Subscribe to the RSS Feed for "Musings and Rants"  rss-feed-1340637685
Jun 20 2021

The following are steps you can take to protect yourself as much as possible. However, realize that hackers can access some of the databases where your information resides and get around some of these “fences.” And this assumes you don’t click on anything you shouldn’t!

  1. Use distinct passwords, different for each place a password is needed. Change passwords from time to time.
  2. Encrypt passwords using an app such as 1Password. And have 1Password generate the passwords for you given that the configuration will be random and will be saved in 1Password. If you have Firefox or the like generate a password, make sure to get it and the user name saved in 1Password.
  3. Put a block on credit access on all three credit agencies. This stops people from opening up most charge accounts or bank accounts or credit cards in your name.
  4. Get an app, such as the one offered by AAA for Experian, that notifies you of any changes in your credit score and/or fishing on the “dark web.”
  5. For all your credit cards, get their app and set it to show you any and all transactions or just ones when the credit card is not present. I have caught false charges that way even before their fraud division calls.
  6. If you use Apple Pay, the information sent in is encrypted. Another protection. Same if you tap your card on a WIFI reader at grocery store or gas pump.
  7. For your checking account, have an app from your bank and set it up to notify you for all checks over as set amount (such as $100).
  8. If you have regular charges for a credit card (e.g., Amazon, utilities), set up a Word doc that lists all these by credit card. When a card is compromised, you can then go to all these vendors and put in updated information.
  9. If you do a lot of purchases on the web, you might want to get a card like Capital One where you can create virtual card numbers for each vendor. Thus, if that vendor’s database is hacked, all you have to do is to delete the virtual card number without having to replace the credit card itself.
  10. Where you can, activate two-step verification.
May 13 2021

Art Saint Louis interviews its artists around various exhibitions. I was interviewed for Maturing and its Muse. Here is the link to the interview. My part starts about page 11. Enjoy.

May 19 2020

In 2007, I collaborated with Carol Kaplan-Lyss to do a poetry reading supported by music titled Change, the Subject. The idea was to use poetry and melody to convey the arc of my life. Sections of this hour-long presentation included:

  • Where I was
  • Where I am
  • Where I’ve been
  • Where I’m going

It’s a journey of childhood, losing childhood, cancer and its effects, and hope going forward. This seems especially relevant in this time of disorienting change we are experiencing.

Our son, Jeff, recorded a performance and it’s available on YouTube. And credit goes to his wife, Donna, who helped us fine-tune and acted as our director.

Here is the link to the recording.

5/19/20

Jun 12 2020

Social media is filled with all sorts of posts alleging this and that about the Coronavirus.

  • Anti-malaria drugs impede Covid-19…oh, no, they don’t.
  • One study shows people with Type A blood are more prone to serious results from the virus, one shows people with Type O are more protected. Will other studies come out refuting the findings, contradicting them?
  • We were told to make sure to wipe down all we got from grocery stores and then told there was a really minimal danger of being infected that way.
  • We spent weeks going into the middle of the street to walk if someone was coming at us from the other direction on the sidewalk only to then be told that the odds of being infected by merely passing one another (unless the other person coughed, sneezed, spit, yelled at you) were minimal.

All you have to do is the look at the history of “ground-breaking” studies about, for example, chocolate, wine, coffee, PSA tests, healthy diets, etc. to see that all these seem to be tentative and subject to discussion, review, replication, refutation. In this era of studies, think of the ones that the prestigious medical journals have withdrawn when the conclusions, assumptions, data was challenged.

For most of the things posted and posited, I am wary that the database might be faulty or incomplete, the assumptions are suspect, etc. Recently a beautician at a hair salon was shown to be positive for the virus, had treated over 100 customers…and none have gotten sick. We are told they were wearing masks as was the operator. What does that do for one’s perception of the risk of getting your hair done? If risk factors are to be quantified, what percentage of grocery store patrons where you shop have to be wearing a mask?

My point: we don’t know much and should be cautious and wary about things that are posted about studies, opinions of experts, etc. The dust won’t settle on all this for years, I suspect. For now, I am reading all that I see posted with, as they say, a grain of salt (which is either good for me or raising my blood pressure).

Dec 09 2019

People ask me what is the favorite thing I shoot. My usual response, and there is some truth to it, is it depends on where I am and what interests me at the time. Yes, if in New Zealand or Iceland, I will predominately take landscape images. If in a bustling city, mostly people on the street. However, if I look at the overall pattern of my work as it has developed over time, the following comes out as what interests me as a photographer now and going forward.

  • People on the street, in shops, in everyday life, with their pets – not posed
  • Reflections in puddles, building windows, car windows
  • Hands, feet, heads
  • Patterns like
    • group of four things
    • textures on the ground, walls, ceilings
    • columns, trees, etc. forming line, pattern
  • Contrasts and comparisons
    • paired shallow depth of field shots (near vs. far)
    • regular and intentional camera movement shots of same scene
    • sharp subject with blurred background
    • shadows and light
  • Doors and windows
  • Laundry
  • Bicycles
  • Things on the ground, detritus
  • Details
  • Interiors in houses of worship
  • Sun/moon rise/set
  • Landscapes
  • Signs
  • Utility covers
  • Fire hydrants
  • And…food (the most popular thing that people view!)
  • And…Anna’s gymnastics

Page 1 of 23