An Eclectic Mind

Here are links I found interesting on August 19, 2010:

• Don’t Be a Dick, Part 1: the video – Phil Plait’s presentation at TAM 8. Well done; can’t wait to get a faster Internet connection so I can see it uninterrupted.
• TSA Screeners Check Luggage, Investigate Your Marriage & Personal Finances – Planning a trip out of Philadelphia? Allow lots of extra time for TSA abuse. On The Consumerist. Thank to @gglockner on Twitter for sharing the link.
• http://newsfeed.time.com/new-words-in-the-ode/ – A list of new words in the Oxford Dictionary of English. I’m sure you’ll know plenty of these gems.
• Nation Shudders At Large Block Of Uninterrupted Text – The Onion always manages to come up with on-target topics and write about them in a way that makes me laugh. Thanks to @Jen4Web for sharing the link.

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Here are links I found interesting on July 29, 2010:

• Redefining Empathy In Light Of Web’s Long Memory – "In an era when 75% of employers research applicants online, erasing youthful indiscretions is next to impossible. Jeffrey Rosen accepts that parts of private lives become public on the Internet, but hopes that it will lead us to be more forgiving of one another's missteps." Read more on NPR.org.
• Oversight Of Immigration At Heart Of Arizona Ruling – "Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says her state will ask the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday to let all of its controversial immigration law take effect, a day after a federal judge in Phoenix blocked key parts of the measure." Who is going to pay for this legal battle? Arizonans? American citizens? I'm a member of both groups and I'm sick of throwing away my tax dollars on political posturing. Read more about the ruling on NPR.
• 100 million Facebook users’ details published online – " The personal details of 100 million Facebook users have been collected and published online in a downloadable file, meaning they will now be unable to make their publicly available information private." This is just the kind of thing that should teach people to keep their private info OFF social networking systems. As for the guy who made this available to the world, I think he should be sued from here to Pluto. On MSNBC.com.

This just in... careers, Facebook, Internet, law, links, NPR, politics, privacy, socialnetworking, Twitter

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Think twice before clicking that button.

This morning, I followed a link from one of my Twitter friends to an article on PCWorld.com about the growing popularity of ebooks. The article made a statement I didn’t agree with and I wanted to comment. The comment area had two options:

• Sign in to the PCWorld Web site. This requires an account on the PCWorld Web site, which I did not have or want.
• Connect with Facebook. After a long internal debate, I have begun using Facebook again.

I clicked the Connect with Facebook button. A window like this one popped up in my Web browser. Since this was the first time I’d tried to connect to a site with Facebook, I decided to actually read what was in the window.

And I was appalled by what I read.

Here it is, just in case you can’t read it in the screenshot:

PCWorld is requesting permission to do the following:
Access my basic information
Includes name, profile picture, gender, networks, user ID, list of friends, and any other information I’ve shared with everyone.



In other words, not only does PCWorld get access to my name, but it also gets access to quite a bit of personal information, including my gender, affiliations, user ID (for tracking, I wonder?), and list of friends. It can also access “any other information I’ve shared with everyone,” which could include hobbies, interests, favorite books and movies, etc. In other words, I’d be giving PCWorld a wealth of information about me.

Whoa. Exactly why would I want to give PCWorld access to this information? Certainly not for the privilege of entering a comment on its Web site.

I clicked the Don’t Allow button to get out of there, then attempted to set up an account. Apparently, it’s impossible to set up an account on PCWorld without subscribing to one of its electronic magazines. It has over a dozen of them and none of them interest me in the least.

That got me wondering why I was wasting precious time from my day to add content to PCWorld’s Web site.

So I closed the window and got on with my life.

At least it gave me something to blog about.

What I hope readers come away with from this story is this: think twice before “Connecting with Facebook.” You may be sharing your private Facebook information with organizations that really don’t need it.

Call Me a Geek, Social Networking comments, Facebook, privacy

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Here are links I found interesting on June 15, 2010:

• ‘Touchdown Jesus’ statue in Ohio destroyed by lightning – Another story covering this "act of God." On USATODAY.com. Thanks to @sonorandragon for sharing the link.
• Blurred Out: 51 Things You Aren’t Allowed to See on Google Maps – "Depending on which feature you use, Google Maps offers a satellite view or a street-level view of tons of locations around the world. You can look up landmarks like the Pyramids of Egypt or the Great Wall of China, as well as more personal places, like your ex’s house. But for all of the places that Google Maps allows you to see, there are plenty of places that are off-limits. Whether it’s due to government restrictions, personal-privacy lawsuits or mistakes, Google Maps has slapped a "Prohibited" sign on the following 51 places." Read about them on Focus.com. Thanks to @estherschinder for sharing the link.
• 6-story Jesus statue in Ohio struck by lightning – As @SamHarrisOrg said, "The Lord works in mysterious ways." LOL.
• Mac mini – The most affordable, energy-efficient Mac. – A new Mac Mini. How nice.

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Here are links I found interesting on May 25, 2010:

• National Parks Closed For Annual Remajestification – "With their current condition "marginally breathtaking at best," America's national parks will be closed this week for their exhaustive annual cleaning and remajestification, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced Monday." Read more in The Onion. Thanks to @PattyHankins for sharing the link.
• 100 Stimulating Videos for Beating Writer’s Block – "While some might claim that watching 100 videos about overcoming writer’s block is just procrastinating, you know that it is actually a worthwhile endeavor. Once you know how to beat writer’s block, you can carry on with the important work of writing. So take a break from working on that latest novel, toiling over a paper for your online degree, or trying to come up with a blog post so that you can watch these videos."
• 5 Must-Know Copyright Facts for Freelance Writers – Excellent article for freelance writers and bloggers interested in protecting their copyrighted material. On Plagiarism Today.
• Facebook Privacy Scanner – ReclaimPrivacy.org has a free tool to scan and fix your Facebook privacy settings.
• 7 things to stop doing on Facebook – Advice from Consumer Reports
• USA Today Duped by iPad Steering Wheel Hoax – Another example of USA Today publishing a story without all the facts. This time, they're publicly humiliated. Will they learn? Probably not. Read more on blogs.SFWeekly.com.
• How to Get Your Camera Back When You Lose It – "Most of us photographers have a few ‘worst nightmare scenarios’. One of them is losing our cameras. Andrew McDonald has a strategy just for you that will increase the chance of getting your camera back." Read more — and see the great photos — on Digital-Photography-School.com.
• May 25, 2001: Towel Day Honors Hitchhiker Author Adams – "Two weeks after the death of Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, fans get together and celebrate May 25 as “Towel Day” in his memory. The tradition continues each year since." Read More on wired.com.
• A New Type of Phishing Attack – Jeez, this one might even fool me. On azarask.in. Thanks to @jodene for sharing the link.
• A little late, Catholics make it up to Copernicus, and bury him a hero – "Nicolas Copernicus, the 16th-century astronomer branded a heretic for his findings by the Roman Catholic Church, has been reburied as a hero by Polish priests – nearly 500 years after he was laid to rest in an unmarked grave." Read more on Freethinker.co.uk. Thanks to @swoopy for sharing this link.
• Facebook Mania: Privacy Changes for Nearly 500 Million – "Sometime in the next few weeks, Facebook will officially log its 500 millionth active citizen." Read more on Time.com.
• Tina Brown’s Must-Reads: The State Of Our Privacy – "For Morning Edition's feature "Word of Mouth," Daily Beast Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown joins NPR to talk about what she's been reading — and what's made an impression. This month, Brown has been reading about privacy — how much we have of it, and the perils of losing it." Read more (or listen) on NPR.org.

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