Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Yahoo Mail violates a sacred trust
The U.S. Postal Service is honor-bound not to open your mail. Carriers know their job is to deliver correspondence, not interfere with its free transmission.
Yahoo, the broker of free electronic mail for a significant fraction of the global population, appears to be on the verge of violating this sacred implicit trust, if they haven't already.
When I attempted to log in to my Yahoo mail account earlier today, a splash screen popped up informing the user that Yahoo mail is now safer, better, stronger. Olympian aspirations aside, the bottom line was that Yahoo now is going to spy on my mail and optimize its advertising based on terms and names and words in my email. We're not talking about search terms typed into a search engine that might also produce targeted advertising as I search. We're talking about nothing less than Yahoo computers reading my mail. I was presented with two buttons: an inviting golden "I Accept" and a cold gray "No Thanks." Links to the allegedly new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy were dead. How could I even attest to something I haven't had the opportunity to read?
I clicked "No Thanks."
Nothing happened. And I was blocked from accessing my mailbox.
I tried again.
I called a number of Yahoo support numbers found online after trying unsuccessfully to log in but repeatedly facing the same screen providing me with a forced, false choice. No humans on any of the lines, no answers, no change.
I called the Associated Press to alert them of what seems to me to be a huge story. At the least, my experience, and probably that of thousands of others, represents a colossal tactical misstep for a huge company now under new leadership, but one welded deeply into our personal and professional lives as surely as email itself is.
A half hour later I was able to log into my account without the splash screen and see emails received prior to the point I had been bumped off, necessitating my initial attempt to log back in, but it's not clear whether I actually enjoy functional mail service as two test emails I sent out to myself did not reach me.
The episode underscores the degree to which our entire society is entangled with technology to the point where a seemingly minor tweak can have major repercussions, and it presages more battles for freedom to come.
Yahoo, the broker of free electronic mail for a significant fraction of the global population, appears to be on the verge of violating this sacred implicit trust, if they haven't already.
When I attempted to log in to my Yahoo mail account earlier today, a splash screen popped up informing the user that Yahoo mail is now safer, better, stronger. Olympian aspirations aside, the bottom line was that Yahoo now is going to spy on my mail and optimize its advertising based on terms and names and words in my email. We're not talking about search terms typed into a search engine that might also produce targeted advertising as I search. We're talking about nothing less than Yahoo computers reading my mail. I was presented with two buttons: an inviting golden "I Accept" and a cold gray "No Thanks." Links to the allegedly new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy were dead. How could I even attest to something I haven't had the opportunity to read?
I clicked "No Thanks."
Nothing happened. And I was blocked from accessing my mailbox.
I tried again.
I called a number of Yahoo support numbers found online after trying unsuccessfully to log in but repeatedly facing the same screen providing me with a forced, false choice. No humans on any of the lines, no answers, no change.
I called the Associated Press to alert them of what seems to me to be a huge story. At the least, my experience, and probably that of thousands of others, represents a colossal tactical misstep for a huge company now under new leadership, but one welded deeply into our personal and professional lives as surely as email itself is.
A half hour later I was able to log into my account without the splash screen and see emails received prior to the point I had been bumped off, necessitating my initial attempt to log back in, but it's not clear whether I actually enjoy functional mail service as two test emails I sent out to myself did not reach me.
The episode underscores the degree to which our entire society is entangled with technology to the point where a seemingly minor tweak can have major repercussions, and it presages more battles for freedom to come.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Backlogged Haiku
0116072012
Hot wind, summer tongue
Laps at the base of my neck
Western world roves east.
0104072012
Slender dragonfly
Green body at rest, black wings
Yet blue in motion.
0204072012
What does heat feel like?
How can we explain such things
Without sharing them?
0304072012
Independence Day
People free, eagles aloft
War of species on.
0105072012
Haiku for morning
Stuck in my stiff jaw bruise-like
Syllables and cant.
0205072012
Write write write write write
Words do not pour; they must pus
Wounds from life and love.
0108062012
Wooden spoon, pitcher
Twist open orange cylinder
Make juice with Mother.
0208062012
Orange juice concentrate
Run warm water over can
To thaw frozen lump.
0308062012
Making juice with Mom
Just add three cans of water
Mix with wooden spoon.
0408062012
Thump, lump concentrate
With wooden spoon as it melts
In orange juice pitcher.
0104062012
Bacteria bones
Ballast Mexican bodies
Science News reports.
0204062012
Antidepressants
Make cannibals of yeast cells
Science News reports.
03040602012
Irish immigrants
Flooded America's shores
Bedraggled masses.
0404062012
Describe what you smell,
The writing book prompts writers:
Exhale life's perfume.
0504062012
Females ignore me.
As a person, who am I?
They demand product.
0604062012
His dragon tattoo
Reads at first like a bruised hand.
Stories don't need ink.
0106062012
Ray Bradbury dies
As Venus transits the sun--
Shadow play and light.
02060602012
Ray Bradbury dies
As Mars One proudly debuts--
The future is now.
0306062012
Ray Bradbury dies
I learn on my vision screen--
Alone, together.
04060602012
Ray Bradbury dies
Hereafter the air I breathe--
Squirrel scampers o'er bark.
0506062012
Typewriter clamor
Pages spooled warm of ink soul--
Thorough impressions.
0606062012
Ray Bradbury lives
Man is his words as birds song--
Something forever.
01052012
Sudden leaf cover
Surrounds me and honey bee--
May's canopy dropped.
02052012
Sitting on the ground,
I am but the insects' guest--
Fragile on both ends.
03052012
Little bee escapes
Absent spider's silky snare,
Somersaults through air.
0130042012
When your intestines
Fail you as a little girl
How must the world seem?
0127042012
Three deer unafraid
Splash through mud and forage greens
In Warnimont Park.
0129032012
Beachcomber hauls tires.
Blackbird bends Phragmites' bow.
Fog un-enshrouds shore.
0120032012
Heaps and mounds of steel
Mined, melted, fused, cut into
Single bent staple.
0118032012
Heat knows no season.
March? June? Boltzmann is constant.
Air warms air warms air.
0218032012
It's a tough question
"What is your novel about?"
One learns by asking.
0318032012
Skewered vegetables
Await searing hot metal--
Ritual of fire, food.
0104032012
Neon tennis ball
Iced amid stones in lake's wake
Slobbered for no more.
0204032012
Mislaid dollar bill
Washed up but never washed out
Belies water's cost.
0304032012
Reek of potatoes--
Rotting fish smell pussing forth--
Kitchen source unknown.
0404032012
Memory of Zayre's
Round red star meant aisles of toys--
The past: buried dream.
Hot wind, summer tongue
Laps at the base of my neck
Western world roves east.
0104072012
Slender dragonfly
Green body at rest, black wings
Yet blue in motion.
0204072012
What does heat feel like?
How can we explain such things
Without sharing them?
0304072012
Independence Day
People free, eagles aloft
War of species on.
0105072012
Haiku for morning
Stuck in my stiff jaw bruise-like
Syllables and cant.
0205072012
Write write write write write
Words do not pour; they must pus
Wounds from life and love.
0108062012
Wooden spoon, pitcher
Twist open orange cylinder
Make juice with Mother.
0208062012
Orange juice concentrate
Run warm water over can
To thaw frozen lump.
0308062012
Making juice with Mom
Just add three cans of water
Mix with wooden spoon.
0408062012
Thump, lump concentrate
With wooden spoon as it melts
In orange juice pitcher.
0104062012
Bacteria bones
Ballast Mexican bodies
Science News reports.
0204062012
Antidepressants
Make cannibals of yeast cells
Science News reports.
03040602012
Irish immigrants
Flooded America's shores
Bedraggled masses.
0404062012
Describe what you smell,
The writing book prompts writers:
Exhale life's perfume.
0504062012
Females ignore me.
As a person, who am I?
They demand product.
0604062012
His dragon tattoo
Reads at first like a bruised hand.
Stories don't need ink.
0106062012
Ray Bradbury dies
As Venus transits the sun--
Shadow play and light.
02060602012
Ray Bradbury dies
As Mars One proudly debuts--
The future is now.
0306062012
Ray Bradbury dies
I learn on my vision screen--
Alone, together.
04060602012
Ray Bradbury dies
Hereafter the air I breathe--
Squirrel scampers o'er bark.
0506062012
Typewriter clamor
Pages spooled warm of ink soul--
Thorough impressions.
0606062012
Ray Bradbury lives
Man is his words as birds song--
Something forever.
01052012
Sudden leaf cover
Surrounds me and honey bee--
May's canopy dropped.
02052012
Sitting on the ground,
I am but the insects' guest--
Fragile on both ends.
03052012
Little bee escapes
Absent spider's silky snare,
Somersaults through air.
0130042012
When your intestines
Fail you as a little girl
How must the world seem?
0127042012
Three deer unafraid
Splash through mud and forage greens
In Warnimont Park.
0129032012
Beachcomber hauls tires.
Blackbird bends Phragmites' bow.
Fog un-enshrouds shore.
0120032012
Heaps and mounds of steel
Mined, melted, fused, cut into
Single bent staple.
0118032012
Heat knows no season.
March? June? Boltzmann is constant.
Air warms air warms air.
0218032012
It's a tough question
"What is your novel about?"
One learns by asking.
0318032012
Skewered vegetables
Await searing hot metal--
Ritual of fire, food.
0104032012
Neon tennis ball
Iced amid stones in lake's wake
Slobbered for no more.
0204032012
Mislaid dollar bill
Washed up but never washed out
Belies water's cost.
0304032012
Reek of potatoes--
Rotting fish smell pussing forth--
Kitchen source unknown.
0404032012
Memory of Zayre's
Round red star meant aisles of toys--
The past: buried dream.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Yellow Dress, Black Woman, Bus Stop
The dress was her grandmother's which had been worn in the ghettos of Chicago when times were really tough, not like today: eating rats and drinking soup and standing for hours in line outside the WPA. That was her grandmother who died last night and now the funeral was over and she was free. It was raining. God it was raining. She was a washerwoman no more.
***
This is a snippet of "flash fiction" inspired by the writing prompt issued by Robert Vaughan at the Alchemy for Writers 101;-) event we hosted July 15 at Alchemist Theatre.
***
This is a snippet of "flash fiction" inspired by the writing prompt issued by Robert Vaughan at the Alchemy for Writers 101;-) event we hosted July 15 at Alchemist Theatre.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Alchemy for Writers 101;-)
http://projectemptyspace.wordpress.com/alchemy-for-writers/
Looking forward to Sunday afternoon's Alchemy for Writers 101;-) event at Alchemist Theatre. Thanks for all who worked to bring people and resources together for what should be an energizing experience with 50 registered participants.
Looking forward to Sunday afternoon's Alchemy for Writers 101;-) event at Alchemist Theatre. Thanks for all who worked to bring people and resources together for what should be an energizing experience with 50 registered participants.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Story in Bay View Compass
My story on the criticisms of Sweet Water Organics is now online at http://bayviewcompass.com/archives/11665.
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