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Katelyn Cole

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Archive for the ‘technology and gadgets’ Category

Tomfoolery

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My sister told me last night that her word of the week is “tomfoolery.” She was telling me that she had just learned that it was all one word; for some reason she had thought it was two words. That surprised me, but I agreed it was a fun word. So when I saw an article about website hosting by a company called Fat Cow I just had to laugh. I wondered who in the world would think of such a silly name?

Thinking about it, I wondered if they were thinking that this “Fat Cow” company would be a “cash cow” for them. And I wondered why they didn’t just name the company Cash Cow. Maybe someone else already took that name. Anyway, this piqued my interest and I started clicking around and found a story about how this Fat Cow company was striving to make it’s company as ecologically friendly as possible. That made me think of how much fun they could have with an internal newsletter about the company with the headline reading “greener pastures for Fat Cow.”

I’d like to think it would be fun to work for a company that has a sense of humor like that.

Buy yourself a booster seat

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Guest post by Linda Mandeville

Do you remember the old days when a young child wanted to sit at the table to eat, the parents (or grandparents) would put a big, fat, telephone directory on the seat of one of the adult’s dining room chairs so the child could sit there? Growing up in an urban area, I was used to seeing really fat telephone directories.   I had a strange kind of fascination with them.  I have no idea why, really. I just can remember whenever we would travel to a different city, when we would check into a motel I would go look for the local telephone directory and flip through the yellow pages.  I always felt that was the best way to get a really good idea of what the area was like.  And I can remember as a child, there were several times that I had a question about something and for some crazy reason I would call the telephone operator and ask her for the answer to my question. And you know something? The telephone operator always was very pleasant and had the answer I was looking for! Boy, those were the good ol’ days!

Now small business marketing involves much more than a listing in the White Pages and an advertisement in the Yellow Pages of the telephone directory.  The Internet has done its part to revolutionize local listings.  I still use the telephone directory for a lot of things, but usually it is only when I don’t have access to the Internet. I am always sure to keep a current telephone directory near the hard wired phone at home, and usually last year’s copy of the telephone directory in my car.

Whenever possible, however, I will generate a local search on my computer.  Doing that is often faster than using the paper version of the telephone directory.  It is definitely time to stop using the telephone directory as a booster seat – I think it is an endangered species.

 

 

Sometimes freeware is a trick

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There is nothing I like better than a great bargain! And what could be better than free? I LOVE free! Free is good! But when free brings with it a nasty virus that causes trouble, then free is a nasty trick. Today I was reading tips about trusted sources to download free software and learned that there are some trusted places that you can download free software, but that there are a lot of risks involved by going to other places.

I learned about this on a website whose main purpose is to rank and rate different web hosting services. Sometimes I’m amazed at how much information I learn by accident! Isn’t it funny how you start off reading a web page on a subject and then a link off to the side of the page catches your attention and before you know it you’ve gone off on so many tangents learning interesting things that after a while you forget what website you were on to start off with! Anyway, I just want to caution everyone about being careful with freeware – sometimes the download can be a virus.

I wonder how

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I wonder if when and how someone will invent a domestic use climate control gadget that will equalize humidity and barometric pressure automatically. Have you noticed on cold and wet days that even when you have the heat turned on inside the house that the house still feels quite cool and damp? Many people that suffer from arthritis are bothered by the barometric pressure. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could control the barometric pressure inside our house just as easily as setting the temperature on a thermostat?

I don’t need a boat anchor

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One of the things that has bothered me for years is the issue of what to do with the old computer parts when I buy a new one. I must have four or five old monitors and CPUs taking up space in my basement. My friends joke that I am collecting boat anchors! I don’t even have a boat! I hate the thought of just taking them to landfill, but none of the local schools or charities want my old machines; anything more than two years old and they don’t want it.

The best solution, obviously, is to take them to a place that will recycle computers parts but I have had a very difficult time finding any place local that will do that. I have been told that some places will take in a “trade in” computer if you are buying a new one at their store, but what am I supposed to do with the older ones that I have been storing prior to the time that stores took the “trade-ins?”