Thursday, September 22, 2016
The computers … they know! They know! Part I
As appreciation of our hard work, The Corporation decided to treat us (and by “us,” I mean “The Ft. Lauderdale Office Of The Corporation”) to lunch at Tap 42. Wanting to know just where Tap 42 was located, I opened up Google Maps on my smartphone and started to type in the address. I got as far as “1411” when I noticed that the top possible option was “1411 S Andrews Ave Ft. Lauderdale”—the address of Tap 42.
“How?” I asked my office mate and fellow cow-orker T. “How did it know?”
“Well, perhaps Google noticed a flurry of similar queries coming from the same location,” said T.
Plausible I suppose. But I'm not sure how I feel about that. It seems … eerily prescient and disturbing. Almost like Cyber Brother is watching over us.
The computers … they know! They know! Part II
I received an automated call from my bank (a credit union). It was the Credit Card Fraud Dectection Unit asking me to verify a transaction for $1.00 at a gas station on September 22nd. I had no idea what date it was (turns out—it was earlier today) and I did hit a gas station earlier this week. But gas isn't 7¢/gallon (I mean, I do live in Boca) so I knew it wasn't me.
I declined that transaction and was then informed I should call and talk to a representative to resolve the issue. It turned out there were two transactions today—the one for $1.00 at a Sunshine gas station in Miami, and a second transaction for $0.00 (the representative called it “an authorization for billing”) at a Citgo gas station in Houston, Texas!
Oh my …
A new card is on the way, but again, I find myself a bit uneasy. It's wonderful that my credit union is looking out for fraudulent use of my card, but … it's another set of computers watching over me.
Monday, September 26, 2016
When asked who I think will win the 2016 Election, I reply: “I think America loses.”
So one of our neighbors has put up their yearly Hallowe'en display:
![[I am the spectre of Elections Past! You! Who did not vote, caused THIS to pass! Now reap what you do not sow! Ooooooooooooh!]](/2016/09/26/trump.jpg "I am the spectre of Elections Past! You! Who did not vote, caused THIS to pass! Now reap what you do not sow! Ooooooooooooh!")
Never mind it's not even October yet.
Sigh.
But I think our neighbor has made an untintentional political message with this display, as the Trump signs have been out and about for a few months now, and it's lacking a life-sized cardbard cutout of Hillary to truly make this a commentary on the current Presidential Election.
