Showing posts with label Flame. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flame. Show all posts

August 25, 2018

An 80-Year-Old's Life Philosophy

So today an 80-year-old Algerian man sat our table for the Kiddush lunch after synagogue services. 

And he talked quite a bit about his life philosophy and told me I was a good listener. :)

1) TRUE LOVE IS LIKE AN ORANGE:
A man and women that are meant to be together are like two sides of an orange.  With his hands, he showed us putting the two sides together, twisting, and he goes, "You see it just clicks!"

2) WHEN LOVE IS NOT TRUE ITS LIKE TWO BIRDS IN A CAGE:
When a man and woman are not soulmates, maybe they just are meant to be together for a time to have children or make a home temporarily. But then, the birds need to leave the cage, and be free!

3) BURIED TOGETHER:
"When people are soulmates, they are buried together, next to each other. Otherwise, one is buried in Greece and the other in Hawaii, and it makes no difference because they are going their own ways in Heaven."

4) 80 HERE AND 20 HERE
He pointed to his belly and said, "I'm 80 here." And then pointed to his groin area, and said, "But I'm 20 here!"

5) WOMEN ONLY UNDER 40:
While he is 80, he claims to be robust in the bedroom, and "will never be with a woman over 40...not a day over!"  He said, "It's like an old Cadillac!" Moreover, he said, if a woman is "not perfect" and has a scar like from having her appendix out, "forget it!"

6) WRITING, PLAYING GUITAR, AND DANCING:
He said, "I like to write, play guitar and dance." And with his arms, he makes some swoops like he is on the dance floor having a good time. 

7) PEOPLE ARE LIKE CANDLES:
People are like candles.  The body is like the wax that burns down, but the soul is the flame that always rises up.  In the end, the soul ascends to heaven just like the flame. 

8) INFINITELY STUPID:
He pointed to the yarmulke on top of his head and said:  "You know what that means?  This means that there is no limit to how stupid some people can be!"  

8) YOU MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK:
I asked what he did for a living, and he said "Real estate, Jewelry, and even fashion salons."  I said, "Wow, you're very fortunate!"  He said, "No, in life, you make your own luck!"

10) RESPECT ME IF YOU WANT:
"You respect me, and I respect you. But frankly, I don't care if you respect me or not. You can do what you want, and so will I!" I said, "Ok, see you next week and we'll talk again."  He said, "Maybe I will or maybe I won't talk to you ever again."

Like his philosophy or not, I never saw an 80-year-old with so much energy, life, and personality. Honestly, there are a lot of people half his age, who act more dead than alive. It was incredible to see this ageless person and hear what that's like. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal 
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May 19, 2015

The Flaming Bus

I took this photo today in Washington, D.C.

This cool bus is painted with flames on the hood and has a guitar at the top. 

No, it's not the bus from The Partridge Family although it has similar colors!

On this bus, the guitar has the name "Sailing Conductors Jack Mantis" on it. 

When I looked this up online, I found that these are some "music loving dudes" who travel (sail and bus) the world and record musicians across dozen of countries and 5 continents. 

They have music, videos, and a 4-part TV series from their global talent search--although there is only limited material at their site (so not sure where all the recordings from the "hundreds of local musicians" is available for consumption).

Anyway, this is a fascinating experiment in discovering diversity, music and the arts, and culture along their travels. 

As to the specific music--beauty is in the eye of the beholder. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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May 29, 2012

A Cyber Security House Of Cards

Yesterday there were reports of a new "massive cyber attack" called the Flame.

A U.N. Spokesperson called it "the most powerful [cyber] espionage tool ever."

The Flame ups the cyber warfare ante and is "one of the most complex threats ever discovered"--20 times larger than Stuxnet--and essentially an "industrial vacuum cleaner for sensitive information."

Unlike prior cyber attacks that targeted computers to delete data ("Wiper"), steal data ("Duqu"), or to disrupt infrastructure ("Stuxnet"), this malware collects sensitive information. 

The malware can record audio, take screenshots of items of interest, log keyboard strokes, sniff the network, and even add-on additional malware modules as needed. 

Kaspersky Labs discovered the Flame visus, and there have been greater than 600 targets infected in more than 7 countries over the last 2 years with the greatest concentration in Iran. 

This is reminiscent of the Operation Shady Rat that was a 5-year cyber espionage attack discovered by McAfee in 2011--involving malware that affected more than 72 institutions in 14 countries. 

Separately, an attack on the U.S. Federal government's retirement investments--the Thrift Saving Plan --impacted the privacy and account information of 123,000 participants and "unathroized access"--and was reported just last week after being discovered as far back as July 2011.

Regardless of where the particular cyber attacks are initiating from, given the scale and potential impact of these, it is time to take cyber security seriously and adopt a more proactive rather than a reactive mode to it.

One can only wonder how many other cyber attacks are occuring that we don't yet know about, and perhaps never will.

We can't afford to fumble the countermeasures to the extraordinary risk we face in the playing fields of cyber warfare. 


We have to significantly strengthen our cyber defenses (and offenses) -- or else risk this "cyber house of cards" come crashing down. 

It's time for a massive infusion of funds, talent, tools, and leadership to turn this around and secure our nation's cyber infrastructure.   

(Source Photo: here with attribution to Dave Rogers)

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