Something funny happened as I was finishing up the computerized Medicaid and Food Stamps process today. For one thing, you better keep your facts and your numbers together, because it's fraud if you don't.

As a testament to how tightly our lives and our history are entangled in government servers, the last thing they needed to do was verify my identity.

They had three final questions, with about six or seven possible correct checkmark answers below each.

The first question was What's your sisters name? The question implies that it knows I only have one sister, and that she's still alive, otherwise it would have been past tense. Then the possible answers appeared and my sisters full legal name, was the third one down.

Then it asked Which of the cities listed below have you lived in? and the correct one jumped out. Same with At what address?

From a programming viewpoint, it's simple and slick. They have all of your original data when you applied for SS, like family members and your address, while they make up the rest. It's been more than ten years, and it's quick info only I would know.