Stop Mucking with my %$#@$##@$ Operating System!!!
It is a simple thing, but it makes me really mad. The Federal Government should step in and STOP Microsoft from arbitrarily making changes to the O/S that affect ordinary behavior. It is not so much the fact that they make changes to the O/S - that part I accept. If there is a security vulnerability, then by all means, upload it to my computer with the regular updates so that my computer will function the way it is supposed to (safely). But what is not acceptable is for Microsoft to upload changes to my operating system without me knowing about it, and then try to pass them off under the cover of security updates.
It is simply unethical, Bill, never mind where it is legal or not. I can assure you, Mr. Gates, that you have reserved seats at the fireside show in HELL, because you have no conscience about what your company does to everyone's computer!!!
Here is my case in point. I well know, after many years of using MS operating systems, what I want out of an operating system. Sure, there are ideas I've had for making the O/S better. For example, when I drag and drop a file because I want to make a copy of it: why not allow me to specify at that time how I'd like the copy renamed - or better still, give me access to a registry key I can change so that my files are renamed in a certain manner when I drag and drop. Maybe even using a regular expression.
Okay, but that aside. What I do not want. What I cannot accept. What is ABSOLUTELY unacceptable to me, is when you Morons (yes, the M in Microsoft, I'm sure, is for Morons) change my operating system without asking me, without telling me about it, without anything, AND try to pass this off as a security update!!!! It is altogether unethical, and it should be illegal.
So, here is my problem. For years (it seems like centuries) when you drag and drop a file to make a copy of it, it makes a copy with the numeration of what (nth) copy it is of that file. For example, I drag File.doc once, and I get "Copy of File.doc" - I drag it twice and I get "Copy (2) of File.doc" and so on. If I drag "Copy (2) of File.doc" I get "Copy of Copy (2) of File.doc" - If I drag and drop that I get "Copy (2) of Copy (2) of File.doc"
At least, that's how it has always been. Now all of a sudden some genius at Microsoft has decided that that's dumb, and so now when I drag and drop "Copy (2) of File.doc" I get instead "Copy (3) of File.doc".
Well, that's a great idea. And we would all agree it's a great idea. Sure, you can put that in VISTA and if we are all so inclined to purchase VISTA we can switch to the new methodology. But it will be a conscious choice.
But the problem is, that's not how it worked before. That's now how it has always worked. And, I find that you ba$tar6$ changing my operating system on me without my permission, without asking me, without informing me, to be wholly unacceptable.
I have my operating system turned on in such a way as to download updates, and then prompt me to install them. But this does not permit you folks to change the way my operating system functions. I am expecting patches. Patches are something that fixes something that is broken. They are not something that completely changes the behavior.
Okay, well, I've said enough.
Grrrrrrr.....
Back to work now.
~ Basil
Friday, October 05, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Freedom of Speech in the U.S.A.?
One statement I remember saying while we sat around the campfire on a cool summer night by the sea: The U.S. is going in the wrong direction when it comes to protecting freedoms, and Russia is going in the right direction.
By this I was trying to emphasize the fact that the freedoms are multiplying in the Russian Federation after the dissolving of the Soviet Union a little over 15 years ago. Whereas in our society, the government is cracking down on far more than 15 years ago, restricting the rights of it's citizens, and censuring them. The government has been given (or rather, I should say "has taken" since nobody actually gave the U.S. government this authority, and hence, I ask, is it any longer a democratic republic?) unprecedented authority to investigate, track, basically spy on its own citizens without the due process of law guaranteed by the constitution. The government and large corporations have formed their own special censorship in order to control the messages that are fed to our people.
Well, this news story points out another problem for freedom in the U.S.A.
Dan Rather has filed a 70 million dollar lawsuit against CBS because he was used as a scapegoat and fired for CBS to come out showing a more favorable view of the White House. About this he says: "Somebody, sometime has got to take a stand and say democracy cannot survive, much less thrive with the level of big corporate and big government interference and intimidation in news..."
God Bless Dan Rather!
God Save America!
~ Basil
One statement I remember saying while we sat around the campfire on a cool summer night by the sea: The U.S. is going in the wrong direction when it comes to protecting freedoms, and Russia is going in the right direction.
By this I was trying to emphasize the fact that the freedoms are multiplying in the Russian Federation after the dissolving of the Soviet Union a little over 15 years ago. Whereas in our society, the government is cracking down on far more than 15 years ago, restricting the rights of it's citizens, and censuring them. The government has been given (or rather, I should say "has taken" since nobody actually gave the U.S. government this authority, and hence, I ask, is it any longer a democratic republic?) unprecedented authority to investigate, track, basically spy on its own citizens without the due process of law guaranteed by the constitution. The government and large corporations have formed their own special censorship in order to control the messages that are fed to our people.
Well, this news story points out another problem for freedom in the U.S.A.
Dan Rather has filed a 70 million dollar lawsuit against CBS because he was used as a scapegoat and fired for CBS to come out showing a more favorable view of the White House. About this he says: "Somebody, sometime has got to take a stand and say democracy cannot survive, much less thrive with the level of big corporate and big government interference and intimidation in news..."
God Bless Dan Rather!
God Save America!
~ Basil
Autumn is Here
You can tell autumn is here...
... not by the yellow, orange, red tinge to the leafy trees
... not by the dew on the grass in the morning
... not by the misty breath you have when you go outside late at night
But by the fact that the air conditioning has finally clicked in at work. The office will actually be comfortable now for the first time since May, and this comfort level will last about 2 to 3 weeks, at which time shorts and t-shirts are exchanged for jeans and sweaters.
Cheers!
Basil
You can tell autumn is here...
... not by the yellow, orange, red tinge to the leafy trees
... not by the dew on the grass in the morning
... not by the misty breath you have when you go outside late at night
But by the fact that the air conditioning has finally clicked in at work. The office will actually be comfortable now for the first time since May, and this comfort level will last about 2 to 3 weeks, at which time shorts and t-shirts are exchanged for jeans and sweaters.
Cheers!
Basil
Friday, September 14, 2007
А сейчас слов от нашега спонсора....
Today's Pop, Folk, and Rock Music is brought to you by:
The Voshnesensky-Davidiva Monastery!
I was listening to my regular dose of Russian pop music today on this new radio station I discovered: Music Radio 101 FM, when I noticed there were four endorsements in the bottom of my Windows Media Player: (1) Rambler's Top 100 (they are basically one of the two Russian equivalents of yahoo) (2) Mail.ru toplist (they aren't as big as rambler, etc, (3) The Windows Media Player 8, and (4)The Voshnesensky-Davidiva Monastery.
I clicked on the The Voshnesensky-Davidiva Monastery banner, and sure enough, it takes you right to here.
There's probably some great Orthodox resources available from their page, along with several Russian Orthodox webrings.
Regards!
Basil
Today's Pop, Folk, and Rock Music is brought to you by:
The Voshnesensky-Davidiva Monastery!
I was listening to my regular dose of Russian pop music today on this new radio station I discovered: Music Radio 101 FM, when I noticed there were four endorsements in the bottom of my Windows Media Player: (1) Rambler's Top 100 (they are basically one of the two Russian equivalents of yahoo) (2) Mail.ru toplist (they aren't as big as rambler, etc, (3) The Windows Media Player 8, and (4)The Voshnesensky-Davidiva Monastery.
I clicked on the The Voshnesensky-Davidiva Monastery banner, and sure enough, it takes you right to here.
There's probably some great Orthodox resources available from their page, along with several Russian Orthodox webrings.
Regards!
Basil
Freedom of Press and Freedom of Speech in Russia
We had a heated debate ("heated" by both whiskey, imagination, and the camp-fire) this summer when we were camping on the freedom of speech in Russia.
My friend seemed to suggest that they had no freedom of speech in Russia today. Whenever I pointed out some aspect of freedom of speech, my friend brought up various things done by Stalin... so I'm not exactly sure why I was loosing the argument, except for the fact that it was 2 against 1.
Anyway, I resolved to put together a compendium of sources of free speech in Russia when I got home, and post them on my blog. I've now got about 20 or 30 web sites of different news agencies in Russia, and several other web sites that have streaming news video, and audio. In addition to that there are dozens of free Russian blog and message board systems, each with hundreds to thousands of customers (bloggers and/or message board participants) giving Russians an unprecedented degree of freedom of speech and press.
However, I'm inclined to think we've become narrow minded with regards to freedom of speech. It really has almost nothing to do with the big mega-company news organizations, but much more to do with the common man and his ability to speak his mind. Freedom of speech has to do with what kind of art you can make, and what degree of government censorship there is for it. So, in my mind, it is not only the journalist (amateur or professional) but the musician, the film-maker, the professional comedian, the photographer, and so on.
Well, I don't have the time today to post a collection of links to independent Russian news sources, and other sources of public freedom of expression in the Russian Republic, but I would at least like to tell you about a couple of cool things:
The BBC has a great "Fact Page" on every country that lists the major news sources for that country. Here is Russia.
One of the deficiencies of the above list is that it is only the "major" news sources, and doesn't include local sources.
These days nearly every city in Russia (so think thousands) has it's own web portal sponsored by the local city business and civic leaders, with news from local news papers as well as blogs, forums, photo galleries, and so on.
Politics is complicated in Russia with hundreds of political parties. So many news sources have a "slant" in that they are connected with various parties or groups of parties, or companies, or unions, and so on. Not to mention the parties themselves have web pages and printed papers, radio broadcasts, and so on.
In my opinion it all SMACKS of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Another great resource, is this collection of streaming web sites:
* At World TV Radio
I've tried several of the streaming sites in the main part of Russia (think West), and can't really get a signal that I can stand listening to, however, I've found that the radio station in Vladivostock, Radio VBC, which also broadcasts on FM has a great streaming feed. I think when it comes to streaming, proximity really helps.
Regards!
Basil
We had a heated debate ("heated" by both whiskey, imagination, and the camp-fire) this summer when we were camping on the freedom of speech in Russia.
My friend seemed to suggest that they had no freedom of speech in Russia today. Whenever I pointed out some aspect of freedom of speech, my friend brought up various things done by Stalin... so I'm not exactly sure why I was loosing the argument, except for the fact that it was 2 against 1.
Anyway, I resolved to put together a compendium of sources of free speech in Russia when I got home, and post them on my blog. I've now got about 20 or 30 web sites of different news agencies in Russia, and several other web sites that have streaming news video, and audio. In addition to that there are dozens of free Russian blog and message board systems, each with hundreds to thousands of customers (bloggers and/or message board participants) giving Russians an unprecedented degree of freedom of speech and press.
However, I'm inclined to think we've become narrow minded with regards to freedom of speech. It really has almost nothing to do with the big mega-company news organizations, but much more to do with the common man and his ability to speak his mind. Freedom of speech has to do with what kind of art you can make, and what degree of government censorship there is for it. So, in my mind, it is not only the journalist (amateur or professional) but the musician, the film-maker, the professional comedian, the photographer, and so on.
Well, I don't have the time today to post a collection of links to independent Russian news sources, and other sources of public freedom of expression in the Russian Republic, but I would at least like to tell you about a couple of cool things:
The BBC has a great "Fact Page" on every country that lists the major news sources for that country. Here is Russia.
One of the deficiencies of the above list is that it is only the "major" news sources, and doesn't include local sources.
These days nearly every city in Russia (so think thousands) has it's own web portal sponsored by the local city business and civic leaders, with news from local news papers as well as blogs, forums, photo galleries, and so on.
Politics is complicated in Russia with hundreds of political parties. So many news sources have a "slant" in that they are connected with various parties or groups of parties, or companies, or unions, and so on. Not to mention the parties themselves have web pages and printed papers, radio broadcasts, and so on.
In my opinion it all SMACKS of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Another great resource, is this collection of streaming web sites:
* At World TV Radio
I've tried several of the streaming sites in the main part of Russia (think West), and can't really get a signal that I can stand listening to, however, I've found that the radio station in Vladivostock, Radio VBC, which also broadcasts on FM has a great streaming feed. I think when it comes to streaming, proximity really helps.
Regards!
Basil
Monday, September 10, 2007
Everyone wants a piece or Russia...
Кредитная карта Ситибанка CASH BACK
http://www.citibank.ru/russia/cards/rus/cb_main.htm?ref=ad55
amusing, strange, disturbing?
Кредитная карта Ситибанка CASH BACK
http://www.citibank.ru/russia/cards/rus/cb_main.htm?ref=ad55
amusing, strange, disturbing?
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