I’ve been busy during work hours and relaxing off-hours, meaning this post covers three weeks instead of the 1 week that I intended.

Home Automation: Simple steps to offload some maintenance work this week. I am setting up unattended-upgrades to automatically install most updates including restarting if needed. If all works as expected, I should be getting emails from the machines after they patch. I used this article from LinuxOpSys to set it up, but I also had to install the mailutils package to ensure I had the ability to send emails.

Reading

#328 – Health & Longevity – Making Sense with Sam Harris – Overcast – My key takeaway from this episode is the only proven weight reduction is caloric restriction. I find it curious that nobody home much nutrient density has fallen in our food.

Black Hat USA 2023 – Bitdefender macOS Threat Report Reveals Key Dangers for Mac Users – Looks like Trojans are the most likely threat to a Mac.

Stopping at 90% – Austin Z. Henley – Did you document your work? Did you share your work with your team? Can someone pick up where you left off? If not, you are not done.

Bill Gates-backed nuclear contender Terra Power aims to build dozens of UK reactors – CityAM – When will the US get behind these small modular reactors? These could be installed in/around existing substations, providing greater capacity and resilience for our grid.

Solar power generation averted Europe’s heat crisis – I want solar on my home even more now.

Run every day – Duarte O.Carmo – I appreciate the concept of taking back your time, especially to prioritize your health.

People are losing more money to scammers than ever before. Here’s how to keep yourself safe | AP News – Unfortunate but verifiable true stats. We see far too many folks succumbing to scams every day.

This Heat Is Shaking the Very Foundation of the Ocean Food Web | WIRED – More negative impacts from climate change.

Fitch downgrades U.S. after debt limit stalemate – POLITICO – Old news – still feels like a country-wide facepalm just happened.

PodcastOne: 875: Jonathan Kennedy | How Pathogens Have Shaped Our World – Wow

What I’m Doing and How It’s Going – A very powerful and informative post from Daniel Messler on what he’s doing now that he left corporate life. I personally think he’s got a somewhat negative view on what corporates are doing, but he’s s not far off the mark. It is time to go if a business can only motivate someone by having them in the office and under their thumb. There were plenty of jobs that never would have been WFH, and plenty of people who just are not cut out for it. But if you have got the right people in the right seats on the bus, then you’re probably fine.

Billion Dollar Heist: The simple typo that stopped the Bangladesh bank robbers from stealing $1 billion – Always proofread before hitting submit – even if you are a criminal. (Via Cyberwire)

I feel really positive about how I’ve ended the last couple of weeks post-vacation. I’ve gotten to enjoy late Upstate summers spending loads of time in our backyard outdoor oasis with my wife watching the fur-kids play.  I’m finishing this week’s post doing just that with a cup of coffee. Side note – I got stung by yellowjackets about 15 minutes after I closed my laptop this weekend, so this post is a bit delayed.

My Projects

Leadership: Most of my last two weeks have been spent in meetings and catching up from being on vacation. I started to feel overwhelmed as I was pushing off “actual work” and administrative tasks, but I decided to use this as an opportunity to use some “tactical delegation.” I have a bad habit of loving the get my hands dirty, but that leaves me in the precarious position of balancing “real work” with leading my team and maintaining relationships with my colleagues. The latter typically suffers because of that. Not only does delegation preserve precious time for higher value things, but it also allows me the opportunity to build relationships and coach my team in both soft and technical skills. I find this more rewarding and it leaves me with a net positive in energy at the end of the day. Unfortunately, I still have to process a buttload of invoices until we find a better way to do our AP.

Intune: My team has been working to build our BYOD environment in Intune so we can leverage some cost savings. The initial work of setting up our device profiles is complete, but we’ve been struggling with the Microsoft Tunnel setup.

Shortcuts: I’ve been working on some iOS shortcuts to help me build these posts.  The initial shortcut will grab the page title and link, then create an email from it.  I can then type my draft thoughts into the email and send it to myself. This made for a housekeeping nightmare, so I’m testing out dropping the links directly into a note in Apple Notes. Both shortcuts appear to work much better on my iPhone, but they also function on one of my MacBooks. I think I’m 80% complete here.

HomePod: I’ve also picked up a HomePod Mini to become my HomeKit hub. I’ve been using Homebridge to bring MyQ, SmartThings, LG, and the various other smart devices I’ve collected into one panel. Adding the HomePod should allow me to set up automations as well as manage my devices remotely. So far the HomePod is working as expected with the added bonus of being a great little speaker. I use it mainly in the office, but it’s seen the backyard a couple of times to play my Apple Music playlist.

Reading

New Cisco platform deploys AI to take VPN decision-making off your plate – EVERYONE hates VPNs, but EVERYONE still uses VPNs.  Cisco Multicloud Defense would take the decision-making process out of the user’s hands and automatically tunnel the traffic that needs to be. I’m not sure this is truly AI as you can currently do this with AnyConnect OnDemand rules.

Apple issues third mobile OS update after zero-click spyware campaign | CyberScoop (From Risky Business #714) – I have been impressed by how quickly these patches can be deployed with Apple’s new deployment method.

Cyberattack causes multiple hospitals to shut emergency rooms and divert ambulances (From RiskyBiz News 8/7) – Ransomware attacks against critical infrastructure should be treated like a terrorist attack.

Satellites Are Rife With Basic Security Flaws (From Risky Business #714) – No surprises here as this is IoT for space.

Tenable CEO accuses Microsoft of negligence in addressing security flaw (From Risky Business #714) – Is Microsoft backsliding into the same shenanigans they pulled in the 2000s?

The Linux Community Is Circumventing Red Hat’s Controversial New Strategy – I’m glad to see some of the more popular Red Hat-based distros have gotten around the death of CentOS.  

If your iPhone or iPad is too old, you won’t get these new iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 features – The Mac Security Blog – Nothing here that is going to make you run out and buy a new phone.

If your Mac is too old, you won’t get these new macOS Sonoma features – The Mac Security Blog – Same story for a second time.

Practical Protection: Who Watches the Watchers?  | Practical365 – Paul linked two ideas from last week’s Risky Business podcast to give us some hints on preventing breaches in a Microsoft environment.

Exchange Online Enforces Sender DMARC Policy | Practical365 – Microsoft is sending a big message by honoring DMARC policies across the board. I highly recommend you verify your SPF, enable DKIM signing for all approved senders, and create a DMARC policy so recipients reject any spoofed email sent using your domain. I also recommend you setup a DMARC block-all policy for any domains that you own but do not use.

Microsoft resolves vulnerability following criticism from Tenable CEO – I have to agree with the Tenable CEO on this one. Microsoft has gone back to a culture of secrecy, denial, and stalling in all of its platforms. This is unacceptable for an organization profiting off a considerable number of businesses depending on their security.

DIY Scientists and Institutions Are Racing to Replicate the Room-Temperature Superconductor – Didn’t we do this song and dance years ago only to disturb was a farce?

Scientists Control Human DNA with Electricity in ‘Leap Forward’, Study Reports – Ok this is cool. Maybe a wearable DNA editor is in our future?

The Mystery of Chernobyl‘s Post-Invasion Radiation Spikes | WIRED – Add radiation detectors to the never-ending list of hackable IoT devices.

What Doctors Wish You Knew About HIPAA and Data Security | WIRED – Your health data is only covered by HIPPA in a healthcare provider system. Apple Health, Fitbit, etc. are not covered at all. Read the fine print.

NASA regains contact with Voyager 2 after it went dark for two weeks | Engadget – Voyager 2 amazes me. 45 years old and still on mission!

How to see the Perseid meteor shower this weekend, 2023’s best – Eyes to the skies this weekend!

I’ve taken my sweet time on this one. Multiple work projects, holidays, and a vacation.

The Final Frontier

Asteroid mining startup AstroForge will test its metal refinery tech in space this year – Finally, we are looking at the resources outside our own atmosphere!

243 | Joseph Silk on Science on the Moon — Sean Carroll’s Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas – Another discussion of getting humanity into space using the Moon as our jumping-off point.

Science Stuff

An Ancient Battle Is Playing Out in the DNA of Every Embryo – Interesting read.

Patient undergoes double neural bypass surgery | Popular Science – Some amazing work in using implants and AI to repair spinal damage.
This Prosthetic Limb Actually Attaches to the Wearer’s Nerves | WIRED UK – Amazing work with direct neural drive of prosthetics that allows finer motor control.

World Issues

Could the non-free regimes of the world be looking at long-term self-immolation?

859: Bradley Schurman | Demographic Collapse in Russia, China & the USA (The Jordan Harbinger Show) – An interesting listen on how some of the major superpowers might be facing population collapse. Will it be a bad thing? It depends.
How much trouble is China’s economy in? – It sounds like China’s economy could be taking a downturn, but leadership appears to be confident in a recovery. But how long will that recovery last?

Why U.S. credit rating was downgraded and debt is rising – The Washington Post – The US has dropped from AAA to AA+ bond rating due to how our elected officials are handling budget negotiations.  I wondered when the repeated crises would come back to bite us. Maybe it’s time we push both parties to work together instead of fighting.

IT

The Cloud Is a Prison. Can the Local-First Software Movement Set Us Free? | WIRED – I like the idea of local-first considering the impacts of our cloud services going offline, or just getting crappier and more expensive.

Some good articles on Microsoft 365 that I found over the week:
Practical Protection: Five Things To Know About Microsoft 365 Auditing – TL;DR – you don’t get most audit logging unless you pay for it.
Resolving the Five Most Common Conditional Access Misconfigurations – A great high-level look at leveraging conditional access policies for Microsoft Online.

NSA Releases Guide to Harden Cisco Next Generation Firewalls – The NSA published a comprehensive set of Firepower hardening advice.  I suggest anyone running Cisco Firepower devices take a look.  Most of the recommendations are standard practice, but it also explains how to properly build your ACLs.

My zsh shell takes forever to open sometimes – why?
Speeding Up My Shell (Oh My Zsh) | Matthew J. Clemente – In-depth review of Matthew’s attempts to speed up his zsh shell.
Speeding up zsh and Oh-My-Zsh | JonLuca’s Blog – another take on improving zsh load times.

Leadership

The Right Way to Hold People Accountable – Great article on the right way to hold people accountable.
17 Reasons NOT To Be A Manager – Got this from Daniel Miessler’s newsletter this week. This is a spot-on view of the differences between being a technical individual contributor versus management.  I’ve found much of this spot on with my leadership journey.

Health

These 8 habits could add up to 24 years to your life, study says | CNN – Another good find from Daniel Miessler this week.  Seems there is still hope for the fortysomething crowd after all.
A lack of sleep blocks brain-boosting benefits from exercise, study says | CNN – It looks like not sleeping well or enough can undo everything else you are working towards healthwise.
AMA #9: Kratom Risks, Does Infrared Sauna Work & Journaling Benefits – Huberman Lab – Overcast – Andrew Huberman tells you all about Kratom, including the very serious risks.  TL;DR – don’t do it.

We’ve heard a lot about synthetic identity fraud from a FI’s point of view. But synthetic identity can also be used to steal money from anyone. Here’s a short episode of Darknet Diaries discussing how Facebook and Google lost millions thru their AP departments.

EP 124: SYNTHETIC REMITTANCE

This is a few weeks of notes as my life has been hectic recently. Away trip for leadership training, operational issues at work, family traveling at home so I’m Pappa Dog this week. Boredom has not been an issue yet!

Direction

I seem to spend more time on ‘my’ reading and podcast list than I have been creating actual content. It feels redundant. All of this content is available directly from the original creator if you follow the Now page. If you find value in their content, then please support them directly. I am focusing more on my personal direction and content.

“Hell Yes, or No” vs. “Soft Yes, and Fast Quit” – Phil Venables

“Bottom line: You just never know what hidden gems exist even in some of the opportunities that are perceived to be less inspiring until you take a short peek. When you’ve taken that you’ll quickly and intuitively know whether to fully commit without having expended much effort, and then, there is still plenty of room for when more obvious Hell Yes opportunities do come along.”

“Backup” plan

I’ve been going thru my digital life and trying to ensure I have a backup of everything important to me and my family. Not only a backup, but a good way to restore those files in the event they are lost. I have OneDrive covered using my Synology NAS and the Cloud Sync plugin. Unfortunately, they don’t have a great option for iCloud. I did find a couple idea in these posts:

• Backing up iCloud Photos to a Synology NAS – Adrian Thomas – I’ve been looking for an effective way to backup my iCloud into my NAS. This would work, but requires another Mac.
• Why Your NAS Will Never Be An iCloud Replacement – by Attila Vágó – CodeX – Medium – I have to agree – native iCloud is the best way for Apple users to go. The only drawback is no direct method to backup that data.

But nothing seems truly native, set and forget. So I just enabled photo backup on my personal OneDrive account. It’s not as fast as true iCloud integration would be, but it does work just fine for my needs. The only downside is the volume of work photos that will need to be deleted in two places: whiteboard pics, etc.

The rest of it

• Data tracking poses a ‘national security risk’ FTC told • The Register – Its time someone in government started addressing this with the risk it deserves.
• ‎Daily Boost Motivation and Coaching: Instant Better Communication on Apple Podcasts
  • “Agree & Defer” using “Yes, and…” – allows you to keep yourself on track by saying yes, but deferring things to a later time or another person.
  • “…yet” – added to a negative keeps the options open for growth.
• Almost Half of Cancer Deaths Are Preventable – Scientific American – How much more could we do as a society if we just clamped down on disease prevention?
• 🗞️ Unsupervised Learning NO. 348 – Spearmishing, Patreon Security, and Triple-Threat Ransomware – I highly recommend the free podcast to anyone interested in InfoSec, but his interests don’t stop there. What piqued my interests:
  • 4.2 Gigabytes, or: How to Draw Anything – ⌨️🤷🏻‍♂️📷 – Cool AI rendering of a sci-fi scene based on some paint scribbles.
  • Blocking Kiwifarms – At first I was torn over Cloudflare’s policy. However, I believe they did the right thing as a proponent of free speech. We need better laws and regulations to police internet hate.
  • Leaked Oath Keepers’ list includes hundreds of cops, dozens of elected officials – Ars Technica – This makes me sick, but where do we draw the line at what groups someone in power can be part of?
• Episode #489: Todd Henry – Asking Uncomfortable Questions, Solving Big Problems, & Casting Your Vision – The Learning Leader Show – Another excellent episode with a ton of gold nuggets for bettering your leadership creativity. My favorite: “Be the buffalo, not the cow.”
• Blue Origin rocket mishap triggers escape system – Thankfully, the safety system worked as designed.
• This is the Meta Quest Pro high-end virtual reality headset – The Verge – It’s hard to imagine a world where we have these things strapped to our heads. Then again, how many meetings do we take staring at a screen full of people.