Cat permit renewal epic
I wrote about getting a cat permit in 2019 for 2020. I just got a renewal notice for next year.
First, out of the box, the link from the email went to a 404. So I had to rummage around the city site to find the domestic animals department and then narrow down to my borough.
It was clear the city has a file on me and my cat but in wading through the dozen screens that followed I had to solemnly attest to a lot of stuff and had to photograph and send them pictures again of my health card and my bank statement. I did that before. It’s still me – really!
The one thing they didn’t want was a picture of my cat.
But that initial 404 was the real treat. I haven’t seen a real 404 in awhile, and the city one has a cone:
All of this to pay $12. Last time, the payment got hung up on my having registered myself as Kate while my legal name is Catherine. I changed my name this time first. I wonder what else can go wrong.
Update: Actually it was fine, the payment went through, and my cat is street legal for 2022.
Blork 12:45 on 2021-10-13 Permalink
We are approaching a frightening time in our Internet history. Sevices and systems are developing faster than people’s abilities to understand them. In the old days it was pretty easy once you “got it.” A web server, some files, FTP to connect them. Then along came some content creation platforms and CDNs (content delivery networks). A bit harder to grasp what was going on, but ultimately easier to use. Now it’s getting to the point where nobody knows what’s going on or even how to use these things.
The old joke about getting your 10-year-old to do your technical things has been reversed. Young people — the ones who use this stuff the most — are the ones who understand them the least, and they’re the ones who will be running things soon.
I recently read an article in either the NY Times or The Atlantic about how fundamentally computer illiterate the current generation of young people are, because they never had to learn anything beyond the user interface. It talked about how so many teenagers and even young adults who use computers (or at least phones) don’t even understand the basics of files and folders. After all, when you’re doing everything through your phone there are no files and folders, just apps.
Photos are all just in a big bucket, as are files, which you find by searching, not browsing. According to the article, these kids did not understand that files don’t just live in the apps, or that there is anything other than just a big iCloud bucket that holds everything.
I see this on my Mac, where I used to be the boss of my file hierarchy, but with iCloud everything falls under “Documents,” which is considered a separate location on Finder’s sidebar (separate from the computer’s file system). Furthermore, some of those files are synced and some aren’t, which creates a level of abstraction that makes sense if you’re very well versed on cloud computing and file management, but is just weird and random for most regular people.
Someone close to me taught a class a few years ago to university students about online content creation. These were UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, and many of them did not even know that a web browser has a URL bar, or what it is used for. To them, “the internet” always started with Google. Everything they did online was through a link or a Google search (and thus a link). They had no concept of how content is organized on the web. No understanding of domains, file structure, nothing.
These are the people who are now charged with running things like the site for cat permits.
Kate 13:07 on 2021-10-13 Permalink
Blork, I worked in 2018 and 2019 for an agency, and my closest coworker and I were the oldest people in the shop. And he and I knew much more – as you do – about things like filesystems and file formats and other key stuff. Some of the younger folks were startlingly naive about them.
Jonathan 13:08 on 2021-10-13 Permalink
Cute cat! I only ever registered my cat once and now I got two but never renewed or registered again.
MtlWeb 14:37 on 2021-10-13 Permalink
Kate, I just had to post that your cat is as cute as one can be, except of course my little Maddie. .
jeather 14:46 on 2021-10-13 Permalink
Guess I will continue to break the law about my cats (who are now exclusively indoor with no access the balcony because one had a stroke and I’m scared he’d fall somehow).
Kevin 14:51 on 2021-10-13 Permalink
It’s gone from everybody knowing they didn’t know how it worked to everybody thinking they know how it works and being dead wrong.
Kate 15:40 on 2021-10-13 Permalink
Kevin – ?
Oh, you mean the city website. Yes.
Spi 16:12 on 2021-10-13 Permalink
You willingly sent and presumably are ok with a municipal government storing a photo of your personal ID and bank statement?
Am I the only to think that’s demonstrating too much faith that they’ll even do the bare minimum to safeguard your private information.
walkerp 16:52 on 2021-10-13 Permalink
Nice kitty!
Kate 19:32 on 2021-10-13 Permalink
Spi, that’s the deal. They don’t see my whole bank statement, just the header, my name and address and a date.
walkerp, that’s great. Thank you.
She is a nice cat.
Kevin 21:16 on 2021-10-13 Permalink
Kate
The internet and IT in general…