Getting Ready For An Early 1st Birthday Party For Mason

Sunday is going to be “Birthday Party” time at our house. All the men in our family have June birthdays – Mason (June 15), Kevin (June 17) and me (June 9). It made sense to us to combine these celebrations into one day when most of our family can attend. It worked out pretty well as 4 of our 5 kids will be here including a daughter who flew in from Ottawa on Friday night.

Just a week to go before Mason turns 1 – what an incredibly fast year!

All family birthdays are special, of course, but Mason’s 1st is extra-special. I’ll be turning the “Big 7-0” so everyone seems to think that’s a big deal too. As for son Kevin, he’s just celebrating a routine “mid-40’s” birthday so he’ll just have to struggle along behind Mason and me I suppose. Actually, Kevin and I will both be playing second fiddle to our little man as he’s definitely going to be the big attraction as he gets to taste his first piece of cake ever!  We all want to see that!

All in all, it should be a lot of fun with 4 of our kids as well as grandkids Jessica, Mikayla and Mason. I’ll be busy on the Weber Q grilling up hamburgers, chicken burgers and hot dogs – always our favorite birthday party food. There are going to be a few birthday cakes too – a very special one for Mason, of course, and another special homemade cake for Kevin and me.

We think Mason is going to like his first car! Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!

Friday night, Paulette and I spent over 2 very frustrating hours trying to put together the little car we got for Mason. We bought this car at Costco and just assumed it was all assembled in the huge box it came in. Wrong! There were screws, pieces and a setup instruction with 45 steps! No explanation, just 45 pictures. I was ready at one time to throw it all back in the box, return it to Costco, and buy Mason a real car that came fully assembled. We worked through it though.

I feel fairly safe in posting these pics of Mason’s new hot rod before his party as I don’t believe he reads my blog yet. As you might guess, this 1st Birthday Party for Mason will not be the only one. Carrie is arranging another party for his actual 1st birthday on Sunday, June 15th with many of his “little friends”. It’s definitely going to be a big week of celebrating for our little man.

As for me turning 70, I may have more to say about that after Monday. I’ll have to wait and see what it feels like to be what I used to consider “really, really old”. Other than a few more aches and pains now and then I can’t say I feel all that much different than any other age. As long as my mind is mostly intact I’ll always be o.k.!

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D-Day Reflections Some 70 Years Later

My Father passed away on January 4, 2003 at the age of 80. As his eldest son I was given the duty and honour of writing and delivering the Eulogy for his funeral. I still remember sitting at my computer late into the night that January 4th, trying to decide what to say about my Dad’s life.

One dominant theme kept recurring and remained in my mind and that was his experience as a 21 yr. old soldier with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles as they landed on Juno Beach in the first wave of the invasion known as D-Day.

That night, I pretty much completed writing the eulogy for my Dad and after finishing it I hardly changed 1 of the 3,219 words as these were pretty honest feelings and emotions that deserved to be left just as they were written.

Our entire family always knew that D-Day was an unforgettable day in my Dad’s life even though he rarely spoke about it. He lost way too many good friends that terrible day. After watching and reading all the tributes yesterday about the D-Day invasion,I thought I’d share these 415 words I wrote as part of my Dad’s Eulogy:

Each of us have important dates, times and places in our lives that we will always remember such as marriage, the birth of a child, a graduation. These are the major cornerstones of our lives where we always seem to remember where we were and what we were doing. My dad had those same types of memories.

But, for those of us who shared his life, we know full well that there was always one dominant date and place. The place was Juno Beach, the date was June 6, 1944 – D-day.

After enjoying what he called “the best year’s of his life”, my dad now found himself in a landing craft headed full speed for Juno Beach and he was about to experience both his worst day and his worst year!

In the book “Bloody Victory” about Canada’s D-day campaign, authors J.L. Granastein and Desmond Morton describe some of what the Winnipeg Rifles faced that day on Juno Beach, they wrote:

“They came under fire when their landing craft were still half a mile from the beach. Many of the “Little Black Devils”, as the Winnipeg Rifles were known, were hit as soon as they waded into the chest high surf.

Nonetheless the battalion took the beach defenses, cleared the small harbour, drove a gap through minefields planted with 14,000 mines and liberated the small villages just off the coast.

The cost was heavy. The battalion was reduced from 120 men to a mere 27 by the morning’s work”.

Fortunately, my dad was one of those who made it off the beach alive. Two days later, on June 8th, hungry, tired and suffering from gunshot wounds, he was captured and transported by train to Germany, as he liked to put it – “compliments of the Third Reich” where he spent the remainder of the war in a prisoner of war camp.

The next day on June 9th, with the whereabouts of my father unknown, i was born in Cowdenbeath Scotland. The army officially listed my Dad as missing in action and it wasn’t until October of that year that my Mother found out he was still alive. She received a simple postcard from my Dad saying he was o.k. but a prisoner of war.

Needless to say the relief was overwhelming both in Scotland and in Winnipeg!  My Gran and Pop in Winnipeg must have been especially relieved as two of their other sons, Dick and Charlie, were serving on warships with the Royal Canadian Navy.

- end of excerpt from eulogy -

Telegram from Minister of Nation Defense advising “Missing in Action”

D-Day always managed to bring back a flood of memories in our family for not only my Mother but my Grandparents and my Dad’s 7 brothers and sisters. These memories ranged from total sorrow and despair to overwhelming joy. The best way to demonstrate this, I suppose, is simply by displaying two images: the one above is definitely “total sorrow” as it was a telegram from the Minister of National Defence to my Grandparents advising them that their eldest son, Tom, was MIA after D-Day.

Postcard from my Dad on Jan. 13, 1945 from German POW camp

The overwhelming joy part of D-Day remembrances was the first postcard my Dad was able to send to his parents in Winnipeg while he was a POW in Germany. To this day, I still don’t know where exactly in Germany my Dad was a POW or what the name of the camp was. He never talked about it and just shrugged it off when asked questions. It seems to be a very common practice with WWII Vets.

Once in a while, during a conversation with friends or family he would say something that provided a small clue about life as a POW. For instance, he had a particular dislike for German Shepherds and Doberman’s. I guess they were the guard dogs that patrolled the camp. He also never allowed red cabbage in our home as that was pretty much a staple of his diet as a POW. That’s about all I ever learned. Too bad!

Even though I’ve blogged about this previously, some stories deserve never to be forgotten – just like my Dad.

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How To Setup Apple’s 2-Step Verification System

In my blog of June 1, 2014 I talked about a guy going by the name of Oleg Pliss taking iPhones hostage and demanding a ransom payment to unlock them. At the time I said “odds are you’d win the lottery before this happens to you.” Since I haven’t heard from anyone about this I’m going to assume that was correct. I also mentioned that iPhones who had setup Apple’s 2-Step Verification System were protected from this attack and it might be a good idea for iPhone owners to take this precaution.

2-Step Verification is simple and adds another layer of security to Apple ID’s

Your Apple ID, much like Google ID, is your user name for everything you do with Apple: Shop the iTunes Store, enable iCloud on all your devices, buy from the Apple Online Store, make a reservation at an Apple Retail Store, access the Apple Support website, and more. Your access to Apple is controlled by using a combination of your Apple User ID and a password. The 2-Step Verification System adds another layer of security between would be hackers and your Apple account.

Step 1. Visit the Apple ID Settings page and click Manage my Apple ID

Apple two-step verification requires you to verify your identity using one of your devices (i.e iPhone/iPad) before you can take any of these actions:

• Sign in to My Apple ID to manage your account
• Make an iTunes, App Store, or iBooks Store purchase from a new device
• Get Apple ID related support from Apple

When you set up two-step verification, you register one or more trusted devices (i.e. an iPhone and/or iPad). Apple will send a 4-digit verification code using either text messaging or Find My iPhone. Then, any time you sign in to manage your Apple ID at or make an iTunes, App Store, or iBooks Store purchase, you'll need to verify your identity by entering both your password and a 4-digit verification code.

Step 2. Click on Password and Security > Get started

How do I set up two-step verification?

1. Go to My Apple ID, select “Manage your Apple ID,” and sign in.
2. Select “Password and Security.”
3. Under Two-Step Verification, select Get Started and follow the onscreen instructions.

Step 3. This is just an Apple information page – click continue

Step 3 is where Apple simply explains exactly what two-step verification means to you and your account. You will also get a 14-digit Recovery Key for you to print and keep in a safe place. Use your Recovery Key to regain access to your account if you ever lose access to your devices (iPhone and iPad) or forget your password. Here’s a few points to note:

• Your security questions will no longer exist.
• You will be the only person able to request a password reset.
• You need to keep your Recovery Key in a safe place.

Without both your password and the verification code, access to your account will be denied.

Step 4. Add your iPhone number for text messages (SMS)

In Step 4 you’ll be asked to add devices to your account. You're required to add and verify at least one text message capable phone number for your account. Just click on the highlighted section and follow the prompts. You will also notice that under My Devices there is an option to “Set up Find My iPhone”. If you’ve already set this up on your iPhone and/or iPad just click “Refresh Devices” as Find My iPhone can be used to receive verification codes on any iOS device.

Step 5. Upon completion you will get a Recovery Key

You'll then be given your Recovery Key. This is extremely important. Write it down, print it out, or take a screenshot of it to ensure you don't lose it. Should you ever forget your password, or lose a registered device, your Recovery Key will always allow you access to your account. Just to make sure you know how important this key is, Apple makes you type it in on another new screen. And no, you can’t use copy and paste because I tried.

After dutifully following these instructions to save my Recovery Key because who knows what evil would befall me if I lost it, I then run across this:

If you lose your Recovery Key, you can replace it any time:

1. Go to My Apple ID, select “Manage your Apple ID,” and sign in with your password and trusted device.
2. Select “Password and Security.”
3. Under Recovery Key, select Replace Lost Key.

Really, Apple? What’s with all the warnings of doom if it doesn’t matter! Well, actually it does matter in the event that you lose access to 2 of the 3 items (i.e. password, iPhone/iPad, Recovery Key) at the same time. You could end up locked out of your Apple ID account permanently. That could never happen, right? It would take a real dummy to do that. Note to self: make sure Recovery Key is printed and safely stored in several secret hiding places around our home!

Two-step verification simplifies and strengthens the security of your account. After you turn it on, there is no way for anyone to access and manage your account at My Apple ID other than by using your password, verification codes sent to your trusted devices, or your Recovery Key. You must be responsible for:

• Remembering your password
• Keeping your trusted devices physically secure
• Keeping your Recovery Key in a safe place

One final note on setting up 2-Step Verification and it’s an important one for anyone who is going to do this. As a basic security measure, Apple doesn't allow setup of two-step verification to proceed if significant changes were recently made to your Apple ID account information. Significant changes can include a password reset or new security questions. As a result, you may be told that you will have to wait 2 or 3 days before you are able to complete the setup. That’s what happened to me.

This waiting period helps Apple make sure that you are the only person accessing or modifying your account. While you are in this waiting period, you can continue using your account as usual with all Apple services and stores. Apple will send an email to all the addresses you have on file notifying you of the waiting period and you’ll be able set up two-step verification after the date listed on your Apple ID account page and in the email that you receive.

Should you change your mind and decide you don’t like 2-Step Verification and would like to return to the old method can you do that? Yes and here’s how!

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Idiot Of The Day – Brian Kilmeade Of Fox And Friends

Co-host Brian Kilmeade of "Fox and Friends" escalated Fox’s attacks on freed POW Sgt. Bowe Berghdahl by going after the American soldier’s father simply for growing a beard in support of his POW son. On his Tuesday morning show, he said:

“I mean, he says he was growing his beard because his son was in captivity. Well, your son’s out now. So if you really don’t — no longer look like a member of the Taliban, you don’t have to look like a member of the Taliban. Are you out of razors?”

Bob Berghdahl grew his beard as a show of support for his POW son

Republicans, as expected, are jumping on the “hate Bowe Berghdahl” bandwagon and calling him a “deserter and traitor” even while he remains in a military hospital. If any other President than Barack Obama had orchestrated a prisoner swap (Bush) to free the last remaining American POW they’d be doing handstands and cartwheels. The GOP always “supports the troops” when they go to war but never when it comes to money required to help them when injured or when they sense political gain!

As far as Sgt. Bowe Berghdahl’s case is concerned there are still no definite facts known. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said it best when he stated “the questions about this particular soldier’s conduct are separate from our effort to recover ANY U.S. service member in enemy captivity. This was likely the last, best opportunity to free him." Many nutbar Republican’s seem to feel it would have been much better to simply leave him to die.

Would Fox and Friends dare say these Ducks look like the Taliban? Hey, Kilmeade – I know these guys can afford razors!

As expected, the Daily Show’s John Stewart exposed Idiot of the Day Kilmeade’s hypocrisy best when he compared Fox’s lovefest over the Duck Dynasty clan’s Taliban like beards to that of Bowe Berghdahl’s father Bob. Bob Berghdahl began to grow his beard as a show of support for his 20 yr. old son after he officially became a POW.  Stewart put it to Idiot of the Day Kilmeade rather succinctly:

“First of all, who the xxxx are you to judge what a guy does if he thinks it might help him get his son back?  And I don’t want to complicate your hatred of facial hair there, friend, but my guess is if you gave Bob Bergdahl a bandana and a duck, you’d like him just xxxxxxx fine.”

Flip-flop hypocrites are the runners-up for Idiot of the Week

The runners-up award for Idiot of the Week has to go to Senators John McCain and Kelly Ayotte for their spectacular flip-flop hypocrisy regarding the POW exchange:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz). On Feb. 18, 2014, he told CNN's Anderson Cooper that he could support such an arrangement:

COOPER: Would you oppose the idea of some form of negotiations or prisoner exchange? I know back in 2012 you called the idea of even negotiating with the Taliban bizarre, highly questionable.

McCAIN: Well, at that time the proposal was that they would release -- Taliban, some of them really hard-core, particularly five really hard-core Taliban leaders, as a confidence-building measure. Now this idea is for an exchange of prisoners for our American fighting man.

I would be inclined to support such a thing depending on a lot of the details. [...]

COOPER: So if there was some -- the possibility of some sort of exchange, that's something you would support?

McCAIN: I would support. Obviously I'd have to know the details, but I would support ways of bringing him home, and if exchange was one of them, I think that would be something I think we should seriously consider.

A miraculous flip-flop by The Conservative Diva. June 2014 vs June 2012

The Twitter feed posts above are just one small, painful example of how Republicans and those who call themselves conservatives have flip-flopped on the issue of getting POW Sgt. Bowe Berghdahl released from captivity by the Taliban. It’s almost mind boggling that people could be so blatantly hypocritical until one remembers their absolute hatred for President Barack Obama. Haters gonna hate!!

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USA Set For Massive Credit/Debit Card Upgrade

It’s about time! While spending 3–4 months in southern California over the past 7 years, I’ve always been surprised that magnetic stripe technology is still dominant on debit and credit cards. I don’t believe I ’ve ever run across a ‘chip card’ detection device (EMV) in use anywhere I’ve been in the US. Canada embraced chip card standards back in 2007 and today it’s in use virtually everywhere. The USA is now thankfully dedicated to moving towards this standard over the next 5 years.

One of the biggest pushes towards using chip card technology was the massive data breach at Target Stores in late 2013. It isn’t the only one though as credit/debit card fraud is a deep seated problem in the U.S. As most of the developed world has migrated to EMV chip technology, some fraud has shifted over to the United States because of the ease with which fraudsters can duplicate magnetic stripe cards. As a result, the U.S. has carried a disproportionate percentage of global fraud losses.

In 2013, fraud in the U.S. cost $6.8 billion and accounted for 51% of global card fraud losses. That amount is completely out of proportion to the U.S. share of global card transaction volume. Personally, we have had our credit cards compromised on at least 2 occasions while in the US along with several other Canadians we know who also stay in Palm Springs for the winter. It has got to the point where we now deal in cash only as much as we can just to protect us from the hassle of card fraud.

Interac Association recently updated how chip card technology has reduced debit card fraud losses in Canada. Losses are now at their lowest level since 2003 and the total fraud has fallen from a high of $142 million in 2009 to only $38.5 million in 2012. This reduction is almost entirely due to the adoption of chip cards. The secure chip inside of the card, which holds cardholder details, is impervious to access by skimmers or any other unauthorized parties.

Why hasn’t the United States moved faster to implement EMV chip technology? The answer is simple – the huge cost to businesses. For the U.S. to adopt the standard, banks, processors, and merchants will have to upgrade their systems to accept and process chip card transactions. Some estimates put this cost at $11 billion. Despite that the change is definitely coming and banks, merchants and others will simply have to figure out how to adapt.

That’s because businesses will not have much choice in upgrading to EMV because of the leverage provided by what Visa, MasterCard and others call a “liability shift”.  I always love these slogans dreamt up in back rooms that sound so harmless but what liability shift really means is “hey, you’re on your own buddy”!

As of October 1, 2015 Visa, MasterCard and American Express have all announced that anyone that invested in EMV technology and is fully deployed will be protected from financial liability for card-present counterfeit fraud. It sounds very much like if Target messes up again and doesn’t upgrade they could be on the hook for the entire loss instead of the banks and credit card companies. That’s a pretty strong incentive to change I’d say.

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No Bits, No Bytes, No News, Just Some Hiking Pics

My blog title today says it all – it was a nice quiet Sunday, the first day of June and it was pretty much a mid-summer’s day weather wise. We took advantage of it by going for our daily hike nice and early instead of waiting until mid-afternoon when it was bound to be up into the 70’s. We left home at 10am and drove out to one of the Cowichan River trailheads where we ended up taking a 2hr trail that took us along the banks of Holt Creek as well as the Cowichan and Koksilah Rivers.

Here are a few of the pics I took along the way:

Holt Creek

Someone’s been busy building an Inuksuk village

The Cowichan River

Rylie catching her breath after a run

Lots and lots of moss covered trees

And some flowers and plants

It was a perfect way to spend a beautiful Sunday morning!

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Hacker Oleg Pliss Takes iPhones Hostage For Ransom

It’s being reported that many Apple iPhone and iPad users are being targeted by hackers who are remotely locking their devices and demanding ransom money in return. This latest scam appears to have started in Australia with a group of hackers going by the name Oleg Pliss who threaten to lock the phone permanently unless a $100 ransom is paid. In a strange coincidence, I was just reading about this on Saturday morning when I got an email from a reader worried about this.

By noon yesterday, it seems, this Oleg Pliss had really got the Internet community riled up and into a bit of a panic with iPhone users wondering what they could do. So, if you happen to have an iPhone and are worried about this, here’s my initial reaction and recommendations:

1. Never, ever pay any ransom
2. Don’t panic – odds are you’d win the lottery before this happens to you
3. Change your Apple ID password (it’s probably old anyway, right?)
4. Consider Apple’s 2 Step Verification Program (phones with this are ok)
5. Even if your iPhone was locked it can be reset in recovery mode
6. Enjoy your iPhone and leave the Find My iPhone app turned on

Hackers accessed users iCloud accounts to enable the Find My iPhone app

Oleg Pliss, or whatever, seems to have found a way to hijack some Apple users iCloud accounts and used that to access the Find My iPhone app. From there it was pretty easy to remotely lock iOS and Mac devices and send messages demanding a ransom. Apple insists that their iCloud data storage has not been compromised and it does appear that the accounts were exposed in some recent security breaches. The hacked accounts were likely not using Apple’s 2-step verification.

I’ve used LastPass since 2010

The best defense against any of these types of attacks is to have a strong, unique password. Since 2010, I’ve been using the free version of LastPass to create and manage all my passwords. LastPass offers easy-to-use tools to generate complex passwords and then remembers them so I no longer have to. I probably have over 100 unique, strong passwords that are safely encrypted, stored and accessible through my own Master Password that I must remember.

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