Where do I start? I find it telling that people still are not aware that using very easy passwords because, "Who in the world cares about trying to hack my Netflix account because they don't live in my home so NF won't let them in?"

Well? Okay then! Then this commentary isn't for you!!! Go ahead and ignore my helpful advice smarty pants!

I came across an article (MSNBC) this morning that discussed our (the general world population) poor choice of password and pin usage. The article was not just the usual quick reference to the obvious talk about this topic which states things such as, "Don't use your birthday"! COME ON!!! Who doesn't know doing this is a HUGE no no unless you like getting hacked and robbed of vital information and/or your money!

No, that article gave me so much more...

It starts off with the usual advice, "I mentioned above" and quickly moved on the juicy advice by giving a list of 50 passwords that have been breached on the 'Dark Web' where they sell your email addresses and other private sensitive information with scammers and other shady characters who rob people blind!

I had my sister in mind because she can never remember her (L&SS) password.

I recommended she write it down! That's write, I suggested the old, "Never write your passwords down warning!" because I had had enough of her complaints about it!!! She didn't get mad at me, thankfully! Now, she just looks it up on her saved notes.

You know what bothers me about that is that my professors made it abundantly clear that we shouldn't do that though!

That brings me to my suggestion for writing this blog commentary:

I have one suggestion only that has worked for me for decades!

1) Believe-it-or-not, I was once made fun of for using long passwords! Sure, some sites limit the length of them as well. So, here is an example of a short strong password, "I hate so and so (fill in the blank______ ) Ihate(fill in the blank with short word)>>> or, Ilove (fill in the blank with short word_____).

2) Use a long(ish)saying like, "I play gulf Saturdays!" It reads, "IplaygulfSaturdays."

3) After you've come up with a forever password catch phrase, add numbers and symbols on the end>>> IplaygulfonSaturdays1579 or IplaygulfonSaturdays@1579 (don't use the popular numbers mentioned in the linked MSN article or the YouTube video below).

4) Summary:

The whole point is to use a strong password/pin (for me, it's a long password and non popular pin) and to add on to it with letters, symbols, or numbers,  for various websites except your bank (or similar company)! Also, I make use of every website that has second step verification authorization.

Of the 50 pins the article mentioned, I am proud to say that none of them are mine!! Yay!

I will list a few of them here; some of which are poignant for me since I have used variations of them. Some of the pins listed were: 1986, 3333 or other repeating numbers, and 2580!

About the 2580 frequently used pin (I never heard of using it before today), and, I found out why people use it in the comment section of this article. It's the cell phone key pad numbers down the center of your phone (hahahaha)! The first thing I did was to check my laptop since the commenter said it's on your computer. Again, I didn't get it! So, I kept reading... And there was the answer I needed... The computer switches these numbers to 8520 that's also down the center of the keyboard keypad. You could keep using it at your own risk!

by Catherine Davis
L&SS Founder, Entrepreneur, 
​Freelance Writer

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I've had to start over with my career so many times that I lost count!

But, nevermind about my woes. No one can help me solve this dilemma! Or could they? Like the sea turtle in the linked video in this blog post, I had human parasites on my back day and night! No, they weren't literally on my back, but the stress from dealing with those awful people caused aches and pains on my back; especially my neck.

I sure hope this poor turtle (Sorry, I just finished writing this blog post today 2/13/2025) hasn't been through this before!!!  Or, I hope he/she is free from them forever!

I can't find the video I watched last week, but the animal (I think it was a dolphin) who had barnacles (parasites) on it's body; especially its back, had an internal infection due to swallowing a fishing net. That condition caused the barnacles to set up homesteading on it.

by Catherine Davis
L&SS Founder, Entrepreneur,
Freelance Writer