Password algorithm: songs

I was just reading a thread discussing the annoying tendency of modern corporate computer systems to force everybody to change passwords frequently. (A policy I think is fairly stupid, but that's a separate discussion.) Several folks were complaining about the difficulty of coming up with new passwords that were long enough, included upper and lower case, numbers and symbols, that aren't subject to a dictionary attack. And it occurred to me that at least some folks probably don't know the approach that I learned moderately recently, which seems to be working well: songs and poems.

Specifically, the trick is to take a line (first or otherwise) from a song or poem you know well, and anagramatize it. Take the first letter of each word, more or less. Use capitals for the beginning of the line, and any proper nouns therein. Use numbers for numbers. Use texting abbreviations for words like "for", "to", and "you". Use appropriate symbols in place of words like "and", "at", and "or". Use commas, periods and semicolons as appropriate. Obviously, you can't use just any random line and still get a sufficiently strong password, but there are a very large number that do work decently well.

I was introduced to this idea a few months ago, when I started my consulting gig: one of the sysadmins handed me a password that appeared to be utter gibberish until he clued me into which line it was, which turned it into a remarkably easy-to-remember mnemonic. So I've picked this approach up for most of my passwords since. The results sometimes come out a bit long and slow to type, but they are at least relatively easy to remember, which is usually the more important problem for me.

So if you're looking for acceptable passwords, keep this in mind as an option. Used judiciously, it's a good way to produce passwords that are both strong and memorable...

Password algorithm: songs

I was just reading a thread discussing the annoying tendency of modern corporate computer systems to force everybody to change passwords frequently. (A policy I think is fairly stupid, but that's a separate discussion.) Several folks were complaining about the difficulty of coming up with new passwords that were long enough, included upper and lower case, numbers and symbols, that aren't subject to a dictionary attack. And it occurred to me that at least some folks probably don't know the approach that I learned moderately recently, which seems to be working well: songs and poems.

Specifically, the trick is to take a line (first or otherwise) from a song or poem you know well, and anagramatize it. Take the first letter of each word, more or less. Use capitals for the beginning of the line, and any proper nouns therein. Use numbers for numbers. Use texting abbreviations for words like "for", "to", and "you". Use appropriate symbols in place of words like "and", "at", and "or". Use commas, periods and semicolons as appropriate. Obviously, you can't use just any random line and still get a sufficiently strong password, but there are a very large number that do work decently well.

I was introduced to this idea a few months ago, when I started my consulting gig: one of the sysadmins handed me a password that appeared to be utter gibberish until he clued me into which line it was, which turned it into a remarkably easy-to-remember mnemonic. So I've picked this approach up for most of my passwords since. The results sometimes come out a bit long and slow to type, but they are at least relatively easy to remember, which is usually the more important problem for me.

So if you're looking for acceptable passwords, keep this in mind as an option. Used judiciously, it's a good way to produce passwords that are both strong and memorable...

What to do with leftover lamb shanks

The lamb legs for last weekend's party were somewhat loosely cut; there was a lot of meat still adhering to them. Here's what we did with it.

Ad Hoc Lamb Stew

(So named because this was entirely a "that sounds good" sort of dinner, invented by each of us suggesting ingredients until we decided we'd better stop.)

To start with, we took the shanks and boiled them down, as usual for leftover meat. This works better for lamb than for turkey, because the bones are all pretty large, so we wound up with a few bones, a big pile of meat, and four cups of lamb broth. We separated the broth, and froze the three cups of fat-free for later uses.

For the Stew, we started by rendering half a pound of bacon (because, hey -- bacon), sliced into 1/4 inch pieces, in the big Le Creuset. Removed the bacon from the fat and set it aside. Then sauteed 2 medium yellow onions, coarsely chopped, in the fat. Once those were sweated a bit, added 2 Tbl shallots and 2 heaping Tbl commercial minced garlic. Tossed in 20 oz sliced white mushrooms, and cooked until those were mostly reduced.

We then tossed in the leftover lamb meat (probably 2 lbs or so), 1 can low-sodium beef broth, 1 bottle of decent beer (Pete's Wicked) and the last cup of the lamb broth. (Which included the fat from the boiling: probably about 1/4 cup of fat. This was useful, because the meat itself was a bit dry by this point.) Bring to a simmer, add 1 lb of sliced carrots, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.

Tossed in 3 remaining raw small red potatoes, quartered, and 1 jar of pearl onions. Added a heaping Tbl of Better Than Boullion Beef (low-sodium), to kick up the broth. Simmered another 15 minutes, covered.

Tossed in a cup or two of green beans, and another several small potatoes (these had been cooked, so wanted less time). Simmered another 10 minutes, covered.

Tossed in half a cup or so of frozen baby peas, and the rendered bacon. Simmered another 5 minutes, uncovered.

Served with crusty french bread for sopping. Yum!

What to do with leftover lamb shanks

The lamb legs for last weekend's party were somewhat loosely cut; there was a lot of meat still adhering to them. Here's what we did with it.

Ad Hoc Lamb Stew

(So named because this was entirely a "that sounds good" sort of dinner, invented by each of us suggesting ingredients until we decided we'd better stop.)

To start with, we took the shanks and boiled them down, as usual for leftover meat. This works better for lamb than for turkey, because the bones are all pretty large, so we wound up with a few bones, a big pile of meat, and four cups of lamb broth. We separated the broth, and froze the three cups of fat-free for later uses.

For the Stew, we started by rendering half a pound of bacon (because, hey -- bacon), sliced into 1/4 inch pieces, in the big Le Creuset. Removed the bacon from the fat and set it aside. Then sauteed 2 medium yellow onions, coarsely chopped, in the fat. Once those were sweated a bit, added 2 Tbl shallots and 2 heaping Tbl commercial minced garlic. Tossed in 20 oz sliced white mushrooms, and cooked until those were mostly reduced.

We then tossed in the leftover lamb meat (probably 2 lbs or so), 1 can low-sodium beef broth, 1 bottle of decent beer (Pete's Wicked) and the last cup of the lamb broth. (Which included the fat from the boiling: probably about 1/4 cup of fat. This was useful, because the meat itself was a bit dry by this point.) Bring to a simmer, add 1 lb of sliced carrots, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.

Tossed in 3 remaining raw small red potatoes, quartered, and 1 jar of pearl onions. Added a heaping Tbl of Better Than Boullion Beef (low-sodium), to kick up the broth. Simmered another 15 minutes, covered.

Tossed in a cup or two of green beans, and another several small potatoes (these had been cooked, so wanted less time). Simmered another 10 minutes, covered.

Tossed in half a cup or so of frozen baby peas, and the rendered bacon. Simmered another 5 minutes, uncovered.

Served with crusty french bread for sopping. Yum!