Category: Observations Page 44 of 89

The More of Social Media

By Carl

On July 30, 2014

In Observations

Social Media is all about more.

Tumblr adds posts to my Dashboard in trying to get me to follow more blogs.

Twitter adds paid advertisements in trying to sell me things.

Facebook is one giant ad.

All of these services constantly recommend people they feel I’d enjoy following.

What if there was a site that gave you less? What about instead of recommending new people to follow or ads to buy from offered you a quieter experience?

Have you been following a person for years and never liking or sharing anything they post. What if the site asked you why you still followed them?

What about an RSS feed that you skip or skimmed through everyday? What if your RSS reader tracked your reading time versus post length. Then asked if you still wanted to read it.

I don’t want my media to ask me about new things. The purpose is not to replace what I read now with other things. I don’t want a paid-for promotion system. I don’t want the network to guess who I’d also like to follow.

I use Tiny Tiny RSS for my RSS reading. I host it on my server. I like it for a number of reasons, but one of them is it shows me inactive and troublesome feeds.

I can see who has not written in weeks or even years and remove those feeds. I can see what feeds are showing errors. Then I can visit the site and see if the feed has changed. Or if the site is gone, remove it.

It’s a simple feature but it goes a little way towards removing the cruft of social media and helping me trim down my lists.

Remove not replace is my mantra.

Ducks

By Carl

On July 25, 2014

In Observations

Since I’ve started eating better, the second phase to Operation Be Less Fat is exercise. All this week I have taken walks around the National Mall and Capitol Building. Working in DC does have its advantages for lunch-time strolls around the city. The constant influx of tourists makes for superb people-watching.

I’ve been taking pictures as I walked because it’s relaxing. It’s a Friday in the summer. Enjoy some ducks.

Remove Windows 8 Wireless Profiles an easier way

By Carl

On July 24, 2014

In Observations

This morning a friend Tweeted in horror that managing wireless profiles in Windows 8 required using the Command Line. Windows had decided to hand on to a wireless network so she couldn’t connect to a new access point.

Are you shitting me, Windows 8? I have to remove wireless profiles via COMMAND LINE???? Sweet Thor's nipples, I hate this operating system.— Reesa Herberth (@reesah) July 24, 2014

I was shocked this was the method prescribed by Microsoft so I had to look. And she is right.

Some tasks, such as deleting a profile, must be done at the command
prompt. To do these tasks, open Command Prompt, and then type the
appropriate command from the following table.

— Manage wireless network profiles – Windows Help

At the command prompt you need to type netsh wlan delete profile name=”ProfileName”. This is how you can remove a wireless profile in Windows 8. There had to be a better way.

And there is.

Up to Windows 7, previously connected wireless networks were saved and
viewable via the Preferred Wireless Network List, but this feature seems
to have been removed in Windows 8. Microsoft probably removed it as
they have added a supposedly smart feature, that handles wireless
profiles by how much you connect to it.
— WiFi Profile Manager 8: View Preferred Wireless Network Profiles in Windows 8

Wifi Profile Manager 8 is a freeware application released Lee Whittington for The Windows Club.

The author notes some people have had success with the application while others have not. But if the command line scares you or if you think it’s absurd to have to use it to do something that was very easy in Windows 7, try it out.

The Fresh 20

By Carl

On July 23, 2014

In Observations

Inspired by Conor McClure’s post about the Whole 30, I am sharing what my wife and I are doing.

In an ongoing quest to eat like adults, we tried Blue Apron. The food was good and fresh. The meals were delicious and we’ve saved many of the recipes we prepared.

But eventually we stopped making the food. While they ship everything you need (short of salt and pepper) in the box, there is a lot of chopping and slicing.

The meals were delicious but rarely had enough leftover for lunches the next day. This is the second part of the healthy eating struggle.

Because of this, paired with issues retrieving packages at the condo we rent, we gave up on them. This is not a failing of them. But a failing in ourselves.

We both work full-time. We’d rather collapse on the couch and not cook for hours in the kitchen. But we also don’t want to order pizza every night either.

Enter The Fresh 20

The Fresh 20 is built around a week of meals where you shop for 20 ingredients (which they say can take about 20 minutes). The meals are listed with easy-to-follow recipes. Each of the week’s meals has a list of ingredients with portions listed. Though the very best part is the shopping list they offer.

Last night, we went to the grocery store and found all 20 ingredients. And we don’t shop at a fancy grocery store. We often struggle to find certain common herbs. But we routinely find everything we need with little effort. These aren’t gourmet ingredients we’d have to shop around to find.

There is minimal prep work, usually chopping or marinating. This is all spelled out for the five meals on the sheet with the meals listed so there are no surprises.

We use the Classic menu and I’ve been very happy with the variety of meals each week. There are also gluten-free, vegetarian, dairy-free and kosher meal plans. They also have plans for lunch and single people.

We have been doing this for about three weeks and every meal has been great. Their recipes feed a family of four, which is perfect for the two of us. This gives us dinner and lunch the next day.

Three months of The Fresh 20 will only run you $18. The annual plan is $54. Once you sign up, you’ll not only have access to a new meal plan every week, you’ll also be able to see their entire archive of meal plans. We are eating a plan from early June this week.

To be clear, they do not send you any food. They make simple, easy to follow (and shop for) meal plans. While it’s not easier than ordering pizza, it’s cheaper and more satisfying. I highly recommend trying it out. You can sign up for a free meal plan on their website. And when you fall in love with it, I know you’ll sign up and eat like a healthier adult.

Microsoft Security Essentials

By Carl

On July 17, 2014

In Observations

Please top me if you’ve heard this one before.

I have _________ anti-virus installed on my computer but…

But I thought the subscription was up to date. It wasn’t and I got infected.
But I thought I had paid for protection. But I hadn’t and I got infected.
But I got a virus anyway because it wasn’t up to date.

Stop paying for Anti-Virus protection.

Microsoft has a product called Security Essentials. It’s free to download and install. The updates are free and they are pushed along with Windows Updates. You are installing Windows Updates at least once a week, right?

Download Microsoft Security Essentials.

This will keep your computer protected against viruses. Your updates will never stop. You never have to pay for them. As long as you’re updating your computer, your anti-virus will stay up to date too.

Stop paying for what you can get free. Don’t find yourself paying a local computer tech or bribing a family member to clean the virus off your computer. Don’t allow yourself to be without your computer because it’s infected.

Download Microsoft Security Essentials and don’t give it another thought.