The increasing use of social networking services poses a difficult problem to users – how much information should you share? Do you talk about work, family, personal problems? Do you use names or pseudonyms? Do you make everything private or share your warts and all with anyone willing to pay attention?

This has been a problem for as long as people have communicated with each other but now that everything is archived online and potentially forever it becomes an acute issue. Do you think it isn’t a problem?

Here is an interesting case that points out a problem. Someone has created a new website that takes public information from a popular web application, foursquare. Foursquare encourages people to check in when they go out and about and let’s them know when friends are in the vicinity. A cool concept perhaps, but take this into consideration:

PleaseRobMe.com

Built using the public interface to foursquare and Twitter, it shows when someone has checked in somewhere other than home, presumably leaving that person’s home unoccupied. I don’t know whether the site is a social networking commentary or a joke but the idea is clear – when you share information that is identifiable back to you, you are putting yourself at some level of risk.

This isn’t new. Every time you sign up for a grocery reward program, enter a contest, hand someone a business card, you provide that person or organization with the means to do something you don’t want them to with that information. You can reduce that risk by being cautious but you can’t eliminate it.

How do you (if you do) protect your information online?

Lying in bed, face up to the ceiling may the hardest thing Ive had to do. The lack of variation may be the worst part; I am not a body that can watch TV for long so it is off.

Going to escape and find a book if I can avoid the warden.

(just kidding, honey, put down the rolling pin…)

As noted in a previous post, I had surgery yesterday to replace the first metatarsal in my right foot.

As far as Im aware, it all went good; I didnt get to talk to the surgeon but the nurse didnt give me dirty looks on the way out which is a good sign that I behaved myself.

The nerve block wore off earlier so the pain is increasing. I just took some medication and the youngest (my current nurse) has just dropped off for his nap so Im going to do the same.

So, it was a bit full of a weekend for me… how about all y’all?

A short rundown of events:

• Drove up to Rexburg, Idaho, and back to pick up niece for an impromptu visit. Fog from North Salt Lake up through Idaho Falls, some thick enough to slow us to 40 MPH and that was even pushing it.
• Monthly major grocery shopping, this time with the whole family which takes much longer.
• Picked up prescriptions for my outpatient surgery at the end of the month.
• Dinner party with friends that I was almost late for due to previous excursions.
• Drove up to Rexburg, Idaho, and back to return niece with groceries and (hopefully) fun memories. Fog on the way up but not as back as the first trip and snow and rain on the way back from Malad, Idaho, south until just before home.

A total of about 1000 miles on the road this weekend which is more than usual but was fun. Thanks Cici!

Found a draft from last April in Shenzhen, China. The clearest day there (it rained the night before) is still worse than the red air quality days here in Utah.

For the first time in about five years, I made Salsa Fresca, also known as Pico de Gallo. I don’t know why I haven’t made it in a long while, just didn’t.

Verdict? Roma tomatoes aren’t quite flavorful enough on their own and accidentally buying parsley instead of cilantro means the seasoning was off (no, I didn’t use the parsley). Not too spicy though.

Overall, about a 5 out of 10. I’ve got a bit of work to remember how to get it just right again. I’ve got a bit in the ‘fridge as well and we’ll see how it stands up overnight.

Tomorrow… guacamole!

Originally I had titled this as “Soon to be Bionic… Maybe” as the nature of my surgery was up in the air. Not anymore.

Later this month I will undergo surgery to have bones cut, flesh sundered, epoxies applied, and foreign bodies permanently attached to my body as my surgeon replaces the first metatarsal joint in the big toe of my right foot with a joint implant. This should allow me to walk more than half a mile without going lame (after recovery) which I’m looking forward to with great delight.

The debate was whether or not to repair the existing joint or replace it with an implant. The advantages to the implant are:

• shorter recovery time (10 days versus six weeks)
• None have failed as far as my surgeon is aware
• Even if the joint is repaired I will eventually need an implant as the arthritis isn’t caused by usage but degenerative due to the nature of my oft-repaired foot.

I only want to do this once so, yeah, bionics here I come.

Mother: "Why are you home from school so early?"
Son: "I was the only one who could answer a question."
Mother: "Oh, really? What was the question?"
Son: "Who threw the eraser at the principal?"

(from Good, Clean Funnies)

I started out the work day with just about a thousand emails in my work email account on my return from my 11 day holiday (I don’t have many in my personal inbox since I read that account while on holiday). While some of these emails are copies ‘for my information’ or the automatic output from different software when records are updated, there ended up being a chunk of about 150 email that needed to be read, responded to, filed, etc.

At end of day, I have:

… sent 67 emails

… read 347 emails

… forwarded 6 emails

for a grand total of FOUR emails left in my inbox and no messages in any of my inbox subfolders. I’m sooo glad that 8 of my days off were weekends or work holidays.

Wooo! Where’s my cookie?

You are working on your family genealogy and for sake of example, let’s say that your great-great uncle, Remus Starr, a fellow lacking in character, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889.

A cousin has supplied you with the only known photograph of Remus, showing him standing on the gallows. On the back of the picture are the words:

"Remus Starr: Horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison, 1885. Escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged, 1889."

Pretty grim situation, right? But let’s revise things a bit. We simply crop the picture, scan in an enlarged image, and edit it with image processing software so that all that is seen is a head shot.

Next, we rewrite the text:

"Remus Starr was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Montana railroad.

"Beginning in 1885, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed."

(From the Good, Clean Funnies List)