Hey Nan,
Well, I guess I'm surprised by two things here:
1) There's actually a public database left in Die Vereinigten Staaten (your papuhs, plees!) that doesn't rely on the good ol' SSN ("Not To Be Used For Identification", mine says, but it's JFK era and the world then still equated BIG, INTRUSIVE GOVERNMENT with nasty totalitarianism). Hats off to youse guys!
2) There are two million people in Suffolk County who take out enough time between flipping each other the bird on the
L.I.E. to actually read or view something from the Liberry.
As much as I dislike the USE of middle names, I find both these things curiously reassuring. Also, I see your point about distinguishing between the various
Maria Velasquezes, but surely better funding of the INS could eliminate much of that problem (joke, Nan)?
Around here there's a tendency to forego the middle initial thing in databases and use date of birth to tell people apart. But I guess in a much larger DB like yours, middle initials are useful. So okay, people, bestow the things if you must, but don't burden others with yours (or its initial) on a day-to-day basis.
- Da.