As much as I complain about the Browns, it’s games like last night that keep me coming back. The win was nice (more on that later), but the weather was perfect for football. We’ve had season tickets since 1980 and it’s games like last night that will lead me to cancel our tickets if (when) they move to a domed stadium.
As to the win, everybody in Cleveland can thank us for that one. One of the guys I share tickets with threw his hands up at the 4:22 mark of the 4th quarter (after Winston’s INT) and said “I’m done. Let’s go.” And he started walking. Knowing full well that I’m the one with the car keys. The other two guys in our group didn’t argue, so I followed them down the steps. As we walked to the car, we kept hearing cheering from the stadium, but put that off as Steelers fans (no Browns fan stuck around, right?). Finally, we started to hear chatter about the Browns driving. A guy walking next to me pulled it up on his phone, so I did the same. And we got back to the car just in time to hear Chubb score the game winner. That’s two home wins this year. One we left early. The other (the Ravens), we sold our tickets. Clearly, we’re the issue.
Something about ...
Google and The DOJ
I had an econ professor in college who used to say, in a very deep tone of voice “Monopolies are baaaaad.” In most cases I agree with him. The DOJ is claiming that Google has a monopoly on web searches, and is trying to break that up. Now, I’m not a fan of Google, knowing that we are the product and that they track everything that we do. That said, their search engine and browser (Chrome) far exceed anything else on the market. And is it their fault that nobody else can supply better search results or a good browsing experience?
Check Fraud
How many checks have you written this year? I couldn’t tell you off the top of my head, but we’ve written more than a handful, and 2021 data showed an average of 30 checks per person in the U.S. (no info as to whether that includes businesses, or just consumers. There are weeks we get 30 checks here at the office.) Data also shows a 400% increase in check fraud this year, and one of our own had checks stolen from their mailbox last year, which were washed and rewritten for other amounts and to other people. Just one more thing to be aware of when it comes to personal finance.
Wine and Pizza
Pizza Hut is introducing a new tomato-based wine that tastes like pizza. With help from a vineyard in Kansas. Years ago when my brother-in-law broke his jaw, he put McDonald’s in a blender since he couldn’t open his mouth or chew. I think I’d rather put pizza in blender than drink tomato-based wine…
Passwords
Back when we still had a subscription to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nancy’s password for the account was “4ACrappyPaper”, and she was rather embarrassed one day when she couldn’t log in and had to call customer service- and then provide her password. Safe to say that password is not one of the 200 most common passwords, globally. If you’re interested in seeing if yours is on the list, or how long it would take a hacker to crack those top 200, here’s your chance.
Hair Freezing
A spa in the Yukon is looking forward to their annual hair freezing contest. Looks like it could be fun, although based on the photos, I don’t have enough hair to compete. We did just fill up our hot tub for the winter, and I’ve always believed “the colder the better” in terms of weather conditions for sitting outside in the tub. Maybe if it gets cold enough (the article doesn’t state how long it takes for hair to freeze) this winter, I’ll see what I can do in terms of freezing my hair.
Security Updates
Apple and Palo Alto both released urgent patch updates this week. Apple fixed issues with iOS, MacOS, Safari, and more, while Palo ALto pushed out firewall updates as it advised users to disconnect devices from the internet. That’s not usually a good sign.
North Korean IT Workers
I had something about fraudulent North Korean IT job candidates a few weeks back, and a reader (thanks Michelle) just sent me an update that she’d received from Huntington Bank. I would imagine that if banks are notifying their customers, this is probably a big concern for anybody in charge of recruiting and hiring.
Random Items
Travis grew up on the grounds of Hiram House Camp here in town, and remains active as a board member. He sent me a cool story the other day about the blind son of the camp’s former program director, who is now a radio sports announcer.
I’m not big on podcasts, as I’d rather listen to music when I’m in the car. That said, Freakonomics is one of the few I know by name and would search for, if I were to want to listen. This one about highway signs is pretty interesting (don’t worry- you can read the transcript if you don’t want to listen), including the fact that capital letters on the big green signs are 20″ in height. That’s a perfect fact for your next cocktail party!
Our office will be open Mon-Wed next week, and closed Thurs/Fri for Thanksgiving, turkey, and football. In honor of the holiday, a reminder not to drop a frozen turkey in your deep fryer. And regardless of its core temperature, don’t actually drop it in- place it gently. I think these are the people Forrest Gump was referring to when he said “stupid is as stupid does”
Have a great weekend, and Go Bucks!
Abbey