My Computer has more viruses than a battalion of soldiers

...so I said to a friend recently and although it's not an excuse for not posting it is a reason. For anyone interested in removing spyware/adware/viruses from their computer this is a good open source service.

A recurring question I've had, while dealing with all this nonsense, is why companies invest in this type of advertisement? Seeing a Tide advertisement as my computer dies a slow death certainly doesn't inspire an interest in their fabric softener. I understand the head of advertising for Tide isn't likely involved with some shady computer hacker but somewhere along the line some one from Tide is paying some one from Shady Comp Hacker inc. and as a result some one (eg, me) will no longer be purchasing Tide products. It just doesn't seem like effective product placement to have an ad pop up on my computer screen moments before it inexplicably turns black.

In other news the Kremlin recently took over Russia's largest independent radio news network and mandated that at least 50% of the news they broadcast about Russia be "positive". This made me wonder if the radio network was allowed to consider that story "positive news". I spent some time studying Russian media relations last year and it's really a nightmare. I do not envy their journalists.

This is a really compelling story that unfortunately is just a story. I do appreciate that it is posted on a website called the Conservative Voice; every now and then I catch a glimpse of the concept of limited government within the conservative movement in the US. It's rare but there is a voice or two out there that calls for deregulation.

Finally, I had a thought while watching Capote for the second time recently that I think is worthwhile. A professor of mine was showing selections from the film and as a lead in, mentioned that "In Cold Blood" was Capote's first venture into the world of non-fiction. Through that lens, I re-watched the first hour or so and realized that the book wasn't really non-fiction at all, not in Capote's world anyway. Capote was an amoral individual (and perhaps unethical although I would prefer if aethical were a word) who essentially played the puppeteer to real life people in the film. He fed his subject (Perry Smith) to keep him alive and then obtained legal services for him in an attempt to have his execution stayed. Yet Capote does all of this in an entirely self-interested way. I'm convinced that he never felt an ounce of emotion or compassion for Smith. It's like Smith is a character in a Capote book, who is enough a creation of his own that Capote can't dictate exactly what he does and says, but he can place him in situations in order to advance the plot line.

Through this line of thought I decided that a benevolent God can only exist in a world in which humans have free will but that is another post entirely...Be back on the morrow.