Strawberryland Forum

Why so silent lately?

Mood crashes too frequent as of late. Feel like a train wreck.

Well, we are getting slammed by a April snowstorm at this moment. Still have power thankfully, but I am tempting fate by saying that. I do have most of my portable devices charged anyway.

I'm also starting to discover news from alternative sources like RT and Reuters. CNN has been going downhill in my opinion. I'm keenly following what is happening in North Korea at the moment. Reuters has an excellent live blog on new North Korean developments. Here is what happened last week... when the Kaesong complex was shut down by the north, Reuters was right on it. CNN? They were blabbing on about celebrity stuff I could care less about. Their website was no better.

I'm starting to see why people are turning to foreign news sources like BBC and RT.... the US "news" networks are primarily just entertainment. The only time they ever get serious is during breaking news events like Newtown or 9/11.

Rant over.

They say time heals all wounds. Why is this one taking forever to heal?

I recently cleaned up Greta's software load by removing programs that I no longer use, or don't care to use. Most of the stuff came from my Play 101 game DVD. I installed all the games since I didn't know what most of them were, but I did some research and got rid of most of the Farmville-like games.

I tried one of the so called "Mogul" games that came with Play 101, but I didn't like it. Too slow IMO.

As for Lilly, she is doing fine in terms of software, but there really isn't an easy way to uninstall complex applications without paying for an uninstaller from the App Store. Some apps you can drag to the trash, but others, like Microsoft Office, can potentially mess up your system even if you follow the uninstall directions.

Apple should really consider throwing in an "Add/Remove Software" applet in System Preferences, but Apple probably thinks such an option would be far too advanced for most of their users.

CCleaner for Mac has such a feature - I occasionally use that whenever I need to wipe an application off my OS X install.

Work stress... depression...

Must refrain from crying... or punching people...

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Not only can Justin Beiber get your tweens hooked to horrible music, he can also crush them with massive debt with the official Justin Beiber debit card!!

hock:

I really wish websites would stop using those stupid auto-expanding advertisements. Those are very anti-consumer, trying to shove something in your face that you don't care for, or don't need. Why don't they realize these types of ads drive customers away instead of attracting them?

I still refuse to use AdBlock. I only come across auto-expanding ads a few times a week, and most of my other well-travelled websites don't resort to intrusive advertising, at least not yet. I'm very tolerant of advertising when it isn't distracting or intrusive.

Instead, the advertising industry should realize that these anti-consumer practices aren't winning people over, and those people are resorting to AdBlock more and more. There should be some sort of regulation, but the problem with that is how far can regulation go before becoming unnecessary censorship?

I apologize if I am making a big deal out of something that only occurs a few times a week, but trust me, intrusive ads are annoying if you get exposed to them enough and they force you to see the ad rather than your news story.

These kinds of intrusive ads are also part of the reason why I am looking for alternative news sources other than CNN. CBSNews doesn't use any auto-expanding ads, and Reuters very rarely uses them. I think I only saw one or two auto-expanding ads on there this month alone, whereas CNN seems to have one every three days or so.

cpd2009 Wrote:http://preview.tinyurl.com/bngvrs7

Not only can Justin Beiber get your tweens hooked to horrible music, he can also crush them with massive debt with the official Justin Beiber debit card!!

hock:

:lol: Ha ha, I don't mind the guy, personally. I gave serious thought to going to Italy for a concert of his for one of my daughters' birthdays years ago, though admittedly that idea was in large part from wanting to be popular with her generational subset. It was too expensive an idea.

Anyway, even I think your joke was funny. Although I don't see the harm in a prepaid card for kids. That card in particular, no, that looks too silly. Too many fees for my taste. The concept of prepaid debit cards is fine, however. While it isn't going to give them large savings or a credit reputation, it can give kids some extra savings in the long run and help them feel more "adult". A certain level of that is good for self-esteem. I don't think children buying things with non-cash is necessarily a bad thing for them. Cash or card, it's still James' money, frankly speaking, and mine as well when I make some extra.

I'd rather my kids run the risk of going overboard on a prepaid card, which has no long-term fallout, than I would have them act annoying for cash when their parents (and other adult relatives) don't have cash on hand. Spending too much on a prepaid card would only get them a rejected card for about a month at most and thus teach a lesson in financial responsibility.

Sounds like a good way for kids to have a healthier attitude toward buying things than I have. I grew up without being allowed to get anything for myself and I am still far too cheap. It's always been rare that I get something for fun that isn't free, although I've gradually relaxed on that since marrying James.