Exactly, dammit!In this day and age, why can't computers be used by the masses like cars are? Yes, you still need to take the car to the mechanic to really fix it (unless you have all the special diagnostic equipment) but at least they give you airbags and seatbelts in case of an accident!
Here's a neat thing Misbehaving.net alerts us to: Regender - it changes the gender pronoun in a Webpage. Male pronouns get changed to female, proper male names get changed to female, and vice versa.The translation of the Google News front page is kind of funny: "Florida Braces for Yet Another Hurricane as Katrina Strengthens" translates to "Floyd Braces for Yet Another Hurricane as Karl Strengthens."As a sidenote, I used to think that it didn't matter if I had to read texts that only used male pronouns, but one of the books I read for my thesis only used female pronouns and I found that it did matter. I was so not used to seeing female pronouns used exclusively that I felt proud seeing them in that book as if womenkind had made some huge leap or something. As if we were finally let in on the conversation.
In my search for motivation to exercise (I pretty much broke my habit when I started writing my thesis a year ago), I came across WalkJogRun.net. It's a pedometer/route planner that uses Google maps.Go go Google gadgets!Another interesting discovery - I checked to see if Google satellite maps show topography and I found out that you can't zoom all the way in on Scranton, PA. Hmmm...(Disclaimer: I own a little over 5 shares of Google. Not much, but I earned enough off of it to give me spending money for Christmas.)
We camped out overnight at the house on Saturday. We ate pizza outside on our patio that evening and slept on the floor on a small, lumpy futon. I woke up to a slight backache - it was great! I'm not sure when we can move over the extra bed, but we'll have to wait until my Mom's truck is available for us to borrow.The night was cool enough so that we could sleep with the windows open and the ceiling fan going. Around midnight, I heard some whispering outside and thought that people were trying to break into our seemingly vacant house to have a party. My homeowner's instincts are already sharp.Turns out they were sneaking into the house across the street; the sound just carried. Seemed like one of the teenagers or 20-somethings lived there or knew the owners and that the owners were away. As soon as the emptiness of the house was verified, they swiftly moved from car to house, bottles clinking along the way.That doesn't worry me - it's a typical suburban happening. What worries me is all items we'll have to buy to get the house and garden running smoothly. But that's just first-time homebuyer's anxiety I'm sure.
Exactly, dammit!In this day and age, why can't computers be used by the masses like cars are? Yes, you still need to take the car to the mechanic to really fix it (unless you have all the special diagnostic equipment) but at least they give you airbags and seatbelts in case of an accident!
Here's a neat thing Misbehaving.net alerts us to: Regender - it changes the gender pronoun in a Webpage. Male pronouns get changed to female, proper male names get changed to female, and vice versa.The translation of the Google News front page is kind of funny: "Florida Braces for Yet Another Hurricane as Katrina Strengthens" translates to "Floyd Braces for Yet Another Hurricane as Karl Strengthens."As a sidenote, I used to think that it didn't matter if I had to read texts that only used male pronouns, but one of the books I read for my thesis only used female pronouns and I found that it did matter. I was so not used to seeing female pronouns used exclusively that I felt proud seeing them in that book as if womenkind had made some huge leap or something. As if we were finally let in on the conversation.
In my search for motivation to exercise (I pretty much broke my habit when I started writing my thesis a year ago), I came across WalkJogRun.net. It's a pedometer/route planner that uses Google maps.Go go Google gadgets!Another interesting discovery - I checked to see i
f Google satellite maps show topography and I found out that you can't zoom all the way in on Scranton, PA. Hmmm...(Disclaimer: I own a little over 5 shares of Google. Not much, but I earned enough off of it to give me spending money for Christmas.)
We camped out overnight at the house on Saturday. We ate pizza outside on our patio that evening and slept on the floor on a small, lumpy futon. I woke up to a slight backache - it was great! I'm not sure when we can move over the extra bed, but we'll have to wait until my Mom's truck is available for us to borrow.The night was cool enough so that we could sleep with the windows open and the ceiling fan going. Around midnight, I heard some whispering outside and thought that people were trying to break into our seemingly vacant house to have a party. My homeowner's instincts are already sharp.Turns out they were sneaking into the house across the street; the sound just carried. Seemed like one of the teenagers or 20-somethings lived there or knew the owners and that the owners were away. As soon as the emptiness of the house was verified, they swiftly moved from car to house, bottles clinking along the way.That doesn't worry me - it's a typical suburban happening. What worries me is all items we'll have to buy to get the house and garden running smoothly. But that's just first-time homebuyer's anxiety I'm sure.