“Hi, my name is jik, and I’m a password reuser.” “Hi, jik!” If there isn’t a “Password Reusers Anonymous”, there probably should be. By “password reuse,” I mean using the same password over and over on multiple Web sites. It’s a really bad idea, and I should know that better than most, since I’ve worked… Read More »
My blog postings about the DMA (initial and followup) got picked up at The Consumerist and got over 5,200 views, which is a respectable take, but not nearly as good as when Continental lost my daughter :-). You will also find on The Consumerist a rebuttal from the DMA which doesn’t actually respond substantively to… Read More »
Well, she made it sound like I’m the only King Richard’s Faire patron who ever complained about it, said nothing about the fact that more importantly than the Kosher thing, the Faire’s policies discriminate painfully (literally) against people with medical conditions, let stand unchallenged a statement from the owner of the Faire that her policies… Read More »
Earlier today, I wrote about the many ways in which the DMA’s MPS Web site is broken and about the fact that the people who run the site don’t really seem to care all that much. I forwarded a link to my article to the DMA’s consumer affairs email address. To their credit, they responded… Read More »
Since 1971, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has offered a service called the Mail Preference Service (MPS). The alleged purpose of the MPS is to allow consumers to register which kinds of direct marketing mail they want, or to opt out completely. DMA members are then supposed to scrub their mailing lists against the MPS… Read More »
(Simulblogged on universalhub.com.) Long-time readers of my blog know that I have been trying, for almost two years, to eliminate junk mail — the paper kind — from my mailbox. I’ve registered everyone in my family with the DMA’s MPS, tried out various Web sites that purport to help you stop junk mail, and most… Read More »
For those of you who use Cygwin to make Windows slightly more bearable… Suppose you’re happily working in a Cygwin window, and you need to load one of the files you’re working on into a Windows app. You could select File > Open… in the app and then browse to the ten-levels-deep Cygwin folder to… Read More »
I’m responsible for coordinating weekly new-functionality demos for my company’s R&D organization. Each week, a developer or product manager presents a half-hour demo of some new functionality to a local audience in one of our offices, using a big 1920×1080 digital TV as the local display, with a GoToMeeting session set up so that people… Read More »
On July 29, I received an unsolicited bulk email message from Ayanna Pressley, a candidate for one of the Boston City Council’s At-Large seats, with the Subject line, “Our Campaign Kick-Off for Boston City Council At Large!” The email message to which it was sent (I use different email addresses for different purposes to make… Read More »
Mom: “No naps today. We have to pick up the older kids at school very soon!” Four-year-old: “I am just dying for a nap. I will have to take a very short one or I can’t go to pickup nicely at all.”