August 2007
Monthly Archive
Monthly Archive
Posted by karlmeyer on 02 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: Nature
Copyright: Karl Meyer
August 2, 2007
The turnaround point of the walk came toward
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Posted by karlmeyer on 01 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: Humor
Already in the System
For me a trip to the mall is something akin to seeing the dentist: most times I’d rather just skip it. But there was no getting around this visit. I was after bedding, something no longer available in town–at least at prices that don’t feel like tooth extraction. I bit my tongue and pushed through the double doors, smack into the jowls “big box†bedding. I was greeted by a tidal wave of prints and plastic packaging. It just seemed too MUCH!
I walked toward an area that seemed promising, and waded in. The choices ranged from flannel, cotton, polyester, cotton blend, and silk, to striped, dotted, flecked, splashed and patterned. Then there was the confusing tableau of size, color, depth, thread-count, and etc. Tiring precipitously, I grabbed something plain, vaguely off-white (and hopefully the right size), and bolted to the register. This would be quick. There were two people in line.
In these days of security cameras, credit monitors, warrantless phone sweeps, pre-flight searches, thousand-mile border fences and vigilante boundary guards—I just want to keep a few boundaries around me. The point for me is not to become another point, or series of data points. The rub is not to be the rat in the grid: “Oh, he’s buying THOSE now,†blinks a message toward buyers in
The product–which the “friendly“ system was concerned enough about to ask my phone number, was a full-size, fitted, bottom sheet. And yes, they used to make THOSE ten miles up the road. I imagined them calling at night, “Mr. Meyer, hello. Oh, sorry sir—you were sleeping. Just wanted to check on that sheet.â€Â  Nope, I would not be offering up any bites of personal data this day. My sleep preferences–for now least, would remain my little secret.
Posted by karlmeyer on 01 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: Politics
We’re being watched. I wanted to be up front about this–it’s my fault. This site collects cookies. REQUIRES cookies. The irony of this is that my computer settings have been pointedly turned away from any sites that collect cookies. Yet, once my friend Diane helped me put together this web-site and blog, I was unable to post anything in this space. It wouldn’t let me log in to blog. She couldn’t figure out why. I finally did.
I went into that little box that says “security” and checked the place where it gives permission to collect data. To collect cookies. There is only one other site listed there–one that I’ve agreed can track my computer strokes. Ironically, that’s the government. I’ve been doing breeding bird surveying for Massachusetts Audubon, and they use software from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. I wanted to help out, so I compromised–“just this once.” I gave permission for the government to enter my computer. How ironic. As soon as I glimpse that last breeding kingbird of summer, I’m ripping them out of there. But who knows if the data biters will actually withdraw the troops…?
So now, in order to be a blogger, I’m comprimising both of us. How does that make you feel? Once I checked the cookies thing, I was able to log in. Now I can blog to my heart’s content–each keystroke becoming a valued addition to the collected babble of the information age. So, BEWARE ALL WHO ENTER HERE! I’m sorry we’re being watched. We now have a government that is the world’s largest collector of information. We now have an executive branch that is the most secretive in the history of this country. I know how that makes me feel: ANGRY, COMPROMISED, and more than a bit OUTRAGED. Like you I’m hoping the feelings pass with a second cup of coffee.
But this brings up questions for me. If this site is mine, and its collecting cookies, who exactly is eating them? Am I eating my own cookies? Can I offer them around? Would you like a cookie? I don’t even know where the jar is. I’m not even hungry, you? Also, and I’m not sure about this–am I eating YOUR cookies? Or is someone else eating OUR cookies? I guess what is most important to know is that THERE ARE COOKIES HERE! If you’re intelligent, or dieting, or wary of today’s inordinate appetite for secret data, I strongly advise you to take your shopping cart elsewhere. We’ve had our cup of coffee and we’ll just call it a day. Oh, but–are you going to eat these?
As to my more thoughtful and paranoid thoughts on the whole idea of data mining and freedom, I will post my first piece under “humor”–after I send this one into the “politics” category. It’s an essay that appeared in June in Hampshire Life Magazine, called “Already in the System.” You can find it in the Humor Category. The irony there is–even if you don’t find it funny, some data grinch will see that you went to the box that said “humor.”
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