Posts Tagged: ‘Miscellaneous’

Christmas Gag Gifts – Originally Published December 2019

December 8, 2019 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.  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.  I’m expecting the 2020 season to start around the Fourth of July.  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.

There is one thing that I do look forward to every year.  The SWLAPCUG has a Christmas party.  The White Elephant exchange of gifts is always a fun time.  There is usually the “one” gift that everyone tries to get.  This year I thought I’d help out the club members selecting that “perfect” gift to bring.

This Bluetooth Beanie Hat will replace your your headset or ear pods and will keep your head warm at the same time.  I can think of multiple uses for this.  I’d probably wear it a lot when I’m sitting in my easy chair.

The Official BS Button would get a lot of use in many of the places that I go to.  The only problem is that it could cost me a small fortune to buy replacement batteries.

ThxToms Flashlights Gloves would be a good gift for somebody.  I’m not sure who, but somebody.

This 32gb thumb drive is pretty thumby.

Sometimes the Gift Box can be better than the gift.

See y’all on December 9.
Thanks for reading.

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Does Size Matter?

November 10, 2019 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

I often wonder about a lot of things.  Lately I’ve been thinking about magnitude.  Does size matter?  No, I’m not writing a post with innuendos about things that you might find in someones bedroom.  I’m not thinking about how big your car might be or even the size of our President’s ego.  I’ve been contemplating the size of the various electronic stuff that I use.

It all began when I recently purchased a new tablet.  I’ve routinely used a tablet since the Nexus 7.  My portable needs were never very high.  I use my tablet mostly for reading library books and magazines, listening to podcasts and playing a few games.  I never needed high end performance or top of the line components.  My biggest requirement was always buying a 7 inch tablet.  I liked that size because they easily fit in the side pocket of my cargo shorts.  This time, I couldn’t find a decent 7 inch tablet for less than $100.  I opted to buy a Chuwi 8 inch.  It works fine and I like it a lot, except for the extra inch.  It fits in my pocket, but not quite in my hand.  The feel just isn’t there.  I often feel like it is ready to fall out of my hand.  I’ve found that size does matter.

I have the same problem with phones.  I’ve had phones smaller than 5½ inches and larger than 6 inches.  They just didn’t work for me.  I need a machine that easily fits in my shirt pocket but doesn’t overwhelm my hand.  Size does matter.

I once owned a 10 inch laptop that I gave away to one of my grandsons.  It was a good machine with decent specs, but I couldn’t use it.  It was so small that it didn’t fit on my lap.  The smaller size meant a smaller keyboard which made it extremely difficult for a touch typist.  My new laptop is a 15 inch, the perfect size.

Another item where size matters is desktop monitors.  I’ve got five of them on my desktop.  I look at the 32 inch monitor all the time.  I seldom look at the 16 inch screen.  Size does matter.

The minimum RAM requirement for Windows 10 is 2 gb.  I don’t think anyone will agree that is the right size.  You should run at least 8 gb.  Size does matter.  (This is probably the one time where it can be said that “bigger is better”.)

I usually have about 10 mouses in my electronics box.  Most of them are there partly because they are the wrong size.  I like a full size mouse that fits my hand and doesn’t cramp my fingers when I’m computing.  That’s why I won’t buy a mouse online.  I need to check the fit in the store before I use it.

This article is starting get get a little long.  Does size matter?
Thanks for reading.

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SWLAPCUG A to Z – Originally Published October 2019

October 6, 2019 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Here I go again with one of my A to Z articles. This month the A to Z of the SWLAPCUG.

A is for Apple – a company with products that our club doesn’t talk about much.
B is for Bits & Chips – the club newsletter.
C is for Coppermine – the software that powers member photo galleries.
D is for Damn – a word that Tiny often uses when updating the club web site.
E is for Education – what we attempt to accomplish.
F is for From the President’s Desk – a monthly section in the club newsletter.
G is for GTPCC – our sister club until they disbanded.
H is for HostGator – our web site provider.
I is for Internet – whatever that is.
J is for Jande Street – where we hold our meetings.
K is for Kernel – because every member of the club works together
L is for Libre Office – the word processor used by many members.
M is for Monday – when we have our monthly meeting.
N is for Night – because it coincides perfectly with the M.
O is for Operating Systems – we discuss them all.
P is for phpBB – the software that powers our forums.
Q is for Quiet – with shy and unassuming describes the member with the longest drive.
R is for RAM – or ROM, RSS, RTF, RJ45, RGB, RAID, RPM, RTN, etc.
S is for Scribus – the software used to create the club newsletter.
T is for Tiny’s World of BS – nothing to do with the club but a shameless plug for me.
U is for Utilities – programs often discussed at club meetings.
V is for VLC Media Player – used by many club members.
W is for WWW.SWLAPCUG.org – or .com, the club website address.
X is for Xyloid – where we go to meet for a SIG group.
Y is for Yaud – Tom’s function in the club.
Z is for Zettabyte – amount of info to accumulate before the club disbands.

Thanks for reading.

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Downloading Electronic Books – Originally Published September

September 1, 2019 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
by Tiny Ruisch

Ever since I learned how, I’ve always been an avid reader.  My parents didn’t have a television until I was about ten years old.  That never bothered me.  The library always had a lot of entertainment.  In later life, when I was in the Navy, I seldom watched the ship’s movie.  I was busy finishing reading one more chapter before lights out.  These days, I still read about twenty magazines each month.  I used to read four or five books at a time.  I had a bedside book, a bathroom book, an easy chair book and one or two others laying around in various places.

I could not even estimate how many thousands of dollars I’ve spent buying reading material of one form or another.  In the past three or four years, my reading has all become either digital or audio.  I haven’t been in a bookstore or looked at a magazine display rack in at least two years.  For me, it’s all been for the better.  In this article, I’m going to tell you how you can do the same for free.

Luckily with e-book readers, I’ve saved a lot of money.  One of the reasons is because it is so easy to check the material out from the Parish library.  From my easy chair I can borrow a vast number of books, magazines, comic books, movies and much more.

There are many internet sites where electronic books can be downloaded for no charge. All the major booksellers offer some free books, but there are many other places where you can get a better choice.  A good place to start your search is at Tech Support Alert’s Free eBooks And Audiobooks To Read Online Or Download.  This is the launch page of categories.  It links to other sites that list free e‑books with download information.  The lists are sorted by genre.  There is also an alphabetical list on the same site at the Best Free eBooks Online.  The page title is somewhat confusing.  It is actually a list of sites that offer free books.  At the time of this writing there are 913 sites listed.  These pages also have links to sites for downloading comic books, textbooks and online courses.  Bonus tip: if you read the user comments, you will find links to many other sites.
Some other sites that I use to download free books (in no particular order) are:

• Project Gutenberg was one of the first e‑book sites.  There are more than 59,000 titles.  It has by far the largest list of free titles for downloading and the site is easy to use.

• Open Library is a section of the Internet Archive.  The goal is to have a web page for every book ever published.  Most pages have links to where you can get the book.  Some of the book are readable in your web browser.  You can borrow others for a two week period.

• Bookbub is a site that I check daily.  It isn’t a download site but lists the latest deals on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Google and Kobo.  Many of the books are for sale (usually $0.99 or $1.99) but it also lists many free books.  If you use the link I’ve provided, you won’t have to give them an e‑mail address.

• eBook Reader is a review site for all things e‑reading.  You can find information on both hardware and software.  They have an extensive section of where you can download books (both free and paid).  There are also several how‑to guides.

• Standard Ebooks is another free e‑Book download site.  There is not a large selection.  The titles mostly seem to be older classics.  The advantage is that book formatting is much better and easier to read.

I hope this list of sites has piqued your interest and gets you started on e‑book reading.  This is nowhere near a complete list of download sites for e‑books.  If you’re like me and like to read, these links should get you started.

One last note.  All of the links in this article are for downloads of e‑books only.  Many of the sites also offer audio books, recommendations for reader software and other goodies.  Most of the sites offer downloads in various formats, so be careful and double check the links.

Thanks for reading.

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Trademarking – Originally Published August 2019

August 4, 2019 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

From the Ninja Dictionary:
google
verb
°To deliver googlies.
°To move as a ball in a googly.
noun
°An internet search, such as that which is performed on the Google search engine.
°A hit obtained by a search engine.

I was originally going to write an article about how I don’t use Google for very many searches.  There are several specialized search engines that usually do a much better job.  I use the Bing search engine for most of my general searches.  It does an adequate job and gives me enough Rewards Points to pay for my monthly HULU service.

While researching how the brand name “Google” became a common word, I found that it wasn’t the first product that became so well known.  I had always known of a few others like Kleenex, Xerox, Band‑Aid, and more.  These are all brand names that haven’t become generic.  Here are a few others.  I didn’t know about them.  Do you?

• Popsicle – On a hot day, almost everyone loves frozen ice‑pop or freezer‑pop.  You aren’t eating a Popsicle unless it is made by Unilever.
• Jet‑Ski – I’ve never had a ride on a personal water craft.  That’s probably why I didn’t know that to be called a Jet‑Ski, it has to be manufactured by Kawasaki.
• Crock‑Pot – I took a break from writing this article and went to the kitchen.  There I found out that we really had a slow food cooker instead of the one made by Sunbeam.  I also learned that the word is correctly spelled with a hyphen.
• Dumpster – That trash bin has to be made by the Dempster‑Brothers to be called a dumpster.  The name is also a portmanteau, the blending of the words “dump” and the name “Dempster.
• Zipper – I always knew that a lighter had to made by Zippo to be called by that name.  I didn’t know that the fastener you “zip” has to be the B. F. Goodrich kind to be called a Zipper.
• Frisbee = WHAM‑O was sued in 2010.  The terms Frisbee, Hula Hoop and Slip’n Slide are still not generic.
• Seeing Eye Dog – If the animal wasn’t trained by Seeing Eye of Morristown, NJ, it is just a plain old guide dog.
• Super Heroes – I guess you can be only a hero if you don’t belong to DC Comics or Marvel Comics.  They jointly own the trademark.
• Velcro – Does anyone say “hook and loop” fasteners?
• TASER – If the police come after you, make sure that device in their hand was manufactured by the TASER International Company.  If not, you’ll have to yell, “I surrender!  Don’t hit me with that electroshock weapon!”
• Formica – If it isn’t made by the Diller Corporation, it is just a decorative laminate.

One last trademark.  I always knew that a Stetson was made by the John B. Stetson Company and wasn’t a generic name for a cowboy hat.  Like many other companies, their lawyers are quick to let you know when you infringe their trademark.  To be completely honest, I just wanted a chance to include this link to an article by a Washington Post journalist.

I hope that I can be forgiven for not writing about technical stuff this month.  Sometimes it is nice to just lean back in my La‑Z‑Boy (oops: I meant reclining chair) and turn on my Lava Lamp (oops: I meant liquid motion lamp) and reflect on other things.

Thanks for reading.

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Reviewed Programs I No Longer Use – Originally Published July 2019

July 7, 2019 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

In this months Lagniappe, I reviewed a NirSoft Utility that I’ve used for many years.  When I write my review columns, I usually check my indexes to see if I had previously written about the software.  This month, I noticed that there are many programs that I no longer use.  I thought I’d list a few of them and explain why I no longer use them. The links will open my original review.

• CCleaner – is a program that I used for many years.  It was originally known as Crap Cleaner and was a very good utility.  Over the years, many new functions were added which I hardly ever used.  In 2017, it was sold to Avast.  It wasn’t too long before it was discovered that the program included a Trojan malware installer.  I haven’t used it since then.  I also don’t use Avast Antivirus anymore.
• Kaspersky TDSS Killer – is another one purpose utility that I used to run weekly.  It simply scans your computer for root kits.  When I bought new computers, I didn’t reinstall it.
• TunnelBear VPN – is an still an excellent VPN (I think).  I quite using it when it was purchased by McAfee, a company that I don’t much care for.
• Spyware Blaster – is another utility that didn’t make it onto my Windows 10 machines.  It searches for and removes spyware, adware, browser hijackers, etc.  Now that I’m researching this article, I’ll probably install it again.
• WPS Office – formerly known as Kingsoft Office is an office suite of programs.  I use to solely use this program because it synced easier with my Android devices.  I haven’t used it for about two years.

These are just a few of the programs that I no longer use.  There are many others that I discontinued because I either had no use for them or they were no longer being updated.  Back in 2014, I even wrote an article about some old friends that I miss.

It’s not that I’m fussy and need the latest and greatest.  My default image viewer is VuePrint which was last updated in 2008.  It is still a great program for viewing, printing and converting graphics files.  I still do a lot of my web page editing with Kompozer, another program which will probably never be updated.

Thanks for reading.

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Fun Stuff on Wikipedia – Originally Published June 2019

June 5, 2019 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

`The other day I was reading Ripley’s Believe it or Not.  I learned that “omphalophobia” is a fear of belly buttons.  The article was only mildly interesting, but the comments were more fun to read.   Someone said they had a phobia about getting a phobia.  I was surprised to find out that there is such a thing.  After all, I found it on the internet.  Phobophobia is the fear of phobia(s) and, more specifically, of the internal sensations associated with that phobia and anxiety.

I’m not writing about phobias.  If you clicked the link you might have noticed that it opened a Wikipedia article.  The free encyclopedia is one of my favorite web sites.  I’ve even contributed a few dollars to help keep it running.  Although it can be edited by almost anyone, I’ve found that most articles are fairly accurate.

I’m not writing about Wikipedia either.  You can find millions of reviews with a simple internet search.  What is this article about?  I’d like to share some of the unique and funny articles that I’ve found on Wikipedia.  Here are some links to articles you might find interesting:

List of people who died on the toilet – I don’t think any of them were reading this article.
Ferret-legging – I wonder why I haven’t seen this sport on ESPN.
Bristol stool scale – I’ll have to remember to ask my doctor about this.
Trimethylaminuria – not only is this disease hard to spell, it’s incurable.
Leck mich im Arsch – Mozart was truly versatile.
Le Pétomane – another one that I remember was featured on Ripley.
List of animals with fraudulent diplomas – my dog is smarter than your cat.
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo – for wordsmiths.
Islamic toilet etiquette – I’m surprised I haven’t seen this on Facebook.
Chicken or the egg – hint. We still don’t know.
Longest word in English – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious isn’t the word.
Toilet paper orientation – seem like an appropriate article to end this list.

I was originally thinking of posting these links on the club website. I decided that would be a waste of my time as hardly anyone would see it. I also post these newsletter articles on my personal website. Here is one last Wikipedia Fictitious entry link to end the article.

Thanks for reading.

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The Google Bandwagon? – Originally Published June 2019

June 5, 2019 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

I’ve had my Google e‑mail account since February 11, 1911.  Other than receipts from the Play Store, I estimate that I’ve received about twenty important communications.  The only other mail I get are test mailings that I send to myself when I set up new e-mail accounts

Although I have side loaded a few applications, I almost solely use the Play Store.  I occasionally use Google Search when Bing or Duck Duck Go doesn’t give me satisfactory results.  I have the Chrome browser loaded on all of my devices, but I usually only use it for accessing the Play Store, watching You Tube videos or testing code on my web site(s).

Is this because I’m wary of the company tracking me so they can advertise?  Not really.  All companies do this.  Many are much more nefarious.  Is it because I don’t like Google?  Not at all.  They have some fine services and most of them work very well.

So why don’t I rely on Google for any of my day to day needs?  The answer is simple.  The service might not be available in the future.  Am I concerned about nothing?  Probably not, but lets take a look at some Google services that are no longer available:

• Inbox by Gmail was an email service developed by  Google. It was officially released to the public on May 28, 2015.  Inbox was shut down by Google on April 2, 2019.
• Google+ was an Internet‑based social network that was launched on June 28, 2011.  This was Google’s fourth foray into social networking and it experienced strong growth in its initial years.  The service was discontinued on April 2, 2019.
• Picasa was an image organizer and viewer for organizing and editing digital photos.  There was an integrated photo sharing website.  It was originally created by a company named Lifescape.  In July 2004, Google acquired Picasa and began offering it as freeware.  It was discontinued on arch 15, 2016.  Picasa Web Albums, a companion service, was closed on May 1, 2016.
• Google Goggles was an image recognition mobile app developed by Google.  It was used for searches based on pictures taken by handheld devices.  It was discontinued on August 20, 2018.
• iGoogle was a customizable Ajax based start page or personal web portal launched by Google in May 2005.  It was discontinued on November 1, 2013.
• Google Reader was a RSS feed aggregator operated by Google.  It was created in early 2005 and launched on October 7, 2005.  Google Reader grew in popularity to support a number of programs which used it as a platform for serving news and information to people.  Google closed Google Reader on July 1, 2013.
• Google Health was a personal health information centralization service (sometimes known as personal health record services) by Google.  It was introduced in 2008 and discontinued in 2011.

This short list is only a few of the more popular Google services and programs that have been discontinued in the past.  There are hundreds of others, including web authoring, news readers, social networks, messaging applications, web analytic programs, etc.  I wasn’t able to find any sites with an exact total of how many were discontinued.

Almost without fail, every time Google kills something you will find a lot of articles on how important it was.  There are always many suggestions on what to replace the Google product with.  They seem to forget that Google is a business and offered the services in exchange for user information which can be sold.  When the service is no longer profitable, it gets shut down, no matter how popular it is.

That is the main reason why I don’t use Google for things that are important to me.  What if someday Google G‑mail is no longer profitable?

Thanks for reading.

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The Tiny Redacted Report – Originally Published May 2019

May 12, 2019 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Lately, I’ve been at kind of a loss on what to write for this months Whatchamcallit article.  Since the club domain is coming up for renewal, I decided to write about how lousy member participation is.  I wrote the article and then realized it was probably not a nice thing to print.  I wrote some stuff that could be pretty embarrassing to some club members.

I can’t imagine anyone not knowing about the Mueller Report.  It has been on the news everyday.  The final redacted report was recently released.  For those that might not know, redacted means edited or censored.  I realized that this was the perfect solution for publishing my article without compromising anyone or hurting their feelings.  I hope you enjoy my redacted message.  Most redacts are several words or names.

Last month, ℜeedacted the newsletter for a ℜeedacted I had hoped to ℜedacted this month.  I will admit that part of the reason for the ℜedacted to make more use of the club website.  ℜedacted. I told them they would have to find out by ℜedacted.  I thought sure that everyone would check ℜedacted.

As I write this on the afternoon of April 19, ℜedacted to the web site to ℜedacted.  Even though I was wrong, I was not really ℜedacted.  Here are some website member statistics.  These numbers are since ℜedacted.  I don’t want to single out anyone so I won’t ℜedacted.

MEMBER DATE LAST ACTIVE NUMBER OF POSTS
ℜedacted Fri Apr 19, 2019 5:16 pm 823
ℜedacted Tue Apr 9, 2019 5:18 am 477
ℜedacted Mon Feb 11, 2019 1:01 pm 5
ℜedacted Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:44 pm 3
ℜedacted Sat Feb 21, 2015 5:09 pm 0
ℜedacted Tue Apr 16, 2019 10:55 pm 10
ℜedacted Never 0
ℜedacted Mon Apr 8, 2019 5:24 pm 0

Do we really need a club website when only ℜedacted and many members hardly even bother ℜedacted?  A forum based website could be a vibrant place where ℜedacted are really “users helping users”.
There have been several ℜedacted.  The site administrators have often ℜedacted. ℜedacted a suggestion was made to ℜedacted.  The site was changed ℜedacted the idea.  ℜedacted.

Then there is the club newsletter. ℜedacted useful part of the club.  I still think so, ℜedacted members do.   Other than some ℜedacted, hardly anyone has bothered to ℜedacted for content.  A ℜedacted articles, I was told that it was helpful.  If someone had ℜedacted the newsletter then.

My point is that it is the CLUB newsletter, not the Tiny newsletter.  It is the CLUB website, not the Tiny site.  (I already have four sites).  Everyone has knowledge of something.  Is it so hard to write a short article and share it with everyone?  Is it so difficult to take a minute and share that link instead of e-mailing it?

There. I’m done with my ranting. I’m not trying to ℜedacted anyone, but I really think that ℜedacted give some thought to our club ℜedacted.  Are they necessary or should we change or discontinue them?

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Android Threats? – Originally Published April 2019

April 28, 2019 Posted by Tiny

From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch

I think it is about time we have another Android malware scare.  Lately, I’ve noticed that many of the tech blogs I read are starting to get a little dull.  There have been many articles on what the best cell phone case is, why you should clean your screen with spit, which camera is better and various other mundane tripe.

If the bad guys would only write some new software that threatens to steal all of our private information, the bogs could get back to writing useful articles about how we can all stay safe.  Maybe reviewers will start emphasizing phones security and updating procedures and less to telling us which has the best camera.  Wouldn’t it be nice to start seeing more stories on which apps are bogus?

Actually, most of these fears are unnecessary since many malware reports are theoretical.  Your equipment would be compromised only if you downloaded a certain app on Tuesday between noon and four when it is raining.

Even though most Android threats are often click bait, I’d still like to see more of them.  After all, the presidential election is getting closer.  I’d much rather read lies about Android than politics.

Thanks for reading.

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