Saturday, February 19, 2011 - Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park, San Antonio NM
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Thank You Thank You, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad Lockscreen, February 19, 2011
Address book security
Last week I took a ride up to Albuquerque to pick up a Verizon iPhone (a whole 'nother story) and while playing with it and searching the net for tips and tricks I came across mention of a rather serious security issue losing an unlocked smart phone presents. One's entire address book is usually synced to these devices making the whole shebang available to whoever steals or finds the phone. We've all been trained by now to be alert to Pfishing scams but I'd wager if you get an email from me you'll open it without giving it a second thought & bingo! A nice fat address book is worth stealing.
It was suggested that a phone access passcode be set to at least slow the scammers down and give one time to do a remote wipe via MobileMe (in the case of the iPhone). But that leaves the good samaritan who finds the phone no way to get in to identify the owner and return it. It was suggested that a lockscreen photo with simple contact info would offer a way around this problem.
It dawned on me that my address book is on my iPod touch and iPad as well and I've never passcode locked them. They are locked now. Plus I use 1Password apps to securely store my passwords.
I wonder how many devices out there have MY contact info on them....
Night camp
Site 10 - Bosque Bird Watcher's RV Park, San Antonio NM
- This is a basic, small Mom & Pop RV Park with full hookups.
- Verizon cell phone and Broadband service are available here with a strong signal.
- Locate Bosque Bird Watcher's RV Park on my Night Camps map
- Click for Google street view
- Check the weather in San Antonio NM
Teosinte and the Improbability of Maize
The ancestors of wheat, rice, millet, and barley look like their domesticated descendants; because they are both edible and highly productive, one can easily imagine how the idea of planting them for food came up. Maize can't reproduce itself, because its kernals are securely wrapped in the husk, so Indians must have developed it from some other species. But there are no wild species that resemble maize. Its closest genetic relative is a mountain grass called teosinte that looks strikingly different - for one thing, it "ears" are smaller than baby corn served in Chinese restaurants. No one eats teosinte, because it produces too little grain to be worth harvesting. In creating modern maize from this unpromising plant, Indians performed a feat so improbable that archaeologists and biologists have argued for decades over how it was achieved. Coupled with squash, beans, and avocados, maize provided Mesoamerica with a balanced diet, one arguably more nutritious than its Middle Eastern or Asian equivalent.