Internet Privacy

There are a lot of steps, but I will compartmentalize my accounts going forward.

WordPress’ New Editor – Ugh

I tried for the second time to start a new blog with WordPress. This used to be a snap, but new blogs by default use the new, horrible block editor that makes working with a blog a lot harder to format. I’m sure I can do a bunch of tutorials to learn, but I consider learning to use something I’ve used for 10 years without much problem a big waste of time.

I suppose the software engineers needed a project, but there’s wisdom in “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” For the new blog, I want a simple template with a main space for posts and a small sidebar. I chose the same Theme used for this blog, but it gave me three squares across. That could work for a more visual blog, but this one’s mainly text.

I suppose I should download my blog files regularly in case I’m switched over and must abandon ship. What’s awful is I just paid my annual fee last month and I may be out the door in a couple months.

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The Lastest Tech from Strange Parts

A tour of a cool factory that makes amazing UV printers. Something to behold in Shenzhen, China.

Mac Tips

I love upping my computer skills from Snazzy Labs. Don’t worry about using the terminal commands. If I can do it, you can.

Click here to get the commands he uses.

Online Security

I just learned from a computer security expert that we should never put our date of birth (DOB) on any online profile. Just because you’re asked for something, you don’t have to provide it. We should make up a DOB to protect ourselves from identity theft.

Movie-map.com

After discovering Literature-map.com, I found Movie-map.com, an artificial intelligence site to help you find movies you’re likely to enjoy. I can play with it for hours. Now I have to see how much I like the recommendations.

After entering Zazie dan le Metro as a favorite movie, I got these results.

I also liked The Red Balloon, Spring, Supper, Autumn, Winter, Spring, Edward Scissorhands and some of the others. I need to watch more to of the above.

Here’s what inputting Yi Yi yielded.

You can contribute to the movie recommendations by participating on Gnovies.com.

Mac Tips

With the hope of speeding my this ever so slow Mac Mini, last week I attended a Macintosh Maintenance class at a nearby high school. While some of the tips covered I already knew like:

• You shouldn’t keep a laptop plugged in all the time. It’s best for the battery if you allow it to drain, some say to 15% other recommend 30%.
• You should use a surge protector so that if your electricity fluctuates and harms your computer.
• You should accept software updates, which can be done automatically.
• You should back up your files either with an external hard drives, a cloud service, or flash drives.

 

I also learned a few new ideas, such as:

• Don’t save (many) documents on your desktop as this slows down your computer significantly.  It’s better to create an alias (by highlighting the original icon and press Command+L or choose File and then Make Alias) of a file on the desktop and keep the actual file in the documents or other place.
• Empty your trash bin daily.
• If you set your time cursor to blink, that can be an indicator of whether your computer’s working fine or not. So if you’re on your computer and the colon separating the hour and minutes isn’t blinking, then there’s a problem.
• Keep your computer on on Friday night into Saturday morning because this is when Apple puts out updates, which patch security holes and improve your computer’s performance.

My Next Project

I’ve got one of these white MacBooks and would love to update it as shown in this video. It would be convenient to have an extra laptop.

Query Tracker

Querytracker.net is a terrific tool for writers who’re starting out and looking for a literary agent or publisher. You can search based on your genre and other criteria and find people who’re most likely to be interested in your work. You can also keep track of your queries and see how long these people usually take to get back to you.

There is a premium option, but you can do a lot for free.

If You’d Like a Laugh

How not to behave online, whatever your politics