Random Rants


"Pay Attention or Unplug"

I was standing in line at the supermarket, last week. Some dude in front of me was standing there Twittering. It was his turn to put his groceries on the belt, and he just kept on Twittering!

I wanted to yell at him to pay the hell attention! That there is absolutely not one reason in this world why he had to Twitter in line at the grocery store!

It made me wonder what all these yahoos would do if everyone had to unplug for just one, solid week. What if everything stopped? And, I mean no cell phone calls, no texting, no computers, no iPods, iPhones, et al.

“Gee, you mean the way we used to live?”

Yeah - the way we USED to live. I imagine, at the end of a week, the mental hospitals would be full. Right now, those same mental patients are out on the streets!

They're killing themselves - and others - as they text, or talk on the phone, while driving. They're causing irreparable damage in situations where they think all they need is information on a computer - no hard copies necessary.

They're standing right in the middle of the aisles in the stores gossiping or asking someone, “Now, what did I come in here for,” on cell phones.

Sooner or later, someone doing that is going to get it right in the kidney with my umbrella! I have honestly considered getting a cane just to deal with these idiots.

Ever notice how they're always right in the middle of the aisles - with their big-ass baskets - rather than on their own side? They don't even know which side is theirs.

They seem to truly believe they have a right to block the entire world while they try to find out what kind of cereal their kid wants, rather than making a damn list, in the first place!

Well, gee, I'm getting on a roll. Guess I'd better stop before I take on “sexting.” You do not want to get me started on that!


"Are We Oblivious?"

I was on a rampage a while back about people who don't fact check their information. They just gleefully pass it along to their lists if it happens to be something they'd like to believe.

Later, I started wondering ... Why should we have to check everything we hear or read? That's absolutely sad!

Yet, it's the way of our world, today. At least in the USA, people are so caught up in their rage and racism (which is, more often than not, one and the same, whether they want to admit it, or not), they can't see what's right in front of them.

These people don't seem to see what they're doing to humanity. We're backsliding, people. We're turning into nothing but a planet of the apes with Blackberries.

Apparently, many folks only read what they want to believe - what supports their own beliefs. Now, this is normal - to a point. But, when we stop educating ourselves just to convince ourselves we're right about something, we're headed downhill.

But, the worst part is the behavior we accept as “normal.” When did we stop demanding truth from the media? When did we start accepting unacceptable behavior from media personalities, congressional members, the pharmaceutical, insurance, banking and other professions?

How did this happen? It didn't happen overnight. It's taken years of preparation to get people in this country to such a point of blindness and acceptance. The blindness comes from focusing on the hatreds rather than on what's actually happening.

I get mad at stupidity, not people's heritage, culture, color, religious or political beliefs. What I can't stand is the waste of such fine organs as brains wasted on morons who won't use them.

Maybe, just maybe, if more people paid attention and demanded better ... we wouldn't be about to implode.

Time's Running Out


"Now, I'M Going Berserk!"

Time's running OUT! I'm sorry I have to keep beating this drum but, rumor has it Google has teamed up with Verizon to decide Net Neutrality. WHAT?

This article makes it all quite clear - and easy to understand:

Google-Verizon Deal

What the hell happened to our administration's promise that Net Neutrality would NOT be compromised? Went the way of the rest of the promises, I guess.

In any event, it is VITALLY important that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hear from us. WE have to do OUR part to protect our businesses - and our FREEDOM.

Please, please, PLEASE go to the URL below and make your voice heard to the U.S. Congress!

We have to TELL THEM!

TELL THEM HERE!

Computer Stuff


"Browser Hell"

To set the stage ... Buyers of my new ebook were sent an email to pick up their free copy of the Second Edition. I issued a user name and password to download it. Several people wrote and told me they absolutely could NOT make the download work.

I had reminded them to copy and paste the words in to be sure they were correct - and to be sure there were no spaces before, or after, the words. I suppose it's possible the server was overloaded since I sent so many Second Edition emails at once.

I was pulling my hair out, since every time I tried, everything worked fine. Finally, one of our members wrote:

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Hi jl,

I discovered the problem.

When you put the cursor in the user name or password box, the text "user name” or “password" disappears. But, when you right click to paste, the text reappears and even though your pasted text is in the box, it does not work.

You have to put cursor in box and press Control V. Works fine.

Don Shickle
www.ShickleEnterprises.com
------------

So, one lesson is: when entering user names and passwords to download a product, remember to use Control V rather than right-clicking the mouse to paste.


I discussed it with Chuck (my iCop Hosting partner and techie). Then, we started asking what browsers some of those who had trouble were using. Yep - you guessed it! As far as we went, we found Internet Explorer (IE) was used in every problem case. Mostly IE 8.

For 11 years, I've tried to convince folks NOT to use IE! Over those years, the reasons have varied. But, the bottom line is - those who use it have the most problems - of all kinds.

Part of the time, the user's security is set WAY too high. No one believes in security more than I, but after a certain point, it's all redundant. You're either secure - or you're not.

And, after all that, you're probably NOT. You can pick up viruses and junk with IE, you won't get with other browsers. Then, you can't download something you BOUGHT! Sheeeez!

Other times, it simply can't do the job, and/or it takes your choices away from you. It's similar to AOL for being proprietary - and full of nonsense.

Mozilla has ALWAYS made the best browsers! I even figured that out for myself soon after I stopped using AOL, back in the Stone Age.

Now, as of July 2010, Firefox is used by 31% of users. And IE is only being used by 51%. Praise the Lord! I do NOT like some of Firefox's add-ons. But, others are cool, and some are fabulous!

Tips and Resources


Things to Know

I received the following email:

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I just noticed that Firefox has a new add-on. It's called Browser Highlighter. It highlights words on your website, and when you mouse over it, it pops up a window with advertising in it. When you click on the ad, it takes you to the website of the advertiser; it takes the viewer to a page off your site. In other words, it hijacks your viewer and makes it look like it is part of your site.

I find this not only wrong, but highly unethical to the extreme. I found it wrong years ago when someone else did it, at which time many website owners were screaming to the high heavens about it. I haven't heard anyone complaining about it yet, but believe it is only because it is not been brought to anyone's attention.

What are your beliefs about this?

Robert Morris
www.edmmarketing.com
------------


First, although I thoroughly dislike this type of thing, there's a difference in this and what they were doing a few years ago. Technically, this one is permission-based. The other wasn't.

I asked my partner in iCop Hosting, Chuck Mattice, if he knew anything about it. Turns out, Chuck had fallen heir to this through Skype. He wrote:

------------
Yeah, didn't know how I got it until I read:

http://thebrowserhighlighter.com/help.jsp

I have removed it, It originally hit my browser when I added the Skype add-on.

It can be disabled by going to "Tools" - “Add-ons” - scrolling to it, then, disabling it. It can also be removed. Firefox does not add this; it has to be downloaded.

Chuck
www.authentic-empowerment.net
------------


Net Neutrality

The subject of Net Neutrality has been around for a while. But, it's coming close to a decision by our U.S. Congress.

This will decide whether the big ISPs can control what is seen in the browsers of their customers. Of course, the lobbyists for AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are going crazy with it.

They do not want the public to keep control of their browsers! And, right now, they seems to be winning!

Worst case scenario is ...

If we don't get Net Neutrality, the day may come where you will have to pay these giants to have your web site shown at all! That's in addition to them telling you what you can, and cannot view.

As with anything that's been around for a while, lots of myths have arisen around the subject.

I STRONGLY suggest every reader become familiar with these 10 myths - and the reality. It is all well explained here:

www.freepress.net/files/dejavu.pdf

Article Copyrights


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To re-publish articles by jl scott from this site, please include the following byline - with live links - after each article you use.

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* dr. jl scott is the Founder of Chamber of Commerce - on the Web™ http://www.ChamberofCommerce-ontheWeb.com - and also the publisher of the Online Business Trade Journal™ - the blog that keeps you up to date with online business coming of age. Visit: http://www.OnlineBusinessTradeJournal.com

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