Google collecting kid's SSNs

The short version: under the guise of a drawing contest, Google is asking parents to give up their children's social security numbers, place, and date of birth. If you missed it your bank and insurance company are no longer allowed to gather this kind of info, because of fears of identity theft and/or misuse of personal information. But somehow Google thinks they're different.

What could be wrong with filling out a few entry forms?

A national, commercial database of names and addresses of American children, especially one that includes their dates of birth and SSNs, would be worth many millions to marketing firms and retailers.

Of course, data collection is not the reason Google gives for doing this competition. Their FAQ says it's because "We love to encourage and celebrate the creativity of young people..." etc. If that's so, then why on earth would the contest's original Parent Consent Form ask for the child's city of birth, date of birth and last four digits of the child's SSN? Along with complete contact info of the parents.

You see what Google knows and many parents don't know is that a person's city of birth and year of birth can be used to make a statistical guess about the first five digits of his/her social security number. Then, if you can somehow obtain those last four SSN digits explicitly -- voila, you've unlocked countless troves of personal information from someone who didn't even understand that such a disclosure was happening.

This kind of data can be linked with other databases to target advertising. It's worth many times more than what Google will spend on prizes (each State Finalist gets a T-shirt!).

Text Message saves lives!

We all know them and hate them. The random text messages sent by your cellular carrier announcing random offers. They tend to come at inopportune times and set off your phone in the middle of the night. But in Russia, one such text message may have saved hundreds of lives. How long until AT&T is advertising them as "anti-terrosist services" and charging a fee for them?

A "Black Widow" suicide bomber planned a terrorist attack in central Moscow on New Year's Eve but was killed when an unexpected text message set off her bomb too early, according to Russian security sources...Security sources believe a message from her mobile phone operator wishing her a happy new year received just hours before the planned attack triggered her suicide belt, killing her at a safe house.

Curing obesity... doesn't reduce health care costs

A cornerstone of the new Health Care Reform law (and virtually all Health Care reform proposals) is the assumption that ending bad behavior will reduce overall costs for everyone. It seems intuitive - if treating obesity-triggered diseases is expensive, eliminate obesity. But a new study suggests this is not the case as a longer lifespan offsets any short-term savings.

Of course, we should all be trying to be the best version of ourselves, so no one should take this as an excuse to stop exercising and gorge themselves on sweets. But it is a reminder that we should temper our zeal for policy-making with a humility that admits there will always be unexpected consequences that we can not predict.

Will Republicans be a "minor party" in Colorado?

Sometimes a bad candidate is just a bad candidate. But sometimes, it can be deadly to the future of a political party. Colorado may be teaching a hard and costly lesson.

But if Maes fails to get 10 percent of the vote on election day, his legacy won't be the U.N. bike plot warning or the tall tale of working undercover as a cop in Kansas. It will be leaving Republicans with minor party status in Colorado until 2014.

After weeks of declines in the polls, the TPM Poll Average now shows Maes coming in at 9.3%.

As The Denver Post reported back in September, minor party status means that Republicans wouldn't appear at the top of the ballot with the Democrats in 2012 and 2014. Instead, they'll be listed down with the Libertarian, Green Party and other third-party candidates.

On the upside, it would be a golden opportunity for the Constitution Party whose candidate, Tom Tancredo, could give then Major Party status.

Pentagon wined and dined the Enemy

It was hard to tell friend from foe in the dark days following 9/11/2001. America's illusion of invulnerability was shattered, and we were desperate to prosecute the attackers while simultaneously reaching out to moderate Muslims. It appears in the rush to reach out, the Pentagon may have invited in the man who is now at the top of the CIA's kill-or-capture list for dinner. And it appears that if they had only asked the CIA at the time, they'd have known it was a bad idea.

Awlaki "was considered to be an 'up and coming' member of the Islamic community. After her vetting, Aulaqi (Awlaki) was invited to and attended a luncheon at the Pentagon in the secretary of the Army's Office of Government Counsel."

Awlaki, a Yemeni-American who was born in Las Cruces, N.M., was interviewed at least four times by the FBI in the first week after the attacks because of his ties to the three hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Hani Hanjour. The three hijackers were all onboard Flight 77 that slammed into the Pentagon.

Awlaki is now believed to be hiding in Yemen after he was linked to the alleged Ft. Hood shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who e-mailed Awlaki prior to the attack.

Yet more evidence that our issue is not knowing our enemy, but that the various branches of the military, intelligence, and law enforcement disciplines are unwilling or unable to share information. And there is little evidence that the DHS has helped much.

Irony, Thy Name is Minnesota

I love "unintended consequences" stories, but sometimes you come across a story where the outcome was entirely foreseeable and thus not truly "unintended". Take the case of Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who defied the census and advised her constituents to do the same. Her reasoning was that the Constitution only required enumeration and no more from citizens.

What was the outcome? It appears that Minnesota will be losing a congressional seat from the census... and it is almost certain to be hers. Oops. Perhaps it is time to rethink the strategy. Then again, it is probably too late.

Posted without Further Comment

Russia is NOT a pet

From Townhall.com.

Carbon Fiber doesn't bend... it shatters!

When I was first considering taking up bicycling for weight loss, I consulted with the one cyclist I knew - the Weekend Adventurer.  While discussing different kinds of bikes - road, mountain, hybrid - he gave me one piece of sage advice:  "At your level of skill - and weight - do NOT buy a carbon-fiber bike.  Under stress, aluminum or steel bend.  But carbon fiber snaps."  I took that advice and have been enjoying both my Trek Navigator 3.0 and Dahon Matrix folding bikes.  Both have aluminum frames.  Still, I never knew how right my friend was, until I saw this video, where a racer has a crash and the bike just shatters!

Posted via email from The Bike Nomad

You Wonder If This is What a Government-Run Health System Might Be Like

It certainly is the kind of thing that Conservatives are afraid of.


And just to ensure equal time...

Some days, you can't win

These days, a bank can't afford to have a bad day. The Mortgage Meltdown was the fault of bad banking policies and poor oversight, and it has lead to an economic downturn that is now being called "The Great Recession" by many. Many of the largest U.S. banks of 2008 don't even exist anymore in 2009.

So, one can't help being amazed by stories like this one, where a bank sold a house out from under a woman whose mortgage was in excellent standing. It took a Miami judge to set things right, after police officers forcibly evicted her family and locked them out of their own house for 3 days.

The eviction came after Ramirez’s home was mistakenly auctioned off to the highest bidder by her bank, Washington Mutual (yes, we know WaMu is now Chase, but we're in denial). Usually, you get a warning before you get the boot. A foreclosure letter. Maybe a sign saying your house is up for sale. Not Ramirez, who found her belongings bashed and battered in the street...The man who bought the house told Ramirez he paid $87,000 for it, which shocked Ramirez, who bought the house for $260,000.

This is a good reminder to keep a close eye on your creditors in these dark economic days. Just because you are playing by the rules, that does not mean some lazy bureaucrat can't harm you.

Suddenly, United Airline is very concerned...

...about the broken guitar in the video posted earlier. They have contacted the songwriter and are setting up a call "to resolve the matter." Apparently, customer service is CENTRAL to Unite Airlines... if and and only if you embarrass them on YouTube and Twitter.

Lesson learned - don't underestimate the power of song and the blogsphere.

Dead men cash no checks?

Why is it most of the Obama administrations errors seem to be in the "well-meaning but clueless" category? Giving DVDs to the English Prime Minister that won't play in British DVD players. Sending VP Biden to talk about Swine Flu. And now issuing stimulus checks to the dead. Or did I miss a "Zombie Americans Act" somewhere?

Antoniette Santopadre of Valley Stream was expecting a $250 stimulus check. But when her son finally opened it, they saw that the check was made out to her father, Romolo Romonini, who died in Italy 34 years ago. He'd been a U.S. citizen when he left for Italy in 1933, but only returned to the United Stated for a seven-month visit in 1969.

The Santopadres are not alone. The Social Security Administration, which sent out 52 million checks, says that some of those checks mistakenly went to dead people because the agency had no record of their death. That amounts to between 8,000 and 10,000 checks for millions of dollars.

Communities who need it most, getting least Stimulus money

I guess we file this under "paving the road with good intentions". Anyone else wondering if rushing that bill through Congress may have caused a few "bugs" to slip though unnoticed?

Altogether, the government is set to spend 50 percent more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment than it will in communities with the highest.
The AP reviewed $18.9 billion in projects, the most complete picture available of where states plan to spend the first wave of highway money. The projects account for about half of the $38 billion set aside for states and local governments to spend on roads, bridges and infrastructure in the stimulus plan.
The very promise that Obama made, to spend money quickly and create jobs, is locking out many struggling communities needing those jobs.
The money goes to projects ready to start. But many struggling communities don't have projects waiting on a shelf. They couldn't afford the millions of dollars for preparation and plans that often is required.

Green Law pays Paper companies to increase use of fossil fuels

Thomas Paine once said, "That government is best which governs least." This saying is widely quoted among the Conservative community to justify smaller government. But Conservatives have not done a great job in the last decade to really illustrate why Big Government is a bad idea.

Enter the paper industry and George W Bush. During his administration, a law was passed giving tax credits to companies who made use of alternative energies in place of fossil fuels, or to companies who combined an alternative fuel with a taxable fuel. The paper industry - depressed by the current economy and the use of paper amidst eBooks, internet advertising, and the fall of newspapers - has begun adding diesel fuel to a fossil-fuel-free process in order to claim a tax credit.

Despite the obvious contrivance of the procedure, Wrobleski is unapologetic: "The credit is supposed to encourage the use of green fuel." Sure, I said, but isn't it a bit weird you're now adding diesel fuel to the process in order to take advantage of it? "It is what it is," she said.
Others are less charitable. "You use the toilet every day," said one hedge fund analyst who's been closely following the issue. "Imagine if you could start pouring a little gasoline into the bowl and get fifty cents a gallon every time you flushed."
No one in Congress seems to have anticipated this creative maneuver. This past fall the Joint Committee on Taxation computed the cost of extending the tax credit for three months and projected it would cost a manageable $61 million. It now appears that the extension (which was passed as part of the TARP) could cost as much as $2 billion before the credits expire at the end of this calendar year.

This needs to be reported in every major paper in American. It hardly makes me hopeful that President Obama's complex stimulus plan will accomplish the aims it was designed for. More likely, it will be misused by a number of companies to accomplish their own means at the expense of the tax-payer.

Drum Major quits over Inaugural Parade Faux Pas

Having played oboe/baritone horn in a Marching Band in high school, I know the joy (and the pain) that comes from being part of a parading troop. There is great joy to be had in bringing music to so many, and in representing your organization/town/state in front of so many. There is great pain and sacrifice required to build up the muscles to stand at attention for hours on end, march for hours on end, play for hours on end, and to show proper decorum for every show. It was all worth it (though I have no desire to join an adult drum corp or marching band now).

Apparently, a minor faux pas at the inaugural parade has blown up into a major kerfuffle, which has ended in the resignation of a drum major (i.e. marching conductor) from one of the bands that marched there. The drum major, having accidentally caught the new president's eye, nodded and waved to him. This was a violation of band decorum, and the band had chosen to suspend him for 6 months (no doubt a normal response for a position so coveted by so many). But an outpouring of anger from the internet over the perceived injustice has lead the poor man to instead resign from the band entirely.

We all need to learn that there are times to stand up for our fellow man, and times to let the rules of a micro-society work themselves out. I am sure many people hoped to get the drum major reinstated. Instead, they have denied him the very thing he loved.

Apple pulls antivirus tech note

Oops. Apparently, undercutting one of your major selling points during the Christmas season is not the best way to shore up your stock price. To be fair, further research showed the doc was actually from 2007 - i.e. it was nothing new - and merely caught the attention of bloggers when the version numbers were updated on the "recommended software." My guess is this page will mysteriously return around January 1, to cover Apple from frivolous lawsuits.

If you needed proof that "digital" is not always better...

...look no further than this article.

There is a commercial about the coming "digital switch" next year for television which brags "You know digital makes everything better." We need reminding that a "digital" solution is only as good as the developer who wrote it and the hardware behind it. I am wondering how many people will be without TV at all next year, when their new digital TVs or digital tuners are load tested for the first time, and the manufacturers stop answering customer service calls.

This is why I hate the phone

This has been all over the Web today. A disgruntled (foreign) telemarketer called a hard-of-hearing American and got tired of repeating himself. After a few failed attempted to communicate, the caller insults the American and promptly hangs up. Unfortunately for him, the whole thing was being recorded.

I worked on a project assisting my company's telephone support center, and it is amazing what the public expects phone workers to put up with. The public is brutal enough in person, but they can be downright abusive when they do not have to look someone in the eye. But even so, the first rule of the phone business is to NEVER lose your cool with a customer. Because all it takes is one call like this to lose ALL of your customers.