respublica

Call for hours

We've finished preparing a 40 square foot area of the backyard in Collinsville, worked all weekend tearing out butterfly bushes and pulling out miles of English Ivy. Then we worked up the soil. Now all we need is sod. I have to say all that work really makes the yard look bigger and it opens up our periferal vision. Before, that corner was just so crowded it made things seem messy and suffocating, which it was.

Today my plan is to get sod and the only place I know of that reliably has it is a nursery in south St. Louis, but when to go? I need to get there fairly early since there are many things on the agenda today. So I went to their website to see when they open and found this notice: Call for Hours.  I mean, seriously, what business does this? Shouldn't hours of operation be one of the main points on a business website? I do not plan to call, I've been in nurseries where things are busy enough that it takes some time before anyone answers. I'm guessing 10 and going with that.

What Google thinks I want

Ever begin typing a question to Google and see a drop down box appear with your sentence finished? They're guessing what you want. Today I started "how do you...." and these choices showed up before I'd finished.

1. How do you get pink eye?

2 How do you take a screen shot?

3. How do you get mono?

4. How do you roll?

5. How do you divide fractions?

And on and on. None of those were what I'd planned to ask although I did get hung up on "how do you take a screen shot? Answer: there is a 'snipping tool' in your program list.  Hit Start, acccessories and scroll down to the snipping tool. Then you can grab an image off your computer screen.

What I'd wanted answered was advice on how to turn a crib into a twin bed.

First they come for our money...

According to the New York Times, the Obama Administration is close to supporting an FBI plan to wiretap our internet use, a sweeping overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people who communicate using the Internet rather than by traditional phone services.

First the DC types want to add a sales tax to the internet, now they want to peer into what we do and where we go on the web. I guess it's not surprising, we're watched and taxed everywhere else. Is there no one who will just say...how much ease dropping on our lives is enough?

 

 

If I had to guess

Who the worst offenders are when it comes to texting or facebooking or talking on the phone while driving, I'd submit it is women. Young and not quite middle aged women. And maybe adult men who are driving from one job related thing to another. 

IMHO

Unsubscribe and unsubscribe

This morning I decided I've had it with waking up to endless emails, junk emails, from businesses, politicos and anyone else who thought I wanted to hear what they're selling. I have no idea how I got on many of these bulk mailing lists, but it has to stop. 

So it's sit here at my desk and open each email, scroll down to where I have the option to unsubscribe and get rid of them. Boring and it remains to be seen if it will even work. First to go, Omaha Steaks which sends me two a day.

Tech starts early

One thing which makes the iPad amazing, so amazing that you never get over its amazing-ness, is that it appeals to every age group. And understandable to every age group. And addictive to every age group.

Drew a study in contrast, sitting in his infant Moses basket studying the iPad.

At&T an all out assault on texting and driving

Andy Banker of Fox2 News in St. Louis put together one of the best reports on driving and phone use I've ever seen. While ostensibly a report on the new AT&T campaign "IT CAN WAIT", Banker did a fantastic job of not pulling any punches while showing the catastrophic results which can happen while driving and phone use. 

This is a much watch and if you use your phone to text, read email, talk, and don't want to see this because you think you can handle doing these things, watch anyway. You life, someone else's life, your child or spouse's life may depend on it. Think about them before you turn on the ignition.

If you don't think you can resist the temptation put the darn phone in the back seat. Please.

Anyone having issues with Google Chrome these days?

Chrome seems to have trouble getting webpages to load recently, not all but enough that it's weird. The sites will come up if the page is refreshed and clicked enough. And, yes, I ran the malware test and our computers are fine.  

Is your computer safe from this coming Monday

Warnings have been going out for some time that an international hacking group slipped in some malware which would keep computer users from accessing the internet. The FBI discovered this issue and set up a temporary safety net to protect those whose computers are infected, but this safety net will go away on Monday. 

Supposedly people with affected computers were notified on Facebook and Google and some internet providers, but not all. And not everyone who received a message may have paid attention to it because there are so many messages which themselves are bad news hacks. 

The FBI has created a website which you can use to determine if you have the malware and ways to get rid of it. If you have it and don't get rid of it, on Monday you'll have no internet.  I have no idea if we have this issue and it's daunting to think of trying to get rid of it.  

Domestic texting

The new reason to call the police over what used to be a domestic disturbance. A Montgomery City Missouri couple both called local police after an argument which took place through text messages...in the same house. It's being called Domestic Texting.

Oh, and about that child sleeping next to animal waste.