Sometimes in life we need to do a course correction. Sometimes, we’re required to do things we’re really not all that fond of, but which are simply necessary.
Therefore, it is with humble heart and a little rolling of the eyes that I announce that I’m back on Twitter. Yep. @karenranney1 is my Twitter name.
As far as Facebook I doubt if I’ll ever return to that 13th circle of hell, but never say never. Whenever I’ve said never say never I’ve always had to eat my words. Crow, with a dash of mustard, please.
It’s a long, drawn out story why, but it’s coupled with some good news I can announce in a month or so. I know, don’t you just hate teasers?
I’m also on Instagram – writer_karen_ranney.
It’s been five years, I think, since I was last on Twitter. I might be wrong on the years, but it’s been awhile. I’ve never been on Instagram. Everything’s a learning curve.
I’m going to be on YouTube within a few months – and no, that’s not my news. That should be a fun experiment, though. I’m looking forward to it. I have my channel up, but it hasn’t been published yet, plus I’m still learning my new camera and microphone. Baby steps.
I fully anticipate making an absolute ass of myself from time to time, but I’m a believer in that old adage: nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I’ve confessed on numerous occasions that I’m a tech gadget aficionado. That personality trait shows up in my keyboard consumption.
When I first made the change from a PC to an IMac I unboxed my new computer with trembling hands. I was so excited, but scared, too. I’d only used an Apple machine a few times and was worried about the learning curve.
When I unpacked the keyboard I just stared at it.
Apple keyboard (flat, with tiny keys, in my humble opinion)
Are you flippin’ kidding me?
I’m what they call a production typist. I need systems that allow me to input. The Apple keyboard is still, in my humble opinion, a joke.
So, off I went on a hunt for an ergonomic Apple keyboard.
Hint: they don’t make one. They don’t sanction one. They don’t recommend one. I still think that’s a pretty foolish attitude, but I love my IMac, so off I went again, to find an ergonomic keyboard that would work with Apple. In other words, how do I get the function keys to do the same thing on an Apple?
Hint: they won’t. There’s always a trade off. You will get some functions to work correctly, but others won’t.
I have four different brands of keyboards in my closet. For the last two years I’ve settled on a GoldTouch ergonomic keyboard and it’s worked fine. Until…
GoldTouch keyboard
One day I started working and my fingers were making all kinds of mistakes. Granted, the writing has been rubbed off the keys, but I know where they are. It’s like my fingers were either too plump or they’d shrunk. Something was weird. I went for two weeks like that, making mistake after mistake.
Finally, I pulled out the Kinesis wireless Freestyle2 Blue keyboard out of the closet and voila! I could type again. This keyboard has to be charged occasionally, which is a pain, but at this point I really don’t care.
Kinesis keyboard
I’ve been looking at the GoldTouch, wondering what the heck happened. Why can’t I type on a keyboard I’ve been using for two years straight? I don’t have an answer, other than the keys are definitely different between one keyboard and the next. I’ve been losing weight, maybe my fingers have, too. 🙂
What about you? If you use an Apple machine do you use their keyboard? Do you use an ergonomic keyboard? Why do you think my fingers don’t work? Have you ever had that problem?
When I was a teenager my father was a high ranking officer in a sensitive area of the Air Force. We were sent to Paris and then to SHAPE, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers Europe.
Since my father was such a big muckety muck my brother and I were deemed to be kidnapping targets. In addition, it was thought that it would be a good idea to put us through an intensive course on propaganda: what it was, how to recognize it, how to combat it. My training came in handy, especially after I was waylaid in East Germany, but that’s another story.
I went on to Journalism School, thanks to the US Navy. More training on propaganda. Bottom line, I’m really good at recognizing crap when I see it.
Whenever a company can manipulate WHAT you see that’s propaganda. It doesn’t matter what political party you belong to or what cause you espouse. Whenever the free flow of information is dammed up because a company, a corporation, or an individual deems it unfit for your eyes, you should run, not walk, to the nearest exit.
Shadow banning, de-monetizing, restricting content are just some of the techniques being used by Google, FaceBook, Twitter, and YouTube. It’s brilliant because you never see what they don’t want you to see. You can’t make an informed choice because choice is limited for you – not by you.
One of the things I love about the internet is that it promotes the democratization of information. What’s happening now is the infantilization of the public. Someone else is deciding what’s good for you. As a fully functioning adult I don’t need anyone else choosing what’s acceptable for me. I’ll do my own deciding, thanks.
I use Duck Duck Go for my search engine. I never use Google anymore. First of all, I don’t want to be tracked and secondly I don’t trust them. I don’t use FaceBook, either, and I’ve mentioned why more than once.
What can any of us do? Recognize that it’s happening. Don’t get our news or information from just one source. Cast a jaundiced eye to stuff you see on these sites. Use a different search engine. Realize that if something is free (Google, Twitter, FaceBook, and YouTube) then each one of us is the commodity. We’re for sale through our personal information: likes, dislikes, friends, and companies with whom we do business.
A very old adage is: information is power. That’s never been truer than today.
Or garbage day in my neck of the woods. It’s supposed to rain today so it might be a no-garbage day since I don’t like sliding down my driveway with that huge plastic thingee. What a blessing that it’s on wheels, though. And, no need for bags on the curb. Dogs used to love those. Have you ever come out and found your garbage strewn over your yard?
A few years ago someone hit my plastic container. I think they were trying to back up and didn’t see it. It fell over and some little varmint got to the plastic bags inside. All I could think about when I picked all of it up was, “Thank heavens it wasn’t anything personal.”
Today I had to take steps to stop Stanley from jumping up on my office chair. I’ve let him snuggle with me while I work, but I have to tell you that it’s a detriment to getting things done. I have to twist and turn so as not to bother him as he sleeps. Then, he’s so soft and cuddly I naturally get a little sleepy, too. Before I know it we’re off to Snoozeland together. This morning I had to tell him, “I’m sorry, sweetie. I have to work.” He is now on my feet instead.
I stepped on the scale this morning and was pleasantly surprised. Don’t you just love when that happens? I put the HealthTracker app on my phone in June, 2017. I weigh less now than at any point in two years. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am about that. The HealthTracker app also stores my BP and my BG. Plus, you can email your stats to yourself like I do and print them out for your doctor. That’s my analytical side showing up.
After I finish a book I always buy myself a present. One year it was a coffee table. I loved that coffee table, but boy was it big. It fit perfectly with my sectional, but when I moved thirteen years ago I got rid of the sectional and the coffee table. One year it was a beautiful ring that reminded me of the book My Beloved. This time I bought myself an Apple Watch. Color me impressed. It shows me radar when the weather is yucky and shows a picture of who’s outside when my camera goes off. It can take an EKG plus it measures my pulse every few minutes. I think it’s a wonder of technology and a great little gadget. Oh, and it tells time, too. 🙂
Or where I let it all hang out and let you know how stupid I can be sometimes.
I don’t use Twitter anymore, but I thought it might be fun for Stanley to have his own account, so I signed him up for an account titled Stanley Says. I used a fake birthday for me. I always lie about my birthdate on the internet. I just do. It’s one of those security things I do.
So, the account was established and I published two Tweets from Stanley. The next day I looked at the account and saw that it listed my fake birthday publicly. Instead of changing the public options I decided to change the birthdate. So, I put in Stanley’s real birthday, May 1, 2016.
Twitter immediately locked my account.
Why? Because I was only two years old and they said I had to be 13.
Now this wouldn’t be a problem except that the only way to unlock my account was to send them proof of my real birthday. Except that I’d lied about that date.
By locking my account I’m also prevented from “seeing” any Twitter accounts I used to visit. I kept trying to log off, but it wouldn’t let me since I was locked out.
In order to view those Twitter accounts I liked, including a few doctors I follow, I signed up for a new Twitter account under my own name using my cell phone as an ID.
Bottom line, Stanley is still locked out of Twitter. 🙂 because he’s two.
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