On My Mind: Why Laws Have To Change

Just over six months ago, if someone was pretending to be your partner and engaged in sex with you, it wouldn't have been rape; unless you were married. How can something like this be in the state of California, just a progressive state right? Well, it was due to a 1870's law that stated that it would only be rape if a man impersonated a woman's husband. Luckily, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new law into effect back in September to fix that loophole in our penal code. Unfortunately, it didn't change soon enough to address situations that should have been rape, and were considered by many as rape. Law is law, right?

Heartbleed, part two: Do I change my password?

So here's an update on the Heartbleed issue. Mashable.com has compiled a list of websites effected and uneffected with various company responses. Check it out and find out if you need to change your passwords.

Broken Defense: Heartbleed

So your private internet information is most likely at risk. Last week, a group of Finnish security experts discovered a hole in the encryption method that is most widely used on the internet. How widely you may ask...your banks, yahoo, google, facebook, and amazon accounts just to name a few. 

The problem lies with OpenSSL 1.0.1, which contains a vulnerability that could disclose sensitive private information to an attacker.  You can find more information at Heartbleed.com on the specifics.

What can you do to protect yourself, well, that's a great question. Since this is a software issue, as consumers we get to wait until an update has been made. Once that happens, assume that your information has been compromised, and change all sensitive information (for example, passwords).
Now I could get into the technical stuff, but you can read the full story at the link above. The important thing for you is that you need to go and change ALL your passwords to ALL your accounts. Wait, before you stop reading and go do this, you need to make sure that the problem was fixed before you make changes, or you could just be potentially just giving your new password to whoever has access to this info before. You can find a list of vendors that have been affected, and if the problem has been solved here, so see what you may need to change.

What Weapon Would You Recommend For Self Defense?

The simple and quick answer: it depends. Of course that’s never the answer that anyone wants to hear, so here’s the long answer.

The image that comes to mind when self defense is mentioned is almost always a gun, followed closely by knives, pepper spray, and stun guns/tasers. I don’t like the term self defense weapon, I prefer self defense tool.

If you decide that you want to use a self defense tool as part of your personal protection plan, ask yourself these four questions:

Is it practical?

What makes a self defense tool practical? Access. It needs to be readily available to you all of the time, or at the very least, most of the time for you to be able to use it. For example, if you decide that you’d like to carry a knife as a self defense tool, but it’s at the bottom of a purse or stuffed inside a backpack, how are you going to be able to get it out to use in time. You don’t install a home security system and never turn it on, so why would you have a self defense tool if you aren't going to have on you ready to use?

Do you know how to use it?

The tool that you are deciding on using should be something that you know how to use and practice using on a regular bases. You should also understand the benefits and more importantly the limitations of the tool. Be familiar with what the tool is capable of as well as what it's incapable of doing. For example, understand that a gun is capable of shooting someone, but only one at a time, and only until you run out of bullets. Don't choose a gun as a self defense tool if you don’t know how to shoot it or won’t practice shooting it on a regular bases. 

Can you defend yourself against it?

Keep in mind when choosing a self defense tool, that there is a chance that it could be taken away from you. Providing your attacker with something to use against you is not something you want to willing do. Learning how to defend against the very self defense tool you want to use is just as important to know as knowing how to use the self defense tool. Just like practicing regularly to use your self defense tool, you’d need to practice how to defend yourself against it as well.

Are you prepared to use it?

The most difficult choice you are going to have to make is using actually using your self defense tool. This should always be addressed before you have to use your self defense tool. Don’t get a self defense tool to use to scare or threaten someone if you won’t follow through. To make an empty threat to someone isn’t going to work in your favor, you must be ready to shoot, stab, cut, electrocute, hit or burn someone, which isn’t an easy thing to do.

Sure, in the safety of our head, not having to actually do it, we can say that we’ll do it, but can you live with that decision? Hurting, maiming, and possibly killing someone is a tough burden to bear. Make sure to think about the possible consequences that could stem from using your self defense tool. Lawsuits, medical bills, jail time; in the heat of the moment, you could make a choice that may have long term effects on your life. Making the choice to spraying someone with non-lethal pepper spray may seem be something that you are willing to do, but what if  you spray someone that is allergic, and they die, which you didn’t think about. Could you live with that?