Let me tell you a story

February 16, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
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India

If you’ve dropped in here over the past couple of months I’m sure you know that I took a trip in December last year to Bangladesh and India to see the excellent work being done through SIMaid’s Girls off the Streets.

I’m amazed at the work that is being done to bring hope and healing to young women who have been rescued from human trafficking. Young women who have been sexually exploited and sold into prostitution are now growing in confidence as they learn to trust again and develop life skills that will give them a strong foundation for life ahead. Girls off the Streets is giving them a future and importantly, letting them know that they are truly loved.

If you haven’t already, let me encourage you to check out Girls off the Streets and find out how you can be part of this project which is bringing hope to those who had lost hope.

If you live in the Perth area I want to let you know that I’ll be talking about the trip and sharing some insights tomorrow night (Sunday the 17th) from 6:30 at Thornlie Church of Christ. I’ll be sharing the stage with Kieran Johnson of SIMaid who was also a part of the trip. We’ll both be talking about our experiences and giving you practical ways to fight human trafficking.

The church is at 319 Spencer Road, Thornlie. It’d be great if you could make it and I’d love to catch up with you after the service.

If you can’t make it but you’re part of a church or other group around Perth, and you’d like to hear more, I’m looking for more places to speak up for young girls who can’t. Get in touch with me via my Contact Page so that we can arrange a time and date.



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How to Ride

February 7, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
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howtorideFrom the first time his feet turned the pedals of his tricycle as a child, Phil Latz was hooked. His racing career started at the age of ten and included four state championships. He also competed internationally in America and Europe.

His involvement in road riding continued when in 1989 he went on to create and publish Australia’s premier cycling magazine Bicycling Australia.

But cycling isn’t just about racing for Phil. He’s a firm believer that bicycles hold the power to bring social change and freedom from poverty. He recently joined me in the studio for my radio program on 98five to talk about two wheels as a way to bring about meaningful change for more than just those who enjoy cycling. You can hear our chat by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

Phil has recently written and published a book titled How to Ride. It’s a great read for those who want the basics of how to begin cycling.

How to Ride starts with advice on basic bicycle terminology, and which type of bicycle is best for each person and use.
Then it moves onto enlighten readers about safe cycling skills and habits. There are also chapters specifically dedicated to cycling for women, cycling with children, how to safely transport bikes in your car, basic maintenance, and more.

How to Ride is definitely not a book for the elite or for hard core racing cyclists, although there is a chapter briefly demystifying the various forms of cycle sport by answering questions such as how the placings of the Tour de France are determined and why those strange track cyclists play cat and mouse at the Olympics.

How to Ride is lavishly illustrated in full colour throughout. There are dozens of photos showing every conceivable type of bicycle and accessory, plus a several series of ‘how to’ photos to demonstrate safe cycling and other basic skills.

How to Ride is written by Phil Latz, who with over 40 years of cycling experience, industry insight and pure unrelenting dedication is the perfect companion to help you start your cycling journey.



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Paperman

February 6, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
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If you haven’t seen this animated Disney short film, grab a coffee, sit down and take six minutes to enjoy Paperman.



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Releasing Children from Poverty

February 3, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
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GOR

25000 Spins is a non-profit business dedicated to making a difference to children in need. Their vision is to not only make the lives of children better but to empower and challenge people to get involved in the cause through physical challenges.

Together with a few friends, I’m about to head to Victoria to take on the Great Ocean Road Challenge. The ride is raising money for ADRA, Compassion and Botswana Orphan Project.

There’ll be several dozen people taking part overall but within my group of friends from Western Australia, there’s Mark Rose, Derek Roper and Stewart Horne.

Our chosen charity is Compassion and we’re extremely grateful for everyone who has donated so far and helped us release children from poverty but we still have a long way to go to raise much needed funds for Compassion.

We’ll be riding 290 kilometres and battling some serious hills over three days and we need your support. By sponsoring our efforts on the challenge you’ll be releasing children from poverty. You’ll be giving children a real chance at life.

If you want to sponsor any of us just choose which rider you’re sponsoring and click on the link below.

Click here to support Mark Rose.

Click here to support Derek Roper.

Click here to support Stewart Horne..

Click here to support Rodney Olsen.

It’ll be the second time I’ve taken on this challenge to raise money for Compassion and to release children from poverty.

Having seen first hand, both in Haiti and Dominican Republic, how effective Compassion’s work is, I am determined to do what I can to help.

Maybe you can afford to sponsor us for a dollar a kilometre, maybe 50 cents a kilometre, or perhaps you’d just like to donate $10, $20, $50 or any other amount.

Please help us save some lives. Please make your donation, large or small, and then share this post in as many ways as you can so that more people will get on board and more lives will be saved.



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Twitter Hacked

February 2, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
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twitter

The big news today for Twitter users is that there has been a major hacking attempt that may have seen around a quarter of a million accounts exposed.

This week, we detected unusual access patterns that led to us identifying unauthorized access attempts to Twitter user data. We discovered one live attack and were able to shut it down in process moments later. However, our investigation has thus far indicated that the attackers may have had access to limited user information – usernames, email addresses, session tokens and encrypted/salted versions of passwords – for approximately 250,000 users. – Twitter Blog

Twitter realised that the hack would take more than 140 characters to explain, so they took to their blog to let us know that we needed to change passwords. I use the word ‘we’ because I was one of those 250 000 people that had their accounts compromised.

I must admit that when I got the email I was a little hesitant to follow the link they supplied to reset my password. Similar emails have been the way phishing scams have worked for years. This one looked real but just in case I tried to access Twitter only to find that I couldn’t log in. I then used the ‘Lost Password’ feature in Twitter to do my reset instead of following the link, just in case.

I’ll admit that I was pretty pleased with the way that Twitter moved swiftly to ensure the safety of their users. As well as dealing with the direct threat, they’ve given some helpful keys to ensuring safety online. Whether you’re using Twitter, Facebook or any other kind of online service, their advice is work checking out.

Though only a very small percentage of our users were potentially affected by this attack, we encourage all users to take this opportunity to ensure that they are following good password hygiene, on Twitter and elsewhere on the Internet. Make sure you use a strong password – at least 10 (but more is better) characters and a mixture of upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols – that you are not using for any other accounts or sites. Using the same password for multiple online accounts significantly increases your odds of being compromised. If you are not using good password hygiene, take a moment now to change your Twitter passwords. For more information about making your Twitter and other Internet accounts more secure, read our Help Center documentation or the FTC’s guide on passwords. – Twitter Blog

If you’re looking for a great way to create and manage secure passwords, I’d advise you to check out LastPass. I’ve found using LastPass to be easy, safe and helpful.

The LastPass team believes your online experience can be easier, faster and safer. Collectively we lose more than 10,300 hours per year retrieving lost passwords, making new ones or talking to call center representatives about them. And it gets much worse if a password is stolen and misused. We go online to connect with people, explore, shop and learn. We certainly don’t go online to fuss with passwords or risk our privacy, personal or financial information. Designed by web enthusiasts and skilled application developers, LastPass was created to make the online experience easier and safer for everyone.

By the way, if you’re not already following me on Twitter, you’ll find me here.



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