KPAO by Dave Cortright

The difference between an excuse and an explanation

Excuses deny responsibility. Explanations allow for responsibility to be acknowledged, and also for the situation to be explored and understood.

From Psych Central.

Jins eyewear for prescription glasses online; better than Warby Parker

I was always a big fan or Warby Parker's concept: cheap, stylish glasses from a company that had good values. The only problem was I never really found a style from them I like. I did end up getting one pair, but I actually went back to my previous pair just because I liked that style better.

I discovered Jins through my job at Wildlife Conservation Network. They supported the org with donations, so I decided to give them a try.

They have lot more styles to choose from than WP, and I found a bunch that suit me. They are relatively inexpensive. There are 3 tiers of pricing: $80, $100, and $120. They also have a specialty frame called Frontswitch (which I just bought) that has a removable sunglasses overlay for $150. Free shipping on orders too. And as will all glasses, there is no sales tax (since it's a health-related expense). Sign up for their newsletter. They run weekly $40 specials on a few frames.

Jins Eyewear

Steve Martin in L.A. Story—Wonderful wonderful wonderful…

I absolutely love this scene from L.A. Story. It so perfectly captures the moment.

The music is also a perfect match. On Your Shore by Enya.

Strange how my heart beats
To find myself upon your shore.
Strange how I still feel
My loss of comfort gone before.

Cool waves wash over
And drift away with dreams of youth
So time is stolen
I cannot hold you long enough.

It’s not a matter of “enough time”; it's all about priorities

I love this concept: Instead of Saying “I Don't Have Time,” Say “It's Not a Priority”

We all have the same amount of time and attention. It's simply a matter of how we choose to spend it. 

 Which reminds me of this great exchange in the excellent coming-of-age movie, Lady Bird:

Sister Sarah Joan: You clearly love Sacramento.

Christine ‘Lady Bird’ McPherson: I do?

Sister: You write about Sacramento so affectionately and with such care.

Lady Bird: I was just describing it.

Sister: Well it comes across as love.

Lady Bird: Sure, I guess I pay attention.

Sister: Don't you think maybe they are the same thing? Love and attention?

The Guest House by Jalal ad-Dın Muhammad Rumı

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture.

Still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame,
the malice; meet them at the door
laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

—Jalal ad-Dın Muhammad Rumı

Life hack: dedicated floor clean up rag in the kitchen

Spills on the floor of the kitchen happen. It's a fact of life. About half of mine are just water, but the other half are food. I know most people either use paper towels, a mop, or a cleaning sponge for such clean up. But they are wasteful or inconvenient.

I started keeping a rag on the floor in an out-of-the-way corner of the kitchen. It's great for moving around with my foot to mop up those simple sprays and spills. Or I can use my hands and then rinse it off for more stubborn ones.

Simple and not very earth-shattering, but super useful. I hope you think so too.

The best unlimited LTE data cell phone mobile plan: Straight Talk

I was a relatively early adopter of the iPhone. I didn't get the original in 2007. But I did get the next one—3G—released the following summer. I worked for a VC incubator at the time, and we were working on mobile apps (like every entrepreneur on the planet was back then).

Back then the iPhone was only on AT&T and it came with unlimited data. I jailbroke the phone and briefly switched to T-Mobile, but the network was awful in my house and neighborhood. So in 2009 I switched back to AT&T using a corporate discount.

I think the bill was in the high $50s for a while, and then gradually crept up into the low and then mid $60s (via insidious non-mandated below-the-line fees like the Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge and Administrative Fee). 

Then in Spring of 2016 they finally raised the price of the unlimited data by$5/month. Annoying, but with my corporate discount, it was still a better deal than other options. And then just a year later they tacked on another $5 /month. My last bill with them was $73.77.

I’d been wanting to get away from AT&T for a while now. I’m an avid TechDirt reader, and their coverage of AT&T (and the other major telcoms too) has shown them to be a company I’d prefer not to support (or if I must, then indirectly and minimally). So in one sense I’m glad they forced my hand and gave me a reason to finally move.

I did a bunch of research, and decided that I wanted to be on either the AT&T or Verizon networks (no T-Mobile or Sprint). I really wanted to go with Credo base on their EFF recommendation. But despite the fact that they still host a page on their site for “Bring your own device”, they no longer offer it after they switched to Verizon. 😞

I narrowed it down to Cricket or StraightTalk. Cricket was $60 all inclusive (no below-the-line taxes or surcharges) which I love. Straight Talk was $55 + taxes, which worked out to about $60 total. If you do auto-refill you save $1/month. The deciding factor was that AT&T bought Cricket a few years back. So I am with Straight Talk.

Without the network restriction, I would have gone with MetroPCS. They have a $60 unlimited data plan that also includes 10GB of tethering per month. If I end up doing more road trips next year, I might have to reconsider…

Get a Straight Talk Mobile Plan

How to disable Touch ID or Face ID on iPhones, and a request to Apple for a duress password

So first off, kudos to Apple for finally making it relatively easy to disable Touch ID or Face ID on an iPhone: when the phone is locked, press the power button 5 times in a row. So if you are entering a country, I recommend doing this before you get to customs or any security check point.

But unfortunately courts have recently been eroding the Fifth Amendment by ruling that people can legally compelled to give up their passwords. And woe to those who forget them. And that’s just in the US. Some other countries might even be a bit more draconian when it comes to password extraction methods (i.e. the so-called “rubber hose” method).

That is why it is imperative that all devices which store sensitive, personal information must have a separate duress password. This allows the person to “unlock” the device, but only into a second data store. It would need to include enough dummy data so that it appears—or at least provide plausible deniability—that the person is indeed complying with the order. TrueCrypt (and its successor, VeraCrypt) included a hidden volume feature for exactly this reason.

I don’t expect to ever need such a feature, but having it would provide peace of mind, and is a good way to keep the balance of power between the government and the people.

Rant: ZIP code is NOT a required part of an address

It really annoys me when customer service reps ask for my address, and then require me to also tell them the ZIP code. The ZIP code is not a part of the address. It is a convenience created by the US Postal Service to make their own sorting and delivery process easier. If they want to know the ZIP, they should just look it up themselves from the address. Asking customers for it is an unnecessary inconvenience, and is just a waste of time.

</rant>

Trump administration releases new language requirements for the CDC

As you may have seen, the Trump administration issued a list of words forbidden in CDC documents. They have followed this up with a list of words and phrases that are now required in all CDC documents.

• Donald J Trump, the BEST president
• clean coal
• green fracking
• abstinence
• faith-based
• fake news
• blindly reversing Obama’s BAD policy

 And for the subversive CDC employee, here is a list of words and phrases that are still technically allowed:

• susceptible
• prerogative
• variety
• alternate gender identity
• developing embryo
• data-supported
• research-backed