Leaky Tap presents some lists of Custom Keywords that can be used in Firefox and Mozilla, as well as pointers to various other information about setting them up. Once set up, these shortcuts can be typed into the address bar for quick searches. For example, I have a CustomKeyword called write that takes me to the page I use to post to my weblog, as well as one called gnews that will search Google News for a topic.
Free Programming and Computer Science Books
Tech Books for Free maintains a list of free programming and computer science books available online.
Tsunamis and US Media
I was reminded of Jack’s comments about US media coverage of the disaster when I found RatcliffeBlog—Mitch’s Open Notebook: Tsunamis and U.S. media via Anita Rowland.
Hamentaschen
For years, I wanted a recipe for Hamentaschen, type of cookie that I used to buy at a bakery on L Street in Washington, DC. A conversation with a friend reminded me recently, and I remembered to check Google afterward.
Stained Glass Sunrise
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The Wikipedia has an article on the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake including an animation of the tsunami it created. The end of the article includes a table of contact information for aid groups.
Furnace Fixed?
Yesterday afternoon, the furnace repair person made yet another call and the furnace may finally be working as designed. Since Thursday, the central furnace has been working, but only when it could draw air from the house, which means we had to leave the front door to the furnace open, exposing the firebox. We gated it off with a child gate, but it was still unnerving to look down and see the jets. However, the furnace fire box is now shut up again, and drawing its air supply from the outside world. Although the weather is too mild to make much demand, the furnace seems to be turning itself off and on in response to the settings on the thermostat.
We had planned to take a trip to visit family in Santa Fe over the New Year’s weekend, but decided that we didn’t want to leave the house when we still don’t trust the furnace to continue working.
Horsey Humor
I found Horsey Humor What Ralph Lauren Doesn’t Know, an anonymous equestrienne’s response to Ralph Lauren’s glamorous presentation of the equestrian lifestyle, at Horse Laughs via SeaShe. Also on that page is a link to “You Know You are a Horse Person” to which I contributed long ago on rec.equestrian.
Sun Orb
The filter of ice fog made the sun look twice its usual apparent size as it rose yesterday morning.
Furnace
The furnace was supposedly repaired yesterday. The house was a toasty 70 degrees Fahrenheit when I went to bed last night. This was a good thing, because the outside thermometer was reporting minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit. This may have been the coldest night since we moved here. We just recently got this particular thermometer which is wireless and placed away from the house. Prior outside thermometers were usually up against the house and so reported slightly warmer temperatures. The lowest temperature I had previously seen here had been five below.
About two o’clock, I woke (or Dudley woke me) and had a bad feeling. Sure enough, the furnace fan was running, but there was cold air coming out of the vents. It was about 58 degrees inside the house. I knelt beside the furnace and the flame was out. The kitchen range burner were working so we had gas. I woke Jack because I couldn’t quite believe that the furnace had quit working again and I wanted independent confirmation. The only good news was that the outside temperature was eight above zero, so the warmer front was starting to move in. We turned on the space heaters and went back to bed. What else was there to do?