Knight Anole

Sometimes I can get good lizard photos even when I don’t have flash. They look very different, of course, but still, it’s a neat effect.

Originally posted at stories.starmind.org.

Snowy Owl

Owls like to teach. This owl is an information security expert and wants you to know how authentication factors work.

---

“There are different ‘factors’ used when a person claims an identity. The more factors that can be presented, the more secure a login is. This is why some websites send a code to your phone for you to enter as part of the login. The different factors are:

1. Something you know, like a username or a password

2. Something you have, like a token or text message

3. Something you are, like a fingerprint or racist

4. Something you only vaguely remember, like that night at summer camp

5. Something old, like a 2016 presidential candidate

6. Something new, like this post! (no, please, like this post. Owls need external validation.)

7. Something shared, like the password you stopped using in 2003

8. Something blue, like a whale, monkey, frog, lobster, or bird

9. Something in the way she moves, like that attracts you like no other lover


10. Something your mother told you one that isn’t actually true, like the fact that all the vitamins are in the crust of your peanut butter and jelly sandwich

11. Something you can never have, like this thing is slowly taking you apart, grey would be the color if you had a heart

These factors can be mixed and matched to provide strong authentication to services.”

---

As it turns out, owls aren’t as smart as they think they are.

Originally posted at stories.starmind.org.

Pig

You can’t tell ’cause he’s wearing a mask, but this is a pig.

Originally posted at stories.starmind.org.

Parrot

What’s brown and sticky and yummy and covered in parrot spit?

Originally posted at stories.starmind.org.