Sat 20 Jan 2007
3 Good Dots Saturday…
I feel good today… we finally have a little winter where we live. Friday morning, there was even a thin coating of snow on the sidewalk. It’s too darn cold and windy now. Try telling that to the Good Cats, though…
– Unexpected visitor: One morning this past week I was up earlier than usual, giving up and getting up well before sunrise. The reason was that the morning before, I’d slept through a reasonably loud “Sweet Emotion” on the clock radio, and if I can sleep through Aerosmith at 6:30 a.m. one day, I’m afraid I can do it again the next.
So I was downstairs, the laptop booted up and my headphones on, when I heard pawing noises behind me on the sliding door. I got up just as it went silent again. Pulled back the curtain and saw an orange and white cat walking off the deck. When it saw me, it trotted off to the next yard. Quickly, not panicked. No collar, but it looked healthy, and evidently, this cat knows where to go in the neighborhood to be treated like royalty. Smart cat — smarter than the people who let their cat run around outside unsupervised in 19-degree weather.
It would have been a lot less quiet if Kelly had been down here too…
– One fringe benefit from my job was that employees were allowed to install Microsoft Office on the home PC for much less than full price. Not anymore, though… an email this week said effective January 31, we either must purchase MS Office at full price or uninstall it. But with so much free and open source software, that’s not a problem. Exit MS Office, enter Open Office. Out goes Outlook, in with Mozilla Thunderbird…
– Found while looking for something else: In 1954, General Foods celebrated its 25th anniversary by buying 90 simultaneous minutes in prime time on all four (yes, four) networks. Total cost: $250,000.
In 2007, thirty seconds of commercial time on the Super Bowl will cost $2.6 million.
– Now, let’s pause for this word from our alternate sponsor…
– Meanwhile, across the ocean in France, last Sunday night Beatrice Schonberg wrapped up her final newscast of the weekend and promoted the upcoming programming on TF1, the movie Swordfish, starring John Travolta and Halle Berry. The trouble with that is Ms. Schonberg is employed by France 2, not TF1. In this 22-second clip, you’ll also see Claire Chazal of TF1 mention the same film.
– Hey, anyone can make a mistake… just the same, in a recent Wall Street Journal column about wildly wrong predictions made in the early part of the last century, the author cited one that wasn’t wrong at all…
“The time will surely come when the methods of electrical intercommunication will have been so developed and multiplied that the people of the world’s different countries may become real neighbors.”
— Maj. Gen. George O. Squier, 1911
That was so prescient that we can forgive its author for inventing Muzak…
– One thing more: in a 21st-century form of electrical intercommunication, on Home Video Monday, Caitie bosses me around. I know, that’s more of a “dog bites man” story than “man bites dog,” but if you’re owned by a cat, you’ll understand. I’ll talk to you later…
David said,
Sat 20 Jan 2007 at 13:54
Sounds exciting, a taste of winter. Would you like a little more snow than the dusting your received?
I’ve been looking at Open Office for awhile as well as Thunderbird. I’ll watch for your comments on both.
Predictions on the future … I remember we were suppose to have at least two or three lunar bases and begin mounting manned missions to Mars by now. And, have flying cars too. I guess we have to settle for eBay.
I like your “GOOD CATS” favicon.
Have a good Saturday and Sunday!
Simply Coll said,
Tue 23 Jan 2007 at 19:39
I am always so frightened for the cats I see out and about when the thermometer is reading -20. How do they survive I wonder.