DEERFIELD BEACH

Sept. 22 A man reported his gun stolen from his car on 7 Ave.

Sept. 22 A woman was seen on a surveillance camera stealing two watches and a headset.

Sept. 24 Someone broke into a home at 4231 NW 9 Ave. and stole jewelry, money and a computer.

Sept. 24 A man reported that an unknown person punched him in the face at 641 NW 37 St.

DEERFIELD – District 4

August 27 Theft was reported in Deer Isle at 832 NE 41 Ct. Suspect(s) took four vehicle batteries from two tow trucks that were parked in an open lot.

August 27 Theft took place in Deerfield Town Square, 3833 W. Hillsboro Blvd. Unknown persons stole the back flow valve worth $250 from the rear of the business.

August 27 Conveyance burglary occurred at Enterprise Commerce Center, 4550 NW 18 Ave. Victim stated that unknown suspect(s) burglarized his vehicle overnight.

LIGHTHOUSE POINT

Sept. 9 Victim said she went shopping at a store at 3700 N. Federal Hwy. and when she arrived home, she realized she had left her purse in the shopping cart. She went back to the store and found that no one had turned the purse in. There was $200 cash in it, along with a key ring that holds keys to homes that she cleans and an address book. Loss was $355.

Sept. 10 A victim who lives at 2833 NE 35 St. purchased furniture off Craigslist.com. A subject contacted her and said she needed to deposit $500 in a paypal account and needed another $300 for moving expenses. She was sent an email and was told she needed to purchase moneygrams from Walmart and to call and give the subject the information. She became suspicious of the transactions and contacted the police.

Sept. 15 An A/C unit was damaged when someone cut the wires to the unit in the rear of the residence at 2100 NE 39 St. Damage was estimated at $5,000.

By Emily Rosen

ERosen424@aol.com

www.emilyrosen424.com

Am I the only person suffering from chronic password-itis?

When, where and who is the person who will come up with one single way to ID oneself in the cloud. Surely, the technology is already there. Is it possible that every time Obama goes into a new website, he needs to establish a user ID and then come up with a password (how many times can he use POTUS 1600?) which must be case sensitive, have at least nine characters, including at least one number, and it must be “STRONG?”

So, do I care if someone uses my ID to get into Amazon, Walmart, Fandango or the Ritz Carlton (oh yeah!) or any one of a zillion websites I surf regularly?

I am sick and tired of inventing passwords and changing my “user ID,” as ‘they’ recommend doing every so often. And what’s worse – if I don’t write them down immediately, poof … out of my head and I have to start all over. Time Magazine this week is touting all kinds of “cloud” statistics – but I wonder if anyone ever compiled the number of wasted hours spent on filling out the information requested in order to browse most websites? And then you make one eensy weensy typo and, bang, you have to start all over again. If, like me, you have fat fingers that mistakenly wander to adjacent letters on the keyboard, fergetaboutit … You’re doing this three and four times over.

The ‘they’s have me coming and going – and ‘they’ know everything there is to know about me already. This past week, every time I go into my email, I get pictures of hammocks, shoe racks, Italy, designer sheets and – well – you don’t have to know everything – but those were my most recent searches.

So, I wrote down my latest password for www. XYZ – It’s on a scrap of paper somewhere in the jungle of my desk. But where? Ah yes … there it is, finally. NOW what do I do with it? What do YOU do with yours? Okay, I’m feeling risky — and I’m telling! I go into my WORD DOCS and simply add (in alphabetized order) the new site and password. I have four single spaced pages of passwords, some of which I used only once, recently. Others of which I used only once seven or more years ago, and, when I try to get back into the site, my password is no longer valid. Here I go again.

Ah, but then I’m always changing one or more … and back into my DOCS I go. The clock is ticking. More time wasted. So I print out the entire four pages – and Computer be damned – I find one of those old fashioned things called pencils – cross out the old password and do a write-in with the new one.

What happened to fingerprints, voice ID, retina recognition or whatever new technology is surely in the pipelines? One year away? five years? 10? Meanwhile, I consult the four-page printout on my desk for each “open sesame” to a website. I feel like I have retro-gressed to the dark ages.

Forget Google drones, 3-D printing, computer watches – get me one universal SECURE password. Puleeeze!

By Emily Rosen

ERosen424@aol.com

www.emilyrosen424.com

I can still recall those fanciful BSP days — Before Smart Phones – when the fun of taking a road trip – for me – was keeping the map on my lap and following it as the car wheels rotated. I’d “X” our departing point — and circle our destination – and study the names of all the towns and route numbers along the way. Blessings on AAA – and their tour books.

Excellent “navigator” that I was, I also became a historian and thespian, as I read aloud to my trusty driver from the great literary texts that related all the salient historical and recreational information about even the most obscure underpopulated hamlets along the byways.

That was “then.” But it is now 2014 –the age of “Siri” and any number of voices projected by the invisible ones. Thus, on a trip this past weekend through Central Florida with my very grown-up, No. 1 son, I had to endure his constant assurance that “The Droit will get us there.”

I hand-held his old, hidden-under-the-seat, humongous 2005 Walmart Road Map Book of the USA, flipping immediately to Florida. (MY handy accessible fold-up AAA map having been disposed of when I moved, assured by my progeny that maps were passé) I easily spotted the “Winter” town of our destination, (there’s Winter Park, Winter Haven, Winter Springs, Winter Garden) while HE was busy trying to get the Droit Talking Lady to direct us to our “spot.” Relying completely on his mantra: “The Droit will get us there,” I closed the map book and my eyes, and relaxed.

Alas, we went 25 miles out of our way before I woke up, looked around at the signs and realized that he had confused his “Winters.” (How would the Droit lady know THAT? – and I was asleep!) And so, with dogged persistence and time a-wastin,’ he managed to convey a new message to “The Voice,” as we turned back from Winter Haven towards Winter Garden, our Winter of choice. (More on that nice choice at another time.)

Some of you may love Siri and the Droit Lady. I, for one, harbor great antipathy for both. Siri doesn’t understand a word I say, despite my “elocution”– trained speech. I am sick to death with having to repeat myself to her – and then getting no response anyway. And the Droit Lady (this goes for all navigation voices, of course!) is one big nag, interrupting conversation as she engages in redundant directions and shutting up only when we need to know immediately — if we turn left or right. That’s when she takes her break!

Don’t get me wrong. I love living in the Internet age. I love what my computer can do – and even what my smartphone can do. But golly gee-whiz — I really miss my maps.

Have a happy July 4th — at home—or travelin’ SAFE.

Minimum wage discussion goes back to FDR

Dear Editor:

In 1938, FDR passed a bill establishing a minimum wage of 25 cents.

And in 1953, I received 75 cents as minimum wage. Wow! FDR did so many great things for working people it is amazing…

One was appointing the first woman to the cabinet [in 1933 — Frances Perkins as Secretary of the Dept. of Labor]. And later, the first JEW in the cabinet in a land full of bigots like Henry Ford, William Randolph Hearst, etc.

Frances said she would only take the job if she could pass child labor laws. Wow, for that time period. Today, in many countries, they still employ young children.

Currently, we want to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $9.00. That is what our President wants to do to help the working poor.

If you think $7.25 is a fair wage, try living on it. In a land of corporate greed, CEO retired from McKesson, Mr. Hammergren, gets the highest pension on record at $159 million. And, the other day, a CEO who bombed out received $90 million.

Yet, working on minimum wage means barely paying for food, shelter, etc., and often being on food stamps and Medicaid.

Whenever this comes up, many lies are told: 1. Increase is still small due to inflation, and won’t make people rich. 2. Increase would go back into the economy for basics not overseas into tax shelters. 3. Many small businesses already pay more than minimum and would increase everyone a slight amount. That would help the economy as money would be spent quickly, not stored in Swiss banks. 4. Businesses would not go out of business — Walmart in Canada pays more than workers here, and still makes record profits. 5. Many small businesses want their workers to make more and spend more. 6. With unions weakened today, many companies try to screw workers calling them contractors, refusing to give them health benefits, and cheating them on overtime, as stated in the book Wage Theft.

Thank God FDR appointed the first great woman to the cabinet — and had Sam Rayburn as Speaker of the House. He makes the present speaker look like a fool.

Marty Weisberg

Coral Springs

You May Pick Up A Copy Of The Observer At The Following Locations

Boca Raton

Town Center Mall (Food Court)

Palmetto Park Road & NE 5th Ave.

Boca Raton Public Library

Burger King (175 North Federal Hwy)

Boca Raton Community Center (Inside)

Boca Raton Community Hospital- Gift Shop

Glades & 441 Shell Station

NE 5 Ave (Shops, Publix)

Mizner Park (Near Ruby Tuesdays)

Sugar Sands Tennis Center

TGIF Fridays (St. Andrews Blvd.)

Walmart (441 & Palmetto Park Road)

Outback Steakhouse (SW 18 Street)

Jersey Mike’s Subs (Yamato Rd)

Denny’s (24 St & Federal Highway

Kmart (Palmetto Park & I-95)

HomeGoods (Glades & Turnpike)

Updated May 11, 2013