Entering the Digital Age

I have truly entered the digital age. After work yesterday I drove over to Sayal Electronics in Burlington and picked up a Digital Audio Fibre Optic Cable for my computer's sound system. Getting it connected, configured, and setup took some time but it seems to be working. Time will tell if there is an improvement in performance but at least there is less possibility of electronic interference with the signal and I have noticed fewer pops and gaps in my music. I've yet to get around to playing anything that actually has a Dolby Pro Logic Signal embedded. My sound system even bears George Lucas' THX imprimatur. To date my association with that Logo is limited to the deafening ad anyone attending a public movie theatre has to endure.

Getting back to work after being off sick is always tough, the volume of junk mail everyone had to endure this week didn't make it easier. Coming home for my afternoon nap to the rat-a-tat-tat of the upstairs neighbour's hammer and chisel on ceramic tiles was just frosting on the cake--luckily he seems to go to lunch around 1:00. At week's end got word that we passed a householder mailing audit. The bosses were so chuffed I was actually thanked for my part in making that possible and even got a gift as reward!

The events of the last week highlight the holes in our health care systems--the American Model in particular; and the tension between an individual's right to privacy and the public's right to safety from potential threats. Having personally been attacked and narrowly missed death at the hands of an individual who had gone off his medication I have an above-average interest in the subject. I doubt the full extent of the mishandling of the events at Virginia Tech will ever see the light of day but what has been made public to date makes one shake one's head. Many questions arise. Why wasn't the campus locked down after the initial shootings? Why were the offender's English Professor's concerns taken so lightly? Why was an individual with such a history of stalking's and violence still at liberty and why was he able to buy the weaponry he used to commit his final rampage? Were his public communications which are still accessible online not cause for concern? Events such as just took place serve to emphasize that despite the modern every man for himself mentality that seems to pervade society our public good is determined by our treatment of the disaffected members of our community.