Strange
Day

What do you do if the subway isn’t coming for another 40 minutes?

I just loved this woman, when I was stuck on the subway the other day during the snowstorm. She had this great look. And dispite sitting there for well over an hour doing… nothing… she maintained a calm, and even cheerful, demeaner.

I would like to congratulate Dell on making a move that Apple computer made only 5 years ago, by removing floppy drives from their new computers. Or more precisely, phasing them out. So only 7 years after floppies were truly obsolete has the first major IBM-compat manufacturer started dropping them.
Of course, the article I read this announcement in was actually more blatantly an advert for USB key drives. Forgetting that it was misleading and highly questionable, it was a Yahoo ‘news’ story, so what did I really expect.
(I haven’t bothered linking to the Yahoo article, because their articles only stay online for about a week).
Do USB key drives have more momentum than CD drives? Damn right. Now you wanna mention why? You know… CD technology has been around for over a decade. The market is essentially supersaturated. Whereas the key drives are so new, that despite being a geek, I don’t know anyone who’s actually bought one. They’re horribly overpriced still, and are only good if you know you’ll get the drive back, or simply need it for personal use.
I’m keeping my CD-RW.

If you have to finish all your emails explaining how they are not truly Spam, then they are Spam.
If you base your defense about how they’re not Spam on legislation pending in Congress, you’re stupid. Congress can talk about killing whitey and shafting the spics. Nothing they say matters until it is passed as law.
And what fucking possible good can there be to your product if you have to lie, cheat, and deceive people to even get them to read about it. Americans are sheep and will put up with an obscene amount of advertising, but don’t screw with their minds and not expect them to come after you with Pa’s shotgun.

I was just reading an article about potential ways to ensure digital device user’s privacy, even against TIA-like systems.
Mainly what they propose is use of one-way encryption similar to UNIX psswrd files.
But as I sat there reading it, I was wondering why we even need to go that far? What you really want to do is prevent the buildup of information in central databases to begin with.
So why do we have to rely on central databases?
On the web, most sites store a cookie on your computer to identify you with a record in their database. Why can’t it work almost in reverse.
When you connect to a service, wether it be a web site, a toll booth, a check out counter, or a library desk, the service provider supplies an unique identifier. Your personal digital device then pulls up all it’s records on said service. If you need to send them money, your device makes an Electronic Funds Transfer. You have control if your device needs to send out personal information. It knows your preferences and desired set-ups.
Even customized advertising would still be possible under this arrangement. After all, the holy grail of advertising is knowing your customer so well that you can show them ads that really interest them, rather than taking pot shots or best guesses. Your personal device can tell the service exactly what things you are interested in, and possibly even items you are actively seeking out at this time. That is advertising I can get behind. (Any time I don’t have to sit through a commercial for maxi-pads, I’m all about that).
I thought for a second that maybe it makes your information too vulnerable. What happens if your information device was damaged or ran out of juice or something? But hell, this can all happen with the existing centralized databases. Very likely, you wouldn’t be using just one info device anyway. You would have your computer at home. And maybe one in your vehicle. ANd a mobile one in a jewelry of some type. And they would redundantly back each other up via a Bluetooth type technology. And the issue of theft is easily bypassed with a dead-man’s-switch of some type. The moment you can no longer prove your identity to your info device, it stops providing any service with information. In fact, the very next time it is attempted to be used, it sounds an alarm.
Imagine a device as simple as a watch or bracelet. Lets face it; the amount of info you truly need to run your day to day life can now fit on something as small as a button.
You could drive right through toll booths without ever stopping.
You could walk into a store, find something you like, and walk right out again, without any kind of checkout procedure. It would scan a chip on the purchased item and your info device would automatically send the store computer the correct amount of money. And if you tried to walk out without a info device, the doors would just plain refuse to open for you. Anyone who didn’t wish to use such a system could go through a check out where the purchased items would be deactivated, to allow them to successfully bypass the door.
Find the books you want at the library and just walk out. As you leave, the chips on the books let the library know what is leaving. Your devices start reminding you to return the books in the appropriate time. And if you wait too long, your device purchases the book with your money and has it shipped to the library, or refuses to allow you to remove anything else from the library until you resolve the issue.
Imagine the utter simplicity of it all. No huge databases anywhere, outside of maybe the banks. And I’m sure if I thought about it long enough, I could solve that issue as well.
I really like the idea that you become responsible for your own information. Right now, wherever you use any of the current systems that provide similar functionalities, it is at the cost of giving up some personal information to an outside source. Why.
No profit-minded company will ever offer such a service. But imagine what people could do.
Just my thoughts on reversing the trend of people becoming numbers in a system, and instead remaining individuals, even in a highly ‘advanced’ civilization.

I took that picture of the underpass last night standing at the end of some construction work on the barrier wall. I balanced the camera on on of those collision barrels. They’re these giant tupperware things filled with sandbags, meant to keep people from causeing serious damage if they hit the end of the concrete barrier.
No big deal.
Walking to work this morning, it appears as though someone had a full on collision with the barrel and wiped it out.
Oy. Lethal photography.

Nutcrackers at the Old Ebbit.

My building was on fire again last night.

Donyale Monique …

Drew, the designer.

Yeah. You know it. I’m gonna be bitching now.

Excuse me while I torture myself one last time tonight.
While looking through my photo archive, I kept coming cross pictures of me with these beautiful women I was dating. They utterly depressed me.
It’s been so long since any woman has shown the least interest in me, that I’m beginning to wonder why any ever did.
…
Okay… that’s enough self-pitying for this week.

That’s my favorite intellectual.

Lindsey after the Spy Museum.