Good Passwords

By the way, yes we're ok- no tornadoes got us although some people in our ward had their roof ripped off.

About a week ago my iPhone had a run-in with our washing machine and in a last-ditch attempt to save its life I mailed it to a place today that will attempt to fix it. It's so dang convenient. But I'm happy to say that if it is no more I will live.

However because I couldn't turn it on, I couldn't wipe all my data off it. That is very troubling to me. I do not trust anyone with my data. I've even had a run-in with a dentist that was demanding my Social Security Number- my dentist does not need that! They won by the way. After all, I wouldn't want to mess up their filing system. I digress...

So, since I can't erase what's on the phone tonight I have to reset the passwords for things on the iPhone- social networks, email addresses, etc.

I thought I'd share a handy way to keep track of passwords. Now the best password would be something that a) no one would ever guess and b) something you don't ever write down. But honestly, there are just too many passwords.

Many, many years ago for one of the stories I planned to write but never did, I drew a map of the magical land where it would take place. I still have that map. Because the place names, being nonsense words, are perfect for starting to make a password. Since I have to come up with new passwords, it's time for a new map.

Below is a little map I drew if you're worried about your cartography skills. Warning: this does take a little imagination. You're going to need to name some kingdoms, some islands, some large cities, maybe some deserts. In one corner, write a number or two, say '42'. Now, I'm going to have a pirate city on one of the bigger islands named Cuuartedh. I note that on the map. There is one thing you should just fix in your mind- a special character. For this map, I'll choose a period- '.' So a password from this map would be cuuartedh.42 and how many people are going to guess that?

If you're worried you're not going to come up with cool enough place names, pick up a book off your shelf about some ancient culture (what do you mean you don't have any!?) like this great one I have on Old English Grammar and pick some words. Those are probably far enough removed to be hard. Maybe combine some together.

One important thing- don't write on the map "My Passwords". Come up with a name for your world and file it away where you can find it. And don't write next to Cuuartedh what it's a password for. It will be safer not to say and that way you can reuse a couple or change it up later without messing up your map.

Now you've taken a horrible chore and had some fun with it!

But if you ever write a story about your map, you'll need to change your passwords.