I've been experimenting with browsers recently, and have spent most of today mucking about with a bunch. (My catalyst was this javascript virus going around, but I'm meant to try these things for a while now.)

I've had Opera for a while now, but I've never gotten around to really trying it out. It's a pretty good piece of software, really. The interface is a little clunky; by which I mean the buttons are large and (as of yet) I've found no way to trim them down. It's totally barebones though, which I like, actually. Machine font text at the bottom telling me how far along the document is, along with the download speed for the page, and how long it's been loading. It's tabbed, of course.

Then comes the twin Mozilla beasts. I had an awful problem with Firefox 0.9 for about a week, then I got frustrated and uninstalled it. I installed it again a few days ago to show Superopie, and somehow managed to fix it. The problem was this: the toolbars would inexplicably jiggle and gyrate. It drove me crazy. But that's fixed now. I like it quite a bit, actually. Looks clean. Nice buttons, nice tab look. You have to dig around in the options so the tabs will always show (it defaults to hiding the tabs if only one's open, and I want to see them all the time), but the options are there. Of course, the draw of Firefox is the extensions. Sarah Lane did a little feature on a bunch of nice widgets and doohickeys. There's a Googlebar, with more functionality than the IE Google toolbar. The buttons are over-large for my taste (I prefer small buttons, always), but there's a slick keyboard command to hide/show the entire bar, so that's fantastic (you should all know I love keyboard commands). It's Ctrl+F8, if you're gonna try it out. There's also a nice LiveJournal extension, called "Deepest Sender." I think it's an anagram for something, but whatever. It's handy. Now if only I could find a Blogger extension.

I also tried out Mozilla proper. Version 1.8, I believe. Personally, I hated the thing. I hated Netscape, and I think the Mozilla dinosaur is the appropriate mascot for the app. Jeez, do I hate Netscape. So if you want Mozilla apps, go with Firefox. Though I've heard some people are having terrible problems with it. None so far, for me.

Now if only I could find a keyboard command for opening new tabs in Firefox. Ctrl+N opens a new instance. Poo.

Why God, why? It burns! Burns! 

Whatever his name is, William or Williams, there should still be an apostrophe there. 

What's wrong here? There should be colons in the times! Or if you're British, full stops. But something! 

Now I'm sure some people will claim the silly thing's shortened. But why? It's one letter! 

Why, sweet readers? Why? Why are there people who don't understand the poor bedeviled comma? They don't know the glory it can add to a sentence. It's like a set of controls, keeping trains from barreling down the tracks at horrific speeds and finally leaving the tracks in a splintering chorus of screaming metal. Do you want your sentences to sing of screaming metal? Rending steel? Then use the comma; love the comma! It deserves your gratitude. It's shape is fine and fanciful; it reminds one of the pedals of a pianoforte: splendid music can become so much more when the pedals are called upon to shape the music.

Anyway. I need one of these.

The activity I mentioned last week? That none of you remember? I did it today. Pictures will be forthcoming tomorrow sometime. I should also have some scans from the new Nintendo Power. There's some quite interesting (and humorous) things to see.

Not much to report for the day. I took a drive up the road and some pictures of a church. It's a ramshackle sort of old pale building swamped by weeds and age, but it's an interesting thing, I feel.

I did a good deal of work, breaking over 100 pages in my novel.

I do have a few bare links for everyone:

• Broadband as a political issue
  
• Interesting Zelda download It's a mod game sort of thing.
  
• A positively wonderful Word of the Day

An extraordinarily important article. I quote it:

Do you know someone who needs hours alone every day? Who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate? Who growls or scowls or grunts or winces when accosted with pleasantries by people who are just trying to be nice?

If so, do you tell this person he is "too serious," or ask if he is okay? Regard him as aloof, arrogant, rude? Redouble your efforts to draw him out?

If you answered yes to these questions, chances are that you have an introvert on your hands—and that you aren't caring for him properly.

I suppose it's been an interesting day or two. Yesterday I rushed out of the house an hour after waking and drove to Richmond to see a movie. I, after much searching for a phone, picked up Kelly and took/dragged her to The Chronicles of Riddick. I thought it was absolutely fantastic. Kelly liked it as well, and claimed she wouldn't have seen it. Or probably wouldn't have, anyway. Then we went to Hastings and japed about until it closed. I bought Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors too; it being a book of his short stories. Then I dropped Kelly off and headed for home. If anyone's interested, they excerpted Nicholas Was . . ., Gaiman's fantastic Christmas poem, on that site I linked.

Today hasn't been as eventful at all. I read more of Stephenson's Quicksilver, which I would recommend to everyone: especially if you have an interest in science (or at least the history of science).

I had a small row with my dad. Depressingly enough, over digital cameras. Yes, it boggles me as well. He claimed, and I quote, "I don't know why anyone would want a camera that doesn't take pictures." It doesn't help matters that he hates computers, so whenever I want to show pictures from trips or something he has to come and admit the thing exists. This is probably on top of the knee-jerk reactions I'm having now, whenever they make me print another picture for them. For people who hate computers like they do, they make grand use of them without bothering to learn about them. It's just silly, I think. But if you, the reader, happens to be curious, it's nothing lasting or terribly important. Ah well.

We also just finished watching Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World. Wonderful movie. It was neat to identify the parts of the first book they borrowed, and the story was one I hadn't read (having only read the first book).

I am once again stuck, story-wise, in a transition scene. They seem to be my bane, and an anathema to my productiveness. I am getting better though: the last took me five days to work through. (That's four days of never working and one of finally forcing my way through - it's a credit to what I managed to pull off that I no longer remember which specific section tormented me so.)