Rants, diatribes, attempts at humor.
The first in my series of troubleshooting rules:
A surprising number of day-to-day problems are solved when you realize that the thing just isn’t plugged in. Oops.
The obvious sense of “plugged in” is “plugged into the mains supply” - the AC wall outlet.
But there are many other useful senses to look for: read more...
Having been playing with various electronic gadget designs that might or might not be considered “robots,” and recently thinking about buying a Roomba, I was wondering what my own working definition of a robot actually is. Here’s what I came up with while washing the dishes. read more...
Clara and I often get smiles from
strangers as we walk through town, with Clara riding in her
backpack, singing and swinging her feet. It was a great
feeling that she was so happy: just three days ago
she woke up from her nap with a fever of 106 degrees, and
spent a traumatic evening in the emergency room. read more...
Do you love coffee? Or soda, or some other perky drink? Then perhaps you are annoyed now and then by reports of the health benefits of tea, with its antioxidants and its relaxing cultural traditions. Or perhaps a tea snob has extolled the refined subtleties of flavor it offers. So you know it’s a habit you should cultivate, instead of whatever depraved beverage or daily habit you currently pursue in the search for stimulation and/or security.
Well, I’m here to help you out. Because the procedure I am about to set forth will, if followed faithfully, allow you to say, honestly and with pride, “No thanks - I’ve tried tea, and I hated it.” read more...
The following were actually written in the car one or two years ago; I just came across them again and decided it was the right time.
I’m dreaming of a green Christmas
I’m dreaming of a green Christmas
So I don’t have to shovel snow
’Cause when I start liftin’,
My spine starts shiftin’,
And soon, my back will start to go… read more...
You may recall that one of the features of my sump pump alarm was that
I could theoretically hear it from bed.
It turns out that I can not only hear it from bed, I can hear it from
bed while the train that woke me up is still passing through and the
life companion is snoring. At almost exactly two AM. So that’s good to
know. I would have been OK if that theory had never been confirmed, though.
And as I stumbled into my clothes and outside to the basement door, trying to avoid opening my eyes at all, I
remembered Candace asking whether I really wanted a gadget that would read more...
