Other What's ruining your life right now?

I always think it so odd when I see people smoke inside on TV etc, such a foreign concept to me now, actually can't believe it used to be ok! My dad especially couldn't imagine going back.

 

Whilst visiting NZ and Ireland multiple times in the 00's, I had a taste of what it would be like prior to the introduction of the ban in the UK (it came into effect in NZ & Ireland in 2004, UK in 2007). I found it great even though I was still a smoker myself at that time. Being able to actually be in a crowded pub without streaming eyes was a joy. Going into pubs, bars and restaurants wasn't such a nasty experience.

So when it was introduced in the UK I was all for it and still am, such a much better experience going out because of it.

And yes, I too find it noticable when seeing indoor smoking on TV nowadays.

 

Realising I've spent more on cigars and Funko pops than on food or my bills...

 

In fairness, I live with my parents and have very few bills to deal with, but this makes a more fun tagline

 

Hit a random pothole the size of a bomb crater on Tuesday whilst doing 120kph on an otherwise perfectly laid highway. Blew the front right tyre, bent the rim, and damaged the front right suspension (that I can tell for now). I was planning a suspension upgrade, but a few months down the line when I would have more cash. Now stuck between replacing the front right moving bits and taking two hits on spending, or moving up the full suspension update when I cannot quite afford it.

Return home from aforementioned drive to find dog is deathly ill. Immediately cancel everything and start the multiple daily trips to the vet.

Work is piles up and I feel my boss's patience is wearing thin.

Anxiety knotting my gut for the past week now. Even a brief interlude with planes that would have normally brought me joy failed to uplift...

 

Realised my work password is due to expire today so went to reset it, realised I'd over complicated the password and wouldn't possibly be able to remember it come Monday. Went to reset for a second time and realised I'd already forgotten the over complicated password I was paranoid I'd forget... Managed to lock myself out of absolutely everything (email, tools, applications) Awesome....

Off I skulk to the IT guys like a massive moron to explain this balls up....

 

Yeah, they recently upped the security stakes on ours, have to be over 20 characters, must have a caps, number and special character and expire every 14 days plus you cannot use any of your last ten passwords. Its a little extreme, oh an I have three accounts and you cannot use the same passwords.

 

Jesus Christ - 20 characters! They'll be getting you to type out the opening paragraph to your favourite book next...

 

That is actual ridiculous... I don't think I could remember my past 10 "8 or more" character passwords!

 

Might be time to try convincing manglement to splash out on Yubikeys for everypony.

 

Pfft sorry USB devices locked down for data security reasons. Hell plugging a phone in sends a report off an you get a prompt visit from IT security.
Nope just look up shampoo bottle ingredients.

 

Surely just use a sentence but change the end word each time:
"My favourite month is Jan 1!"
"My favourite month is Jan 2!"
"My favourite month is Feb 1!"
...
Not easy to type maybe but easy to remember at least

 

A sentence or multi-word phrase is arguably more secure than a long single word password. Somewhere on t'internet is a study that showed this e.g. "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy cow" was more secure than a single word with special characters and numbers.

 

This will almost definitely be *bad* for security. People will necessarily start writing down/carrying around passwords and using simple predictable variations: Bits of paper get dropped and lost in a work environment. Special characters tend to be added in predictable ways that mean they don't actually help that much with brute force attacks, less so than a slightly longer password without them that is much easier for a human to remember.

How long until IT guys realize that a well implemented passphrase all in lower case that someone can actually remember is easy and secure, rather than going for ludicrous misguided over correction with regards user password requirements, that don't actually help

 

But, it means I cant use Deoxyribosenuclenicacid#2 as a new default password to dish out (note I'm not doing that for obvious reasons).

 

And these days, everybody uses "Correct Horse Battery Staple".

 

That xkcd is a perfect summary for the (much longer) study I once read, makes it clear.

 

Prepare a primary password and 10 dummy passwords. When primary password expires, update the password 10 times. Update a 11 time with original password. Learned this trick from an elementary school teacher.

 

Password policies are my pet hate. Explaining that longer requirements, more frequent changing, and more complexity requirements are worse than twenty minutes per department educating people on decent password construction that they can actually remember always seemed to fall on deaf ears..

That said, my bank currently doesn't recognise special characters, passwords over 12 characters long, and frequently asks for complete details for the account via email. So I feel like sending them my rant/thoughts on passwords.