Back in 198x I came home from England on my first leave. Before leaving London, I had to stay in a hotel where I watched Agatha on TV to while away my hours till my flight. When I arrived in Detroit the next day I saw a commercial on channel 50 for the “World-wide Television Premier” of Agatha. I hadn’t realized how America views the world. It am us. Or US.

Well, it seems that the world has bought that line of thought. In Cambodia a “Fear Factor”-style TV program has been axed. Information Minister Lu Laysreng said, “It is a dirty game. It might be OK in America, but it is not proper for Cambodian culture.” Sure, fine. I hate Fear Factor anyway, but don’t blame us. In the mid-80s I watched a British program on Japanese television programming. They were doing Fear Factor kinds of things long before we got around to it.

It just strikes me as funny that an Asian country rejects a television program that “might be OK in America” which we copied from another Asian country!

It appears that Office 2003 will include some rights controls so people won’t be able to monkey with your document. Fair ‘nough, sounds like a nice feature. What has me worried is this:

The technology is one of the first major steps in Microsoft’s plan to popularize Windows Rights Management Services, a wide-ranging plan to make restricted access to information a standard part of business processes.

Microsoft. Security. One simply cannot say those two words in a single breath and not smile. As expressed in the article, I think this is a move to eliminate the alternatives. You can use a handful of other applications to open and edit and save Word documents. Guess what. When this new version of Word (and other Office apps) debuts, those other won’t be able do that any more. Microsoft doesn’t appear to be changing its stripes nor its preditory business practices. (via AtAT)

A hymn
Ye who think of sin but lightly
Nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed,
See who bears the awful load;
‘Tis the Word, the LORD’s Anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.