Over the years many friends who know I'm a techie / nerd have asked or commented:

• Aren't you concerned with the safety of online shopping? Someone could steal your credit card or account numbers. Using all these online services are dangerous. 

While it is true that someone online could steal your credit card or account number, this kind of crime requires an "intelligent crook"; it amazes me how few of my friends take practical easy "low tech security" steps which will yield "high tech results".

Let's take the common mailbox. How many of you have locking mailboxes? An online thief needs to have advanced software skills to steal your identity. Your "common everyday thief" only needs the ability to open your mailbox and steal your identity. Your mail is a wealth of bank statements, credit card bills, and utility invoices. By opening your mailbox, I could have all this information within seconds. The intelligence required to acquire this data is almost nill.

Here is my mailbox. The mail delivery person puts my correspondence into a slot. The mail then slides down into a locked area. In addition, if I'm out of town, it is impossible to know that fact by checking my mail. Thus, do you practice low tech security? You should!

Here are a few photos of the NorthStar Nerd's mailbox! There is even a video about my mailbox. I just hope the guy in the video never shows up my neighborhood with his baseball bat! Here is a link to the mailbox reviewed in my post, Mailboss.

Click upon any image to view at full size.

 
 

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From that great state of Florida, we learn about the bias they have against the Northeast.  A woman wearing a MIT t-shirt was initially banned from voting in yesterday's presidential election (read article from Boca Raton News). Now if she had been wearing a Harvard shirt, I might have understood. (pdf version of article)

Regardless, we should only allow nerds from CalTech or Stanford to vote. The world would be a safer place. With that … on to 2016. By tomorrow candidates will be lining up from both parties. Ugh.

Do you have a Google account? Do you use Google for your primary search engine? Are you curious about whether your own past search history may be warping what you find (or don't find), when conducting new Google searches (i.e. research)?

Additionally, if you are responsible for search engine optimization (SEO) at your organization, you may be fooling yourself in terms of your company's overall search rankings. 

Google has recently enabled the ability to turn on and off your personal search results. Why might this be useful? Here are just two examples:

• You are conducting new research, and don't want to see past history. You are looking to find new content / sites.
• SEO is important to your firm's profit or success. If you see your own history interspersed within your results and don't recognize those results as not representative of the web at large, do you truly understand your Google ranking?

It is easy to toggle on and off between your personal results. Here are four screenshots. Did you know that the NorthStarNerd is #1 when it comes to Nordic Ski Knickers? Not!

However, my ranking for reviews and tests of the new Republic Wireless is quite good, but not yet number one for this query "Republic Wireless Review", but is #1 for Republic Wireless Test. This kind of nuance is important for SEO. Once you get below the 3rd result, not that much traffic gets driven to your site (learn more … see prior post which includes academic research conducted by Cornell University)

Click upon any image to view at full size.

Nordic Ski Knickers Example

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Republic Wireless Example

I love the Northland. A good day for me is a crisp sunny day on my bike or cross-country skis. Here is the Gramin Connect GPS data for some of my favorite workouts / events. Each entry links to Garmin and allows you to understand the distances and elevation changes involved with each activity. While on the Garmin web site, you have the option to switching between road and satellite maps.

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Cycling

Day Touring

• Day Touring in Northern Minnesota (Marcell Region)
  • Big Fork | Marcell Loop
  • Hwy#49 (lots of dirt road … good shape)
  • Suomi Hills (Hwy#38 south of Marcell has no shoulder)
  • Tour du Talmoon
  • Tour du Turtle (some dirt road … good shape)
• Day Touring on the North Shore of Lake Superior
  • Grand Marais
    • Grand Marais Highlands
  • Scenic Hwy #61 Round Trips
    • Rides start near Lester Park
      • LakeWalk to Sky Harbor
      • McQuaid Harbor
      • Mocha Moose
      • Stoney Point
  • Scenic Hwy #61 Plus Inland Hills
    • Rides start near Lester Park
      • 7 Bridges Plus a Few Hills!
      • Lakewood Plunge
      • McQuaid + Lismore + 7 Bridges Road
  • Two Harbors Area Rides
    • Duluth to Silver Cliffs Roundtrip
    • Two Harbors Highlands (Includes Gitchi-Gami Trail)
• Day Touring in the Jay Cooke Region
  • Rides start in West Duluth
    • Wisconsin Military Rd | Carlton | Hwy#23 Loop
    • Pattison Park
    • Willard Munger Trail | Carlton | Hwy#23 Loop
• Day Touring in the Twin Cities Region
  • Dakota Trail
  • Downtown Greenway Loop
  • Luce Line Trail
  • Tour de Pepin

Long Distance Multiday Touring

• BWCA Superior Tour
  • Duluth to Hoyt Lakes
  • Hoyt Lakes to Pelican Lake
  • Pelican Lake to Ely via the Echo Trail
  • Ely to Palisade Head
  • Palisade Head to Duluth
• Gunflint Trail Tour
  • Grand Marais Highlands
  • Grand Marais to Tuscarora Outfitters
  • Tuscarora Outfitters to Grand Marais
• Trans-Superior Tour (trip journal)
  • Superior to Bayfield
  • Bayfield to Ironwood, Michigan
  • Ironwood to Ontonagon via the South Boundary Road(Porcupine Mountains)
  • Ontonagon to Baragas to Houghton (cross the Keweenaw)
  • Houghton to Copper Harbor (hug the coast)
  • Ferry to Isle Royale
  • Ferry to Grand Portage … Grand Portage to Grand Marais
  • Grand Marais to Beaver Bay
  • Beaver Bay to Duluth (Canal Park … then back to Lakeside)

Cross-Country Skiing
(Garmin elevation changes and distances measured while classic skiing)

• Races
  • American Birkebiner 54k Classic (NW Wisconsin)
  • Book Across the Bay  (NW Wisconsin … at night on Lake Superior)
  • City of the Lakes Loppet 25k Classic (Minneapolis)
  • Mora Vasloppet 42k Classic (Central Minnesota)
  • Nordic Spirit 25k Classic (Northern Minnesota)
  • Wabos Loppet 25 k Classic (Northern Ontario … dropped off by train!)
• Touring
  • ABR (Ironwood, Michigan)
  • After Hours Ski Trails (Brule, Wisconsin)
  • Boulder Lake Ski Trails (Island Lake, Minnesota)
  • Elm Creek Park (Maple Grove, Minnesota)
  • French Park (Plymouth, Minnesota)
  • Lester-Amity Ski Trails (Duluth, Minnesota)
  • Onion River Road (Tofte, Minnesota)
  • Wolverine Trails (Ironwood, Michigan)

With the recent release of the new version of Google Analytics (V5), the old support resources available via the web are not relevant. Here is a 32 page basic end user Google Analytics manual which reviews basic metric terms and how to access and modify rudimentary reports for Version 5.

This manual is a combination of my own work (NorthStarNerd.org), and iThemes Media.

• Google Analytics V5 End User Introduction Manual

You may also wish to visit my recent GA post on the subject copying and pasting of GA profiles.