Life, Interrupted

Little Nemo in Slumberland -- lovely stuff!

My computer has been running slowly, and I can never get CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up the running stats page anymore. So I thought I'd run a few things to see what might be lurking on my machine.

Spybot finished overnight. It didn't find anything on Firefox, my major browser that I have been mumbling against lately (it seizes up and crashes.) To be fair, This problem may be because I've been using NoScript on Firefox.

But NoScript may be taking care of other problems. Over on Chrome I've started reading several big, popular blogs with a ton of scripts. Occasionally, I have to use MS IE because a couple of sites only work on IE. (Literally -- I called the American Red Cross to find out why I could not access their classes, having tried Mozilla/Firefox and Chrome. Turns out their site doesn't access classes with anything except IE.)

Spybot found 27 tracking problems. Four of them were on Microsoft Internet Explorer.

23 of them were on Chrome.

So. Tracking is not interfering with Firefox. But Chrome is keeping very close tabs on everything I do. This does not help trying to reduce what Google finds out about me.

Interesting point -- one of Chrome's cookie trackers was using the machine's admin name as the tracker marker.

Maybe Chrome is going to have to go....

I never use your products to post to Facebook or Twitter because your apps state that they will sometimes update things on my page without me.

I don't want anyone or anything putting anything on my page without me being there to make it happen. If I want remote posting, I'll set it up.

Thank you.

A solid article detailing to date what is known about PayPal demanding that Smashwords and other indie distributors stop handling erotica dealing with certain themes. (IE incest, rape and bestiality.)

This, of course, means that if they're really going through with this, distributors will have to yank the Bible, Heinlein (To Sail Beyond the Sunset) paranormal romance, Real fairy tales, and a LOT of literary novels, starting with LOLITA.

What else will we lose?

NOTE: #@#%@ typos...I hate that I can't change the font when I look at things. That's when I see typos.

Or we may start seeing this a lot.

A new Pew Report!

Teens and young adults are not as into blogging as they were, while older adults are getting into blogging. Young Adults (under 30) prefer MySpace, Adults (over 30) lead in LinkenIn (which makes sense) and they both use Facebook. For writers, here's what we want to know: 48% of wired teens have bought things online like books, clothing or music, up from 31% who had done so in 2000 when we first asked about this. Cell phone ownership and Internet use is near ubiquitous among teens and young adults. Over 30s are more likely to have more than one profile on-line. They found some curious facts, too, such as African American adults are the most active users of the mobile web, and their use is growing at a faster pace than mobile Internet use among white or Hispanic adults.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1484/social-media-mobile-internet-use-teens-millennials-fewer-blog

Well --

I have made it to Tucson. I have made it to the family compound. I have discovered that my father has cable -- but not roadrunner. His computer is so %$#@^ that if I close one of many windows open? The entire browser closes down completely, forcing me to open a browser again work my slow way back to gmail and points south. If LJ vanishes again, I'm gone for the duration.

Thanks to the Live Journal underground and International WoW friends I have reached T's gaming friends, and they are delightful people. Not only that, but M/MIL V is an LVN and was kind enough to stick me with a needle you may pray never to meet. We get to do it again four more times, thus adding regularity to my visit.

It's the twilight zone because not only am I having a wrestling match with the Internet, I can only get an AT&T signal in the corner of the dining room. Also -- not all Whole Foods are equal. I did not go with my intuition, and did not buy any arame seaweed while in Austin -- one less thing to tote, although I did pick up kuzu. Does Whole Foods Tucson north have seaweed? Yes. Does it have the kind of seaweed I like to saute and eat? No.

*Stabbity*stabbity*stabbbity*

I would be surfing for the macro store I've een told is here, but I keep getting tossed off the net. So -- I am here, and would be pleased to get together for dinner, or dessert, or hot chocolate (it's cold here!) with any Tucsonites available and wishing to kibbitz.

I planned to look online for a part-time job at UT or TX state, but the Internet struggle interferes with that. Starbucks could be in my future, if I can steal the car. I need to discover if I can find a job there right now -- or if I need to move outside the city limits to find REALLY cheap housing...or even to Tucson.

That can be elaborated on at another point. Let us go to still another reason why this is the Twilight Zone. Did you know that Starbucks now has *oatmeal*?

Can't risk spellchecking -- later --

Amy Sterling Casil, an interesting person and excellent writer, has come up (we think) with the word that can eliminate ever again naming a troll: intershunning. Use it well!

http://asterling.typepad.com/incipit_vita_nova/2008/05/intershunning.html

A snip:

"I select carefully who and what I cover -- and now I'm formalizing my policy. If I don't like what you do, how you do it -- and above all, feel that you are abusive of others, either by taking economic advantage of them, or you're just a bottom-feeding piece of stinking biofilm, I'll be intershunning you."

Does anyone else hate the way the search engines have been changed? I am wading through PAGES of crap that is only peripherally related to what I want to find (for example, I had to go to #21 to find the first real massage therapist doing business in Austin, TX northwest...)

I knew some fine-tuning would be necessary after the big change went through, but this is ridiculous. I dislike the extra work right now for my clients--but I detest this as a consumer.

We're going to lose sales (we being anything smaller than land's end, perhaps) on this...