Blogging

The word ‘blog’ is a contraction of ‘web log’ according to Wikipedia. That page pretty much gives us a history of blogs and how a lot of them are used.  Some are specialized and some are sort of like mine, rambling.

I started blogging way back in 2004, on July 24th that year to be exact. I used Google’s popular blogging venue, BlogSpot. It was pretty much hit and miss if I made a blog post, as I really had no idea what I was doing or even how I should do it.

I was under the rather misconception a blog was sort of like a journal, just writing about thoughts in general, or stuff that happened that made an impression on me.  In all the time from the inception of that blog until the day I made the last post in May of 2011, I made only 43 posts.

Thanks to some really great MVPs, Pat Geary and Tina Clarke, I got introduced to the king of blogging, WordPress.  But again, I was pretty much hit or miss with my ‘blogging’ and I didn’t take the time to learn about all of the ways I could customize my WordPress themes. At that time I was too focused on my web site, Martha’s Web, so most of time I was concentrating on content and how it looked.

Fast forward to today.

I am finally starting to understand this world of blogging with WordPress and how versatile it can be. While I am still in the learning mode, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

Since my web site was made back in the day when Windows XP was the latest and greatest, it is getting very dated and really doesn’t seem to be what is needed today, especially since I no longer use Windows XP or even Vista.  It no longer gets the ‘hits’ it used to get and while I certainly don’t want to leave all of the XP users in the lurch so to speak, I find it harder and harder to keep that site fresh and useful.

I am planning to turn Martha’s Web into a WordPress blog eventually, but today is not the day. I still need to learn more about what I can do and how I can do it before that happens. But I am told that once it happens, maintaining it will be oh so much easier.

Since I made that decision, it seems only sensible to just slowly migrate stuff to a new blog. So I am transitioning new stuff and maybe some old stuff to MyNotSoPerfectPC. I’ll see how that works for now.

Martha

The Magic Word Is Free

Nothing seems to grab folk’s attention like the word ‘free’.

‘Buy one, get one free’.  It’s everywhere. Ads on TV simply shout it in all those ads about products that seem to be about making our lives so much easier. It starts with ‘But wait’ and then the pitch to buy one and get another one free (except for shipping and handling).  The fine print will bump up the free product to make the total quite pricey, but folks just buy into the word ‘free’.

Then there is the phrase ‘Free download’ for a software program. Granted, some free downloads work as promised, but those are few and getting fewer all the time.

With a few exceptions all of those promised ‘free’ programs come with stuff users probably don’t want, like the infamous Ask toolbar. This little ‘gem’ will change your home page, take over your search and generally frustrate you no end.

The problem is nothing is really free in the long run. The free programs that don’t push unwanted stuff on your computer may be free now, but they hope you will buy the pro version and/or at least donate to their cause. Some of these may contain ‘nagware’ Then there are the sneaky free downloads that aren’t even what you wanted in the first place. The How-To Geek has a great page about all of this stuff. I wrote about the sneaky install on Martha’s Web too.

The point I am trying to make though, is the word ‘free’ is what grabs people’s attention and may cause unintended consequences. If you have to buy something before you get that ‘free’ thing, it isn’t free. If you have to provide personal information to get something, it isn’t free.

Longtime Internet users got spoiled with free stuff, but those days are getting shorter and shorter and the ‘free stuff’ is not really free any more.

Got a Will?

It’s a fact of the modern day world, if you own anything of value, you need a will.

This is necessary to make sure your wishes are granted if you want your assets distributed in the manner of your choosing.  I suspect you already know that and have made sure you have a will and named who is to get what after your demise.

But what about your online stuff? What should be done about all that cyber stuff that requires usernames, passwords and the like?  Do you want it all to go on forever?

What about your online business? What if someone buys something and it never gets to the buyer? What then? Would that leave a mess for your heirs to clean up? They already have enough to deal with without that!

What if some hacker hacks your email after you die and sends spam forever to your family and friends you left behind?

Do you want your Facebook account to just site there unused for perpetuity?

All of those accounts like PayPal, other online banking accounts, investment accounts and the list goes on and on, need user names and passwords. Sure eventually they may get cleared up, but it sure would be easier if someone you trust had all of those web addresses, user names and passwords.

Want to know how to make it all easier for those you leave behind?

Setup a password keeper! A really good password keeper can handle all that for you and all your designated online heir has to do is log on to your password keeper and take care of the cyber stuff in the way you want it done.

Of course you have to make sure your designated online heir has the current password for that password keeper, but keeping up with just one login and password is a whole lot better than trying to keep up with all your cyber stuff.

Another advantage of that password keeper works for you! Most will generate really good passwords and keep them safe so you don’t have to remember them all and can make sure you are not using something stupid like ‘password’ or your dog’s name, or using the same password for all your accounts. I’m sure you don’t do that, do you?

If you want a really great password keeper, I suggest LastPass, which is free for pcs and only one dollar a month for phones. The best thing about LastPass, besides being free, you are the only one who knows the password. If you forget it, you will just have to start over again as, LastPass doesn’t have a record of your password. Since I don’t trust the Cloud, this is a huge factor for me!

But there are other password keepers, here is a list of some you can try. The best Password Managers.   Notice LastPass has a five star rating!

So don’t leave your heirs in the lurch about your cyber life, make sure they can take care of your online assets as well as the physical stuff you leave behind.

Stupidity Knows No Bounds

Somewhere, I don’t remember where, I read the Internet is making us stupid.

I don’t think that is true, but it does seem to bring out the stupid remarks at times and I have come to believe that it certainly shows that some folks are really gullible and yes, some are patently stupid about some things.

The gullible category are those folks that don’t stop to think about what they read. These are the folks that thought “Wow!” when they read about the Chinese Money Bags. and dutifully forwarded it to a bunch of folks and may have posted it in Facebook. I don’t think these folks are stupid, but if they really believe this, they are certainly gullible.

The money bag hoax is only one of many that keep re-appearing. There are the hoax emails that claim if you forward the email to oh so many friends, you will get money from Microsoft, or some other entity, for every time the email is forwarded. Really folks? There is absolutely no way to track how many times an email is forwarded, but even if there was a way, it’s highly unlikely anyone would pay anyone any money.

There are the emails purporting to be written by some famous person, like Bill Cosby. and a lot of other folks.

Then there are the nasty emails denigrating a very prominent politician. I won’t go into that , but I am sure you know what I mean. I think that comes into the category ‘If you repeat something often enough, you start to believe it.’

I once heard someone say “It must be true, I read it in the newspaper.  They couldn’t print it if it wasn’t true!” I am afraid this is the attitude of a lot of folks when it comes to the Internet!

For some really funny stuff about stupid people, read some of the things on this site, Not Always Right.  While I am not sure all of the things written about folks here are entirely true, I am beginning to think it’s entirely possible!

My father once said “Don’t believe everything you hear and don’t believe half of what you think you see”. He was certainly right!

Martha

Blog Spammers

If you have a blog, you get comment spammers.  It just happens and all you can do is periodically clean it out.

Most WordPress blogs use Akismet to control comment spam.  Akismet is free for personal use and is really great for keeping comment and track-back spam at bay.

I sometimes look at the spam comments. They all are pretty much the same. Some examples are as follows:

Dear Webmaster! Is your website not getting enough TRAFFIC? If you want to flood your website with visitors and skyrocket your income check out this brandnew traffic course –> http://bit.ly/spammy site.

Hey there, it’s Mel Spammer. As i read through your blog I discovered that you are really dedicated and provide useful information, so I checked your website at alexa.com and found out that you are not receiving very much traffic. If you want to take your Business to the next level by increasing traffic, visitors and therefore your potential income you should check out this online course for traffic generating –> http://bit.ly/spammy site If you have any questions you can send me an email, have a nice day!

The same spam comments, over and over. Of course these comments are sent out using a ‘bot’, but you would think they would change them up a bit.

But no, they just keep on and on.  Fortunately there is an option to just empty the spam folder in WordPress.

Martha

Hoarders And Storage Wars

I don’t know why I keep watching Hoarders on TV.

Is it because it makes me feel smug because I am not a hoarder?  I don’t know, but I do know, every time I watch this show I feel an overwhelming urge to clean out and get rid of stuff.

I learned during my last move that I have been ‘owned’ by stuff instead of me owning stuff. I should have learned that during the previous move from a big house to a smaller house, but somehow I still wanted to hold on to belongings that really had no place or meaning for me even though I thought they did.

I think ‘stuff’ is why folks think they constantly want a bigger and bigger house.  They need a place to keep all of the stuff that owns them.

I also watch Storage Wars some times. (I really should get a life!) Those abandoned lockers are usually full of stuff that the owners once valued enough to pay to store it. The lockers generally contain the kind of stuff a hoarder would like, no one I know would really want it.  Occasionally there is a forgotten treasure in amongst the junk, that’s what makes the show interesting. The show’s characters are a hoot!

I guess every so-called reality show has ups and downs.  one of the Storage Wars cast members Dave Hester says ‘it’s all a fake’. I don’t doubt it, but I still watch it.

Martha

TV Phrases I Hear From Marketers

“You Deserve it.”

Watch out when you hear this one.  If you buy in to it, it’s gonna cost you, usually big bucks. Furniture sales pitches may use this phrase, but sellers of other high dollar items may use it as well. This appeals to some folks’ senses that really want to indulge themselves. It must work, because I hear it again and again.

“It’s Not Your Fault:”

This phrase is being used by a local surgeon for advertising his services as a method for getting rid of excess weight. It could also be used elsewhere for the same type of service.

I imagine there probably are a few obese folks that have a medical condition that caused their over-weight condition, but I doubt that is the case for most of us fatties. It was 'my fault' for over-indulging in all that delicious fattening food I loved so well.

“The More You Buy, The More You Save.”

This one always make me shake my head in wonder. If I buy more, I am spending more money.  How is that saving?

Martha

Setting Up Email

I don’t know why I have such a problem getting email to work with IMAP.  POP, usually no problem. Except with Thunderbird.  I have one account setup with POP on Thunderbird and it works just fine.

I tried to setup a second account using virtually the same settings except for the username, email address and password, but that Tbird just doesn’t seem to like it.

My web host is Bluehost.  Thunderbird apparently doesn’t like the default settings for one of my email accounts using IMAP.  I just can’t make it work. And Thunderbird wants to set it up using IMAP.

The strange thing is, I had it setup once and it worked.  Then I setup another account and the pesky account that used to work just disappeared. I probably deleted it somehow, but it worked yesterday and today? Poof! It’s gone and seemingly won’t come back.

So I set it up in Windows Live Mail 2012 and it works just fine. Go figure!

Martha

Not Really Impressed

The preview for Windows 8.1 is here, downloaded and implemented on my Windows 8 system.

The Start button is back, but it is just a shortcut to the same start menu on the original Windows 8. If you just click on it, nothing happens. But if you right click there it is.  Or you can just press the Win key+X.

So once again, Microsoft makes us do an extra step to get what we want. Sigh!

But it IS better than that agravating 'Charms', but some folks will struggle with it.

I am still saving up for a new computer, will it be a Windows PC, a Mac or even Linux?  Time will tell, but I can say for certain, it won't be a Chrome Book!

Martha

Buying an iPad From BestBuy

After I first saw the iPad with retina display I decided I really wanted one.  Since they are not exactly cheap I didn't buy one right away.

I had a $10 gift certificate for BestBuy and when they ran an ad that offered a $30 gift certificate with the purchase of an iPad, I went for it.  I picked out a cool cover from the discounted selection and went to checkout.  I asked about the gift card as she hadn't mentioned it. She then went to get the card after verifying with another sales person that I should get one.

I learned a long time ago to really watch when checking out, so when the sales girl had a CD with a antivirus product in her hand, I told her I didn't want it. She told me that it came with my iPad! I knew better, so I watched carefully as it rang up for $27. Again I told her  'I don't want it'.  She was rather insistant and I emphasized again, "I DON'T WANT IT".

So she removed that charge and proceeded to push a waranty. After repeated "No"s by me she finished the transaction  and I paid for my purachase sans antivirus.

Since by now I was rather pissed off, I decided to request the iPad package be opened to ensure there was an actual iPad in the box. There was, so I left.

Now if I hadn't known better, I would have paid for that antivirus. I wonder how many other folks did?

Martha

Bing is Using a Captcha!

Oh my, Bing, can't you do better? Really! A Captcha?



I ALWAYS have problems with these things! I have bad eyesight and sometimes I just have to give up and go somewhere else when trying to input what they want. When I search for something, I just don't want to have to keep typing over and over again these really hard to read characters, so adios, Bing.

So I will no longer use Bing to search. I switched to Bing from Google, but now I am back to Google.  Sorry Bing!  Try something else and maybe I will come back.

Martha

 

How Was Your Memorial Day Holiday?

Sunday morning seemed like any other morning until I noticed pink liquid on the floor by the refrigerator. Having had a problem with the freezer a few months back with water been coming out periodically on the floor beneath the freezer (The defrost drain was frozen up), I thought maybe the problem was similar.

However it was not the same. I opened the freezer door (this fridge is a side-by-side), and everything in the freezer had melted. The sherbet had become a sickly looking liquid as had the fudge bars. (Turned out the pink liquid was from thawed strawberries) The meat was soft and totally thawed.

So began the process of cleaning and trying to figure out what was wrong with the refrigerator. This refrigerator is only 7 1/2 years old. However this wasn't the first problem we had with this refrigerator. Mind you, this is Sunday before Labor Day. The chances of getting someone out to see about it in the next few days is probably slim and none. Since we've already had problems with this refrigerator, do we want to throw good money after bad?

Decisions, decisions. A lot of retail stores are having great sales on the appliances for Memorial Day. They have 10 to 30 percentage off plus a sales tax holiday on Energy Star appliances under $2000.

But before we can do anything, we have to try to save the food that is still good in the refrigerator side. So drag out the cooler, go get ice and try to save what we can. Some stuff just has to go, mayonnaise for one. A lot of stuff needed to go anyway so the cleaning began. One cooler wasn't enough so 7-Eleven here we come. All 7-Eleven had were flimsy little Styrofoam containers, so we decided to go to Home Depot and look at new refrigerators and coolers. Those new refrigerators were gorgeous and very pricey. Keep in mind we don't want the same brand as our old undependable one. The coolers were pricey as well.

It's a well-known fact that Walmart does have good prices. So we go to Walmart, look at the crowded parking lot and go home.

We decided to look at Best Buy because they had a good flyer in the paper with refrigerators on sale. After some soul-searching and trying to decide whether or not to throw good money after bad, we decide to go to Best Buy and look at their refrigerators. The good news they have some nice ones that are not too pricey, although they're pricey enough. The bad news we can't get one before Friday. Bit the bullet and bought one. I certainly hope we get it by Friday!

So here we are, camping out in the kitchen using coolers instead of the refrigerator. At least we have a deep freeze so we have someplace to store the ice that we need for the coolers.

The coolers are gradually emptying out of all the perishable food, but some of it is probably going to have to be thrown away.

That old saying "you never miss the water until the well runs dry", well that applies to refrigerators as well. You don't miss it until it doesn't work.

Martha

This post was composed with my new Dragon Naturally Speaking software.

Prove You Are a Human!

Who hasn't encountered at least one or more of those little boxes with distorted letters with a request to type them in to prove we are who we say and not a spambot?



We understand why, but sometimes they can be frustrating! Sometimes I have to try several times before I get it right.  Now an enterprising company has something easier for us than a Captcha, but it is also extremely irritating, intrusive and I just plain HATE it!

I encountered this today when signing up for a forum.



When that ad started blaring at me, I almost closed the browser window! But I needed this forum so I continued on. I could read what needed to be typed in the box, but that ad made it hard for me to concentrate!
I am afraid, folks, very afraid! This sort of c**p just makes my spine tingle! What god-awful thing will they come up with next?

To see what this is all, just visit Solve Media.

Martha

This Crazy Texas Weather

This is May. In Texas. And it is cold!

It was warm yesterday, in the eighties. Today it is in the forties with wind chill in the thirties.

I suspect when August arrives it will be very hot as usual, probably 100+.

There is a saying here, if you don't like the weather stick around it will change.  But not in August because it is ALWAYS hot in August.

But then it is supposed to be warm in May and it is May and it is cold.

Martha

Don't Depend on the Cloud

The Cloud, what is it really?  It's just a big old server located who knows where. Who really has control over the server can be anyone of a number of companies, corporations  or even individuals.

Your ISP has servers.  They may own them or depending on the size of the ISP, could even rent space from some other entity.

Think you don't use the Cloud?  If your email is in the Cloud, Yahoo, G-mail, Hotmail, etc. You DO use the Cloud. Even your mail with an ISP is in the Cloud. It's all on a server somewhere and it is being scanned.  All the time. Normally the scanning is for keywords, either for advertising purposes or to be sure you are not misbehaving in some way.

Read what happened to this guy! And keep in mind, this was a PAID account. Here is another guy that lost his stuff in the Cloud! Microsoft Cloud Services Locks You Out Of Your Digital Life, Won’t Explain Why

If you keep your stuff online, better encrypt it.  That should keep the powers that be from 'scanning' your stuff. Believe it, they DO scan it.  And if they find something they don't like, well, 'Goodbye stuff'.

And don't forget about hackers! They can and do hack the Cloud, constantly. Everyday some site gets hacked and even though the site may deny it, your stuff is at risk!

If you really need to keep your email or other stuff in the Cloud for easy access from other locations, at least keep it all backed up somewhere close, like external media you can actually see and get your hands on it.

 

Martha

Playing Games

I think most of probably played the blame game when we were kids, usually trying to avoid the consequences of some action that led to something unpleasant like being grounded.

Eventually real adults figured out the blaming of others for their actions wasn't 'cool' and took responsibility for their own mistakes or actions.

Foolish me for thinking our government is run by real adults. As far as I can see, finger pointing and blaming others because the government is not working just lets me know how childish those folks on Capitol hill really are acting.

There is another game those childish folks are playing as well. I think it goes something like 'If I don't get my way, you won't either. I'll pick up my toys and go home.'

Nothing the people want is being accomplished. Everything the lobbyists want is being done.

Strange though, when something affects the Capitol Hill kids, how quickly something can happen. Like being delayed getting home on one of their many 'paid vacations' or being yelled at by the folks who voted for them the last time.

How quickly that fix was made!

Martha

Expiration Date

I noticed something this morning when I was getting ready to shower. I opened a new bar of soap and noticed an expiration date on the box containing the soap. I didn't know soap would ever 'go bad'. In fact I still don't know it.

I think as long as there is even a sliver of that bar of soap, it will still suds up and wash just fine. Maybe the fragrance in the soap will evaporate, but I doubt the fragrance is really needed to make someone clean. Or will it?

I suspect the expiration date is simply a marketing ploy. I wonder if anyone has ever tossed a good bar of soap because the box had an expiration date that had come and gone! There are a lot of gullible folks out there believing all sorts of urban legends and hoaxes, so why not soap that expires? (Could be the anti-bacterial stuff expires, but not the actual soap!)

I started to wonder, if there are other things I haven't thought of with expiration dates.  I knew food and medicines have expiration dates but not soap! so I checked my deodorant, no expiration date.  That's odd, deodorant soap does, but not deodorant. Toothpaste yes, mouthwash no.

Now that I have thought about it, I will be on the lookout for those dates! Sad to say I guess everything has an expiration date, including me.  But there is no date stamped on me, so will just have to wonder about that!

Martha

 

Capturas

I understand the need for these aggravating verifications, but gee whiz, why do they have to be so 'blurry'!

These old and injured eyes of mine have a really hard time with these.  Sometimes it's so bad I have to ask for the voice. Sometimes I just give up and forget about the whole process.

I think there has to be a better way to escape the spam bots, but so far I guess no one has come up with a better way. But sooner or later those nasty'bots will figure out a
way to get around the capturas and then maybe, just maybe someone will get working on the better way.

Martha

Bowing Out

I finally realized that all of the political inspired hate missives I've received in my email and on Facebook have just been making me stress out.  So for now I am 'bowing out'.

It started when Obama first ran for President. I have to admit I thought some of this stuff was funny, especially the 'born in Kenya' stuff.  However, I soon realized there were a lot of folks who actually believed this junk!  That whole thing started when one of the Hilary supporters made up the whole thing in hopes it would bring more support to her (Hilary) campaign. Wow, did that backfire!  Now there is a whopping thirty percent of Republicans that believe this idiocy!

The emails made fun of everything Obama related. But then they started getting nasty. Some of my so-called Christian friends started sending this stuff. (This is Christian behavior?)
Politics and religion have always let to contentious discussions and always will. Some of the early elections in the United States were really ugly, with all sorts of nasty and untrue statements being made by the candidates about their opponents. Sounds familiar, doesn't it!

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and in this country they have the right to express those opinions. I agree with that right. I also have the right to not read or hear those opinions, especially if it really stresses me out to hear what seems ugly, non-christian and downright ignorant in some instances, so I am going to just 'bow out'.

Martha

Leaving

I'm thinking about it, leaving Facebook.

I am not a dumb f**k as Mark Zuckerberg is rumored to have called folks who put their personal details in their Facebook profiles.

While I haven't put any details except what was required (and some of those may not be accurate), I resent the fact that many of my family members and friends naively did and are probably being targeted by ads or even scammers.

Every now and the Facebook changes their privacy policies and they only get worse. In fact, those policies seem to be almost non-existent and are certainly a big joke.  Consumer groups are trying to make Facebook back off from the latest changes, but I doubt they will, as Facebook is trying to up the amount of $$ they can suck out of the members and their information.

By now most folks should know that in truth, anything posted to the Internet is in fact available to the world.  There is no such thing as privacy.  There are some places that do give a lot more privacy for folks such as a sites like MyFamily or maybe even a private Yahoo Group, but nothing is really safe from hackers.

But Facebook?  Unless you have locked down your settings (and that's no guarantee because one of your friends can copy and re-post anything and maybe their settings are wide open) you have to assume anything you post can be available to the entire Internet.

Martha