Kathleen Charters and Lawrence Charters
Explorations large and small
This is allegedly a check-in kiosk, allowing you to get a personal, human touch from a machine and not one of those impersonal people. Unfortunately, it would not let you check in. Several things are of interest: While laser printers Continue reading Out of order: coming soon!
This rather large sign asks for humane treatment of roaches and rodents, selling technology that allegedly annoys the vermin. Yes, “las cucarachas” means “cockroaches” and “roedores” means “rodents.” Hate to say this, but most humans just want them gone, and Continue reading Humane treatment of vermin
The National Security Agency (NSA) has a large campus on Fort Meade, Maryland, protected by fences, barbed wire, police dogs, guards, and maybe a dragon or two. It is not visitor friendly. But right outside of the campus is the Continue reading Visit to NSA
Siri does haiku. Haiku is a very ancient form of Japanese poetry, based on a pattern of seventeen syllables over three lines of five, seven and five syllables. It is also the bane of introductory literature students unfamiliar with poetry Continue reading AI and haiku
A previous tribute to a red BMW i3 noted that it runs on batteries. Very cool, and very rare. But in a single morning, this silver BMW i3 and a silver Honda Civic plug-in hybrid were spotted at the same charging station Continue reading And it runs on batteries II
Much has been written about how writers plumb the very depths of their souls in an attempt to construct a narrative. But far less attention has been devoted to the narrative arc of plumbing. You might say, “But plumbing is Continue reading Narrative arc of plumbing
What do you do if you need a quick reference to Visual BASIC and the only available reference is in Romanian? Let us consider this logically: First off, you do not wonder, “Why is there a Visual BASIC manual in Continue reading Visual BASIC in Romanian
Spam has become epidemic. Corporations and government agencies report that 80-95% of all email they get is spam: unsolicited messages either trying to sell something, or attempting to steal something of value (corporate or government secrets, confidential or private information), or Continue reading SMS Spam
A few minutes after logging in to email, a new message popped up. Opening it, there was an advertisement for a specialty item, a display that you attach to a camera allowing you to see what the camera sees, only Continue reading High cost of ignorance