For ATM access, most banks will honor your request for an ATM-only card instead of accepting their default ATM/Debit card.
An ATM-only card means you will have to use ATMs more frequently, thereby potentially exposing yourself to skimmers, as well as use of your PIN in public. Since there's no zero-liability coverage with most banks for skimmed ATM transactions, you're putting your money at greater risk by doing this. Oh, and by the way, the skimmers have this one figured out too. You no longer have to worry about the shady looking person loitering near the ATM watching you enter your PIN. They install a tiny camera painted to match the fascia of the ATM, and they aim it at the keypad.
I'm an ATM-only card user. I can't tell you how many people I've watched at a checkout use a debit card and punch in their PIN with the entire line of people watching, as well as who knows what cameras.
At an ATM, I block views with my body and cover my PIN entering hand with the deposit envelope or my wallet. I suppose an infrared camera might get around the former?
Why would I be going to an ATM more frequently? If you are you suggesting I'd have more things to deposit--that would be great! (But I'd still only go once a week at most, I tend to accumulate low amounts and deposit them all at once.)
In your first paragraph that I didn't quote, there were a fair number of contingencies. I don't want to use anything that offers, "Yes, your bank account may get cleaned out"......"until it gets resolved"......"if you have a good bank"......"refund overdraft fees".
As other replies to this pointed out, there's little motivation for a financial institution to rectify the problem when they are profiting by charging fees for the transactions. With a credit card, I'm not out any money at all, I'm not charged fees on top of the woes, and the financial institution has entire departments proactively working to prevent fraud since it impacts their bottom line.
You didn't mention that banks tend to charge flat fees for debit cards used with a PIN while they charge the merchant a percentage fee for debit card usage via signature--hence they promote and encourage the later use.
There's also the "wrong hands" issue. If a debit card/number falls into the wrong hands, they can use it. If my atm card/number falls into the wrong hands, they can't use it (without gaining further information).
My subjective evaluation based upon research, experience and comments here: Debit card: high risk, high loss, high life impact = horrible ATM card: lower risk, high loss, high life impact = manageable Credit card: low risk, almost no loss, low life impact = useful
You can do your "test" with your EYES CLOSED, arms bent, instead of both index fingers, use an index finger of one hand, any other finger of the other.
Now try each arm bent at different angles, one higher and farther away than the other, thumb of one hand, pinky of the other so they meet on an odd angle instead of along an XYZ axis--gee, just as easy as with eyes open, hmm?
Thanks to stretch receptors in your muscles, you don't need to see yourself to exactly touch yourself knowingly, which is why masturbation isn't as nearly as much fun as alternatives.
Nice quoting out of context, "...without external chemical stimulus" would be the follow up.
I've never seen any research that suggests what you claim, that "cigarettes make it impossible to experience pleasure".
I'd suggest a wild assertion such as you made would be beyond a "deeply flawed study".;-)
I couldn't care less, but did suggest researching the matter per the claim it had few neurological side effects--gaining information is frequently of benefit. As one of my favorite quotes goes, "a man not improving himself, endlessly becomes himself".
...it's apparently a surprisingly effective antidepressant with very few neurological side-effects.
Huh? Other than the fact that it alters brain chemistry and ultimately makes it literally impossible to experience pleasure? (Without an external chemical stimulant.)
You might want to research what happens to dopamine receptors due to smoking.
After stopping smoking, it can take six years for brain chemistry to return to normal.
On the subject, when will windows get a proper scripting language, like Rexx was on OS2 and amiga?
OMG, off topic but I SO miss ARexx...
The closest I've found is AutoHotKeys, which has a whole scripting language and can interact with the UI of different software. It's not as useful as having Rexx ports in applications, but opens up many capabilities (the typo auto-correcter alone is worth the download).
The library of a friend of mine loans out not just games, but entire game systems. I'm not sure if teens check it out as much as older people, or which department it's kept in. I kind of doubt they're kept in the teen department where general circulation might miss them.
eReaders too, despite being in violation of the user agreement for one big name reader, who of course has gained many sales after patrons try it and subsequently buy their own.
Don't presume it's tax dollars. At a large library here, they are no longer buying DVDs in favor of Bluray because the donor who provides money for the video collection now wants Bluray.
Also don't forget, the form of media delivery doesn't impact it's value of "self-improvement and betterment".
Libraries were formed as surrogate book stores, specifically to bring content to a wider audience. They are currently in a significant shift as their patrons are demanding fewer books and more online/electronic resources. To stay relevant, they need to cater to the demands of their tax/donor base since they aren't their own bosses, you are their patron.
Ironically I was having dinner with a friend who is a librarian earlier tonight.
She works at one of the larger libraries around here, which accepts no federal funds and as such does NOT have any filters on any of their systems, nor keeps records of what people check out. (The federal funds relates to the later, I don't know about the former.)
Parents are shocked when they learn they have no filters.
I remember John Gilmore's quote, "The net treats censorship like damage and routes around it." While China is trying to prove that not true, teenagers otoh, treat filters like challenges and defeat them.
Either way, if a staff member sees something inappropriate for a public forum (with little kids possibly around), they obviously tell the patron to not show it and the kids completely understand.
Teens are often far more mature than adults--perhaps especially teens who frequent libraries.
I know I'm talking about public libraries instead of schools, but schools would be the last place I'd want promoting ignorance or inhibiting access to knowledge--THAT would be something worth suing over imo.
Not on outgoing calls, which I understand as you'd presumably have made the call from the line you wanted to!
However there are other features that only work on incoming calls, like call recording (!?) and conference calling that would be nice to be able to use via outbound calls too.
They do act on feature requests though, they've added SMS to email, with replies from email directly.
A friend had this problem, horrible reception at home and also didn't like the landline voicemail. She signed up for Google Voice and gave out that number instead, voilà, one voicemail/text msg solution, answer whichever phone is most convenient/best at the time.
A nice feature of GV is you can actually transfer a call from your cell to your landline and vice-versa (incoming calls only). I've answered when driving home, gone inside and switched to the landline; also the other way, I've answered calls inside, longer than I was expecting, switched them to my cell so I could drive out.
Want to go rock climbing? Oh wait, we organize those trips via Twitter...
How about grabbing a burger before hitting the gym? Oh wait, those invites are texted too...
Why didn't you show up for the movie this past weekend?
Want to... ad nauseam? Oh wait, you never read my invite because you ignored my letter to you. I don't know why, it was brief and sent right to your RSS/email/computer/phone/however you read Twitter/equivalents--you didn't even have to wait for the mailman and walk out to your mailbox!
Twitter is just a convenient service, like a phone line or SMS and it IS RL, just as much as those are. How you use it depends on you and your social circles obviously. You might just find your social circles expanded by virtue of sharing yourself with more people. Particularly if you aren't trivially judgmental.;-)
-Randy
PS: The brand of service doesn't matter, most people seem to use the one their peers use.
Not only might they surprise, they might even be supportive!
If they aren't, then at least one has learned that you'll want to alter enough things so they won't succeed in complaining. (Or loses could be cut now before time is invested...)
Either answer they give is a win.
PS: Document attempts to contact in case they don't respond, at least you can show a good faith attempt.
Why shouldn't you be doing it? That's not what I was taught when racing cars in my younger years... Because it's a dangerous technique that is used by racing drivers to get some extra speed out of their car. When you are on the road you should not be trying to get that extra speed, you should be trying to get the extra safety.
Are you referring to left foot braking as a dangerous technique? That's silly. A technique is not dangerous, improper application of it may be. Greater techniques and skills permit reducing danger, IE, are safer.
Trail braking increases traction, heel-and-toe and left foot braking are all proper driving techniques requiring applying both pedals at once.
Cars should not be designed to inhibit safe proper driving even if only a minority are skilled enough to understand or apply those skills.
-Randy
PS:
Now grow up.
My parents, born in 1929 would scoff at your insult to whomever there. My mother would challenge you to try to heel and toe while wearing high heels after pointing out how immature attempting to insult others like that is.
From my reading, pushing the brakes (yes, even real hard) does not cause the electronics to cut the gas in Toyotas -- this is one of the usability problems in Toyotas, so to speak. However, in all tests, the brakes in Toyotas are able to overpower the engine, although it might take a bit longer to stop than normal.
I believe in the future Toyota plan to introduce an engine cut-off feature when the brakes are applied hard.
I would hope not...brakes should work separately from acceleration and acceleration should obviously work separately from braking.
Otherwise that would cause tons of problems when pushing both pedals simultaneously and eliminate your ability to heel-and-toe and take full advantage of trail braking, left foot braking techniques, etc.
As MechaStreisand said below (which I'd mod up if I had points), most of those things actually have nothing to do with fly-by-wire.
However not being able to apply the brake and accelerator simultaneously eliminates your ability to heel-and-toe and take full advantage of trail braking, left foot braking techniques, etc.
Why institute something that offers little to no benefit, increases risk and detracts from car control?
-Randy
PS: You might find more hand-cranked windows in the future actually, as more people experience the expensive shock of replacing power window motors or have switch problems, many opt for manual windows on their next cars (or convert their windows). There was a brief period power windows were more standard/popular, but that period seems to be passing as some people return to manual now.
Exactly, I never understood why people paid for Tivo when you could simply buy any of the competitors' boxes with no subscription cost. Almost a decade ago now I got my Toshiba, and it not only is a PVR, but also can edit and record DVDs. What's more it can automatically put chapter breaks at commercials, so you can skip them with one button.
The best feature though? Being able to watch something at double speed with clear audio. You can watch an "hour" show in 22 minutes. Double-speed is great for sports too.
However now it's kind of a moot point as there's Hulu, now I don't even need to think about recording or program diddly-squat, I get emailed when it's ready! The only issue is nobody streams to watch at double speed yet (although players like VLC can play at 1.5x and 2x speed with clear enough audio, as well as slow-mo, you have to download the por...erm, show first).
But, with people Twittering and Facebooking their whereabouts a perpetrator can simply search for whoever isn't home right now. If they decide to target an individual, they can do so from a distance with very little effort, no chance of being discovered while they stalk their target, and near certainty that the target is not home.
The service PleaseRobMe.com is satirizing is Foursquare, which tells you where someone IS. So now you can send your girlfriend over to the bar to keep the guy their as long as you need, or your buddy to watch for when a couple is done elsewhere. After all, you are likely to have their picture at your fingertips! If they show at a theater, you can figure an average movie is 100 minutes (unless their spouse's feed mentions having purchased tickets to Avatar a few days ago, in which case you have longer).
The mistake respondent ericlondaits makes here...
When someone is away from his home there might still be a spouse or sons living there, someone house-sitting, or on an eventual visit to feed the cat. Parking in front of the house still seems the best option.
...is that you can easily read back their feed or check their contacts to see if they have a spouse, that sons are off on spring break, their friends swing by to feed the cat in the morning, and they don't have a dog to worry about, only an exotic pure breed feline worth snatching too. (It can be found hiding in it's usual corner and lured out with toy foam dart gun darts--it's favorite thing to chase.)
Why spend time parking in front of the house? You lower your hourly rate that way (unless that's where you do these checks), expose yourself to scrutiny and don't gain much greater info than they already volunteered!
I enjoy being social and sharing, but I don't publish when I'm away publicly--I post the same mundane things until my return. That being said, I appreciate the lower hanging fruit making my place a less likely target.
I never give my SS# except to banks, employers, the like. When companies ask for it I decline and there's almost always an alternative. I don't recall what AT&T did when I signed up for U-verse, but now that I bailed on cable and watch Hulu, obviously they can track not just what I watch, but also what I search for.
However on the broader concept, with the Google Buzz débâcle recently, we were reminded that privacy isn't something we should lightly give up, as privacy often equates to security and safety.
Sadly, for the masses, there's less awareness of how two and two may be put together. I once, from an "anonymous" account's profile, web-searched a Latin quote to try to figure out what it meant--only it wasn't a quote. I discovered only one person had ever used it on the web. From the forum posting I'd found with an email, I discovered their place of work and their real name, picture, a personal web server, with more pictures, a white pages search provided home phone and address.
It seems to me that nowadays you protect yourself best you can, don't be too "unique", but also don't impede your quality of life over it. You just want there to be other low-hanging fruit...
(That being said, when I won a competition prize worth a few hundred, a company connected my real name with my screen name on their results page--I emailed them pointing out they were compromising my safety and they took one off.)
As more people have their houses broken into because of MyBook and Facepage "going away for two weeks vacation" postings...well it was news once, maybe it'll become so commonplace and accepted it never hits the public consciousness?
Meanwhile appreciate the libraries that don't accept government funds and aren't required to keep a record of what you check out. On the flip side, don't complain and request they retain that info when you go back and ask them for the title of something you read a few months ago?
If you think you're going to use your spanking new iPhone to entertain yourself next time you're responding to a Slashdot summary, think again. Editors are going to take an even dimmer view of Slashdot members' use of Blackberry, iPhone, or other electronic devices as a Slashdot policy-setting group has told editors they should restrict respondents from using electronic technologies to research or communicate.... The instructions state readers must not use cell phones, e-mail, Blackberry, iPhone, text messaging, or on Twitter, or communicate through any blog or website, through any internet chat room, or by way of any other social networking websites, including Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Per the ellipses, "to communicate about or research TFA of which they currently read"
At an amusement park, a female friend returned from the restroom relating how a man entered while talking on his cellphone, looked her dead in the eye then turned to enter a stall, talking all the while.
Other women heard him talking and asked "is that a guy in here?" She responded, "Yeah, he doesn't realize he's in the 'ladies', don't worry about it."
He finished the call, finished in the stall, came out and his eyes widened when he saw all the women.
Slashdot Mirror
For ATM access, most banks will honor your request for an ATM-only card instead of accepting their default ATM/Debit card.
An ATM-only card means you will have to use ATMs more frequently, thereby potentially exposing yourself to skimmers, as well as use of your PIN in public. Since there's no zero-liability coverage with most banks for skimmed ATM transactions, you're putting your money at greater risk by doing this. Oh, and by the way, the skimmers have this one figured out too. You no longer have to worry about the shady looking person loitering near the ATM watching you enter your PIN. They install a tiny camera painted to match the fascia of the ATM, and they aim it at the keypad.
I'm an ATM-only card user. I can't tell you how many people I've watched at a checkout use a debit card and punch in their PIN with the entire line of people watching, as well as who knows what cameras.
At an ATM, I block views with my body and cover my PIN entering hand with the deposit envelope or my wallet. I suppose an infrared camera might get around the former?
Why would I be going to an ATM more frequently? If you are you suggesting I'd have more things to deposit--that would be great! (But I'd still only go once a week at most, I tend to accumulate low amounts and deposit them all at once.)
In your first paragraph that I didn't quote, there were a fair number of contingencies. I don't want to use anything that offers, "Yes, your bank account may get cleaned out"... ..."until it gets resolved"... ..."if you have a good bank"... ..."refund overdraft fees".
As other replies to this pointed out, there's little motivation for a financial institution to rectify the problem when they are profiting by charging fees for the transactions. With a credit card, I'm not out any money at all, I'm not charged fees on top of the woes, and the financial institution has entire departments proactively working to prevent fraud since it impacts their bottom line.
You didn't mention that banks tend to charge flat fees for debit cards used with a PIN while they charge the merchant a percentage fee for debit card usage via signature--hence they promote and encourage the later use.
There's also the "wrong hands" issue. If a debit card/number falls into the wrong hands, they can use it. If my atm card/number falls into the wrong hands, they can't use it (without gaining further information).
My subjective evaluation based upon research, experience and comments here:
Debit card: high risk, high loss, high life impact = horrible
ATM card: lower risk, high loss, high life impact = manageable
Credit card: low risk, almost no loss, low life impact = useful
Have you never heard of proprioception?
You can do your "test" with your EYES CLOSED, arms bent, instead of both index fingers, use an index finger of one hand, any other finger of the other.
Now try each arm bent at different angles, one higher and farther away than the other, thumb of one hand, pinky of the other so they meet on an odd angle instead of along an XYZ axis--gee, just as easy as with eyes open, hmm?
Thanks to stretch receptors in your muscles, you don't need to see yourself to exactly touch yourself knowingly, which is why masturbation isn't as nearly as much fun as alternatives.
Nice quoting out of context, "...without external chemical stimulus" would be the follow up.
I've never seen any research that suggests what you claim, that "cigarettes make it impossible to experience pleasure".
I'd suggest a wild assertion such as you made would be beyond a "deeply flawed study". ;-)
I couldn't care less, but did suggest researching the matter per the claim it had few neurological side effects--gaining information is frequently of benefit. As one of my favorite quotes goes, "a man not improving himself, endlessly becomes himself".
...it's apparently a surprisingly effective antidepressant with very few neurological side-effects.
Huh? Other than the fact that it alters brain chemistry and ultimately makes it literally impossible to experience pleasure? (Without an external chemical stimulant.)
You might want to research what happens to dopamine receptors due to smoking.
After stopping smoking, it can take six years for brain chemistry to return to normal.
On the subject, when will windows get a proper scripting language, like Rexx was on OS2 and amiga?
OMG, off topic but I SO miss ARexx...
The closest I've found is AutoHotKeys, which has a whole scripting language and can interact with the UI of different software. It's not as useful as having Rexx ports in applications, but opens up many capabilities (the typo auto-correcter alone is worth the download).
The library of a friend of mine loans out not just games, but entire game systems. I'm not sure if teens check it out as much as older people, or which department it's kept in. I kind of doubt they're kept in the teen department where general circulation might miss them.
eReaders too, despite being in violation of the user agreement for one big name reader, who of course has gained many sales after patrons try it and subsequently buy their own.
Don't presume it's tax dollars. At a large library here, they are no longer buying DVDs in favor of Bluray because the donor who provides money for the video collection now wants Bluray.
Also don't forget, the form of media delivery doesn't impact it's value of "self-improvement and betterment".
Libraries were formed as surrogate book stores, specifically to bring content to a wider audience. They are currently in a significant shift as their patrons are demanding fewer books and more online/electronic resources. To stay relevant, they need to cater to the demands of their tax/donor base since they aren't their own bosses, you are their patron.
Ironically I was having dinner with a friend who is a librarian earlier tonight.
She works at one of the larger libraries around here, which accepts no federal funds and as such does NOT have any filters on any of their systems, nor keeps records of what people check out. (The federal funds relates to the later, I don't know about the former.)
Parents are shocked when they learn they have no filters.
I remember John Gilmore's quote, "The net treats censorship like damage and routes around it." While China is trying to prove that not true, teenagers otoh, treat filters like challenges and defeat them.
Either way, if a staff member sees something inappropriate for a public forum (with little kids possibly around), they obviously tell the patron to not show it and the kids completely understand.
Teens are often far more mature than adults--perhaps especially teens who frequent libraries.
I know I'm talking about public libraries instead of schools, but schools would be the last place I'd want promoting ignorance or inhibiting access to knowledge--THAT would be something worth suing over imo.
Not on outgoing calls, which I understand as you'd presumably have made the call from the line you wanted to!
However there are other features that only work on incoming calls, like call recording (!?) and conference calling that would be nice to be able to use via outbound calls too.
They do act on feature requests though, they've added SMS to email, with replies from email directly.
A friend had this problem, horrible reception at home and also didn't like the landline voicemail. She signed up for Google Voice and gave out that number instead, voilà, one voicemail/text msg solution, answer whichever phone is most convenient/best at the time.
A nice feature of GV is you can actually transfer a call from your cell to your landline and vice-versa (incoming calls only). I've answered when driving home, gone inside and switched to the landline; also the other way, I've answered calls inside, longer than I was expecting, switched them to my cell so I could drive out.
Only if you seek pseudo-connections.
Want to go rock climbing? Oh wait, we organize those trips via Twitter...
How about grabbing a burger before hitting the gym? Oh wait, those invites are texted too...
Why didn't you show up for the movie this past weekend?
Want to ... ad nauseam? Oh wait, you never read my invite because you ignored my letter to you. I don't know why, it was brief and sent right to your RSS/email/computer/phone/however you read Twitter/equivalents--you didn't even have to wait for the mailman and walk out to your mailbox!
Twitter is just a convenient service, like a phone line or SMS and it IS RL, just as much as those are. How you use it depends on you and your social circles obviously. You might just find your social circles expanded by virtue of sharing yourself with more people. Particularly if you aren't trivially judgmental. ;-)
-Randy
PS: The brand of service doesn't matter, most people seem to use the one their peers use.
Not only might they surprise, they might even be supportive!
If they aren't, then at least one has learned that you'll want to alter enough things so they won't succeed in complaining. (Or loses could be cut now before time is invested...)
Either answer they give is a win.
PS: Document attempts to contact in case they don't respond, at least you can show a good faith attempt.
Why shouldn't you be doing it? That's not what I was taught when racing cars in my younger years...
Because it's a dangerous technique that is used by racing drivers to get some extra speed out of their car. When you are on the road you should not be trying to get that extra speed, you should be trying to get the extra safety.
Are you referring to left foot braking as a dangerous technique? That's silly. A technique is not dangerous, improper application of it may be. Greater techniques and skills permit reducing danger, IE, are safer.
Trail braking increases traction, heel-and-toe and left foot braking are all proper driving techniques requiring applying both pedals at once.
Cars should not be designed to inhibit safe proper driving even if only a minority are skilled enough to understand or apply those skills.
-Randy
PS:
Now grow up.
My parents, born in 1929 would scoff at your insult to whomever there. My mother would challenge you to try to heel and toe while wearing high heels after pointing out how immature attempting to insult others like that is.
We already have a solution - Cut the power when the break is pushed
How do you left-foot brake if pressing the brake cuts the power?
You don't. It's not something you should be doing anyway.
Actually, you should be able to trail brake, heel and toe, as well as left foot brake--your unsupported declaration notwithstanding.
Making vehicles with an inability to have greater car control and safety for the more skilled is just preposterous.
From my reading, pushing the brakes (yes, even real hard) does not cause the electronics to cut the gas in Toyotas -- this is one of the usability problems in Toyotas, so to speak. However, in all tests, the brakes in Toyotas are able to overpower the engine, although it might take a bit longer to stop than normal.
I believe in the future Toyota plan to introduce an engine cut-off feature when the brakes are applied hard.
I would hope not...brakes should work separately from acceleration and acceleration should obviously work separately from braking.
Otherwise that would cause tons of problems when pushing both pedals simultaneously and eliminate your ability to heel-and-toe and take full advantage of trail braking, left foot braking techniques, etc.
a teenage girl was wearing a homemade shirt that said "Fuck the Police". ...the cops told the parent there was nothing they could do.
Except see if she was over 18 and would keep her promise privately later?
As MechaStreisand said below (which I'd mod up if I had points), most of those things actually have nothing to do with fly-by-wire.
However not being able to apply the brake and accelerator simultaneously eliminates your ability to heel-and-toe and take full advantage of trail braking, left foot braking techniques, etc.
Why institute something that offers little to no benefit, increases risk and detracts from car control?
-Randy
PS: You might find more hand-cranked windows in the future actually, as more people experience the expensive shock of replacing power window motors or have switch problems, many opt for manual windows on their next cars (or convert their windows). There was a brief period power windows were more standard/popular, but that period seems to be passing as some people return to manual now.
Exactly, I never understood why people paid for Tivo when you could simply buy any of the competitors' boxes with no subscription cost. Almost a decade ago now I got my Toshiba, and it not only is a PVR, but also can edit and record DVDs. What's more it can automatically put chapter breaks at commercials, so you can skip them with one button.
The best feature though? Being able to watch something at double speed with clear audio. You can watch an "hour" show in 22 minutes. Double-speed is great for sports too.
However now it's kind of a moot point as there's Hulu, now I don't even need to think about recording or program diddly-squat, I get emailed when it's ready! The only issue is nobody streams to watch at double speed yet (although players like VLC can play at 1.5x and 2x speed with clear enough audio, as well as slow-mo, you have to download the por...erm, show first).
-Randy
Why reinvent the wheel? Trying to put sheep out of business? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw
-Randy
But, with people Twittering and Facebooking their whereabouts a perpetrator can simply search for whoever isn't home right now. If they decide to target an individual, they can do so from a distance with very little effort, no chance of being discovered while they stalk their target, and near certainty that the target is not home.
The service PleaseRobMe.com is satirizing is Foursquare, which tells you where someone IS. So now you can send your girlfriend over to the bar to keep the guy their as long as you need, or your buddy to watch for when a couple is done elsewhere. After all, you are likely to have their picture at your fingertips! If they show at a theater, you can figure an average movie is 100 minutes (unless their spouse's feed mentions having purchased tickets to Avatar a few days ago, in which case you have longer).
The mistake respondent ericlondaits makes here...
When someone is away from his home there might still be a spouse or sons living there, someone house-sitting, or on an eventual visit to feed the cat. Parking in front of the house still seems the best option.
...is that you can easily read back their feed or check their contacts to see if they have a spouse, that sons are off on spring break, their friends swing by to feed the cat in the morning, and they don't have a dog to worry about, only an exotic pure breed feline worth snatching too. (It can be found hiding in it's usual corner and lured out with toy foam dart gun darts--it's favorite thing to chase.)
Why spend time parking in front of the house? You lower your hourly rate that way (unless that's where you do these checks), expose yourself to scrutiny and don't gain much greater info than they already volunteered!
I enjoy being social and sharing, but I don't publish when I'm away publicly--I post the same mundane things until my return. That being said, I appreciate the lower hanging fruit making my place a less likely target.
-Randy
You can solve that with this tweeting dog collar.
-Randy
PS: I can see it now...
My pit bull: When's dinner? (2 minutes ago)
My pit bull: That was yummy (6 minutes ago)
My pit bull: munch, munch (6 minutes ago)
My pit bull: woof, Woof, WOOF, GROWL (7 minutes ago)
My pit bull: woof (7 minutes ago)
My pit bull: When's dinner? (about an hour ago)
I never give my SS# except to banks, employers, the like. When companies ask for it I decline and there's almost always an alternative. I don't recall what AT&T did when I signed up for U-verse, but now that I bailed on cable and watch Hulu, obviously they can track not just what I watch, but also what I search for.
However on the broader concept, with the Google Buzz débâcle recently, we were reminded that privacy isn't something we should lightly give up, as privacy often equates to security and safety.
Sadly, for the masses, there's less awareness of how two and two may be put together. I once, from an "anonymous" account's profile, web-searched a Latin quote to try to figure out what it meant--only it wasn't a quote. I discovered only one person had ever used it on the web. From the forum posting I'd found with an email, I discovered their place of work and their real name, picture, a personal web server, with more pictures, a white pages search provided home phone and address.
It seems to me that nowadays you protect yourself best you can, don't be too "unique", but also don't impede your quality of life over it. You just want there to be other low-hanging fruit...
(That being said, when I won a competition prize worth a few hundred, a company connected my real name with my screen name on their results page--I emailed them pointing out they were compromising my safety and they took one off.)
As more people have their houses broken into because of MyBook and Facepage "going away for two weeks vacation" postings...well it was news once, maybe it'll become so commonplace and accepted it never hits the public consciousness?
Meanwhile appreciate the libraries that don't accept government funds and aren't required to keep a record of what you check out. On the flip side, don't complain and request they retain that info when you go back and ask them for the title of something you read a few months ago?
If you think you're going to use your spanking new iPhone to entertain yourself next time you're responding to a Slashdot summary, think again. Editors are going to take an even dimmer view of Slashdot members' use of Blackberry, iPhone, or other electronic devices as a Slashdot policy-setting group has told editors they should restrict respondents from using electronic technologies to research or communicate. ... The instructions state readers must not use cell phones, e-mail, Blackberry, iPhone, text messaging, or on Twitter, or communicate through any blog or website, through any internet chat room, or by way of any other social networking websites, including Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Per the ellipses, "to communicate about or research TFA of which they currently read"
Wait, so they'll be reporting straight from the sources, without the bias of others' reportings?
Isn't this just doing their jobs!?
At an amusement park, a female friend returned from the restroom relating how a man entered while talking on his cellphone, looked her dead in the eye then turned to enter a stall, talking all the while.
Other women heard him talking and asked "is that a guy in here?" She responded, "Yeah, he doesn't realize he's in the 'ladies', don't worry about it."
He finished the call, finished in the stall, came out and his eyes widened when he saw all the women.