Posts
Recently, there have been a few lessons in the news about privacy in today’s electronic society. Actually, what I meant to say was lack of privacy.
The old adage has never been truer, if you want your purchase to remain secret, use cash. Electronic systems, from grocery store cards and internet purchases, to visa and debit card transactions are all potential mines for unscrupulous companies to gather your data.
Why does that phrase sound nearly obscene? I’m, um, heh heh, gathering his personal data. The unscrupulous stranger went about gathering her data—if you know what I mean.
Listen to this interesting news titbit. The Independent Adult Internet Market Research Company—yes, there is one—has reported a recent upturn in visits to, and upsurge in sales from, pornographic websites in recent weeks.
The sites attribute their sales expansion to people spending their economic stimulus payments. I’m pretty sure this wasn’t what the government had in mind.
Then again, the government did call it a "stimulus" payment.
Maybe some folks just figure the gov’ment meant they should get stimulated with it.
But here’s a really spooky thing. A recent lawsuit against the company CompuCredit suggests that lenders are now considering types of purchases consumers make in assigning them a credit score.
Credit scores now affect just about everything you borrow, from cars to houses to credit cards, and the interest you pay for those loans.
But scores also affect things like insurance. Insurance companies can and do charge you higher rates if your credit score is low, arguing poor credit risks are also poor insurance risks.
So it’s possible your electronic purchase for let’s say, adult internet sites, or even using your credit card to buy lots of lattes or frivolous frappacinos, may affect your credit score.
Next time you have a cash emergency, don’t use the casino ATM, even if it’s closest and you’re acting fiscally prudent by saving gas. You could be affecting your home insurance rates and that 0% interest on your next family mini-van.
Because electronic transactions mean you have zero privacy.
Big Brother loves the cashless society.
America, ya gotta love it.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
#818 Zinger Flinger
Hold on to your quality control. Word of mouth just got very dangerous. And it’s assisted by a new technology called MARMS.
That’s right, MARMS. As in smarmy. As in suspiciously attractive but liable to strike like a snake the minute your back is turned.
MARMS is a new technology on the boards with the Motorola cellphone people. The letters stand for Mobile Augmented Reality Messaging System. MARMS is like the help button in a computer program, but in the real world.
Say you’re in a restaurant. The built in GPS system in your phone can tell you where the best seat is. The phone can then suggest what is the best dish on the menu or if there are any special drinks. It can even tell you to avoid certain things.
Go spirit of adventure...
It does this by incorporating user reviews of the place in its database. It’s kind of like the navigator thing in your car, mining different information sources to plot your best route in real-time, but adding MySpace style social networking and Ebay style ratings.
So like I say. Watch your quality control. Because you know how it is. You can have a thousand good meals in a restaurant and never tell your friend. But one rude waiter or one bad cook and you tell the story for a week.
It is unfortunately the tendency of many of us, from newspapers to neighborhood gossips, to report the bad and salacious first and fail to make any effort to praise the good.
You can raise flocks of chickens and feed folks countless eggs. But let your cat kill one baby bird and you’re the talk of the town.
So keep your cat corralled, because as soon as MARMS goes into effect, you’re just a cellphone away from someone flinging your business a zinger.
It’s bad enough when the local newspaper gets a story wrong on the front page and only prints the retraction on D-4 next to the high colonic ads.
Once a bad review gets on the MARMS social network, you might as well close your doors and turn off the phone.
America, ya gotta love it.
That’s right, MARMS. As in smarmy. As in suspiciously attractive but liable to strike like a snake the minute your back is turned.
MARMS is a new technology on the boards with the Motorola cellphone people. The letters stand for Mobile Augmented Reality Messaging System. MARMS is like the help button in a computer program, but in the real world.
Say you’re in a restaurant. The built in GPS system in your phone can tell you where the best seat is. The phone can then suggest what is the best dish on the menu or if there are any special drinks. It can even tell you to avoid certain things.
Go spirit of adventure...
It does this by incorporating user reviews of the place in its database. It’s kind of like the navigator thing in your car, mining different information sources to plot your best route in real-time, but adding MySpace style social networking and Ebay style ratings.
So like I say. Watch your quality control. Because you know how it is. You can have a thousand good meals in a restaurant and never tell your friend. But one rude waiter or one bad cook and you tell the story for a week.
It is unfortunately the tendency of many of us, from newspapers to neighborhood gossips, to report the bad and salacious first and fail to make any effort to praise the good.
You can raise flocks of chickens and feed folks countless eggs. But let your cat kill one baby bird and you’re the talk of the town.
So keep your cat corralled, because as soon as MARMS goes into effect, you’re just a cellphone away from someone flinging your business a zinger.
It’s bad enough when the local newspaper gets a story wrong on the front page and only prints the retraction on D-4 next to the high colonic ads.
Once a bad review gets on the MARMS social network, you might as well close your doors and turn off the phone.
America, ya gotta love it.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
#817 Zooeructation
It’s tough being green. From mercury poisoning to cow burps unintended consequences are paving the good intentions road straight to global warming hell.
Take the compact florescent bulb debacle. Turns out CFLs all contain a tiny bit of mercury. So when they wear out after their extremely long lives, they can’t just be thrown away. Many anti-global warming folks, annoyed more by the hassle of saving the planet than by whether there’s a crisis at all, are merrily chortling over the green eggs on environmentalist’s faces and hamming it up as they put them down in front of congressional TV cameras.
Compounding it all is that the CFLs—which are legislated by congress to be in a certain amount of use by 2015—are made in China. Not content to poison our children with lead paint on toys, China, through its insidious placement of mercury in our compact florescent bulbs, seems devilishly intent on poisoning our landfills as well.
But at least using CFLs drastically reduces the carbon footprint of our power consumption. The same can’t be said for green cows.
The major environmental consequence of grain-fed beef is the massive power and industry it takes to grow that much corn. “Green” grass fed beef is tastier, has lower saturated fat, and is more fuel-efficient to produce. Only one problem; turns out grass fed beef causes even more methane to be released into the atmosphere than grain.
Cow farts had already been an issue with corn fed beef. But grass fed beef also produce an abundance of cow burps. Which means even more methane. Cow methane contributes 20% of the US greenhouse emission load. Methane traps atmospheric heat 20 times more effectively than plain carbon dioxide. A single cow is worse than a herd of cars.
Science thinks it has an answer. Genetically alter grass so it doesn’t cause cows to burp. Vegetarians are shaking their heads in disbelief. Genetically alter grass to prevent cow burps?
Can’t we all just order salad?
Or why not genetically alter grass to taste like meat and cut out the middle-beast?
Congress has its own answer to the cow burp issue.
Bring it up again and we’ll vote on it.
America, ya gotta love it.
Take the compact florescent bulb debacle. Turns out CFLs all contain a tiny bit of mercury. So when they wear out after their extremely long lives, they can’t just be thrown away. Many anti-global warming folks, annoyed more by the hassle of saving the planet than by whether there’s a crisis at all, are merrily chortling over the green eggs on environmentalist’s faces and hamming it up as they put them down in front of congressional TV cameras.
Compounding it all is that the CFLs—which are legislated by congress to be in a certain amount of use by 2015—are made in China. Not content to poison our children with lead paint on toys, China, through its insidious placement of mercury in our compact florescent bulbs, seems devilishly intent on poisoning our landfills as well.
But at least using CFLs drastically reduces the carbon footprint of our power consumption. The same can’t be said for green cows.
The major environmental consequence of grain-fed beef is the massive power and industry it takes to grow that much corn. “Green” grass fed beef is tastier, has lower saturated fat, and is more fuel-efficient to produce. Only one problem; turns out grass fed beef causes even more methane to be released into the atmosphere than grain.
Cow farts had already been an issue with corn fed beef. But grass fed beef also produce an abundance of cow burps. Which means even more methane. Cow methane contributes 20% of the US greenhouse emission load. Methane traps atmospheric heat 20 times more effectively than plain carbon dioxide. A single cow is worse than a herd of cars.
Science thinks it has an answer. Genetically alter grass so it doesn’t cause cows to burp. Vegetarians are shaking their heads in disbelief. Genetically alter grass to prevent cow burps?
Can’t we all just order salad?
Or why not genetically alter grass to taste like meat and cut out the middle-beast?
Congress has its own answer to the cow burp issue.
Bring it up again and we’ll vote on it.
America, ya gotta love it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)