Shared WiFi Limitations for Consumer Appliances

I was recently reminded of the unpleasant limitation of consumer appliances, such as Kindles or HomePods, on shared (public or semi-public) WiFi networks.

These shared networks typically don’t require a network password (WPA - WiFi Protection Access). Instead, these shared networks show up with the label, “Unsecured Network,” under the network name (SSID). The priority of these coffee shops and hotels is to limit access to the general public ahead of the security of hackers who are guests at their venue. It’s a better user experience, albeit less secure, for a hotel to authenticate by asking each guest to enter their last name and room number than it is to manage and promulgate a WiFi password like consumers do at home.

Unfortunately, there’s no simple solution for a venue guest other than to access the shared WiFi network using their own personal hotspot, if their appliance doesn’t have a Web browser. For guests of the venue, it’s very prudent to use their own VPN client to ensure their unencrypted network traffic is not being sniffed.

Joe's Old Fashioned Recipe

Cocktails (mixed drinks) became popular in the early 1800s. During the Civil War, the old fashioned concoction was in vogue and 40 years later, at the turn of the 20th Century, it was considered an "old fashioned" drink.

Although the old fashioned was a popular drink in the 1960s, it was virtually extinct by the turn of the 21st Century. Then came along the character Don Draper. Draper revitalized the drink, in real life pop culture, on the fictional TV show Mad Men. The series focused on the lead employees at a Madison Avenue advertising agency, hence Madison Avenue Men.

The old fashioned, in any of its variations, is a proper drink worthy, in caliber, of people I call friends.

Recipe

1 sugar cube

2 - 4 dashes Angostura bitters

2 oz rye or bourbon whiskey (I recommend rye)

1 cherry

1 small slice of orange with peel

A few ounces plain water

Preparation

In a lowball glass, add the sugar cube, cherry, and orange slice along with a few dashes of bitters and then muddle it. Mix in either rye or bourbon and a few ounces of water. Serve on the rocks.

You can also try Don Draper's recipe.

Sri Chinmoy Running Club

It's been awhile since I've had my heart rate above 200.

Last Saturday, I noticed about a dozen people running by my home. It wasn't a race; rather, it was a running club. It turns out this little running club has been meeting at the park, a block from where I live, for decades. And, somehow, after living here for years, I've never noticed them before. 

This morning, I decided to join them. There was a couple in their 80s who organized this small gathering of ten. The husband ran the course with us while his wife wrote down our names and finish times.

Sri Chinmoy

Sri Chinmoy Peace Garden

I quickly discovered this was a Sri Chinmoy running club and most of the runners were students of his teachings. The age range was from the mid-40s to nearly 90 years old.

After our workout we had a small awards ceremony around a statue of Sri Chinmoy that began with us reciting My Morning Running Prayer. Following the short prayer the run times were announced and each person received some food and a sports drink. All this for ten people.

I'll be back. It's too easy, especially since we run right by my home.

Part 1: Rx at Amazon Pharmacy vs Kaiser Permanente

Part 2: Rx at Amazon Pharmacy vs Kaiser Permanenet

I tried out Amazon Pharmacy for the first time.

TLDR; The prices were exactly the same as my healthcare provider.

Details

I ordered a prescription for a keto rash cream from my HMO (Kaiser Permanente) and received a little sticker shock when a 60g tube weighed in at nearly $60. In the past, this toothpaste-sized tube would cost me less than half that. So, I cancelled the prescription after seeing much cheaper options on the Amazon Pharmacy website.

I signed up for an Amazon Pharmacy account which also gave me the option to use a PIN for additional security – nice touch. I found the item I wanted (Fluocinonide), put it in my cart, and went to check out. Amazon Pharmacy asked me for the contact info for my dermatologist, which I provided, and they told me it would take a few business days to process my order.

When I hadn't heard anything a week later, I called Amazon Pharmacy's customer service phone number. It sounded like I was speaking to an American woman working from home due to occasional dog barking in the distant background. She dug into my account and said that Amazon Pharmacy attempted to contact my dermatologist several times via fax and phone with no luck. The phone hold times were too long, she told me.

I e-mailed my dermatologist at Kaiser Permanente with the Amazon Pharmacy phone number. A few hours later I received an e-mail response from Kaiser Permanente. They told me they called Amazon Pharmacy, spoke to Robin, and that my prescription was being processed.

The next day, I received an e-mail from Amazon Pharmacy with a price quote that exactly matched the price Kaiser Permanente quoted to me. I called Amazon Pharmacy to ask if I could order a smaller tube, but they said I'd have to contact my doctor to change the prescription. At this point, I realized that my copay with Amazon wouldn't be better than my copay with Kaiser Permanente and gave up on the idea of using Amazon Pharmacy. Instead, I e-mailed my dermatologist and asked for a prescription to be filled for half the amount, which was not a problem. The item shipped, with a USPS tracking number, at no additional charge from Kaiser Permanente.

While is was my first, and only, experience with Amazon Pharmacy I don't see how it would be a benefit compared to Kaiser Permanente which already provides free shipping along with a fully integrated system. Perhaps I'll try again, in the future. Don't fire Carolina!

PDF Formats

When I first heard about PDF Formats I thought it was redundant since PDF is an abbreviation for Portable Document Format, hence, portable document format formats. But, it turns out there are different types (formats) of PDFs, not to be confused with a 2D barcode called PDF417 (portable data format).

You may have noticed, from time to time, that you can't highlight and copy text from a PDF; or you can't search for text within a PDF. That's because it's a different PDF format than the type of PDF where you can copy and search for text.

1. PDF (FTG)

PDF (FTG) is a PDF with Full Text and Graphics. This is the best kind of PDF since you can highlight, copy, and search for text without any errors. If you created the PDF from the original text source, i.e. by using macOS's print to PDF feature, then you'll get a PDF with full text and graphics.

2. PDF (I)

PDF (I) is a PDF with the entire page stored as an Image (no text). It is basically a PDF version of a bitmap (i.e. JPG). This is the least useful kind of PDF because you can neither highlight and copy text, nor can you search for text. This type of PDF is generally created when you scan a document. The scanner treats the page as nothing more than an image.

3. PDF (I + HT)

PDF (I + HT) is a PDF with an Image plus Hidden Text and it's a nice workaround to a PDF (I). On the surface, the PDF is nothing more than an image, but, behind the scenes, OCR (optical character recognition) technology is used to read the text of the image. Hence the hidden text. This enables a user to see the original scanned document with the ability to highlight, copy, and search for text.

The PDF was originally an Adobe, patented technology. However it's become an ISO 32000 standard and anyone may create applications that can read and write PDF files, royalty-free.

How to Take a Compliment

 I've seen people get embarrassed when not knowing how to take a compliment. When that happens an elegant solution is to simply say, "Thank you." 

What is the Price of a Human Life

Q: What is the price of a human life?

A: $10,000,000.

Source: U.S. government federal agencies: https://www.npr.org/2020/04/15/835571843/episode-991-lives-vs-the-economy

Customer Service: DoorDash and Darby’s

 I do love great customer service.

DoorDash

Last night, I ordered food from DoorDash and I suspected a problem as my delivery time kept slipping from around 6:30, to after 7 PM, until it was finally cancelled by the driver. That was a bit annoying, which I shared on social media. This morning, I awoke to an e-mail from DoorDash’s VP of Customer Experience with a $50 credit. More than I could have hopped for. Companies, like people, don't always meet expectations – but it's what's done, after the fact, that can really make one shine.

Update: As if the $50 credit wasn't enough, DoorDash also FedEx'd a Milk Bar Sampler pack to me on March 5, full of yummy desserts. 🙏🏼 

Darby’s

Before

Also, this morning, as I was putting my trash outside, I noticed that someone hit my car, most likely while I was the dentist’s office, yesterday. Obviously, that was highly annoying as I recalled spending several hundred dollars, in 2013, to have my bumper removed, repaired, and repainted.

After

I immediately took my car to Darby’s body shop, on the same block I live on. I’d never been to Darby’s, but Albert immediately tended to my car by polishing out the scrape. As if that wasn’t enough, he moved on to polishing my headlights. I was in and out in less than 15 minutes all for the cost of leaving a well deserved Yelp review.

It’s the little things in life that make a big difference.

GameStop Thoughts to a Friend

It’s very common for either the SEC, the exchanges, or brokerages to do something “unallowed” in an extreme situation and then see their actions turn into a new trading rule.

That happened during the flash crash in May of 2010, when the market dropped 1,000 points in minutes. I have a local buddy who owned many puts and made millions, literally, only to have the SEC unwind a number of trades and his bona fide profits were wiped away.

I really had no idea how crazy this week was until my 18 year old godson messaged me, for the first time ever, to ask for trading advice. The biggest issue with this week's big moves was there were no fundamentals to support the meteoric rises we saw in GameStop, AMC, BB, etc. It’s not the buying that makes money, it’s the selling – when were these casual day traders going to sell their stock? They had no exit plan and got caught up in the moment.

The problem with this week’s activities was the motivation of the Redditors was nefarious – they intended to hurt the hedge funds that were short, so that might not bode well for them. But I’m still evaluating what happened and my opinion is in flux. 

Solving the Social Media Dilemma

The following are additional thoughts to my earlier piece.

E-mail was the Wild West in the 1990s, without any non-repudiation regarding the authenticity of the sender of an e-mail. There was no simple way to confirm that an e-mail was sent from the e-mail address in the from field. 

High-tech fixed that problem, for the most part, with spam filters and refusal/authorization lists (formerly known as blacklists/whitelists). 

Now, social media faces a similar problem when people pass fiction as fact with harmful intent that violates laws, terms of service, security, etc. This is exceptionally easy and dangerous since these platforms amplify the content, especially using curated means (humans or algorithms).

What's the solution?

Social media needs to take on more publishing responsibilities like the classified ads in a newspaper. One way is by creating a third category in Section 230 other than publisher or service provider for platforms that amplify content.

It doesn't matter if it's hard to scale. High-tech needs to figure it out.