Category: Personal

A message to my Senator, Al Franken

Al,

I voted for you in your last election and have been very happy with your service overall. You’re a great source of reason and intelligence in the Senate and I’m glad to have you here in Minnesota.

However, it’s come to my attention that you have chosen to support PIPA. I believe that this is a very unpopular position for you to take, and for good reason. I would strongly urge you to reconsider your position in this matter. Internet freedom and freedom of expression in general is an important issue to me; in fact I might say it is one of the most important issues to me. The reason it is so important is that I believe that all other evils stem from untruth and censorship. Freedom of expression is the most general way to combat evil and without it we are lost. This completely open, global, communication system we have created is truly the most incredible wonder human kind has ever created. And the potential for evil that PIPA is attempting to prevent is only matched by a potential for good which will be equivalently stifled. Please do not support anything that will diminish this amazing creation. The internet is still young, and full of zest. People do evil things, it’s true, but that fact is dramatically outweighed by the goodness we do as well.

What’s needed is not for the movie industry to get overly general legislation so they can continue to stagnate but for them to embrace this brave new world and finally innovate. They’re still stuck on over priced mega-plexes, DVD’s and obsolete Cable TV  while the rest of us are pining for verbose streaming options, ownership of the things we purchase and the removal of entrenched middle men. Please read this article for opinions I agree with:
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/114493-why-i-pirate

We cannot allow a single industry to hinder free expression of everyone simply because they have a powerful lobby in Washington. Combatting piracy with legislation is a losing battle, it’s bad for consumers and it’s bad for the art we all want to protect.

Take a stand. Force them to change, not the internet. A free and open internet will make this world a better place and that is the most important thing to remember. From there all other things will unfold.

Thank you, I know you’ll do the right thing.

Sincerely,

Justin Chase

Remembering Complex Passwords

This is a problem that has been written about over and over again, the proposed solutions are complex and there appears to be no relief in sight. People are reusing the same simple passwords over and over again and the only alternative is a complex trade-off between poor user experience, incompatibility and putting all your eggs in a single basket. I’m not sure how brilliant of an idea my solution is but I’ll explain how I try to manage this complexity.

First off, I have 4 tiers of passwords. I have one very complex password for work, gmail and my bank account, one for less important sites that I really would rather wasn’t hacked like facebook and Windows Live. One that’s a throw away password that I really couldn’t care if anyone hacked and one that I share among family and friends (my home router, my personal svn, etc.)

For my top tier password I have come up with a trick for creating and remembering them. I think this is a handy trick and can work for anyone and will generate a very strong password. I have created a simple tool to help.

pass

EDIT: try it live at jsfiddle

Once a month or every other month simply print out, or write down the above graph onto a piece of paper. Visualize a line or a shape with a bend such as a V somewhere in the graph. This is your password. Remember the first letter, the last letter and the shape. Change your passwords and leave this sheet somewhere nearby face down. Try to login by remembering this complex password. If you cannot, flip over the sheet, take a look and try again. If you flip over the sheet start typing from the beginning again. After a couple of tries you will be able to remember without the sheet. Don’t discard it, keep it nearby in case you forget again.

In the meantime, if anybody finds your printed sheet it is not readable. If the CIA finds it, it might help them to narrow it down enough to crack it but if you’re concerned about that then I can’t really help you.

My second tier password I choose a word that is easy for me to remember and basically use l33t speak to augment it. Basically replace letters with either numbers or special characters depending on what the password box is requiring.

My third and fourth tier is just some stupid dictionary word that’s easy for me and friends to remember.

All but my top tier passwords are stored in a Google Docs spreadsheet so if I forget I can go and find it in there. That spread-sheet is protected by my top tier password.

Farewell Bob Pappas

Today was Bob‘s last day at Microsoft. He was the project manager of Sketch Flow and his contribution will be remembered. Bob leaves to join Apple where he will work on iPhoto and he will be replaced by Dave Carley as project manager of Sketch Flow. For those who didn’t know Sketch Flow is developed almost exclusively here in Minnesota.

Farewell Bob and good luck Dave!

IMAG0143

This is a photo of some of the Microsoft Twin Cities Development Center bowling at Bryant Lake Bowl. Bob stands at the left.

Featured on techcareertips.com

Tavis Hudson is a Tech Headhunter who first recruited me in 2005 to work for Magenic. Over the years we have kept in contact and run into each other at a few events here and there. Recently, Tavis contacted me about doing an over the phone interview (as in journalism not recruiting) for his blog.

In the first of a series of blog posts he is authoring called “Prodigy Developers” he did a write up based on the conversation we had. I’ll try not to let that title go to my head but thanks for the vote of confidence Tavis.

One of the things he touches on in his post is something that I’d like to elaborate on a little more. This is something I consciously say to myself from time to time:

One thing that I have learned in college and in my career so far is that there are lots of people who are smarter than me. I mean downright geniuses. I am not a genius. I am constantly awed by these people and their mathematical abilities or their ability to grasp incredibly complex topics or the speed with which they are able to get to conclusions. This is not my strong point even though I am not an idiot by any means. Yet somehow, in a field generally regarded as primarily mathematical, I seem to thrive. It’s not to say that intelligence is overrated but I think that passion and dedication are, perhaps, underrated.

Sometimes I like to say that I’m an artist who can’t paint. I know that sounds corny but what I’m trying to say is just that I have to rely more on my creative side than my intellectual side when programming. I’m more of a right brainer than a left brainer, if that makes sense. Maybe more people than I realize would be able to associate with this notion but I feel like this is what has helped me more than anything, not that it’s more important but maybe that it’s rare.

Sorry, enough self congratulation and introspection. Head on over and read Prodigy Developers – Justin Chase, by Tavis Hudson.