If you are currently using an 8 character (or less) password than you really have no security at all. With today’s cheap and fast computing power, a skilled hacker can crack an 8 character password in under two hours. And it doesn’t matter if your password is “H%gd1f4&” or “password”. Today’s fast computers will iterate through all possibilities, from AAAAAAAA to zzzzzzzz (or for you computer geeks: from !!!!!!!! to ~~~~~~~~) and everything in between, in under two hours.

For now, it is best to switch to a 12 character password. Using current computer power would take about 17,000 years to crack. However, computer speed continuously increases, so that number is shrinking by the day.

So what to do? Experts say that thinking of a “pass-phrase” rather than a “password” would be better: think of a phrase like “The Capital Of Canada Is Not Beavertown!” or “My son’s name is not Sally” or even “Count Iggy is Not a Canadian”. Of course, there are still a large number of online businesses and even banks that do not allow passwords longer than 8 characters. This will have to change soon, so you better get ready memorizing that new pass-phrase!

Here’s the link.

Biggest story yesterday was, without a doubt, the eHealth auditor’s report on a $1B WASTE of OUR MONEY. That was, in fact, the biggest news story this week. On Wednesday morning, the Ottawa Citizen (a CanWest newspaper) reported on David Caplan’s weasley resignation over eHealth on PAGE 4 in a sub-sub column type story, buried far away from the front page. I thought: OK, it’s a CanWest paper. They don’t like to talk dirty about ANY liberal.  Strike one.

So then came on Global TV News (CanWest again) with Kevin Newman, live from Toronto, on Thursday evening. Lead story? How the CONSERVATIVES are NOT ACCOUNTABLE for the stimulus program with their ‘vague’ Action Plan website with only ballpark numbers, and how in the States it is all so wonderful with fancy websites with all the information you could ever need on their stimulus packages, down to the cent. We got to see some Liberal MP, aide by the side, you know, to provide him with some much needed ideas, staring at a computer screen and commenting on how the Economic Action Plan website is misleading Canadians and withholding the truth. Then they tracked down John Baird, and his explanation was simple: (paraphrasing) “That website they have in the US cost them 65 million dollars, we’d rather put that money into roads”. There, end of the story. A non-story, really. Why did they open with this story as opposed to the Billion Dollar Scandal in Ontario? Simple, so we can now ease into the liberal un-friendly story with the following line: “… and another example of what can happen when Governments are not held accountable: in Ontario a report came out today on eHealth, the Ontario Government’s…”. ANOTHER EXAMPLE? You’re equating a blatantly incompetent McGuinty Goverment’s 1 BILLION DOLLAR WASTE to a website that only lists ballpark figures of money actually spent and got something for it? And those are BOTH examples of what can happen when Governments are not held accountable?

Strike two.

This morning, I open the Citizen. Granted, they (finally) have the eHealth story on the front page. However, my eye caught a story further on in the paper: “PM appoints 5 judges with Tory links“. And I thought: funny how I never read: “Chretien appoints 5 judges with Liberal links” back in the nineties. It was just “PM appoints 5 new judges”.

With the polls clearly indicating that Canadians are moving away from Liberals and towards Conservatives, it is no wonder CanWest is losing money: you can’t bet on a losing horse and expect to make money.

Funny how the current deficit budget is now universally referred to as “The Conservative Deficit”, even after this current budget was forced upon us by the Liberals, NDPers and the bloc-heads after a mid-winter stand-off on the Governour General’s front stoop. As I recall, the Conservative’s Economic Update, brought forward in December, did not make us go into a deficit at all. It was after the three stooges reared their ugly heads and blackmailed the country, that the current deficit budget was tabled. In fact, the Libs and Dippers were crying foul that the $30B wasn’t enough.

So now it’s the “Conservative Deficit” eh? And as usual, Canadians just happily go along with it. After all, we Canadians like to hear what we want to hear and will go along with whomever says it at the time. Eventhough at another time he may say something completely different.

First they had Mr. Dithers, then they had The Dion-Witch Project, now they’re stuck with Mr. Flip-Flop. Those Libs just can’t get their act togther, can they?

While Martha Hall Findlay wiped the tears from her eyes, the World’s Seventh Intellect (is this the same as “Canada’s Foremost Thinker” to describe a certain GG husband?) stumbled in his first speech yesterday. “Determined determination” must be the epitome of smartness. So utter intellectual that simple folks like you or I would almost think it doesn’t make any sense. But I suppose there are only about six people in the world who could come up with better phrasing, so who are we to complain?

It also seems that the World’s Seventh Intellect likes the smell of manure. He’s such a farm-boy, our little Iggy. Doesn’t he look like he could, at any given time, peal off his suit like Superman, reveal his dirty coveralls underneath, grab a pitch fork and shovel some shit?

Jack Layton is laying low. After in effect being called stupid by Ignatieff in the aforementioned speech, and his wife’s online poll-gaffe, I think it is best to hide out until after Christmas. Plus I’ve seen enough of his moustache for a while.

With Dion gone, Rae gone and Lizzy May out of the country, politics have suddenly become non-humourous. Shame, shame, shame.

UPDATE: Thanks to Blue Like You and Small Dead Animals for sending hordes of folks this way and keeping me from doing my work all afternoon (and that’s a good thing!)

Obama has teamed up with Nobel Peace Prize and Oscar winner Al Gore to, once and for all, change the climate back to where it once was, damn it! Changing the Earth’s climate? Sounds like a bad James Bond plot to me. Gore, for all his help, does not want a cabinet post, though Obama is rumoured to have offered him Secretary of Propaganda. “The Time for Denial Is Over” they proclaimed. So is the Time for Common Sense, apparently. read more…

So, what other things you have been saying during the campaign that have now proven to be untrue? Or, in other words, what other things has Mr Harper said during the campaign, that you said were lies, turn out to be true?

Yes, Dion held his L O N G awaited press conference yesterday, after HIDING OUT for nearly a week. Saying he’ll step down, but stay on for now (?). He blames everything on himself, but mostly on a number of other things (is that possible? It’s like a shirt is 100% cotton, AND some wool h/t Seinfeld), such as: read more…

This is the first election I’ve heard the opposition parties say: If the Conservatives win a strong minority or a slight majority that means they got 40% of the vote which means 60% of Canada did NOT vote for them. 60% of Canadians DO NOT WANT them. That means 60% of Canada voted for US and so we should govern.

So I did some research into past elections and, applying the above ‘rule’, where you don’t have the Canadian people’s blessing to govern if you don’t get more than 50% of the vote, the history of our country would have been quite different: read more…

The Liberals have thought themselves up a new slogan:

Always there for you.

This reminds me of the old Seinfeld show:

JERRY: Good question. (More to himself than to Elaine) Why are we calling?

ELAINE: Oh! I’ve got it! I’ve got it! We’re calling just to say, “I’m there for you.”

JERRY: (Nodding, trying it out) “I’m there for you.”

ELAINE: Then, after a period of being “there for you”, we slowly remove the two words “for you”, and we’re just (Makes a “ta-da!” gesture) “there”.

Hypothetical scenario:

Minority Conservative Government. First vote of confidence will be on Tough on Crime for Young Offenders. It will (obviously) be defeated. Liberals, NDP, Bloc and Greens will go to the Governor General, and form a new coalition government. We’ll get:

1. Prime Minister Stephane Dion
2. Minister of Finance: Bob Rae
3. Minister of Defense: Jack Layton
4. Minister of the Environment: Elizabeth May

If this doesn’t scare anybody I don’t know what this country is a-comin’ to.

And this is a VERY REALISTIC scenario. The Bloc, Greens and NDP have already said they’re open to it. Dion has REFUSED to rule out putting May in his cabinet, indicating he’s open to a coalition. The only way to stop this is by electing a majority Conservative government.

h/t to Lowell Green‘s radio show

This is from Greg Weston’s column in the Ottawa Sun:

HALIFAX — It was one of those unfortunate technical glitches that eventually bedevils every election campaign, a teleprompter that failed to roll at the start of Stephane Dion’s speech to the chamber of commerce here yesterday.

No fault of the Liberal leader, the miscue nonetheless provided a much needed reality check on this week’s dubious outbreak of Dionmania.

“Thank you to welcome me in the chamber of commerce of one of the most successful city of Canada and certainly the most resilient Halifax,” Dion began ad libbing as he waited for the teleprompter.

read more…