Are you paying attention ?

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Imagine if you email out a document to your team and ask them to read it. How do you know if they have even looked at the file. One way to get an indication is by embedding a token in the document. When the file is opened, you get a notification. And what happens if someone not in your team opens this file. That could be a problem. Perhaps documents (data) are leaking out of your organization.

This is the idea behind Canary Tokens. Very smart micro level traps. Think of them as granular trip wires. There are so many creative uses for these simple and effective triggers. You tokenize a file and if someone opens it, you receive a notification, with perhaps the source IP address.

Have a look at this old article the brilliant Haroon Meer shared with me. This is an example of a token in the analogue world. Compelling story this … smart stuff.

There’s a brilliant reason why Van Halen asked for a bowl of M&Ms with all the brown candies removed before every show

https://www.thisisinsider.com/van-halen-brown-m-ms-contract-2016-9

Playing Cards

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The Chinese invented playing cards in AD 1000.

Did you know that the traditional deck of playing cards is a strikingly coherent form of a calendar and as a religious form?

There are 52 weeks in the year and there are 52 playing cards in a deck.

There are 13 weeks in each season and there are 13 cards in each suit.

There are 4 seasons in a year and 4 suits in the deck.

There are 12 months in a year so there are 12 court cards (those with faces, namely jack, queen, king) in each suit.

The red cards represent day, while black cards represent night.

If you let jacks=11, queens=12, and kings=13, then add up all the sums of 1+2+3 + all the way to 13, you get 91.

Multiply this by 4, for the 4 suits, therefore 9×4 = 364, add 1 that is the joker and you will arrive at the number 365—being the number of days in a year.

Is that a mere coincidence or a greater intelligence?

Of interest is the sum of the letters in all the names of the cards, e.g., add up the letters in “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king”=52!

The spades indicate plowing or working.

The hearts indicate love and the seasonal crops.

The clubs indicate flourishing and growth.

The diamonds indicate reaping the wealth.

Also, in some card games, two jokers are used, indicating the leap year.

There is a deeper philosophy than merely playing cards.