Orwellian dating world

Recently, at the suggestion of a co-worker, I decided to take a look at the online dating world. Just to get my feet wet, I registered for Match.com, but didn't fill out the profile, since it costs money. Plenty of Fish was free, so I said what the heck?

After a week on the service, I'm realizing why it's free. Apparently, it was created by one geek sitting in his apartment who is trying to rake in all the ad money for himself without hiring any help. He keeps the labor investment down by automating various aspects of the service, and being the geek he is, can't resist constantly tweaking his database and site.

During the week I've been poking around, ads went from not too obtrusive to having a GIANT ad of a half-naked woman next to the picture of the person you're trying to figure out whether you want to date. Essentially, plentyoffish is a way for the guy to make money by advertising paid dating sites, and if plentyoffish doesn't work very well, guess what ? His advertisers are happier and he makes more money ! Nothing like finding a way to make money from your own incompetence ? Brilliant !!

My troubles with plentyoffish began when I ran into a particularly seductive, dream-like profile. In fact, the woman's face was shown so that her lips were close to the camera, but not in an obvious way, like when you're on a date and you're either working up the courage or trying to figure out if the person wants you to kiss them or not. And when I say it was dream-like, her self description mentions a sleeping pill -- so we're talking LITERALLY dream-like.

It went something like this, "Oh Abe, Abe, where are you?" Then it mentions something about the "glorified rat" and the whole thing being part of an ad for Rozerem, a sleeping drug. She pines, "Abe, if you don't come back, I'm going to have to start dating the Geico Cave Man!"

How could you not want to help a woman in that situation out ?! But being the know-it-all geek that I am, I had to set her straight on a few things. First, that "glorified rat" is a BEAVER. And they used to make hats out of felt made from beaver fur, but we WON'T go there. I pattered on about how interesting her profile was, and ended with, "you have nice lips."

The next day, I was unable to log on to plentyoffish. I got around that by creating a new profile, and then I was able to see that my old profile still online, potentially catching fish like a drift net abandoned at sea. Not only that, my old profile said that I was online, when in fact, I was only able to be "online" via my new profile, which no one could access from the dead driftnet of my old one.

The next experiment in self destruction came when a woman from the Midwest requested an instant message chat through the system. I was chatting away, not realizing my words were cutting off my feet, that is... we were discussing having to move somewhere for a job, which is what career-oriented people do. I said, "I've always moved somewhere, and found a job once I got there. Unfortunately, this has had a bad effect on my bank account, which has only recently recovered."

Maybe I'm just incompetent at trying to impress women.

I immediately realized the Orwellian attitude of plentyoffish when I typed those sentences. Big Brother deleted the words "bank account" as if I were some Nigerian spam/scam artist requesting a check deposit. In place of "bank account" was ****a******. OK, plentyoffish is trying to protect users from internet bank scams. I suppose, but... wait. The next day, I was able to log on, but the text of my profile was deleted.

After the first glitch, I looked more carefully at the "terms" of plentyoffish. The terms are that you can be deleted at any time WITHOUT WARNING. So, in the Orwellian world, you don't know if you did something wrong, or what you did wrong, you just know that you've been exterminated (and no one else suspects you've been exterminated, except, maybe the person who might have turned you in as an irritant). Just wait until the Bush/Cheney administration gets ahold of this technology ?!
links: Rozerem
beaver hats - NOT OBSCENE

'Marshall Plan' for blacks ?

"San Francisco officials have a moral obligation to try and stop black residents from abandoning the city and should consider a local version of the Marshall Plan to help African Americans, the Rev. Amos Brown, president of the San Francisco NAACP, said Sunday."

Uh, can we talk about this? First, the highest rate of home ownership in San Francisco is Bayview, a black neighborhood. Most other folks in town rent. Anywhere else, I'd be upper middle class and own a house, but here I rent. Why do the Bayview folks own houses? Because during WWII, they were building ships at Hunters Point, and lots of blacks came from the South and elsewhere for jobs in the industry. For awhile, there was a nice middle class existence from those jobs. Though nearly all those jobs went away, lots of people managed to hold onto their houses. But now, those people who had jobs during WWII are getting old. And their children probably don't have jobs in the area. Like lots of people's kids, they may have found jobs and more affordable housing elsewhere. So are the kids who have planted themselves elsewhere keeping the Bayview houses? The houses are getting cashed out, and the neighborhood gradually gentrified - and African-American children are cashing them out and getting the benefit of that (provided there is equity, which is another story).

Let's look at another group of people... the artists and liberal hipsters, who are actually the vanguard of the gentrification crowd. What happened to them when the dot-com boom happened ? They got priced out and moved to Oakland -- traditional black areas. So Oakland is getting gentrified as well, but is Oakland saying, "we gotta do something! We don't have enough black people here ?!" I don't think so (though they may be annoyed at some of the artists and hipsters moving in).

So what do we want to do, have a 'Marshall Plan' to swap some dot-com folks with some black folks from Oakland (many of the dot-com people are gone by now anyway)? Never mind a discussion of what percentage of the dot-com folks were African-American. The reality is SF is one of the more expensive cities in the Bay Area, in spite of our both good and bad neighborhoods. The ethnicity will grow to reflect the cost of living here and who has jobs here. Oh sure, maybe we could roust out some illegal Chinese and Mexicans, and make some room for the blacks who can't afford to live here, but they'd have to live in overcrowded conditions, work in the backs of kitchens, garment sweatshops and the other places the illegals are working ? Nobody who's living out in the suburbs wants to do that (regardless of their ethnicity).

I've considered moving to Oakland. There's more middle class over there, which is what I am. But since I work evening shift and BART stops at midnight, I might have trouble getting home. Now there's an idea... extend BART hours, I'll move to Oakland, and give an African-American my apartment in SF. If we're going to "Marshall Plan" this, then both of us should get a moving subsidy. Then again, if we're extending BART hours, maybe more African-Americans who can only get 2nd or 3rd shift jobs (or work 2 jobs, like many people) will be able to save transportation money and move to SF ? No, we don't want to do something that might help the economically challenged of all races.

p.s. in case anyone hasn't noticed, there are still shipping industry jobs in Oakland. Do we want to move the people who have those jobs and live in Oakland to San Francisco ? Do we want to prevent the heirs of Bayview Homes from selling those homes to anyone who can afford them ? I'm not sure how this "Marshall Plan" would work.

Classic SF Government

This is a classic story of life in the "big city." A car gets stolen. The thieves drive it for some time, accumulating tickets, but the people issuing tickets don't talk much to the people tracking stolen cars (that would make too much sense, and uh, we need another billion dollars for our budget to make that happen!)

Finally, the victim decides to take matters into their own hands.

Chronicle Story Link

Gift Card fine print

A co-worker of mine got an American Express gift card as a door prize. Turns out the gift card had a $4 "activation fee." People buy a $25 gift card assuming it's a $25 gift, but it's actually as much a gift to the company on the card !

In the social sense, "just writing a check" was seen as a lazy gift, "what, you can't even take the time to think about what this person would like, and SHOP for it ?" Somehow gift cards got positioned (read MARKETED) as a solution... less tacky than a check, can't be used to buy drugs, and hey, I still went SHOPPING, I just couldn't find the right thing.

Let's reposition the gift card as something that sends the message, "Hey, I couldn't trust you with cash, because you'd just waste it or spend it on drugs, and I'd rather give more of my money to some giant corporation instead of you !"

Angst over 50

Well, I'm rounding up - starting early

2008. Great. I'm going to be 48. Isn't that in the transition zone out of middle age and well into becoming... like... old? It's definitely of the age that you only date "young" women if you're throwing money at them; or if you're George Clooney, I guess... who's a year younger than I. I suppose I should enjoy being 47 while I can ?! ...after all, my birthday's half a year away.

Life of a healthcare worker

will be working both Christmas and New Years, but is looking forward to having a friend from CSU Northridge visit

Land of the Free

...and the brave.

Let's review, since there are quite a few people who don't understand, and vilify the work of those who strongly believe in the constitution:

The mission of the American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU) is to preserve all of these protections and guarantees:

* Your First Amendment rights - freedom of speech, association and assembly; freedom of the press, and freedom of religion.
* Your right to equal protection under the law - equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.
* Your right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake.
* Your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR
is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.

The people who can't stand these organizations are generally those who believe the constitution doesn't apply to everyone equally. That is, "bad guys" shouldn't have rights. ...and it's not a fair, law-based trial that determines who is a "bad guy," it's mob rule or government fiat.

commerce

Rebates. Rebates are the scourge of buying anything electronic these days. Companies have found a new way to "bait and switch" with the LOW PRICE OF ONLY*

*after rebate, and good luck trying to get it.

Lately, I haven't been bothered by rebates because I haven't bought any electronics. What I'm being bothered by now is that the fact that everyone wants my personal data for customer tracking. I have to pay extra at a store unless I give them enough info that the clerk can use for identity theft. They promise not to share the data with the store up the road, because they're competitors, so you'll have to give that store your data independently. And the government will keep your data private, that is, unless they have some inkling that you hate the president, in which case, you might as well live in any 2-bit fascist country. (which is a great rationale for collecting data on everyone, since the president's ratings are pretty low.)

As with email flame wars, all arguments end with the opponents comparing each other to Hitler.

Two nuns and a...

San Francisco, California and Gough... as I cross the street, I see two Mormons with their white shirts, ties, and name badges. Standing on the corner, across the other street, oh, this is amusing -- two nuns. I'm glancing back and forth as the Mormons notice the nuns, they look at each other and grin. As the nuns notice the Mormons, they look at each other and grin. The light changes, and I'm walking across the street in the direction of the Mormons. Pleasant hellos exchanged in the middle of the street. What? No drawing of the daggers?!

As I continue onward, the Mormons, who look like the classic Utah version white boys, are catching up with me. And they're speaking... Spanish.

High 5 for Homeless

What ? Last night on the bus, some 20-something year-old folks were accosting everyone on the bus as they got off, raising their hand, "HIGH 5 FOR THE HOMELESS !" What ? These things occur mostly on Friday nights.

Ya, let's all feel good for the homeless. "Spread the love!" they admonished. What? I'm sure all the homeless are feeling warm fuzzies right now because you're high-fiving their condition. Typical San Francisco feel-good idiocy. Uh, leave me the fuck alone?

p.s. I have a nasty respiratory virus which has been reported to cause some deaths. You now are high-fiving it throughout the city. Cheers.

Alternative Therapies

Ah, here is an excellent interview with a UCSF physician regarding alternative therapies (link). I must say, I agree with his perspective entirely... that is to say, effects should be scientifically investigated and attributed to the actual treatment or to placebo effect. Placebo effect is real and should not be discounted, however, if a therapy has side effects, those also need to be acknowledged, and the therapy avoided if the side effects are potentially hazardous. As long as the side effects aren't hazardous, alternative therapies can be useful for their placebo effect.

South of the Border

I recently found myself in the Sea of Cortez or Golfo de California with an Englishman, a Swiss, a German, a Spaniard, and two Mexicans. We ate raw scallops and otherwise had a wonderful day in the sun.

If you live in California, Baja is what to the East Coast would be Florida. Except we got Florida from the Spanish, and Baja remained Spanish.

I highly recommend Green Tortoise as an introduction to the peninsula. Their knowledge of the territory is superb, their food's fantastic... however, you must be the kind of person who will remain friendly on a comfortable but packed bus and enjoy camping on the beach.

Oh, I almost forgot... PICTURES !
People
Scenery
Underwater Snorkeling

Oil Spill Trajectory

Here's a nice graphic of how the oil was dispersed after the Cosco Busan spill. It also gives you an idea of how the water swishes in and out due to tidal action.