Oh dear. I'm paying for yesterday's mad gardening rush today. Literally paying, because the job I do on Fridays is only casual, so no paid sick leave. Yesterday I tried to dig out an old fern clump that's been growing too close to the path. Boy was it tough. The roots are fibrous, so the spade just hits them and bounces off. I bought a grubber, but that only worked slightly better. So now I have a sore back, a sore knee and a strained shoulder. I'll have to "get a man in" to do some of the heavier work now I'm an ancient 54. All washed up at 54, how depressing. I also know now not to let those fern seedlings grow.
I wanted to follow a blog, Orvieto or bust, that appeals to me. However, when I went to 'follow' a message came up that Networkblogs (the agency doing the linking) wanted to know my Facebook address, my email, my email list and my friends. How bloody nosy! And I don't think my friends would appreciate being rung in on something I had done; I'd have to ask each one to give permission for me to pass on the information.
Apropos of this, I read in The Guardian last night that the US government has done a deal with one of the major telcos there to provide them with logs of customers' calls, etc. etc. all in the name of "Homeland Security". A huge facility is being built where computers can 'link up' the information to provide 'patterns of concern'. They won't know what you're talking about, but will know who you are talking to. The analogy was made to those who objected, that it was like reading the envelopes of a person's mail; it was already "public domain" information anyway. But as one of those who objected pointed out, if someone stood at your mailbox and read all your addressed envelopes, wouldn't you call the police? That would be stalking, right? They couldn't be charged with a crime, but it's questionable behaviour. And would terrorists be so naïve as to contact each other through the phone? They'll go back to the 'drop box' method of hiding messages in real places. Remember The prisoner, that old TV series. "We want information".
It's just like Minority report or 1984. We're all guilty now.
You have all my sympathies on the over-gardening front. I am guilty myself. I FINALLY got all of the spring bulbs in the ground and my shoulder hasn't stopped complaining. Needless to say, the weeding isn't finished.
ReplyDeleteThe invasion of privacy by faceless people for 'our own good' bothers me. Quite a lot.