April 23, 2009
Silly Dialogs
Firefox just presented me with this dialog box on Mac OS. I assume I have to answer "No" - otherwise who knows what I'm agreeing to. The question is probably, "Have you blogged lately?" That's obviously a no. Hah. Update: The "No" button wasn't functional. I had to press "Yes" -- no idea what I've said yes to. Erg.
()March 13, 2009
Happy Friday the 13th, Part 2
Apologies to the paraskavedekatriaphobians and triskaidekaphobians. It's been just 4 weeks and here we are again. This time, though, I've got a vacation coming up and the first draft of our book is in. Good times.
February 13, 2009
Happy Friday the 13th!
Do you have paraskavedekatriaphobia? Or maybe just triskaidekaphobia? Either way, if you do, today probably isn't a good day for you. Some people I know think of Friday the 13th days as lucky days, though. They're odd.
But why is it normally considered a bad luck day? Apparently, one of the earliest written references was from 1869. That doesn't date back very far. However, Friday may have been seen as unlucky since the 14th century and The Canterbury Tales. The term "Black Friday" has been associated with stock market crashes and disasters since the 1800s. Apparently, on October 13th, 1307, the Knights Templar, a very wealthy and powerful group formed to protected pilgrims during the Crusades, were mass arrested. It was, naturally, a Friday the 13th.
Combined with fear of the number 13, one can see how it might be viewed as an unlucky day. It's interesting, then, that the popularity of the phrase, "Friday the 13th," may barely date back century.
Read the rest of "Happy Friday the 13th!"February 12, 2009
Using the Built-in Dictionary
It's a bit wierd, considering that dictionary.com works so well, but I'm finding that I use the Mac OS X built-in dictionary more than using a web one now. It even sometimes defines words within Spotlight, but not reliably enough.
Without looking, I don't even know if one comes with Vista or Windows 7, by default. I didn't even know about this one until I started seeing words defined in Spotlight, either. It also serves as a thesaurus, too.
But wait, there's more! Did you know it also has Wikipedia? This is pretty cool stuff! I don't know that I'd use the Wikipedia part more than just searching in Google, but it's neat. Unlike the Dictionary and Thesaurus, though, the Wikipedia portion requires a web connection. A locally cached version would make it super cool -- and, then again, super big.
February 11, 2009
Fun Map Finds
I was perusing the map off the coast of Rhode Island just now when I came across a small, neat looking island. It has a couple of large lakes, each around a thousand feet across and one with what appears to be it's own island and about 15 or so other lakes and a lot of nice looking beach.. When zooming in, no streets, towns, or other items of interest came in to view. Intrigued, considering the proximity to Martha's Vineyard, I turned on the Wikipedia layer and learned about it!
