Tag Archives: security

Observation of Security Cameras

Posted in Crazy Nuts, Crime by

About 2 or 3 times a year, someone will come by and try to sell me a security camera. Well, actually, they would love to sell me a complete thousand dollar security system. I don’t have the money for that. I have big car payments and a bigger insurance payments. A couple of thousand a year for my house, a couple of thousand for my car.

Maybe I should take my drill instructor’s advice and not buy things like that. Then, there would be no upkeep or insurance. Somehow, in the next few months, I will have to buy some real insurance. The tree at the corner of my house is starting to work on the foundation. It will likely cost me 2 K to bring that thing down and keep it from tearing up my home.

At any rate before you got me off subject, I tell them no. I can’t afford it. One guy got very indignant with me. I got the impression he thought I was lying to him. Like, what difference does it make. I don’t have to explain my decision to him. What in the world would make him think I owe him any kind of explanation.

At any rate, the latest salesman got me to thinking. Do the things work? I mean, if I put a bunch of cameras all over the place and someone steals something, will it help me recover my property?

That, in itself creates other questions. If the thief can find much worth steeling, I suppose I will have to tip my hat to him. I have an antitheft method that works good. I simply don’t don’t have enough to make someone want to break in.

At any rate, let’s say he breaks in and runs off with my old $100 dollar TV. Just what would be the chances of me ever seeing that particular TV again. Actually, my wife has a wedding ring he could steel. However, if he took it to a pawn shop, the guy would laugh it him. He might give him a ten dollar bill for it. It’s not gold and the stone is fake. The fake looks really nice but it’s fake. When we got married we couldn’t afford one. (That’s OK. I have a fifty year marriage instead)

So, here I am, still. Wondering how successful would I be in retrieving the TV. It makes me think about all those news reports on TV. They flash a picture up on the screen and they ask, “Have you seen this person?” “If you know this person, can you please call the police?”

Sometimes, I’ve thought about taking a copy of the photo around Memphis and see if I can find the culprit. Honest, it does make me want very badly to help. I know what it is like to have someone take things from me. It just is that most of the time, they guy has his face covered, usually with a hoody. (maybe we need to outlaw hoodies) The other half the time, if I passed the man on the street, I wouldn’t know it. I never was all that great at remembering faces, especially those I will likely never see again.

I would guess this world is full of folks as me, who isn’t good with faces.

And so, it makes me wonder, just how many people get phone calls when they put something like that on the TV. It makes me wonder, of all the times that a picture is taken of the thief, how many times is it that the thief is caught as a result?

If someone knows an instance or two when their security camera helped, maybe you could send me a comment. I don’t mean where the neighbor is caught but rather some stranger breaks in and you lose the family silver. Did you ever get it back because of the camera.

For quite a while, people steered clear of cameras. Not so much anymore. It would appear the crooks have come to the same conclusion as I have. I don’t think the things do much good.

I wish they did. Then I might buy one, just to keep people from breaking in, even if I have nothing.

Migration Frustration

Posted in A Little About me, Entertainment, Passwords, Uncategorized by

Passwords are going to be the death of me yet. Two or three days ago, I bought an all-in-one Dell computer. I had to. My laptop was getting really slow and it seemed I was always having to update it. The computer is great. The migration was enough to make me want to pull out what hair I have left.

I guess, in a way, the all-in-one is similar to a laptop, just bigger and a great deal heavier. Well, I don’t guess anyone has put a battery in one, yet anyway.

Let me first say a little about the hardware. One slick thing is the camera. It slides down into the computer when not in use. Not only is it a little cleaner looking but the camera absolutely cannot be used when inside its little Hidie hole. It says a lot about security, and it begs the question, why didn’t someone think of that a whole lot sooner?

My laptop takes roughly 2 minutes after it’s turned on to do any real work. The new computer is ready to go in about 3 or 4 seconds. Try to convince me that wasn’t surprising the first time I turned it on. I use MS office 7.0. It pops right up there without any hesitation. It’s ready to go much quicker than I am. I don’t like the newer versions, or at least the one I used for about 10 minutes. Removed them immediately after. I suppose, after a while, I’ll try them again, but I’ll not be in any hurry.

The camera comes with a flash and takes very good pictures. The problem is that no one wants to see photos of me. I guess the one thing that surprised me most were the speakers. I have no idea how they did it but they really put some high-quality speakers in there. It’s not just that it sounds good, but it is easy to distinguish one instrument from another. Most speakers, unless they are very expensive, let the sounds from the clarinet combine with violin so that a band or orchestra has just one sound. With this system, each instrument could be easily distinguished from the other. And, by the way, I had to turn the volume down about half-way. Did not expect that.

Now, as for the migration. Just for the sake of helping anyone else fixing to go through the same thing, might I suggest one thing that will save everyone a lot of pain. Before starting the migration, make dead sure you know all your passwords. In fact, if I were to do it again, I would change them all to the same thing before starting. Normally, that is a bad idea, but it is only temporary, and it will save a lot of time. Once you have everything migrated and working, go back and change the passwords again. Indeed, it might be a good time to change passwords. They do suggest we change them regularly.

At any rate, after 3 days, I have most of the migration done. There is one more thing to set-up but after all the frustration, I might as well just say forget it.

On the other hand, that is sort of the problem, I mean, I just keep forgetting it, the passwords I mean.