There's been a lot of talk about extraterrestrial beings visiting our planet. I don't put much stock in that. I am convinced, however, that we are surrounded by sentient things of our own making whose single aim is the harassment of the individual and, ultimately, the destruction of society. Let me illustrate. A couple of years ago, I received a $ 600 insurance dividend. Sitting at the kitchen table, my wife and I discussed what we might do with the bonanza. I realize now that the refrigerator overheard our conversation. The very next day, it went berserk. The repairman told us we needed a new unit. Cost: $ 600. Not long after, we got a refund from the IRS, enough to pay for a vacation in Mexico. 'I've something to tell you,' I said to my wife. 'Privately.' 'How about the den?' she suggested. I remembered that the color television set is in the den. 'No, not there. Let's go outside.' I showed her the check as we stood in the driveway. We hugged each other elatedly and hardly noticed the rain. My car was parked within earshot. I didn't think anything of it at the time. As I started for the train the next morning, the car began making devilish screeching sounds. 'The engine's shot,' my mechanic said, 'Replacing it will cost about a thousand dollars.' The car's demise convinced me I was on to something big. I dug through our financial records. I discovered that over the past ten years our receipt of 'found' money invariably was followed by equal expenditures to replace a hot-water heater, a television and a stove. Today, I lavish compliments on all the mechanical devices in our home. And I never, ever mention financial rewards in front of them. But if this article is published and I'm paid for it, the word processor is going to go wrong for sure. It'll know. In Paragraph 1, 'sentient things of our own making' refer to ______.