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I read an article titled Hands On with Windows 8.1: Microsoft's 'do-over' OS is loaded with features.
After reading and rereading enough to finally absorb most of its content, I came to the conclusion that I want absolutely nothing to do with Windows 8, Windows 8.1, or Windows 8 point anything. When Windows 7, which I use and like very much, is discontinued I will most likely switch to something else, perhaps the Linux OS mentioned in the above described article's comments section. Or even (gasp, choke) an Apple product.
Why?
Because Windows 7 is just right for me; Windows 8 is more than I want or need.
Way the hell more.
A long time ago I stopped using Internet Explorer as my default browser because of several irritating behaviors. Must have been at least five years ago. Since then I have been running Firefox and until recently had no problems with it. But a couple weeks ago I started having trouble opening some of my most used applications; they would not open immediately after I clicked on my desktop shortcuts, but instead I sometimes had to wait for up to 30 seconds for each one to finally open.
Talk about irritating.
Well, I'm not a computer whiz, by any means, and I didn't know what to do about it. Then I had an idea. Why not forget about Firefox and try Google Chrome?
I downloaded it, synced it in with my Gmail account and with Blogger and who knows what all, and gave it a try. Wow! It works great. No problems.
Not yet, anyway.
There is another complaint I want to get off my chest. It's about being charged sales tax for online purchases. Overall, my opinion is that charging sales tax online is no better than thievery... even if it has been made legal. But I will continue to buy merchandise online, as long as the total price is less than the same product when sold by a local retailer.
BUT . . .
I feel that Amazon is stretching things to the limit when they charge sales tax on downloadable Kindle books. A couple days ago I bought a Kindle book titled The Lottery And Other Stories, written by Shirley Jackson. According to Amazon, the book was being sold through them by Macmillan, the book's publisher, and Macmillan requires sales tax to be collected.
The cost of the book was $3.02, to which sales tax of 23 cents was added, resulting in a total of $3.25.
Getting Kindle books from Amazon can be restricted to those which are offered FREE of charge, and I just might start doing that -- only downloading those free books -- after all, there are thousands of free titles to choose from. Any other books I wish to read can be checked out from the public library.
This sales tax scam probably shouldn't bother me so much. It's only a few cents more.
But I'm a 74-year-old self-recognized curmudgeon, and I hate that we the people, (most consumers not realizing it) are now-a-days being nickel-and-dimed to death.
Oh, and there is one other gripe. This morning I snapped a really close close-up of a hovering hummingbird; then when I transferred the photo to my computer, the bird was missing. Evidently it had flown off during the digitalizing process.
Darn!
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TRIVIA
A pregnant goldfish is called a twerp.
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HISTORICAL EVENT
Ronald B. Harrison, a driver for the Gus Stevens Dinner Club, was driving Mansfield and her lawyer and companion, Samuel S. Brody, along with 3 of Mansfield's children, in Stevens' 1966 Buick Electra. Mansfield, Harrison, and Brody were all killed in the accident. Eight-year-old Mickey, six-year-old Zoltan and three-year-old Mariska, had apparently been sleeping on the rear seat; they were injured but survived.
It was claimed, and became common knowledge, that Jayne Mansfield was decapitated in the car crash. That is not true. This is what really happened, according to Snopes
Mariska Hargitay, injured in the accident that killed her mother, later launched her own acting career, most memorably starring in the long-running television drama "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
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WORD FOR TODAY
condign
adjective
appropriate to the crime or wrongdoing; fitting and deserved.
synonyms
just - deserved
Note: I first encountered the word condign in one of George Will's columns.
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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
(born June 29, 1967)
Melora Hardin is an American actress, best known for her roles as Jan Levenson on NBC's The Office and Trudy Monk on USA's Monk.
(born June 29, 1944)
Gary Busey is an American film and stage actor, and artist. He has appeared in a variety of films, including Lethal Weapon, Point Break, and Under Siege, as well as guest appearances on Gunsmoke, Walker, Texas Ranger, Law & Order, and Entourage. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1978 for his role in The Buddy Holly Story.
(born June 29, 1961)
Sharon Lawrence is an American actress. She is best known for the role of Sylvia Costas Sipowicz in the Television series NYPD Blue. The role garnered her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination three times for Outstanding Supporting actress in a Drama series.
(June 29, 1919 - Dec. 8, 1983),
Slim Pickens (born Louis Burton Lindley, Jr.) was an American rodeo performer and film and television actor who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, but who is best remembered for his comic roles, notably in Dr. Strangelove and Blazing Saddles.
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Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.
--Andy Rooney
NASA TV
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