Tuesday, September 26, 2006

On Notice!


Make your own
I just emailed this to Ticketmaster (legal@ticketmaster.com), and I encourage you to do something similar:

To whom it may concern:

I disapprove of the following clause on my user info page (especially the bolded section):

By purchasing a ticket to an event, or completing this registration form in order to be able to purchase a ticket to an event or to bid in an auction, you indicate that you consent to Ticketmaster sharing your e-mail address and other information (e.g., venues, teams, artists' representatives and fan clubs, promoters and leagues), and that you consent to those involved in the event using your information to contact you by e-mail or other means to send you marketing or other messages or using or disclosing your information in other ways. Please contact them directly to learn about their policies.

I believe you need to clearly specify to the artists, venues, teams, etc what is proper use of my email address. They have no right to disclose my email address to a third party. I believe you should work with them to define what is appropriate use of my address (notification of a venue change, show cancellation, one time invitation to the fan club, etc) instead of just passing the buck. I also believe I should be able to opt out of the sharing of my address with a party other than Ticketmaster.

This is completely unacceptable from a privacy standpoint.

Want another reason to hate Ticketmaster?

From Ticketmaster's user info update page:

By purchasing a ticket to an event, or completing this registration form in order to be able to purchase a ticket to an event or to bid in an auction, you indicate that you consent to Ticketmaster sharing your e-mail address and other information ∫ (e.g., venues, teams, artists' representatives and fan clubs, promoters and leagues), and that you consent to those involved in the event using your information to contact you by e-mail or other means to send you marketing or other messages or using or disclosing your information in other ways. Please contact them directly to learn about their policies.


Basically: if you buy tickets to Blue Man Group at the Cumberland County Civic Center (like I have), you consent to Blue Man Group, the Civic Center, and the BMG fan club spamming you. And maybe to them selling your email address to another company.

Not cool.

Google Transit + Pittsburgh = Crazy Delicious

5000 Forbes to Pittsburgh International Airport (CMU to the airport)
5000 Forbes to 300 Waterfront Drive West, Homestead, PA (CMU to the movie theatre)

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Lost Luggage

I flew to Pittsburgh last weekend (and no, I don't want to talk about last night Steelers' game).

I flew United to Las Vegas McCarran, then transferred to my usual airline. I had an hour and a half layover, but I skipped the slots in Las Vegas.

My checked bag didn't make it. And that's not so rare apparently. Out of the 8 people I talked to who flew to Pittsburgh from California this weekend, 4 lost their luggage. One lost her luggage on a direct flight!

I got my bag 18 hours after landing, so that worked - but I can't find any news about a recent surge in lost luggage. I assume it might be due to more people checking bags due to the new TSA rules. It might just be noise - but it sure is strange.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

You down with TSA?

According to the TSA's banned item list I still can't bring gel shaving cream, economy sized saline solution, or drinking water on the plane. Still.

I thought this was resolved! Seriously, no water?

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

I think some kind of cross referencing is in order

Today, I got an application in the mail from my alma mater, Carnegie Mellon. Ok, so maybe a master's application makes sense - I'm an alumnus! Nope, it's a first year, undergraduate application.

I think that the alumni association could talk to the admissions department and check that people who graduated from Carnegie Mellon don't need to do undergrad there again!

(Jim points out that it might be because I signed up for the Carnegie Mellon Admission Council. I think it might be because my smiling face is in it.)

Monday, September 11, 2006

Mac Ads

If you haven't seen the Mac ads, I recommend them highly. Even if you're a PC user, you should enjoy them.

I heard about some new Mac ad ideas today, and also enjoyed them - if a little too out there for Apple to use. Enjoy!

September 11, 2006

I had grandiose dreams about writing a long essay about how 9/11/2001 changed me. I never really found the words. Here's a brief account of what I wanted to say, on the fifth anniversary:

On September 11, 2001, at about 9:30 AM, I was in Mr. Haskell's Senior Religion/Theology class. Then, Principal Mullen made an announcement - "Two planes have hit the World Trade Center in New York. If you have family you need to contact, please come to the office." I asked if it was a drill - it seemed too outlandish, too violent to be true.

The class continued, but we started talking about the Just War theory. In my next class, Latin, we went to the library and watched the second tower fall.

I won't lie, living in Maine makes one feel safe and secure. Violence is an exception, not a rule. I lived my life in the belief that nothing bad could happen in America - wars, bombs, hijackings, and chaos were all international. I was innocent. I definitely lost a lot of my innocence that day. I also lost what I thought was a guarantee of a safe life.

(Slate has a graphic novel depiction of the 9/11 report.)

Sunday, September 03, 2006

No Ketchup Dinner

I just had an idea for a dinner party: The No Ketchup Dinner.

The idea is simple. A few days ahead, everyone notifies the group what item he'll bring. The item must be something that he consumes with ketchup, like hot dogs, fries, hamburgers, fish sticks, tater tots, home fries, omelets, meat-loaf, onion rings, chicken nuggets, etc (I thought there'd be more. What did I miss?)

Then everyone would bring condiments she likes with those items. For example, I like ranch dressing with fries, honey mustard with chicken nuggets, sauerkraut and mustard with hot dogs, or guacamole with hamburgers. And, of course, everyone shares the condiments.

For desert, we could have Ketchup Cake.