'Tivo does that 26-URL thing

[altivo]

OK, so the idea is that you can find out quite a bit about someone by looking at their browser history. That is probably true, but I'm not sure this is the most effective way of doing it. I've seen two versions of this, and both are seriously affected by the way a user types in URLs (I omit both http: and the www in many cases) and the way in which the browser they use tries (or doesn't) to complete partial URLs. (I use Firefox on Linux, which doesn't act at all like Internet Explorer in this respect.) But anyway, here's the result of letting the browser (at home, the work PC would really be boring) complete "www.a", "www.b", "www.c" and so forth. Am I ready for the loony bin yet?

http://www.arrl.org/
http://www.bendbulletin.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=15110
http://www.cartserver.com/
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/57792
http://www.earthlink.net/support/Kb_thankyou/
http://www.furnation.com/Johnny_Marten/ThunderCute.jpg
http://www.google.com/
nothing for h
http://www.ineedcoffee.com/00/10/utopia/
nothing for j
nothing for k
http://www.livejournal.com/users/altivo/friends/
http://www.monkeywrenchcafe.org/cm/dino-foto.htm
http://www.netflix.com/Default
nothing for o
http://www.pinconningcheese.com/
http://www.shatteredenigma.com/artwork/art_168.jpg
nothing for t
http://www.unicornography.com/Current.html [from whence this thing came]
http://www.vulpine.pp.se/cgi-bin/furcode
http://www.wafar.org/
nothing for x
http://yerf.com/moser/holliday-horses.jpg
nothing for z

Comments

Kind of off topic, but...

[animist.livejournal.com]

Kind of off topic, and kind of early, but Happy Birthday, to you!

Re: Kind of off topic, but...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'd quit having these except the alternative isn't real appealing either.

Yeah, if you let snoopy friends or precocious children use your computer, they probably know more about you than you think. Even if you erase your history and flush the cache. ;p

When I worked for Columbia College I discovered that the caches at the Reference Desk were full of porn. Raunchy stuff. I knew my colleagues too well to believe it was they. Closer examination and a watch for a month revealed that it was night browsing. Between midnight and 4 am, when the building was supposedly shut up tight. Security staff? Maintenance? Cleaning crews? (Probably not the latter, most of them didn't even speak English or read and write in their own language.) Reported to security, but they just laughed about it, which I suppose tells me who it was.

Re: Funny URL (A food fight !)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Umm, I dunno how this follows from the thread above. But actually, I find that Atkins is really just Scarsdale (the invention of Dr. Tarnower, if I remember correctly, who ended up being shot by his estranged wife) rehashed.

Diet fads are just that, fads. The amusing thing about them, is the sheer gullibility that goes into them. It is another sign of the failure of American educational systems. People do not know what carbohydrates or fats are. During the Pritikin fat-free diet fad, "no fat" labels appeared on the most ridiculous things in the supermarket, like boxes of oatmeal or bags of flour. Things that never did have significant fat. Now we are seeing "zero carbs" labels on things like bottles of olive oil and packages of sausage. Those things never did have "carbs" in them.

Most of these fads, Atkins included, produce a weight loss by inducing an unhealthy condition, some sort of malnutrition. The Scarsdale (and now Atkins) condition is ketosis, a nutritional imbalance that can in fact lead to death or severe debilitation. Of course you lose weight. And most dieters gain it right back as soon as they go off the "diet".

[animist.livejournal.com]

note to self - don't forget to reset browser history and flush temp files before guests come over! :)