omehgosh

Congrats Meg! That's amazing! Thanks for sharing your sweet, relaxed, understanding self with us! Such a lovely human being (and HOT!!!)

I always giggle a little to myself when I hear an advertisement referring to "hand-tossed" dough, or salad.

My first choice was Einstein... but as much as I'm fascinated by him, and as interesting as a drink with him might seem, I realize I likely wouldn't have much in common with him at all (probably nothing other than a bad hair day!)... I'm going to go with Jaco Pastorious.

Happy birthday Rachelle! :smile:

Although I still don't really know what it's like (and can't), I'm at least a slightly less curious. Thanks for sharing ladies! :smile:

Watching TV and hearing "Tonight at eight, an all new episode of..." Do new episodes ever come in halves? Might it revert to a repeat after the second commercial break? Hmmm.

In case you really didn't know... iPhone apps taking your entire contact list - http://www.techmeme.com/120215/p6#a120215p6 Twitter selling everything you ever tweeted - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/digital-culture/social-networking/twitter-sells-your-feed-to-big-data/article2355287/ Cellphone tracking in malls - http://www.pcworld.com/article/244859/some_malls_tracking_shoppers_through_their_cell_phones_this_holiday_season.html

I've been telling people about stuff like this for years, but until VERY recently, people have always assumed I was just being paranoid. This app just shows one of MANY ways where your privacy is being invaded far beyond what you think is even possible. It's not just social media that's responsible either - although that's really helping to get very detailed info on all of us. Did you know that in the U.S. in some malls they track you via your cell phone? They have software and hardware installed at the malls that tracks your cell phone uniquely. They record where you go, how long you're there for, when you leave... and I'm not just talking entering and leaving the mall - they literally track where in an actual store aisle you stop to check something out, how long you stay there before moving to another part of the isle, how long it takes you to get from that point to another... The next time you go to the same mall, they track you again and simply add it to your file... Every time you use your credit card, debit card, air miles card, or whatever - you are being tracked (that's the whole point of those points cards!). They track record and analyze your purchasing habits, travelling habits, and eventually can pretty much figure out where you're most likely to be at any point in the day. Twitter just recently sold, or was in the process of selling all of it's data to some company that was going to process it and sell it off. That's right - everything little thing you ever posted on Twitter was kept and will be sold off to some company so that they can analyze and predict your behaviors. This stuff is real, and happening with or without you knowing about it, and whether or not you like it. You check your gmail account and find ads related to a message you sent or received - they're tracking you. Yes, in that case there's simply a program analyzing words in your messages and feeding you ads based on that info - and I'd guess there's never actually somebody reading your messages, but I still find it a little creepy. How do you think these huge social media /networking companies like Facebook and Twitter make money? - Advertising. Processing your personal information allows them to better target you, personally - the advertising is more effective, everybody makes more money. I wouldn't be surprised if they even have personalized, specific algorithms for individuals. Did you know about the recent discovery with IOS (iphone, ipad, ipod...)? The one where someone found out that every single application installed had the ability to collect all of the data from your contacts and send it out to a server somewhere to collect it? Did you know you that they could do this without asking your permission? I'm not making this up, this is real. They found many applications (some of them full on well-know legitimate apps) collecting your contacts data on their own servers for no apparent reason. Apple said they were going to correct this, but I don't remember hearing it was corrected. This may still sound crazy to some, but it isn't I swear - cross my heart and hope to die! Do some research of your own, get informed. I'm not sure you can fully stop the collection of your private, personal data (well, it used to be considered private and personal... it used to illegal to simply follow someone around in the street... I don't understand how this other stuff is "okay"), but if it concerns you you still have at least a little power to protect your privacy... Don't use Facebook. Pick up a phone and call your friends, or better yet - go visit them in person. Don't use Twitter. Nobody needed to know what you were doing every single minute of the day before - why do they need to know it now? Turn off your cell phone once and a while. There was a time not so long ago, when it was okay to be on the road and unreachable by phone for a little while. Even easier (I know, I'm addicted to my freakin' phone too)... Use cash whenever you can - stop using debit and credit card for everything. Stop using points cards (it's a trade off - your privacy for some really small rewards (they're getting really cheap nowadays!)). Don't give that cashier your postal code, phone number, or email when they ask you at the store (yes, that information is being collected for a reason too - and it's not so that you can return an item later if you want to - you can still do that if you don't give them any personal information (yes, a postal code is still telling them where you live, how far you drove to get to their store, what you bought when you there... and eventually how often you shop there, and the times/days you go...)) Quit entering stuff online like contests and promotions etc., where you give them your name, address, age, phone number... Whew! My fingers are all out of breath. 'Nuff ranting from me I think. :smile: