I'm a little curious about the challenge of finding some category all of 
us have in common.  Some have never owned a car. Some have never owned a 
pet. Some just don't remember their first phone number, or for that matter 
their current phone number.

Is there a likelihood that everyone logging in to the memebrship page of 
the APA has a favorite philosopher, remembers who that is, and can spell 
that philosopher's name consistently?  (Our department fave is Hypatia - 
we have pictures and t-shirts.)  Or is a favorite philosopher so 
changeable as to be useless for the purpose of identification?

best, anita (silvers)



On Tue, 20 May 2008, Hilde Lindemann wrote:

> I like "What was your first phone number?" I lived in a little village in 
> Minnesota when I was a child and we didn't have rotary phones--just an 
> operator to whom you gave a number and she connected you. My phone number was 
> something like 123J (not the real number).
> Hilde
>
> At 04:33 PM 5/20/2008, you wrote:
>> On various websites where I've had to create a security question and
>> answer, I've come across these acceptable suggestions: "What was the name
>> of your first pet?", "What is the name of your favorite restaurant?"
>> 
>> Marilyn
>> 
>> 
>> > Uh, problem with "high school mascot".  Mine was (Native American)
>> > "Warriors".  Undergrad school was worse--"Indians".  I don't want to
>> > be identified with that kind of racism anywhere.  N.
>> >
>> >>>> Azzurra Crispino <[log in to unmask]> 5/19/2008 11:44 PM >>>
>> > Dear FEAST,
>> >
>> > I wrote to David Schrader, and this is what he had to say.  I'm sure
>> >
>> > he won't mind my forwarding it to you:
>> >
>> >> Thank you for your note.  Some conversation on this has already
>> >> been forwarded to me.  Right now the issue of security question is
>> >
>> >> arising in the context of our changeover to our new on-line
>> >> system.  As I have been told by staff, the ?mother?s maiden
>> > name?
>> >> question has been in use for years and is thus the one in our
>> >> current membership database.  Once the new system is fully up and
>> >
>> >> running Nikki Szymanski, our Computing Coordinator, will work with
>> >
>> >> Janet Sample, our Membership Coordinator, to rectify this issue.  I
>> >
>> >> surely appreciate your concerns, most immediately as a security
>> >> concern as you have noted.  We will plan to move to other forms of
>> >
>> >> security question, while recognizing that we have no choice but to
>> >
>> >> work from the current membership database as a starting point.
>> >> Please bear with us in this process as we work to make the
>> >> necessary changes in our system.
>> >>
>> >
>> > I'm glad to see that people are asking fathers' first names, but I
>> > can see how that might be... awkward in some situations.  I like High
>> >
>> > School mascot as a security question, personally.
>> >
>> > Cheers,
>> >
>> > Azzurra
>> >
>
>
> Hilde Lindemann
> Philosophy Department
> 503 South Kedzie Hall
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824
> tel: (517) 353-3981
> fax: (517) 432-1320
> [log in to unmask]