"My World" News Roundup

Health Update 
Back to the Land of the Living.  My chest still hurts, and I have a residual cough, but my croak is approaching a normal speaking voice.  The temperature rose today into the low '70's, and I felt good, finally, after three weeks.  Approaching rain will help clear the air of pollen.

DRM Dance
MC sends this link to Why DRM Doesn't Work or How to Download a Book From the Cleveland Public Library, which was picked up by boingboing.  I don't care for audio books, but I have to understand how downloads through our web site work to help our patrons.  This "webcomic" is about NetLibrary, and assumes that the reader encounters all the problems that can arise downloading an audio book from NetLibrary.  The truth is that the majority of readers use NetLibrary without problems that they are unable to resolve on their own.  It's just that the small percentage who do hit roadblocks seem like a lot to us, who receive their calls and e-mails.

Personal Book Orders Received
I enjoyed A. N. Wilson's Lampitt Chronicles, which I borrowed through interlibrary loan, so much that I ordered all five volumes from AbeBooks, most of them for a mere dollar apiece plus shipping.  I have shelved them next to their literary parent, Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time.

Also, Gracie's Alabama Volunteers:  The History of the Fifty-Ninth Alabama Volunteer Regiment, by John Michael Burton, from which I have learned that my my great-great-grandfather Enoch's brother, Private Jeremiah Castleberry, "deserted and then rejoined during a prisoner-of-war exchange in 1865".  He very likely deserted during the siege of Petersburg in late 1864, a brutal battle of trench warfare that foreshadowed World War I.  Most deserters were captured by Union troops.

I don't blame him one bit..  Two of his children had died while he was at war.  He was probably trying to get home to his wife, while the Confederacy was clearly on its last legs.  I would have done the same.  (Edit, 3/11:  I should say, I might well have done the same.  How can you know what you are capable of enduring?  It's telling that they let him "rejoin" after the prisoner exchange.)

Comcast Antivirus Switcheroo
Comcast wants its subscribers to migrate from McAfee to Norton Security Suite.  The consensus on tech forums  is that users would be better off with the new Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast, although Norton has its defenders, who point out that Norton has worked hard recently to overcome its reputation as bloatware.  The deal-breaker for me with Norton was when I read that it would install a "toolbar" in my browser.  I avoid extra toolbars, if I can, from Norton, Google or anyone else.  No, thank you.

I've decided to go with Microsoft Security Essentials, rather than a third-party application.  My Internet habits are pretty sedate, (no porn, LimeWire or BitTorrent downloads, no multiplayer gaming), so I don't need much in the way of anti-virus protection.  And I don't need frills like parental controls.  (Edit 3/11:  McAfee uninstalled cleanly, and MSE stepped right in pretty unobtrusively.  I've had a couple of prompts for giving programs permission to run.  A painless migration.)