MaudMan's Musings

As a systems engineer for one of the largest computer companies in the world, I never thought I'd be so driven to eliminiate "big tech" from my life. Being in the industry and knowing what is possible, I've long been concerned about digital privacy and security. I take many precautions to protect myself and my family from the prying eyes of major tech companies, and the grubby paws of hackers & scammers. It's not just about using strong passwords and 2FA for everything. You also have to be...

Not trying to bring anyone down the day after Christmas, but I just watched this video and feel even stronger than ever that it's time for everyone to WAKE UP and stop letting social media control their lives. Nothing is "free" folks. If you're using a free product or service, the reality is... YOU are the product! ...

For the first couple minutes, I thought this was real. I figured I would eventually see the main character wearing VR goggles to play this new interactive game. Nope, not so much. I really hate to think of a future where we can't distiguish physical reality from virtual reality. But this is where big tech is headed. I have a better idea... Go adopt a real live dog or a cat, or a child for that matter, and learn how to actually care for it! Strange Beasts from Magali Barbé on Vimeo. ...

Literally the world we live in today... Moby & The Void Pacific Choir - 'Are You Lost In The World Like Me?' Are You Lost In The World Like Me? from Steve Cutts on Vimeo. ...

Are you developing "Tech Neck"? Do you have "NoMoPhobia"? Having trouble sleeping? 😪 And now that you've learned how your phone is changing you, what can you do about it? I'm glad you asked! Here's how to break The Twitch. ...

At the most basic level, what do we really need in our lives to survive and thrive as happy and successful humans? Air (oxygen) Water Food Shelter (warmth) Safety / Ability to protect ourselves I would also add: Sunshine (Vitamin D) Movement / Exercise Human interaction (we literally go crazy without it) and a sense of purpose (using your strengths & talents to help others). You DO NOT need a cell phone, or a laptop, or a tablet, or a TV, or a bluetooth speaker, or earbuds, or a dr...

At the end of October, Facebook announced it is changing its company name to "Meta", and Mark Zuckerberg delivered a (disturbing) keynote explaining his vision for the coming Metaverse. If you haven't heard about this yet, you need to pay attention. If you have heard about it, and you're not SERIOUSLY concerned about our future, you need to wake up! To help explain how and where all this craziness is coming from, I'm posting this short video the big tech companies really don't want us to watch...

Analysis Paralysis has set in...😖 It's been a full week since my last post. So much for the #100Days writing challenge I committed to. This is par for the course with me. I start something with big fanfare and lots of enthusiasm, and then fizzle out after a few days. What happened was, we had friends stay with us last weekend, and it completely threw me off my routine. I tried getting up early each morning while they were here so I could write, but it didn't work. My buddy Lou usually got up e...

#100Days (Day 8/100) Today is random stream of consciousness day. I have no particular topic to write about, so I'm just writing. On days like this, I'm happy to get 750 words or more on the page. We have friends visiting for the weekend, Marnie & Lou, from the Toledo area. Michele has known Marnie since grade school and they grew up together. Lou and I obviously became friends through that relationship after Michele & I started dating and eventually got married. They are some of the ...

#100Days (Day 7/100) Did you click that headline hoping to learn a secret method for obtaining financial independence in only 30 minutes? Well, I tricked you. I took advantage of basic human nature and your desire for a quick fix. Sorry. Unfortunately, we live in a "microwave society" and we all want instant gratification. I get it. If only it were really that easy. But here's the truth about my click-bait headline... We all struggle at times with money. Some more than others. There are ma...

#100Days (Day 6/100) Two-Factor Authentication. That's what 2FA stands for in case you were wondering. Some may refer to it as Multi-factor authentication (MFA), but it's really just a component of that. If you're not using 2FA, you are wrong. Sorry, that's just a fact. Let's get into it... In laymen terms, 2FA is a digital authentication method in which a user is granted access to a computer, website, or application only after successfully presenting two or more pieces of "evidence" (or facto...

#100Days (Day 5/100) The extent of my cooking ability is making breakfast. Your basic eggs, bacon (or sausage), and toast. In a pinch, I can even make a pretty decent omelet. In, fact, when I was in the Navy and had to do my 8-week "kitchen duty" on the ship, I got promoted up to the officers mess, and would run the skillet most mornings. It was fun cooking breakfast for all the officers. But whipping up some eggs & bacon is a far cry from actually cooking. In late 2020, several months ...

#100Days (Day 4/100) Writing feels really difficult right now. I'm only on day 4 of the writing challenge I committed to and I'm already struggling. I spend way too much time thinking about what I might write about, and not enough time actually writing. 😖 I don't seem to have any trouble generating topic ideas. There is a list I keep adding stuff to every time a good idea pops into my head. But when it comes time to actually sit down and write, I look through my idea list and nothing speaks ...

#100Days (Day 3/100) Nov 2021 Update: I switched to a paid VPN service called Hide.Me (affiliate link). They have great reviews, the service is super simple to use on Windows, Linux, and mobile, it's fast, and they had a great Black Friday deal going on that I couldn't pass up. 😊 If you travel around at all and connect your laptop, phone, or tablet to public WiFi, you need to be using a VPN (Virtual Private Network). At the most basic level, a VPN is an encrypted tunnel that links your devic...

#100Days (Day 2/100) Java. Joe. Brew. Café. Coffee. Whatever you want to call it, it's the Nectar of The Gods, and I love it. Let me qualify that statement... I love a really great cup of coffee. I'm not talking about Folgers, Maxwell House, or that sludge they usually serve in restaurants & hotels. And I'm definitely not talking about Starbucks (not a fan). No, I'm referring to a high quality organic whole bean that is ground fresh every day and brewed properly. Sorry folks, a drip coffe...

This inspires me and makes me think about the current state of the world and our society... “Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king ...

#100Days (Day 1/100) Analysis paralysis. It's the best term I can think of to describe what I've been feeling for quite some time. I used to be a writer, and a pretty decent one at that. I was even nationally syndicated! But somewhere along the line, I lost my voice. I lost my ability to generate new topic ideas. I lost my desire. The spark was gone. At some point, I decided nobody out there really cared about what I had to say, or wanted to read any of my writing. That was years ago, and sin...

If you can start the day without caffeine, If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains, If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles, If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it, If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time, If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong, If you can take criticism and blame without resentment, If you can resist...