Exhibit 10.12

Today in Misguided Stock Photography

So Microsoft has little tips in the corner on the first screen you see after logging into Hotmail. Fine. Whatever. Mostly they are silly but logical constructions that are able to tie an image in with the text to create understanding on the part of the user.

Like so:


Makes sense, right? We are supposed to believe that this benevolent, Jetsons-esque robot is the glue behind their complicated multi-hundred-million-user email system. Fine. As this is more or less what I believed anyway, I don't have any problems here.

Then there is this one:


Now this is a bit of a stretch. I suppose we are to see ourselves as the ants in this equation and that our contacts are really just fellow ants "united" with us. Fine. As I more or less use my account to plan fruit heists, I can follow along with this easy enough.

But I have no idea what the connection is behind this stock photo and the message here:


Am I the dog? Is the dog trying to leave me a message? What does the headset have to do with email? And where did he get that headset anyway?

The message here really seems to be: Hotmail, a Lynch-ian world of cruel absurity and ritualized dehumanization, is now easier than ever.