Busy day ~ and a new word

Holston Annual Conference

What a treat!  I've just "been" to Annual Conference for the first time in many years.  Living in St. Louis means it would take lots of time and cost me a lot to drive to Lake Junaluska in June every year.  And I'm retired and no longer have the stamina I once had.  Oh, did I fail to mention we met this year using Zoom and Livestream?  That's how I was so "close" to Bishop Dindy Taylor when I took her photo (above).  It's almost like sitting across the table from her when we went to lunch together back in the 1990s, when she and I were both appointed to churches in the Chattanooga District, now the Scenic City District.

It's nice that we can just "click" to get all of the videos and resources mentioned during today's Virtual Annual Conference:

• Council of Bishops Juneteenth Announcement
• Sexual Ethics Task Force Video
• 2020 Memorial Service
• Responding to the Opioid Crisis

One problem I never had, when I attended in person, was having Clawdia appropriate my tablet by sitting on it.  She was none too pleased when I insisted on taking more notes about Conference business.  I had tried to prepare for every contingency — okay, it was ONE contingency, that she WOULD want me to feed her during the three hours set aside for Annual Conference.  I put extra food in her dish, but she still came to me, begging for food.  When I evicted her from her tablet perch, she did go find food was already in her dish.

Word of the Day

Today, I've learned a new word — doxxed.

dox /däks/ verb, informal / past tense: doxxed = To search for and publish private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the Internet, typically with malicious intent.  Example:  "Hackers and online vigilantes routinely dox both public and private figures."

Or another example, as I learned from an article published in the Riverfront Times yesterday: St. Louis Mayor Broadcasts Names, Addresses of Citizens Calling for Police Reform.

"St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson doxxed protesters today live on air with full names and addresses.  Apparently a group of protesters left their info with names/addresses regarding the city budget and it was used against them."

Wow, what were you thinking, Mayor?  She has since apologized and the information has been taken down.  But still ... really?

Click to enlarge this image

Am I late to the Game?

I found an article from 2019 on How to Dox Yourself.  Apparently, this is a thing for reporters and people who have information "out there" that could cause trouble for them down the road.

"If you’re like most people, there are bits of information about you scattered around the internet.  These breadcrumbs can be used to “dox” journalists — that’s when malicious actors track down and share private information, including phone numbers and home addresses. ... New York Times security experts Kristen Kozinski and Neena Kapur shared the following tip sheet outlining how to dox yourself and safeguard your information before someone else can make trouble for you."

Lock it up!  Hide your information!  Hmm, maybe I should explore this further.  Okay, I've found another article by the same authors with a nearly identical title:  How to Dox Yourself on the Internet.  Am I the last person to learn this word?  Have any of you felt a need to dox yourself?