Random Thoughts

1.  It doesn't look like my neighbor is coming back to cut down that tree shading my flowerbed.  He has a trailer still sitting by the street that I know he wants to retreive.  So if it is gone one day and the tree is still there, I'll know I'm out of luck.  I dare not cut down the tree without permission.

2.  I had the sharpest lightening strike ever two nights ago.  There was NO gap between the lightening flash and the thunder.  And the thunderclap was SO loud and sharp it physically staggered me.  The cats vanished. 

I was sure a neighboring house had been struck, but went I went out and flashed a light around, I couldn't see any damage.  Not that I could see very well.  The torrent of rain was so strong and the wind swirling around so much that I was drenched instantly looking out both the front door and the back. 

3.  I finally had to update my Mac operating system.  It gets to where some programs just won't work anymore.  I hate that.  It USED to be that system upgrades added features and security.  Now they seem to restrict them.  Apple seems to be trying to force me in certain directions they think are socially sharing and beneficial.  *I* think they want to deliberately create a society where everything is shared with everyone else and there is no privacy. 

I've read some dys-utopian sci-fi books like that and that is not the world I want to live in.  I left Microsoft Windows 8 years ago because it crashed all the time and required a lot of serious security software.  But I've read recently that Microsoft is a lot more stable and Apple viruses starting to spread around.  It might be time to consider changing...

The general problem is that Apple is becoming more and more "control freak oriented".

4.  The specific irritation (and a good general example) is with the changes to Apple iPhotos.  For a decade, my camera has provided sequential file names to each picture (IMG 5223.jpg, IMG 5224.jpg, etc and iPhotos accepted them as titles.  No more.  They want me to give specific names to each pictures, plus locations, face names, and general subjects.  Like I have time for THAT?  And they are making it hard to not save my files of "the cloud".  I know what that is, I just don't trust them with that kind of access and control.

But what is driving me crazy right now?  The iPhoto program no longer shows the file name of each picture.  I have to go through a couple of menu actions to get that.  And I like having the main toolbar above the window.  It used to just stay there.  Now it won't.  I spent 1.5 hours today trying to find out how to get it to stay. 

I used to be able to look at the top bar and see the day/date/time, now I have to deliberately go look for it.  Sure, I can stick a calendar and a clock next to the computer and check my watch for the time.  But wasn't that one of those things the computer was supposed to free you from?

What's next?  When I change an autocorrect spelling, will it argue with me?  Will it tell me I am making an unwise statement in an email or blog comment?  Will it refuse to allow me to post a comment Apple does not agree with? 

I wonder when the monitor screen will become a camera that watches me as I post, to judge my sanity and mood.  1984, anyone?