Blog Oklahoma Podcast 176: Back At It
It’s been way too long since there’s been an episode. So, let’s get back at it.
Welcome to Blog Oklahoma.
Back At It
If it wasn’t one thing it was another they kept me from doing the Blog Oklahoma Podcast for most of 2022. If it wasn’t hardware issues, it was unexpected life events. Such as it was my turn to catch COVID, that was fun. Or the unexpected loss of two of our beloved pets, FB and Widget. That really hurt.
Well, I’m back from the unexpected 2022 hiatus, and I’m confident 2023 will be a much better podcast year. I don’t think I’m going to back to a weekly podcast quite yet, so I’m going to be on a monthly schedule for now.
Ha. Well, I say that here it is February already. This podcast was supposed to be out last week in January, but that fridged weather we had actually drove me out of my home office. It was just too cold. My little office heater couldn’t keep up with the bitter north winds. Oh well I’m doing it now. So, expect another episode later this month.
If you have any questions about the podcast or what I’ve been up to here at Blog Oklahoma please feel free to ask.
So here’s to a better podcasting 2023. Let’s get back at it.
Mastodon
I invite everyone to follow Blog Oklahoma on Mastodon at @blogoklahoma@social.tulsa.ok.us.
Mastodon has been my primary social network for a few years now, and I thoroughly enjoy the community that has grown. If you’re not familiar with Mastodon, think of it as a something like Twitter but decentralized yet federated, open source, ad free, no algorithmic feed, and without that Musky smell.
To learn more about Mastodon please visit joinmastodon.org.
In The News
Hey I want to let everyone now in the very next episode of the podcast I’m happy to announce the return of In The News! It’s where I discuss some of the headlines from around Oklahoma. This will be a little bit different since I’ll attempt to talk about more local news from around the state. Local news such as:
- You’ll learn about some citizens in Ardmore who are concerned about pollution in a local pond.
- Or that you’ll be able to attend a gardening forum at the Lawton farmer’s market.
- How about a tale of a haunting of a restaurant in Nobel.
- And how the Cherokee nation has started program to help with addiction in Tahlequah.
It’ll be more than just the headlines, but hopefully you’ll get the idea. So please join me in the next episode for In The News!
Newsletter
Over the years of doing the Blog Oklahoma Podcast, one of the things I’ve enjoyed doing, believe it or not, was putting together the extras I’d add to the show notes. Things like interesting articles, videos, and music, or sharing tidbits of Oklahoma life and a look at what I’m working on at Blog Oklahoma. Of course, I could share these things on social media, and often do, but it's easy for all this to get lost as it scrolls by in your feed. That's why I'm excited to tell you about the Blog Oklahoma Newsletter. It's a way for me to share even more with you. You'll get it straight to your inbox, so you can read it when it's convenient for you.
If this sounds interesting to you, please go to blogoklahoma.com/newsletter and sign up today. It’s free and comes out most Mondays.
Great Backyard Bird Count
It’s time once again for one of my favorite yearly activities, the Great Backyard Bird Count. On February 17th through the 20th simply take a few moments to observe the birds in your area.
Whether it’s your backyard, the park, or wherever your favorite birdwatching spot is, just spend 15 minutes and write down what kinds of birds you see, how many, and when and where you saw them. When you’re done counting, submit your results to the eBird website.
I find this an easy, fun, and relaxing way to enjoy nature. If it’s nice, you get to spend some time outside. If not, just watch out your backdoor or sit next to a window. Your observations will help scientist better understand global bird populations.
If you would like to know more about the Great Backyard Bird Count, please visit birdcount.org.
LastPass Update
I’ve mentioned this news in the Blog Oklahoma Newsletter recently, but I thought I’d bring it up here in case you missed this and give you an update about it.
At the end of 2022, there was news about a security breach at LastPass. LastPass is a popular password manager and up until now a well-regarded one. This breach allowed someone to download LastPass customers’ full password vaults from one of LastPass’ backups. Luckily LastPass does have strong encryption and only you have the passkey. So, your passwords should be safe. Unfortunately, there was some metadata that wasn’t encrypted, such as email addresses and URLs. This means you could be at risk of other security intrusions such as phishing attacks. If you use or used LastPass, it would be a good idea to go down your password list and start changing them. Especially for sensitive services like banks and email. If the service you’re saving also offers multifactor authentication (aka 2FA), turn it on.
Due to this breach and how it was handled by LastPass, many in the tech community recommend moving away from LastPass to another password manager such as Bitwarden, Dashlane, 1Password, or KeePassXC. Each of these password managers has its own pros and cons. So look them over and see which one matches your own needs.
I’ve recommended LastPass before, so this is disappointing news for sure. I’ve updated passwords, made backups, imported them into a different service, and closed my LastPass account. On the plus side, it gave me an opportunity to review all my passwords and make any security adjustments as needed.
I wish LastPass the best and hopefully this will help them build a better service in the future.
Oklahoma Legislature, February Voting
The Oklahoma Legislature will start its new session at noon on Monday, February 6, 2023, with the State of the State address by Governor Kevin Stitt. I encourage everyone to follow legislation as it works through the sausage mill that is Oklahoma politics. A few days ago, in the Blog Oklahoma Newsletter, I share instructions on how to get the status of any bill. Again, I’ll have a link to this and more in the show notes. There are a few bills in there that need to be watched that’s for certain.
Also, there is an election on Tuesday, February 14, 2023. Even though this is considered an off year, there are election dates set for every month. This February’s election will be for local issues such as for school board or bond issues. Please visit the Oklahoma State Elections board’s w to see if you have a vote coming up.
CafePress Store, Spotify
Did you know we have our own CafePress store? There you can purchase a t-shirt, coffee mug, and other great items with the Blog Oklahoma Podcast artwork on them. Just head on over to cafepress.com/blogoklahomapodcast.
I’ve added even more great music to the Blog Oklahoma Bonus playlist on Spotify. There are many hours of music for you to enjoy.
Links From This Episode
- Mastodon
- In The News
- Newsletter
- Great Backyard Bird Count
- LastPass Update
- Oklahoma Legislature
- CafePress Store, Spotify
Blog Oklahoma Podcast
We encourage you to share your thoughts on our Subreddit. Please feel free to sign up for our newsletter for even more bonus content. And finally you can connect with us at Mastodon, Twitter, Instagram, or send us email at blogoklahoma@blogoklahoma.net.
This episode was recorded in front of a live teddy bear audience in beautify just off downtown Elk City, Oklahoma. During this session we used a MXL 990 microphone or Behringer Ultravoice XM18005 microphone connected to a Behringer Xenyx 502 audio mixer using a Behringer U-Control UCA202 USB Interface to feed into Audacity. Our audio episodes are hosted on Libsyn and our video episodes are hosted on YouTube.
The Blog Oklahoma Podcast episodes are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
