There are so many places looking for donations, it’s hard to choose just one.  Not only that, money seems to be tighter for a lot of people this year.   But if you’re looking for somewhere to donate, Archive.org is looking for donations.  They have increased the amount of information and websites that you can pull up through this website, but don’t have much of a budget.

For more information, check out http://blog.archive.org/2011/12/07/please-donate-to-the-internet-archive/ (Opens in a new window).

That’s all I have to say about that.

On the other hand, Regretsy.com’s donations have been freed by PayPal, and going to the people that were supposed to get it.  If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, check out this article at TechCrunch. (Another new window/tab).  Now if only a real alternative to PayPal would come along.

I know there are some, and a dear friend of mine would simply say don’t buy anything online.  BUT, I do write for a company online, and they pay through PayPal.  So… I guess I should simply transfer my money ASAP so I don’t have a lot to lose, huh?

So it’s obviously no secret that pretty much any download site bundles software with other programs.  For example, you might install a program and be asked if you also want to install Google toolbar.  Of course, it’ll also hijack your home page and default search page, but that’s another story.  With all the additions attached to the software, I’ve seen it even called bloatware.

I assumed that the software publishers were the ones adding the bundles.  That is, I assumed so until last night when I was looking at headlines on PopURLs (http://popurls.com/ Opens in a new window).  According to one of the headlines in Hacker News, at least one software company didn’t want this bundling to happen.  CNET assumes that the users want this bundling to make their experience go more smoothly.

Here’s the link to the article on Hacker News. (Opens in  new window.)

Here’s the link to the article on Extreme Tech talking about CNet’s motivations. (Also opens in a new window.)

‘People who are truly thankful don’t complain.  They find a reason to be truly thankful.’

I don’t say much about going to church.  The pastor at my parents church said the above this last Sunday.  He also said:

‘Thankful people don’t hoard.’

We all have reasons to not be thankful.  We all have things that happen to us.  We all feel like we need to hoard things against a future need.  Yet we may or may not actually really need what it is we’re saving.  Instead, when we hoard things they start taking the place of things that should mean more to us.  Hoarding is the art of collecting without any interest in sharing.  If you’ve ever watched the TV show Hoarders, many times the things the person is hoarding start mattering more than their families.  So many of these people have made their kids feel unwanted because things were more important.

Around this time of Thanksgiving, we need to count our blessings for this last year.  Bad things will happen.  If we focus on the good, we’ll be happier overall.  We won’t forget the good in our lives and the things that truly matter.

One more quote:

‘Thankful people realize that today’s troubles will be tomorrow’s miracles.’

If you’re going through troubles, remember it won’t stay that way forever.  There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.  We’re always going to go through a hard time.  That’s how we grow and find ourselves.

So, on Nov 9, Adobe announced they were no longer going to be developing Flash for mobile devices. Instead, they’d be concentrating on using Flash to support apps for the app stores.

http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2011/11/flash-focus.html (Opens in a new window)

On the one hand, it’s great news for most mobile devices, including phones.  LOL except for those of us who are using very old devices that can’t be updated to use the latest browser.  My BlackBerry doesn’t like much, and I have to borrow my brother’s phone if I want to check my bank balance or something similar when I get paid.  (See the BlackBerry is not working clip posted last year sometime lol).

Now developers need to work toward doing more with HTML5 and ditching Flash.  It’s fairly well supported, and you don’t need to mess with learning iOS or anything else.  Just HTML5.  Which means you can develop one app and sell it in several places if that’s what your interest is.  Sounds good to me.

Oh wait, I don’t have time for something like that… or creativity lol.  I prefer to come up with story lines instead.  One of these days they’ll even make it into a book.

On that note, I’d best get some sleep.  Though I’m no longer lectured by my dear friend when I don’t, it makes for a very long day when I drive over an hour to my p/t job.  G’night all.  Dream well.

Are we a democracy or a republic? Are we turning into the Incorporated States of America?

From YouTube:

Edited to add the following, posted from OccupyOakland.

And one more: I know my parents don’t agree with Bernie, but this is what I’ve been saying when my parents ask my opinion of what’s going on, or at least part of it – that deregulation led to the economic problems we’re having:

Maybe I shouldn’t have been so tongue in cheek several years ago when I said Bernie for Prez 😛

The Republicans are definitely living on another planet.

I’m in the middle of a post with more thoughts about Occupy Wall Street, but I saw this on another blog and I just had to giggle.

It gave me the giggles.

With apologies to Tracy Chapman, it seems like the revolution has started not with a bang, but with a whisper.

Occupy Wall Street has been marching on Wall Street past the original 14 days planned.  They’re now coming up on 21 days – if I remember correctly.   Similar groups have been marching in other cities across the country.  They want to see real change.  They want to see those who caused the crash pay.  They want to see those who benefited from the crash pay as well.  Of course, in most instances the two are the same.

Members of my family who read my blog aren’t necessarily going to be happy with what I have to say next.

The Tea Party is partially responsible.  I’m not saying their entirely responsible, but the whole no-compromise thing? Yea, it’s not working.  It’s gridlocking the government.  Nothing is being done.  Instead, we’re heading into another recession, with many people not even having the base they did before the first one.  MarketWatch is calling this time lost decades, saying that 2000 to 2010 is a lost decade as well.  (source – opens in a new window)

I get very irritated at some members of my family who blame Obama for everything.  One of my brothers blamed Obama for the AT&T and T-Mobile merger not going through.  Uhh yea, he doesn’t have his hand in everything quite that much.

Does that mean I like who he’s appointed for some things like head of USDA? No, I absolutely don’t.  Even worse the person who is the head of the FDA.  Does that mean he tells them how he wants them to decide on issues?  In most cases, I’d say no.  I’d say he just went with who his backers wanted in those positions.  You know, like some of the bigger pharmaceutical companies wanting someone who was going to be soft on them as head of the FDA.  The companies trying to push genetically modified organisms (GMOs) would want someone soft on them as head of the USDA.

Does that mean I think Obama has done a (excuse the phrase) piss-poor job so far?

Yes and no.  I think he’s trying too hard to appease everyone.  I think he had good intentions with the healthcare bill, but the big pharma and insurance companies weren’t exactly going to let the government cap their profits with a true healthcare bill, and of course they had the ear of a number of congress-persons who were drafting the bill.  It is unacceptable that no one read the bill before passing it, especially Obama.

Want to know the worst of it? Conservative multi-millionaires are now buying offices.  Not for themselves, but they’re pretty much paying the campaign costs for any conservative that is running for office, especially in states that could be swing states.  Like North Carolina.  Check out what the New Yorker has to say about Art Pope. (new window).

I find that the scariest of all.  Even middle of the road, almost conservative democrats are having mud slung at them so a Tea Party republican can be put in.

The dirty politics?  I foresee a lot more marches.  And eventually more than simple marches.  It might truly be history in the making.  We may be watching the fall of America.

That’s even scarier than the dirty politics.

Now, I know my brother that reads my blog is going to say that I’m only reading liberal papers, and not the ‘fair and balanced’ Fox News.  Yet, Fox has nothing about the protests going on across the country.  Instead, the US News section has a number of articles about Amanda Knox coming home, and the Fast & Furious inquest.  Oops.  I’d think the Fast & Furious inquest should go under politics.

But then again, what do I know? It’s not like everyone’s unhappy with mostly the same thing when you tear away the politics of the issue.

Then again, there were a number of people who cheered at the Republican debate when someone said that we should let a 30 year old without insurance die rather than help him have some sort of insurance so he can go to the doctor.

That shows real heart, doesn’t it?

So I actually sat and watched most of the keynote address at Facebook’s F8 conference.  The beginning was interesting, with Andy Sandberg from SNL.  I honestly liked what Andy had to say more than what was said after.  Granted, some of it is going to be interesting… like the new timeline, but there’s going to be a lot of oversharing.  O.M.G. will there be a lot of oversharing.

They’ve worked with companies like Spotify, Netflix and Foodily, as well as a Nike app, to integrate with the timeline.  You’ll be able to link your Netflix account to your Facebook account and let your Facebook friends know what you’re watching.  You can choose once to share the information, and after that it’ll just automatically post without you having to do a thing.

Listening to music on Spotify? it’ll post that to your timeline and your friends’ tickers as well.  You grant it permission once and you’re done.  Just hope that you don’t listen to music that your family doesn’t like (I know my husband does lol), or music that others might find easy to make fun of – I wonder if Weird Al qualifies? 😉

But wait, there’s more.  If you run (or even walk or any other exercise outside), you can use a Nike GPS app to map your route and post that to your Facebook timeline.  Because letting your friends see where you run isn’t stalkerish at all.

Foodily lets your friends see what recipes you’re cooking for dinner.  Every time you log into Foodily, it can post to your friends’ tickers so they know what recipe you’re cooking.  The presentation made it out to be like having a number of friends making the same thing, but to me it just seems like a bit too much TMI.

If there’s a trend in what people are doing or watching, it will go from your friends’ timeline to their news feed.  Like if a bunch of friends are listening to Manic Monday (go Bangles) or a number of people are all watching movies with Jim Carey in them.  Or even a number of people all making the same recipe.

Speaking of TMI, your timeline will now go back to before you were on Facebook, you can post pictures and add information for everything that happened to you from the day you were born.  The demo for that showed Mark Zuckerberg’s date and place of birth, because obviously no one thought about the possibility of identity theft.  People can get close to your social security number just from knowing those 2 pieces of information.  Doh.

It’s going to be interesting to see if they change their privacy policy as well.  I know right now, several Zynga games are having issues if you use a secure login – so of course the suggested fix is to stop using secure login.  Maybe it should be stop playing the game instead.

I see them focusing more on people and less on the small businesses that are trying to use Facebook to grow.  The question remains whether these companies will adapt or if they’re going to stop using Facebook for their advertising.

I frequently read The Simple Dollar (opens in a new window).  Trent Hamm has a number of arguments for watching your spending, and very clear ideas on ways to save money and pay off debt.  He uses some of the tips from Dave Ramsey, but also pulls from other sources and tells what works for him.  One of my favorite of his weekly features is ’10 Pieces of Inspiration.’

This week, he linked to a speech given by historian Niall Ferguson at The TED Conference, called ‘6 Killer Apps of Prosperity.’ (link is to the official YouTube version of the speech).

One of his comments got me to thinking.  At about minute 17, he says something about the West collapsing on itself because many civilizations operate on the edge of chaos.  I look at our political system and see the chaos he’s talking about, but I wonder how close the chaos we see now is anything like the chaos that we would have seen 200 years ago, soon after the American Revolution and the founding of our country.  One question I’ve been thinking about since I heard the speech is to wonder whether we’ve fallen further into chaos over the last 100 years.  Prohibition, & gun running might come to mind initially, but what about the ‘Mountain Men’? What about people like Ted Kaczinski? The ones who don’t trust the government because it’s gotten too big? (too big to fail?? is there such a thing?).

I know my view might not be popular, but I foresee a revolution coming.  The second American Revolution will be as bloody as the first, with the heads of some of the bigger corporations like insurance and pharmaceutical companies being the ones that have the most problems or are the first targets.

I only hope I’m wrong.  I’d love to see this country right itself.  But, when the economy starts showing some improvement, the politicians need to keep their hands off.  When you start a fire, you don’t pile the logs on the glowing embers, you wait for the flames, for the fire to be ready for the logs.  I’m not taking aim at any one side, both sides are causing the problems and neither side is acting as part of the solution.

When I first read about the phase out of Flash games, I started to wonder.  Many games on Facebook use Flash.  What would they do about casual gamers like those who play on Facebook?

Then I started reading this article (opens in a new window) where MMObility interviews the developers from Illyriad, who have a game out that doesn’t use Flash.

It seems when they first started developing their game, they realized that many people don’t have Flash.  Those that do, only have a certain version.  I know that it can be difficult to remain backward compatible with many Flash applications.  I haven’t done serious designing in a few years, but I remember my (then) supervisor creating a Flash intro to a website we were working on.  It worked great on his computer.  Not so much on mine since I had an earlier version of Flash.

Now, you can use HTML5 to do much of what you would have used Flash to do.  Most of the newer browsers will support HTML5 without a problem.

That’ll leave many more options for the casual gaming sites, and hopefully get rid of some of the bugs in the games.