I decided to take a break and set up my OpenID* today. I chose myvidoop.com as my OpenID delegate. I was somewhat surprised by the extremely elaborate and somewhat outlandish hoops of security they made me jump through, to register an OpenID. It was fun in a bizarre way.

First, they throw the standard registration questions at you.
Username:
Password:
DOB:

After you answer those, they take you to a panel of 12 image concepts called the ImageShield*, that looks like this:



You select three image concepts that serve as your "secret question". In future logins, the site would present the imageshield and to login successfully, you would need to spot and type in the codes that appear on your previously chosen image concepts. The images and codes change, but the concept of the image stays the same. For eg. the imageshield will always have a picture of a bird or birds associated with the concept of a "bird" and a picture of some automobile associated with the concept of a "car" etc.

I think the idea of an OpenID is, in itself, an interesting experiment in online security. The imageshield at vidoop makes it seem even more futuristic. Someday, we will all be Neos and Trinitys of the online world and our password to virtual space will be a unique personal combination of the white rabbit, our own demons and perhaps a dilated concept of time.



Identity thefts would either be a thing of the past or identity thieves would have caught up to the technology and have succeeded in scanning minds of passers-by to mine information about their guarded mindscapes. For now, OpenIDs are just a weirdly cool way of shouting out your virtual name from digital rooftops to a pixelated universe.
______________
The De-Jargon/De-Geek Zone
(formerly known as the footnote):

• What is OpenID: OpenID is a shared identity service, which allows Internet users to log on to many different web sites using a single digital identity, eliminating the need for a different user name and password for each site. OpenID is a decentralized, free and open standard that lets users control the amount of personal information they provide.

More information here:
a) What is OpenID:
b) Wiki for OpenID:
c) *ImageShield:

I forgot to take my camera to the Elmwood Festival but did photograph my lunch! :)

1. Appetizer: (A tiny portion of ) a HUMONGOUS pack of the most scrumptious Kettle corn - its almost as tall as I am! (The rest has been put away out of sight for the rest of the week).



2. Main Course: Most DELICIOUS Ciabatta Bread Veggie Medley Cheese Sandwich (Ciabatta bread from Lexington - I know. I know. I boycotted the place but I went in today and gave into temptation. They were just rolling this off the oven!)



3. Dessert: A Granny Smith all the way from New Zealand. Talk about a Godzilla like carbon footprint! :(



4. Contemplation: A steaming cuppa Mango tea with milk.
(Not pictured. I drank it up before I realized I hadn't photographed it! This is a view out my flat window, instead.)



Have an awesome evenin'!

I have to admit that I am confused. I have been confused since Clinton got impeached.

If your neighbour is quiet and non-intrusive, you don't care if he is cheating on his wife and doing "injustice" to his kids. You mind your own business. If your politician is doing his job, why should you not give him the same respect and non-censure? You could argue that his affairs might be used to blackmail him but of what use would a blackmail be if the public didn't care? What if we only cared about our politicians performing their jobs? Don't you think enough damage has been done not only to this country but millions abroad, by impeaching a relatively nice non-warring president over his personal affairs?

Even if your politician is not doing his job, is there any reason to dig up dirt on his personal life and mix it in with his performance on his job? Does your boss add a line on your annual performance report about your sexual partners and your affairs? Does your boss even care about your affairs if you do your job (or don't do your job)?

You could make a valid bitter case and complain if an extra-marital affair of any politician affected his performance of his job. Last I checked, politicians are not generally elected because they are a moral example. I don't see why affairs should even make it into any news source other than lurid tabloids that exist for such details. How is being a "moral (or even mortal) messenger" any different than being the paparazzi that hounded Diana to her death?

(e:MrDeadlier)'s handiwork staring right back at me!!

... asked Dr. Fing in (e:fing,45357). This little research snippet in today's issue of Science answers your question, at least partially:

Big leg bones from the Indonesian island of Flores show that the meter-high "hobbit" people (Homo floresiensis) who once lived there shared the island with enormous flesh-eating storks, researchers say.



Hanneke Meijer of the National Museum of Natural History in Leiden, the Netherlands, and Rokus Awe Due of the Indonesian Centre for Archaeology in Jakarta found the bones in Liang Bua cave in the same layers as the hobbits--dated to at least 18,000 years ago. They identified them as a new species of extinct giant marabou. The scientists say the 1.8-meter-tall bird was a carnivore and top predator on the island; whether hobbits were among its fare is open to speculation. They reported on the find this week at the meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution in Sydney, Australia.

So (e:carolinian)'s guess is probably more closer to truth than we'll ever know! The little people did exist at one point. Their extinction points to the fact that they were probably not very evolutionarily stable. Yeah, we were biologically fated to have kitchens with 9 - 10 foot (or higher) ceilings and similarly scaled counters and appliances.