A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch
The recent Coronovirus (COVID-19) outbreak has got me to thinking about September 11, 2001. More specifically, I’ve been recalling the weeks after the awful events that happened. At that time, I was working at a convenience store in a small town. It didn’t take long for rumors to start that there would be a nationwide shortage of gasoline. That weekend, cars were lined up for blocks waiting to fill their tanks. Stations ran out of fuel, until the tanker trunks arrived with more.
Here we are in 2020 with another national crisis. Instead of gasoline, people are panic purchasing toilet paper and hand sanitizer. At least we have plenty of gasoline. There is one more thing we have an excess of: misinformation on the internet.
I don’t use Facebook a lot, about twenty minutes a day. According to what I read in my timeline, the Democratic Party released the virus so the President would look ineffective and not be reelected. Wait! I’m wrong. I read another report that said it was the Republican Party was at fault. They released it so that big companies would make more money selling things.
Isn’t it interesting that both Joe Biden’s son and Donald Trump’s son‑in‑law own controlling interests in a company that will make the anti‑vaccine medicine? I will admit that it is nice to read some different exaggerations and lies. I was getting tired of President Obama being a foreign borne Muslim terrorist.
For me, real life COVID-19 problems have been worse than the Facebook ones. CYPHACON was canceled. I’ve been having problems getting a refund for my hotel room that I prepaid for almost a year ago. Like all other events, computer club activities have all been suspended. I don’t even get my daily grandson visits as there is no school for me to pick him up from.
On the plus side, I have plenty of time to work on my projects that I never seem to finish. After I finished the SWLAPCUG club website redesign, I started to work on doing the same for one of my personal sites. Hopefully, I’ll get that done in the next month or so.
I’ve yet to complete my massive photo sorting, labeling and personal cloud storage project. I’ve been working on it for several months now. It is taking longer that when I scanned and uploaded more than thirty years of club newsletters. Eventually I’ll get it done.
Another thing I want to do is redesign the club newsletter. I’m planning some new sections and hope to set up an easier to use template. I will admit that this is one undertaking that has a pretty low priority.
One thing I know for sure is that if I’m going to accomplish anything, I had better spend less time on the internet, especially Facebook.
That’s all for this month. Thanks for reading.