Small Annoyances...

Do the multiple Microsoft updates that have been coming down every day annoy anyone else? I mean, on my desktop, nothing runs correctly while those things sit and wait for me -- and on the laptop they keep popping up until I download them.

Some days Open Office sounds worth exploring. MS is apparently crap, but they release it, anyway.

50 ways to give your favorite authors holiday gifts -- (without buying a book!)

Via jacardie comes this delightful list from the blog site Alien Romances:

This is a link to suggested activities.

If you were wondering what to give your favorite authors, whether currently in print or not, take a look at this list. I'll be doing a lot of these things for my favorites, too -- and you never know what might sell the next author book. I know that bevhale's printing out tons of fan mail for CJ Cherryh's first Atevi trio and mailing them to the publisher helped get CJ the second book contract. (Yes -- even big names can have the rug pulled out from under them if the most recent numbers aren't as happy as the publisher expects.)

So if you feel too broke for gifting this season -- au contraire! When everyone is too full to move, that's the time to fire up the laptop, pick one or two things to start with, and hit six favorite authors (especially new authors, or older ones you haven't seen in a while.) We thank you all for your efforts.

Heck -- I'll even see if Amazon will let me do a Comments section.... ;^)

Meme!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Lady Madame Katharine the Chimerical of Withering by the Wold Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

You remember COSMOS, don't you?

We lost Carl Sagan ten years ago -- but I still remember his TV show, and the gentle tolerance he shared with all.

His wife Ann Druyan's blog today:

http://anndruyan.typepad.com/the_observatory/2006/12/ten_times_aroun.html