Net Generation

Are you the person who has the same password for everything? Could your best friend guess it? How about your boss? I would prefer to think that no one but my partner could possibly guess the user name and passwords I have come up with. And the fact that I rotate them with every new membership causes even confuses me.

There has to be a better way to remember your user name and password and still maintain security. I will start this adventure with 2 of each.

  • Password: MrFraiser
  • Password: Checkmate

I am a fragmented person on the web. I believe in this slice of postmodernism. But I don’t want to be so fragmented that I come off as insincere. So, for this exercise my goal is to maintain the above two identities and a new third one. I dare say that I could split myself in two (or three) if, for instance, I wanted to be perceived as goofy in one community and a mentor in the other. So, we know that it is harder to change our user name than it is to change our password. I have encountered a few sites that allow you to change your user name but then that’s like moving – ie. you have to send out announcements and notices. So, my first step at password security is having separate ones for each of my identities. On a side note, I also have completely different passwords on bank accounts and the handful of other high security areas.

I wanted to know how well my current password strength is. Using the following tools, I surmised that my first password strength was weak and so was my second one.

I want to keep in the spirit of my current credentials. So let’s explore how I can make them more secure.

Password: MrFraiser
Now, not many people could guess my elementary school music teacher’s name but if you dug around a bit you would know that I am a musician and love music. You would also note that MrFraiser is a common phrase, much like MrSmith or MrsRobinson. So to make it stronger let’s change some words to numbers and increase the length.

Now that gets me a strong on the password checker. Even still, there are password hacks who’s first instinct is to check for letter replacements. So to make the password even stronger let’s employ the create a sentence rule.

Password: Mf!m3$mT
Great! We still have a strong password here. I’ve created it from the sentence “Mr. Fraiser is my elementary school music teacher” or “M(r.) f(raiser) !(s) m(y) 3(lementary) $(chool) m(usic) T(eacher)” and include both upper case and lower case letters. It is also pretty fool proof from the entry-level hacker. Not the strongest but we’re almost there.

Now I’m looking for the strongest password I can come up with for both security and ease of remembering. What I have done is kept my original sentence and added the site for which the password is applied. So for Youtube it would be Mf!m3$mTYouTube. This get’s me at best on the Microsoft password checker site.

My other password is Checkmate.

In three simple steps let’s take this from weak to best.

1. ch3Ckm8
2. YK!0Cm83T- Y(our) K(ing) !(oses) 0(n) C(heck) m8 3(very) T(ime)
3. YK!0Cm83Tmypace

So here’s what others are saying about passwords:

Information on the new WordPress password strength indicator.

Forgot your windows password? How to get in without using any software.

Or you could try the Ctrl+Alt+Delete twice method

Password computer basics – The music reminds me of all the training videos I have ever had to watch in my life.

Security Wise Vlog on password strength.


Net Neutrality on the Daily Show – The Internet is a series of tubes.

Ohhh, he is mad at those republicans….Rep. Markey On Net Neutrality June 8, 2006

And let’s try to make this fair and balanced…PBS NOW on Net Neutrality

PBS NOW Part 2

Seriously, when and the “Gun Owners of America” are both on the same side…anyone arguing the opposite HAS to be beyond nuts or just plain greedy in this situation.

Transcript from conversation with my sister
Me 26, my sister 16 (1979, 1989)

Lyncher: awesome! (< me)
Lyncher: You’re on!
then uttered: yup (< sarah, my sister)
Lyncher: Dude, so what have you heard about the new generation names?
Lyncher: eh?
Lyncher: what have you heard…”
then uttered: oooh
then uttered: nothing
Lyncher: for instance, when was Gen X? Is there a Gen Y? And what constitutes the years of each?
Lyncher: Right so you want a summary or just the wiki’s I found?
then uttered: summary
Lyncher: Baby Boomers – After WWII until
then uttered: 1964?
Lyncher: Generation X – 1960’s to mid/late 70s…
Lyncher: fall of berlin wall…
Lyncher: fall of imperialism…period of transition
Lyncher: Now this is where it gets tricky
Lyncher: no definitive end date for Gen X and no definitive begin date for Gen Y
Lyncher: And actually, no real name for the next generation…
Lyncher: here are some theories:
Lyncher: Although different groups or individuals consider a different range of years to constitute Generation Y, that range of years is almost always within the outer bounds of 1976 as the earliest possible year and 2001 as the latest.
Lyncher: so this is the outermost areas of the generation gap
Lyncher: market research uses the years 1978-2000
she then uttered: thats a real big generation
Lyncher: now, everything is saying that there needs to be a major event to mark the beginning/end of a generation
Lyncher: ok, that aside for now…What exactly is the name?
Lyncher: Use of the term Generation Y (often shortened to Gen Y or Ygen) to describe any cohort of individuals is controversial for a variety of reasons.
Lyncher: successional relationship to Gen X…and they want to be different, they don’t associate with those who understood cold war…
Lyncher: now all the while, I’m thinking “they” really meaning me…cause I want to know what generation I am in…
Lyncher: In this sense, the use of Gen Y as a term only denotes “after Gen X” and fails to capture the cohort’s unique social, political, and cultural experience.
Lyncher: there is also not a defining moment in this…why pick the next letter…copout! Where was generation W!
then uttered: true
Lyncher: So, I’m not into Gen Y really…what’s next? The Millenials….based on the graduating class of 2000 — years 1982-2000 with the defining moment being the turn of the millenium….
Lyncher: but having lived a bit longer….I think there are other more defining things than this…
Lyncher: How about? Generation M (where M stands for media, “Me, Myself, and I”, “middle income”, or “millennium, marketing and media”) is a term to describe the media- and Internet-savvy consumer generation born after about 1980.
Lyncher: They are characterized by a high availability of leisure time, critical but not rebellious thinking and generally acting younger than their biological age. Moving out of their parents’ houses late and frequent job changes are also thought to be typical.
Lyncher: Interesting….
then uttered: vry interesting
Lyncher: Somewhat true but not all true…that’s still pretty degrading…
Lyncher: but we’re getting closer on beginning dates
Lyncher: Thing is…
Lyncher: Let me recap for a second:
Lyncher: Baby Boomers: After WWII to 1960s
Generation X: 1964-1978
Generation Y/M/Millenials: 1982-2000
Lyncher: see anything missing here?
Lyncher: There is a 4 year gap…and guess who’s sitting right dab in the middle….
then uttered: haha sorry mims
then uttered: i guess you can go in either one you want
Lyncher: right!?
Lyncher: but wait
Lyncher: they have come up with a solution!
Lyncher: either we are soo important that our 4 year gap has it’s own name OR we are so lame that the other generations didn’t want us and we can’t relate…
Lyncher: the MTV Generation
Lyncher: yup…..defining moment ….the birth of MTV (1979) like any of us FREAKIN’ remember!
then uttered: hahaha
then uttered: true true
Lyncher: but it is all up in the air
Lyncher: Charlie can also be part of what someone is calling “The Cold Gen Y”
Lyncher: Cold Generation Y is label used to describe a subset of Generation Y born between 1982 and 1985.
Lyncher: those barely remembering the cold war
then uttered: these generations are dumb
Lyncher: So, I’m thinking the Net Generation or something because I believe the proliferation of the Internet is a defining moment
Lyncher: In the US, some are arguing 9/11 is a defining moment also
Lyncher: but as the end of Gen Y and the start of the “New Silent Generation”
Lyncher: The New Silent Generation is a proposed holding name used by Neil Howe and William Strauss in their demographic history of America, Generations to describe the generation whose birth years begin in 1999 and continue to an as yet unknown year in the future.
Lyncher: Those are the same guys who came up with the non-defining Millenial Generation
then uttered: they cant say theyre gonna be a silent generation if the kids are only like 7
Lyncher: well, I suppose they’re pretty silent right now
then uttered: this is retarded
Lyncher: The term is a reflection of Howe’s and Strauss’s theory that the characteristics of American generations are cyclical, and the generation currently being born will share characteristics with the Silent Generation, born in the span of years between 1925 and 1942.

Due to the popular use of the terms Generation X and Generation Y, especially among the market research community, the New Silent Generation is sometimes referred to as Generation Z or the Zoog Generation, because of the birth of Zoog Disney around the time this generation began. Another term sometimes used is Generation Alpha. Although the generation is often said to start somewhere in the early or mid 2000s, the events of 9/11 and the Digital Revolution may make it so that Gen Z is eventually considered to also include those born in the latter 1990s, depending on how much these people will share with the earlier Gen Yers as they grow older. The earliest date commonly cited as the beginning of Z is 1995, however some claim that it begins as soon as 1994 or even 1993.