Do you ever just go to yahoo and scroll through their news thingy? Yesterday I stumbled upon an article titled How to Devise Passwords That Drive Hackers Away. Boy, did I click on that sucker. You guys know I was recently hacked.. and I know it was through Facebook, which is extremely common, but it still scared me. My freshmen year I was also hacked by my friends and that scared me even worse. I now have a really complex password to get into my email. Although, I am like most people and have the same password for most of my accounts. But guys.. these people are intense! This gal who wrote the article (Nicole Perlroth from New York Times) is superrrr paranoid! I applaud that she is trying to be safe but danngg! She said "...I set up unique, complex passwords for every Web site, enabled two-step identification for my email accounts, and even covered up my computer's Web camera with a piece of masking tape - a precaution that invited ridicule from friends and co-workers who suggested it was time to get my head checked..."
I've never really thought of that. I've always that the two-step think would be a pain and a burden. Covering up the camera.. Never thought of that. But to think that there are people watching you out there.. absolutely disgusting.
She also gave her readers some tips on how to avoid getting hacked.
1) If your password is in the dictionary it's too simple. Hackers will easily be able to hack into your account within a few hours.
2) A common mistake = using the same password more than once. But who doesn't do that?!
3) She suggested in choosing a catch phrase as a password. A strong password is over 14 characters long. But it must also be something that we could remember like a song lyric or favorite movie quote.
4) Don't just keep all your passwords on your computer or a stickie note, like me. Ha! Nicole made a point here. If something ever happened to my stickie note I'm in trouble. If anything ever happened to my computer I'm also toast. She said her paranoid friend kept his passwords on an encrypted USB drive. He memorized a long chain of random letters and numbers to the USB drive, but does not know the passwords himself. "That way, if someone puts a gun to my head and demands to know my password, I can honestly say I don't know it." I can honestly say I learned a lot from this article, but most of it was too intense for little Abigail. BUT I just haaad to scroll down and look at all the comments. Some were just too much!
I hate having a different opinion from the rest of the student body. But isn't that life? Aren't we called to go against society? To act purely and be kind to all? God said that we will be persecuted.. and man have I been through that lately. But it will all be worth it in the end. I need to spread the Good News and also let everyone know that IT IS OK to be pure, chaste and drug-free.
Anywhoo.. wow I got off topic.
My town is extremely blessed. Our high school gives us laptops to use as "educational tools." This started when I was in elementary school. It's been less than ten years with these. When one enters middle school (6th grade) you are given a laptop. You can take it home.. game hard.. pinterest hard.. whatever. They are used for writing a billion essays and doing research.. our teachers email us assignments.. well it's great. This year we did something different. The middle schoolers now have ipads with otter boxes. They seem to be ok with it. My sisters have them and get all their work done. BUT... they don't write an essay every night or have huge research papers.. I have my own ipad at home and it's very hard to type on them. I know what you're thinking-Get a keyboard. They won't let us take the cases off, sorry. The internet is significantly slower.. and the downsides go on and on. The teachers want to start give the high school ipads next year as well. I don't want ipads. I LOVE MY LAPTOP. It's so nice. The ipads are great too, sure, but for middle schoolers. I agree with the rest of the student body when I say that I do not want an ipad. The reason for this change-money. The administration has told us that laptops cost too much. Alright.
Here's the problem- the entire school is acting like a bunch of brats. Was that too harsh? Calling my friends brats? No. You should see what they're doing and saying. Next week a boy scheduled a high school "sit-in." Where the entire student body is to sit in the commons when school starts and not go to any classes for the entire day as a protest. The creator of this event made it clear that there would be no rude back talk to the teachers. He said he would serve as spokesperson and do all the talking. Now please understand that the ipad problem is not the only reason he started the event. We have also recently established a drug-testing policy. Like at any other high school, there is a bit of a drug problem... Drug-testing is fine with me. I don't do drugs. The people that do should be punished, sure. But the way they're doing it... Every student in a club or sport may be called at random to be tested for drugs. You are guilty until proven innocent. Uh, uh, girl. That's not ok. Some students don't like the drug testing at all, while others, like me, just don't like the way they're doing it. The third problem- the administration wants to change our four block schedule to an eight block schedule. Uh Uh. No way, Jose. This one I don't like. Neither do the other students here. This one is still far fetched though.
So. Everyone is acting rudely, disrespectfully and all. We should be thankful that we have these great rights. What other school in this country gives their students laptops?! Not many... I think we should say something like so, "Hey administration! How about this- the high schoolers keep their laptops and we'll compromise money from somewhere else. Also, let's review this new policy. It's pretty unjust. And let's not waste our time changing something that doesn't need to be fixed. Thanks XOXO."
I think I'm in the right here. Hey peers-let's not talk badly behind our teachers. Let's not tweet bad about them. Let's not be spoiled brats. I don't want that to be our reputation. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
Since my last blog post I have learned how to properly work Twitter
(Follow me @ abbey_morales)
I now have around 30 tweets :)
No, I'm not one of those people that start all the twitter fights.
Sorry, I'm not that exciting.
Let's not forget instagram :)
Follow me @ aneffervescentday
Also, please pleaseee watch this trailer
yay for lyrics!!
now let's talk school.
Gah! Junior year is kicking my butt!
Was it this way for you guys?
In U.S. History 2 we got a new seating arrangement.
How childish is that?! Seating arrangements.
Anywhoo, now I sit by these two boys that are the definition of annoying.
These two boys (let's name them Bob and Bo) are the reason we mature children have to suffer through seating arrangements. Bo is totally obsessed with my friend Gabbie. No joke. Remember when we were little and the boys would pull our pony tails to show that they liked us? He shows his love for her in this way. He picks no her constantly and doesn't stop talking to her. It's kind of funny.. well no. It's not funny. And Bob calls me a terrorist the whole class period. Nuff said.
Let's talk election day.
Is anyone else as nervous as I am for the election?
Now let's not start any fights on here..
But I am really worried about this country.
May God bless us with a President that will lead the country to the right place.
