Posts Tagged: ‘Miscellaneous’

My “New” Old Car (2026-11)

November 1, 2026 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
by Tiny Ruisch

I had a small auto accident this past month.  As a result, my ten yard old vehicle was declared irreparable by my insurance company.  This required me to spend a lot of time buying a “new” old car.  It is a 2022 model which is old, but new to me.

Like so many other things in this modern age, our vehicles are loaded with computers and other technology.  I am fast deciding that I could live without most of it.

There are so many buttons and controls that I’m beginning to think I’ll have to take a college refresher course to learn about them all.  At least my wife has learned how to start the car with a button push instead of turning a key.

When the check engine light in my car 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 “Tech Nation” again.   Good programming 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 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 calling for the ambulance.

It looks like they have finally invented those robot car drivers that I’ve read about for years in the Popular Science magazine.  It hasn’t stopped me from worrying about the other driver talking on the phone, reading the newspaper, eating their lunch, combing their hair, etc.

My new old car has a program that keeps it 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 wish they would put in a line or two of code to stop other cars from tailgating me.

I’m impressed that I can tell my car to call Pat and tell her I’m going to be late for a meeting.  I wish I could say “Set cruise control” instead of looking for a button to push.  Sometimes I’d like to say “Eject passenger”, but that would probably be illegal.

I figure that if every time I drive somewhere, if I learn what one of the controls do, in a year or so I will be proficient in operating my machine.

Enough 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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Time Waster (2026-10)

October 11, 2026 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

Lately, it seems that every time I sit down to work on the club newsletter, I find myself getting distracted by something.  Often, I have no control over the distraction.  After all, when the Mrs. interrupts me, I’m smart enough to say, “Yes ma’am.”  When the phone rings, I have to take some time to decide whether or not to answer it.  Texting is worse.  Most of them require a reply.

“The Internet is a big distraction.” Ray Bradbury hit the proverbial nail on the head when he said that.  For instance, when I searched for a quote to place in this article, I spent time looking at the list of his books and short stories to check if there was any I wanted to reread.  Then I had check out other authors that I might find interesting.  Time wasted?  I often justify my side incursions on the internet by telling myself that I’m just looking for trivia questions for a “Quizzler Puzzle”.  In the future, if you need to know that Ray Bradbury’s first book was “Dark Carnival”, you’ll know how I found that question.

I hate to admit it, but a big distraction for me is games.  I just plan on taking a short break to play something.  Just one more usually turns into a bout a half hour.  Sadly, the same thing is true of YouTube videos.

This months newsletter has even more distractions than usual.  I’m finishing it on a cruise ship.  I have to admit that I often look up from my laptop when someone drops a plate of food.  It seems that someone is always yelling at somebody else  Then there are always one or two people that have had a few too many alcoholic libations.  The Cruise Director has to make a lot of announcements telling about all the fun things that are happening aboard the ship.  Luckily, I don’t get distracted whenever a pretty girl in a bikini walks by.

One thing that doesn’t distract me like a lot of other people is email.  I have several email addresses, but only a few are allowed to notify me when there is a new message.  I usually check my email twice a day, in the morning and evening.  If a message is important, I’ll either get a text, a phone call or sent to my “special” addresses.  I’ve got enough other stuff to misdirect me.  Oops! I was just distracted my looking up the fact I could say misdirection instead of distractions.

I try to get the monthly newsletter finished and ready for the proofreaders seven days before Pat sends it to the members on the Saturday before the Thursday meeting.  Almost without fail, I have another four or five days of distractions left.  Someone almost always has a last minute item or change to input.  Luckily, there isn’t usually many typos that need correcting.

That’s enough distractions for now.  Thanks for reading.

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Email Addresses (2026-08)

August 2, 2026 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

Sometimes we have to make changes, even if we don’t really want to.  I was always a buyer of Windows phones until Microsoft abandoned the OS.  I was forced into changing to Android.  Secunia PSI, EULAyzer, Key Tweak, Kaspersky TDSS Killer and BlueGriffon Web Editor are just a few of the programs that I have quit using because they are no longer supported.

Now I’m in the process of having to make another change that I dislike.  For years, I’ve usually had about a hundred email addresses.  This was easy to do because Hostgator (my website host) offered unlimited email accounts.  I always found this useful for controlling spam.  I made a separate address for each account I created.  If I started getting junk mail at that address, I knew that my information was sold.  Then I would simply delete the email address and quit my association with the said business.

Unfortunately, Hostgator has changed their plan and raised their prices for unlimited emails.  The new plan only allows ten email addresses per count.  This means that I have to either change my web hosting or change my method of handling my email.

This is not a quick task.  I have to log in to about a hundred web sites, change my address and then wait for confirmation.  So far, the hardest part is deciding which email address to keep.  It has come down to my Clickers address and others that I deem really important. I even have a secret email that is only known to five people.

I’ve just noticed that this is one of the shortest articles I’ve written.  It’s probably because I’ve been changing.

Thanks for reading.

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A to Z – It Used To Be (2026-01)

January 4, 2026 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

Over the years, I’ve written many articles on technology terminology.  This is another one of them.  It originally started as a puzzler quiz for the newsletter.  It soon evolved into a list of obsolete technology, terminology, companies, etc.  I hope you enjoy learning the alphabet from A to Z – it used to be.

A is for Amiga computers, the last product line of Commodore International.  That was the company that brought us the VIC-20, the Commodore 64 and many other great computers.
B is for Beta Max tapes.  They have become obsolete along with the letter V.
C is for Circuit City.  After the bankruptcy in 2008, the brand name was purchased by Systemax and lived for a while on the internet.  Even that is no longer with us.
D is for dial up modems.  I imagine that someone somewhere is still using one.  Can you remember calling someone on the telephone and getting that unique sound?
E is for ENIAC, the first computer.  It was initially designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army.
F is for floppy disks.  They started big and got smaller.  Finally they disappeared.  CDs and DVDs probably won’t be around very long.
G is for Google Reader, which was an RSS aggregator operated by Google.  Although it was still popular, Google discontinued it.
H is for Honeywell computers.  Still in business today, Honeywell International ceased manufacturing computers in 1989.
I is for Infocom.  If you’ve read any of my past articles, you’ll know that I think they produced some of the best games ever.  My all time favorite was Suspended.
J is for the Jupiter Ace.  In 1983, it was advertised as possibly the fastest computer in the universe.  Instead of BASIC or CP/M, the machine’s default operating language was FORTH.
K is for Kinescope, at one time the cutting edge of video technology.
L is for Laserdisc, a video technology that never really made it to the big time.
M is for Mosaic, one of the first graphical web browsers.
N is for Netscape, once the dominant browser for surfing the internet.  The final version was released in February 2008.
O is for Olivetti, once a well known typewriter manufacturer that branched out into making computers.  They are still in business as a subsidiary of an Italian telecommunications company.
P is for Pager.  It used to be the machine that made the noise in movie theaters.  Supposedly, you were important if you carried one.
Q is for Quantum Link which later became America Online.  Q-Link was one of the first on line bulletin boards.
R is for Rolodex.  Does anyone still use these index cards to keep track of their contacts?
S is for Slide Projector.  The only time you hear about slides anymore is when someone wants to know how to digitize them.
T is for typewriters.  There is still a company that makes them, but you won’t see them in use very much.
U is for UNIVAC, the first general purpose computer for commercial use.  It was also the first computer to correctly predict the outcome of a presidential election.
V is for VHS tapes.  They have become obsolete along with the letter B.
W is for Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, Windows 3.0 Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows Millennium, Windows 98, etc.
X is for the xD-Picture Card. These flash memory cards were only used in Olympus and Fujifilm cameras.  They were expensive and replaced by SD cards.
Y is for Y2K which on January 1, 2000 was going to be the end of the world because computers wouldn’t be able to correctly calculate the date.
Z is for Z-DOS, a forked version of MS-DOS designed to run on the Zenith computer.  I was originally going to make Z for Zenith, but they are still around.  LG owns the brand and sells a few items.

That’s all of my thoughts for January.  My mind is empty again.  Thanks for reading.

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Little Red and Little White Guys (2025-12)

December 7, 2025 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

I was looking over my past articles that I’ve written in December for the club newsletter.  Almost all of them with “Bah! Humbug!”  Almost immediately, a little guy sitting on my shoulder in a white suit whispered in my right ear, “That isn’t very Christmas like.  You should get in the spirit of the holiday.  Why don’t you write something positive for a change?” Then another little man in a red suit sitting on the other shoulder whispered in the left ear, “Start with the Bah!  Humbug!  You don’t want your reading audience to think you’ve changed your stiyle.”  A conversation between those two little guys followed:

Little Guy in White (LGW): You should write about how Christmas is giving and not receiving.
Little Guy in Red (LGR): The readers would rather know about how to create a computer virus.
LGW: How about a nice story of the great food you can eat at Christmas time.
LGR: They would probably rather read about “passing gas” apps you can download from the Play Store.
LGW: You know you shouldn’t listen to that red guy. Write an article on how to install free programs.
LGR: That’s what I said. Most of the gas apps are free.
LGW: You’ve done so many of those kinds of stories in the past. This year you should write about Christmas joy and harmony.
LGR: You know that it is so much more fun to make up something out of your imagination.
LGW: Maybe you could write an informative story about how Facebook and Twitter manipulated their news feeds to get that guy with the orange hair elected.
LGR: That’s actually not a bad idea. You could talk about how stupid users are to believe that stuff.
LGW: I’ve got it. Write a funny story about Christmas shopping on Black Friday.
LGR: That’s got some possibilities. The crowds, the deals that really aren’t so great, the greediness, etc.
LWG: You should try writing something that will make people laugh.
LGR: Are we back to “passing gas” apps?
LGW: Whatever you decide to write, do it quick. It’s almost deadline time.
LGR: We finally agree on something.
LGW: How about another one of those informative articles on how to use the club web site?
LGR: Now you’re hallucinating. Nobody will read an article like that.
LGW: Bah! Humbug!
LGR: Ditto!
Thanks for reading.

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My Reading List (2025-10)

October 5, 2025 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
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 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 of my book before lights out.  These days, I still read at least twenty magazines each month.  I am usually reading three or four books at a time.  I’ve got my bedside book, bathroom book, digital book and an audio book loaded on my phone.

This year I did something new.  I created a “summer reading list” of all the books I was going to read this past season.  I’ve never felt the need to do that before.  As I’ve gotten a little older, my memory is starting to slide a little.  I thought that a reading list would remind me of books I’ve wanted to read.

Now that we’re into October, I realize that I haven’t finished my reading list.  I thought I’d take a few minutes and share my books to read list with you.  These are all books that I haven’t yet read.  I’ve included the Amazon link for each title just in case anyone else would like to read them.  I’m not sure, but I don’t think any of them are available from the Parish library.

• The Manly Art of Knitting – The description says it all. Who am I to not read a cult classic.
• Folks, This Ain’t Normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World – With a sixteen word title, this just has to be a great book.
• Winning Lotto / Lottery For Everyday Players – I’ll read this if I ever start playing the lottery.
• The 2009-2014 Outlook for Wood Toilet Seats in Greater China – I’ve been to China two or three times and never realized this was a problem.
• Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung – Confucius say, “Smooth words and fawning looks are seldom found with love. ”
• Much Ado About Nothing: The Restored Klingon Text – Shakespeare kind of looked like a Klingon.
• What’s Your Poo Telling You? – Sometimes I’m just overly curious.
• Fancy Coffins to Make Yourself – I’ve been thinking of taking up woodworking and this looks like an interesting first project.
• Reusing Old Graves – I need someplace to put those fancy coffins that I’m going to make.
• A Passion for Donkeys – I figure that any book that gets mostly five star ratings on Amazon must be a good one to read.
• The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America – I just hate going to the Walmart parking lot.

I guess you’ve probably figured out by now that I don’t really plan on reading all of these books.  I will admit that I have read one of the books on the list.  I won’t tell you which one.  You can feel free to read any of them and send a review to club newsletter.

A final thought.  Looking at this book list, I’m reminded of one book it makes me want to read it again.  It was one of Ray Bradbury’s best books.

That’s all of my thoughts for October. My mind is empty again. Thanks for reading.

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Airline Technology (2025-09)

August 31, 2025 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

Last month, the wife and I took a trip to visit our grandson in Idaho.  We flew from New Orleans to Idaho Falls via Denver and returned via Dallas.  One of the things that was unique about this journey is that it was the first time I had been on an airplane in twenty‑five years.

No, I’m not afraid of going up in the air.  Way back then, we returned from a cruise and flew from San Diego to Lake Charles.  I’ll admit that my memory may have faded a little, but I remember the flight changes resulted in our luggage arriving at a different destination.  Of course, when it was found a few days later, they wanted me to make another trip to retrieve it.

Over the years, I just snicker every time I read about a tech glitch than cancels thousands of flights.  Same for bad weather, air congestion, maintenance delays, employee strikes and the myriad of other things that make air travel inconvenient.

After deciding to fly, we decided to make it easy.  Because of my mobility issues, we scheduled plenty of layover time in the two cities.  We didn’t check any bags which precluded the worry of lost luggage.  This also saved us the forty dollar cost of checking.
The outbound trip was great.  Even TSA was nothing more than a time delaying inconvenience.  We left and arrived as scheduled.  I was even enjoying the journey just a little.

Then we came home.  The plane left Idaho Falls on schedule.  We were in the air for about thirty minutes when the pilot made an important announcement.  There was a door that failed to close after takeoff.  He said it had something to do with the air conditioning system and was not a hazard to flying.  The only problem was that the plane could not fly at a high altitude, nor as fast as normal.  He then said there was not enough fuel to get to Dallas, so we would have to land and repair the problem.

At first we headed back to Idaho Falls, but then it was determined to go to Salt Lake City.  Then he told us we had to circle the airport and use up excess fuel before landing.  We landed in Utah for repairs.  The pilot was correct that it wouldn’t take very long.  After a little more than an hour, everyone was back on the plane.

The pilot soon announced that we would take off just as soon as some needed chemicals were poured into the lavatory.  Most of the passengers had a good laugh when someone in the back yelled, “Why didn’t you do it while most people were off of the plane?”  About a half hour later, we were in the air again.

Like many others, when we got to Dallas, our connecting flight was gone.  We were rescheduled to leave at eleven the next morning.  The airline gave us vouchers for a motel.  We finally got there around eleven.  After a lousy nights sleep we got back to the airport almost three hours early.  I just wanted to get through TSA (which was much more difficult than the other two times) and get back home.

We got to the departure gate about an hour and a half early.  About a half hour before take off we started to worry a little.  There was no plane at the gate.  I found an employee and asked.  The gate had been changed.  There was no announcement, either on the loudspeaker or the monitor.

We got to the new gatet with about ten minutes to spare. The door to the jetway was closed.  I said a few bad words.  It turned out that it had closed by accident and no one had the code needed to reopen it.  We finally got on the plane and made it to New Orleans.

Even with all of the improvements in technology, I’m still not impressed with airlines.
Thanks for reading.

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Rambling About the Computer Club (2025-06)

May 27, 2025 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

I’ve spent the past two hours trying to decide what I should write about in this space.  At first I thought I’d remind everyone that school has let out for summer vacation and remind them to drive safely.  Then I remembered when school started everyone was reminded to drive safely.  I decided that wouldn’t be a good subject because some wise acre would surely think that meant we didn’t have to drive safely the rest of the time.

Then I thought that maybe I could give some hints on how to use your computer more efficiently or maybe how to use one of my favorite programs.  I immediately realized that I already try to do that in my various workshops every month.

Then I realized how lonely I get at some of them.  My favorite workshop is the Tuesday Q&A.  We don’t get near as many members as I had hoped for.  With well over 150 active members, there are seldom more than three or four attendees.  It’s a real shame.  Cal is usually one of the participants and he is really great at answering questions.  Why not join us and try to stump him?

Now that I’ve started to ramble, I can think of a few other things you can do for the Cajun Clickers.

Why not contribute an article to this newsletter?  Do you have a favorite program that you think would be useful to other computer users?  Did you get some new hardware?  Have you found a great website that everyone should know about?  Heard a funny technology story that you just can’t want to tell everyone?  Take a few minutes and write about it.  It doesn’t take long and might be just the thing that could generate more interest in our club.

Why not bring a friend to one of our monthly meetings?  You can impress them with how smart you are by being a member of our club.  They just might decide to join and then we could all benefit.

When he wasn’t busy helping me invent the internet, almost the President Vice President Al Gore said, “Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.”  I think that means this would be a good time for me to shut up.

Thanks for reading.

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April Fools Pranks (2025-04)

April 6, 2025 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

April is here again.  I won’t make the same mistake I did last year when I wrote an April Fools column about leaving Baton Rouge.  I sure got a lot of questions about why I was moving.  I’ve always been an April Fooler type of person.  It all started several years ago when I was almost born on April 1.

In this modern age, April 1 pranks almost beg to be played on someones computer.  Almost every one uses a laser mouse these days.  They can be easily disabled with a small piece of tape or a post it note on the sensor.  Many people won’t notice and will have a hard time figuring out why all of a sudden their mouse isn’t working.  You can confuse them even more by opening mouse properties in the control panel.  Change the mouse speed to the slowest setting will make any mouse activities an ordeal.

Another prank that has been around forever can still confuse even a veteran computer user.  Simply take a screen shot of your victim’s computer.  Then hide all of the desktop icons and replace their wallpaper with the screen shot.  Sit back and watch them click on icons that won’t load a program.

Another quick prank is to open Google’s home page in a browser.  Click on preferences and change the default language.  You’d be surprised at how many people this trick will fool.

All of the following pranks in this article have been tested on Windows computers.  I haven’t done any research to see if they will work on Apple’s Operating System(s).  It shouldn’t be to hard to find out if you’re interested.

Many users don’t know about sticky keys.  Sticky keys will change how the Ctrl, Alt, Shift and Windows Key will function.  When enabled, keys are serialized instead of operating together.  For instance, instead of typing “Shift – a” to capitalize, you would have to type “Shift”, release the key and then type “a”.  This key change will drive an unsuspecting victim crazy.  Sticky keys are enabled easily by pressing the “Shift” key five times in quick succession.

An evil prank that you should only play on someone that won’t beat you up is to cause their computer to shut down.  Right click on one of the icons on your victims desk top.  Type the following in the target box: %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s -f -t 100 -c “Your Message Here”.  “Your Message Here” can be replaced with whatever message you like.  I use something like “That does not compute so I am shutting down” or “I’m sleepy. I think I’ll shut down and rest now.”

Whenever your victim double clicks on that shortcut, their program will not start.  Instead, your message will display for 100 seconds (unless you change the number in the target box.)  Then the computer will shut down.

These computer pranks are all designed for the Windows operating system.  Although they are non-destructive, you run the risk of aggravating the user and making him or her possibly want to harm you.  Use them at your own risk.

Remember, pranks are supposed to be for fun.  Use discretion when implementing them.  It would be nice if you fix their computer for them afterword, but who am I to tell you what to do?

Thanks for reading.

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APCUG Workshop (2025-02)

February 9, 2025 Posted by Tiny

Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch

Would you like to learn about Chromebooks and what they can do?  Are you ready to use Gmail like a pro?  Do you know all of the methods for backing up your computer?  Want to find out how a Raspberry Pie works?  Would you like to never spend another dime on computer software?  Want to find out how your smart TV works?  Want to learn how to use a Ham radio?  Want to find out how to research genealogical databases?

Some of these topics have been presented at CCCC workshops, but other haven’t.  You can attend them and many more with your club membership.  Almost every Wednesday of the year, the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG) has a “Wednesday Workshop”.  Even if the topics of the week aren’t of interest to me, I almost always attend.  I’ve found that I almost always pick up a useful hint or tip.

All that is required to attend is an active CCCC membership and the Zoom application.  All you have to do is sign up for the APCUG mailing list.  You can easily join by clicking the link in the Clicker Classified section of the newsletter.  Clicking the registration link will open a form in your web browser.  Just enter your e-mail address, first and last name.  In the final block enter “Cajun Clickers Computer Club”. The full name is required.

Joining the list gets you invitations to all of the associations workshops.  These informational presentations are on Zoom They are usually presented every Wednesday and on one Saturday each month.  When workshops are scheduled, you will receive an e-mail with information on how to register and get Zoom login credentials.

You can also view the videos on YouTube.  Just search for APCUG.  I recommend listening live if you can.  I find it hard to believe that more of our members aren’t utilizing this great resource.  Maybe it is the same reason they don’t attend club workshops.

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

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