Posts Tagged: ‘Miscellaneous’

Amazon App Store – Originally Published October 2013

July 29, 2014 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

Recently, I almost downloaded an app from the Google Play Store.  It wanted me to grant the following permissions:
Network communication
full network access
view Wi-Fi connections
view network connections
add or modify calendar events and send email to guests without owners’ knowledge
read phone status and identity
modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
pair with Bluetooth devices
find accounts on the device
test access to protected storage
prevent device from sleeping
expand/collapse status bar

Did you carefully read that permissions list?  Do you think that an app that can change your calender and send email without telling you must be an awesome program?   You would probably think that it’s a utility for managing your contact list, your important documents, or maybe a super schedule manager.

You’d be wrong.  Those permissions are for the Amazon Audible book reader app.  I stumbled on it by accident when I was searching for a book that I wanted to read that the library didn’t have.  Out of all the book sites: e-book, hardcover and paperback, Audible was the cheapest.  I wonder if the price was so low because Amazon thought they could secretly mine my contacts and sell more stuff to people on that list?

I’d check the Amazon Appstore to see if the permissions are the same, but I can’t.  A month or ago, I removed it from all of my devices.  Back in March of 2011 when I installed it, the Appstore seemed like a real good deal.  There was a free paid app every day and many of them were really good ones.   The Swipe Keyboard, Tune In Radio and Documents to Go are just a few that come to my mind.  There were also many good games that you could download an play without the advertisements.

I don’t know if it was always the policy, but about a half year ago, a lot of my “free” apps wouldn’t open.  I would get an error message telling me that I had to be logged in to the Amazon Appstore to use the program.  Of course, it would always happen at the most inconvenient times.  Oh well, I don’t have that problem anymore.

It’s probably my imagination, but my Android devices seem to be a little faster since I deleted the Amazon Appstore and all of the apps that I downloaded.  Maybe the faster speed will give me more time to read that book I purchased from the Google Play Store.

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Categories: Darkside

Black Friday Shopping – Originally Published December 2011

July 25, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Bah!  Humbug!  It’s that time of the year again.  This year I had planned not to be as grumpy during the holiday season as I usually am.  I think it all goes back to when I was in the Navy.  I was a ship’s cook and ended up working almost every Thanksgiving and Christmas for more than twenty years.  Just another day in the salt mines.

My daughter and her family alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas every year with us in Lake Charles and her in-laws in Baton Rouge.  This year was Thanksgiving in the capitol.  My wife told me she wanted to go to Best Buy and wait for the opening so she could buy a TomTom GPS for the oldest Grandson.  I got the model number they were selling and did an internet search.  I found the exact same model for the same price plus free shipping.  That was a line she could easily avoid. I almost forgot to tell you the name of the online merchant with the same deal.  It was Best Buy.

After a delicious turkey dinner at the Cracker Barrel in Sulphur, I was busy relaxing in the computer room playing some online poker.  The wife came in and asked if I was sure I didn’t want to go shopping with her.  I got the hint and put on my shoes.  I was off on my first ever Black Friday shopping excursion.  With any luck at all, it will also be my last ever Black Friday experience.

Our first stop was at Toys R Us.  We had to park in the Walmart parking lot.  We got in the line which went from the door to the South side of the building.  The queue made a bunch of double backs in the parking lot and then looped around the East side of the store.  I estimate the line was about ten miles long.  It was hard to make an adequate guess, but I know it was long.  We stood in the line for about twenty minutes before the boss decided we would start at Walmart.

We got to Wally’s World about 9:30 pm.  The bicycle she wanted to buy was in the Garden Center.  It took about twenty minutes to get from the front door to the line for the bikes.  I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think this was the only product that had an organized line to stand in and wait to make a purchase.  It actually wasn’t too much of a hassle.  I’m glad that was the only thing she wanted to buy.  The other sale items were on pallets in the aisle.  They had plastic wrapping and hand written signs telling us they were not for sale until 10:00 pm.  Shoppers were clustered around the various stacks.  For some reason, they reminded me of vultures waiting for something to die so they could feast.  I counted at least four uniformed law officers.  I’m pretty sure there were more scattered throughout the store.

After the melee at Walmart we headed over to Target for their midnight start to Black Friday.  We got their about a half hour early and got in the line which stretched back to the AT&T store.  Luckily for me, they still had their wireless turned on and I was able to download some reading material for my tablet.  When Target opened, the line moved fairly fast.  We got to enter the store about 12:30 am.  I was surprised to find how organized they were.  There were several employees on hand to direct the traffic in a semi-orderly direction. There wasn’t much crowding around the aisles.  My wife bought a few games and I bought a tin of Altoids.

I finally understand why every year, the shootings, pepper spray, stampedes and other problems occur at Walmart and hardly ever at any of the other retailers.  A little bit of organization and structure goes a long way.

When we left the store the line of people had been replaced by a line of trash along the sidewalk.  Luckily for whoever had to clean it up, there was plenty of room in the trash cans outside the various store fronts.  I’ve never liked litterers and they have just given me another reason to dislike the “Black Friday” hoopla.

Next year, my daughter will be here to go shopping with my wife.  I think I already feel a terrible headache starting.  It will probably peak on Thanksgiving Day 2013.

Thanks for reading.

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Selling Points – Originally Published October 2011

July 23, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

A couple of weeks ago, I was browsing the magazine shelves at Books A Million.  The latest issue of Maximum PC had one of those silly cover article teasers.  In large letters was the single word “SHOWDOWN”.  Underneath the headline, in slightly smaller block letters, was the teaser: “WE NAME THE BEST PHONES IN SEVEN CRITICAL AREAS”.  The seven critical areas were then listed:
1. Display Quality,
2. Photos and Video,
3. Chassis Design,
4. Gaming,
5. Battery,
6. Keyboard, and
7. Raw Performance.

Does anything about that list of critical cell phone areas seem strange to you?  Don’t you think that one of the critical areas of a telephone should be call quality?

Of course, that got me to thinking about how we seem to focus on less important things.  Of course, we call almost always refer to them as “critical areas”.  Ask anybody how big the hard drive in their computer is and they will probably know the answer.  Then ask them how many RPMs the disk makes, or what the seek time is, or what the data transfer rate is and you’ll likely get a blank stare.  I’d venture to guess that many salesmen in the store wouldn’t know either, but you can bet they’ll focus on the drive size.

Those same salesman will help you buy a monitor.  I guarantee they’ll focus on how big the screen is while neglecting to tell you about important things like resolution, viewing angle, response time, etc.  Although those are all “critical areas”, don’t you think the view is probably what you should focus on?

Don’t get me started on cameras.  Lots of megapixels are important, but they don’t mean you’re going to get a better picture.  Sensor size, start up time, shutter lag, image stabilization are all important.  It’s the picture quality that is important, not the cameras “critical areas”.

I think this mentality has spilled over into other facets of life.  Our politicians tell us all about the “critical areas” of government that they are going to fix.  I’d just like them to fix the important stuff.  Oops, I forgot, the only important thing to them is getting reelected.

I could probably go on for a couple of pages complaining about “critical areas” that don’t really mean much, but I’ve done enough ranting and raving for one article.  By the way, it doesn’t make much difference to me what the call quality of my phone is.  I hardly ever answer the darn thing anyway.

Thanks for reading.

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Gadgets I Can Do Without – Originally Published June 2011

July 19, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Back in the last century, I had a nifty little electronic gadget on my keyring.  It did only one thing.  If you pushed the button, it would indicate if there was a wireless network in range.  Back then, most networks were not secure and it was easy to get online.

Electronic gadgets have come a long way since then.  Many people have there own favorite gadget, everything from a remote control to a robot that vacuums the floor.  Even the military has gadgets they use to blow up things.  In my opinion, many of them are useless.  There are many new technologies others have that I just don’t care about.

By now I bet you’ve figured out that this article is going to be about some high-tech devices that I can live without.  The cell phone might be one of the most annoying gadgets ever.  I got my first cell phone about five years ago.  When I first moved to Louisiana, my daughter put the wife and me on her family plan and gave us both a phone.  Even people that can’t live without a cell phone would have to admit that they are often annoying beyond human endurance. The photos and movies they take can lead to all kinds of problems.  They can be awful scary.  When driving, you have to watch out for the cell phone packing motorist.  When carrying one, you have to worry about being tracked.  When using one, you have to worry about the controversial possibility that the thing is slowly cooking your brain.  There isn’t a whole lot of privacy any more.  Don’t you just love it when you’re sitting in a movie and someones cell phone rings?  After all of the ranting, I have to tell you that I’ve put myself in a position where I can’t live without the darn thing.  I’ve carried a pocket PC for years.  Everyone says they have a cell phone.  I tell people that I have a pocket PC with phone capabilities.  If an incoming call is not in my contacts list, it goes straight to my voice mail.  I don’t need to sign up for the National No Call Registry.  If I don’t know who is calling, I just don’t answer the darn thing.

The miniature keyboard is something I can do without.  One of the attractions of my pocket PC (cell phone) was the great keyboard.  I even wrote an article for the club newsletter on the thing.  Since then, I have hardly pulled it out.  Usually, it is just not worth the effort.  A while back, I received an e-mail that closed, “Sent from my mobile phone.  Please excuse any typos.”  As Colonel Potter often said on MASH, “Horse hockey!”.  (Once he changed it to “Cow cookies”).  I’m sorry, but I am not buying in to the notion that I should forgive poor grammar, bad spelling, or indecipherable texting because the sender is using a device with a lousy keyboard.

I think the Web cam is one of the dumbest inventions ever.  Why in the world would I or anyone else want to show the world how they look in the morning?  Why should I have to put on a shirt before sitting down to my computer?  Why should I have to feel that big brother is constantly peering over my shoulder?  You can turn the darned things off, but are you sure that electronic eyeball staring you in the face is really off?

You don’t see electronic pagers much anymore.  The last time I saw one, I was at a local restaurant.  They paged you when it was your turn to give them some of your money.  Talk about making you feel important. “Dr. Tiny, we have your table prepared with some surgical instruments.  Please come to the check in counter.  We’re finished testing your patience level.  Remember to bring your useless gadget.”

Speaking of useless gadgets, how effective can a battery powered robot that automatically vacuums the floor be?  Can that Roomba do a good job as small as it is?  Maybe if you got one of those robot doggies, you could use your Roomba as a robot doggie pooper scooper.

I’m still undecided whether or not I like dedicated e-readers.  My Archos tablet has e-book software that works pretty good for me.  The advantages that I miss out on are being able to read in bright sunlight and a much longer battery life.  Since I am seldom out of the shade for very long and I’ve got plenty of electric outlets, I’m not too worried.  I don’t have a dedicated e-reader, but I can not only read a book, but write one, listen to the radio and play a game or two.

I quit smoking a few years ago.  Lately, I’ve seen advertisements for an electronic cigarette. I’m pretty sure that’s another gadget that will end up in the junk drawer next to the key chain camera, the electric knife and the clapper.

I’ve got to go now. I’ve been busy searching the internet for a new gadget.  I’ve been looking for a Swiss Army Knife with USB capabilities.  I hope I can find one that is upgradeable.

Thanks for reading.

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Automobile and Technology – Originally Published March 2011

July 18, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

My oldest Grandson just got his Learner’s Permit and has become the official driver for many of our family outings.  That got me to thinking about the fact that I never cared much for driving.  I didn’t get my first driving license until I joined the Navy.  For some reason, they needed it for identification purposes.  I guess that the automobile is just one of those things I have that I could easily live without.  If Lake Charles had a decent city bus system, I probably wouldn’t drive at all.

Like so many other things, our vehicles are loaded with computers and other technology.  I’ve decided that I could live without most of it.

When the check engine light in my pickup goes on, I can’t hit CTRL-ALT-DEL, start the task manager and begin diagnosing the problem.  I’m stuck with visiting a repair place that is certified to do the repair.  I know I can interface with my vehicle’s computer.  Of course, to do it efficiently would cost at least a hundred dollars for the proper equipment and the software.  Then I would still probably end up having to go to the certified technician for my repair.

Do I really need to have a computer tell me when I need to stop and check the air pressure in my tires?  Could a missed firmware update cause a flat tire?  Do I want to take a chance on my transportation being infected with a computer virus?  I guess there isn’t any sense in complaining.  Computer chips in our automobiles are here to stay.  Since we have them, I can only wish the technicians would install some useful programming.

I remember a Plymouth my father had when I was a young man.  It had a push button gear shift.  On the left side of the dashboard was a light sensor that automatically dimmed the headlights whenever another car approached.  Your headlights also dimmed when they were reflected off of a white building.  I wonder why the designers/technicians have decided automatic dimmers aren’t as important as your tire pressure?

I wish that someone would invent an automobile application that automatically turns on the radio and tunes in programs I want to listen to.  I would never miss Kim, Leo or Ira again.  A good program could also change the station when a show I don’t like comes on.

If that GPS thing knows where I stop to use the toilet and can help them unlock my car from afar, why can’t they program my vehicle to hit the brakes when an accident is imminent?  It would sure be a lot cheaper than my car telephoning for the ambulance.

I sure wish they would hurry up and invent those robot car drivers that I’ve read about for years in the Popular Science magazine.  Then we wouldn’t have to worry about the other driver talking on the phone, reading the newspaper, eating their lunch, combing their hair, etc.

How come automobiles don’t have a program that keeps them from drifting into the adjacent lane?  Couldn’t they put in a subroutine so the car will stop when the traffic light turns yellow?  I sure hope they put in a line or two of code to stop tailgating.

I think they should incorporate Bluetooth into our automobiles.  When you can’t find you car in the parking lot, you just pull out your smart phone and locate your network.  Of course, you’d have to be within 30 feet of where you parked.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just say, “Play CD” and your sound system would start.  You could say “Set cruise control” and never get a speeding ticket.  Sometimes I’d like to say “Eject passenger”, but that would probably be illegal.

Enough of my wishful thinking.  They’ve already made the best technological advancement possible.  You can plug your coffee cup in and keep the coffee hot.  What will they think of next?

Thanks for reading.

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One Handed Column – Orignally Published January 2011

July 18, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Here it is again.  Another New Year is started and it’s time to submit another column for the monthly club newsletter.  At first I was just going to update the one I wrote last January . I thought it was a pretty good column with all my New Year technological resolutions.  I’m embarrassed to tell you that I didn’t do a very good job of keeping them.  Maybe I should just make a resolution to procrastinate more.  I’ll bet I could keep that one.

Then I gave it a little more thought and decided I could do a column with predictions about what technological advances would occur in 2011.  Heck, I can make predictions just as well as John Dvorak, Steve Fox, Tom Spindler or any of those technical guys.  Wait a minute, I feel a prediction coming on right now.  I foresee that in December 2011, the ‘Twas parody will be recycled in the monthly club newsletter.

After a little more thought, I decided that a man of my talents could easily start some new New Year’s technological traditions.   I could take an old computer, install a countdown timer and tie a cord around it.  After making sure the countdown time is synchronized, I could tie a stout cord to the machine and dangle it out the window.  At midnight, when the timer hits zero, I’d cut the cord and let it fall to the ground.  Doesn’t that sound like a lot more fun than watching some old ball in slime square fall?  Who needs fireworks on New Year’s?  Lets just network a bunch of computers together.  Have them randomly display the world famous blue screen.  We’ll get a lot of ooohs and aaahs for sure.

Epilogue: I almost hate to tell you what I’ve decided to do for this months column.  I had a lot more ideas to write about.  I usually start writing early in the month so that I have plenty of time for editing, correcting spelling, etc.  Unfortunately, on Christmas Day, I fell on the concrete and bruised my ribs.  I also fractured a wrist and am forced into one handed keyboarding, so this column isn’t going to have an ending.

Once again, I have proved that it’s easier to get older than it is to get wiser.  Thanks for reading.

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Online Safety Help – Originally Published April 2012

July 14, 2014 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

Has your anti-virus or firewall program ever blocked a site and left you wondering what happened?  Should you continue or not?  This month, instead of recommending a free program, I’m going to tell you about several internet sites that only do one thing.  All of them provide a service that helps you to stay safe while you’re surfing the Wild World Web.

URL Void is a free service developed by the NoVirusThanks Company that allows users to scan a website address with multiple web reputation engines to facilitate the detection of possible dangerous websites.  It’s easy to use.  Either type or paste the URL of the website you want to check in the box and click the “Scan Now” button.  In a few seconds you will know if you should be wary.

Should I Change My Password was created to help the average person check if their password(s) may have been compromised and need to be changed.  Simply type an e-mail address in the box and click the “Check it!” box.

PWNED List is another site that does the same thing as Should I change my password.  Check if your e-mail has been hacked.

How Secure is my Password?  Is kind of a fun site to use.  As you type a password into the box, the site estimates how long it would take to hack it.  At the same time, tips on selecting a good password are displayed.   The New York Times has an excellent article about this site.

Email Trace searches and finds where and email originated.  Copy and paste the email header and this site will find the sender.

Remember, just because you’ve checked a sites URL, doesn’t mean it is safe.  Common sense is probably the easiest way to stay safe while surfing the internet.  Excuse me, I think I’ve finally found the web site of the real Nigerian prince.  I’ll probably be a lot richer the next time you see me.

If you like any of these links, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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Bah! Humbug! – Originally Published December 2010

July 8, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Bah! Humbug!
It’s that time of the year again.  The retailers want us to spend all of our hard earned nickels on lots of things that we don’t really need.  I remember last year when I got suckered into buying a multifunction printer that also copies, scans, faxes and probably would clean my nose after a sneeze.  The problem is that I don’t need to do all of that stuff and would probably have saved some money if I’d just bought a scanner and a box of tissues.

About the only difference in the holiday season every year is that it usually seems to start earlier and earlier.  This year, I saw my first Christmas display on labor day.  Newegg started advertising Black Friday deals sometime during the first part of November.  I’m expecting the 2011 season to start around the Fourth of July.

Bah! Humbug!
During the holiday season, I spend a lot more time online getting my news.  I refuse to pay extra for a newspaper on Thanksgiving Day.  Do they really expect me to pay more for the extra advertising?  I can look at all the same ads online for free.

You can predict the news.  On Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can be sure that we’ll read about celebrities working at some homeless shelter or at a soup kitchen.  Where are they the other 363 days of the year?

Bah! Humbug!
This is the time of the year that the scammers are out in full force.  I consider myself to be pretty computer literate, but I almost got scammed when I got this e-mail from order-update@amazon.com:

Dear Amazon.com Customer,
Your order has been successfully canceled. For your reference, here’s a summary of your order:
You just canceled order #823-2346426-4655389 placed on November 23, 2010.
Status: CANCELED
ORDER INFORMATION (this was the link)
Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC
Because you only pay for items when we ship them to you, you won’t be charged for any items that you cancel.
Thank you for visiting Amazon.com!
Amazon.com
Earth’s Biggest Selection
http://www.amazon.com

I do quite a bit of shopping at amazon and I almost clicked on the order information.  If I hadn’t noticed that it wasn’t addressed to my amazon e-mail address, I would have been scammed.  The bad guys have sure advanced from pickpocketing, breaking into cars at the parking lots and giving us all a free I-Pod.

Bah! Humbug!
Every year, I’ve got to listen to some novelty song about five zillion times.  I’m just happy that Grandma doesn’t get run over by a reindeer as often as she used to.

Bah! Humbug!
It’s that time of year when we get to watch all of those TV specials and rerun movies that are better off forgotten.  It was a Wonderful Life when it was a movie, but 9000 times as a TV special leaves something to be desired.  Did you know that Jimmy Stewart has been dead for thirteen years?  The only good thing you can say is that during the holidays, we don’t have to watch the regular lousy television programming.  Don’t get me started on the commercials.

Oh well. Time for me to stop bah humbugging and write some club related stuff.  As I hope you know by now, our club web site (SWLAPCUG) is back up and running.  Travis and Tom have spent lots of time getting it tweaked to be user friendly.  All club members will soon be able to read the minutes of club meetings, view the treasurer reports, download newsletters, share computing tips, laugh at my inane jokes and many other exiting things.

When you go to the site, click the login button and you will be asked to register.  Your login information from the old site will not work.  Just pick a user name and password and enter your e-mail.  After a few minutes, you will get an e-mail with your registration information and a verification link to click.  This is the only time you will have to go to the web site from your e-mail.  The next time you are on the main page, enter your new username and password.  Click the login in button and you’re in business.

You don’t have to register to view many of the items on our web site; however, you won’t be able to participate until you do.  After you’re registered, one of the moderators will move you to the club members list.  More features are available to club members than to general visitors.

All of the features on the new site aren’t working yet.  In the Forums is a “Suggestion Box” topic.  If you’ve got any ideas for improving things, let us know.  Remember, we can’t make the site easier to use if nobody knows that you’re having a problem.  Once again, the link for our web site is: Southwest Louisiana PC Users Group.

Bah!  Humbug!  My wife just told me to put my shoes on because she wants me to go and help pick out the son in laws Christmas present.  I know what that really means is I’ll have to carry something.

Thanks for reading.

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Funny Stuff on the Internet – Originally Published May 2010

June 30, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I just love going to a carnival.  I don’t go on many of the rides any more, but I just love all of the fun things there are to do.  Unfortunately, carnivals can be pretty dangerous too.  There are always pickpockets who will steal everything they can.  We often hear of rides that injure people.  About the only thing that is really safe is the healthy food you can buy.

The internet is a lot like a carnival.  Everyone knows about the dangers and we all keep our antivirus programs updated.  I know that all of the SWLAPCUG club members have got their router firmware updated and their firewalls activated to keep the bad guys away.  Since everyone is so safe, I thought that this month I’d talk about some of the fun things to do on the internet.

There’s about 161,000,000 of them.  I know that everyone doesn’t have the same idea of what’s fun, but maybe if I tell you about my favorite sites, you might find something entertaining.

One of the things you can find a lot of on the internet are free games to play.  If you’re looking for games to play, good place to start is the Freeware Genius lists of top games.  My personal favorite online game is Texas Hold’em Poker.  There are a lot of places to play, but you’ll usually find me at World Series Poker at games.com.  If you like to play hearts, I recommend you try Bicycle Hearts at the Microsoft Gaming Zone.  The Gaming Zone has been around for quite a while and they have lots of games.

I’ve never been much of a television or movie watcher, but I love to listen to the old time radio shows.  Most evenings I’m listening to The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, Jack Benny, or my personal favorite – Fibber McGee & Molly.  My hard drive has about 21 GB of radio program files.  You can get them at The Internet Radio Archive.

In December 1995, Bill Watterson retired from cartooning and I lost my daily dose of one of the funniest cartoons ever.  Now, thanks to the internet, I can still read Calvin & Hobbes everyday.  You can probably find a daily comic you’ll like at GOCOMICS, COMICS.com, or ArcaMax Publishing.  None of the comics sites require registration.  Make sure you check out Pickles, another one of my favorites.

“The Alphabet has been Updated with 15 Exciting New Letters” is only one of the funny satires you’ll find in The Onion.  The fictional paper was started in 1988.  They‘ve been around more that twenty years, so they must be doing something right.  Their fictionalized news seems so genuine that it has occasionally been cited as real news.  I’ve got to warn you though.  There is often adult language used in the paper.  Another funny paper is the Bongo News.

Another web site that never fails to make me laugh is Over The Hill, a senior citizen humor site.  If you like senior citizen humor, you also might like to check out Geezer Guff.  The Darwin Awards is a chronicle of enterprising demises honoring those who improve the species………by accidentally removing themselves from it!

Maybe I shouldn’t admit it, but I think some of the videos on You Tube are extremely funny.  One of my all time favorites is Blonde Star, a commercial parody.  Of course, the Little Babies make almost everyone laugh.

Sometimes when I’m really bored, I click the Random Link Generator 40 or 50 times and end up finding an interesting web site to browse.

As you might or might not know, I’m a transplanted Northerner. When I talk with my brother and sisters on Facebook, I usually translate into Southern for them.  Everybody gets a few laughs.  Translating into a dialect is easy when you use The Dialectizer.  As I write this you can convert into eight different dialects.  It hardly ever fails to make me laugh.

Here is a sample:
As y’all might o’ might not know, I’m a transplanted No’therner.  When ah talk wif mah brother an’ sisters on Facebook, ah usually translate into Southern fo’ them, dawgone it.  Ev’rybody gits a few laughs.  Translatin’ into a dialeck is easy when yo’ use Th’ Dialeckizer.  As ah write this hyar yo’ kin cornvaht into eight diffrunt dialecks.  It hardly evah fails t’make me laugh.

That’s just a few of the things I like to do on the internet for fun.  I hope you enjoyed them too and maybe found a new site you’ll visit often.  Do you have a favorite place you think everyone should know about?  Why not take a minute right now and go to the club website.  Log in, go to the forums and post the link so we can all check it out.

Thanks for reading.

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Technological New Year Resolutions – Originally Published January 2010

June 23, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I’ve been writing this monthly column for almost a year now.  One of the things I’ve learned is that it is usually pretty hard to decide what topic to write on each month.  January is almost a gimmee topic.  Technological New Year’s Resolutions that I’ll try to keep.

This year I’m going to try to be better at doing my data backups.  I’ve got a backup schedule, but sometimes put it off to do other things.  I know it’s not wise to do that, but sometimes I accidentally eat a stupid pill.

This year I’m going to try harder to write a monthly column for the newsletter and actually submit it in a timely manner . I know that waiting until the last minute just makes it harder for the editor to complete the monthly bulletin.

This year, I’m going to finally organize all of my pictures and picture albums.  I’ve got photo albums in three places on the internet.  I’ve got pictures stored on four different hard drives.  I can probably delete a few thousand pictures and still have plenty left.  Do I really need more than one picture of the same scene?

This year, I’m going to devote more time to my other hobbies.  I haven’t had my telescope pointed at the sky in a long time.  My model railroad has been gathering dust for a month or so.  Oh well, at least I haven’t missed any SWLACUG meetings.

This year, I’m going to update my website more often.  I think I’ll steal some of Tom’s ideas and add some technical columns.  I could at least copy my Whatchamacallit articles.

This year I’m going to quit downloading and installing software that I’ll probably never use.  Do I really need another digital photo editor?  Will a different media player make my mp3’s sound better?  How many file cleaners do I really need ? Then of course, there are the games I’ve downloaded, played once and forgot about.

This year, I’m going to frequently remind all club members to help make our club a little better.  It doesn’t take much to do.  Just share your experiences with the software or hardware you use.  You’d be surprised at what you know that someone else doesn’t.  Some of my favorite web sites were recommended to me by someone else.  I didn’t sign on to Facebook until it was a meeting topic.  Now I spend quite a bit of time using the service.  Why don’t you write a one paragraph article letting everyone know how great or lousy the flash drive you just bought is?  Why not post a note on the club forum when you’ve found an interesting sale.  Maybe the most important contribution you could make is letting the club know what topics you would like to hear about at the monthly meeting.  Why not make a suggestion on what you’d like to see articles about in the newsletter?

On a different subject, I’d like to take a paragraph and say how much I enjoyed the 2009 club Christmas meeting.  I thought the gifts were all pretty good and I am getting a lot of use out of mine.  As always, the food was delicious and the company was better.

That’s all for this month.  Thanks for reading.

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