My book Intermediate French for Dummies includes intermediate-level grammar lessons, writing tips, and practice exercises, and is the most extensive (and, all modesty aside, the best) book I’ve written. Check it out at Amazon.com or your favorite bookstore:
Pale Fonts
I had to reinstall Windows a few days ago, and afterwards all of my fonts looked thin and pale, especially in FireFox. It took me a while to track down the solution, so I’m posting it here – both to help any of you in the same situation as well as to have a record of it for next time (knock on wood). The problem was that font smoothing wasn’t enabled – here’s how to fix it: Font Smoothing in Firefox
And here’s the site that led me to it: Do your fonts look faint and washed out?
Interview with LKL
Freelance journalist Nadine Visagie of Suite101 recently tracked me down to answer some questions about The Importance of Learning French (pdf).
Move Your Money
Just read a great article about one thing that all Americans can do that really will make a difference: take it out of the big banks (you know, the ones that got bailed out and then gave bonuses to the very people who caused the subprime mortgage disaster and the need for bailouts) and instead put it in small, local banks. I am a firm believer in the power of the dollar – what we choose to buy and where we keep our money has over the course of our lives, in my opinion, a much greater impact than any other voting we might be allowed to do – so I did this years ago, and I’ve been glad every day since.
Arianna Huffington – Move Your Money: A New Year’s Resolution
Happy New Year!
Good-bye 2009 and the unnamed first decade of the new millenium! Hello 2010 and another difficult to name decade! I spent nearly the entire year in France, other than my three weeks in Italy, and I’ll likely be in France for all of the new year as well. Best wishes to all!
Here’s some reading material and ideas for New Year’s Resolutions for you:
Grenoble, France
Grenoble is a city of superlatives. One of the largest cities in France, Grenoble is also one of the hottest in summer and coldest in winter, and had the world’s first urban cable-car.