In the also category of things you don't see in Florida - temps in the 20's. Here in North Florida, it gets below freezing maybe a couple of times a yea, but never lasts more than a few days - tops. And rarely gets below 28 or so.
Woke up this am to this:
Here is something you don't see in Florida too often . . .snow.
Woke up this morning and saw this in my backyard at around 5:45. It didn't last and never stuck anywhere. But it was snow. Only the second time I have seen snow in my 20+ years of living in Florida.
The latest evidence on the Russian "hacking" of our election and country shows that the "hacks" are the journalists, not the Russians.
The U.S government's report on the Russian hacking has been largely debunked. In the last several days security companies have dug into the technical geeky material and said it proves nothing.
Ars Techinca's security correspondent stated that the "White House fails to make the case" that the Russian hackers interfered with the election. Similarly, Wordpress security site, WordFence, showed that the code used by the hackers, according to the U.S. government's own report, was Ukrainian in origin and freely available to anyone on the internet. Additionally, the IP addresses in the government report do not show Russian involvement.
Now to be clear, theses reports don't say the Russians were not involved, only that the purported proof the U.S. government provided is not really proof at all and doesn't show what it purports to show. The government could be holding back additional information, but the report they published is not convincing anyone that can understand it. But that has not stopped the media from going into hyperdrive.
Unlike the hilarious 1966 movie with Carl Reiner and Alan Arkin (Emergency! Everybody to get from street!), this hyperbole has real world consequences. Sanctions, diplomatic expulsions, and the result of the election had every journalist looking for Russians everywhere. And you shall find what you seek. The Washington Post, in particular, seems to be finding Russians under every rock, nook, and website. First, the Post claimed that Russian "fake news" was all over the internet, citing a previously unknown group, Prop or Not. Prop or not listed websites that it claimed were arms of the Russian propaganda services - basically any website that said anything good about Russia. These claims turned out to be false, and it appeared that the Post did not do any basic vetting of this group's claims prior to publishing its story. Of course, that was only after the story spread like wildfire all over the internet, Twitter, and Facebook.
Then, just this past week, the Post again published a story about Russian "hacking" of our electric grid. This would be very concerning - if it were true - but it is not. Again, the Post did not appear to do any basic vetting of this claim. They did not contact the Vermont utility in question before publishing the story. And it turns out that the computer which had the malware code on it was an independent workstation not connected to the electric grid. The headline and story were highly misleading. The Post later retracted it, stating that:
Too late. The story had already been published and republished by national, regional, and local outlets. After all, it was from the Washington Post, one of the country's most prestigious newspapers. A similar headline ran on the front page, Sunday edition, of my local newspaper, the Panama City News Herald. I actually contacted one of the News Herald's staffers on twitter after the Post published its retraction. They said they were aware and would publish a correction. They did the next day - in a tiny little box at the bottom of page 2. I doubt anyone even noticed it. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how incorrect stories and ideas spread: one false story and correction at a a time."An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far. The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid."
After several years, I am switching the site to a new CMS. Going to try Joomla. I was getting tired of Wordpress and looking for something easier. Looked at the new blogging platform, Ghost. I started to switch over but found myself messing with javascript, node.js, and cloud server stuff. It was simply too technical for me.
I have been working on and off with Joomla for a few years now. I like it. It is just complex enough that it is challenging, but string enough to develop a legitimate website. So, I figured I would rather learn Joomla a little better and concentrate my knowledge in one flexible and effective CMS.
I am using Easyblog and a third party template. Let's see how it goes.
You will see some slow changes here, adding a analytic section, updating the styling, adding more information, making autopost to twitter. Its all rather exciting.