Postcards from the edge of the internet

Postcards from the edge of the internet, while RantWoman sorts out her twitter feed, her transit fixations, a quest for a theater outing with RantMom, and sundry other threads of life.

Shoes on the internet.

RantWoman still really needs new shoes, walking shoes and dress shoes. RantWoman has some favorite brands that consistently seem to fit. RantWoman also has shoes in her closet that labelled a whole bunch of different sizes. RantWoman has a time or two cavalierly assembled GIANT online shopping baskets of shoes that MIGHT fit. RantWoman of course has nowhere near the credit card capacity or patience to actually order and try all of them.

 RantWoman generally prefers the live in-person shopping experience. For one thing, RantWoman's temptation to try everything usually gets simplified very quickly: are the sizes RantWoman wants to try in the shoes RantWoman likes in stock?

Recently though it dawned on RantWoman that she should just use the search string for the kind of shoes she is most interested in and see what comes up. Tune in another time for Black T Strap flats. The flats are important. RantWoman does not do 3" heels or T straps that are too thin and strappy. Rantwoman is amused that this search string also yields her second choice: Mary Janes. Now about shoes that actually come in RantWoman's size.

Alexa and the microwave?

RantWoman has written before of her skepticism about getting her refrigerator internet-enabled. Today RantWoman is thinking about whether or not it would be nice if the refrigerator were able to remind her that she has two bags of scallions insteand of just one. For now RantWoman is still fine with the Refrigerating While Blind esperience of discovering this accidentally by hand.

Comes now news of the new Alexa-enabled microwave. RantWoman used to have an old microwave scavenged by a friend. Old microwave had two glorious tactile knobs, one for time and one for power.  RantWoman does not attempt anything very sophisticated with the microwave and RantWoman found the two-knobs interface more than adequate even for things like pumpkin custard. Pumpkin custard on planet RantWoman is a pumpkin pie filling recipe baked in a nice glass dish without crust and sometimes with a layer of flax seeds on the bottom. The main complexity is just the cooking time.



RantWoman's Flat Panel microwave

Old microwave with the big knobs finally decamped to appliance heaven and a microwave with the average flat-panel display came into RantWoman's life.  RantWoman honestly does not care about all the food-item specific buttons. RantWoman finds it a little random just to punch at the number pad and then find the start button. But so far this is more than serviceable enough for everything it occurs to RantWoman to do with her microwave.

 So let's just say RantWoman is probably not going to be an early-adopter of the Alexa enabled microwave. For one thing, RantWoman is peculiarly wary of being lectured by an appliance for liking things like cilantro and brussels sprouts. For another thing, RantWoman is not exactly charmed by the thought of an appliance eavesdropping on everything else that goes on at Planet RantWoman. But RantWoman is meditating about the option of shopping for shoes while baking pumpkin custard.

Accessibility via the Cloud?

RantWoman is just back from one of her seasonal trips out to Kittitas county and then out of cellphone range from there. Random postcard-sized thoughts:

--If the POINT of going out of town is to get out of range of electronic time-suck, either download stuff before you go OR do not rely on connectivity as part of one's accessibility picture. RantWoman survived because there is WiFi at the venue now, but RantWoman found herself feeling a little SILLY at times.

The new wildlife bridge over I-90.

 

RantWoman's chauffeur called this peculiar amenity to RantWoman's attention. RantWoman is also reflecting on a radio story she heard about this very highway feature shortly after returning home. Apparently the overpass is designed so that the sides of the overpass shiled the wildlife from noise and light caused by passing vehicles. Also apparently the new bridge is already being used by wildlife. RantWoman will try to pay attention next time her travels take her under the overpass. RantWoman will also try to remember to think about the new bridge and animals that might welcome the new safer path. Of course the new overpass is also in the zone where RantWoman tends to be catching up on her electronic connections after her spells of taking a break. Wildlife? What wildlife?.

Further Technical Note

RantWoman somewhat apologizes to sighted readers for more uneven visuals than average. RantWoman has been pleading with and cajoling people who send her some kinds of documents to please add headings. In order to promote this, RantWoman has decided she herself needs also to experiment with options for achieving headings that screen readers can find. Tonight’s experiments need more tweaking that RantWoman has brain cells and eyeballs for tonight.