy social month.
Visiting my mom with the two boys and sleeping not in her house, but in the tent with them.
Watching Hannah deliver awesome oratory performances in front of a large group of people.
Participating in media with Hannah and the boys, and having the opportunity to do a TV interview.
My Media Diet
Game of Thrones.
Star Trek Discovery. I loved this second series, and am disappointed it’s over.
My son and I finished Mario World Odyssey together on the kid-friendly difficulty level.
I finished Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Such a good game. I hope they make another.
I started playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This could take up a lot of my time.
My Passion Project
I stepped away from projects this month, and just concentrated on keeping the house running and having some fun.
The ultimate project - Australia’s Federal Election, is being held on 18 May. If you’re an Australian voter and live in the electorate of Swan, vote 1 Hannah Beazley!
Zelda Breath of the Wild is addictive!
I met some new people today who were just brilliant folk. Hit it off with them immediately. It’s not often that you get to make ‘new friends' through random chance.
