There is still no interface between Access and the new SQL server. Soon the powers are going to want the data moved back to the old server if development is stalled much longer.
Today had nothing to recommend it so instead I'm going to tell you a little story. For years now I've been advising and teaching people how not to give out personal or private information over the Internet in any form. For over 10 years now I've been cautioning people against the danger of dealing with strangers on-line.
Remember I predicted on-line electronic identity theft long before it actually happened, long before it became known simply as “identity theft”. The banks dropped the word “electronic” so you would falsely think the bad guys were stealing it from you and not from them. I even predicted banks would begin the scam of charging you to protect your own identity by convincing you it was somehow your fault. Some people are so gullible.
The problem with information usually occurs when you find a web page that advertises something you want for free. They bait you deeper and deeper into the process first asking for your ZIP code, then another screen for various other information until soon you've invested three or four minutes filling out their survey. If you back out now, you've wasted your time, and they know a certain amount of people will continue. I believe, because you are paying with information, the sites should not be allowed to claim they are free.
A good example is the eBay registration process and their PayPal system. You are led to believe PayPal is as good as anonymous cash. After you go through their 45 minute account activation procedure you realize it is not anonymous, that they have as much information about you as if you had applied for a credit card. My point is that's probably not what you had in mind when you began.
So what I do is I teach people how to get around these type of sites. (I recently had one Polish guy took me 50 bucks for a show showing him what I'm about to tell you for nothing.) First you get an anonymous e-mail address that in no way gives out any information about yourself, not even where you live or hints at your gender. Hotmail works well. You should also have several e-mail accounts, at least one of which is a throwaway. That's the one you give to these turkey sites who demand your information or an account membership after they advertise themselves as being free.
The significance of today's date is that you'll find huge numbers of people were born on December 17, 1965. That's my doing. I arbitrarily chose that date to plug into a field anytime a web page won't let you proceed until you supply a birthday. I've been advising hundreds of people to use that birth date for 10 years already. No hold it, 11 years. I always advise them to use Bill Gates' ZIP code (I'll let you look that one up), Richard Nixon's Social Security number (look that up to, but it ends with 0515), and your mother's maiden name was always "Daphne". You'll never guess what I use for a telephone number but you can use your imagination.
My justification is simple. When people tell you something is free it should be free for nothing. I use the President Clinton Defense: when somebody asks you a question that is none of their business and you lie, the lie is also none of their business. When somebody is wrongly prying into your circumstances it is your duty to give them misinformation to combat a system that is fundamentally wrong. Think about it, all these places have privacy policies, yet we all still get junk mail and telemarketing calls. Who's zooming who?
Of course, never commit fraud, but at the same time remember that when filling out most blanks on the Internet, you are not under oath. A blank space is neither false nor misleading, and if they demand you put something in that blank to proceed, you put something in that blank rather than waste your own time.
[Author's note: readers should be advised that these notes were written at a time, when although there was nothing new about the Internet, that Internet phishing scams were just getting their stride, and in 2003 most Internet users did little more than use e-mail and surf the homepage of their ISP. My first warnings about the current crop of Internet scams were written 10 years before most people ever heard of them. So there.]
Bill Gate’s zip is 98054.
