Blogger woes

In reply to a long list of people on a Blogger forum bitterly complaining of their work disappearing before being posted to blogspot.com sites:

I suffered the same fate yesterday!

In my case, invoking the Blockquote tool froze Safari (Mac) twice in a row, and inexplicably half my post was lost and/or overwritten by a partial version of the post.

This was not the fault of any other application or the Mac or me.  It was due to a problem in Blogger itself!

I now have stuck a sign above my monitor saying NEVER NEVER COMPOSE IN BLOGGER!  I compose in Pages and paste the text in afterwards.  (I already was used to occasionally importing pasted text from other sources into Pages to fix spurious line-spacing issues.)

But it’s a shame to have to do this.

I also just spent $80 for Keylogger.  Details here:

http://aobo.cc/aobo-mac-os-x-keylogger.html

I’ve set this app saves screenshots every 3 minutes and all keystrokes.  (FYI, the keystrokes log can be a bit tedious to sort through; if I had another Blogger disaster, I’d likely rekey the post by viewing a series of the screenshots.  The Keylogger JPGs can be blown up on the screen so you can read every bit of type, no matter how small, in any captured window.)

I am irritated that I should have to purchase such software, but after this disastrous incident losing a blog that I’d carefully worked on for hours, I won’t risk another catastrophe.

(FWIW, Spector Pro, another keystroke logger tool, seems to have a superior interface, but they no longer support PPC, only Intel Macs.  Bastards!)

Stopping catalogs

"Save time, save trees, save the planet" is the mantra of one web outfit that will charge you a fee for cutting down your unsolicited mail.  Oh, and stop global warming, too!  


I get more DM and catalogs than anyone I know, and they're sometimes a bit of a pain to throw out. 

But if you really want to cut down on catalogs, you can  sign up to stop them coming. 

This is just one resource:

http://www.catalogchoice.org/

Before you get whacked out about "dead trees," know that printing paper is made from fast-growing species produced just for that purpose.  True, catalogs use up printing ink and photography time and provide employment for models.

The reality is that I periodically find items I like in catalogs, and at this point I choose to receive them.

If you don't want them, you can choose not to get them.  Don't get your knickers in a knot about it.




A note about periodicals:

Magazines lose money for the USPS, and they get their low rates only because of lobbying.  They have a big platform to complain from when rate hikes are proposed.

Dealing with junk phone calls

Unsolicited phone calls are a scummy practice.  They're interrupting you, taking up your time, and using your equipment to harangue you.

The business pays coolie wages to unskilled people to work in their boiler rooms.  (Many actors and screenwriters cite these jobs as their real-world employment experience, which is one reason they so eagerly portray roles in naïvely anti-business films.)

This business exists solely because of cheap long-distance srvice.  It used to be that a business at least had to pay for a WATS line.  Now rates are so cheap, they can harass you from across the continent.


There are just a few things you need to keep in mind when you get a junk phone call:

1)  If you buy something or respond positively, they win.

2)  If you just hang up, they win.

3)  If you keep them on the line, tying up their robo-callers or solicitors and phone time, you win.

Almost nobody understands these last two points.

When you get a call, just set the phone down.  Or if it's a live caller, say "Can you hold on for a minute?"  

When (eventually) they disconnect, you'll hear that irritating beep-beep-beep "If you want to make a call" from the phone company.  Then hang up.


One of my former business partners had a nice technique he used on boiler-room  brokers or investment outfits.  (This was before the do-not-call legislation.)  He'd let them prattle on for five minutes, making little positive noises, until they went in for the close.

Then he'd say, "Gee, this really sounds interesting, but I just declared personal bankruptcy."


If you think up any other good tactics, send them to me and I'll post them.  Let's share the revenge!

"Do Not Call" list failings

Junk faxes became illegal when congress found their fax machines tied up with junk faxes.  Junk cellphone calls were banned because of the obvious thievery:  solicitors were using your cellphone minutes to harangue you.  

Miraculously, junk phone calls were also banned some years ago.  

Sort of.

You probably know you can get your phone number(s) put on the "Do Not Call" list run by the government, free of charge. 

When this initiative was announced, the phone-solicitation industry whined that thousands of phone solicitors would be fired.  I can't think of anyone who deserved it more.

https://www.donotcall.gov/

There are three problems:

1) Political, polling, and charitable organizations are exempt.  As are any commericial enterprises that you might remotely "have done business with."

The business guys generally play fair, because they run the risk of irritating you.  Saying "take me off your list" is usually all it takes to stop calls from a company.

2)  The enforcement of these rules is weak.  I've gone through the trouble of filing complaints, which requires you to fill in endless detail, and I've never gotten a response from the gov't.

https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx?panel=2

(One would expect with all the bogus "jobs created" figures the administration throws around, they could have put 1,000 people to work doing some enforcement.  But dream on.)

3)  Because of this weak enforcement, there are always some scumbag outfits that flout the rules.   When you confront them with their violation, they either play dumb or just hang up on you.

For tactics you can use, see "Dealing with junk phone calls" on a separate post.

Also see the post on "junk mail."