Addicted to Placebos

From news.cnet.com:

Homeland Security: We can seize laptops for an indefinite period | The Iconoclast - politics, law, and technology - CNET News.com

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has concocted a remarkable new policy: It reserves the right to seize for an indefinite period of time laptops taken across the border.

A pair of DHS policies from last month say that customs agents can routinely–as a matter of course–seize, make copies of, and “analyze the information transported by any individual attempting to enter, re-enter, depart, pass through, or reside in the United States.”

DHS claims the border search of electronic information is useful to detect terrorists, drug smugglers, and people violating “copyright or trademark laws.” (Readers: Are you sure your iPod and laptop have absolutely no illicitly downloaded songs? You might be guilty of a felony.)

Part of their defense is that not being able to search laptops would allow for illegal files to be smuggled. Because we all know that’s the only way to transport files, right? It was so much easier back in the days when computers had floppy drives and you could just carry a little disk instead of having to schlep a whole computer across the border. Good thing for them that no one has devised a way to send those files electronically - just think what might happen!

Is there anyone out there who truly believes the DHS exists to protect us from terrorism, rather than simply being a front to allow our government to seize and collect data on US citizens? Really?

I’m not asking that to be a political question, honestly. Yeah, I’m registered Democrat but probably lean more toward the Libertarian party. And Republicans are supposed to want smaller government - how do the increasingly invasive policies that are being approved figure into that?

The new video for Geoff Smith’s Ones and 0s:

Ones and 0s by Geoff Smith from Cali Lewis on Vimeo.

Mean people online have been around pretty much since there was an “online”. Maybe it’s an extension of the growing tendencies I see every day for people to be increasingly rude and arrogant - it seems that message boards and comments are getting worse. But really, it’s pretty easy for anyone to forget that there is a human being behind that site, comment or blog. We get caught up in the heat of the moment or our own egos and just fire away.

I’m not saying we should link arms and sing “Kumbaya” or anything. Just take a second and think, breathe. And remember the person on the other side.

You make me happy, you keep me safe, you look so hot and sleek. I just adore you!

I’m, uh, talking about my computer. More specifically, my operating system, Mac OSX Leopard.

Yes, I know it’s been out for close to a year now and everyone else has already gotten over that first flush of a new love. I thought I had, as well. Just as I had begun to take Mac for granted, he saved me. He’s my hero.

OK, so I took a little time on my break to day to go through my contacts on my iPhone. For some reason, I had a bunch of duplicates and really wanted to clean things up. Everything looked good until I got home and woke up the iMac. It began to sync with MobileMe and up popped a warning that syncing the address book would result in X number of changes. No problem, I thought. I knew I had nuked a lot of stuff and let the sync continue. Then, I looked at my address book.

Five?

Five contacts?

Oh. Crap.

I nuked about a hundred contacts. Oh. Crap.

Now, this was the first “oh crap” moment I’ve had since I switched from Windows about a year ago. As such, I still hadn’t really had the occasion to change my behavior when a problem arose. My first thought (after panicking) was, “OK, looks like I’ll be on the phone with customer support for a while.” And then the “aha” moment came.

Time Machine! Praise Bob, I have Time Machine!

Honestly, I was never very conscientious about backing up my data. And it turns out that I am probably exactly who Apple had in mind with this feature. Set it and forget it. All you have to do is remember that you have it before you freak out like I did. Two clicks - one to open Time Machine and one to choose your restoral option. That’s it.

This kind of stuff is what turns Apple customers into fans. Rabid, annoying fans.

With systems that work.

Butterfly 3, originally uploaded by Marci Maleski.

But still pretty.

I found a portal to the Seventies., originally uploaded by Marci Maleski.

Doctor’s office. Yikes!

This design at CafePress is just awesome:

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

My first thought upon hearing of a kid being bitten or scratched has always been “What were they doing to deserve it?”

Thanks to Mom for sending me the link. She rocks.

And it’s late, so they’ll all still be there tomorrow.

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

‘maters from JustMarci on Vimeo.

Bear with me here…I have a new toy. That and I want to figure out which video hosting site I like best.