Although I don’t do many quizzes or memes here anymore, seeing this incredibly pretty one over at Life of Red made me give it the go-ahead.  It’s pretty neat and you get to write your own commentary.  Even if you don’t blog, give it a try because it’s plenty fun!

http://dna.imagini.net/friends/swf/widget.swf

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Aside–

I was helping a friend set up a blog the other day and I ended up realizing a few things about myself.  Namely, I think I’m a little paranoid, especially because I don’t really like to reveal details that give my identity away outright– though I do reveal details such as where I live, for instance.  Rather, I write many of my entries (specifically the incriminating ones, such as the Momzilla series) in a  somewhat vague manner– where only if you know me in person would you know who or what I’m talking about.  So, am I weird for not being more identity-forward?

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For that matter, should we all be more zealous to keep even our address secret except for when dealing with merchants?  It is a well-known fact that you should make sure that you rip up sensitive material such as anything bearing your full name and address, since this reveals personal information about you that anyone with time on their hands and little scruples can use to steal anything from your mail (including any checks addressed to you) to actually stealing your identity.

The other day, I brought up this point to a list of people in which I unwittingly found myself included: I received the addresses of about 40 people I’d never before met.  When I replied to the group and brought up this point, I received some very passively aggressive replies from members thinking I was crazy.  Only one very nice girl sent me a thank-you note for bringing that fact up to her attention.

It doesn’t take a very criminal mind to realize that if you know someone’s address and a particular interest they hold (such as, say, knitting), you can always just go dumpster-diving for credit card checks, or you could even forge things like a change of address slip  and have their mail re-routed to you.  While the person corrects the error, you can have data-rich materials coming to you.  The above plan has flaws, I realize (because once they see who the forwarding address belongs to, you’re busted, for instance), but I mean…

… am I paranoid?  Or are there other people out there with me in wanting to protect and defend their privacy in general?