photo id ?!?!

[Andrew Dalke]

Brian Quinlan:
> they wouldn't even consider letting me in wearing only a balaclava!

*shudder* DC was entirely too cold to think about that.

But that's not a requirement of the conference.  It's a requirement
of the venue.  The two places you listed wouldn't work out for a
conference:
  Cedar trails -- http://www.bright.net/~ctnr/Pages/rules.html has
     a fascist abuse against people with body piercing below the neck
  Twin Falls -- most of us don't live in a place that makes NSW
      Australia an easy visit

But the real problem is that neither have the facilities to run a
computer conference with 250 or so people.  Eg, for Twin Falls
    "Currently we have an external toilet and shower (with
     Hot water!),"
doesn't make me feel comfortable that they can string in a network
connection, have the facilities to run four different tracks, and
be able to feed everyone.

>If I understand correctly, your
>objection is that you are dependant on the government for your photo id
>and would prefer not to be?

There are two objections:
  1. your summary
  2. I don't believe the reasons told for requiring ID in the first place

and a complaint:
  3. there is no provision for people like me who prefer to not present
ID, or for people who lost their ID.

>Presumably you could get photo id from some non-governmental source? I
>took a look at my various pieces of photo id and found:
>1. An (old) student card
>2. A PADI diving certification card
>3. A video rental card
>4. An (old) bank card with my picture on it
>5. A season's (once a week) skiing pass
>
>Plus all the government stuff.

Umm, sure, but like I said, I could also print out a photo of me,
sign the name "Guido van Rossum" to it, write the words "Official
Dalke Scientific Software Internal Identification Document" on the
top and present that.  (I own my company - I can do these sorts
of things.)

I think I do have 14 year old student ID I keep around in a box
somewhere.  I don't have a diving certification, I don't rent
videos (your video store takes your picture?! Why!?)  My bank
card has no picture on it, and the one time I tried snowboarding
I fell on my butt so many times my tailbone started hurting, so
I swore off that activity until my next reincarnation.

I am not kidding when I say that I only have two forms of photo id.

>Presumably the security requirements of the Python conference are not so
>onerous that none of these pieces of non-governmental id would have been
>acceptable.

I don't believe there are any security requirements of the conference
that necessitate any sort of photo ID, when other credentials (like my
confirmation number) should be sufficient.

My business card (w/o photo) wasn't enough.  Being able to have
previously authorized people already at the conference verify who I
am wasn't enough.

                    Andrew Dalke
                    dalke at dalkescientific.com