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Counting one’s blessings.

28 December 2012, 8:13 am

The kids are healthy, happy and accomplished. Susan is healthy, happy and much accomplished after a hectic, ambitious (lots of guests) Christmas.

Meantime, some neat things to read.

Seven “surprise” predictions for 2013. From Matthew Lynn at MarketWatch. First prediction: Russia has a financial crisis because of the U.S.’s emergence as a new energy giant. Apple launches the iCar. For more, click here.

Pogie Awards for the Brightest (Tech) Ideas of 2012. Some of them are seriously neat. Click here.

10 money-making investment ideas for 2013. Where to put your money after 2012’s bull run. Not inspired, but worth reading. From MarketWatch. Click here.

The worst scams. “I’m in jail. Please wire $1,800 bail money to Mexico.” … Later …  “They just found drugs in the car, please wire another $1,800. Please don’t tell my father.”

This scam is played on grandparents. Warn them. The scam works. It happened to friends. The kid was alive and well in New York City, thousands of miles from Mexico.

Second scam. Money is stolen from bank accounts as a result of emailed instructions.FINRA said the incidents highlight “some of the risks associated with accepting instructions to transmit or withdraw funds via email.”
FINRA and the FBI have called on companies and financial professionals to do a better job of authenticating transactions. In short, never allow money to be moved from your bank account on the strength of an email alone. It’s easy to get into yours and my email account.
While you’re at it, fix your passwords. Wired Magazine has a list of useful “Don’ts”:
+ Don’t reuse your passwords.+ Don’t use a dictionary word as a password. Make up a “word.”
+ Don’t use a dictionary word as your password. If you must, string several together into a phrase.
+ Don’t use standard substitutions —  like P455wOrd.” Cracking tools have those built it.
+ Don’t use a short password. Even passwords like hG1rSq are quickly cracked.
Says Wired, “Your best defense is the longest possible password.”
Favorite recent New Yorker cartoon:


Harry Newton, who no longer likes Apple or the mortgage REITs, like AGNC or NLY. But is unsure of what he actually does like. Much research needed this weekend.

If you’re sick with a flu or a cold (or whatever you call it), please go to the doctor. Everyone has it. And it responds well to antibiotics.

Listening to Pandora over the Internet will relax you. Jill, our manager at the Old Chatham Tennis Club, loves “Debussy.” There are hundreds of Pandora channels.

See you Monday. By then, they’ll have solved the Fiscal Cliff? Or at least postponed it for a week or two?

 

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4 Comments

  1. Guest says:
    December 30, 2012 at 9:10 AM

    Wireless Power – worth a look

    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2012/12/121228-wireless-power/

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703294004574513752560977802.html

    http://www.engadget.com/tag/wireless+power/

    Could be the wave is just forming with automotive and government assistance…

  2. Barry Merchant says:
    December 28, 2012 at 12:15 PM

    Harry-
    I love you and appreciate your column but you are a medical moron. Colds and the flu are caused by viruses and viruses don’t respond to antibiotics. Moreover, the overuse of antibiotics is resulting in a serious problem as it leads to new bacterial strains, i.e. MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), on which antibiotics won’t work. Telling your readers to run to the doctor for antibiotics is a great disservice. (By the way, doctors often give antibiotics in cases where they shouldn’t because if a patient demands it and they don’t give it, they are afraid the patient will find another doctor.) There is a safer and better solution. If people would up their vitamin D3 intake (which is cheap and easy to do) they would boost their immunity significantly and probably won’t even get a cold or flu. The rule of thumb is 35 i.u. of D3 a day per pound of body weight. Moreover, vitamin D3 has been shown to significantly prevent many cancers. Check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ-qekFoi-o

    All best wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!!!

    -Barry Merchant, DC

    • Harry Newton says:
      December 28, 2012 at 12:30 PM

      I had the flu/cold. I waited three weeks and then took antibiotics — a Zpak. Several other people who also had it bad, like me.They also took antibiotics and recovered in days. I am totally aware that antibiotics don’t work for viruses. But they worked for what’s going around at present — at least in our neighborhood. It was pretty awful.

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