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BACK IT UP! /Cybersecurity experts warn Baltimore to stop ‘playing’ with ransomware attacks

Sometimes, even the most capable person, or group of persons, struggles to see obvious flaws in their plans or strategies – bright and able people are overcome by costs and bottom lines; good, smart folks are forces to make hard choices – and, one result steers them to save a penny – without understanding the larger risk – which is so, so, much more.

I am an amateur with some good experiences that followed bad experiences. Who among us has not lost some data at one time or another … letters, emails, images …phonebook data …?

I learned, if it’s important information …BACK IT UP!

Millions of businesses, government enterprises, corporations … and even simple guys like me … do it; and do it often. Even small enterprises – whom do ‘business’ with the NYS Government .. like OMH and their accredited enterprises – even small ones – they were backing up – EVERY DAY – at the end of each day … ALL FILES and DATA … and, you know what – that was in 1987! FULL DAILY BACKUPS. [This writer is retired].

So, I can’t imagine what kind of training these government officials have, or are required to have, … but to back up your data is basic Survival 101.

Why aren’t the Cities files simply backed up? It’s a one click task! Today there are seamless back up services – and there is a wide range of options … each enabling the person or entity to fully restore their data. Fully Restore.

Haven’t they heard of heard of ‘Carbonite’? … and many similar options; doubly fast and easy today with Cloud Computing and Storage.

Oh, one more thing – the perpetrators, the lowly, thieving, unscrupulous persons responsible? For sure, they are the bad guys here – no doubt; we need law to catch up and provide genuine consequences for these corrupt enterprises but, gee, …I can’t help asking myself aloud … all those smart people in that local government and its municipalities … and not one thought MAYBE we ought to spend a penny to save ALL THE DATA OF THE CITY ….?

This is the take away here: Systems are going to be hacked – we are all at risk; if anyone – or any entity – gets ‘targeted’ – little will keep a sophisticated hacker out … so the answer is to have the data backed up.

So, back it up!

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

Here is the Baltimore Story that prompted my thoughts:

Cybersecurity experts say Baltimore is playing with fire as a deadline to pay thousands of dollars in ransom to hackers holding several of the city’s servers hostage has come and gone.  https://fxn.ws/2HJtJJD

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Google Revisited – AI is learning; and, its learning so much faster than you!

Google Revisited

appeargone.gifAI is learning; and, its learning so much faster than you!

Friends, (and too, those who view me as ‘enemy’):

If people of the country, and people of the free world, do not begin to take hard and fast actions … all of us … every single one … will find they are HOSTAGE to the holder of data – data on them, their lives, their family, their likes, their dislikes, where they go, how often, how they get there, who goes with them, are they tall, short, skinny, overweight, what age, color … what medicines to they take, how often, how often do they visit their doctor, who is their doctor, what DON’T they like, who don’t they like, how much time to they spend on computers, devices, who do they communicate with, how often, where do they bank, buy their groceries, what kind of groceries, what is their income, how much to they spend … on a,b,c, etc. IF you look into your account you will see I am not exagerating… I listed only a small percent of the data collected.

There was a time, not so long ago, where many understood that companies, computer programs, ‘AI’ was collecting and archiving all this data … but no one believed anyone … or anything … could organize, collate, categorize it all into a useable, searchable, database. Nothing to fear … no one can possible go through that data and make use of it…

[But] now they can. At rocket speed – that fact – what used to be true – has changed…Please, I urge you to simply THINK about it for a minute.

I AM NOBODY

[… I have no pretense – I have no readership, no group that reads my writings] Chances are  –  MAYBE a handful of folks will read this …and, sadly, not even one is likely to change their behavior or invest the time to see if I am correct … most will not even look to see what I saw … [and they can! Our Congress made sure of it …]. Log in to Google … and go to Privacy Settings … [give it 20 minutes just to begin to see the SCOPE of what they have … on you … and on EVERYONE.

Friends, this is not about ‘I have nothing to hide’ as most everyone one of you can say fairly … but this is so much deeper than that … please review the second part of my first paragraph – and add other information and activity that I left out for times’ sake. Another thousand categories can easily be added. Easily.

And, yet, even the lawmakers – even our leaders in Congress and Government do not have the time to oversee, or to even look closely at, these things …until they are in a corner trying to understand some Emergency.

I declare it is an emergency!

And, most will chuckle … ‘there goes another lunatic … running around shouting -the sky is falling!

Well, it is.

Friends, fellow citizens of the world: The Sky Is Falling!

AI is learning so much faster than you!

Frankly, it has already surpassed most of us in its abilities to find, collect, [and finally, it has matured to] USE that data it collects – for the desires of its Masters [for now, Google].

The Sky Is Falling.

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

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King, Kennedy, and Kennedy Democrats

I am a Kennedy, King, Kennedy Democrat; a breed like no other … which is not the Democratic Party of Today!                                                 

                           (1 of 2)

I am not an experienced political person. A decade ago, I did not understand the basic differences between the Democratic and Republican perspectives and ideologies beyond the intellectual concepts I’d absorbed as a child [nothing as a teen or young adult]. I knew what I learned as a kid growing up in NYC: Democrats were for the poor; that always seemed pretty good to me, and I believed it…so, many years later when I registered to vote … I proudly registered as a Democrat.

I honestly do not remember who I voted for the first time or why; and, I never paused long enough to think about it. I liked people for who they were, their values, their personalities – I chose by what I felt in my heart after making personal observations… not Left or Right … Conservative, Liberal, or Moderate [what’s that in 2018?].

40 years later, I have paused to take a closer look:  Why was/ am I a registered Democrat and why have I stayed that way my entire adult life?

A recent documentary – Bobby Kennedy for President – quickly reminded me why I chose Democrat: I am a Kennedy, King, Kennedy Democrat; a breed like no other!

My choice of Party was sealed in those years of the 1960’s – Alabama, Mississippi, Civil Rights, … Segregation, Racism, Vietnam,  … these were the definitive issues of the times [and Woodstock; when I make a ‘V’ with my fingers – it is NOT for ‘Victory’…it is a Peace sign].

I remember, so personally, so vividly – all of it… the rioting in the streets, the school buses being turned over – Police, National Guard, in full riot gear as we [as a Generation] stood fast – both for Civil Rights and to end the Vietnam war.

Suddenly, it seemed, one after the other – shots rang out – Kennedy, King, and Kennedy … all ripped from the arms of this Nation. These events shaped many of us – even galvanized us – and then, – as we mourned – the party abandoned us.

So, I never really was ‘a Democrat’ by today’s terms; no, I was a Kennedy and King Democrat.

Unlike today where we have what we have – Clintons, Trump, Bush’s/ CNN and Fox News. Sheesh.

I began this note after reflecting on a hope and prayer regarding the new Trump Administration- that we might see the same kind of demand for growth in the human condition in today’s America – the America of our Founding Fathers – the America of Kennedy, King … . I remember praying that President Trump meant what he said about fixing *’that’ problem.

*’that’ problem being the loss of too many generations of African American families; that problem being our cities that are slums and poverty ridden – which has become [by our own hand] generational. WE, as a Nation, need to fix it; forget this blaming the victim – there is enough blame to go around. I’d hoped [I prayed] God might use our current President – President Trump to begin the necessary work.

(2 of 2)

To finish this up: Much later in life, I recognize that the powers that be are providing me [and the country] with essentially just two choices – ‘Conservative’ or ‘Liberal’ .. ‘Moderate’ or ‘Progressive’ …’Left’ or ‘Right’.

I need to warn the reader here – I am prejudiced in this opinion~

You see, I believe in the Divinity in the founding of this Nation. Under God. And by ‘God’, I mean God of the Old and New Testament. The God of Abraham – the very one the Muslims, Jews, and Christians pray to… .

So, when one side seems to want to erase that God from this country and from the minds of our citizens, when one (or a government) wants to encourage the taking of lives from mother’s wombs, when one says: youth, sexuality, power and dollars are the most important parts of this mortal life, when they ‘set up’ [to fall] good cultures and our collective American society – when those dark powers that be plan and work to break down the very basic and precious fabric of society – The Family …that is where I get/got off the bus.

In my heart, I have only one choice. And, the sad part is that there are so many good and right things about the Democratic Party that I knew… but those values, that core … no longer exists. Crazy people got into positions of power across the country [over a few decades] and high-jacked that Party and the hearts of so many good people.

Yup, I am a Kennedy, King, and Kennedy Democrat – a breed that seems extinct [or hibernating] -which is NOT the Democratic Party today – so I am no longer, really, a member of that party; for me, that great party died with those great men.

I’m just sayin’ … .

Coming Soon – Why my vote for President Trump will help me get back my country – even if President Trump’s agenda has its own pitfalls and centers close [also] towards ‘self’ and a desire for wealth and power.