One thing I studied in college was Ancient Egypt. I took classes on Egyptian history, Egyptian artifacts in the Hearst Museum, and Egyptian religion.
The Egyptian calender was a few days shorter than a full year. To make their years fit with the 365 day solar year, extra days had to be added at the end of the year. These intercalary days were considered dangerous as they were outside the normal year. Since the normal calender was not in effect, the proper order and stability of things was in chaos. Malevolent spirits and forces could influence the world more than normal. There was a fear of great evil and mischief happening on these days.
On the topic of evil, or at least less than perfect things at the end of the year...
New Year's Resolutions
I don't like them; here is why.
If you make a resolution or pledge it will be as effective as what you are basing it on. Since the change of the year is nominal, any resolution made because of it will be nominally effective.
To illustrate this I will present a successful change. Consider someone who makes a pledge to give up a bad habit during Lent. If she is motivated by being a better person and getting closer to God, it has a good chance of success. The reasoning behind the action is love of God, which is very important to her.
Now back to New Year's. Unless you worship the sun and take great meaning in the change of years, December 31st to January 1st is just another night. If you were a true pagan, the winter solstice is much more meaningful and happened a week ago.
New Year's resolutions fail because they are based upon something of no importance or meaning. If you want to change your ways, do it because living a better life is important to you. If you want to make a resolution to improve you life in general, start following it when you think of it and do not wait for the calender to say it is time.
The things people come up with as resolutions are usually great ideas. They are changes worth making. However, if motivation for a habit change is as thin as a sheet of paper from a calender, it's success will be just as thin.
If you want to make a change for the better, make it for the right reason.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Rain in Zion
During the aforementioned trip to Bryce Canyon, Peter, Larry, and I took a day and drove over to Zion National Park.
While the other parks I have driven in (all two of them) have roads in nondescript forest areas, at Zion the main roads go through canyons and provide wonderful vistas in your windshield. Driving the two main roads and stopping in parking areas along the way gives a good view of the park. It should be noted, the road has some steep drop offs with little (1 foot high) or no barriers to keep cars on the road. Getting a couple of feet off the pavement at any of several turns will send a car flying off the side of a cliff.
We were visiting at a great time to see waterfalls. A lot of rain had fallen in the previous few days and it was raining the entire day. Since we only made a day trip to the park, we took several short trails. The four I detail below are all one or two mile round trip trails with little elevation change. They were all a few minutes drive from each other. The first three of these are classified as easy, with the Canyon Overlook being moderate with a paltry 163 ft elevation change. In comparison, the ones we took at Bryce Canyon were termed strenuous and had over 1,000 ft in elevation change.
Emerald Pools
This loop trail started as a paved sidewalk, which is hardly a trail. We came across a big waterfall. Then we had a choice, we could either follow the trail behind the waterfall and get wet or backtrack and follow the trail the long way around and see the rest of the trail. The second way would be longer, but we would avoid the thick mist the water was generating. Which way do you think we chose?
We took the adventurous way and went behind the falls. The signs indicated an upper, middle, and lower pool as part of Emerald Pools. We followed the signs and came upon another water barrier.
The trail was crossed by a 6 foot wide rapidly moving mini-river. The Park Service had placed a chain across to aid in crossing it. I did some scouting and tried to see how deep it was. I determined a crossing could be attempted if the stream did not get too deep. However, this would get us very wet so we decided to turn back. We ran into some friendly people who snapped this picture of us in front of the falls.
Weeping Rock
We took a few steps to see the Weeping Rock. It gets its name from how water oozes out of its sides and it appears to be crying. This effect is from the geology of the rock formation. Over time, different layers of sediment and different types of rock got laid down. When the top of the formation gets wet and water seeps into the rock, different layers absorb different amounts and it drips out of the side.
Riverside Walk
This trail goes from the end of the road and follows the Virgin River into a canyon. However, the narrows continues much further and can be hiked with a permit. The trail was closed after a mile because of the danger of flash floods.
Canyon Overlook Trail
Part of the main road was an impressive 1.1 mile tunnel that was blasted through solid rock. Our last trail started next to the east entrance to the tunnel. Most of the trail was along rocks on the side of the canyon with some long drop-offs which were mostly fenced. The sun was setting as we started the trail, so everything was colored from a darker pallet.
At some points the ledge we had to walk on was less then a foot wide. However, it had some great views and was a lot of fun. An observation point was at the end of the trail. By the time we started back the sun had set and the landscape was mostly silhouettes. On the way back we would have walked straight off the edge if we did not have flashlights. Both of these pictures were artificially brightened.
Since we finished our Bryce Canyon activities a day earlier then expected, we were planning on coming back to Zion and hiking Angel's Landing on the way back. We figured this hike was a big deal because the gift shop sold shirts that said "I made it to the top of Angel's Landing." Larry encouraged us by telling us about the people who died hiking to Angel's Landing or falling off the sides of the steep trail. We decided the night before to skip the Landing because it would be raining all day and the trails were already saturated with water.
While we did some good little hikes in Zion, there is still enough to warrant a trip back there. We have to hike the Narrows, Angel's Landing, and probably some other things.
The Drive There
At Bryce Canyon we were staying at Ruby's Inn. As we were eating dinner at their restaurant, I noticed the placemats had maps. I saved mine and used it to navigate to Zion. Now the route I took. From Bryce Canyon, I drove north on the 63 and went west on Utah 12. When that ended, I took US 89 south and then Utah 9 west which went directly through Zion. The entire trip was around 190 miles, but I did not keep careful track.
While the other parks I have driven in (all two of them) have roads in nondescript forest areas, at Zion the main roads go through canyons and provide wonderful vistas in your windshield. Driving the two main roads and stopping in parking areas along the way gives a good view of the park. It should be noted, the road has some steep drop offs with little (1 foot high) or no barriers to keep cars on the road. Getting a couple of feet off the pavement at any of several turns will send a car flying off the side of a cliff.
We were visiting at a great time to see waterfalls. A lot of rain had fallen in the previous few days and it was raining the entire day. Since we only made a day trip to the park, we took several short trails. The four I detail below are all one or two mile round trip trails with little elevation change. They were all a few minutes drive from each other. The first three of these are classified as easy, with the Canyon Overlook being moderate with a paltry 163 ft elevation change. In comparison, the ones we took at Bryce Canyon were termed strenuous and had over 1,000 ft in elevation change.
Emerald Pools
This loop trail started as a paved sidewalk, which is hardly a trail. We came across a big waterfall. Then we had a choice, we could either follow the trail behind the waterfall and get wet or backtrack and follow the trail the long way around and see the rest of the trail. The second way would be longer, but we would avoid the thick mist the water was generating. Which way do you think we chose?
We took the adventurous way and went behind the falls. The signs indicated an upper, middle, and lower pool as part of Emerald Pools. We followed the signs and came upon another water barrier.
The trail was crossed by a 6 foot wide rapidly moving mini-river. The Park Service had placed a chain across to aid in crossing it. I did some scouting and tried to see how deep it was. I determined a crossing could be attempted if the stream did not get too deep. However, this would get us very wet so we decided to turn back. We ran into some friendly people who snapped this picture of us in front of the falls.
Weeping Rock
We took a few steps to see the Weeping Rock. It gets its name from how water oozes out of its sides and it appears to be crying. This effect is from the geology of the rock formation. Over time, different layers of sediment and different types of rock got laid down. When the top of the formation gets wet and water seeps into the rock, different layers absorb different amounts and it drips out of the side.
Riverside Walk
This trail goes from the end of the road and follows the Virgin River into a canyon. However, the narrows continues much further and can be hiked with a permit. The trail was closed after a mile because of the danger of flash floods.
Canyon Overlook Trail
Part of the main road was an impressive 1.1 mile tunnel that was blasted through solid rock. Our last trail started next to the east entrance to the tunnel. Most of the trail was along rocks on the side of the canyon with some long drop-offs which were mostly fenced. The sun was setting as we started the trail, so everything was colored from a darker pallet.
At some points the ledge we had to walk on was less then a foot wide. However, it had some great views and was a lot of fun. An observation point was at the end of the trail. By the time we started back the sun had set and the landscape was mostly silhouettes. On the way back we would have walked straight off the edge if we did not have flashlights. Both of these pictures were artificially brightened.
Since we finished our Bryce Canyon activities a day earlier then expected, we were planning on coming back to Zion and hiking Angel's Landing on the way back. We figured this hike was a big deal because the gift shop sold shirts that said "I made it to the top of Angel's Landing." Larry encouraged us by telling us about the people who died hiking to Angel's Landing or falling off the sides of the steep trail. We decided the night before to skip the Landing because it would be raining all day and the trails were already saturated with water.
While we did some good little hikes in Zion, there is still enough to warrant a trip back there. We have to hike the Narrows, Angel's Landing, and probably some other things.
The Drive There
At Bryce Canyon we were staying at Ruby's Inn. As we were eating dinner at their restaurant, I noticed the placemats had maps. I saved mine and used it to navigate to Zion. Now the route I took. From Bryce Canyon, I drove north on the 63 and went west on Utah 12. When that ended, I took US 89 south and then Utah 9 west which went directly through Zion. The entire trip was around 190 miles, but I did not keep careful track.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Ebenezer Bryce and his Hoodoos
Yesterday I got back from a trip to Bryce Canyon in Utah. It was wonderful.
There is a lot to talk about, so I will divide the material between a few posts. Today I will talk about the specific trails I hiked and throw in a few pictures.
The first day we hiked the Fairyland loop. It was 8.0 miles and had a 2309 ft elevation change. This trail and the subsequent ones started at the rim of the canyon which is around 8,000 ft in elevation. While things were foggy, we were able to see a few things. The trail was completely covered in fresh snow and more was falling as we walked. The trail was quiet; we only ran into one other person.
I was hiking with my friends Larry and Peter. We were all impressed with how this rock formation in the distance looked. Then, we saw the trail go toward it and became dejected we would have to climb it. Luckily, the trail veered off and we did not have to ascend it.
Two days later we took some better pictures at Bryce Point. The fog cleared up a lot and the snow turned to rain. I do not remember exactly where I took all these pictures, but the ones below are from the second Bryce day.
Our next hike was a combination of several trails. It was Queen's Garden to Peakaboo Loop to Navajo Loop. We started at Sunset Point then hiked to Sunrise Point before descending to the Queen's Garden. It is so named because of a rock that looks like Queen Victoria. Then, we walked up the Navajo Loop on the Wall Street side for 1/3 mile until the trail was closed because of weather dangers. Next, we took a trail over to the 3.0 mile Peakaboo loop. After hiking that, we backtracked to the Navajo Loop and took the other side of it up to Sunrise Point. The entire trip was less than 6.4 miles and had 1785 ft in elevation change.
On this hike the falling snow had turned into rain. This left the trails in a sloppy condition. They were either muddy, snowy, slushy, or all of the above. When the snow started to melt and mixed with the dirt the snow took on an orange color. We used Yaktrax, which fit over the soles of boots and increase their traction. They were very helpful, even if one of mine broke at the end of the trip.
One common sight at Bryce Canyon are rock formations known as hoodoos. I will refer you to the Unnamed Geniuses for a complete explanation of hoodoos and how they are formed. There is also a great picture of Thor's Hammer in the linked article. I would put up my own picture of it, but after several hours in 30 some degree cold and a constant rain my camera died. Below is a picture of random hoodoos I took.
There is a lot to talk about, so I will divide the material between a few posts. Today I will talk about the specific trails I hiked and throw in a few pictures.
The first day we hiked the Fairyland loop. It was 8.0 miles and had a 2309 ft elevation change. This trail and the subsequent ones started at the rim of the canyon which is around 8,000 ft in elevation. While things were foggy, we were able to see a few things. The trail was completely covered in fresh snow and more was falling as we walked. The trail was quiet; we only ran into one other person.
I was hiking with my friends Larry and Peter. We were all impressed with how this rock formation in the distance looked. Then, we saw the trail go toward it and became dejected we would have to climb it. Luckily, the trail veered off and we did not have to ascend it.
Two days later we took some better pictures at Bryce Point. The fog cleared up a lot and the snow turned to rain. I do not remember exactly where I took all these pictures, but the ones below are from the second Bryce day.
Our next hike was a combination of several trails. It was Queen's Garden to Peakaboo Loop to Navajo Loop. We started at Sunset Point then hiked to Sunrise Point before descending to the Queen's Garden. It is so named because of a rock that looks like Queen Victoria. Then, we walked up the Navajo Loop on the Wall Street side for 1/3 mile until the trail was closed because of weather dangers. Next, we took a trail over to the 3.0 mile Peakaboo loop. After hiking that, we backtracked to the Navajo Loop and took the other side of it up to Sunrise Point. The entire trip was less than 6.4 miles and had 1785 ft in elevation change.
On this hike the falling snow had turned into rain. This left the trails in a sloppy condition. They were either muddy, snowy, slushy, or all of the above. When the snow started to melt and mixed with the dirt the snow took on an orange color. We used Yaktrax, which fit over the soles of boots and increase their traction. They were very helpful, even if one of mine broke at the end of the trip.
One common sight at Bryce Canyon are rock formations known as hoodoos. I will refer you to the Unnamed Geniuses for a complete explanation of hoodoos and how they are formed. There is also a great picture of Thor's Hammer in the linked article. I would put up my own picture of it, but after several hours in 30 some degree cold and a constant rain my camera died. Below is a picture of random hoodoos I took.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Velocity of posts
As the velocity of my life increases, so should the frequency of my posts. The more things I do, the more I have to talk about. The last few weeks have been fasted paced. Unfortunately, the blog has been lagging.
This past weekend I was in Western New York for the wedding of my cousin. Aside from a beautiful wedding, a nice reception, and seeing relatives I have not seen in several years, there was rain, freezing rain, snow, lake effect snow, and temperatures below freezing. There are pictures of the wedding I was tagged in on Facebook if you want visuals. A more detailed post is in the works.
Tomorrow I will be driving to Bryce Canyon in Utah. If Google Maps is to be believed, it is 524 miles and will take 8 hours 45 minutes (or 10 hours 40 minutes in traffic). That is, after I pick up my car which needs new tires, brakes, and a bunch of other things. The repairs will cost a lot of money, but the car will be hitting 95,000 miles on this trip.
In my few days home between these two expeditions I baked two coffee cakes, sour cream cookies, and some date balls. Earlier tonight I managed to burn my hand while my Grandma was explaining how to make rice with milk. Boiling water and milk have a deleterious effect on my skin.
Now I need to start packing for the trip to Utah tomorrow. However, I need to unpack from my New York trip before that. Over the next few days the temperature at the canyon will be somewhere near freezing with a low of 16 and a high of 40. The wind chill will make it feel even lower. It is similar to the weather I just had in New York, except this time I will be spending most of the day outside.
This trip to Bryce Canyon is the second installment of Larry's National Park Adventures. The first part was the Grand Canyon during the summer. Like the earlier trip, a few days in Las Vegas are included for good measure.
This past weekend I was in Western New York for the wedding of my cousin. Aside from a beautiful wedding, a nice reception, and seeing relatives I have not seen in several years, there was rain, freezing rain, snow, lake effect snow, and temperatures below freezing. There are pictures of the wedding I was tagged in on Facebook if you want visuals. A more detailed post is in the works.
Tomorrow I will be driving to Bryce Canyon in Utah. If Google Maps is to be believed, it is 524 miles and will take 8 hours 45 minutes (or 10 hours 40 minutes in traffic). That is, after I pick up my car which needs new tires, brakes, and a bunch of other things. The repairs will cost a lot of money, but the car will be hitting 95,000 miles on this trip.
In my few days home between these two expeditions I baked two coffee cakes, sour cream cookies, and some date balls. Earlier tonight I managed to burn my hand while my Grandma was explaining how to make rice with milk. Boiling water and milk have a deleterious effect on my skin.
Now I need to start packing for the trip to Utah tomorrow. However, I need to unpack from my New York trip before that. Over the next few days the temperature at the canyon will be somewhere near freezing with a low of 16 and a high of 40. The wind chill will make it feel even lower. It is similar to the weather I just had in New York, except this time I will be spending most of the day outside.
This trip to Bryce Canyon is the second installment of Larry's National Park Adventures. The first part was the Grand Canyon during the summer. Like the earlier trip, a few days in Las Vegas are included for good measure.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Movies at the Red Cross and a Shocking Grade
Now for the latest installment of my apheresis appointments at the Red Cross. Since the platelet donation process takes around two hours, they have movies available for watching. The ones I saw included:
As a follow up to my post yesterday, this evening I got some emails from UCI. The instructor for my class posted a grade for my term project, final, and the class overall. For the final 95%, for the term project 95%, and for the class A. I was shocked. For my project I was expecting a C or at best a B-.
My only explanation is the paper write-up was great enough to cover up my programming failure. I followed the directions the instructor gave and included everything he wanted, even if I though it was pointless. I had great block diagrams to explain what I was doing and nicely formatted equations.
- The Ghost Writer
- L.A. Confidential All I will say is go watch this movie.
- The Terminal
- Inglorious Bastards Better than the average kill Nazis movie. A couple of days ago The Simpsons did a scene combining this movie and Dumbo. It starts at 11:25 of this video.
- Cinderella Man There is a point when the boxer (Russell Crowe) is completely broke. As a last resort he goes to the public assistance office for money to feed his family. Later when his fortune turns around he goes back to the office and returns the money he was given with interest. Unfortunately his attitude of giving back is in short supply today.
- Atonement This movie left me sad and wondering how long it will be until everyone learns making assumptions and lying can have very bad consequences.
- Die Another Day It was the twentieth James Bond film and contained references to all of the previous ones. I have seen every Bond film except The Man with the Golden Gun
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall This movie was recommended to me by the girl who broke my heart. We had the same sense of humor and she knew I would like it. If you need a reason to see it I have three words: Dracula Puppet Show.
As a follow up to my post yesterday, this evening I got some emails from UCI. The instructor for my class posted a grade for my term project, final, and the class overall. For the final 95%, for the term project 95%, and for the class A. I was shocked. For my project I was expecting a C or at best a B-.
My only explanation is the paper write-up was great enough to cover up my programming failure. I followed the directions the instructor gave and included everything he wanted, even if I though it was pointless. I had great block diagrams to explain what I was doing and nicely formatted equations.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Falling apart, coming due, and flying out
The last couple of weeks have had some of the worst moments and the worst days I have had in a while. It will be OK; the next few weeks will have some great stuff in them.
Many of the bad things relate to how I view everything. Many small annoyances, problems, and stresses have a common solution, "If I did not live at home."
In addition to that, I had a lot of concern over my DSP class. Last night the final and paper/project for my class were due. These two items combined are 90% of my total grade. This is the summary of the project I wrote last night:
Now I will share what I wrote in the results section:
The Final
This turned out much better than the project, but it had a couple of interesting moments. It was an at home open book test. One of the questions involved adaptive filters and neural networks. At first I thought they were related through a lattice-ladder pattern. As I looked through the textbook I found support for my idea; a FIR (finite impulse response) filter structure can be realized as a lattice structure.
Two days later I discovered I was wrong. My research led me to the MathWorks documentation. As I was trying to make sense of adaptive linear network architecture, I had the strange feeling I was actually reading something fictitious. The algorithms were described as learning how to do things on their own.
The Next Part
Between now and Christmas I will be spending more time away from home than at home. I will develop the details as things happen or after I have pictures and stories to share. For now you should know several states and several feet of snow will be involved.
There are still many things I have to do, but some of them are things I want to do.
Many of the bad things relate to how I view everything. Many small annoyances, problems, and stresses have a common solution, "If I did not live at home."
In addition to that, I had a lot of concern over my DSP class. Last night the final and paper/project for my class were due. These two items combined are 90% of my total grade. This is the summary of the project I wrote last night:
The project based itself upon a surveillance radar. This type of radar is used primarily for locating an object and roughly finding its velocity. It used a pulsed wave so the same antenna could be used to send and receive signals.This project used Simulink which is a simulation tool closely related to MATLAB. Like my astrodynamics project for an earlier class, this involved me learning a lot of stuff in a new field. However, this project turned out poorly. I did not understand radar design very well, I did not know how to recreate everything on a computer, and I kept putting off doing the work.
Signal processing was done in three parts. The matched filter in the first part used FFTs to mix the original signal with the received signal. This amplified the parts of the signal where any echoes would be found. After the inverse FFT was applied, this was sent to the detector processor. Before looking for a signal, a CFAR was calculated and used to establish a detection threshold. If a hit was detected, the signal was then passed onto the next stage. At the postprocessor the highest signal was isolated so its frequency and time could be recorded. Using the transmitted signal's initial conditions as a base, these measurements were used to estimate the object's velocity and range respectively.
Now I will share what I wrote in the results section:
The simulation did not work. Debugging had to stop as the project was due. The problem was providing a signal the simulation would accept.The project was due at 11 last night and I submitted it online at 3:11 this morning.
The Final
This turned out much better than the project, but it had a couple of interesting moments. It was an at home open book test. One of the questions involved adaptive filters and neural networks. At first I thought they were related through a lattice-ladder pattern. As I looked through the textbook I found support for my idea; a FIR (finite impulse response) filter structure can be realized as a lattice structure.
Two days later I discovered I was wrong. My research led me to the MathWorks documentation. As I was trying to make sense of adaptive linear network architecture, I had the strange feeling I was actually reading something fictitious. The algorithms were described as learning how to do things on their own.
The Next Part
Between now and Christmas I will be spending more time away from home than at home. I will develop the details as things happen or after I have pictures and stories to share. For now you should know several states and several feet of snow will be involved.
There are still many things I have to do, but some of them are things I want to do.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The Perils of Facebook
Recently my friend Aden went on a Facebook hiatus. After concerns over the privacy of his information, he removed himself from the site. This brings up some points I want to make. If you have any public service announcement music now is the time to cue it up.
I will start with a couple of lists. These are based on my experience and what I have seen other people do.
Great Things:
Terrible Things:
Third Party Applications
I have a strong no third party applications stance. Since I already have concerns over how Facebook will use my information, I do not want to multiply the problem by allowing a half dozen different programs each with their own privacy standards and security vulnerabilities to access my profile.
For example, my Dad uses the Family Link application. I will not confirm I am his son because that would require I allow an application access to my profile. Anyone who is friends with my Dad and I know we are related. No one who is a friend of mine needs to know my Dad's name, my Mom's name, who my brother is, who my cousins are, who their parents are, etc. Anyone who meets them will lean their names as they meet them.
Real Dangers
On many profiles people can get answers to questions like:
In what city were you born?
What is your mother's maiden name?
What is your birthday?
What was your high school mascot?
Who was your first employer?
These are common security questions. Banks ask these questions to reset your password before giving you access to real money. Email accounts can easily be compromised and thieves can spam everyone in your address book.
This information can easily be gleaned from a person's profile. While I trust my 449 friends will not try to steal my identity, I do not trust they are all sophisticated enough to avoid leaving their password on a public computer, phishing, installing questionable third party applications, or linking their profile to a myriad of websites. At least half a dozen of my friends have had their accounts hacked into. There could have been a score more whose accounts were frozen after Facebook realized their friends were being sent spam in alphabetical order.
As an aside, you need to be aware of one of the scams making the rounds. Crooks will break into email or Facebook accounts, pose as the account holder, and send messages asking for money. They will claim some dire situation like "I am in the middle of Europe and lost my wallet and phone! Please send money to this bank account ASAP!" If you get a frantic message asking for money investigate it first. If you have the person's phone number, call it, especially if the message claims the phone is lost or does not work. If you know other friends of the person, contact them. Ask if your mutual friend is in Europe or whatever situation the message claims.
Think about the situation. If you were in the dire situation described with no money and no one to help you would you really get access to a computer, contact a person other than your immediate family or best friends, and have your bank account number memorized?
Advertising you are going on vacation will also let people know your residence will be unoccupied and ripe for robbery. This is a big problem if you list your address on your profile.
What you can do
The first and most important thing you can do to keep your information private is do not put it on Facebook. If it is not online, no one can steal it online.
The second thing is to control access to what you do place online. Under Account in the top right corner, click Privacy Settings. Here you can control many settings, all of which deserve review. I set many things to Friends Only. At Applications and Websites on the bottom left, you can follow a link and block all platform applications, games and websites.
There are many wonderful things you can do online, but you need to be aware of the dangers and proactive in protecting yourself.
To bring this back to the beginning, Aden ended his hiatus and came back to Facebook.
I will start with a couple of lists. These are based on my experience and what I have seen other people do.
Great Things:
- Keeping track of what people are up to, what school they attend, what year they are, or where they work.
- Seeing pictures of trips my friends take and places they go.
- Knowing when people's birthdays are and dropping them a wall post.
- Getting friends' phone numbers when a phone needs to be reprogrammed.
- Finding out if a girl really has a boyfriend or just made one up when a guy was hitting on her.
Terrible Things:
- Wasting time by looking at the news feed and refreshing it over and over.
- Resentment over not being invited to events that are talked about on Facebook or not being among someone's top friends.
- Letting Facebook stalking substitute for actual interaction.
- Facilitating false assumptions about other people and inviting unequal comparisons. Fr. Charlie once said, "Don't compare someone else's outside to your inside." Facebook bombards users with the facades other people put up.
Third Party Applications
I have a strong no third party applications stance. Since I already have concerns over how Facebook will use my information, I do not want to multiply the problem by allowing a half dozen different programs each with their own privacy standards and security vulnerabilities to access my profile.
For example, my Dad uses the Family Link application. I will not confirm I am his son because that would require I allow an application access to my profile. Anyone who is friends with my Dad and I know we are related. No one who is a friend of mine needs to know my Dad's name, my Mom's name, who my brother is, who my cousins are, who their parents are, etc. Anyone who meets them will lean their names as they meet them.
Real Dangers
On many profiles people can get answers to questions like:
In what city were you born?
What is your mother's maiden name?
What is your birthday?
What was your high school mascot?
Who was your first employer?
These are common security questions. Banks ask these questions to reset your password before giving you access to real money. Email accounts can easily be compromised and thieves can spam everyone in your address book.
This information can easily be gleaned from a person's profile. While I trust my 449 friends will not try to steal my identity, I do not trust they are all sophisticated enough to avoid leaving their password on a public computer, phishing, installing questionable third party applications, or linking their profile to a myriad of websites. At least half a dozen of my friends have had their accounts hacked into. There could have been a score more whose accounts were frozen after Facebook realized their friends were being sent spam in alphabetical order.
As an aside, you need to be aware of one of the scams making the rounds. Crooks will break into email or Facebook accounts, pose as the account holder, and send messages asking for money. They will claim some dire situation like "I am in the middle of Europe and lost my wallet and phone! Please send money to this bank account ASAP!" If you get a frantic message asking for money investigate it first. If you have the person's phone number, call it, especially if the message claims the phone is lost or does not work. If you know other friends of the person, contact them. Ask if your mutual friend is in Europe or whatever situation the message claims.
Think about the situation. If you were in the dire situation described with no money and no one to help you would you really get access to a computer, contact a person other than your immediate family or best friends, and have your bank account number memorized?
Advertising you are going on vacation will also let people know your residence will be unoccupied and ripe for robbery. This is a big problem if you list your address on your profile.
What you can do
The first and most important thing you can do to keep your information private is do not put it on Facebook. If it is not online, no one can steal it online.
The second thing is to control access to what you do place online. Under Account in the top right corner, click Privacy Settings. Here you can control many settings, all of which deserve review. I set many things to Friends Only. At Applications and Websites on the bottom left, you can follow a link and block all platform applications, games and websites.
There are many wonderful things you can do online, but you need to be aware of the dangers and proactive in protecting yourself.
To bring this back to the beginning, Aden ended his hiatus and came back to Facebook.
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