There is no god…

There is only Mr Deity:

From Crackle: Mr. Deity and the Evil – Season 1, Ep 1

A nation of SINners

This article got me thinking about what Social Insurance Numbers in Canada are used for. The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has a good little fact sheet on SIN use, and who can ask you for it.

Your SIN is a confidential number that is restricted to income reporting purposes. There are a select and limited number of federal government departments and programs specifically authorized to collect the SIN.

When it comes to what you can do when asked for your SIN by some agency other than the feds, the Privacy Commissioner offers the following advice:

• Ask if you are required by law to provide it (see list below);
• Ask why the person needs it, how it will be used and to whom it will be given;
• Your SIN is not a piece of identification. If it is not required by law (and you are not satisfied with the explanation), tell the person you prefer not to use the SIN and offer other identification;
• If the organization refuses to give you the product or service unless you give your SIN, complain to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada;
• If you would like better legal protection for your SIN, call or write your federal Member of Parliament.

More information on authorized uses of your SIN can be found here. Know your rights.

“I think Facebook’s in for a rough ride…” — Andy

My good pal and business partner Andy believes that Zuckerberg and his pals will have “a tough row to hoe” when it comes to monetizing the FB platform. Facebook’s valuation right now is at about $15 billion. This is all based on the notion that there’s some way to make an awful lot of money off the system.

But, like Andy said, it won’t be easy. Read/WriteWeb agrees:

There is a myth floating around that contextual advertising is going to help Facebook justify its $15 billion valuation. The myth goes something like this: because Facebook knows everything about us, it will always be able to serve perfect ads. However, the reality is more like the following:

• Facebook does not know much about us
• The data that Facebook has is not structured
• People are not coming to Facebook to click ads

Like the author says, monetizing the beast isn’t impossible, and there’s certainly a team of bright folks running the FB show. The next few years will be very interesting on the social networking tip.

Et toot, Brutus?

A few days ago, a post about Donald Trump leaving a $10,000 tip to a server at a New York restaurant was made at derober.com. I came across the post at the new shelton wet/dry, one of my favourite blogs (and just added to the links section). I forwarded the link to Fish, and she informed me it was a hoax. So I told the people at new shelton. And wouldn’t you know it, they gave me props! But props are due, in large part, to Fish.

Thanks FISH!