Got a call today from a scammer.

The Caller ID showed 212-777-3461. I wasn't going to answer, but my younger son answered it. The caller asked for my older son by name.

My son said  "He isn't here". The caller said our computers were sending out virus.

My son  told the caller "We don't have any computers because the police took them all when he was arrested."

The caller immediately hung up.

I am still laughing.

Names are not listed to protect the innocent and the guilty.

Those Tacky Cookie Warnings

A lot of folks really don’t like cookies from websites.Nearly every browser has a way to delete cookies and a lot of utilities have an option to delete cookies.

Personally I have never worried about cookies as for the most part they are harmless, but they are a method to track users. I just assume I am being tracked anywhere I go on the web.

But recently I keep seeing something like this on a number of sites:

(Click to enlarge)

Okay I know you are placing a cookie on my computer. I already knew this before you started with this obnoxious banner! So being the ornery old lady I am, I now do this:



The folks who put this on their sites are getting it from Google. If you click the ‘More info’ link you get taken to Google’s Privacy & Terms page.  At the top of the side menu is Technology and then Advertising. And the truth is revealed. Read it for your self!

Privacy and Terms/Advertising

Then there is ‘UClick’.



According to this banner they use a cookie to ‘get you the best experience on our website’. I fail to see how collecting information about a view to one of their sites is going to make the experience any better, all I see is they are collecting information to share with other sites, basically to do with your details as they see fit.

Universal Uclick Privacy Policy

This page is a bit long and I suspect they count on folks not bothering to read it all, but again, nothing they say here is really going to benefit the user, just the site owner and/or affiliates.

I know we are being tracked everywhere we go on the web. I don’t knowingly go to sites that are not what I would choose. But my information can be shared, sold or given to any number of other sites.

Keep in mind, nothing is or almost nothing is really free any more. We the consumers are the product, not the websites, free utilities or most advertised free stuff.

Don't Believe Everything You See, Hear or Read On The Internet!

I have gotten to the point where I don’t believe hardly anything I read on the Internet, including Facebook. I don't always believe what I read in print either. There are just too many trolls, mischief makers and downright liars out there.

I suppose I can still believe most of what I see in real life, but with technology evolving so much I am beginning to wonder about that as well. (And if I go shopping I sometimes have a problem believing what some folks are willing to wear in public!)

Some folks take a grain of truth (maybe truth) and blow it all out of proportion to reality.

Some folks may not like a politician, a political party, a situation and want to make the world believe something is true when it isn't. (Think Birthers) The fact is you just can't believe any third party accounts any more as there is no telling if what they say is true or not. This can include almost anyone, including friends and/or family members. They are most likely well meaning and they may believe what they are saying is true, but in fact, they may just want to believe it and want you to believe it as well.

I don't answer the phone much any more either. You can't trust Caller ID anymore either as the scammers know how to spoof who they are including names AND numbers. They frequently use spoofed names such as ‘Toll Free Call’, ‘Support Center’, or even an important sounding name such as US Government.

The scammers masquerade as someone calling from Microsoft (Microsoft doesn't call anyone unless the person has an ongoing problem ticket initiated by them.) The scammers could be a collection agency using illegal tactics to make folks think they have to pay up whether they owe anything or not. The list goes on and on. I wish I could block these scammers, but they would just change the number and keep calling. Once your number is added to a list, it is in the wild and anyone can buy those lists.

Martha

MyPhone

We have an unlisted phone number and we signed up for the 'Do not call Registry', but it doesn't make any difference. We still get calls from scammers, unethical marketers, dubious charities and the list goes on. The phone rings all day from these calls.
We have considered just cancelling the phone service, but that really isn't a viable option for now. (Maybe later)

We have caller ID, but with all the folks that know how to spoof phone numbers and names, it doesn't always let us know who is really calling.

If only we could afford one of those automated answering systems!
It could go something like this:

"Hello, thank you for calling our unlisted number!"
"Press one if you are a scammer!"
"Press two if you are trying to sell us something we don't want!"
"Press three if you want us to donate some money to your CEO and maybe a little bit to a real charity!"
"Press four if you are from Microsoft and my computer is sending out a virus!"

Which ever number they press would automatically hang up.

For folks we want to talk to, there is this option:
"If you are one of our family members or friends, dial the secret extension you were given by us and leave a message or just wait for someone to answer"

However, we don't have one of those systems so we will just have to look at the caller ID and if it is a number we recognize, answer it or let it ring.

Breaking News

Something is seriously wrong with 'Breaking News'!

Maybe it's just me, but I foolishly thought 'Breaking News' should be something of some magnitude of importance such as floods, earthquakes, national events that affect us, etc.

I get 'Breaking News' notices from USA Today. I am seriously considering canceling this service.

The reason?

Kim Kardashian announced she is pregnant.  This is important? How? Millions of women are finding out they are pregnant and it isn't important to anyone except their families and friends.

If this is 'Breaking News', then I guess I don't need to know about these news flashes.

Good grief!

 

Martha

Less is More and More is Too Much!

Why do I think I need so much stuff?

The last time I moved house was in 2005. I cleaned out stuff galore.  I donated loads and loads of stuff to Goodwill.  I sold over $200 worth of paperback books to Half Price Books.  (That was a LOT of paperbacks, they don’t pay too much for old books!)

I took a lot of stuff to a consignment shop. I tossed out gobs of old stuff. (Why I had kept it all, who knows?)

When I finally got moved and everything put away,  I thought I had finally purged all the un-needed stuff from my life.  I was wrong.

I still have too much stuff. Yesterday I decided I should take my cell phone with me when I go out into the back yard. (Just in case the door gets stuck, I can call for help to get back in the house. That happened once before, but I was IN the house, luckily!)

Now I don’t want to just lay my phone down somewhere, I want it in reach (I might fall down!) So I remembered I have a small pocket on a chain that would work just great. So I went looking for it. What in the world is all this stuff hiding in dresser drawers!

Time to get rid of more stuff.

I found things that I thought I had thrown away, donated, or just forgot I had ever had!  (Why do I have 40 pairs of socks?)

I did find that pocket, but now I have to go through all those drawers where stuff is hiding out of sight.  The closet too, and get rid of more stuff.

I know why I have so many clothes I don’t wear any more. What if I gain back all the weight I lost and need them?

That kind of thinking is why I have so much stuff! I might need it!  So I need a new mind set, ‘That stuff is old.  If I need it I’ll get new stuff!’

Less stuff will give me more room. (To get more stuff!)

 

Martha

It Seemed Like a Good Deal

I was offered a really good deal with Verizon. Get a tablet for $100 and get a $100 rebate and  1GB of Data Free for Life! (For the tablet)



Except it wasn’t.

Today when I checked on it, I found out the rebate form was lost.  The customer service rep told me I was more than welcome to resubmit if I had a copy, which I didn’t as it was filled out at the store and mailed before I came home.

This just reinforces my opinion of rebates.

They suck.

It has yet to be determined if I get that 1GB of Data, it sure doesn’t show on my online plan!

Martha

Trapped!

A garage door opener is such a handy thing.  That is until it doesn’t work.

We didn’t know there was a problem until my son came home from work and the remote opener didn’t work. Our garage door is extremely heavy and he was afraid it would fall before he could get it completely raised. He certainly didn’t want it to fall on his car.

My car was in the garage and I really didn’t want that door to fall on my  new car!

So here we were, one car in the driveway and one trapped in the garage.

I am a bit paranoid about all sorts of stuff and I kept thinking, ‘What if the house caught fire? I couldn’t get my new car out!

I made a rather frantic call to a overhead door repair and the next morning all was well. The door was fixed toot sweet and now I am no longer ‘trapped’.

Martha

A Dangerous Day?

Supposedly daylight savings time save energy. I guess maybe there is a small savings, but on the whole, is it really worth it?

Think about it. The Friday before this silly thing started, people were driving to work in daylight. The Monday after, they are driving to work in the dark, and they haven’t had quite enough sleep. So more accidents are likely to happen. No savings there.

When those sleepy heads do get to work, they are just a tad sleepier than normal and as a general rule, sleepy people are not at their most productive. No savings there either.

I am not the only one thinking about this. So I Googled it. Look what I found.

USA Today  In fact this dumb practice is actually costing MORE energy! And it is dangerous to our health!

Daylight Saving Time is Bad for Your Health I knew it!

There is a lot more,  just Google it for yourself.

Two states seem to be smarter than the rest, Arizona and Hawaii do not observe DST (Daylight Saving Time). maybe I should move.

So how did all this silliness start?  If you really want to know, this article on  WebExhibits is pretty thorough and very interesting.

Rant over.

Martha

Doldrums

Doldrums defined:

: a state or period of sadness or depression

: a state or period in which there is no activity or improvement

That certainly fits the description of me for the past month. I guess it's the weather.  Or maybe it's just a state of mind due to my advancing age. Whatever it is, I am trying to overcome this 'state', but it isn't easy.

Whatever the cause/reason, I have discovered I am not alone. A lot of folks around me are having the same problem.

It Has to be the weather. I can hardly wait for Spring!

 

Martha

Product Feedbacks

Almost every time I buy something online, I get that email from the seller:

“Please rate product”

I used to do it, but not anymore. The first time or two, the format I submitted was not satisfactory.  Please edit to include ‘yada yada’

First of all, they sent me a request.  When I responded, they acted like I was the one who wanted the feedback and wanted me to edit my response.

So guess what? I just said to hell with it and now I don’t ever ever respond to requests for feedback.

In all fairness, I suppose other retailers might not make the same error in judgment as that first one did. However, my time is worth something to me and I choose not to respond to something that doesn’t meet their requirements.

I read a letter published in my newspaper.  This letter just said what I believe to be true. Don’t annoy customers, it’s bad business. When I get those requests for feedback, I am annoyed. I delete them unopened as I consider them SPAM.

Annoyed,

Martha

Facebook, Do I Need It?

I keep thinking about leaving Facebook, but so far I haven’t. I just wish I could hide some posts, especially all those posts about politics.

Some folks on my Facebook are die hard political fanatics. I really don’t want to read the lies that are put out by both parties, the GOP and Dems alike.  They both have too many absurdities to be believed, but that doesn’t seem to make much differences to folks. Those political posts just keep coming.

Then there are the sappy posts. Like ‘If you love your son  share” or other goofy crap.

Ah the hoaxes! So many and so few to dispute them.

And don’t forget the religious posts. Lots and lots of them. I have nothing against religion, but is it really something for Facebook? Especially since there are so many different religions and not everyone feels the same way about others beliefs.

I mistakenly thought Facebook was for family members and real friends to connect with one another about real things like what’s going on in your lives.  Some folks seem to ‘friend’ anyone and everyone whether the know them or not. I guess that’s ok, but this is how the scammers get in and who knows what damage they will do?

I know Facebook has to make revenue in order to keep this monster going. I don’t have a problem with that. But the latest thing that Facebook wants to impose on us is just about the limit.

Oh, Brother: Here Come Facebook’s New Video Ads… That Autoplay In Your Feed

I have no doubt the marketers will jump on it. I will then leave Facebook for sure. (Maybe)

I just wish we could have rules for Facebook like the ones in my Yahoo Groups. (No political and religious posts allowed)

Tale of a Prescription Part Two

The conspiracy seems alive and well.

I did go back later that day and guess what, the prescription still wasn’t ready.  The reason this time, they didn’t have the required amount and it had to be ordered.

Sigh! I have never ever had this much trouble getting a prescription filled. It isn’t as though it had a narcotic involved, not a pain killer of any kind! Just a antibiotic to kill an infection.

I finally got that prescription. Was it a massive amount? No, just an tiny tube. I just hope it does the job after all that hassle. It has an option for refills, so if I need to refill it, I will put in the request at least two weeks before I actually need it!

 

Martha

Tale of a Prescription

If I was even a little bit paranoid, I would have been sure this was a conspiracy out to get me.

Last week I went to the eye doctor for my annual exam. Everything was as well as can be expected after having eye surgery on the right eye to repair a macula hole. However I do have an infection on the eye lids, so the doctor said he was giving me a prescription. The assistant said it wouldn’t be ready until after 5 PM, so since I turn into a pumpkin about that time I waited until the following day to pick it up

The pharmacy had no record of this prescription, so I called the eye doctor’s office to see what was up. After checking they were most apologetic and said they were sending it ‘right now’.

Now I went to pick it up, but no it still wasn’t ready as the prescription did not have the required specified amount. The pharmacy had faxed the doctor’s office, but there had been no reply. So I went back the next day and yet again the prescription was not ready as there still had been no reply from the doctor’s office.

Fast forward to today. I went to pick up the prescription and it wasn’t ready  and won’t be until 5 PM. So again, I will wait.  Since there is a major temperature drop expected tonight, I guess I will try to hold off on the reversion to the pumpkin stage and pick it up after 5 PM, assuming it will finally be ready.

If it isn’t ready, I am going to assume there really is a conspiracy concerning this prescription!

Hoaxes Abound, Especially on Facebook

I have to wonder, why are there so many hoaxes on the Internet? I suspect there is a small number of folks that just take delight in fooling people.

They used to come mainly in emails sent by worried friends who want to protect us. They warned us about all of the bad things just waiting to happen to us if we don’t watch out, so ‘forward this to everyone you know’.

They also told us about the really great things that Microsoft or other big companies would give us if we just forward the email to ‘everyone we know’.

And let’s not forget about all of the evil things that will happen to our computers, including total destruction. All of this silliness just kept coming and coming, with supposed references to the news, Snopes or other sources. However, if anyone took the time to investigate,  the hoax would be quickly determined to be just that, a hoax.

Now the hoaxers have a great big wonderful venue to perpetrate their false missives. Facebook can reach so many more folks so much faster!  I discovered that Snopes (Snopes is a site to help dispel hoaxes) now has 344 Facebook hoaxes as of this writing and by the time you read this there will probably be more.  Truth or Fiction is another site to research to ‘get the truth’. Another site is Facecrooks. (I like this one!)

I wish there was a way to convince my gullible friends to think about these things before they perpetrate the hoax. There are almost always clues to indicate it is a hoax. These warnings always seemed to include ‘send this to everyone you know’, or ‘post it to all your friends’.

If you think it’s better to be safe than sorry and go ahead and post or email that hoax, you really need to think again. That’s how these hoaxes spread, by well meaning folks who ‘don’t want to take a chance’ and don’t bother to research.

To check it out, go to Google or your favorite search engine. You will probably find out very quickly if it’s true or not. You can check with Snopes, Truth or Fiction and even the website of that TV station that supposedly reported it.

Just don’t make the hoaxers happy by posing hoaxes!

Sneaky Spam

The things that spammers try never cease to amaze me. They always try to keep a step ahead of unsuspecting folks by using new tactics to get attention.

For my website I have a contact form for users to ask questions or just make comments about the site. I made this site back when Windows XP was young and a lot of folks used the email that came with XP, Outlook Express.  I used to get a lot of questions about Outlook Express and I still get a few questions, but for the most part the feedback form just generates those folks trying to sell me an SEO service. I don’t answer those as I even have a notice telling those folks I won’t answer.

I seldom get any other type of spam, but today I did! While it was a bit clever and made me laugh, I wonder why it was even done?

The spam:

Name of sender: Kathie
Email of sender: kathiekearns@gmail.com
------------------------- COMMENTS -------------------------
Hello, I am writing in an unusual case ... Some time ago, I used your services, and one of your employees face was familiar to me. At dinner with my wife, it turned out that he was a burglar, who 5 years ago broke into our home!!! This is ridiculous!!! How you can hire criminals? I found at least 3 bad entries for him at website for background check http://everifies.com !! I am sure there are more!!! Please do something about it, things like that are ridiculous!!!

Normally I wouldn’t have clicked that link, but I did accidentally and here is what came up:



So some spammer is way behind and wasting their time.

My website needs a serious overhaul and I am not quite sure what to do about it, but turning it into a blog may be the answer.

Martha

Observations About Neo

When folks started fussing and whining about 'neo', I didn't understand. My Yahoo ID was working as always, no changes. In fact it still is but who knows for how long.

So I created a new Yahoo email account and joined with two of my Yahoo Groups.  In order to see what other owner/moderators were seeing, I made this new ID an owner on one of the groups and started testing.

Perhaps since I belong mainly to tech groups, I wasn't seeing all of the issues a lot of others were seeing. We don't really use the database option and don't rely on lots and lots of photos as these are used mainly for screenshots to aid in troubleshooting.

There was a 'glitch' in the bouncing members section, as it was showing some folks as bouncing that are no longer members, even a few that had been banned for bad conduct.

Otherwise all functions worked as they should.  Things were somewhat harder to find, but by exploring, looking and testing I managed to find just about everything. One thing of note, most everything now seems to using JavaScript. So if users have disabled scripts by using an add-on like 'noscript' for Firefox or a similar add-on for other browsers, the Yahoo Groups interface is virtually unusable.

Once noticeable thing that seemed to put a lot of folks off was the fact that the Home page has now been moved to the About page and customization that was done previously is almost 'missing in action'.

The customization does not seem so important to folks in tech groups, although it is nice. Using the neo profile, the first thing that I noticed when I got to the home page is a large somewhat blurry photo of a keyboard section with the name of the group in the lower left corner.



From comments by others and looking at some other groups with my neo ID, I have the impression that a large number of groups have basically the same photos, depending on the type of Group.

What seems odd to me is that both of my Yahoo email accounts that are IDs for Groups have  neo in the web address. Both email accounts work the same. Another thing, I belong to several groups that originated in Canada and they are still showing the old 'classic' format, but I have heard from some folks in UK groups that say they are on the neo format.

In December 2007, Yahoo supposedly had over 109 million members across 8.8 million groups.  Recent estimates by some put those numbers much higher.

I guess with that many members and groups there is bound to be a lot of problems changing everyone over to a new format.

By now there could be more or less, as supposedly a lot of disgruntled folks have closed their groups and moved elsewhere.  According to Wikipedia, nearly half a million group members have left Yahoo due to the "neo" format. The number grows each day. Keep in mind, Wikipedia can be edited by almost anyone, including unhappy folks.

Yahoo's mail servers have been glitchy off and on for as long as I have been a member of groups. It is just one of Yahoo's 'gotchas' and that hasn't improved yet. However, some folks seem to think it is neo related, but I think it's just the same as always.

So why did Yahoo change the Groups from the old 'classic' to the new 'neo' format?  My best guess is the underlying code has slowly been corrupted with too many programmers making too many 'improvements' over the years.  Like when 'too many cooks spoil the broth', it has just gotten too much to try to fix.  Most of us know, there comes a time when the old is out and in with the new.

Technology marches on, and if we don't march with it, we get left behind.

Martha

Changes

I’ve heard it said that in order to go forward we have to accept changes.

In the past year I’ve seen some changes that I don’t particularly like, but I am trying to learn about them as I know change happens and generally I can’t do much to stop them.

Microsoft Windows 8 is probably one of the biggest changes for me as well as for a lot of other folks. I have managed to learn how to do what I want in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 will be better, but still not what I really would like.

I guess my problem stems from the fact that I am like a lot of older folks that don’t like changes as I am sort of ‘set in my ways’. Microsoft never said they wouldn’t change Windows and it certainly is their right to make changes even though we may not like them.

I have used almost every version of Windows (except ME) and I always liked each upgraded version, even Vista. It did take me a while to get used to it, but I did and I never had the problems with Vista that a lot of other folks seemed to have.

The old dependable format for Yahoo Groups is another big change that a lot of folks are so upset about. While I admit Yahoo might have handled the change better (they didn’t let folks know it was coming), I suspect once it finally completes, folks will get used to it or go another way. I am pretty sure that the new look came about as the old code was getting too big, corrupted and dated. So while the new code was being written, why not make it look better too!

Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have to keep reminding myself of that every time I boot Windows 8.

Ed Bott of Zdnet said it so well “Any corporation has a right to do whatever they want with their products.”  While he was referring to Microsoft, this certainly applies to Yahoo as well.

I suspect we will see more changes faster and faster as new and better technologies are developed and put into play.

By the way, I upgraded my iPad to iOS7 today.  I don’t like the way the new icons for apps look. I will get used to them.

Martha

The Problems With Yahoo’s Neo Groups

Seems like there are a lot of problems with neo, but it also seems like its who you ask. There is a cadre of folks trying to force Yahoo to get rid of neo and bring back the old format. (Sorry folks, it won’t happen!) Some but not too many folks say they like the new format.

As with anything new and changed, there is a number of folks that are resistant. Same is true with neo. One of the biggest problems is the change is not happening all at once to everyone to everyone or to every group.

It appears to be a work in progress. Bringing back features seem to be happening, but isn’t consistent and doesn’t always seem to ‘stick’. Lots of things are there, but hidden and some are broken for now.

Pros so far, clean interface. Ease of switching from one group to another is MUCH easier. Posts entered while on the website are almost immediate.

Cons so far, almost too many to name. Post delivery to Inboxes extremely sporadic and sometimes never happens or days later.  (This has happened many times before neo came into being.)  Some groups are neo, some are not.  Seems to be random.

For the average user neo seems to be working ok, although the banner is not what users are used to seeing. Group owners are having a hard time trying to remove or change that banner if they have been transferred to neo, impossible if they are still using the old format. The mail delivery is probably the thing that impacts them the most.

Group owners and moderators are having the worst of it. Functions they normally perform to keep the groups working are often not working and some are having a problem even finding where those functions are located.

In my neo ID, I have found most of what I need. So far what I see that will impact a lot of users, the photos cannot be downloaded easily. This wouldn’t bother me much, but for some users this is a major problem, also for some types of groups. Many owners keep track of bouncing members.  The bouncing list in my neo ID shows every member, past and present that has ever appeared on the bouncing list. This is obviously broken and is an example of stuff that stays on the web forever!

The list of problems seems endless, but everyday some more things get fixed and eventually I hope it will all work.

The biggest issue of all was the fact that Yahoo didn't tell folks about neo before they implemented it.

Martha

Uproar At Yahoo Groups

About a month ago I started hearing about neo.  At the time I had no idea what it was and for awhile I thought they were talking about Yahoo Mail, since that has been a hot topic ever since Yahoo ‘upgraded’ their mail app.

Boy was I wrong. Yahoo is again changing the feature I use the most with Yahoo, Groups. They tried to change it several years ago to resemble something like Facebook, but there was such an uproar the change didn’t happen.

But the change this time is not to each Group but to each user and the changes are not happening to everyone at once.

So what one user sees at his Group’s web interface is not what someone else is seeing and now the confusion reigns supreme.  It’s even worse for Group moderators who can’t even get logged in sometimes and when they do they can’t do the job that a moderator is supposed to do.

Since at this time I haven’t been ‘neo-nized’ it’s a bit hard for me to  understand what it means. However I expect it will happen sooner or later as I doubt Yahoo is going to back down this time.

The uproar is deafening in the Yahoo forums. Supposedly millions of members have left, thousands of Groups moved to other venues and been removed from Yahoo. At least one Group is threatening lawsuits, contacting the ADA, contacting their Congressman, the press and any other organization they think can put a stop to this ‘neo’.

I never cease to be amazed at these folks.  I suspect the majority have forgotten that the Yahoo Groups are basically a free service. Yahoo has the right to change this service at any time and even terminate the entire Groups program if they so choose.

In order to survive in the modern world of the ‘world wide web’, things must be updated. Eventually old code gets corrupted and stuff no longer works the way it should and is open to hacking.

I know these folks have been members a long time.  They have amassed albums of photos and files. Some of these Groups have thousands of members.  There are Groups for every kind of medical condition and they provide support not immediately possible elsewhere. There are Groups for dogs and dog problems and the lists go on and on. They are fighting for what is a way of life for many of them and I can’t blame them.

I think Yahoo should have let the Groups know what was coming and why. Just a warning would have made the whole neo thing easier to swallow, even though the members may not have liked it.

As a footnote, I have heard from a few members that actually like neo. As for me I will wait and see what eventually happens.

Martha