Taut? Us?

Rog didn’t quite make it to the first comment on this site, Zig achieved that, but he did leave the 28,000th comment since the R-blade’s inception, back in January 2006.  Thank you, dear heart.

Browsing idly through readers’ statistics, I looked at the web browsers used and was quite interested to notice the change there has been over the years – well, since the last time I looked, which was quite some time ago.  It used to be almost entirely between Internet Explorer and Firefox, but now Chrome has a strong lead with nearly a third of users, with Safari second with nearly a quarter.  IE isn’t far behind but it seems that few people use Firefox any more.  Few visitors to this blog, that is, I don’t know if it’s indicative of people as a whole.  I’d have thought most of us would stick with the same browser unless we’re unhappy with it for some reason, but maybe that’s because it’s what I do.

Yesterday evening, there was a visit to the Tortoise Club and yes, it taught us a good deal.  Although actually, I’m afraid I was tired and quite disinclined to pretend even the vaguest interest in tortoises, so I settled in the car with several books, some snacks (we had to leave home at 7 o’clock and hadn’t got around to having dinner) and my phone with which to leave tortoise-related jokes on Twitter.

Edweena went to the club, was looked at and pronounced a healthy weight.  She mustn’t be fed for a month pre-hibernation, which takes place sometime in November, so I suppose we spend the next month or so giving her lots of treats.  On the way home, we debated where to keep her, which must be cold but frost-free.  I suspect it’ll be the larder, but we’ll have to make sure it’s a dog-proof box, I don’t entirely trust Ben not to pick her up and retrieve her for us.  Tortoises like to eat chalk, apparently, so we came back with a bag of it.  Chunks of chalk, that is, not sticks, though I suppose the blackboard sort would do at a push.

 

19 comments on “Taut? Us?

  1. IndigoRoth

    Hey Z! Wait, what? They eat CHALK? Hmmm. Okay, colour me surprised. As for Firefox, I’m surprised again. I’m a Chrome guy, but use FireFox when i want to log into two mail accounts at once. I wouldn’t dream of using IE! Indigo x

    Reply
  2. 63mago

    I didn’t even know that these animals go to sleep over the winter. Or eat chalk. I hope her diet will not be too harsh.

    Re browsers – IE and firefox simply became much too large for me, they carry tons of automatisms and stuff I never use or need. I’m happy with my chromium derivate.

    Reply
  3. Z Post author

    Apparently so, Indigo, the calcium is good for their shells. And yes, Mago, being cold-blooded, they wouldn’t survive the winter otherwise. I believe in some hot places they aestivate for a while too but I haven’t looked that up to check.

    I’ve always used Safari, but until a few years ago (when having a Mac was still a bit peculiar), some sites didn’t work with it. I tried IE once and hated it, but later it wouldn’t work on a Mac anyway. I still have Firefox, which used to be fine, but haven’t needed to use it for a long time. I know Ronan uses Chrome, so it must be good.

    It might have been abbreviated to Shelley, Rog, and that would never do. Far too obvious. Not quite as obvious as a carpet full of wee, mind you.

    Reply
  4. three-legged-cat

    I’m one of the many who abandoned Firefox, but have recently fallen back in love with it. I’m not sure whether Firefox has improved or if my new laptop is just better at running it, but whichever it is, I like being able to run my favourite plugins again.

    I’m also amazed that tortoises eat chalk, doesn’t sound very appetising to me. I’m allergic to the stuff, which used to be a bit problematic as a teacher. Not that I ate the chalk of course, but it gave me eczema, so I had to wear a glove when writing. Happily the days of chalkboards are long gone.

    Reply
  5. Blue Witch

    In another successful spell I seem to be set to become the new mummy of a 10 year old boy who keeps escaping form his home. Would Edweena like tortoise sex when she wakes up in the spring? (assuming she’s a spur thighed thingy)?

    Reply
  6. Blue Witch

    I still run FF because (a) anything Google own can’t be good for one’s privacy, and (b) Opera is a pain.

    IE is for old ladies who don’t know anyone who will install a better browser for them when they get a new PC.

    Reply
    1. 63mago

      I use Iron. It’s based on the Chromium open thing, just without all the calling home google builds in. I found opera being a bit uncomfortable, all these unwanted mouse gestures …

      Reply
  7. Sharifa

    i hope this doesn’t change anything at wordpress!! LOL tad bit behind regarding your move, sugar! *sigh* but here i am now and using firefox! xoxoxox

    Reply
    1. Z Post author

      Hello darling, welcome to my non-blogger site. If you want to change the name that appears here, look on the sidebar under ‘comments’ – your profile gives the option of changing that too.

      I was talking to Ronan about that today, BW – I did look at Chrome but was put off by the all-enveloping Googleness of it. I use Bing as a search engine, Safari as a browser, Google for most mail though have Hotmail accounts too. I told him that some people are returning to Ff, he’ll have a look.

      I’m not sure that she-torts actually enjoy sex, the males are very aggressive – but (assuming the spur thighedness, which I don’t know) R thinks it’s a very good idea. Ed cost £160 and is 13, so if you’re paying little or nothing, well played.

      Reply
  8. Z Post author

    I can’t sign in to Discus under my Google ID because it puts up my full name. You can find my blog under my name, but I don’t want it to come top of the list. Though Twitter and Facebook are top of the list, actually!

    Reply
  9. Z Post author

    Looking again today, FF has crept up to 13.8% and Safari is top with 25.8%. Iron is at 5%. One person used Iceweasel, which I’d never heard of.

    I think I need to step away before I become involved in too many stats.

    Reply
  10. letouttoplay

    I jumped on the Chrome bandwagon when my son recommended it. I shall ask him what he thinks of Iron – in the, probably, vain hope of getting ahead of him in the tech stakes! It sounds like a good alternative.
    Love to the tortoise – she has a fond place in my memories.

    Reply
  11. Z Post author

    R is already dreaming of an incubator and baby tortoises. He already knew the incubation period, but I was able to tell him that the sex of reptiles is determined by the temperature the eggs are kept at (though I don’t know if that is true for all reptiles).

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  12. nick

    I switched from Internet Explorer to Google Chrome because IE was increasingly unable to handle websites, FB message boxes, blog comment boxes or all sorts of basic stuff. It kept freezing and sending me error messages.

    Reply
  13. Z Post author

    I’ve noticed that one of my long-term lurkers (who has never commented but lives in a geographically distinctive area, so I know who it is) recently switched from IE to Chrome, maybe that was the reason.

    Reply
  14. LZM

    I’m not sure about any of this. I do know that I prefer to google because I can’t seem to find a thing on bing.

    Reply

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