del.icio.us sent me to an Esquire article on outsourcing your life, and it appears that for as little as AU$2500 you can have your life run by others.
Not only does this mean you don’t have to remember to pay your credit cards, write that complaint to the airline company for screwing up your meal, or buying a present for your son, but apparently it’s also a great way of emailing your boss asking him to get his arse into gear, and even apologise to your wife for forgetting to get cash from the ATM the day before.
The author mentions his concern for the huge loss of privacy, these “life management consultants” know everything about you from your credit card and social security number to your weight, cholesterol level and the fact you have a third and fourth nipple. He tried to level the playing field by asking his assistants for some personal information about them, and got some pre-prepared, publicly available, probably professionally edited biography.
I would still be very insecure in the knowledge that this amount of information is not only being collected from me, but also being collated through dealing on my behalf. People I’ve called (see my phone bill), porn sites I’ve subscribed to (access to my email), the “boys’ weekend” that magically coincides with the plane ticket to Paris and a hefty hotel bill (credit card bills).
Of course these personal services are all confidential - right? No one there would misuse the information - right? And if you don’t have anything to hide you’re ok - right?
Yeah, right.
If you’re planning on going to the Open Source Developers’ Conference this December, then register soon! Early bird closes this Sunday, so full price tickets apply from Monday ($295 instead of $245).
And if you’re presenting, don’t forget your final submission has to be in today!
Good luck, and see you there…
Today is my last day of work, and I’m kinda excited. There’s no break for me though - it’s straight to work again on Monday, only now I’m working 10 ’til 6, which means I get to sleep in a bit, if my other half lets me.
But as they say, a change is as good as a rest, and this is certainly going to be a change. I’m finally going to start a project that I know I’m going to finish, and be able to do it all the way I want. I’ll be able to use all the object oriented PHP knowledge I gained in the last year and produce something worth writing home about. I hope.
I’m very excited to be the proud new President of the Melbourne PHP User Group! We had a meeting tonight to vote on incorporation of the organisation, and 6 positions were filled. Congratulations to the others:
- President: Ben Balbo
- Vice-president: Ted Bown
- Secretary: Robin MacPherson
- Treasurer: Dean Tedesco
- Ordinary Committee Members: Serg Belokamen and Neale Yates
The next year will hopefully be an interesting one. The group is now 2 years old, and started as a bunch of people who met up at a cafe once a month. I first went to one of these meetings in March 2003, and the next month we had our first organised meeting.
We’ve had regular talks on a range of topics and at different levels, and I hope we can continue with this into the future.
With only two of the six committee members having been in the previous committee, I hope this new blood will help the group flourish and go in directions we hadn’t yet dreamed of!
It seems fitting, and yet ironic, that in the country that Mad Max was filmed in - the same country that has petrol prices roughly
40% of that in Europe - that the night before last, we had all our petrol stolen!
Yes folks, the price hike seems to have made people try to find alternative sources of fuel, and our petrol tank door and cap are the worse for it, not to mention our pockets.
Our Mazda has one of those doors that pops open when you pull a lever near the driver’s seat, and the cap is a simple twist off type, so I know it’s not the most secure system in the world. Anyone can stick a screwdriver down the side of the petrol door and pop it open without damaging anything.
What annoys me is that we lost petrol and had to buy a new petrol cap. Well, we didn’t have to, but I bought one with a key, because they’re at least 10% more secure and hopefully, simply, more of a deterrent. Although maybe instead of twisting the cap off and taking the fuel, they’ll now use a crowbar and damage the opening completely.
At least they left me enough to get to the petrol station. Probably not out of the kindness of their hearts though, more likely because they couldn’t reach the bottom of the tank.
Scum.
