And The Password Is. . .?

Technology is truly mind boggling. I have lived to see amazing changes in my life – the flying car isn’t here yet, but devices like the Kindle, iPod, iPhone and iPad have rendered normal things I never thought possible.

Carry several hundred pounds of books around in a tiny little electronic device? Sure, I do it every day now. Collect all my music in one spot, and for a $10 monthly fee have access to millions of more songs to listen on demand? Done. Bring my laptop to a city council meeting and take notes while I check my web site and Facebook accounts and update my Twitter feed, wirelessly? No problem.

I am forever grateful to the millions of brilliant people who worked endlessly on making all these innovations come to pass. My life is so much different now than it was before, and in many ways it’s better.

But not in every way.

With all this amazing technology, you’d think there would be a solution to the maddening, mind-numbing and endlessly frustrating problem of passwords.

I have a password for everything. And to make life convenient, I have one password for most things. But lately, because so many different aspects of my life require passwords, and so many sites are now requiring a certain combination of letters, numbers and characters, I have found myself using more than one password. Except they tell you not to write them down, so what, pray tell, are you supposed to do? Carry ten or 12 password combinations around in your head all day, every day, and summon them on demand?

My head does not carry that much information.

This morning, as I was trying to update my iPhone apps, my Apple account told me I had to reset my password. This has happened the last three times I’ve updated my apps, and the last time I think I actually changed my password. So now I don’t remember what it is, and I can’t access my Apple account. I have many things to do this morning, and don’t have time to spend the 15 or so minutes it’s going to take to get this done.

I have passwords for my bank account, my Patch accounts, my Apple account (whatever it is), and various other online activities. It is time for all these brilliant techies to come up with a way for our amazing devices to recognize us without the need for us to formulate and try to remember a dozen different passwords. You folks are brilliant – use that brilliance in the service of those who, like me, want to work and play in your world, but just can’t remember that stupid combination of words, letters and characters that will let us in.

WEATHER:

Partly cloudy in the morning then becoming sunny. Patchy fog in the morning. Highs around 90. West winds 5 to 10 mph increasing to 10 to 20 mph in the afternoon.

MEETINGS:

The General Plan Task Force meets tonight at Martinez City Hall, 525 Henrietta St.

EVENTS:

TODAY IN HISTORY (from Wikipedia):

1862 - Sailing from San Francisco to Panama City, the SS Golden Gate catches fire and sinks off Manzanillo, Mexico, killing 231.

1940 - The animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.

1949 - Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.

1964 - Vietnam War: 5,000 more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.

1974 - Watergate Scandal: the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon.

2007 - Phoenix News Helicopter Collision: news helicopters from Phoenix, Arizona television stations KNXV and KTVK collide over Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix while covering a police chase.