Michael’s grumpy world commentary weblog.
…so reports The Register: more absurdity in the UK:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/15/tall_photographers/
Obviously, male, tall, phot5ographer equals terrorist threat. New heights of absurdity, indeed, in the UK War On Photographers.
….we will hit the road Tuesday, to drive to Texas for a few days. I am looking forward to getting there, though perhaps not to spending two days each way on America’s dangerous US highways.
Things falling out of trucks, people joining without looking, tyre debris, people falling asleep, 34-wheelers doing 20 over the limit: I have never had more emergency stops on the road than on US trips.
…and my Luniquest softbox.
(Click for larger).
I love the fact that now with my Lumiquest Softbox II and all my Honl Photo flash modifiers, I can take a studio on the rad without breaking my back.
Everyone, listen up.
When you are the object of a sentence, you are “me”. Not “I”. Bugbear… I cannot stand to hear people say “and then they invited Mary and I to the party”.
ME, everyone. ME. Not “I”. Remove Mary and see how it sounds now.. “and then they invited I to the party”. Right.
Rant done.
Apple is getting annoying. The perpetual queue in the store; the need to “book an appointment” to ask the “Geniuses” (cringe!) even the simplest questions; the unavailability of stores where you want them (in your own town would be nice); the inability to call (you “book a callback” for Apple to call you back at its convenience, not yours): all these point to Apple getting too big for its boots.
All th eabove hit me today. Call from the experts in the USA who told me the wrong thing; lady telling me I would “have to” make an appointment and I would “have to” come back, after I just spent 45 minutes in traffic getting there (having been directed to do so by the Apple tech guys on the “callback”): intensely annoying.
And if they annoy me, they annoy others. I call the demise of Apple before it even grows to its full potential.
Have you recently tried to enter the United States by car? Scary. Cameras. Geiger counters. Mirrors. Scary warning signs. Audio detectors. Militaristic installations including one that forces your car to tilt (I suppose so they can look underneath). Computerised web and criminal records checks.
Being a law-abiding citizen, I have nothing to fear. But even for a solid citizen like myself, being treated like I am entering North Korea (a US border crossing is much less inviting than a 1970s crossing at Checkpoint Charlie into communist East Germany) makes me very much less eager to enter the USA. I really have no desire to.
When 9-11 happened and we watched the buildings tumble, I turned to my wife and said “that’s the end of the world we know”. And I am afraid to say, every nightmare scenario I had has come true. And then some. We have thrown out the baby with the bathwater: I really don’t like living in a police state. Mr Obama has made zero difference, not that I thought he would.
When I was growing up, the only people who got fingerprinted and who had to take off shoes and belts were criminals. Now it is you and me - and it is getting worse by the day. Biometric ID. Infinite power to the authorities just for mentioning the “T”-word.
The painful thing: who ruined our way of life? Not the few thousand Islamic wackos. We did. Voluntarily. And we continue to encourage our politicians, who will grab any power we give them. It’s not Obama’s fault: it is our own.
Two to start with.
