SpannerWorld

In my private universe

So Google won't hand documents over to the Bush Administration, detailing the search requests of millions of its users. This is all a part of an initiative to fight the 'evils' of child pornography. Or so they claim.

Today at work we had a request from a patient for the attention of our 'Data Protection Officer' Because it had something to do with our data systems, guess who's lap it ended up in. The request was for all the patients written records and any information on our computer systems. With such a strange request I took this to my boss, the owner of the company.

This man has changed his names three times. The only reason we know this is because the optician who tested him remembered him, asked his name to look up his previous details to compare notes. However, the patient refused to give the optician his previous name. After the initial test in 2003, the patient sent in a similar request for all information held pretaining to him. It wasn't too difficult to figure out who this patient was as he had changed his name, but not his date of birth (or his first name).

What I want to know is what does this man think we are doing with his information? It gets filed away and forgotten about. Our new database will churn out a reminder letter every two or so years and hopefully he will come back and spend more money.

Requesting the exact information we keep about this man is not going to change the way in which we use his information. Having this information is probably not going to mean anything to him because he doesn't have the first idea what to do with it.

Being armed with endless amounts of data and keeping a close eye on as much as possible is not going to change the way people go about their daily lives. The only thing I can suggest is a tin hat to keep out the secret government radio waves coming down from the satelites. I can also make a few spare ones for the Bush Administration if they need them.

The world never fails to amuse me

I'm not sure what is the funniest thing about an article I have just read in The Age Weg makes a mug of a robber. (January 18, 2006)

After being broken into 82 year old Bill "Weg" Green, a caricaturist, helped police catch the suspect after drawing the attackers picture.

Still unsure as to the funniest aspect of this story, but I think it lies somewhere between Weg's fear of being left 'starkers' after the attacker pushed him to the side and he was afraid of losing his dressing gown and the fact the intruder chose to steal the victims gransdson's bike which had two flat tires.

This has to prove life is the funniest story of all.

Clinched waists and other torments

I've been floating around the online fashion sites for the last hour trying to decide which direction I should take my spring wardrobe in. There are several problems with this scenario, the least of which being the fact spring here, or at least a time at which I can wear spring clothes, is at least four months away.

We will all be glad to hear last summers love of the Boho look is completely over. This is exceptionally good news to someone as up tight as me. It is also good news for anyone larger than a size 10 as the look had a frightful ability to make most people resemble a sack of potatoes. To my sheer delight I am happy I have come back into fashion as the possiblity of crisp white shirts, blazers and sensible shoes have all come full circle and are once again fashionable.

The buttoned up tailored look of autumn will hopefully continue and I'm predicting in four months time Sienna Miller will have my hair cut. I actually wanted to go for hers, but was too gutless so opted for swept fringe and a bob. I imagine after filming her latest film, where she appears as beatnik heroine (pardon the pun) Edie Sedgwick repleat with elfin hair cut, she will be growing it out and for the briefest of moments I will be one up on Britain's most copied women. Of course, that is probably the only thing I will ever have in common with the most imitated women in Britain. Well, that and the fact we are the same height.

But I'm pretty sure she's probably not one for blogging....

PROOF!

This is just to prove (although I'm kinda wondering if it does...) that I do NOT look like Jodie Foster.

A) I'm taller

B) I'm not as shiny