Random Thoughts

Sad news for Superman fans. Noel Neill, who WAS Lois Lane to those of us of a certain age, has died.

I actually met her once, and got to play a scene from “Superman” with her onstage. This was at one of her personal appearances in the early ’70s. I was a winner of a Superman trivia contest sponsored by the local Philly underground newspaper (called the Daily Planet), and the winners got free tickets to Neill’s appearance and got to play the scene onstage.

I think I was Jimmy Olsen. My friend Everett, a very tall African-American who …

Let’s talk a little bit about government data and information security, shall we?

I used to work for the Census Bureau. In my last go-round, I was a Field Representative, pretty much the lowest person on the totem pole. I went around to people’s houses and asked them various questions, so the government could collect data on (in this particular case) crime victims.

The Census Bureau in general, and the Field Reps in particular, deal with a lot of people’s personal data. They collect names, addresses, birth dates, education levels, number of children, sometimes income and similar information. Nothing particularly …

Here in Texas, we have a runoff election coming up next week. That means this week we are innundated with mailings and telephone calls from candidates trying to out-conservative each other.

I would note that the telephone calls might not be a problem, except that the politicos have exempted themselves from the state no-call law. Thus, politicians are free to badger you with spiels both live and recorded, as well as with robo-call automated “surveys” which, I suspect, are designed not so much to solicit your opinion as they are to guide your opinion in a specific direction. (I say …