"Of course my password is the same as my pet's name.
My dog's name was Q47pY!3$H9x, but I change it every 90 days."

Yeah - just saw one with "a.no" .....

Add "t.co" to your Windows Hosts file - this will stop the jibberish text.
Although the web interface is still broke. (The interface goes grey, and
any click still tries to go to the t.co web page)

Add this to your Hosts file:

0.0.0.0 t.co

> so I politely suggest a different number, or insist on only giving 3-4 digits of it.

I tried this once with Verizon. I was signing up for a new account, in person, at the Verizon store. They wanted my SSN, and I told them I wouldn't take the account if I had to give that out.

They said no problem. The salesman called their credit dept, and handed the phone to me. They asked my name & address, and asked for the last 4 digits of my SSN.

They were searching some database - they found me by last name & address, and they only wanted the last 4 digits to verify that they found me. And I am sure they put my SSN into my account while I was on the phone.

I don't think it helps to keep SSN's from these businesses . . . they can grab them without needing to get them from you.

You can get Earthlink cable internet in Rochester. The pricing isn't as attractive as RoadRunner is now - but maybe it will be after the caps? http://www.earthlink.net/access/cable.faces There is one bit of satisfaction with this though - TimeWarner has to allow the Earthlink traffic over their cables . . .

Congratulations, you did it! Thanks for participating, and happy holidays.

2001 numbers, but still impressive:

20,000,000 = Estimated population of people using a Hewlett-Packard
brand printer.

$599,800,000 = Estimated revenue Hewlett-Packard would earn if each
one of those people would buy a single black ink cartridge.

http://www.ars1.com/SpotlightSingle.asp?SpotID=39