Regardless of who you are, or what you do, you're a member of some sort of community. Most people invest time, money and more, often to simply give back. As a result of this some members come to expect a certain level of mutual respect from their peers and possibly even the creators / developers of said project. When this respect is broken it can often lead to ill feeling within the community.

For the last few years I've had a computer running 24/7, under the desk in my room, serving the various domains and services under my control. As of a few nights ago ‘ezra’, as it was known in it's last incarnation of hardware, was turned off. Overall it felt like quite a sad occasion as the mini-itx box had served me well, and saved my bacon in a number of situations.

Something most people will agree on, is that when you're faced by a great unknown, is that it's scary or exciting. Personally, I'm absolutely petrified. I do enjoy my job a lot, but despite working with some really great people, it can be rather mundane from time to time, and it isn't always challenging. As such I've decided that I'm going to start Open University next year, as well as do a few vendor specific exams (including my LPIC-1).

It would appear that I'mnot the only onewho's worried about the privacy situation in this country. Unfortunately I fear that a lot of people couldn't give 2 hoots and will continue to give up their freedoms for greater convenience. To paraphrase the response on the topic, from a friend: “We're not living in dictatorship. Why should this bother me? I'm not doing anything wrong!". And people wonder why I want to move out of this country.

During my travels today I've met quite a lot of really nice people. I may have only met them for a few moments, but during those minutes I've felt my faith in [good] “Human Nature” being restored. Online I find this good nature almosteverywhere I visit, but almost never in “real life”. First off I met a really nice Social Worker from Africa who was getting her clutch done, and shortly after, whilst I was struggling with my stuff in the Ikea car park, a really nice French man helped me get my remaining purchases in the car.