Recently in Commentary Category
My wallet was stolen today. I think it fell out of an unzipped pocket, but who knows? It could've been lifted.
Anyway, my bank knew about it before I did. Three unusual transactions on my debit card were enough to trigger a call -- two at Jewel Osco and one at Red Box DVD. It wasn't even $200 worth of stuff, but they knew I never used that card for anything other than withdrawing cash. It's creepy to think my buying patterns are predictable enough to trigger a fraud alert off of such little data. It's almost enough to make me go cashless. On the other hand, cards are easily replaced. That $10 in my wallet? Gone.
I'm doing fine otherwise. I knew what was in my wallet and had made copies of all account numbers and my driver's license. The bank canceled all my plastic & called the three credit reporting agencies for me (though, I will check that tomorrow). I'll have fresh cards by the weekend, but if I don't that's fine. I had a back-up credit card at home that never traveled with me.
The only sticky point at this point is my driver's license. The DMV web site says to report it to local police & the Chicago PD says they don't file stolen DL reports. I don't know what's up with that, but I'll figure it out when I go by the DMV tomorrow.
The upshot? I had a plan in place to handle losing my wallet and that plan worked better than expected. No drama.
The next plan I need to work out? What to do if my laptop gets stolen. THAT would be really tragic.
Filled with the civic spirit and excitement of the Obama campaign? Want to serve your country? Yeah, yeah. There's a 7 page questionnaire with 63 topics that you need to fill out. I skimmed through it and paused in the publications, writing and speeches section. OMG. I probably shouldn't bank on a career in government if this is the sort of stuff I'll be expected to dig up.
I've evolved and changed during my 20+ years of online life. The emails I wrote during college and sent through an IBM mainframe I guarantee are very different than anything I've sent in my professional life. Not that I have copies of emails from that era. And online content? Well, the first domain I contributed to was snottybitch.com. Why? Why not. There was nothing untoward on that site. The name just cracked up me and my friends.
Anyway, I actually tried to answer topic #10 of this questionnaire. Not only do I no longer have copies of all the content I've ever created, but I don't necessarily have the software to read some of the content -- I'm thinking of AOL email/chat archives from the 1990's. If anyone can reconstitute that content for the purposes of embarrassing me, well, more power to them.
I had to stop after a while because I'm not sure how to list the entirety of content under my authorship. Do I need to be concerned about content that was marked as private? Do I need to be concerned about content that was disposable? Is my Master's Thesis fair game? What about digital copies of class assignments? There's some things I simply haven't kept. Anyway, here's my attempt at a comprehensive answer to #10:
(10) Writings: Please list and, if readily available, provide a copy of each book, article, column or publication (including but not limited to any posts or comments on blogs or other websites) you have authored, individually or with others. Please list all aliases or "handles" you have used to communicate on the Internet.
Please visit the wayback machine for copies of old web sites I've owned and/or been a prime contributor of. I haven't kept back-ups of everything, so I have to rely on this archive:
Snottybitch.com (June 2000 - December 2003)
Doesthislookinfected.com (March 2002 - September 2005)
AggregatedLife.com (February 2006 - December 2007)
Current sites:
ChicagoBites.com (February 2006 - present)
TammyGreen.com (December 2007 - present)
Note: Original web sites were created and hosted through the University of Missouri while I was employed as a computer technician between 1997-1999. However, I no longer have copies of those sites. I also ran AggregatedLife as a blogspot site, but converted all content over to the domain after it was purchased. If there are discrepancies between the sites, I have no way of reconciling them.
All content has been authored under the following names:
Zesmerelda
Tammy Green
Tam I Am
T Green
It's possible that I've used other aliases, but I don't remember them. I don't have records of every comment I've ever made on a blog not owned by me, but a name search should surface most of my online activity. I recommend doing dedicated searches on "Zesmerelda" and "Tammy Green" + Chicago. A general search of Tammy Green will surface content that may or may not have been authored by me. I'm willing to discuss any ambiguous results.
Also, though you did ask for it, I have authored content on Twitter as @zesmerelda and as @chicagobites. The Chicago Bites Twitter account is a shared account, so again, I'm willing to discuss any particular entry.
Finally, I have almost 10,000 photos posted on Flickr. The majority of these photos are listed under Creative Commons & may have been used on web sites in support of content that I did not approve. I receive credit for my photography, but that doesn't imply editorial control.
What's Macy's trying to do? With holiday windows that look like this, is it any wonder I have no holiday spirit? I know I complain every year that the Christmas shopping season gets longer and longer, but seriously, it is that way this year. Television ads started after Halloween. I got what I wanted on November 4. These windows and Santa appeared this week.
By all rights, New Year's Eve should be tomorrow. That's all I'm sayin'.
I had a verbal knock-down drag-out with a Web marketing guy who touted his company's ability to serve up local ads. Apparently, after you visit one of his client's sites, it places a cookie on your computer that will trigger ads in support of the local business when visiting similar sites.
I find the whole thing distasteful.
He maintained that all people had to do if they didn't want to participate was to delete cookies. I argued that this "service" should include an option to opt-out upfront. He argued that people shouldn't have an expectation of privacy when surfing online. I argued that the reason why so many comments were left under anonymous disproved that notion. Also, that many people don't understand how cookies work or know how to get rid of them.
Double opt-in has become a standard for email lists, it should also be a standard for marketers wishing to track behavior online. Ethics with online behavior has lagged behind our use of technology. Just because the window of opportunity exists for marketers, doesn't mean it isn't sleazy behavior.
I'm sorry that mom & pop stores have to compete with big box giants, but I don't think sneaking cookies is the way to level the playing field online.
My two cents.
I've really been down on Creative Commons lately. The attitude that I keep coming up against online is Creative Commons = free. It doesn't. It means that I've reserved my rights -- I expect to be credited, I expect the licensing to travel with the photography, and I do not want my photos used for commercial purposes or put under someone's copyright. Most people don't bother to read the license & it's exhausting trying to correct their misconceptions.
That's why I was jazzed when a Twitter friend told me she used this picture in an internal presentation. She found it in a Creative Commons search on Flickr & was jazzed that she knew both the person in the photo and the person who took it. Win-win.
I find that sort of circumstance exciting. I'm so glad she told me about it because I seldom hear of my photography used correctly & in the spirit of CC. If more people said something kind or demonstrated responsible use, I think it would balance out the folks who run roughshod over the spirit behind the CC movement.
Maybe. At least hearing it keeps me from taking down my entire Flickr catalog.
NaNoWriMo
