Well, I've really done it this year. Get the coffee pot primed.....gather the microwavable foods and sandwich makin's at the ready.....make sure there are some fruits, nuts, other energy snacks at hand -- guess I'll definitely be spending this weekend doing my federal and state income taxes.
I pulled together all the paperwork, gathered the tax booklets and forms, or printed them off the Internet -- collecting this all in one file by the time January ended. Why I haven't done any more since then would be hard to explain. I remember hearing we had more days than usual this year to submit our returns and pay our taxes. I'm sure I've had good reasons why I haven't done more before this, but I expect you would likely tell me, "That's no excuse!"
Since I began doing my taxes manually, by default, after my husband's death (he had always done them), I've just continued doing so. I've become much quicker at the process as each year passes.
Yes, I know I could hire someone, or I could do them online or with a computer program, but I confess to having an attitude about doing so. I've always liked playing with numbers so the mathematics isn't an issue. But, something is terribly wrong with a tax system into which we pay that has become so complex we have to pay even more just to have somebody else figure out how much tax we owe -- even if our government tries to pacify us by making the cost of doing so tax deductible.
Of course, hiring someone does create employment opportunities, so this may be our government's idea of one way to address creating more jobs. I hope this doesn't mean I'm not a good citizen. Maybe I better have a glass or two of the ol' vino with which to relax and contemplate this matter after mailing my tax form envelopes Monday.
At least I am supporting the postal service, so that must count for something toward my good citizenship. I still like receiving mail in the box outside my home's front door. Besides, I've never had a problem with anyone hacking into my ordinary mail -- not that they couldn't access it in other ways. As much as I appreciate the digital world's mail speed, I can't help wondering if that older mail system provides more privacy ... as long as what's been mailed gets there. I must say in all my years I've never had anything I mailed or that I knew was sent to me be compromised.
Perhaps you don't procrastinate or fret about privacy, so maybe my thoughts are just tilting at windmills.
Showing posts with label Privacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Privacy. Show all posts
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Sunday, April 01, 2012
APRIL FOOLS DAY PONDERING
Do you still play April Fools Day jokes on others, or do others on you?
What follows isn't a joke, but I sometimes see humor in unusual places.
I'm less than pleased with the consolidation in one place of personal information increasingly collected based on my internet computer usage. I've made some changes, but it will be interesting to see what happens with the advertisements that appear on my email accounts as time progresses.
Even before my computer use adjustments, what I wrote must have kept the master computer confused about my interests. Consequently, I've been amused by those far-fetched automatically generated ads appearing on my email accounts. I was startled to notice a link for free wild hog hunting in Texas, so when it continued for weeks I figured Texas must really be overrun with pigs. Eventually, I guess the computer figured I didn't want to travel to Texas when I didn't click on the link, or it decided to try a locale closer to where I live. So, the enticement increased with an offer for a free California pig hunting map -- later, more formally, a free boar hunting map (sounds sexist to me, but guess the sows are given a pass.)
During the months I've been pondering if I should undertake such a wild hog hunt, they switched the link to big game hunting in Canada. This took some serious thought. What sort of weapon would I need -- a bow and arrow, or would a firearm be better? I hadn't fired an Army 45, 22 rifle, or 12 gauge shotgun for over fifty years, and even then hadn't been on a hunting trip when I pulled those triggers. Should I get a 30.06 that I've heard about, or do they have other more suitable calibers now? But...I don't like to kill creatures, much less simply for pleasure.
Fortunately, about that time, the wild hog and big game hunting links stopped appearing on my email accounts, but bet they wouldn't have if I had clicked on even one. The proffered links then progressed to trucking jobs -- right up my alley at this stage in my life. Or, the offer was for Isat preparation? These were soon followed by so many choices that I just didn't know which one to pick: attending film school in nyc, getting a cia intelligence degree sounded really exciting, training to be a chiropractor, getting nursing training or becoming a physical therapy aide -- all opportunities just when I'm well past traditional retirement ages.
And then, there are the ads for medications they want to sell me -- all based on various internet searches I've made, I guess, for the multiple diseases, symptoms, ailments, prescribed medicines associated with some of my patients that I need to know about, or some I've heard mentioned that I'm just curious about. There is such a thing as more information than is wanted at times.
I'll be quite content to be entertained with the ads they give me, however far removed from my interests, since I have no intention of voluntarily providing any more specific information about myself. Privacy may be a thing of the past, as has been said, but I continue to insist on wanting the option of whether or not to release my personal information -- how much, to whom, and when.
*
What follows isn't a joke, but I sometimes see humor in unusual places.
I'm less than pleased with the consolidation in one place of personal information increasingly collected based on my internet computer usage. I've made some changes, but it will be interesting to see what happens with the advertisements that appear on my email accounts as time progresses.
Even before my computer use adjustments, what I wrote must have kept the master computer confused about my interests. Consequently, I've been amused by those far-fetched automatically generated ads appearing on my email accounts. I was startled to notice a link for free wild hog hunting in Texas, so when it continued for weeks I figured Texas must really be overrun with pigs. Eventually, I guess the computer figured I didn't want to travel to Texas when I didn't click on the link, or it decided to try a locale closer to where I live. So, the enticement increased with an offer for a free California pig hunting map -- later, more formally, a free boar hunting map (sounds sexist to me, but guess the sows are given a pass.)
During the months I've been pondering if I should undertake such a wild hog hunt, they switched the link to big game hunting in Canada. This took some serious thought. What sort of weapon would I need -- a bow and arrow, or would a firearm be better? I hadn't fired an Army 45, 22 rifle, or 12 gauge shotgun for over fifty years, and even then hadn't been on a hunting trip when I pulled those triggers. Should I get a 30.06 that I've heard about, or do they have other more suitable calibers now? But...I don't like to kill creatures, much less simply for pleasure.
Fortunately, about that time, the wild hog and big game hunting links stopped appearing on my email accounts, but bet they wouldn't have if I had clicked on even one. The proffered links then progressed to trucking jobs -- right up my alley at this stage in my life. Or, the offer was for Isat preparation? These were soon followed by so many choices that I just didn't know which one to pick: attending film school in nyc, getting a cia intelligence degree sounded really exciting, training to be a chiropractor, getting nursing training or becoming a physical therapy aide -- all opportunities just when I'm well past traditional retirement ages.
And then, there are the ads for medications they want to sell me -- all based on various internet searches I've made, I guess, for the multiple diseases, symptoms, ailments, prescribed medicines associated with some of my patients that I need to know about, or some I've heard mentioned that I'm just curious about. There is such a thing as more information than is wanted at times.
I'll be quite content to be entertained with the ads they give me, however far removed from my interests, since I have no intention of voluntarily providing any more specific information about myself. Privacy may be a thing of the past, as has been said, but I continue to insist on wanting the option of whether or not to release my personal information -- how much, to whom, and when.
*
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Mishmash
Mishmash: a confused conglomeration of mismatched information (my definition)
Internet factual personal data independently collected by commercial sites is highly suspect in the event you have any doubts. Specifics about themselves revealed by individuals, or those who know them, on social network sites are a different matter but could be questionable, too.
On a whim I thought I'd see what personal information about me some commercial sites offered free to readers who searched my name. What a hoot! I've never seen such a mishmash of mixed information. I hope no one is ever foolish enough to actually pay any of those sites money to see whatever other data they claim they may or may not have about me. (I don't know what they might have, since I wasn't about to subscribe to find out.)
First of all, the sites often don't even have my name spelled correctly. A nonexistent middle name's initial is indicated in other instances. These name listings are as mixed up as the credit reporting agencies were the last time I checked their written reports (facts they can't seem to get straight.) Reviewing further family data purported to be about me revealed continuing grossly erroneous information including total family members and names in the household.
This experience caused me to wonder how accurate these sites would be for a few other family members and friends, or to question if only my listing was inaccurate. I needed to search but a few names to discover their data was as bollixed up as my own.
Frankly, I'm quite accepting of the fact much data about me on those commercial Internet sites is untrue. I hope anyone who might refer to those sites realizes they may contain little more than a grain of fact in an ocean of misinformation. I have no intention of correcting falsehoods or providing missing particulars to any of those sites.
I guess I belong to a minority group that doesn't welcome the gathering of information about me, that is consolidated in one such public centralized location so readily available for marketing. So, I don't intend to take any corrective action to aid in their so-called fact gathering. At best this effort only slows the assault on my personal privacy.
This Internet activity set me thinking. Just as many individuals seek celebrity today -- either the famous or infamous variety seems desired by many -- numerous other people are dedicated to compiling as many facts as possible about each of us as a way for them to make money. They lead us to embrace the idea that revealing all about ourselves on the Internet is desirable. I think, despite rhetoric to the contrary, the primary motivation for gathering information about us is purely commercial -- to find a way to entice advertising dollars.
Eventually, one day the great computer with infinite storage in the cloud will know all there is to know about us. The mechanical wisdom of this computer, that will have been designed to program itself, will spew forth selected knowledge unique to each of our needs and desires. When we consult that digital wizard about products and other matters each of us will automatically be offered predetermined choices presumed to be our preferences.
I wonder if the computer will know to offer me a pair of special shoes I always wanted? Maybe I shouldn't wait for the wizard to intuit the wish of this then young girl who longed for springs on her shoe soles in preference to the pogo stick she never had. There were no such shoes with springs then, as far as I know, but finally, these many years later, someone somewhere has designed that footwear. Hm-m-m! I wonder if there's a model suitable for elders?
Internet factual personal data independently collected by commercial sites is highly suspect in the event you have any doubts. Specifics about themselves revealed by individuals, or those who know them, on social network sites are a different matter but could be questionable, too.
On a whim I thought I'd see what personal information about me some commercial sites offered free to readers who searched my name. What a hoot! I've never seen such a mishmash of mixed information. I hope no one is ever foolish enough to actually pay any of those sites money to see whatever other data they claim they may or may not have about me. (I don't know what they might have, since I wasn't about to subscribe to find out.)
First of all, the sites often don't even have my name spelled correctly. A nonexistent middle name's initial is indicated in other instances. These name listings are as mixed up as the credit reporting agencies were the last time I checked their written reports (facts they can't seem to get straight.) Reviewing further family data purported to be about me revealed continuing grossly erroneous information including total family members and names in the household.
This experience caused me to wonder how accurate these sites would be for a few other family members and friends, or to question if only my listing was inaccurate. I needed to search but a few names to discover their data was as bollixed up as my own.
Frankly, I'm quite accepting of the fact much data about me on those commercial Internet sites is untrue. I hope anyone who might refer to those sites realizes they may contain little more than a grain of fact in an ocean of misinformation. I have no intention of correcting falsehoods or providing missing particulars to any of those sites.
I guess I belong to a minority group that doesn't welcome the gathering of information about me, that is consolidated in one such public centralized location so readily available for marketing. So, I don't intend to take any corrective action to aid in their so-called fact gathering. At best this effort only slows the assault on my personal privacy.
This Internet activity set me thinking. Just as many individuals seek celebrity today -- either the famous or infamous variety seems desired by many -- numerous other people are dedicated to compiling as many facts as possible about each of us as a way for them to make money. They lead us to embrace the idea that revealing all about ourselves on the Internet is desirable. I think, despite rhetoric to the contrary, the primary motivation for gathering information about us is purely commercial -- to find a way to entice advertising dollars.
Eventually, one day the great computer with infinite storage in the cloud will know all there is to know about us. The mechanical wisdom of this computer, that will have been designed to program itself, will spew forth selected knowledge unique to each of our needs and desires. When we consult that digital wizard about products and other matters each of us will automatically be offered predetermined choices presumed to be our preferences.
I wonder if the computer will know to offer me a pair of special shoes I always wanted? Maybe I shouldn't wait for the wizard to intuit the wish of this then young girl who longed for springs on her shoe soles in preference to the pogo stick she never had. There were no such shoes with springs then, as far as I know, but finally, these many years later, someone somewhere has designed that footwear. Hm-m-m! I wonder if there's a model suitable for elders?
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