The World of Stuff .com

Radio

The other day, I was bored and had nothing to do. So I decided to go along with my grandmother, mom, and sister to the movies to see Charlotte’s Web. None of us are little kids, but they just wanted to see it because they thought it would be “cute.” I wanted to go out mainly so that people could call me on my cell phone. Nobody’s actually called me yet who’s not myself or my immediate family. I got into the movie, though, after avoiding a little girl who decided to provide a running commentary on the film to her ever-so-patient mother. I did get into the movie a bit. I had never read the book, but I saw the cartoon at least a few times when I was little, and so I had forgotten the ending.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Charlotte dies!

Spoilers end here.

Another amusing thing about the movie was that I drew a connection between Charlotte and my sister: they both throw big words into everyday conversation and expect you to know what they mean.

After that, it was time to go to the mall. Another reason I wanted to get out for the afternoon was to go to some store and buy an accessory for my new cell phone. Turns out it serves as an FM radio if you plug in the right earphone(s). I was pretty sure I would have to buy a nonstandard set — I tried plugging in my own just to make sure, and they didn’t fit. So, after having to hang around in the department store while the women and girls were scavenging through the bargain racks, I noticed that there was a Cingular store in the mall. The guy there said that they didn’t have any of the headphones I needed, and he suggested going to Radio Shack. So we left the mall, and across the street, I saw another Cingular store. (Must have been a different franchise if the guy at the mall didn’t acknowledge its existence.)

This store was bigger, so it looked more promising. A sales clerk there asked what I needed and went in the back to go get it. So I bought it. But I just wanted to make sure that the headphones worked because I had a bad feeling about it. When we got into the car, I opened the package and tried it out. Now that I had plugged the headphone into my cell phone, I could actually tune the radio. I even managed to get some stations — but here was the rub. I said headphone. There was only one earpiece. That’s fine for making calls, but what about listening to the radio? You can’t hear a whole song with one ear, especially on a band that can broadcast in stereo. So I went back and asked for my money back. The guy said I could only make an exchange, but I didn’t need to buy anything else. Luckily, my mom needed a cell phone case or something, so she bought that.

Afterward, my dad said that buying cell phone accessories at a store would be a mistake. Apparently they charge a lot less if you buy them right from the company online. So I looked to see what Nokia had for my phone in the way of headphones. It turns out that the only headphones they have with two earbuds are dual mono rather than stereo, and that’s unacceptable. They were also pretty expensive. So I changed my mind about getting headphones for my cell phone.

Why would I need them anyway? I just wouldn’t. Sure, I’d always have my cell phone with me, but when or why would I bother to bring headphones? It’s just not something I’d do. I’d be more likely to use the alarm clock feature. Now that’s a useful one that doesn’t need any accessories.

For those who think that my 35 Firefox extensions are too many, consider this: 200 Firefox Extensions Installed at One Time. Startup time: 6 minutes. It seemed to hold up pretty well, though. My setup fares much better.

Is it possible to divide by zero? Most of us would say no, but some guy says yes, it is, and he’s given the solution to the problem a special name: nullity. It makes no sense to me, and I think he’s wrong.

One year ago: “(Imagine eggs or something.)”
Two years ago: “I’ll keep you posted; I can tell you’re on the edge of your seats.”
Three years ago: “Multiply that by thousands of hits from a stubborn bot and that spells trouble.”