I am stating here in the strongest possible terms that I consider the website ID.me to be hugely insecure and putting enormous amount of extremely sensitive personal data at risk

I and many people like me have been forced to use this site to supposedly  verify identity to the satisfaction of the likes of EDD, DMV et cetera et cetera. I have been forced, in order to become eligible for PUA & so called “Real ID” to upload information and photographs that I consider extremely sensitive, including my own likeness in stills and video to a lower level functionary person at some kind of datacentre where I could clearly see other people walking around in the background. 
This itself and alone is a violation of confidentiality and security

I  will be demanding a data dump  of everything they have on me and requiring its deletion once my verification is done, if ever.
https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa
This is California Law, weakly enforced and undoubtedly will take as long or longer than the original application- By which point it can have been misappropriated and misused in copies.

This seems to have a follow of the disclosure that the EDD up until the end of 2020 had indiscriminately handed out benefits to the likes of federal prisoners and obviously false identity individuals –

In a massive slamming of doors after horses have bolted I have now become essentially the target for identity theft which I have scrupulously avoided since starting working on the Internet over 20 years ago – I closely guard my address Social Security number identity cards, credit cards my likeness and anything that could personally identify me which essentially has all been given away in a few short days to several organizations that literally have no idea what they were  doing even before the  onslaught  of a pandemic.

While I have no direct evidence that ID.me itself is doing anything wrong, its methods Reek of hackability and vulnerability and simple lack of due diligence – with similar features to the sites hacked: Sony, Experian, Chase, Home Depot, Yahoo!…..

I was never given an opportunity, or any alternative  to make an appearance in person with identifying documents and was never able to reach a person on the telephone for any effective identification.

So from bureaucratic incompetence those who are supposed to be served are put in a severely vulnerable position and I am stating for the record that I consider this unacceptable given that there are better ways to do it rather than loading the onus on the consumer or client.

Bureaucratically the use of the single point of failure like ID.me  “makes sense” and also from a budgeting point of view and certainly saves paperwork but that the ultimate cost to the end user which is bound to come, mark my words, usually disclosed by independent parties and not the result of any in-house diligence. 

I am sure the Form letter already exists:
“We take our clients security and  confidentiality Very Seriously, and value the trust placed in us”. Not.
The average cost of an identity theft is about $1500 and uncountable uncertainties for further violations of finances and privacy.

Being as ID.ME says it’s “one of only three federally recognized sites for identity solutions” I might feel more confident if they had posted a financial bond to assure conpensation when they fail:
No such guarantee is shown. 
One might consider the Titanic was manufactures to shipping standards of the day-

I await the sinking of this enterprise with due interest and not a little trepidation 

that’s it. For now. Not the end of this particular story.

 

Draft.

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
The Egg in Egotism, no less– that they are MY words not Yours.
But how fragile- how meaningless. Great falls needlessly strengthen the ego 
“Try Harder Not Smarter” is an egotistical message

“My life has Meaning, goddamit!”
— Peter Finch character in the movie “Network” (1976)

Seems like common parlance suggests Ego means,
sense of identity, The Self In Contrast To Others And The World,
The identity creation and preservation mechanism that gives one a name, place, space, set of actions reactions and integrity as an individual- typically against the identity of all others-
yours in particular, whoever I am talking to. 

Saying “we are all one” is trying to deny an ancient mechanism-
Why not Live with it not against it.

So here are MY understanding.
It’s that which creates and maintains the impression of being a “Me” and not a “someone or something else” or worse still, nothing at all

It is the mental component that Reflects and contrasts itself against other egos.

It is naturally a mechanism of contrast- Always it seems in sets of comparisons- In other words it has to me very little abosolute reality but rather a duality:

Mine-Yours
This-That
Now-Then
Good-Bad
Right-Wrong
Threat-React
Proactive-Redactive

There is a simplistic and useful overtone to this form of identity that rejects the complexity and nuance of “Other Egos” which to me is where the real interest lies:
Why do people believe what they believe?
Am I the only person who really gets “It”
even though I cannot define “It”! 
What does it take to change ones mind against overwhelming evidence?
AND:

Am an actor in my life or just a reactor?

Is ego Bad? or does it just exist and is necessary somehow to our existence like air, water, food and safety?

Freud did say Ego is supposed to be  the moderator that exists between baser instincts that are adrenalin and animalistically driven and our “higher” decision-making mechanisms.
We might kill something or come to harm ourselves- 
due to  territorial threats, hunger, injury, fear etc and the “Higher” functions like volition, intention, the temporal businesses of planning, execution and evaluation that supposedly really make us human.

But do they? In being my honorable slave I do not trust my Ego-
yet it is ancient, largely evolved over thousands  of years of “primitive” existence and fits poorly with the safe environment of so called civilized present day society where individual responsibility for safety etc. is performed by proxies like law enforcement, not self.

The scorpion stings the frog to death that is carrying him over the river on his back:
so they both drown, the scorpion apologetically saying as they go under: “I did not mean to sting you but it is in my nature”
— Aesop.

Therefore My Ego:

* Whatever It Is , it will preserve itself unchanged as far as it can
* It will spare my “Higher Sense” anything from seeing what does not concur- Confirmation Bias lives here.
* It votes certainty over truth, present comfort over future betters
* It hides. If seen, it feels threatened. If spoken to, it defends, regardless. If questioned it triggers .. Adrenaline.
* It’s always on guard and does not want contradiction, dilemmas, disagreements or dissent. 
* It almost has a mind of its own at our expense and does NOT have our real-person here-and-now Civilized Persona  existence & enjoyment at heart.

____________________________________
Like our need to bereathe it appears, like air, to be necessary and needs to be judiciously stepped around rather than destroyed or avoided. How?

• Discomfort? Lean into it.
  Unlikely to kill you no matter what the Ego says
• Consider existential annihilation is way different to physical death.
  Looking stupid because you ignored your Ego’s warnings that you will fail…won’t kill you.
  In hunter gatherer circles, mistakes could kill. Not nowadays.
• Learn to recognize adrenalin rise- This will taser the Ego. Be Still.
• Feeling critical? That’s recognition of one’s very own ego  in others. 
• STOP. that’s it. STOP reasoning. Wait. It will pass.. the Ego easily gets bored and distracted as it’s only Here, Now. Plus, adrenalin generally declines given about 20 minutes.
• Prove to yourself the ego is almost useless. Do what it does not want you to do- go where it does not want you to go. Feast on the results and reinforce that. Good examples; Say Sorry and mean it with excuses. .. Just Say “YES”
• this brings me to Improv, a fun revealing way to unravel the ego. 
• the Rules of Improv are generally very challenging to the Ego as you get to practice safely being whoever you feel like being doing whatever  you want to do in a safe environment
• that’s it for now. Comment welcomed.

I get asked a lot of questions about installing a brand-new service by XFinity/Comcast cable Internet

First of all, to do this, the cable service needs to be present nearby in your neighborhood – you can tell simply if your neighbors have already got it 🙂 so Ask.
and by the type of cables outside your premises, which are co-axial or ROUND cables, typically black in colour. But you can find out when you apply on-line for service and provide your address.
https://www.xfinity.com/learn/internet-service
Do also Google “Xfinity Deals” as you may be shown lower prices via. marketing sites (Beware of Scams though!)

This leads to the interesting possibility that you do not really need to get your own Internet you could share it with somebody else, typically over Wi-Fi.
I will not address here whether this is permitted or not but it’s certainly not “Detectable” as such.

Bear in mind that XFinity will charge a different rate depending on whether your address is Listed residential or non residential. 
It need not be a business –
they just give the lowest rate to a place where people live.

Typically the cable service may already exist somewhere on your property perhaps being discontinued sometime before, or already in use for television et cetera. Let’s be really clear about this –
if Internet is all you need, then that is all you need to buy, not their television service or TV package no matter how hard they try to upsell you unless you are really clear. 

You also DO NOT need their modem or hardware equipment that they want to lease  to you at at least $15/month: the FCC is really clear about this- They cannot force you to use their stuff.
Just typically buy APPROVED Xfinity Equipment from Amazon for about $79 with a 3 year warranty-
That way they cannot refuse support for unsupported equipment (which I think is reasonable)
https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/list-of-approved-cable-modems

Comcast has lost a lot of revenue from television services to the likes of YouTube TV, sling, the Amazon fire stick, Apple TV et cetera which I won’t go into here, so now they make most of their money from Internet services- typically their top speed and reliability for outstrip Att DSL/ADSL 2+ AKA “Uverse”

There are always introductory deals as low as $19 a month for their basic service for a year’s contract even when they tried to upsell that to a higher speed, most of which most people don’t need anyway.
They are always happy to bump the speed up if you find it really isn’t enough later – unlikely.

You will most likely not get this deal at a non-residential premise, but most types of educational, not for profit, and institutions can fill in a form and get a rebate which Comcast then claims back in tax deductions 🙂 https://business.comcast.com/ctf Called “Teleconnect Fund”

Cut to the Chase:
– you need the Coaxial (round). cable with their Service on it to be delivered to the right place INSIDE your Place.
Their job is to deliver the cable to some point on your building typically OUTSIDE sometimes known as “MPOE” (Minimum Point Of Entry) for free but may want charge for “Inside Wiring” to get it where you want it.
Or, You can do this yourself- Just use “RG6” type cable is all
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D3W29JG/

You can ask for “Self Install” and do it yourself.
Xfinity should STILL at least deliver Internet to there outside of your premises at the very least. I have known some linemen to happily run wires in for free too. They are Great–
But the Company Itself Sucks Majorly

The Hardware involved as separate items, which is how I prefer to do it, are:
1) – a MODEM– (without its own WIFI)  about $79
Converts Co Axial Cable Signals to Internet Ethernet signal.
2) – a ROUTER- this acts like a power-strip and makes one address available to many devices- 
-3)  a WIFI arrangements- this sends Internet “Over The Air” so your Service can reach WIFI devices up to about 100′ away.
[2) & 3) are usually inside the same Black Box. and cost $20 and up depending on range and features]

YOu can buy the Modem ahead of time so the technician has something to connect to, It will typically have ONE “ethernet” port you can connect directly via. that Ethernet to one Laptop or PC
for troubleshooting This is what your Technician can test, and makes later troubleshooting WAY simpler by eliminating extra hardware from XFinity  tech checks.

Once operating properly, one adds the separate WIFI router which propagates the single Ethernet to provide up to 254 different devices, plus 4-6 distinct extra Ethernet ports to attach hardware printers, extended routers, VOIP telephone boxes to, etc.
(Not OddFellows– this is the arrangement we already have)

This also, incidentally, creates a useful “Local Network” or LAN.

If you are SWITCHING away from , for example, AT&T, done right it should be almost transparent because your internet source is now different BUT the Local Network will remain the same along with any VOIP phone devices, printers etc..

This is a Basic Outline. Comments Welcomed!

Some Good Info Here:
https://temperatureprocentralnj.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-ductless-mini-splits/

These efficient units. which began appearing in the USA about 2015 
can quietly both heat and cool the inside of your house as needed. New homes seem to include these now, as opposed to a “central” air-ducted system.
You may already have seen some and not realised it as they are so unobtrusive

They come in three parts:

1) Outside Unit
A large weatherproof  outside metal box unit with a big but quiet  fan and compressor that dumps the heat out of your house
(or cold if used in reverse- More Later). It’s mounted on a solid slab or bracket. 
1300 sq ft area generally require a single 240v AC power supply “Fused” at 30A. USA homes have this at their power-panel but you will likely need an electrician to link things up properly.
Smaller units may only need 110v 20A.
A separate circuit should be provided in either case

2) Line Set:
A pair of copper pipes 25′ long on average called the “line set” with plastic insulation-

Outside  Diameters:  1/4″ high pressure (200 PSI) and one 1/2″ low pressure (50 PSI) Ave.
Plus- it is sold cleaned, purged and filled with dry nitrogen…

These pipes usually tuck into a 3″ duct between the Outside Unit
(Above) and the Inside Unit (next). to improve insulation and appearance.
Lengths can be changed but it’s simplest to use the default length.
There’s also 25″ of 5-conductor Power and Control cable, too,
as no separate ‘inside power’ is required.

3) Inside unit: (can be more than one)
This is the relatively small and quiet Business End of things that does the cooling with a long narrow “Squirrel cage” fan and evaporator coils rather than a bladed fan, and a very easy to clean filter.
This is what makes it so quiet!

It is generally fitted at least 6″ on all sides from obstructions,
high up on the wall in a central location, and not necessarily on an outside wall. A single hole 3″ in diameter is required to pass the “Line Set” through to outside,  to join all three parts, along with a simple 5-conductor control and power cable to get electrical power and controls from “Outside”.
The system is also called “Ductless” as no air ducts are involved. 

This is not a straightforward Plumbing Job as it might be with water or gas, be warned. I have done it myself but I advise you to get a licensed installer as its flared fittings must be correctly sealed & tightened, then ‘evacuated’ (vacuum pumped of air and moisture ), tested and filled with refrigerant that’s shipped inside the compressor.
I am also pretty sure the copper piping is specified in size and design for this and no other purpose.
Done right, 5 years is the usual warranty.

Mine has a remote control and you can set the temperature according to where you put the remote control rather than having it as traditionally, screwed to the wall where it measures the temperature there.
Lots more options are available, not least a simple default “Cool” one that maintains 73-77 degrees.

In winter they can switch to Heaters by REVERSING their function

It will more than gas but LESS than if you were using ’true’ Electrical Heaters. These devices are “Air to air heat pumps” being the reason- They move energy from outside to inside,
inherently more efficient than dumping electrical power straight to heat or cold.

Of Special Interest is the use of three “Inverter” motors in compressor, outside fan and inside fan.
More Info Here
Full torque is available at low speed s there are no start-up “surges”

My calculations  are for my  1300 sq feet with doors opened to other rooms so would need a “24,000BTU capacity unit” also mysteriously known as a “two ton unit”
(In fact the shipped weight of mine was 400 pounds, go figure)
Here is a calculator I used to figure the right size of machine
I went a bit ‘over’ as ‘under’ would disappoint on a hot day!

These start at $1500 from Amazon, Home Depot   etc.
Mine was less but be warned- an installer may not want to install something she did not order or is unfamiliar with.
This profession & business is known as: HVAC= “Heating Venting and Air Conditioning” and has various certifications.
Be Warned you will NOT get the warranty unless you use such a licensed installer! a “Handyman Install” such as I did, no matter how carefully or successfully  it is done, will allow the manufacturer or distributor to claim the warranty Void.

GOTCHAS:
These units can ONLY recirculate the air through filters and do not bring any new air in from outside.
This is Nice when its smokey or otherwise polluted outside but can make your home dry and stale
(They will naturally wring moisture out of the air)

I use mine in combination with a Whole House Fan- This is a huge extractor fan in the ceiling used to drag outside air inside via the House living space and push it out via the roof space, thus also purging hot air trapped under the roof area

I do this typically in the coolest part of the night around 4AM in the Summer- thus flushing the entire house of stale air in about 15 minutes.

One MUST leave some doors or windows open WITH SCREENS when doing this as the air must be sucked from somewhere, ideally bug-free
Certainly , leave things open at the furthest points in the house
and be warned unchocked doors can slam shut hard in the breeze!

This is all a certain amount of manual work but worth it-

No special arrangements needed for the air conditioner– In fact, most come with a WIFI Internet Connection and App. to maintain control remotely and pre set things more easily

That’s It in general. Comments are Welcome!