[OT] Low Tech Data Mining?

nothing in those sites knows your mother's actual maiden name - so you can say her maiden name was 5%**12ertvfgqRms and they will be none the wiser, just write it down on paper somewhere and don't keep it in your computer and no hacker will ever guess it.

You know that the answers to those questions don't have to be true don't you? Just make up and memorize some improbable answers for them, preferably with a mix of upper and lower case and a few digits--don't use special characters as sometimes the software won't take them in those fields.

Interesting. Big market in stolen kitchen grease in California?

Ditto. $1,400 from Craigslist in the past few months and more to Freecycle and Goodwill.

Then, by all means, AVOID!

It won't make any difference to either the picker-upper or the scrapper. All they need is a piece of paper with a name and address on it. Pretty soon, scrappers are going to be asking for photo ID. Since scroungers are breaking into abandoned houses and shop and ripping out the plumbing and wiring to scrap, that's only a normal reaction by the PTBs.

-- The most powerful factors in the world are clear ideas in the minds of energetic men of good will. -- J. Arthur Thomson

(...)

Recent (big, well-known) website had only two 'security' questions and no way to enter 'custom' questions.

The questions were:

"What was the name of your best childhood friend?"

How am I supposed to pick a favorite among that crowd? Tomorrow afternoon will I be more kindly disposed to Catherine or Jody?

"What is the name of your first born child?"

ISY not. A little presumptuous, aren't we?

:)

--Winston

Bet your bippy there is.

Seemingly overnight, local fish 'n chips houses went from paying to have used grease dumped, to locking the drums so that they have a supply for the local Biodiesel guy who *pays them* for the liquid gold.

I'm gonna start an Internet rumor that clay dirt can be converted to motor fuel for $1.00 a gallon. Gonna call it "Goldman-Soil". :)

My back yard will have a swimming-pool size hole in it by the time the entrepreneurs wise up.

:)

--Winston

Luke Skywalker

It's the black mask and SCBA I wear while posting on USENET, isn't it, Jim?

--Winston :)

That's an easy one. Your single most horrible experience in childhood revolves around one person. Use that person as your key. Rex was the bully I stood up to in high school.

That's an easy one, too. Use you first pet's name. They're children, too, aren't they? (That's why I don't believe in pet ownership.)

Just bend their rules a bit and remember what you used, eh? Keep a list of passwords and security answers in your safe, JIC.

-- The most powerful factors in the world are clear ideas in the minds of energetic men of good will. -- J. Arthur Thomson

Yes! They presumed that you had a friend, and a kid... ;-)

Just one bully? It must have been a really tiny school. :)

Spot. Bob. Which for security reasons is spelled "boB".

Answer - I have a child? "She says it is mine?"

"Michael A. Terrell" on Mon, 03 Sep 2012

20:08:59 -0400 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

And you remember.

(...)

What were we talking about, again?

--Winston

With over 60 passswords? A made a HTML document so that I can copy and paste them from a memory stick.

Larry Jaques on Mon, 03 Sep 2012

16:09:13 -0700 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

What do you mean. The little buggers own us! I'm the one dragging out of bed at oh dark early, to go buy them groceries. What do they do? Complain because the sun moved away from where they were sleeping!

"Michael A. Terrell" on Tue, 04 Sep 2012

04:04:48 -0400 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

I have gotten so frustrated of late. I got blocked from one account for some reason. But I can contact them - by email. From my account. Which is blocked. Or I can call them. If they can answer the phone and solve the issue in the one minute I have before the phone runs out ... I need to get that letter in the mail asking them what alternatives they have for fixing this problem. I really do.

Like my credit union. You can't get their toll free number if you can't log in to their website. Or my truck insurance. They expire your password, without warning. Then you spend an hour on the phone trying to convince them of who you are, just to pay the damn bill.

Then there's the information that changes. My favorite restaurant for the last quarter of the 20th century ceased to exist on 9/11 for example.