Recently Read: Oh Myyy! by George Takei

Oh Myyy! by George Takei
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In a nutshell, this is a quick, entertaining read, somewhat informative and highly amusing and funny.

Let me start with full disclosure. I have a strange fascination with George Takei, or “Uncle George” as many of his fans now call him. I was raised on reruns of “Star Trek: TOS” and am enough of a Trekkie and sci fi junkie to use the abbreviation “TOS.” Asian faces are rare on television even today, with the exception of shows like “M*A*S*H” in which they were required. In a way, minorities already have a special spotlight, as you can’t help but notice them sprinkled amidst a sea of Caucasian cast members. Nichelle Nichols stood out in her miniskirt and go-go boots, whereas the Captain’s eye candy de jour nearly blended in with the set by comparison. So, when I, as a young girl, saw a strapping Japanese man run shirtless through the halls of a spaceship wielding a katana, it was even more striking than the numerous times Kirk went shirtless. (Side note, we should have seen Sulu shirtless much more often. He must have worked out back then.) Then, decades later, George Takei reemerges on Howard Stern with his trademark bass voice and impeccable diction. By this time, I am a mom of a biracial child and notice that there are only a few Japanese American role models for my son. Then he discovers Twitter, and the world discovers that he is a comic genius and skilled opportunist. By the time he joined Facebook, I was hooked. And then I was following.

Oh Myyy! There Goes the Internet is exactly what it claims to be. It’s not an autobiography. Pick up one of the two actual autobiographies Takei wrote if you are interested in his life and career. This book is pretty much all about how George Takei won the internet. All in all, it’s a pretty quick read, easily digested is sporadic bursts. Basically, Uncle George tells the story of his two year rise to online infamy: how and why he started tweeting, how he came to have a catch phrase (and thus the title of this book), why he does it, highlights of his activist career, milestones along the journey so far, etc. He wraps up the book with a candid explanation of how he attracted and maintains a fan base of over three (now six) million followers and what it takes to maintain his virtual empire.

This was an amusing read, and I enjoyed reliving some of the glorious moments of Takei’s initial two years of internet stardom. The book includes numerous screenshots of various posts and memes to highlight stories and crack jokes throughout the book. However, I've seen them all numerous times before. While the book was entertaining, for the most part it was all old information for me. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't just witnessed it all first hand by being one of his legions of fans. It sort of felt like reading a scrapbook of an event I recently participated in. I mostly enjoyed this book for nostalgic reasons. It commemorates a cultural phenomenon I was lucky enough to be in the right place and the right time to be a part of. For that reason, I will probably always treasure this book.

I did get a bit more out of the last few chapters in the book. In those, Takei goes into more detail of how Facebook (and social media in general, really) works and how to maximize your reach and influence. He talks about what kind of posts most appeal to followers, which posts they are more likely to share, how often to post and what times of day are best, how EdgeRank works and how to work the system, the pitfalls of “promoted” posts, how he picks content and determines (or rather doesn’t determine) sourcing, etc. Clearly, it is an entrepreneurial science. I found a few key points worth taking note of, should I ever find myself trying to make a presence on the internet. Hey, you never know.

In one chapter, Uncle George discusses grammar nazis. That chapter is titled “Grammar Nazis.” This is something I am often accused of being. He mocks us lovingly, as he is one of us.
“I confess, I love English. I make every reasonable attempt to craft my public comments within the accepted confines and strictures of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. The irony of this endeavor is palpable, for English itself is a hopeless hodgepodge of other tongues, with more exceptions than rules, more chaos than order, and enough new words created each day to keep the Oxford English Dictionary folks very, very busy.”
Indeed, I have never read any book regarding the internet or social media so well-written. Modern technology is a catalyst for change, and our language is not immune. It is alive, ever changing and evolving, influenced by the methods people choose to communicate. The internet has made it easier for us to communicate, so we tend to do it much more often. Even more so than email, the age of social media and texting has made dialogue convenient and instantaneous. Letter writing is quickly becoming a lost art, though some of us keep trying to revive it. Before, presentation, neatness, accuracy, and clearness of meaning were the crucial elements in written communication. Now those are trumped by speed and volume. Typos and texting “shorthand” are deemed acceptable as long as you can still be understood. Later on in the book, Takei mentions how typos became so common place they became acceptable spelling alternatives, such as “pwned” and “zOMG.” Takei ends the “Grammar Nazis” chapter with these words of advice:
“So Grammar Nazis be warned: For each rule and principle you cling to with your fierce, unyielding, and yes, admirable determination, new and dynamic forces are at work that inevitably will undermine your efforts. Antecedents will dangle, prepositions will complete sentences, and infinitives will be split.
After all, it is our continuing mission ‘to boldly go where no one has gone before.’”
I guess the logical thing would be for us to let go and evolve with the rest of society. Just go with the flow. That would be the logical thing. Yes, indeed. It would be logical, perhaps not feasible, but definitely logical. Someone pat my head and soothingly whisper “There, their, they’re.”

Okay. I’m better now.

Overall, you may learn one or two things from this book, or maybe not. If you decide to pick up this book, most likely you are already a fan of George Takei and expect to be entertained. This book does that, and one thing is for sure. You will most likely laugh in amusement. And, even if you don’t get the audio version of the book, you will still hear it in his deep, trademark voice as you read.

View all my reviews

Uncensor This

I've censored the following, in protest of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet--a bill that could pass THIS WEEK. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit: http://americancensorship.org/posts/39693/uncensor
"If in █████ █████ the █████ and █████ and ██████████ of all █████ are ████████, we ████ ████████ our ███████ ████ to ████ ████ ████” FDR If the ████████ had ████ ████████ ████ he ████ █████ █████, I'm ████ Mr. █████████ █████ ████ ████████ it █████ █████, █████, and ██████████. “The ████ is ████ ██████████ ██████ ███████ its own ███████, for it ███████, in the end, the ████ of ███████ ████ is █████████ of ██████████ ████ ██████████.” █████ ██████ ████████

Life Lesson # 18

In this age of information overload, it is way too easy to believe that we are privileged to all the information available. We think we know everything about a proposed law or bill, a celebrity, a high profile court case, an organization, a sporting event or television competition, etc. In reality, we only know the amount of information that we are allowed to know. We only have the information we are given, and are not the ones in control of its distribution. It completely conceivable that we are less knowledgeable of world affairs than we were prior to the invention of the internet, cable television, computers, laptops, smart phones and tablets. We are not necessarily in possession of more truth, just because we are given more information. More often than not, that information is incomplete, misrepresented, or downright false. In other words, the distribution of propaganda has never been so efficient.

In Defense of Smelly Books

While there are many other options available, many houses still have traditional stucco siding.

While metal patio furniture can be more durable and last longer with less maintenance, many people eat picnics on wooden furniture in their back yards.

While acrylic paint became widely available in the 1950s, many artists still use other mediums such as watercolor and oil.

Sculptors are constantly finding new materials to transform into works of art. Not one of these newfound mediums has been able to render time-tested mediums such as stone and bronze obsolete.

Movies and television have revolutionized the way we are entertained, but the stage is far from dying.

Plastic was invented in the late 1800s. Since then, it has been used in the production of almost everything we purchase and use. However, many children also still play with wooden toys.

When MTV debuted on August 1, 1981, it was widely speculated that it would replace radio. Hence the song “Video killed the Radio Star.” Not only is public radio alive and well, there’s satellite radio for those who want to pay a premium. There is also free radio available on the internet.

Where am I going with this? Here’s a video hint. [EDIT: Since originally posting this blog post, Youtube took down the video that I linked to because of copyright infringement. It was a scene from the television series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in which the librarian/watcher Rupert Giles has a conversation with Ms. Calendar regarding why he prefers books to computers. She asks him why computers bother him. He replies that it is the smell. She replies that computers don't smell. Giles says that is exactly the problem.

Giles ruminates on why books are better than computers: "Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower or a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell... musty and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is... it has no texture, no context. It's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then the getting of knowledge should be tangible. It should be, um... smelly."

Preceding paragraph taken from: http://www.buffyguide.com/episodes/irobot.shtml#ixzz1NzXXVeP4

END OF EDIT]

Recently I engaged in an online discussion in which someone was insisting that print media, specifically books, was dead. Obsolete. Useless. Vastly inferior to electronic media (e-books) and should be done away with altogether. I took umbrage at this position.

I maintain that there is a place and a market for print books. E-books (and their accompanying devices) do not replace print books as much as compliment them. I see no reason why I must choose “Team Kindle” or “Team Gutenberg.” Both serve purposes and functions, and both have their drawbacks. While it is cool that a device can hold an insane number of titles, I would hardly feel comfortable reading it in the bathtub or while floating on a raft in the pool while on vacation. Paperbacks seem much more convenient in those instances, particularly because they could much more easily be salvaged if I should drop them. I would not want to toss the device in my pack and go hiking for fear of falling backwards against a boulder. Nor would I casually toss the device on a camp chair and take an impromptu stroll around a campground as the opportunity might lead a fellow camper to petty theft. The fragility and value of devices necessitates much more care than your average mass production print book. While reading could help pass the time when one is hospitalized, certain wards and facilities often ban the use of electronic devices as they tend to interfere with sensitive equipment. Even though a device is most practical to take on vacation than a bag of books, I can read my paper or hardback book during take off and landing. While I can pass along a book to a library, friend or online swap once I’m done with it, these options are limited with e-books. And also, how can I have an e-book autographed? Think of all the free time authors would have if they didn’t have to deal with those book signing tours.

On the other hand, space is an issue, as is the environmental impact of the production of the equivalent number of print books that a device can deliver for a fraction of the trouble. There is also the definite thrill of instant gratification. I can download an e-book immediately, whereas I have to either wait for delivery or drive somewhere to get a print book. Also, over time it is cheaper to go electronic, even when you factor in the cost of the device. And let’s face it, gadgets are cool. Technology that seemed like a faraway dream when my dad and I watched “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in 1987 are now readily available to the masses. Indeed, today’s technology makes that in the original “Star Trek” series strangely comical. Imagine if Kirk, Spock and Bones only needed to carry a single device instead of a separate communicator and tri-corder. Wow, that would have been something!

Hey, Steve Jobs! Over here! Yeah, any ETA on a transportation device? You can call it the iBeam.

As much as I love gadgets and technology, my life is strangely void of the newest advances. Economics have gotten in the way of my fun, which is not very uncommon these days. So I’m not in possession of an e-reader. But I know people who are. They love them. But they also still read print books. I don’t know anyone who has completely gone paperless, actually. Most people I know still reach for a pen and paper every now and then, even though the smart phone or tablet is just as handy. Also, there are many people in this world who do not have access to the technology that we tend to take for granted. There are kids in small villages in Africa who would treat a print book like gold . . . if they were to come across one.

Obviously, print is far from dead, and there is little chance it is going anywhere. SD cards and the like, on the other hand, will probably be obsolete in a couple years when some other wondrous thing is invented. Aside from relics in museums, there are no longer any readily available devices that can read punch cards. When was the last time you saw a PC with a floppy drive? Technology is forever changing and evolving. Digital media, formats and devices are continuously being replaced by upgraded versions and new inventions. As long as there are engineers and inventors, this will always be the case. Chances are my grandkids won’t have a device that will read the memory card currently in my cell phone, but if they have sight they can access the information in any print book.

I’m itching to buy a smart phone. On this subject, by the way, I am squarely on “Team Android.” When I do, you can bet I’m going to download an e-reader app. I am also going to continue to peruse used bookstores and visit the local library. When I’m done with a book, I’m going to pass it along. That is, unless I really want to hold onto it. My home will still have that wall of books. In fact those bookcases were the first real furniture purchase my husband and I made together. Technology will not be replacing print books any time soon. Hopefully it will always be around in some capacity. Reading on devices is fine most of the time, but every once in a while you should engage more than the sense of sight when you read. Reading can be tactile, engaging touch and smell as well as sight. Sometimes it’s not just about the words or even the information, but about the experience itself. I remember one time my husband and I were camping in Malibu. We had a modest fire going, beers in hand and the stars to gaze at. At a campsite further down, they had a roaring bonfire blazing behind them as they watched a DVD playing in the back of an SUV. Sometimes you just have to turn your devices off and live. Experience something that doesn’t require a battery. Just for a while. Then plug yourself back in. Just please, do me a favor. Don’t download “Walden” onto your Kindle. I couldn’t stand the irony.

 

Sharing my Laptop with a Toddler – Part 2

UPDATE: I no longer recommend Kido'z. Evidently the "free" version was only for a limited time. I recently discovered that while they offer an updated version of the pay version, they did not update the free version. Furthermore, they no longer offer any support for the free version. I was matter-of-factly informed by the support team that many new additions to the menus (websites, games, videos, etc.) will not work as time goes on unless I install and subscribe to the premium service. Obviously, this made me angry. I quickly found a replacement: Kidzui. It isn't as simple as Kido'z, but is better in many ways. It is not walled in, so it is much easier to add favorite websites, games, etc. As my son grows, he will be able to add websites on his own, and the filters are excellent. It can be operated through a stand-alone browser or as a Firefox add-on. Honestly, Kido'z had some technical problems, and would occasionally glitch and freeze. Plus, it was so drastically different from normal browsers in design, that I think a transition to Firefox, etc. would prove difficult. Kidzui is much similar to your average browser, and doesn't have the social and email features we weren't using anyway. And, best of all, Kidzui is really free. There is a premium service offered, but it's for access to more security/parental settings and not a different browser. So forget about Kido'z, they're greedy bastards who don't care about internet safety nearly as much as fleecing worried parents.
END OF UPDATE

My husband telecommutes from home. My son is often told to be quiet because “Daddy’s working.” Mo looks over and watches my husband type away and click the mouse. Later on, he’ll climb up on my husband’s chair and announce “Mo working!” as he randomly types on my husband’s keyboard and pushes the mouse all over the desk.

In the last post I mentioned that I was setting up my laptop so that Mo could use it for his own “work.” I secured the laptop as much as XP would allow me, and added a toddler-friendly browser called Kido’z. The next step in this project was to pre-select some websites to add to the favorites category. The browser gives pre-screened suggestions for the age of the child, and I did add a few of those to Mo’s favorites.

I started poking around and looking for websites that Mo would find entertaining. I also tried to find some that had at least some educational value, and some that would give the little guy some practice operating the computer (i.e. using the mouse and keyboard). Turns out there are a lot of blogs on the subject. Such as . . .

Online Toddler Games (2008)

Mostly Mommies

Educational Freeware – Toddlers

Little Kids’ Games Online

. . . just to name a few.

Obviously the toddler games with recognizable characters have the most appeal, particularly the characters from the toddler’s favorite shows and movies. For my guy, that really does not limit the choices, as he watches Nick, Jr., Disney and PBS.

Nick, Jr.

Disney Playhouse

PBS Kids

The cool thing about these websites is that they are connected to children television networks that claim to be educational for toddlers. One of the tag lines for Nick, Jr. is that their programming is “like preschool on TV.” I don’t know how accurate a description that is, but the website does have a lot of material that can be used to supplement your child’s education. In addition to games, there are also activities, crafts and as well as printable activity sheets, coloring sheets, and workbooks. The content is updated on a regular basis and includes seasonal themes. The content on PBS Kids is not quite as impressive, but there is an incredible catalog of games that are educational. Each show has multiple games and activities. Disney Playhouse is perhaps the least educational of the three, but it has a lot of games, requiring varying degrees of computer skills. Some of the games can be played by simply pushing random keys on the keyboard. The games on Disney Playhouse are animated well enough to compete with the televised shows they are based on.

Being an inherent non-conformist, I want Mo to also have some non-licensed fun. The Disney websites especially have many links to merchandise and products. I feel that the games on both Disney and Nick, Jr. are, at least in a way, advertisements for all the related merchandise and products for sale at all major retailers. Here are a few non-licensed game sites that I came across.

Kneebouncers is really more for infants. Mo is actually too old for it now. All the child has to do to play is push random buttons on the keyboard to make the characters move, etc.

Peekuboo has fun games with some educational values and interactive stories with simple yet fun graphics. Many of the stories and games also impart lessons of social awareness. To move through a story, all one has to do is press the spacebar.

Fisher Price (I admit this one barely qualifies) has fun games that are not necessarily related to the products they sell, as well as games based on such product lines as “Snap ‘n Style”, “Power Wheels” and “Little People.” They are fun and also include games to teach numbers and letters. There are infant and preschool games as well as those for toddlers.

Minimops is beautifully simplistic and light-hearted. It features five games. In one game you connect the dots using your mouse. Another you piece together jigsaw puzzles to form dinosaurs. In a third game named “Flower,” you grow flowers by using your mouse to plant, water and clear the sky in the right order. In “Music Show,” the child can click on different characters to turn off and on their instruments as they play a song. The last game is called “Rainbow” and is a colorful way to make music with your mouse. I spent a great deal of time playing that last game myself. Mo, on the other hand, was not nearly as mesmerized as I had hoped.

I do not recommend Pocoyo World. It seems to be a social game much like Second Life, but with little games. I easily made an account and walked around. I could have chosen to pretend to be a child and interact with the other children with no problem. This made me uncomfortable. I would not feel safe letting Mo play such a game unsupervised. Also, there seems to be no way to cancel your account. I had to send an email to request that my account be canceled.

As you can see, there are many games available to entertain a toddler. The only thing I had to really search for were ways to teach Mo how to actually use the computer. Some of the games on these sites gave him practice, but I wanted to find games that could help me teach him to make the connection between mouse and cursor as well as the fine art of click and drag. These were a little harder to find.

The first site I came across was found on Mostly Mommies. This overly simplistic game is designed to teach your child the concept of moving the mouse and clicking. While this might be a good place to start, I doubt it will hold your child’s interest for long, as a small, purple ball on a slightly lighter shade of purple background is not really all that interesting. However, some of their other suggested games are much better.

For instance, there’s Aven’s Corner. This has various games organized into three categories of different skill level, the first of which teaches basic computer skills. The other two levels are educational games the toddler can play once they know how to use the mouse. Some of these games require Microsoft Silverlight, which is not supported by the Kido’z browser.

Another good site to teach computer skills is EL BUHO BOO. The games are divided between three categories: pressing keys, moving the mouse, and clicking and dragging. The graphics are just plain cute! So far, Mo likes the first category of games, a few of which are basically animals making sounds or popping out of places. Just the other night, he was playing one called “Shells,” which involves parts of an animal appearing from inside a shell with each key stroke. First comes a turtle, then a snail, followed by a hermit crab. The turtle’s head had already appeared and Mo was clicking to make the rest of him come out of the shell. My husband asked, “Mo, what is that?” I think he expected Mo to say “turtle.” Instead Mo replied matter-of-factly “legs.”

As I mentioned earlier, there were many activities on the Nick, Jr. website of educational value in addition to games.  These activities could prove useful when I want to get Mo off the computer and give him a little practice for preschool. I came across a few other treasure troves of such worthwhile “home schooling” material.

I already mentioned all the stuff on Nick, Jr., but here is a direct link to their catalog of printables.

PBS Teachers – makes up for the lack of material on PBS Kids.

The Education tab on PBS Parents is also full of helpful info for parents.

StoryPlace has various “libraries” divided by educational level which feature a variety of themes. Each theme includes a story, online activity, take home activity, and reading list.

Learn to read with phonics is a free online resource to help with reading skills. The child starts with the ABCs and progresses to more difficult exercises. I have only looked at the ABCs section, which seems sort of like animated flashcards.

Pre-K Smarties has a list of even more online learning tools for preschoolers. A number of these look promising, but I haven’t had a chance to check them out yet. The list appears to include printables and resources as well as games and online activities.

The last thing I want to mention is a new website PBS has launched called PBS Kids Island. After creating an account for your child, he can play various educational games featuring the various PBS characters. The games get progressively harder as your child progresses and earns rewards. There is also a feature to track your child’s progress. I do not think Mo is quite ready for this yet, as he would have to be able to play on his own for the progress report to be accurate. However, since it is free, I see this as a viable option in the near future.

I have shared a lot of links with you, but I feel as if I’ve barely scratched the surface. There are a lot of different ideas on how to best teach young children the basic learning blocks, which now includes computer skills. Just as there are a lot of self-proclaimed “experts,” there are many of us parents afraid of not doing enough to give our kids a head start in their education. I want Mo to be a happy, well-adjusted child. For me, this means letting him be a silly kid and have lots of play time. At 2 ½ years, I do not want to stifle him by sitting down for “school time” at the dining room table with workbooks and flash cards. However, I see nothing wrong with sneaking some learning into play time. That being said, I’d like to leave you with a fun and timely online activity with little educational value. Enjoy!

Crayola Fireworks!

Sharing my Laptop with a Toddler - Part 1

UPDATE: I no longer recommend Kido'z. Evidently the "free" version was only for a limited time. I recently discovered that while they offer an updated version of the pay version, they did not update the free version. Furthermore, they no longer offer any support for the free version. I was matter-of-factly informed by the support team that many new additions to the menus (websites, games, videos, etc.) will not work as time goes on unless I install and subscribe to the premium service. Obviously, this made me angry. I quickly found a replacement: Kidzui. It isn't as simple as Kido'z, but is better in many ways. It is not walled in, so it is much easier to add favorite websites, games, etc. As my son grows, he will be able to add websites on his own, and the filters are excellent. It can be operated through a stand-alone browser or as a Firefox add-on. Honestly, Kido'z had some technical problems, and would occasionally glitch and freeze. Plus, it was so drastically different from normal browsers in design, that I think a transition to Firefox, etc. would prove difficult. Kidzui is much similar to your average browser, and doesn't have the social and email features we weren't using anyway. And, best of all, Kidzui is really free. There is a premium service offered, but it's for access to more security/parental settings and not a different browser. So forget about Kido'z, they're greedy bastards who don't care about internet safety nearly as much as fleecing worried parents. 
END OF UPDATE

I haven’t been very creative lately. I don’t really have much of any excuse for not writing. I keep finding myself occupied with other projects and situations in day to day life. I find that I am never short of methods of procrastination, being the mom of a 2 ½ year old. My latest kid-oriented project has been setting up a user account on the laptop for him. I decided to write a blog post about it, since I have no new writing to share.

Mo really likes the computer, possibly because he’s usually forbidden from touching it. He’s been introduced to YouTube, on which he demands to watch Adam West as Batman, and always wants to go to the toddler TV websites (Disney Playhouse, PBSKids, Nick, Jr., etc.). So I decided to take advantage of the hot desert summer to teach him computer skills. I’m told he’ll take to it like a fish to water, and thought it would make for a good alternative indoor activity. I need an arsenal of indoor activities because, once the temps reach triple digits, we can’t go outside to play till early evening. Last summer, Mo was content to sit and play with wooden blocks and Megabloks for hours on end. I don’t think that will work this year. So the plan is to alternate between indoor play, educational TV, snacks, a little preschool prep, potty training (fingers crossed on that one), and computer time.

This decision led me down the unfortunate path towards setting up the computer. My first goal was to keep Mo from completely destroying the laptop that has become mine by default. Due to our current living arrangement, I do not have access to my beloved pc tower with Vista, so I’m using Mike’s old work laptop, which has XP. The first thing I discovered was that unlike Vista (and the new Windows7), XP does not have built in parental controls for user accounts. Bah. I set up a limited user account (as opposed to administrator) for Kurt so that he couldn’t randomly download or change crucial settings. I then proceeded to customize the user settings to what I thought would be most pleasing to an almost 3 year old. I made Firefox the default browser (more on this choice momentarily), changed the desktop picture to the picture of fish (I’ll find a better picture later), made the type big, chose the biggest cursor I could find and slowed down the cursor speed considerably. I then added short cuts to Paint and WordPad to the desktop. I made the desktop picture “center” instead of “stretch” so that there was a border where I could put shortcut icons. I thought this would make it easier for Mo to see them.

Further research led to the discovery that IE has built in parental controls to filter content. That’s great, except that the settings applied to all users. Any, we prefer Firefox to IE. Since this feature is standard on IE and other browsers, it surely must be on Firefox, right? You would think, wouldn’t you? Turns out I needed to find an add-on. Okay, fine. So the first one I find and download is “FoxFilter,” an effective enough filter, but lacks a crucial feature. The free version is not password protected, so your children could simply disable it anytime they want. Of course, you could always subscribe to the premium service for $10/year. Right. I disabled this when I found ProCon LatteFirefox without my supervision, so I did not add a shortcut to the desktop.

I began to think that perhaps a simpler browser might be good for a toddler’s use. Firefox is great for older kids, but I thought perhaps all the buttons and options would be too overwhelming for a beginner. So I started looking for a streamlined program with fewer choices and specifically designed with the little ones in mind. I came across a kid browser called “Kido’z” and decided to try it out. The child doesn’t need to know how to read to use it, and it is a very, very simple browser. It is so simple, in fact, that it does not feature a “refresh” button. Mo took to it immediately, as he can choose between thumbnails of his favorite websites. This helps me, because he calls every website “PBS Kids” for some reason. At this age, he’s too young to “surf,” and really just wants access to the same familiar sites. Unlike some other options I saw, Kido’z allows the parent to add sites in addition to the ones that are already featured. It automatically filters for content as well as age appropriateness. There is a premium service offered at around $40 that gives you more control options, but for us this is not necessary. There are a couple websites that are not supported by the browser, and those can only be viewed on “grown up” browsers such as FireFox. Otherwise, I feel confident that Mo can operate this browser on his own once he has computer skills. There is also a social networking and email feature where Kido’z users can befriend each other, but I don’t think we’ll be using that for a while. I also want to mention that the browser keeps Mo from accidentally exiting the program. You can’t even pull up the task bar while in the program. I added the shortcut to the desktop so that Mo could find it easily.

I had one more problem to solve, but the solution was obvious. I mentioned before that this is a laptop, and I wish to protect it as much as I can until I can get my PC tower back. Also, the keyboard is small and has the little red button “mouse” in the middle of the keyboard. I sometimes use a trackball instead of a mouse, but that does not keep Mo from being distracted by the bright red dot as well as all the other extraneous buttons in close proximity to the keys I’d prefer him to focus on. So we decided to buy Mo his own keyboard and mouse. There are numerous brightly-colored, expensive toddler keyboards out there, the least pricey being Crayola. Since Mo will seldom, if ever, be out of my sight while using the computer (mostly he’ll be sitting on my lap, I think), we decided instead to purchase a cheap keyboard and mouse that he can trash. The less options the better. Mo is attracted to the computer partially because it doesn’t look like a toy, so I don’t think he will mind a plain, black keyboard and mouse. I can always add stickers, etc. to help him learn certain functions later on. For instance, I think I might add a sticker to the right mouse button so that it’s easier for him to remember which one to click. P A smaller mouse is preferable for smaller hands, but Mo grabs his dad’s relatively large mouse with little problem. We have yet to purchase these yet, but I found some good candidates on Walmart.com. For all its faults, Walmart is a good source for disposable merchandise.

The next step was to research and preload websites and activities for Mo to use, but that is another post entirely.