One Minute of Zen: Still Life with Leviathan

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Since moving to Western Washington, my husband and I have had a 55-gallon tank of freshwater fish. In June, we will have lived with these fish for eleven years. Especially, Leviathan, our plecostomos fish. We used to have a pirate ship and a sunken treasure decor in the tank, but had to take it out because “Levi” needed more room. He was barely an inch long when we got him from the aquarium store. Now he’s more than a foot long. There’s at least one Buenos Ares Tetra and a Black Skirt Tetra that have been with us that long, too. Fish can die pretty quickly. But at least a few of them have been with us a decade plus. They can calm you down when the insomnia strikes, or the stress of #LifewithAutism strikes, or you just need a time out from your life. I give you a quick view for this week’s One Minute of Zen. Enjoy.

Harvest Creations: Low-Carb Seafood Chowder

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This is the time of the year when I start clearing out the freezer in preparation of the incoming harvest of veggies and seafood (when can I get on the water and go crabbing again?). Also, at least once a week I get a hankering for chowder. It’s one of my favorite soups. But cream and potatoes aren’t on my living-the-crone-years diet. So, this recipe depends on a bit of alternative ingredients without giving up on taste. This doesn’t take long to make, so if you have all the ingredients, you could even whip it up on a crazy weeknight. Or an any time of year, not just freezer clean out time of year. One note about the ingredients, you don’t have to follow this recipe exactly. Add sweet peppers if you want. Use cream instead of the skim milk. Use all purpose flour instead of rice. But do know that alternating the ingredients will alter the taste. But that’s what I love about cooking. You do you. Right? But, below is how I made it. My version is for us crones doing low-carb. And I promise you it tastes divine.

Ingredients:

Cup of chopped onions

All the veggies cooking down in the wonderfulness that is bacon drippings…

Cup of chopped celery

Cup of chopped carrots (hubby loves the multicolored ones)

One head of cauliflower, riced. (Or you could just chop it really small)

1/2 cup of white wine

Six strips of thick-cut bacon

6 to 8-ounces of flaked, cooked salmon

Four collard green leaves, chopped

One lemon juiced

2 cans chopped clams, including juice

12 ounces salad shrimp

6 oz. lump crab meat

2 cups plus two tablespoons skim milk

Rice flour (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup)

Tarragon

Salt

Black Pepper

Parsley

Red pepper flakes

Cast Iron Dutch Oven

To Make:

Cook up the bacon inside the cauldron (my nickname for my cast iron dutch oven). While bacon is cooking, put salmon and collards in a bowl and pour lemon juice over it. Let sit. Remove bacon from pan to paper-toweled-lined plate and leave drippings in dutch oven. Put in the onion ,saute on medium heat for three minutes, add celery, and carrots, cook for another two to three minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add riced cauliflower. Cook for another three minutes or until veggies are soft. Add rice flour stir until well blended and veggies have a roux-like quality. Deglaze pan with white wine. Add clams, salad shrimp, lump crab, and the bowl of collards and salmon in lemon juice. Stir until mixed well. Bring to a bubble. Put in spices (I don’t measure, I just know what I like, if you don’t know where to start, start with a teaspoon each with maybe a half teaspoon for the pepper flakes), stir. Add milk, turn heat to low and simmer until thickened. Cut up bacon and fold into chowder. Serve immediately. Yum.

The finished product. So delicious and good for you, too.

 

 

In The Weeds: Weekly InfoSec Round-Up 4-19-17

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This is slightly late in posting because I’ve had a very sick child to deal with, but no fear we’re here now.

Given that password management has been a theme here in our #intheweeds world, this article from Forbes, FACEBOOK JUST TOOK A GIANT LEAP TO BECOMING THE GLOBAL PASSWORD MANAGER FOR WEB AND APPS,  just jumped out at me. Tell me what you think in the comments, please. My first thought is, No. But, there may be just as many good reasons for FB to be the end all be all of password managers, unless of course you are a FB hater, which many of us are. I’m there simply to keep in touch with my local friends and far away family. It’s also a tool to get you all to come here to my web site. I’ve been on FB since 2009 or so. I’ve been through its infancy and adolescence and recognize it for what it truly is right now. Do I trust them to be my password manager? Not even in the least. But, the article states FB’s new modus operandi is “significantly revolutionary.” I’m not convinced entirely. But, you tell me. Let’s talk.

Then there’s the other internet’s giant beast, Google, who is planning a built-in ad blocker for chrome. I have their ad blocker, plus I have privacy badger. I don’t see ads. When I do run across ads any more, I’m completely flummoxed. So my question is there anyone that doesn’t use an ad blocker? Do I need to teach you how to internet? Granted, there is a money issue behind Google’s plans and that seems logical. What do you think?

I came across this article this week and laughed because something like this was walked-through in a past DefCon as I recollect from conversations with MVCE (My Viking Chief Engineer). And proves that for every new technology there’s going to be a hack. Sorry Samsung Galaxy. That said, for every hack there’s a patch, but that doesn’t mean it comes quickly enough. Your thoughts?

As I’ve stated in the past, I’m absolutely fascinated with the psychology of hacking — both the social engineering aspect, the behavior of the target, the environment that allows it to happen and so on. So, I’ve been reading and watching videos and, you know, like a InfoSec Noob tends to do. For executives at companies, small business owners, heck anyone who wants to be in the know to protect themselves, this article is a good starting point: SEVEN WAYS HACKERS TARGET YOUR EMPLOYEES. In a nutshell:  “Companies need to realize if their employees are picking up the phone and answering emails, they are making security decisions every day that can affect the company…” Basically, a hacker’s best friend is a nice employee. Do you trust yourself? Your employees?

Often in the media, hackers are portrayed as wearing black hoodies — a practice first utilized when Great Britain put security cameras on every street corner in London — and then when shows like MR. ROBOT came out, it was hammered home even more. But, it’s no wonder when you have facial recognition being employed by the government. A valid argument for law enforcement can be made, but it’s just one small slippery step before we’re using said software against law abiding citizens. For me, a certain scene in Total Recall comes to mind after reading this article. “Catch! Get ready for s surprise!” How about you?

As in week’s past, feel free to leave a comment here about any of those articles. Let’s learn from one another. Okay, have pity on the noob and let me learn from you.

Have another great week InfoSec geeks. See you soon.

 

One Minute of Zen: Life With Fans

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I find that I sleep better with the fan on. How about you? Also, I can put myself in a bit of a theta brainwaves trance and get myself out of a funk or a writers block by staring at the ceiling fan. Here’s this week’s installment of One Minute of Zen. Enjoy.

In The Weeds: Weekly InfoSec Round-Up 4-12-17

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The deeper I get into the hacker world, the scarier some things can be. But then sometimes some good news comes along, like this gem:

Bill would block warrantless searches of Americans’ phones at borders

And I really enjoyed this little short webinar with tips on how to secure your devices connected to the internet:  http://www.techrepublic.com/videos/how-to-secure-your-internet-of-things/?ftag=TREe01923b&bhid=26093227954548321669490942282653

But then we get back to scary things, especially this one because as a writer, I’m constantly using word, industry standard and all that. http://thehackernews.com/2017/04/microsoft-word-dridex-trojan.html

Then I have to cheer when I see something like this:  http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39576394

This one is a little bit further back from this week, but maybe we’ll make this list some day. Whew! I have some reading to do:  https://digitalguardian.com/blog/top-50-infosec-blogs-you-should-be-reading

As in week’s past, feel free to leave a comment here about any of those articles. Let’s learn from one another. Okay, have pity on the noob and let me learn from you.

Have another great week InfoSec geeks. See you soon.