Friday, August 02, 2002

Trade those cards A gem of a suggestion by Brad Templeton on Declan McCullah's Politech mailing list: While I suspect many of your readers will be aware of the concept, some may not so let me remind them, when they go to parties or meet other people who are concerned about privacy, to simply trade their grocery affinity cards. My first card was in the name of Mickey Mouse of Anaheim, and you might find that to be protection enough -- the Safeway staff would always say "thank you Mr. Mouse."   When I traded it, I told the recipient to always trade with somebody who lives east of him.  I presume my card has made it to the east coast by now. At parties, have everybody put their cards in a bowl and draw another one at the end. The cards do save a lot of money, so it's a serious cost to avoid them, but with these techniques you can protect your privacy and not spend the cash. Yes, you will lose out on any special offers they send to your home address, like the free turkey they send out each thanksgiving (usually not more than a $10 value.)  But it confuses the database no end, and creates serious doubt about the validity of the records. I never got one of those affinity cards, precisely because of the privacy implications, but now that I know how to deal with those, I'll get one on my next trip. Brilliant. Permalink  2:00:07 AM   Google It!  What do you think?  [] comments.

I got my call-up notice from the Freedom Corps in the email I'm not kidding. I went to the TIPS site and signed up to be a TIPSter on the day the whole sick thing was revealed. Today I got an email  from  citizencorps@fema.gov. It told me: Today President Bush launched the newly redesigned USA Freedom Corps web site and the new USA Freedom Corps volunteer network while celebrating the six-month anniversary of the USA Freedom Corps. To help make a difference in communities across the country and around the world, the President also launched a new public service advertising campaign designed to start people thinking of what they can do to help others. The ads send viewers, listeners and readers to http://www.usafreedomcorps.gov. Please check out the new web site and the public service announcements and consider passing this information along to friends and family members to offer them a new way to get involved. I went to the website, where I was thanked for responding to the President's call to service,  and given the opportunity to register my hours of service. I really resent tax dollars being spent on such blatantly political nonsense. Permalink  1:35:05 AM   Google It!  What do you think?  [] comments.

The state of the Bay Area economy Articles like Silicon Valley mood worsens seem designed to depress job hunters, especially with quotes like"For the grizzled, experienced CEOs in Silicon Valley who have seen every downturn, this is by far the deepest. Time will tell if this is the longest" and "the job market resembles one with 12 or even 15 percent unemployment. He's seen laid-off engineers applying for jobs that pay $8 an hour, and people in their 40s competing with teen-agers for entry-level positions". The Economist has a more balanced article, Still Fizzy, with different conclusions. The bust is real, as are the Bay Area's three biggest problems: astronomical housing prices, mediocre to terrible public schools, and traffic. However, the Bay Area still "has an unusual number of America's most productive industries; it also has many of the better companies within those industries; and it boasts the best-educated workforce in the country...it would be hard to describe the Bay Area's mood as disconsolate. Most people seem to realise that the dotcom extravaganza was not going to last." I find the Economist's article truer to my own experieince. It can be pretty depressing if you are looking for work now. Anecdotal stories abound of hundreds or even thousands of resumes sent in reponse to job ads. One person told me "I heard that nobody will post jobs on Craig's List any more because when people post jobs, their servers go down from the load of email that they get in response." (Not true, although there certainly are a lot less jobs posted on Craig's List than there used to be.) I always thought that the dotcom boom was too good to be true, I just didn't realize how far the economy had to fall. I find that I need to remind myself that some companies are still hiring, startups are still forming, and that there is always a demand for people who are good at what they do, and I'm very good.  The company that needs my services is out there, I just have to find it or create it. In the meantime, I am having a blast being a father, learning by teaching myself Perl and PHP, and amusing myself acting as an amateur journalist here at www.geodog.us. I am putting some of the energy I would normally put into working into weblogging. It's fun and blows off steam. I always wanted to write -- now I don't have to worry that it doesn't pay much :-) And the Bay Area is still a great place to live, except for the fog. Thanks (I think) to Scott Loftesness for the links. Permalink  12:07:26 AM   Google It!  What do you think?  [] comments.