“Tuna is kewl”

Hat tip to Greta Christina in Friday Cat Blogging and “Tuna is kewl” for pointing out Wondermark’s cartoon.

Monday evening

Open-water swimming was cancelled because of water pollution. We went out to dinner instead. And from dinner, we ordered a few books. Modern technology is great!

Wet phone

I managed to spill water on my cell phone just before dashing off to the STC exec meeting Tuesday night. Now I’m without a working phone again. (The on/off button works but nothing else.) And it has been only a few weeks since I replaced the previous phone after losing it on the Danforth. I’m going up to ABC Cellular to see if they can get the flash card out and replace the phone for me.

Computer problems

More LOLcats

Something happened to my laptop computer and now all I get is the Blue Screen of Death. None of the starting modes work. I have to dig up some original disks and do something about it so I can get access to recent files and photos.

I’m home!

I’m home from my twin courses, two days of “XML and Structured Authoring” and one day of “Moving from Unstructured to Structured FrameMaker” in Cambridge, Ontario.

That’s a long time to pay attention, and I think my brain is full.

Collapsible nested outlines in HTML

My own brand of HTML is bland and static, so I welcome this chance to improve my skills.

Books: "The Human Factor" by Kim Vicente

What we really need, argues Kim Vicente, is technology that works for people. Technological innovation is progressing so quickly that we have fallen behind in our ability to manage it. Our world is filled with objects that invite human error —from VCRs and stoves to hospitals, airplane cockpits and nuclear power plant control rooms. Problems —some potentially catastrophic —continuously arise when designs are developed without human nature in mind. Our reaction to this dilemma has been to create more sophisticated technology —perpetuating a vicious cycle as we struggle to keep up.

View from a height

Michael D. Lemonick, of Time magazine’s Eye on Science blog, has a brief article about the Cassini space probe taking this wonderful image of Saturn from above.