Strings

I thought about strings the other day. (I need to get a life!)

Have you ever noticed how many things seem to develop strings at the wrong time?

This can happen when dressing to go someplace, especially when you are in a hurry. You check yourself in a mirror and "Egads! There's a string hanging from the hem of my skirt!" ( I imagine you'll say something besides 'egads' but I want this to be kid friendly.)

Now you have to find the scissors to cut the string because if you pull it, chances are the entire hem will come undone!

Then there are the strings that suddenly show up on brand new towels, bath mats, etc. Funny, they didn't show strings when I bought them. I don't buy the most expensive of these, but I don't buy the real 'cheapies' either.

'Strings' have more than one meaning too. If you aren't really careful when talking about strings, someone may think you are talking about something other than what you mean.

Some musical instruments have strings, like violins, cellos, guitars, etc. If you mention 'I cut a string' to a violinist, he/she may think you are damaging a violin!

There is something called 'strings' in computer language as well. My friends all know I don't write computer programs so that is one confusion that doesn't happen to me, but I suppose it could happen to some folks. There is something called 'String functions' in web site pages as well.

There is something called String Theory. I haven't the vaguest idea what that is, but there are web sites about String Theory. I think it has something to do with Physics which has never been one of my strengths. Since I've been reading that you should never stop learning new things, maybe I will check into this later. My older son has a degree in Physics, so maybe he can explain String Theory to me.

My younger son said that if you pull someone's string they might fall apart!

Last night while playing with my dog, he got really wound up. My son said "Mom pulled his string!"

I imagine if I looked hard enough I would probably find more things named string or strings, but that is enough of stringing you along today.

Martha

Going 'Green'

There are a lot of articles in the newspaper, various magazines and news programs on TV about going green to help save the environment. This is good; we do need to do all we can to prevent greenhouse gases from increasing the advent of global warming. It is very good to recycle glass, newspapers, magazines, etc. If each of us can do our part to save some trees and save some energy, this is a good thing.

My family replaced all of our incandescent light bulbs with florescent last year. This was supposed to save money on the power bill but since we have a power company that keeps changing the rates it is a little difficult to tell how money we're saving, if any. The bulbs are supposed to last longer, but they do cost quite a bit more to buy.

We have recycled ever since it was an option to do so. Sometimes I wonder whether washing out the icky sticky cans and jars are really helping; it takes water and we have to conserve water as well.

We have a very small lawn and use a battery powered mower/trimmer and recently my son has used a push mower when the grass isn't too high.

Trips in the car are mostly for my son to go back and forth to work (no way to avoid that!) and shopping and errands are consolidated as much as possible to save gas and $$.

Today in my newspaper (If you have been following my blog, you knew that was coming, didn't you?) is a story about how four families are going green. Most of them are doing the same things that we are doing and since they have children, they are teaching them to be responsible and go 'green' whenever possible.

This is all good and I admire them for all their efforts but for one thing. I am NOT going to keep a bucket under my kitchen sink for vegetable scraps and earthworms to make compost!

And furthermore, I am not going to 'pickup' any furniture from the landfill! (The story showed a family sitting on a broken down sofa in the landfill.)

Martha

Candy Corn and Jelly Beans

I have a great big sweet tooth. (One of the reasons I don't seem to be able to lose weight!)

This time of the year the stores are already stocking the shelves with Halloween goodies and I just don't seem to be able to resist them. All the chocolate goodies, candy corn and jelly beans just seem to be calling my name as I walk down the candy aisle!

I don't dare buy my Trick or Treat candy too early or else I will have to buy more before Spooky Day arrives.

I have been reading food labels and making a real effort to buy food with healthy ingredients. It is hard sometimes to find food that doesn't
include plastic (partially hydrogenated oil) or high fructose corn syrup. Both of those ingredients are really bad for humans (the food industry is poisoning us), but I had been doing pretty good until that candy appeared on the shelves.

I am now almost broken hearted; I just read the ingredients on one of my favorite sweets, candy corn. It has the dreaded partially hydrogenated oil listed as one of the ingredients!

So now I have a real dilemma, enjoy with guilt my candy corn or suffer withdrawal while those around me indulge in my favorite sweet treat!

At least the jelly beans are OK even though they do have oh so much sugar in them.

Martha

Almanacs

I learned something the other day! There is more than one Farmers Almanac! There is the 'Old Farmer's Almanac' that was started way back in 1792, according to the newspaper. And there is the 'Farmer's Almanac' (without the 'Old' in the title) that was first published in 1818. (I wonder if there are any other publications going back that long ago!)

Both of these publications have lots of stuff in them, supposedly what farmers need to know about just about everything. They are more famous for the weather predictions.

The 'Old Farmers Almanac' is predicting a warmer winter with less snow and a hotter than usual summer. (In Texas that would be really hot as it is always hot in the summer time in Texas!) But the 'Farmers Almanac' (without the 'Old' in the title), is predicting a very cold winter, below normal and tamer and wetter weather in the summer.

Both of these publications are newsy and interesting. But viewing on the web is limited for the Old Farmers' Almanac unless you are willing to pony up some $$. You can get weather predictions on line for $4.98 each. Print editions available for the Old Farmers Almanac; 3 YR Subscription $24.95 each. The Old Farmers Store offers calendars, cookbooks and of course the Old Farmers Almanac.

The Farmers Almanac has a lot of stuff to view for free. There is a free newsletter as well. I signed up for the newsletter (I love newsletters!), and should start getting them before long. They have print editions as well; a 3 YR Subscription costs $14.99. The Farmers Store offers several interesting items including the Farmers Almanac.

Who to believe? I suspect regardless of what these publications say, it will be cold in the winter some place and hot in the summer every where!

Martha

Decipher This Please!

(or I can't read my own writing!)

I sometimes take notes when I am reading so that I can write about the subject later. Sometimes I get ideas that need to be jotted down someplace before I forget them.

The problem with this note taking is this; unless I use notepad in my computer, I may not be able to read what I wrote. Just today I was going through my notes and decided to write down everything I did when setting up my wireless network. I did take notes, but not in notepad.

I usually write stuff up within a day or two of writing it down, but this time I neglected to write it up right away. So I decided to write up before my notes got lost about a week later. At the very beginning there is a reference to 'central pond'. Hm, what the heck is central pond? After trying to figure out more of my illegible note and seeing a reference to 'wrkgrp' (probably workgroup), I decided that central pond was really control panel.

By this time I started to remember the exact step and just wrote it all up from memory.

What really has me wondering though is how do pharmacists read those really bad chicken scratches that doctors write on prescription pads? If I can't read my own scrawls, how do they read the doctor's?

Martha

Fun With USB

(or stuff I don't need, but think it would be fun to have)

You probably thought USB stuff was for computers, but you were wrong; I know I was. There are web sites that have almost anything you can think of for those USB ports on your computer.

Some of us still insist on keeping our favorite drinks handy while using our computers even though we know liquids are not good for keyboards. If you are like me, you may forget to drink your coke while it is cold and warm coke is 'yucky'. What could be handier than a USB mini fridge to keep it cool!

Or how about a USB mini vacuum cleaner to get all the crumbs out of your keyboard? (Eating while sitting in front of the computer is really not a good idea)

Do you work in an office where the boss or whoever is in charge of the thermostat wants the temperature just slightly above freezing? You can get some USB gloves to warm your hands.

You can get a lava lamp or maybe some retro lamps. How about a motorized ashtray if you are a smoker?

A bigfoot cam, a pencil sharpener, FM radio and a host of other USB Toys are all available; just waiting to be plugged into one of your USB ports.

There is one thing that really might be handy, a CD destroyer! I have stacks of old CDs that were used to back up data. This could be the answer on how to get rid of them!

Martha

The Blob

Steve McQueen starred in a movie back in the 50s called The Blob. The 'Blob' was apparently an alien creature that was very hungry and every time it 'ate' someone by rolling over them and apparently absorbing them; it got bigger. When it got loose in a movie theater it got really big!

Last night on my local news there was a segment about mysterious blobs being found on and near the shores of a local lake. The pictures shown looked like a miniature of The Blob as in the movie! Icky!

Oh my, what strange things are happening here in Texas! First it's the humongous spider web with thousands of spiders and now it's the blob!

Well, it turns out the blob isn't going to eat anyone and get bigger. (So they say! But Lake Grapevine is closed to the public! Are they really just trying to protect us?)

In a press release, the City of Grapevine said each one "is a colony of millions of tiny organisms (freshwater invertebrates called moss animals or 'zooids'). The colony exudes a protective gelatinous material that makes it resemble a big ball of jelly."

Mysterious Blob

They cause no harm, and their presence signifies good water quality. They actually clean the water by eating microscopic plants.

When they dry up, they turn into a paper like substance that crumbles and disintegrates.

I think Steve McQueen had to trap his big Blob in a diner and freeze it to stop it. Then they flew it to the Arctic so it wouldn't thaw and start eating more people. Hm, with global warming do you think the blob will come alive and start getting big again with the polar bears?

The spiders have rebuilt their giant web again after the last rain. It's not just one kind of spider either; at least twelve kinds have been identified. What's going on here in Texas?

Martha

Old News From the BBB

(Very old)

In our newspaper today there were two very large notices. One was about preventing identity theft and it contained a lot of very good information.

But the other notice leaves me wondering, 'who wrote this and how long ago was it written?' The notice/ad was about buying computers. It started off by telling folks who were considering getting a computer for the very first time how to decide what to get, depending on what they planned to do with the computer. So far, so good.

Then the notice went on to say they could save money by having a custom built computer. Uh, no, they can't. This was true several years ago, but not now. The price of new computers for average personal use has dropped to unbelievable lows. Unless a user is into editing high end graphics or graphic intensive games, a very decent computer can be purchased for a whole lot less than one can be built.

It got worse. The writer told the buyer of a custom built computer to run diagnostics on it as soon as they picked it up from the shop where it was built. Now any computer builder worth using would do this before the customer picked it up, but that is not the worst. The writer went on to say 'Use a diagnostic like Norton Utilities for Win 3.1, Win 95, Mac. etc.' What time machine did this writer step from? Win 3.1? Oh dear! And I am pretty sure you can't get a Mac built by anyone except Apple!

This writer had absolutely no idea what he was writing about! However, I suspect this was a re-cycled article from archives.

See, you can't believe everything you read, even from sources that are usually reliable. While all of the above was probably true at one time, it sure isn't true now!

Martha

TV Guide Has to Go

I got my new TV Guide today. I am appalled! There is a series about the 'ten hot' new shows. There is one I might watch out of the ten. After reading the reviews, They would have to pay me to watch them and I doubt they would pay enough. So if this lineup is what TV Guide thinks are 'hot', then I no longer need TV Guide.

I recall someone saying that TV is a vast wasteland. It becomes more so every year. My list of programs to watch gets smaller every year.

Even the news is getting to the point I don't want to watch. Most of the news media is to the 'left'. A few are to the 'right'. I wish there was at least one that is in the 'middle'!

The local news is filled with depressing stuff, like a father making his son live outdoors under his mobile home to punish him for not completing laps fast enough. Or some poor deranged person has forty starving and dying cats in the house. Every day there is either a murder or attempted murder, home invasions, road rage, etc and the list goes on and on. There doesn't seem to be any good news anywhere!

Martha

Educate!

I wish I could wave a magic wand and educate computer users! I really just wish they would use their brains and read about security before they blindly connect to the Internet and click on every link on every page and every link in email.

Admittedly, the news media is a 'bit' slow warning about new schemes to entrap computer users.

I guess I am day dreaming about educating folks who just don't read because they can't be bothered. Some are like an elderly relative of mine who once told me "They couldn't print it if it wasn't true" and believed everything the media printed or said, regardless of the source. These are the folks who buy from sp*mmers, and believe all of the hoax emails they receive. These are the folks that keep the Nigerian scammers in business.

Please, please! Follow these rules!

Never connect your computer to the Internet without a virus scanner! NEVER! (Yes I am shouting, I have to get through to you somehow!)
Make sure the virus definitions are updated!
If you think you must use Internet Explorer, TURN ACTIVEX OFF!
Use spyware scanners, at least three! Everyday!
Use a firewall! One that will tell you if something is trying to 'phone home' (spyware). This means a third party firewall. Windows firewall in Windows XP will NOT do this.

Keep Window updated! Microsoft doesn't send out security updates to aggravate you, they send them out to close security holes that let scumbags get in to your computer.

When reading email, do NOT click on links in email from people you don't know. NEVER! NEVER! I repeat, NEVER!
There are hundreds, maybe thousands of 'Zombie' computers sending out emails hoping you will click one of those links and if you do, your computer will probably be a 'Zombie computer as well.

Delete unopened emails from strangers! Delete emails with attachments from friends, unless you are expecting them.

In case you don't know what a 'Zombie' computer is, it is a computer that has been infected by a worm that enables spammers, virus writers, etc. to take over a computer and cause it to send out more emails to unsuspecting people that will click on links and you guessed it, turn their computers into 'Zombies'.

If you fell for the latest scam and clicked the link in the greeting card (post card, ecard, egreeting card) email that is flooding in-boxes every day, you probably have a Zombie' computer already. Have fun re-installing Windows and I hope you have a backup of all your important files.

Martha

Martha's Web

Ruining chocolate

I used to think you couldn't ruin chocolate. I was wrong.

There was an article in the newspaper recently describing this abomination!

How can anyone be so cruel as to cover bugs with perfectly good chocolate! What a terrible way to ruin chocolate!

Some so-called gourmet folks seem to think that it's OK to waste perfectly good chocolate to cover ants, worms, roaches and other yucky things. I can't imagine eating even one of those chocolate covered ickies! Even though I consider myself a chocoholic, I still draw the line someplace and that's the line, no bugs!

Not only do these people who desecrate chocolate sell these so called treats, they even have recipes so you can make your own. Ewwwww! A Google search for 'Chocolate Covered Insects' got over 800,000 hits!

Sometimes I think I really must quit reading the newspaper, but it's such a good source of stuff to write about!

Martha

If Someone Makes It, Someone Will Buy It

I know people can do some pretty dumb things. I see that every day on the news. I see it in the newspaper all the time. Sometimes I see or read something that just leaves me flabbergasted.

Like today! A famous designer whose name I refuse to mention has made a purse that costs $52,500. No, that's not a typo! Apparently only 24 are available worldwide and at least one of them has been sold to a celebrity. (A celebrity with more money than sense!) I have no doubt that there are 23 more idiots that will buy the rest. I say idiots, because that is what anyone who spends that kind of money on an ugly purse is an idiot! The picture shown in the paper is of a purse that I wouldn't have if it was given to me.

For that kind of money you would think it should at least be gorgeous!

It gets worse! A competitor for this designer is making a bag that will cost $260,150! But at least this purse will have diamonds adorning it. I keep thinking of that old phrase "A fool and his money are soon parted”. In my wildest dreams I simply cannot imagine paying that much money for something as trivial as a purse. If I was rich I could see myself paying that much for a car, (maybe!) but a purse? No way, never, never!

Now I know that celebrities are always doing things to get noticed, including stupid things. That's why some of them are famous. Anything to get more 'press' seems to be the norm. However, being a member of the 'super rich' for some seems to give license to another phrase "I have no common sense".

Martha 

The Monster in the Closet

Nearly every modern home has one. For years this monster lurks, just waiting. Then one day when you least expect it, you are attacked!

If you have a dog, the dog knows this is a devil just waiting for you to let down your guard. The dog will bark trying to alert you; if only you will listen! Sometimes the poor dog is so overcome with fear of this beast he will just hide some place until the monster goes back to his lair, usually in a closet.

The monster in my closet finally showed his true colors one day not long ago. Fortunately I made the right move and escaped unharmed. I will now be on guard and hopefully this beast will not entrap me as it did my poor sister-in-law.

She did escape with only a broken bone in her hand, but now she is suffering from pain and bruises as well as an itchy cast. I think we have all warned her so that now she will leave the monster in the closet.

So for all you unwary owners of the dreaded beast known as a vacumn cleaner, beware! The long tail of the monster waits to wrap around your legs and trip you. (Worst of all, you actually have to use it before it will clean!)

Martha

Persistance Pays!

Sometimes I put minor computer problems off, waiting for the right time to fix.

Guess it was that time. Back in April I got the latest version of Corel's Paint Shop Pro to use on Vista. I uninstalled the trial and then installed the full retail version.

Every time I started Paint Shop Pro, I got a splash screen telling me I had thirty days left on my trial.

Not funny!

Editing the Registry, deleting all the files for Corel I could find was to no avail, every time I used PSP that stupid splash screen came up and I had to click OK to get the program to load. Corel's support just told me to do what I had told them I had already done. 'Support' means different things to different people, and that was not support.

I uninstalled PSP and again, deleted everything I could find with the name Corel on it. By this time I just decided to install it on another computer and forget about it. (Folks who know me will figure out this won't be the end of this.) This was in April.

Fast forward to August. I still hadn't installed PSP on my other computer; it already had an older version installed. By now I have found more of the little nooks and crannies where Vista hides things. So once more I do a hunt for all things Corel and sure enough; I found another Corel folder. It contained that screen that kept popping up telling me about the trial. I deleted it and reinstalled Paint Shop Pro. It installed nicely and now when I open it there is no aggravating trial notification.

Martha

Copycat Recipes

I recently saw an ad for a cookbook containing secret recipes from a number of restaurants such as Red Lobster, Olive Garden, etc.

The come-on to buy the cookbook is how much money you can save by cooking these recipes yourself and not going out to eat.

I suppose you could save some money this way, and it might be nice to see what goes into those dishes you like. But I don't understand something about this.

Isn't the whole point of going out to eat is so you don't have to cook? I know that's the reason I want to go out to eat!

Martha