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Greetings, Quotaholics:
It just happened
again. A friend I trust sent me a link to the 2,076 page .pdf file for
the new US health legislation. The link name looked official and Dave
told me he had been reading and poking around the file itself. So I thought
I would click on the link.
I used to leave my computer on all the time, but I don’t do that any more.
I turn it off each night and start up again in the morning. This morning,
Adobe, makers of the program that creates .pdf files, had another security
update for me. Did I want to install it? Well, it said it wouldn’t need
a restart to update and so I clicked on the "Sure, why not? This
is already annoying me and I might just as well get it out of the way"
button. Shortly thereafter, I got a little message that said it installed
correctly and clicked the "This was already annoying enough, why
are you still bothering me" button.
So even though I saw the link Dave sent was a .pdf file and that tells
me whatever is going to load is going to take a long time, I clicked through
and waited. And then I waited some more. Finally, the thing loaded and
up popped something else. There was a new security issue with Adobe and
did I want to do anything special.
I tried to close the tab without any success. I hit the alt+F4 combo which
is supposed to close a window. It took me to a different webpage, supposedly
one of Adobe’s webpages.
My son just ruined his computer last week. Something came up and said
his anti-virus was going to expire and did he want to do anything about
that. He clicked the "Stop bothering me, I’m working here" button
and his computer was never the same again. Now, admittedly, it is a computer
I gave him long ago and was quite old. But now it was also quite useless.
He started up his old G3 Mac computer and it worked. But the network card
had died long ago and it was part of the motherboard and impossible to
fix cheaply. My son went out and bought a new Apple Mini Mac (and it looks
to me like the same issues are going to crop up with that thing, although
it is the cutest little computer I have ever seen). He hopes to get fewer
virus threats.
However, with that and our dear Tim’s constant badgering (possibly loving
concern) about being careful with the nefarious buffoons wreaking havoc
over the World Wide Web – well there was no way to get out of the
screen but with the three finger salute also known as control + alt +
delete. So I did that and terminated my browser window.
It was all probably legitimate. I might get a new message from Adobe tomorrow
morning, or the install I did this morning might not really take effect
until I do restart my computer and they just weren’t making me do that
right away. But it brings up another point. Something that has been bugging
me for about a month or so now.
Almost everyone makes their browser available with a pop-up blocker because
none of us likes to be annoyed with the stupid pop ups. They are intrusive,
annoying, and loathsome. But the advertising people have developed or
devised or some way figured a way around the pop up blockers. They might
be pop under ads or something since they don’t always show on top of my
browser, but will open under the page I’m reading making it necessary
to click on something to get rid of the horrid intrusions.
Worse than that are the rollover ads. You innocently move your mouse around
and the whole page gets grayed out while some ad takes over your browser
window. I’m always afraid to click anything because I don’t know where
it will take me or what it will do. So I will be good and thoroughly damned
if I am ever going to touch that stuff.
There are also words underlined with green and if you are careless enough
to let your mouse drift past them, a small window ad crops up. In the
previous sentence the word "crops" might be underlined and some
stupid ad for vegetable seeds might be what shows (nothing at all related
to what I’ve been talking about). These will sometimes go away after a
time, but you are stuck there with this crap staring you in the face.
I personally write down the brand and make a note of it. I will not buy
from them even if I might have done so in the past.
I realize ads pay for the "free" internet. But the ads have
gotten so intrusive, the free internet is losing a bit of its allure.
And furthermore, because of the scam artists who are using the same techniques,
even if you were interested in the product to such an extent that you
would stop in the middle of reading your article to find out more about
vegetable seeds, you can’t really be sure it is safe to click.
There are a few products that have been so annoying with their advertising,
I wouldn’t use their products if they were the last ones making the things.
I have no idea how to tell Netflix they are the worst offender I’ve been
having to deal with. But I know they will never see any of my money.
I don’t have any answers to this conundrum. I’ve just noticed it is getting
worse and with more ways to take over my screen while I’m cruising the
Information Highway. I may have to sign offline and just read a book.
Have you noticed more annoying ads? Do you have any programs that stop
this nonsense? Do they work for the pop unders and for the roll over ads,
too? Is there a program anyone knows about that makes those underlined
words stop popping up with irrelevant crap? Is this just the price we
pay for "free" content? Are there any companies who have ticked
you off to such an extent you won’t use their products? Even if you had
in the past?
How are we supposed to know the difference between a legitimate warning
from a real product or service we use (such as Adobe) from the scam artists
trying to take control of our computer? Are you willing to click on anything
that pops up on your computer?
Safe but annoyed,
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“The covers of this book are too far apart.” - Ambrose Bierce
“This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown
with great force.” - Dorothy Parker
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Elephant Symposium
[Thanks Sied]
An international
symposium on elephants was convened. Every nation in the world was
represented and was expected to deliver a report on elephants.
Germany contributed a report: “The Elephant — A War Machine.”
France’s report was typically: “The Love Life of an Elephant.”
America saw the economic values in: “Raising Elephants for Profit.”
Great Britain had their own unique view: “The Elephant and the British
Empire.”
The Canadian report was, of course, typically Canadian … “The Elephant:
A Federal or Provincial Responsibility?”
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“Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly be compared to a coquette
- the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude your embrace.”
“Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that man’s conscience
was created free; that he is no longer accountable to his fellow man
for his religious opinions, being responsible therefore only to his
God.”
“Wealth can only be accumulated by the earnings of industry and the
savings of frugality.” - All from 10th President of the United States,
John Tyler born on this date in 1790
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Speak right up!
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Equipment
In everything we do, we use tools, assistive devices, and all sorts
of equipment.
In gardening, I swear, we have more trowels, hand shovels, rakes, and
assorted paraphernalia than we can shake a stick at. And, I believe
we have some device somewhere to help us shake a stick.
We have knee-pads, a mat to kneel upon to keep our knees clean, but
the rest of the leg from there down still gets rather soiled. We have
a gizmo that looks like a cooler, complete with insulated compartment,
where you can sit on the lid and not have to kneel. It also has wheels
so you don’t necessarily have to get up unless the wheels are pointed
the wrong way, which inevitably they are. You also have to get up to
get that cool drink you have been trying to hatch.
In geocaching, I have had to accumulate quite an array of equipment.
Foremost was a fisherman’s vest with all sorts of pockets to hold all
the other stuff. In one pocket I have spare batteries for my GPS unit,
my primary gadget. Another pocket holds hand-held and headband flashlights
for those dark, dank drainage tunnels some cachers enjoy. Tweezers,
and extendable mirror, and a magnetic wand for fishing small items out
of tiny crevices occupy another pocket.
But that’s just the start of it. I have waders, a backpack filled with
spare containers, logs, plastic baggies, and some emergency supplies,
just in case. There is also a spare set of clothes, just in case. I
have a 2nd backpack that I use to hold my sensitive items within, all
held in those baggies I mentioned a moment ago, in case I am in the
water somewhere. And, speaking of that, I have a complete kayak and
all the necessary accompaniments for it, such as oars, life vests, air
pumps (it’s an inflatable kayak), seats (also inflatable) and license
all in the trunk of my car. For the record, I drive a Mitsubishi Eclipse
Spyder, and it has no trunk of which to speak.
I can’t even begin to list the equipment I use in my work, or I would
surely go over what Mike considers a realistic article size.
Here’s your quiz:
What kind of equipment have you obtained for your hobby(ies)?
Do you have a range of sizes of the tools and/or equipment you have?
Would you consider downsizing your "equipment list", or are
you open to getting more gadgets when they come available?
Equipment - It Makes Things Easier As It Makes It Rougher On The Pocketbook
Cliff (the High-Tech Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’)
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Email Kirsten
“For
success in science and art a dash of autism is essential.”
~ Hans Asperger ~
Today’s piece is borrowed from my blog, Running
for Autism.
This morning I indulged in a bit of retrospection. I was looking back
at the day, almost three years ago, when a doctor broke the news to
Gerard and I that our son had autism. I remember that moment with
such sharp clarity that just thinking about it brings back that stab
of pain to my heart. As I sat in the chair in the doctor’s office,
I could almost feel the physical force of my world crumbling; I am
convinced that the odd buzzing sound I heard was the sound of my expectations
shattering. In that instant I learned that the phrase “to have a weight
on one’s shoulders” is not merely metaphorical: I actually felt a
physical weight being placed on my shoulders.
The next half-hour or so was intensely painful. Gerard and I sat and
listened as the doctor told us his prognosis for George. He may never
talk, the doctor said. He has very limited capacity for learning,
and as he gets older the gap between him and his peers will get wider
and wider. He will always have severe cognitive delays, he will not
be able to function in the world of “normal” people without constant
care and supervision. He probably won’t complete high school; as an
adult he may hold down a very basic job but he won’t actually have
a career. We, the parents, were advised to prepare ourselves for a
lifetime of intense hands-on parenting. It all sounded so hopeless,
as if George was doomed to a lifetime of misery.
Once the disabling shock and desperation had worn off, I made a decision.
The doctor would be wrong. I accepted that George might always be
different to other people of his age, but we would do whatever it
took to help George reach his full potential, whatever that might
be. I was not going to let the well-meaning but pessimistic doctor
dictate what George would or would not accomplish. I would become
an advocate for George, I would learn as much as I could about autism,
I would give him whatever opportunities were feasible.
And so the hard work began. My first mission - on the advice of his
speech therapist - was to teach him to point. It was explained to
me that pointing is a crucial precursor to basic speech. Babies point
before they can talk; pointing is a very simple, basic, and effective
form of communication. Most kids learn how to point intuitively; children
with autism need to be taught. And so I taught. Every evening for
nine months, I would sit with George and a variety of books, painstakingly
pointing to this thing or that thing, using hand-over-hand assistance
to help him point. Prompting, reinforcing, encouraging, never giving
up. There were days when it seemed as if I was getting nowhere.
Are there words in the English language that can describe the immense,
overwhelming emotion I felt on the night when George hesitantly, almost
shyly, lifted up his tiny hand, formed it into the shape of a point,
and with his index finger touched a picture of Bob the Builder in
the book we were looking at? The memory alone makes my eyes go misty.
Since that day, there have been many accomplishments. George still
doesn’t talk a lot, but he makes requests using full sentences. He
even says please. In recent weeks, he has tentatively entered the
world of imaginative play by pretending to be a turtle. He can read,
he can spell out full sentences using his alphabetic fridge magnets.
He counts to a hundred and beyond, and he is learning to do sums using
the big wooden abacus that a relative bought for him. He finds what
he wants on the computer without assistance, even typing his own search
strings into Google and Youtube. He has unique but effective problem-solving
techniques. The teachers and therapists who work with him are united
in their opinion that George is a very smart kid. When it comes to
numbers, he outperforms typical kids of his age.
There are challenges, of course. There are the tantrums, the autistic
meltdowns, that originate from things I cannot always identify. There
is his refusal to try foods he has never seen, his phobia of doctors,
the fact that I have to cut his hair and his nails while he is sleeping
to avoid a panic-induced meltdown. There are the sleep problems that
plague us from time to time, especially when there has been a change
in routine. There is his heartbreaking frustration when he tries to
express something to us but does not know how to. There are the times
when I have to spend over an hour physically restraining him from
banging his head on the wall or the floor. There are the persistent
social communication delays and his anxiety in big groups of unfamiliar
people.
Yes, there are a lot of challenges, a lot of days when I want to tear
my hair out. But that doctor was wrong, damn it! I wish I had the
opportunity to tell him so. I honestly believe that he would be very
happy to know that in this particular case, he was wrong.
George is loaded with potential. I have no doubt that as an adult,
he will be one of many autistic people making a truly valuable contribution
to society. It is truly my honour to be running for him and for people
like him.
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
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Miscellaneous Tips
When cooking any kind of strawberry dessert, add a splash of aged
Balsamic vinegar to the recipe to enhance the flavor of the strawberries.
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For some reason, when Mike is involved, or even mentioned, things slow
down. To test this theory, here’s another.
Next opening line…
…"Mike just got back to town"
Hints:
Here’s a great new rhyming/composition tool. http://www.writerhymes.com/
There’s also a great rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/
Limerick rules. http://freespace.virgin.net/merrick.sheldon/limerickrules.htm
Submit
Opening Line
Submit
Limerick
So
Mike is off having fun
I hope he sees him some sun
After the winter we’ve had
It would really be bad
If it rained and sun he had none.
- Bonnie >^..^<
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So
Mike is off having fun
Mating a pistol with a shotgun
If they do give birth
This could cause some mirth
The kid will be a son-of-a-gun!
- Anne Onimous
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So Mike
is off having fun
Playing happily with his Johnson (ville)
Out in his backyard
Until it gets plump and hard -
We’re talking bratwurst on a bun.
- E. Cole Aye |
So Mike
is off having fun
Trying to grow his gherkin.
If one must confess
His pickle he’ll caress
Then present it to his fair maiden.
- E. Cole Aye |
So Mike
is off having fun
Leaving us to toil in the sun
But while he is away
RHQ staff will play
In general, work we will shun!
- E. Cole Aye |
Your Limerick Here
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Extra
Credit |
My toilet’s
load refuses to egress
So here I stand and obsess
Now I’ll pay double time
To have removed the slime. . .
Good plumbers are flushed with success.
- E. Cole Aye |
I really
hate to be a brat
My tire was thumping, thought it was flat.
So I stopped by the brook
Where I got out to look,
Sorry about that. It’s your cat.
- E. Cole Aye |
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Re:
Men in skirts
My Dears, there is nothing like a big, strong man in a kilt. YUM.
- OhioKat
Yes I would be
seen out with a man in a skirt. I think that is cool, and think of
it this way, it’s easier access! LOL! - Tazz
I have been seen
in a kilt. My wife made me period garb (correct term) for a Renaissance
Festival event. I wore it there for several seasons. I even went so
far as to be "traditional" in my method, if you get my drift.
But it was quite warm in August and I was quite uncomfortable with
the humidity. I chose to go the more modern methods after that.
- Cliff
Re: Cliff and spring
The snow has been
coming and going after a very mild winter up here. There wasn’t enough
to cause any flooding- maybe it added a layer of glaze to the streams
and lakes. I hear that the ice is still over a foot thick, though.
I’d say that open water, first in the creek, and then the lakes, is
the 1st sign of spring. The first greenery is usually a semi-marsh
grass, but it may just retain its colour under snow. I have vivid
memories of the year that I had a few days of Spring in Kansas in
March, a few in Vancouver in April, and then, finally, one at home
in Winnipeg after the May thaw there. - Bob of the North.
Re: Kirsten getting married
Congratulations,
Kirsten! My hubby and I didn’t get "legal" til we had lived
together for 6 years. But we count our anniversary as the day I moved
in with him, which also happens to be the same date as we got married,
just 6 years earlier. I wish I’d bought a pretty dress, but it was
the end of January, and there was a LOT of snow around. We did rent
a limo and ride around all morning, drinking champagne. The mayor
of the county seat married us. And when we were done with the limo,
we picked our son up from the sitter, went home, my hubby took a nap,
and we had spaghetti for dinner. A friend made us a cake. life goes
on, right?
BUT - I think you should go as all out as you’d like to. What other
people think is none of your business. 
Again, congrats! - OhioKat
Kirsten! I want
to congratulate you on this very special thing coming up in your life.
Do not let anyone poo poo on your day. You have the rite to have a
special wedding day just like anyone else. Enjoy every moment of the
planning, and the excitement leading up to this very special day,
and then when the day arrives, get really happy, and stay that way
forever!!!!!!!!!!! - Tazz
Kirsten, I’d give ya a hug, but my arms don’t reach, and there’s that
border crossing issue. (((((HUGZ))))) - Cliff
Re: Cliff and housing
Reading
your posts of the past I am sure you don’t think “orginal” [sic] is
a word, so I won’t mention it. (overgrown landscaper’s orginal
decorative little pine trees)
My speel
chequer musta failed me on tht won. Sory. (See, Mike? I tole
ya it was two much presure!) - Cliff
So I
will segue into the actual reason for this response:
“We have a problem, though. A maple tree in a neighbor’s yard
behind us has suddenly shot up so tall it blocks the morning sun…
Is it fair to us to have to modify our lives because of a careless
neighbor’s oversight?”
We need
to be REEEEAL careful making decisions based on what’s “fair”. People
in this country have to modify our lives every day to accommodate
the rights of the sub-humans that live around us. As long as the county
regulations and local covenants are obeyed, we have no actionable
gripe. I used to live in a neighborhood that had 5 lakes, and houses
ranging from cabins to 4400 sq. ft. homes. Over the hill (1/4 mile
as bald eagle flies, but 9 miles to drive) there were “houses” and
trailer-homes that looked worse than the set of “Deliverance”, where
people added on rooms with unpainted OSB (Oriented Strand Board) and
usually had broken appliances and furniture strewn around their unkempt
hovels. Sometime these toothless knuckle-walkers would venture over
the hill to fish in our PRIVATE stocked lakes, which was trespassing
and stealing! They might have concluded that it wasn’t fair that we
had 24″ rainbow trout (which we spent $10,000 a year to provide) and
they had 8″ brown trout in backed-up septic systems.
The issue
is, we live in a country of laws and protected rights. If you were
to grow something that your neighbor was allergic to, it would be
tough luck for your neighbor! It would be YOUR option whether to “modify”
your life to ameliorate the neighbor’s malady.
As far
as I’ve experienced, having owned 10 homes so far (3 in Calif., 7
in Colo.), in this country we have property rights which allow us
to decide how to manage the things that happen on our property. It
may change soon, but for now, if we want to have overgrown flora on
our own property, (and it’s legal flora), we can.
As I
see it, you have four options… ask your neighbor if you can
trim or remove the offending tree after offering your understandable
reason, (and taking the chance of being perceived as a persnickety,
(1 a : fussy about small details b : having the characteristics of
a snob), curmudgeon[ette], (2 : a crusty, ill-tempered, and usually
old man)), plant things that require less sunlight in the 1/3 that
is more shaded, move to a different house, or buy the houses around
you and change the landscaping to your liking. - Bruce in Colorado
Re: Cliff’s animal feeding
I wholeheartedly agree that Sigourney Weaver did a much better job
than Oprah is doing on the Life series. I wasn’t even aware that it
was first a BBC series, though I was aware that BBC was involved in
its making. The program is excellent, but I miss Sigourney’s voice!
- Marsha
in Michigan
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Disclaimer- All quotes printed in this publication are believed to be
accurately attributed, but no guarantees are made that some incorrectly
attributed, or even outright false quotes won’t get in here from time
to time. I assure readers that I will do my best to weed out incorrect
quotes, and will print a retraction as soon as I become aware of any errors.
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