I have a theory that the human brain is like a hard drive. OK, a floppy drive. Anyway, the theory holds that there is a finite amount of room on it.
And, like your computer drive, if you load your brain with a bunch of crap, there's not a lot of room for the really good stuff.
OK. I hear folks snickering and whispering here, what with my own fondness for useless information (some of which I recently shared in this space). Gee, no wonder I'm brain dead, considering all the political and sports trivia, factoids, chord progressions and lyrics to various songs, and who knows what else I have bumping around in that organ I call a cerebrum.
I think it was Albert Einstein who said a person should never make an extra effort to remember something that could easily be looked up. Einstein was plainly a genius at unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos, but by all accounts he was a real space case when it came to remembering unimportant things like his own address.
Oh, yeah. Many of my valuable brain cells are used to just juggle passwords. And I'm not alone here.
Back in the early 1980s, I had only one password to deal with -- the code so I could access my bank account through an ATM machine. And already, that was one too many. It was too much like work.
I've simplified my banking, somewhat. I deposit my paychecks in a savings account, and order bank drafts to pay my bills. I don't even bother with an ATM. No problem there, except I still need to use my account number for all of this. Fortunately, that number is in a card in my wallet. And it's a small enough bank that the tellers can remember my account number faster than I can drag the card out.
But, like everyone else in this computer-happy world, I have passwords coming on top of passwords. I even have a computer program to keep track of all these passwords. And, yeah, there's even a password to work that program. A password to access all my passwords.
A fast inventory of where I have passwords:
- On the handheld computer I use at work. I was assigned a username when I was hired, and I make up my own password. I'm required to change it every couple of months.
- Two usernames and passwords on my personal computer. One is for the user account, and one for the root account. This is probably a little excessive because I'm the only one who uses this computer, but it still makes sense. My user account allows me to do my usual work. To do any major work on the system files, I go to root. It's an extra level of protection, a built-in warning. It's like the computer is asking me:
"Do you really want to do this?
"I mean REALLY want to do this?
"Whatever it is, you'd better be right.
"OK. Fasten your seat belt. I hope you're right, 'cause if you're not, you WILL bork the system."
By then, I'm definitely awake. A good thing, too. Since I like to live on the edge with my computer, I'm always running that risk, and I have borked the system more than once.
But hold on. I have more passwords:
- A password to access voice mail on my cell phone.
- Optional passwords to operate my cell phone, and to run my mp3 player. I have not activated these. Enough already!
And I haven't even gone online yet. That's where things get real interesting:
- Five email accounts, two of which I actually use. Email accounts are cheap these days.
- Three blogs which I actually maintain, at least every once in a while.
- Other communications programs -- Twitter (which I use), and Jott (which I don't any more).
- A nifty little program called "Remember The Milk," which keeps to-do lists. Also another one called "Backpack," which I fooled around with.
- Three advertising accounts that are there to put said blogs on a paying basis (hint hint). Plus my PayPal account, which is where any advertising revenue ends up. I think the balance is about three bucks and change now.
- At least four job-search boards, because most bloggers sure don't make a living at it.
- Several social networking sites: two MySpace accounts, Facebook, Eons (social networking for us golden oldies), LinkedIn (a professional networking site), and a few others. Most haven't been maintained.
- A few blog communities, such as fuelmyblog.com. I've captured some readers from those.
- Many online forums, for each of my interests. As an example, I'm in at least a half-dozen Linux forums.
- Some of the online newspapers I read require a password, too.
Depending on how I count them, I'm up to 30 or 40 passwords by now.
To be sure, I don't have a different username and password for each of these. Are you kidding? I use two or three username/password combinations, with variations of each. And I use Firefox as my Web browser, which saves my passwords. Without that feature, I'd be lost. Except I sometimes use Opera, or Seamonkey, or Lynx, or Dillo to surf.
Ugh. After thinking of all this, I need to step outside for some fresh air. I just wish I can remember the password to open my front door ...
=====
[You tell me! How many passwords do you have? Are you afraid to count them? How do you manage them? Use the comments section for your input.]
And, like your computer drive, if you load your brain with a bunch of crap, there's not a lot of room for the really good stuff.
OK. I hear folks snickering and whispering here, what with my own fondness for useless information (some of which I recently shared in this space). Gee, no wonder I'm brain dead, considering all the political and sports trivia, factoids, chord progressions and lyrics to various songs, and who knows what else I have bumping around in that organ I call a cerebrum.
I think it was Albert Einstein who said a person should never make an extra effort to remember something that could easily be looked up. Einstein was plainly a genius at unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos, but by all accounts he was a real space case when it came to remembering unimportant things like his own address.
Oh, yeah. Many of my valuable brain cells are used to just juggle passwords. And I'm not alone here.
Back in the early 1980s, I had only one password to deal with -- the code so I could access my bank account through an ATM machine. And already, that was one too many. It was too much like work.
I've simplified my banking, somewhat. I deposit my paychecks in a savings account, and order bank drafts to pay my bills. I don't even bother with an ATM. No problem there, except I still need to use my account number for all of this. Fortunately, that number is in a card in my wallet. And it's a small enough bank that the tellers can remember my account number faster than I can drag the card out.
But, like everyone else in this computer-happy world, I have passwords coming on top of passwords. I even have a computer program to keep track of all these passwords. And, yeah, there's even a password to work that program. A password to access all my passwords.
A fast inventory of where I have passwords:
- On the handheld computer I use at work. I was assigned a username when I was hired, and I make up my own password. I'm required to change it every couple of months.
- Two usernames and passwords on my personal computer. One is for the user account, and one for the root account. This is probably a little excessive because I'm the only one who uses this computer, but it still makes sense. My user account allows me to do my usual work. To do any major work on the system files, I go to root. It's an extra level of protection, a built-in warning. It's like the computer is asking me:
"Do you really want to do this?
"I mean REALLY want to do this?
"Whatever it is, you'd better be right.
"OK. Fasten your seat belt. I hope you're right, 'cause if you're not, you WILL bork the system."
By then, I'm definitely awake. A good thing, too. Since I like to live on the edge with my computer, I'm always running that risk, and I have borked the system more than once.
But hold on. I have more passwords:
- A password to access voice mail on my cell phone.
- Optional passwords to operate my cell phone, and to run my mp3 player. I have not activated these. Enough already!
And I haven't even gone online yet. That's where things get real interesting:
- Five email accounts, two of which I actually use. Email accounts are cheap these days.
- Three blogs which I actually maintain, at least every once in a while.
- Other communications programs -- Twitter (which I use), and Jott (which I don't any more).
- A nifty little program called "Remember The Milk," which keeps to-do lists. Also another one called "Backpack," which I fooled around with.
- Three advertising accounts that are there to put said blogs on a paying basis (hint hint). Plus my PayPal account, which is where any advertising revenue ends up. I think the balance is about three bucks and change now.
- At least four job-search boards, because most bloggers sure don't make a living at it.
- Several social networking sites: two MySpace accounts, Facebook, Eons (social networking for us golden oldies), LinkedIn (a professional networking site), and a few others. Most haven't been maintained.
- A few blog communities, such as fuelmyblog.com. I've captured some readers from those.
- Many online forums, for each of my interests. As an example, I'm in at least a half-dozen Linux forums.
- Some of the online newspapers I read require a password, too.
Depending on how I count them, I'm up to 30 or 40 passwords by now.
To be sure, I don't have a different username and password for each of these. Are you kidding? I use two or three username/password combinations, with variations of each. And I use Firefox as my Web browser, which saves my passwords. Without that feature, I'd be lost. Except I sometimes use Opera, or Seamonkey, or Lynx, or Dillo to surf.
Ugh. After thinking of all this, I need to step outside for some fresh air. I just wish I can remember the password to open my front door ...
=====
[You tell me! How many passwords do you have? Are you afraid to count them? How do you manage them? Use the comments section for your input.]
No comments:
Post a Comment