I finally hit my ideal weight. The breakthrough came after I learned that doctors typically deduct 5 pounds for clothing.
I now wear a knit cap, PJ top and bottom and two socks when I step on the scales. Five pieces of clothing at 5 pounds each means that I can deduct 25 pounds from the weight that I read off the scale's display.
My BMI is now exactly 25.
Big day planned
Due to the rain we received, I will stay out of the gardens for a few days to avoid compacting the soil.
I will be going with Shotgun to pick up the barrels in Caledonia this morning. The gentleman selling them had multiple entries on Craigslist but only one of them listed his address and hours. He answered one email but he didn't include hours or his address. I finally stumbled across the one listing that had that information and am going to act on it.
Then I will be working in the orchards. Wind speeds of 3mph predicted and low humidity. No rain forecast for the next ten days. It is the perfect day for spraying herbicide.
I used to shoot for May 1 for spraying herbicide beneath the trees. That is great for controlling grass but some classes of vegetation (like woody vines) leaf-out much later in the spring. So, over time, the orchard floor becomes a jungle in the places where you cannot mow.
Other tasks include grafting and putting cages around trees to protect them from deer.
Scams and fraud
The general buzz on the streets is that scams and fraud have become more aggressive over the last few months. Various forms of identity theft are the high runner with the EASIEST way to do it being to steal a senior citizen's phone and guess the password (1111, 2222, 1234, 1212 and so on). Then they open their Amazon, Walmart or payment apps and buy a bunch of stuff with gift cards being the item-of-choice.
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| The most common PINs start with "1", "0" or "2" |
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| The least common PINs start with "8", "9", "6" or "7" |
The point is to use a unique PIN or password, to treat your phone like it is a wallet with ten, $100 bills in it.
I must confess to being willfully ignorant about payment apps. I watch people pay for things by opening their phone and scanning QR code and that seems risky. Again, I am ignorant, but linking my phone to a bank or a credit account gives me the willies.
Please keep up the duck stories! I bet they are Always getting into things.
ReplyDeleteRandom number generating programs are a thing.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, many PINs are limited to four integers. No letters. No special characters.
DeleteThe good news, at least with my phone, is that each additional wrong-guess adds incrementally more time before you are allowed your next guess.
My phone as well, ERJ. I believe it is three or four guesses before it begins to lock down.
DeleteI would make a point about your clothing math...but after careful consideration, it seems legitimate.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the younger generation are comfortable with phone apps and auto pay. I'm a dinosaur - I don't even own any credit cards, let alone debit cards. I'm the guy holding up the line at fast food ques, paying only with cash.
ReplyDeleteLong long ago, after seeing a video where a phone was compromised just by being in proximity to a scanner/ hacker tool...
ReplyDeleteI stopped doing anything financial on my phone.
I have desktops and laptops and tablets at home in my house that get used for banking and investing and online buying.
I have not yet been hacked/ compromised.
YET
I'm storing more of my wealth in currency and metal now a days.
I use a pattern pin for my phone plus I have zero purchasing apps loaded. Same as markshere2, I don't do finance-related things on my phone.
ReplyDeleteSmart man!
ReplyDeleteThe better payment apps, like Google pay, do not use your card number at the transaction, instead, it is a number they generate per transaction that incorporates data from the transaction itself, or similar tech. This provides a greater layer of security than if you use your physical card.
ReplyDeletePassword requirement for your video streaming service, where loss of security has no financial effect on you, and minimal cost to the company:
ReplyDelete14 or more characters, must include Upper case, lower case, number, and special characters. No repeating (1111) or sequential (1234) characters, may not include any part of your user name, email, common nicknames, home city, street, address number, sibling names, pet names, epithets, swear words, political statements, web addresses, or more than 4 characters from any password you have used in the last 5 years.
PIN to protect your bank account containing your life's savings:
4-digit number
And said complex passphrase promptly goes into a password manager protected by the same 4 digit PIN.
DeleteRE weight loss: "and two socks". So, normally you have one bare foot? Perhaps it should say "two pairs of socks". Yeah, I'm a riot at parties. :-)
ReplyDelete"five pounds each" If only it were true. Sigh.
Weight control in the military: guys who were in the "fat boy program" would do their initial weigh-in fully dressed with a substantial load of coins in their pockets. Hence, some control of weight in subsequent do-or-die weigh-ins. I do not believe the program had much success.
Don't use your phone...easily stolen...for financial activities. It's for communication, not shopping.
ReplyDelete