My iPad got into “voice over” mode the other day and started talking, explaining everything on the screen while taking no touch or voice commands from me. Took me a while to figure out how to get it shut the f*** up. After which I was wondering, if this software Read more…
Early results that the media has become so very, very fond of influence the final results of the election. This practice must be stopped. Point: too many people like to vote for “the winning side” and will wait for the news to predict the winner before voting (that might not Read more…
Why is it that all the movies [that I know of] that deal with the evils of a totalitarian government (local or global) are considered Science Fiction? Roller Ball (James Caan original, not the pointless remake) Atlas Shrugged 1984 Brave New World Fahrenheit 451 (either version, though original was much Read more…
Just a personal observation, really, though one that as a student of human psychology fascinates me in other ways too. There are pairings of actors that I get mixed up. For example: Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman. Val Kilmer and Dennis Quaid. Several others. I find though, that much of Read more…
I am able to use either hand for almost everything I do(1). Certainly I favor one hand or the other for some things, but even then I can usually switch at need. Handy… uh, so to speak. I bat left handed, bowl left handed, golf right handed, shoot pool either Read more…
It turns out I’ve been misusing the word “idiot.” Probably you have too. Turns out it doesn’t actually mean what I’d always thought, or what I’d been told some time it means, or what common usage suggests it means. Let’s take a look. Idiot Idiom Idioma (Spanish, means language) Idiomatic Read more…
There are 58 political parties in America, believe it or not (at this time — it varies). Never heard of all those others? Not surprising. For one thing, the news media helps to keep the other 56 unknown, by rarely or even never reporting on them, certainly not during an Read more…
I have long suspected that Technology has gone (and continues to go) beyond what people can handle, that “consumer electronics” is over (perhaps well over) the head of the typical consumer. There’s a lot to this observation / suspicion, and I’ll only cover a little here. Consider: In & around Read more…
Ay…. Columbus Day, no longer Columbus Day. Indigenous People’s Day. Fine, ok, but… you mean instead of celebrating the day “America was discovered” (which it wasn’t), now we celebrate the day the natives started losing their continent to a host of invaders? I don’t really think that’s an improvement. We Read more…
Hey, Extroverts! You know that anxiety you feel after being locked up in the house for days on end? Pacing the floors, wanting to tear down the walls, bored, bored, bored! Many of you have never felt that until the recent “lock down.” Well, let me tell you something: that’s Read more…
Folks some times talk about how Windows is left-brained and OSX (Apple) is right-brained. I have never agreed with that assessment. Now I finally know why I don’t agree with it.(1) A couple days ago, as I was once again swearing at Windows for forcing me yet again to acknowledge Read more…
No, that’s not really a picture of the wings of a Giant Space Bat, taking aim on where his first bite will be. It’s a “selfie”(1) taken by the Planetary Society’s crowd-funded pure research space craft: Light Sail 2. Some of you know what the Planetary Society is, but Read more…
There’s a hotdog stand (they sell many things, but “hot dog stand” is descriptive) in my town, right on the main drag (it’s a small town). It’s one of those trailer/building things, could be hooked up to a truck and moved, save that this one never goes anywhere. This “main Read more…
I found this online, from a former Microsoft Employee. I think it explains a lot of things, except for why, under these circumstances, Microsoft’s stock value keeps going up (at a rate faster than inflation, that is). Truly, this isn’t — and never was — me. It’s some one else. Read more…
“Don’t just teach your children to read… teach them to question everything that they read… teach them to question everything.” – George Carlin (Great American Philosopher, aka, Successful Comedian) In Germany of the 1930’s, the intellectuals and Read more…
So you get a check in the mail. Most of the time you can tell it’s a check without even opening it up. So can any one else looking at it. Is this not a most serious security violation? The bureau or business that sent that to me needs to Read more…
I saw a package, frozen something-or-other by some company-or-other, that actually said, “caution: this product may be hot after heating.” There are just so many things wrong with that statement… “May be?” May be hot after heating? Does it have some super high-tech, sci-fi, space-age heat resistant packaging but so badly designed Read more…
The number of times in a week (or even in a day) I have to click on somebody’s legal disclaimer, end user agreement, “we use cookies” announcement [by the way, all websites use cookies, and they are absolutely harmless. Deal with it!], “your mileage may vary,” or wait while some FBI Read more…
Dear Microsoft: Please stop trying to improve things. You don’t do it very well. Sincerely; A very frustrated Long Time User of Windows and Olden School Programmer & Software Designer. (So there) P.S. you see, the problem is that you take things that, well, while they were not perfect, Read more…
Looks like Mars is positively a-swim. (Sort of.) Take a look here(1) if you haven’t heard to news. Well… okay. Not “a-swim” not when compared to its closest neighbor (us) whose surface area is 70% free-standing water, not merely a (probably) frozen lake and some ‘puddles’ a mile under the surface(2) Read more…