Blue
Commentia: Various opinions on the events of Alpha Complex. And, y'know, the rest of the world.
Could be a good thing...perhaps.
Jun 27, 2001
This past Tuesday (19 June, for you historians out there), the internet privacy organization announced symbols for online privacy. There will be icons for things like “opt-in”, “opt-out”, “no financial information collected”, and so forth. They’re working within the P3P (Platform for Personal Privacy) technology framework.
This is kind of cool. So far, I’m the only person I know who actually reads a web site’s privacy statement or terms of use. I can’t help but wonder if that’s because privacy documents and other admin content are often written by lawyers with a bad case of perissology. The documents don’t scan well. They’re hideous to read. And they seem designed to induce a mind-numbing state of boredom in the readers. I’m reminded of the movie “Running Man” where, as Arnold Schwartzenegger’s character is being led to his colourful and televised entry into the execution zone, he is forced to listen to a network lawyer pother on about the network getting the rights, for now and in perpetuity, to all footage of the colourful execution-game thing.
I do find it minorly annoying that in order to be trusted, I have to pay somebody money. WTF is this??? I could understand if there were some software you’d have to install that would enforce adherence to the privacy policies; or if your company was fined bigtime if it was displaying the various privacy endorsement symbols illegally. As it stands, though, the fee is basically provided to let a bunch of people sit in an office and fill out forms (oh yes, and maintain the web site.) It’s like ISO certification: your company pays a boatload of money, you put a lot of paper in place, and afterward they just check to make sure that you have the policy in place — not if you actually adhere to the policy.
Who audits the auditors?
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Do peripherals need therapy?
May 26, 2001
I saw a banner ad today. It read, “Ready for a new way? Depress your mouse once quickly.” I had a fleeting mental image of me glaring down at my mouse and saying in a withering tone, “You are totally pathetic and without substance” in an attempt to put the mouse into a morose frame of mind.
I guess the advert writers were really trying to get away from the webboid jargon “Click here”.
Either that, or the yogurt that I had for lunch has begun to sour.
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Cats and dogs and men and women.
Feb 19, 2001
Cats are low-maintenance animals. You don’t have to housebreak a cat, or take it out for walks every day. They don’t make a lot of noise. You can almost completely ignore a cat and it won’t care much. Cats won’t demand that you give them attention. If you don’t give them constant affection, cats won’t get sulky and start destroying your belongings and ruining your life.
With all these qualities in cats, you’d think that more men would be cat people.
You can’t get a cat to change its behaviour. Cats will just sit there if you tell them about your problems, but they won’t act interested. A cat’s idea of a good day is lounging around on the sofa. Cats will never ask for help. Cats want to be touched, but only sometimes, and always on their terms. You don’t own the cats — the cats own you, and everybody knows this. Cats are very fickle, and will leave you if they find someplace they like more.
With all these qualities of cats, it’s almost surprising that so many women are cat people.
Dogs are high-maintenance animals. You need to teach a dog things, like not to pee indoors. You have to take dogs out every day, or they get unhappy. Dogs expect you to have all the answers; and when you don’t, they get unhappy. You need to give constant attention to dogs, or they get unhappy. When dogs get unhappy, they howl and whine.
With all these qualities in dogs, it’s interesting that so many men are dog people.
Dogs love spending time with their humans. Dogs will do almost anything you ask them to without complaining or asking “why”. Dogs -=know=- when they’ve done something wrong, and will work hard to get back into your good graces. A dog will never leave you for another human. A dog won’t even let another human take him away from you. To a dog, you are always and unquestionably the most wonderful creature on Earth.
With all these qualities in dogs, you’d think that more women would be dog people.
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