Is it just me, or does Active Directory not know how to count very well?

We have a policy that expects you to change your password regularly, and you get two weeks warning. When I came into work this Tuesday (Monday was a holiday), I got the warning, "Your password will expire in 14 days. Would you like to change it now?" and cancelled it. Every day since then (4 days now, count them) I've been cancelling the warning message—and guess what it tells me now?

"Your password will expire in 6 days..." Huh?!? It does this to me every time!

In case you didn't already feel that the US government doesn't have a thought of her citizens privacy in mind, there's more news today:

• The former "chief privacy officer" of privacy-invaders Claria Corp. (formerly Gator) has been appointed to the DHS' new "Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee." His track record in privacy protection isn't exactly what I'd consider commendable.


• The State Department has decided that their new RFID-enabled, data-storing "e-passports" don't need to encrypt the personal information stored in them. You guessed it: that means anyone who can read the RFID can read up about you when you walk by, and you'd never even know.

When something hits the fan at a company that stores and sells data about you, the courts may turn a blind eye when you become a victim of identity theft.

So let me get this straight: I can sue Mickey-D's if they sell me a cup of hot coffee—exactly what I asked for—and I pour it onto myself and feel hurt, right? But if someone else—who I didn't ask for anything—by their incompetence has a security breach that could seriously affect me personally by ruining my credit history and name for years to come, I'm SOL? Dang...

I hope you've already guessed that you're not always getting the whole story. That's why it's so great to be able to locate and learn from the likes of the author of the article I just linked to, Dahr Jamail, an independent and uncensored reporter in Iraq.

Furthermore, folks like Anthony Lappé of GNN have warned of the US government's subtle psyops in an effort to "keep the peace." Say, for example, evan down to little details like telling us NYC's asbestos-laden air was totally safe to breathe just days after the twin towers fell, or when scientific studies don't agree with the political acts and powers...

But I hadn't imagined they'd stoop to foolishness like this: a questionable reporter named 'Jeff Gannon' and his company rooking the news on the Republican party's dime.* Frank Rich's commentary is "richest", you might say. Phew!

Ed. Note: This just in—I've been meaning to tell you about Scott Stantis' politically-minded cartoon "Prickly City", which has had a hilarious series this week on what happens when you compliment the President. Now's the perfect time to mention it, come to think of it!

Some time ago, I was glad to see Jonathan Hardwick mention that there's a little known way to get XP's Offline Files to "stop bitching about the files I've excluded"... I stuck the link in the back of my mind, but lost it in my bookmarks or feed reader. Until the other day I decided it was time to dig it up, as I wanted to test methods of creating our own Group Policy entries for Registry values that aren't already managed by GPO.

The free tool I found to create the custom Registy entries in Group Policy—DesktopStandard's PolicyMaker Registry Extenstion—works great. (I was about to write "works like a charm," but then I realized how funny an expression that is, when I don't know any "charms" that actually work. Sheesh!) It's quite slick: instead of creating custom ADM's for all your custom entries, it uses some sort of existing COM object to do the Registry settings directly from a simple XML file. And the UI is tied into all your standard Windows tools: GPMC, RSOP, etc. Recommended.

Google's recent acquisitions and smart developers are really paying off: their new Google Maps site—"currently in Beta"—is simply beautiful. Excellent UI design, IMHO. (Er, sorry—only IE and Firefox/Mozilla at the moment, though—ouch!). Take the tour to get a quick idea of the features, like keypress zooming, etc.. Wow!

Just a minutes from our house is Videoport: "Maine's Largest Selection of Cult and Foreign Films". Their tagline is not an exaggeration, and it's well worth the stop to find all kinds of great stuff, especially of the extremely weird or subtitled varieties. As Ainsley & I are connoisseurs of the "thinking film", and we've had more than our share of illness in our little household lately, we've managed to find plenty of fine foreign films to entertian us lately. So why not share? (The films, not the sickness!) Read on for some recommendations...

It's cold. Still. And snowing again. Five fluffy inches so far tonight. And another parking ban in the city of Portland.

Maybe I shouldn't complain... At least it's not as cold as International Falls.

I love it that the USA PATRIOT Act has given our nation's librarians a chance to stand up for their belief in intellectual freedom in a real, bold way. Seriously!

The libraries of Whatcom County, WA won an award for standing up to the FBI.

I confess: I've become addicted to memeorandum to get a dose of news with some thought-provoking commentary. (Thanks, Mr. Scoble!)

Today's mind-whack was word that Dr. James Dobson thinks SpongeBob SquarePants is gay, according to an LA Times editorial. This of course demands response, some of which was thoughtful, some of which was knee-jerking.