A Fairly secure Password

You need at least 6 words.  A phrase you like, the chapter title of a book, some witty or funny saying, something you KNOW by heart.  Easy to remember.  Or, you already know it.  You also need some replacement rules. How you ALWAYS replace certain letters with numbers or symbols.  Rules that you ALWAYS use, so you can remember them.
As an example, rules can be:

    Letter             Replacement
----------------------------------------------------------
       o                         0   (zero)
       i                          |   (vertical bar)
       e                         3
       s                         $
       w                       \/\/ 
       m                       /\/\

       l ("ell")               1   (#1)
       x                         ×  (multiply sign)

And so forth.

Let's imagine the phrase you chose is:
you can easily make good secure passwords

You take the first letter from each word in the phrase:
  ycemgsp

You next use your replacement rules on these characters:
  yc3/\/\g$p

To make it better, you capitalize every alternate letter, giving:

Yc3/\/\G$p

THAT is a password that is pretty damned secure. It cannot be guessed.
If you chose a phrase of six or more words that you already KNOW, then all you have to remember is the replacement rules you created.  If you make those rules easy to remember, (Except for the "w" and "m", the rules above are easy to remember), then you have a secure password without too much trouble, THAT YOU CAN REMEMBER.

This sounds like a lot of work.  It really is not.  It takes a lot of words to explain it in detail.  ALSO, you only have to do this VERY infrequently.  For some passwords, only once every couple of years or so.  It is not as bad as coming up with new passwords every couple of months. 

Try it.  See how it works out.  Leave a comment.
Thanks.

Thoughts after a Tweet

Recently, a friend of mine re-tweeted an aphorism from the Dalai Lama.  I followed with a comment on how I feel the "average" human views such action / advice.
In the USA, it seems, unless we are constantly "promoting" ourselves, and defending such "promotion", we are a failure.  Humble is a handicap, hubris a strength.  Along with the seeming world wide view that the only true "success" is monetary, these views seem to me to be truly the downfall of modern man.

Now I, on the other hand, have a set of beliefs that contain the following:

1) Always try to treat others as you yourself would wish to be treated.  It seems to me to be simple respect for a fellow human being.  Being human, you will often fail at perfectly implementing this rule.  But as you keep trying, you will get better and better at it.  Patience and determination will win out.
[Obviously, people with severe mental handicaps are not included in this "aphorism".]

2) When possible, always think before you act.  It seems the "primeval brain" (hippocampus, thalamus, amygdala, et. al) will react in "fight, flight, or freeze" (highly emotional or threatening) situations Before the "thinking brain" has time to act.  (To the best of my knowledge, that is.)  IF you can develop a habit of thinking first, you can avoid all types of problems in situations that are not really "fight, flight, or freeze" situations.  Since perceived "verbal attacks" fall into this category, (evoking immediate response), thinking first allows a lot of potential interpersonal crises to be avoided, or even a true understanding to be reached.  It is a hard habit to truly learn, but once you do, it can be immensely rewarding in your relationships with other humans.

3) Remember always, that you cannot give something you do not possess.  This pertains to time, also.  Do not start something that may take years to complete unless you are willing to devote years to it.  Also, of course, are the "ordinary" things.  Money, emotional support, compassion, understanding, love, et. al..  If you do not "have" these things (possess and understand them), you cannot give them to others.  Not in any way that will help or assist them.  Remembering this will limit the amount, and number of times, you disappoint someone and "let them down".  [Disappointing someone, or letting them down, will usually have a more profound and longer lasting effect than any help you might have given.]

4) If you take an action, or a course of behavior, expecting some personal gain (or reward), do not bother.  You are doing it for entirely the wrong reason, and it's outcome will not be what it should be.
Take the action because you wish to, because you feel it is right, and/or because nobody else is.  In other words, if you are expecting to gain from this action / course, or a reward, your heart will not be "in" your actions.  This will cause you to fail, or worse, to leave things in a state worse than they were initially.
Obviously, I am not writing about investing money (which you do specifically for future gain), or investment in yourself (learning, physical and/or mental training, etc.), which you do for the same reason.

These four "rules", that I try to live by, are by no means all inclusive.  There are others.  Many derived from a set of Main Rules that I try to live by.
All this was prompted by a re-tweet from the Dalai Lama, that a friend of mine made this morning.  I only created this blog entry as an attempt to explain, partially, how I think.
[And to give some insight as to why I think the way I do.]

Cheers, and, of course, comments are always welcome.