- Good news. There’s a typeface designed to be hard for NSA computers to read. Bad news. It’s pretty hard for humans to read, too. More of an art/protest project at this point (though created by a former NSA contractor). But just a taste of how smart people will ultimately defeat the Stasi.
- Kent McManigal on avoiding being sucked into people’s negative vortexes.
- You know those strange names parents are giving their kids, these days? Names like Naiphthan, Elyivya, and Nevaeh, and J’oshau? Well, we can all be glad nobody’s getting stuck with these names any more.
- And speaking of names … as we may have suspected just by observing, our names really do influence our sense of self and our behavior. (Which is one more reason this is one of my personal favorites among all the things I’ve ever written.)
And now for one very clever dog — who plays fetch by himself:
Always nice when dogs can keep themselves amused. Thanks for starting my morning off with a laugh.
Lest anyone get the idea that ZXX contributes to secutity… BS.
1) If, for example, you use this font on a web page as text, a simple copy and paste into a text editor will turn it into any — readable — font you want.
2) If you use it for hard copy, to defeat OCR, bear in mind that it’s a readily available fixed font. All someone (NSA) has to do is add the specific ZXX font into its database. But why not use something already loaded on most systems which already pretty much unreadable? I recall specifying 7pt italic Staccato for just that purpose in Net Assets.
3) If could be useful for “captcha-style” images. But so would any “handwriting” or calligraphic font. But stegonography apps are already commonly available, and have the advantage of obscuring the very presence of the text.
I could see some limited usefulness of an online web app that lets you type in text and get a captcha image for use elsewhere. Of course, the NSA might be the first to offer such an app. It would go well with their Google impersonation.
Or hire a doctor as a scribe to write your letters for you.
Frankly, I don’t see the point. If you really want something kept private, don’t post it cleartext in public.
Thanks for the vid. 🙂
Names have always fascinated me and I’ve always respected their importance. I do a lot of research when I choose names for my fictional characters.
My family history is so convoluted that I am sure there were a couple of name changes along the way. We recently learned that when my maternal relative left France for Milan after Napoleon died, he changed his last name to make it sound Italian. (Or maybe he was running from the govt, who knows…) My cousin who does the family ancestry research has a whole new name to trace now. My poor mother was stuck with the first name Providenza, which she changed to Nancy as soon as she learned to read. I changed the spelling of my first name, so the next step is to get some documentation with that change.
Kent’s remarks resonate with me this a.m.
“Too many people seem to have an emotional attachment to their perceived problems. They don’t want a solution; they want sympathy, or company in their misery.”
Ah, yes. And they want the problems to continue so they have an excuse to bitch. There’s a particular acquaintance I know to whom this applies. And I recognize it in a few online as well.
“The truth is somewhere between Utopia and Washington, D.C.,…”
Not sure if others are having the same problem, but when I tried to link to Kent’s piece it was more blacked out than my fbi file
Thanks for that article about names. Looks like a lot of research went into it. One new take on names is that we choose them every time we register on a new forum, or anything else requiring a “user name”. I always admire the creativity some people show with this.
A couple favorite names from reading: “Slartibartfast” from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and “Gonorrhea Lightly” from Unintended Consequences. I think Moon Unit Zappa has a very cool name, although her brother Dweezil had poorer luck. I’ve been amazed at times the strange names people saddle their kids with, and at how willing people are to hang on to names they were stuck with.
Obviously (to me, anyway) I was burdened with a cumbersome name. I probably wouldn’t change it unless it was necessary to keep from making my parents sad. They don’t even really like that I am also known as “DullHawk”. Sorry, not gonna drop that one for them.
If I were to change my name, maybe I could make my new surname “Dullhawk”, or “Bloggerly”. I would want my middle name to be “Liberty” or something like that. The new first name would be the hard part.
Name changing is timely, with the Chelsea (Bradley) Manning example still being fresh. I couldn’t believe how many people I saw saying “I won’t call him ‘Chelsea’. Your name doesn’t change just because you say it does.” If someone introduces him- or herself with a particular name, who am I am reject it?
I appreciate the name change article. Very interesting stuff, and clearly a lot of research went into it. I do wish that articles like that would have dates on them, though. (If there’s a date buried in the URL I couldn’t decipher it.) When you say that common law name changes are “recognized as valid in all but a handful of U.S. states”, it would be useful to know if that was written last week or in 1989. A lot can have changed.
I also can’t read Kent’s article at the CNJOnline site. It and his photo show up as grayed out, and if I highlight it, it’s a bunch of dashes.
As to the name changes, would any of you consider it wrong in any way if a person changed their name every X amount of years simply to avoid being tagged by the same identifier for their whole life? In other words, primarily to screw with the Gov’t and their tracking/recordkeeping? No “nefarious” purposes beyond that?
Not that I could do that myself, this is just a hypothetical question I wanted to toss out there.
Sorry about no date on my names article. I think it was written in the early 2000s or late 1990s. So yes, some of the legalities have probably changed since then. But I don’t know of any state-level laws on naming that have changed. It’s mostly just become harder to do ad hoc changes because of bureaucratic crap.
Also sorry for those having trouble with Kent’s article. I can’t duplicate the problem. So maybe just try on another browser?
Tom — on changing names to screw with databases — personally I think that’s as good a reason as any to do it. 🙂
Water Lily — interesting family story. I think I could like the name Providenza — as long as it wasn’t attached to me!
It’s amusing how creative naming can work its way under your skin. Paul’s mention of “Slartibartfast” reminded me of my introduction to Linaria dalmatica, which is also known as “Dalmatian toadflax” to the folks in Colorado who were working to eradicate it as an invasive plant. I’d asked my wife what sort of things were on her group’s hit list, and when that one came up, I was surprised at how instantaneous my response was.
“‘Dalmatian toadflax’? You’re kidding, right?”
“No, not kidding,” she said, with that raised-eyebrow, okay-you-goof-where-are-you-going-with-this look.
“It’s Zaphod Beeblebrox’ long-lost brother, isn’t it? It has to be.”
I still maintain that opinion. 🙂
I’ve never really felt connected to my first name. No idea why… When I was in school – long ago – a great many other girls were named Susan, and I grew so tired of it… again, not sure why. Anyway, I dedided to use my middle name from then on and told everyone my name was Ann. The only problem was that I never really connected with that either and couldn’t remember that was supposed to be my name most of the time.
In a way, that was ok too. I just didn’t answer to anyone. Now, pretty much, everyone calls me MamaLiberty – or Mama – except my family – and I have a solid connection and good feeling for that name.
There should be no problem at all with anyone changing their name, to whatever they wish, whenever they wish. If they are prepared to deal with the resulting confusion sometimes… why not? It should be nobody else’s business.
The article? Lots of chicken and egg questions and dilemmas there. If the boys are raised with the EXPECTATON and assumption that the Monday sons are peaceful, and the Wednesday sons are violent… sort of spikes the punch, eh?
“On the other hand, if you do make a positive change and refuse to get sucked into other people’s negative vortex, you’ll be called “Utopian.” ”
Actually, I’m more often called Pollyanna, but what’s in a name after all. 😉
When I opened Kent’s article the site made me answer a question before it would let me read it. Something about whether I had subscribed to or knew what a YouTube channel was, as I remember. The pic and text were grayed out under it.
If your computer’s blocking popups efficiently, that might be the “problem.”
IMHO the best and most descriptive character name I’ve come up with was Holly Pyracantha. Then, from a separate story, was Tiffany Sterling. Character names are fun.
My nomination for the most pessimistic people in the world are the folks of gun control. They can think up the most tragic scenarios imaginable with RKBA, and being wrong all the time doesn’t ever seem to positive them up.
I’d like to change my name to Null void, should play well on all the lists they have of us.
I honestly think that “Kill-sin” would make an awesome name.
“I honestly think that “Kill-sin” would make an awesome name.”
I am picturing a dominatrix using that as her professional name. “I’ll kill your sin, little man. I’ll kill it good and hard …”
Name changes: two stories.
When wife and I got married, we combined our names, and *at the time* to get our names changed all we had to do was notify .gov and begin using the new names, state and fed both. From what I understand, Indiana law now requires court blessing. Don’t know what fedgov requires.
Also, somewhat oddly, Social Security doesn’t seem to want to change my first name from Terrence to Terry. IN Driver’s License is in Terry, and, can you believe it, State Department issued my passport in the name Terry with nary a pause, but I can’t get SSA to go that route.
Oh, well.
For those having trouble reading my CNJ column- yes, they usually make you do one of 3 things to read the whole thing. You either have to answer a one-click question or two, or click “ask me another question” (which often just makes the whole thing go away and frees up the column), or “like”/share it on facebook or twitter or something. I think it’s connected to how the paper gets money for having the content online.
[Also, somewhat oddly, Social Security doesn’t seem to want to change my first name from Terrence to Terry.]
Count your blessings.
When my wife went on Medicare she found out that the SSA folks didn’t have her listed as a U.S. citizen, despite being descended from several generations of WASPs, being born in San Antonio, and paying into the SSA for dang near a half-century.
“No problem,” they said. “We can fix that easily. Just bring in your birth certificate.” It took half a dozen clicks on their computer. The routine way it was handled gave her the impression it wasn’t an unusual situation.
Yeah, Claire. These are the people we’re supposed to be afraid of?
I’m another one who’s not thrilled with my first name. Even worse, it’s spelled differently than usual. I’d change it but can’t seem to find a suitable replacement. My middle name is worse, but that never was an issue until DMV (at least in the states I’ve been in) started requiring a full name as per your birth certificate – now it’s more of a constant reminder of how much I dislike both names.
Similar to Mama Liberty, my internet screen name became so closely associated with my real life (when the two blended together) that I automatically say it when people ask me my name. Unfortunately in some of the newer groups of people I congregate with, naturegirl reminds them of some hippie. And I’m so far opposite of a hippie it’s almost comical. Wouldn’t change that nickname for the world, tho, because I’d rather be (free) out in the open/wilderness than anywhere else. It’s a claustrophobia thing more than a tree hugging, drug addled, whatever! hippies are suppose to be. Even nicknames come with stereotypes LOL.
“because I’d rather be (free) out in the open/wilderness than anywhere else. It’s a claustrophobia thing more than a tree hugging, drug addled, whatever! hippies are suppose to be.”
That’s a good way of putting it. I chafe at city life. Give me open space and wild breezes any day!
As for how connected I am to my name: if I’m daydreaming or working on a story, and somebody asks my name, I’ve been known to accidentally introduce myself as a character from the story instead! And I’ve lost count of how many times I started to say “Ellendra”, when that doesn’t sound anything like my given name.