Daily Post – February 17th 2021

Living through a pandemic

in the south of France

336 days in Carcassonne since

1st lockdown in March 2020

▫️ DAILY AND WEEKLY STATISTICS HERE .

▫️ NEWS AND TITBITS

▫️ COVID 19 Hospitalisations are down, but the milestone of 3,000 hospital deaths has been passed in the Occitanie region.

▫️ BIGGEST DATA BREACH ‘OF ALL TIME’ leaks billions of emails and passwords

The largest data breach of all time consists of 3 billion user credentials – and it’s more likely than not that your password is in it. Named the Compilation of All Breaches, or COMB, the leak, as the name suggests, is actually a group of many separate data breaches, combined into one gargantuan file for hackers to look through for unwitting targets. The dataset contains 3.2 billion email and password combinations, drawn from smaller hacks from companies like Netflix and LinkedIn. The sheer size of the hack means that most internet users likely have some exposure to the hack. If you’re still using the same usernames and passwords you’ve used for years, you’re likely at risk from a hacker or cyberattack. The fastest way to take action is to use a password manager, and reset your passwords to something different for each website or app you use. If that sounds like too much effort, then resetting your passwords on your most important logins is probably the bare minimum. To see if your data has been included in the hack, cybersecurity outfit CyberNews has a searchable database to check if you’ve been compromised.

So far 1 of my 3 emails has been compromised

▫️ FRAUDULENT EMAIL

For the first time today, I reported to the authorities / police an internet fraud. The email I received is so well done that I seriously had to think twice. Even as I write this I am still wondering about it. I hope that I shall get a feedback from the police to put my mind at ease. Below is the internet address in case you need to report something.

▫️ KITKAT VEGAN

The vegan chocolate race is accelerating
Nestlé will market “Kitkat V”, a dairy-free version of its famous chocolate bar. The heavyweights in the sector are launching themselves into this segment on tiptoe. With Easter just weeks away, Lindt, Cadbury and Mars have also been working on new vegan confectionery products.

Sounds horrible to me!

▫️ AMSTERDAM’S FROZEN CANALS

The Dutch took out their ice skates on Sunday to enjoy the last day of a persistent cold, which partly froze the famous canals of Amsterdam for the first time in almost three years. Dozens of skaters ventured for the second day in a row on the Prinsengracht, the iconic canal in the centre of the Dutch capital.

▫️ ANCILLARY NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND from our correspondent in Britain

✒️ There’s always room for another car…

French automaker Citroën has unveiled the Ami, a tiny electric car that’s designed from the outset to be as cheap as possible. The car isn’t very fast and it looks a bit like a washing machine, but it only costs €6,000, or the equivalent of about $6,600.

BRM BRM !

▫️ MUSIC

ANOTHER ONE IN MY TOP 100

You cannot not have Fleetwood Mac in your top 100

▫️ PIC OF THE DAY

Quite a story behind that picture. We had in fact just arrived earlier that day from holiday in Spain on the way home to northern Germany and stopped on the way in the Nièvre Departement to visit my father. The trip from Spain had been terrible with our BMW breaking down in the area of Barcelona. After waiting some hours in a car park in the intense heat, with two very unhappy kids, the rescue services ADAC took us to their office and offered to fly us home (I can only recommend the German ADAC. I have been a member for years and still am despite the fact I live in France). The problem was that I had promised to visit my dad. Eventually, instead of flying us home, they lent us a car so that we could continue our journey. It was a very tiring overnight trip. We looked for a hotel but to no avail. Everything was fully booked. I had to stop and try to catch a couple of hours sleep in the car. Not comfortable at all. The smells emanating from the boot did not help either. We had purchased in Spain a rather large leg of ham which with the heat of the day had started to get rather smelly.

I have to had that we were in fact 2 cars traveling back and we had agreed with our friends to meet up at my Dad’s house. When we eventually got there, a surprise awaited us and namely tickets for the Formula 1 Grand Prix taking place that day in nearby Magny-Cours. Despite the extreme lack of sleep, how could we say no to that.

📸

▫️ NEWS FROM ACROSS THE POND

▫️ FACT

▫️ WEATHER

Still hoping to go out today but we are expectting two separate deliveries as well as a visit from one handworker which forces us to stay at home for the time being.