Click 'more' for the rant…

Taking the excuse that the program is -dispite being widely deployed- is still a "pilot" program, a Microsoft Representative went on to explain that the feature was implemented in case Microsoft needed to remotely shut down (!) the deployed installations of WPA.

At this point you may ask yourself "my copy is legit, why should I care?" the issue is that Microsoft is -without notification (much less consent) is on a daily basis telling your OS installation to communicate with them.

You have to ask yourself:

If my copy of windows is "legit" (and presumably it is if GA is allowing your computer to run) then do they expect your computer to change to an cracked and warezed copy during the middle of the night?

Microsoft is not associated with quality software -indeed, we're talking about a corporation which sent their Flagship OS out into the professional world knowing that it had 63,000 bugs in it. This is a company whose patches routinely break compatibility with its' own and third-party programs. Even if I felt that a convicted monopolist could be trusted to act in a reliably ethical manner with my data, I'm not sure I would trust them to be able to be competent entough do so. (in all fairness, I would feel the same way about any company, the greater the level of complexity, the more prone to failure any piece of software is).

The real question you have to ask yourself is this: do you want any company to monitor your computer on a daily basis?

Is the daily intrusion into your privacy really worth it -especially considering the purpose is to give MS an assurance that you are not, in fact, a theif?

<style-sheet ripping images deleted>

This one was taken yesterdy:

I took this one 5/25 after taking photos around Goose Lake:

Took this one today from my window (has nothing to do with the lake)

I have started this blog with a few different purposes in mind -most of them personal.

One purpose is as a keepsake; a reminder of what I'm doing and thinking. Probably the worst thing about living with Major Depression is the way in which it saps my memories. By writing in this blog, I hope to have a personal record I can refer to later. For this purpose I'll be taking and sharing a number of photos. Someday I hope to have the money to take up photography in a serious manner, but until then I like taking snapshots with my pen-cam.

Secondly, to practice writing. That one should be pretty self-explanatory.

Third, to share links and commentary on current events and links to stories that are not covered (or marginally covered) on the mainstream news. This is the reason which will probably be the hardest to accomplish.

Finally, if nothing else this page gives me a place to upload various and sundry 'witty' photoshops.

In times like these, where the anxiety level is high and the options to control events out of any individuals' hands, its' no wonder that people "snap" and try to assert some measure of control by taking the lives of others; others that usually and tragically have little if anything to do with what is going on in the life of the shooter.

Currently, nobody knows why a man intentionally mowed down five people in his car, killing a child in the process. While the 46 year old man's mother claims that he has had depression for years, as someone who has lived with depression -and around people who also live with depression- I can tell you firsthand that there has to be more to the story than simply forgetting to take your paxil.

In Seattle, a normal and seemingly healthy ameteur drummer and pizza dellvery person walked into a house in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood and opened fire on the people having a party there, killing several before killing himself in front of the police. While it's emerged that Kyle Huff has had a history of rowdy behavior -including shooting up an art statue- there is nothing to indicate that he would eventually turn the gun on other others.

These two events only have one thing in common: both are reactions to living in a time where one has no power to effect positive change in the larger scheme of things. There may be more shootings, there may not be -I don't know.

What I do know is this; people realise that they are powerless, and people are going to start acting out as a result of that realisation, in ways that are bizarre and anti-social. With any luck, this resentment will result in people getting together to create a Cultural Alternative to the Survivor Nation which works to find meaning and purpose in our culture -hopefully doing so in a way closer to Woodstock than to Altamont.