You Light That Pipe!

Sometimes...on those nights when I have a moment to think and reminisce about the olden days, I can see my grandparents sitting on the porch or in their living room. Its a sweet thought...them reading the paper and doing some knitting, stealing quick, coy glances at each other from the comfort of their easy chairs.

Here's a close approximation of what its actually like, I'm sure...

Chinese Signs

Apparently, the Chinese government has been hiring Westerners for quite some time to help them with their understanding of the English language and to redo a lot of the public signage people will see while visiting for the Olympics. They are making every effort to save face and at least have the perception that the rest of the world isn't making fun of them (forget about the whole human rights thing).

Thank goodness we have a LOT more Westerners willing to get pictures of the existing signage out! There are a bunch of sites out there with similar (and just as hilarious) photos, but this is the one I stumbled across today.

China, if you can't laugh at yourselves...

StumbleUpon

Here's where we start getting into the "presents under the tree on Christmas day" part of the blog.

StumbleUpon is another one of those free tools that can really enhance your web browsing experience. It will change the way you find new websites. It will have you watching less television (although the alternative will not be getting back on the treadmill or doing anything that's actually productive). It can change the way you look at people, the internet, and the world as a whole.

I'm sure at this point, you're thinking that I'm exaggerating and normally I am. But I would bet you that most of the sites you're going to see on this blog will come from my personal stumbles using this tool. It will find new content for you from categories that you choose (from a huge list of interests) and feed you new pages everytime you push the button. You have the option to rate the sites, add your opinion, send to friends, among other things. Or just hit the button again and get something new. Content ranges from kid interests all the way through to the most extreme.

There are versions of StumbleUpon for both IE and Firefox, but I think its a lot easier to use with Firefox and its certainly easier to install. If you already have Firefox (which if you've read the last entry, I'm sure you do), then you can go HERE to get StumbleUpon.

Good stumbles!

Firefox 3

Whether you've heard of it or are wondering what kind of new animal discovery I'm talking about, Firefox is something that can drastically change your internet experience.

Like MS Internet Explorer (Exploder), Firefox is a free internet browser but unlike IE, Firefox (in my opinion) is leading the way in browser innovation (tabs, add-ons, personalization), ease of use, and overall ease of use. Some of the features inherent in Firefox have started to show up in IE7, but in my opinion they're poorly implemented and just seem like a bad attempt to catch up to Firefox.

Here's the link to the download / install page if you're interested. It also has some good information with regard to what's so fantastic about it. Mother, I will be there in August to help you with it.

Intro to Rants

This is really probably more a blog for my mother and some of the less initiated internet users out there. Not to say that anyone is less experienced or isn't doing it right or anything like that. To some, the internet is still a treasure trove of interesting things...like Christmas morning and presents under the tree.

Blogspot has asked me if this blog will have "adult" content. Now, while I wouldn't want my two year old reading it (not possible anyway, but you get it), I am going with "NO" on the adult content. If anyone out there feels differently, please let me know and I will make sure my blog moves over to the dark side.