iOS Device as Nightstand Clock

Prompted by seeing Phil's method of mounting his iPhone to the bulkhead of _Andy_ for use as a nighttime clock, I have done the same on board _Arcadia_, now on _Serenity_, and also at home.

In addition to needing a way of holding the device so that it can be seen, one needs a suitable clock app.  Apple's "built-in" clock is not suitable to my uses as a nightstand clock, so I have had to look in the App Store.  Phil has a nice analog clock app, but I prefer digital clocks with displays large enough that I can read them without by eyeglasses.

My choice for a clock app having a display large enough for me to see (device nearby), and not doing anything I don't like or want (displaying ads or weather updates during the night, as some do, for example):
_The Clocks_, by Meanterm, Inc.
<https://itunes.apple.com/app/id403684793>

• Nice enough digital display in a choice of color.  (Analog, too.)
• Brightness level is controllable.
• Several features in addition to the usual things associated with a bedside alarm clock, including different alarm settings for every day of the week.
• Wake to alarm sound(s) or music (or, therefore, any sound you put onto the device).  It also permits very gradual fade-in of the alarm sound, beginning at the thin edge of perceptibility.  I very much like this.
• Free.

To prevent notifications for interrupting one's sleep, iOS 9 and later have a "Do not Disturb" setting that prevents both audible and on-screen alerts of any sort: no phone calls*, no text messages, no calendar alarms, no Reminders notifications.
* A _second_ call from a number, within three minutes, will get through--for emergencies.

So: Engage _Do not Disturb_, launch _Clocks_, plug into power**, and mount the device rotated to _landscape_ orientation to "embiggen" the digital time display.

** I don't use a charging stand, because they insist upon _portrait_ orientation; the display is too small for me to read.

I have not bothered learning if any iOS clocks can imitate clock-radios by playing the morning news on waking.  I may, sometime--or not.  (News is roughly 99.9% annoying, anyway.)

I will never again re-set the time of a nightstand clock for the seasonal changes of _daylight saving time_ state.  (Gradually, I am doing away with clocks that require this.  My wristwatch doesn't need it, _Serenity_'s wall clock doesn't need it, and I have a desktop clock in the house that doesn't need it.)

Excellent!

Mark_

Extremely ugly Windows malware

A new piece of Windows malware has been in the news.  This one is pretty scary.

CryptoLocker arrives as a Trojan Horse--an executable disguised as something else, such as a PDF or picture file--that when opened silently encrypts your files using "military-grade" encryption that has been characterized as "infeasible" to decrypt without the key. Your stuff is still there, but unreadable. Permanently.

On completion of the encryption process, you will be presented with a _demands_ screen: Within some fairly limited amount of time, pay hundreds of dollars using any of several methods, or the key will be "destroyed". (Turns out that this "destruction" may not be without appeal, but the second chance is worth _thousands_ of dollars.) Pay up (an act as galling as it is expensive in a couple of ways), and the key will be returned and files decrypted. (Some report success, others report otherwise, apparently. The perpetrators are criminals, after all.)

For information, Google "cryptolocker", and read the Wikipedia article first.

A Windows user should do (at least these) three things:
1. Set your anti-virus on _kill_. (Make certain that it is engaged and that it is using the latest definitions.)
2. Back up to an external drive. Check the backup to see that its files are readable.
2. Be extremely vigilant about opening files that have been e-mailed to you. Open _nothing_ about which you can have the slightest doubt as to provenance. It is at this point that the infection occurs, and it does so silently. One is aware that one has troubles only when the damage has already been done.

Power users have other tools, but they are arcane and _unlikely_.

Note that this exploit runs on "social engineering"; getting the victim to participate by scamming him. The user is the line of defense; knowing what to expect and how to recognize the threat before it is put into play are key to staying safe.

There is one more way of staying out of harm's way, but I won't mention it because it can make a Macintosh user seem far too pleased with himself--and besides, his own safety may not be permanent.


Mark_

Back From Our Trip to Kansas City

We have returned from our 5,500-mile trip. We had a great time, and we're already thinking about the text trip.

We did spend some time inside the grandparents' house, which was both worse and not as bad as I expected. Not as bad, because I had been lead to believe that everything had been stolen. The truth is different--and stranger--than that: There remains virtually nothing of ordinary /collectable/ value, but we did find some things that probably are worth something to the right collector. Example: _Reader's Digest_ from 1942. Wow.

Unexpectedly, pantry shelves still contained foodstuffs in glass jars--including home-canned foods (now altered beyond recognition by 35 years of storage). Clothing and shoes I recall having seen worn were still in the place. Appliances I recognize from childhood were still there.

The _worse_ was in the fact that the house still contained a large amount of ordinary household furnishings--mostly small stuff, but including clothing, small furnishings, and such that I recognized. Some of these materials had apparently not been touched at all (grandmothers dresses still in closets, jacket and gardening had still on the hook in the mud room, for example), but the whole place was strewn with /stuff/ that had been pulled out of its normal locations and dropped on the floors and onto every other horizontal surface. In some places, piles of /things/ made walking uncertain. In other areas, there was less on the floors but it was obvious nevertheless that things had been carried in from other rooms and abandoned there without any kind of intentionality. Not like someone had been interrupted in the process of moving out, but as if children had overrun the place for an extended period.

This place is down a natural-surface road two miles outside a very small town that is 50 miles from Springfield, MO. Even the vandals seem unable to muster the energy for anything serious; there was virtually no intentional damage beyond some wiring ripped out of walls. There were no drifts of beer cans, no indoor campfires, and in fact nobody had even sat upon any of the few chairs that remained; stuff was on every flat surface. The glass faceplate on the gas stove light had been broken, but the fluorescent tube inside was intact. Several mirrors all over the house were undamaged.

There were newspapers & magazines, picture frames, cooking utensils, jars of spices & flavorings, things, objects--all of the little paraphernalia that houses have in them--everywhere: on the floor, on tables and chairs and couch, on kitchen counters--and still on pantry and closet shelves.

Despite a few broken windows, a roof penetration or two, and open doors, the house is in pretty good condition, considering. Some hardwood floors were still actually nice. The house as a whole is probably not actually restorable to the kind of state that most people would want to pay for, but it is not immediately threatened either.

The barn was another matter. It is over a hundred years old, I think, and an important roof support has failed. Even so, the central structure is stacked log, most of which is still in good condition; the bulk of its metal roof is intact, which has surely helped. It seems safe to enter, but normal use is no longer possible; doors mostly don't work, and climbing into the loft would be seriously imprudent.

We could not enter other outbuildings, which had recently been fenced away from the main property, but I imagine that little of interest remains in them and I doubt they were safe to enter, anyway.

After a few hours, we departed with a large number of photographs and the feeling that we had just spent a period of time in strangeness.

Our trip hope was largely uneventful after we had spent a couple of very pleasant days with Cindy's relations in Morse, TX, and Albuquerque, NM.  We saw and photographed scenery, vistas, views, novelties, and sun-rises and -sets.

And in the course of several legs outbound and back we consumed roughly equal measures of gasoline and coffee.

Great trip! (Pix @ my Picasa.)

Mark_
Federal Way

Battery stolen from _Arcadia_.

Cindy found our tongue battery missing this morning. The sheriff has been summoned.

Dammit.


Mark_

Missouri, and beyond.

We have seen old friends, camped in a beautiful state park, eaten catfish, looked around Mark Twain's boyhood home town, and ridden a little train whose cars were like commercial tumble dryers (up a leg of St. Louis's Gateway Arch; pix soon)--and now it's time to visit south Missouri.  

I will have a look at the small farm where my maternal grandparents lived, and where I got my taste for the outdoors.  My memory of the nighttime insect sounds is vivid and pleasant; we have enjoyed hearing sounds that we have not heard during the 29 years we have been living in the Northwest. 

The place will be in serious disrepair, and I have no expectation of entering the house.  Apparently all worth having was stolen long ago, anyway. 

Even so, I intend to walk around outside. 

After that, a natural spring or two in south Missouri, then on to Albuquerque.

Mark_

R/V _Arcadia_, Babler SP, St. Louis, MO. 

• Pictures: <https://picasaweb.google.com/socrates4718>

Camping @ Knob Noster SP

The Longs and we have driven our trailers to Knob Noster (Latin: Our Hill[s]) State Park for a couple of nights among the trees.  Nice park.

Sunday we took a nice walk through a forest of oak, hickory, and cottonwood. Some of these were pretty large. And the effect overall was quite beautiful.  Things are beginning to look as if they might like to turn to fall colors, although not much progress has been made at present.

After our return, and just as our very late lunch (or slightly early dinner) was ready, were visited by old friends who had been our neighbors when we lived in Independence.  We had camped together--they had had the first pop-up we had seen--and next weekend we will camp together again, near Hannibal, MO.  While there we will look around Mark Twain country, and as we depart at the end of the weekend we may drive through St. Louis (MO Botanical Garden, Climatron, etc.).

We finished the day sitting around a campfire as the evening cooled.  The majority of the other campers have departed, so except for the barred owl we hear, the place is pretty quiet.

Mark_
R/V _Arcadia_, Knob Noster
SP, MO.
• Pictures: <https://picasaweb.google.com/socrates4718>

Sights and Activities in Kansas City

Today we visited a quaint little retail complex where the foods were arrayed on and beside some interesting antiques, then we drove into Kansas City to walk around one of the U.S.'s first themed shopping districts, the Country Club Plaza.  This area is near the biggest of the city's art museums, the University of Missouri, the Union Station, and other cultural features.

It contains a Starbucks, a Sur la Table, and an Eddie Bauer.

After reconnecting with old friends, we drove a couple of miles through town for some authentic barbecue from Arthur Bryant's.  After that very late lunch we returned to pick up those friends and attend a Spanish Baroque music concert <http://bachariasoloists.com>.  This was delightful.

Just as a major thunderstorm was arriving, we drove back to _Arcadia_ @ the Longs--arriving barely in time to close windows before the rain hit.

Mark_
R/V _Arcadia_, the Longs', Lone Jack, MO.