The big country across the straits...

So far yet so near...

A container ship passes an outlying island…

Host: Look through the binoculars. Mostly Maersk. Heading for Naha I would think.

Guest: Paradise. The garden below, merging into the sea faraway... 

Host: Yes. Nice. But it might not be forever.

Guest: Geopolitics?

Host: Yes. It’s a worry. The big country over there.

Guest: Where would you go if an invasion looked likely?

Host: There’s no way to protect anyone on the island. Sell up for what we could get. Early. Then head back to the mainland.

_________

Voice-over

There is little protection against a big power taking over an island. They can do it with soft power like capital and providing infrastructure. When that doesn’t work, they might fall back on deployment of military materiel. And in a world of burgeoning populations, drum-thumping idealism, egotistical leaders, shrinking resources, finite land area we should expect more attacks. Diplomacy might delay action, but that is a game of carrot and stick.

Password Log

Forgotten password…

.

Markus: Never keep password lists on your phone. It could malfunction, you could lose it, it could be stolen.

.

Cynthia: Hmm. A vulnerable device.

.

Markus: And with it your data could fly away as easily as a drone. Keep a record on a secure computer. Better yet on a password protected USB memory stick. Not connected to the internet or a WiFi environment. Portable, secure. And a copy on paper, securely locked up somewhere.

.

Cynthia: But passwords have to be changed regularly. Keeping track of those, I mean, I sometimes use an old password by mistake.

.

Markus: Keep your password records updated. Like an aircraft has to be maintained. Keep a logbook.

___________

Voice-over

Aircraft logs are a metaphor, like a desktop, or a folder or a trashcan on a computer. Maybe we don’t need a metaphor here but a model, that is a system or a procedure. A template.

Password Strength

Try "2 Cats @ Bali"

The principles are easy…

.

Jane: Would a password eight letters long be strong enough?

.

Sean: Not if it’s on the list of the top 10,000.

.

Jane: What if I use a mix of letters and numbers? I heard that adds strength.

.

Sean: To be sure it does. But a nonsense sentence would be better. Adds semantic randomicity.

.

Jane: How about “surf’s up?”

.

Sean: A bit short. Collocationally predictable, but easier to remember. Go for sixteen characters. Upper and lower case and symbols.

.

Jane: How about “Surf’s Up @ 0824?”

.

Sean: There you go now. Very strong. Would take a botnet years to crack that.

____________

Voice-over

A good online password checker here.

...