After years and years of Disney fighting it, Mickey Mouse became a public domain character as of yesterday.
I was actually opposed to this. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of much of what Disney has done the last decade or so. The changes and damage to the Star Wars franchise alone just to avoid paying royalties to legacy authors was figuratively criminal.
I digress however. The reasons I believe this is a bad idea are two-fold. First, Mickey is more than just another Disney character. He’s their flagship, trademark character. Mickey IS Disney, and that’s been taken from them now. It’s like taking Superman or Batman from DC and saying anyone can use them. Trust me, that’s coming sooner or later also.
The second reason is what I predicted ahead of time and only took ONE SINGLE DAY to happen: Mickey has already been corrupted and put into a horror video game.
The video game has not yet been released, but already has a “coming soon” page on Steam Games (and likely other platforms as well), and a pre-release trailer:
It’s a repeat of what’s happened to other characters like the Banana Splits (in 2019). The characters are twisted and corrupted strictly for the sake of doing something “cool” and edgy while tearing down something that was once wholesome fun.
Give me the originals any day:
On the positive side, the curators at Steam are already ripping Infestation 88 as unimaginative trash. KirbyFan45 was really blunt about it:
FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY, STOP WITH THIS CREATIVELY BANKRUPT BULLSHIT ALREADY!
Kirbyfan45 on their Steam curation page.
Maybe there’s hope for humanity after all. Either way, I hope this game fails miserably and all other attempts to do nothing but tear down Mickey get equally bad results. Do something uplifting if you must use Mickey Mouse. Even parody like Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is funny. Infestation 88 is just pathetic and mean spirited.
I was hoping to avoid topics like this (politics or hot button social issues) at least until after the start of the new year. So much for that, LOL.
Jokes aside, my views have evolved over the decades. My original draft of this was getting very long, so let me just say that having spent half my life in California and half of it in the deep South, I’ve seen the worst that extreme liberalism and extreme conservatism have to offer. I’ve leaned both ways at times as well, but never went full on crazed sheeple in either direction.
As time went on and I got older and wiser, I noticed more and more half truths, false leaps in logic, etc… from both sides and began fact checking more and more. That exposed more falsehoods from BOTH sides. The COVID outbreak and the misinformation from all sides was shocking.
The actual breaking point for me with the entire system was the situation with the house we bought in Georgia a couple years ago. Georgia’s ultra-conservative laws regarding consumer protection all but legalize doing and saying anything to make a deal. Ergo we got no justice (yet) despite the house turning out to be uninhabitable.
Liberals turned out to be no better. I got a conditional offer of help from a high ranking member of the South Carolina Democrat party (via a third party so there was deniability). They were willing to go to war for me *IF* I was willing to destroy Dave Ramsey.
For those who don’t know, Dave Ramsey is a widely syndicated radio host whose show focuses on managing your finances. It’s basic, common sense stuff like don’t spend more than you make. Extreme liberals hate him for two reasons: First his show is based on personal responsibility and common sense. You can’t control people if they don’t see themselves as victims. Both parties play the victim card with their followers BTW. Second is that Dave Ramsey is a Christian and will throw in the occasional Bible quote about financial literacy and responsibility. He doesn’t preach, but there is the occasional quote.
Now, Dave factors into the house purchase discussion because he has a referral program for Realtors. He claims they’re screened for honesty, integrity and believing in Dave’s financial values. We used a Dave Ramsey referral to get our Realtor and she was the linchpin that held the conspiracy around our purchase together. I suspect she even organized it to make the sale.
This Democrat party leader didn’t care about the referral network falling short near as much as he did destroying Dave Ramsey because of his expressing Christian beliefs in his show. It was pretty clear he wasn’t going to stop until Ramsey was destroyed too.
I’d have been happy to get justice, but that level of scorched earth vendettas are just sick.
There ARE times I wonder if I should have done it, especially when we reported the problem to Ramsey Solutions along with how it cost us our entire life savings. Dave’s answer was “we’ll coach them”. I’ll never trust Dave Ramsey again in terms of anything resembling an endorsement, but that doesn’t change the fact that people out there need basic financial education. It’s not being provided by the school system either, even at the college level unless you study accounting.
So Yes, The Whole System is Broken
That’s the realization I came to after all that and sever previous incidents. Both sides only care about power, inciting their base and utterly destroying the other side. They actively promote hatred of each other, and all but outlaw dialog with people on the other side. And the sad part is neither side’s extreme works at all.
So Where Do I actually Sit?
Largely in the middle, although the extremes of each side would declare me an enemy combatant.
Social Issues: I’ll go there first, since it’s easier to sum up. I’m a social Libertarian. That means do what you want in your personal life so long as it doesn’t impact others. You want to do drugs? It’s a STUPID decision but it’s your option. The second you rob somebody to pay for your drugs, or drive stoned and kill somebody, or even expect society to support you after you fry your brain completely… THEN it’s society’s problem, not your personal choice.
I do NOT care at all what your sexual preference is either, nor what your sexual practices are, so long as they’re completely consensual. Children and animals can’t give consent, nor does the public if you have some fetish to commit your acts in the open. Keeping it to yourself also means that you don’t force me to embrace and celebrate your choices. Everybody’s safety and civil rights should be protected, but beyond that, you do your thing and I’ll do mine.
I could go on, but I’ll presume anyone reading has enough common sense to comprehend a common sense middle ground.
Financial Issues: I have the same middle ground beliefs here that I do with social issues, but people have a much much harder time nowadays separating themselves from either extreme.
To put it simply, neither extreme works. One side taxes to death, with increasingly little spent on the actual public. The other does anything to protect big business from the public. Giving absolute power to either side is a recipe for disaster. There needs to be a balance with government acting to keep business honest, but not to the extreme that businesses can’t stay in business.
That covers the need for oversight. In terms of social programs, I think they’re needed. I also think they need an overhaul so that they run with less overhead and more money going to the people they’re set up for. I also think that they should be designed, where possible, to help people become self-sufficient. Again, it’s about balance. We can’t pay society to do nothing, but we have to have more humanity than throwing anyone who falls through the cracks to the wolves. We should be more evolved than Social Darwinism.
Can society ever find a healthy balance? I really wonder. Half truths, spin, false logic, and outright lies and gaslighting dominate the media and internet. Nobody knows what to believe. In the mean time, critical thinking skills are being deliberately eroded by all sides also. I’ve posted comments on news stories and gotten attacked because people had no comprehension of what the phrase “confusing people with facts” actually means.
Society can survive diminished book knowledge, but a fleeing from common sense and wisdom… Never.
This one is tricky for me. Thanks to a mechanic in the family and several car nut ex in-laws, I’m quite aware that the answer is VERY subjective. Often it’s all about style for a person; how does it look, how does it make them feel?
Before I get too far down the path of philosophizing, I should just get to my specific answer. Long time readers would probably suspect it’s my near-show quality 67 Mustang; Ginger:
It’s true that Ginger holds a special place in my heart, BUT (at least until I get some upgrades done), she’s NOT QUITE my all time favorite. She’s got 4 wheel drum brakes with no power assist for starters. That means I have to be extra careful when driving. The horsepower far exceeds the braking power. She still needs a stereo put in also, which means no music while driving. That’s kind of a moot point anyway since I don’t have any sound dampening material installed under the carpet or inside the door panels. That’s pretty much standard on new cars, and why they drive so quietly. With none at all, you have to REALLY speak up to be heard while in the car driving.
There’s also an issue with 1st Generation Mustangs that few non-owners know about; their factory power steering design stinks. The specific problem is that the high side line (the hose that sends the fluid to the rack to assist the steering) is not strong enough to handle the pump pressure. Net result; first generation Mustangs have a BAD habit of blowing power steering hoses. That means I need to switch to a better quality aftermarket high performance system, or to a rack and pinion setup.
Lastly, there’s the fact that Ginger doesn’t have AC. That’s a bitch when it’s 90+ degrees with 80% humidity out.
But hey, even Batman knows:
LOL
There’s even a gal who has a YouTube Channel devoted to Mustangs:
The Porsche Boxster, probably earlier model years and with a blue paint scheme:
If this seems like a surprising choice, I’ll explain.
First, the Boxster is Porshe’s entry level car, so it’s more affordable and doesn’t have quite the same “pretentious asshole owner” stigma attached to it that Porsches at least used to. Anymore, I think Dodge Challengers and Chargers have that distinction. That’s another rant however.
I really became enamored of the car when I got a chance to drive one though. Everything felt like it was dialed in perfectly for me. Control locations; ideal. Seats; very comfortable. Horsepower; Fast, but not excessive, Braking power; insanely good. What really blew me away was the steering though. I never fully appreciated the idea of understeer and oversteer until I drove that Boxster.
Understeer and oversteer are vehicle dynamics terms used to describe the sensitivity of a vehicle to steering. Oversteer is what occurs when a car turns by more than the amount commanded by the driver. Conversely, understeer is what occurs when a car steers less than the amount commanded by the driver
From Wikipedia
To a degree, understeer and oversteer are a matter of personal preference. Where can the steering be engineered to that causes the specific driver feels they’re not working too much or too little (ie it’s over-responsive), to maintain control of the vehicle.
Well, the Boxster is the only car I’ve ever driven that felt perfectly dialed in to me. You’d be beyond amazed what a difference that makes in terms of feeling in control of the car also.
There’s also the advantages of having factory AC and radio, as well as ABS brakes and air bags vs the Mustang as well.
So, Would I Ever Actually Own One?
THAT is very hard to say. At the very least, we’d have to be in much better shape financially than we have been the last few years. Porsches have their downsides. Higher insurance and maintenance costs being chief among them. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve very reliable cars overall. When you have to do something to it though, it costs… ALOT. AS an example, the Boxster requires synthetic oil and takes 11 quarts to fill. That’s twice what a typical vehicles uses.
Outright purchase wise, the old ones are affordable, but the new ones get into six figure price tags. I don’t think I could ever justify spending that on a depreciating asset, even if I could afford it. If you’re not up on finance terms, a depreciating asset is something you own that is decreasing in value, typically from age and the associated wear and tear.
Said wear and tear brings me to the last drawback to my potentially buying one; anything I could afford is already high mileage. That means increased wear and more repair.
Philosophizing Again For A Moment:
To briefly return to my opening thoughts, don’t get overly obsessed with car culture and the idea of your car as part of your identity. Who you are as a person, and the ability to actually project that tells people much more about you than a car ever will. Overspending on a car or customizing it is a fast track to the poor house also.
In the case of Ginger, I found a very rare deal there. Even with my daily driver and my other half’s vehicle though, we struck a balance between quality, what we could afford and what we like.
As for other people being impressed by your ride… The people you truly want in your life will be impressed by you, not your possessions. 😉
Bonus points if you got the thinly veiled Home Alone reference in the title. 😁 I’m not calling anybody filthy on Christmas though. That would be rather Grinchy.
Merry Christmas to all, and / or best wishes on whatever other holiday(s) you may celebrate this season. Here’s hoping 2024 is better for all of us.
It’s sort of tradition with my Christmas posts that I post the video of Bayside Church’s Christmas Eve candle lighting from YouTube. My only agenda here is passing on how it shows that everybody trying to do good and add their own bit of light to the world can drive away the darkness in the world. That’s true for all of us. Goodness has little to do with any given religion or philosophy. Just act out of love, not hate.
For Sheree and Those Who Follow Her Blog:
I made a comment about how the Paris Christmas decorations looked nicer than those in San Francisco. Going to SF for the day during December used to be a holiday tradition for us before the city became unsafe. Multiple areas of the city get some serious holiday decorations, especially Union Square and the waterfront / Pier 39. The decorations are some of the nicest on the West Coast. L.A. decorates too, but it’s decorations tend to reflect the city’s sense of self-aggrandizement and false glamour. Thus the decorations, in my opinion, lack any true elegance or soul.
Anyway, for comparison against Sheree’s Paris post, here’s a few pics of Union Square in San Francisco:
The main tree in the center of the square is 86 feet or 26.2 meters tall, and is artificial. The view is from the top of the Macy’s store. You can’t see it due to the picture being distant and at night, but there are regular ornaments on it as well as the sea of lights.
This is the actual Macy’s store. All lit up and commercial holiday looking. Inside, Macys has another tree (they sponsor the one in the square also).
From what I understand, Macy’s has similar inside trees in other large cities. Beyond New York and Chicago however, I’m unsure which others may have similar setups. The decorations are nice, but feel a little more commercial than the ones in Sheree’s post.
I wanted to do something other than posting YouTubes of traditional music, but something that would still be fun and hopefully uplifting. So, with that in mind, I give you the Teen Titans vs Santa Clause.
See what happens when the Titans try to infiltrate the North Pole and remove themselves from Santa’s naughty list:
The irony is that later holiday episodes and the Teen Tians Meet Teen Titans GO movie had Santa as a villain, trying to take over other holidays, going on strike and cancelling Christmas when that plan didn’t work (forcing the Titans to play Santa), and otherwise being a pain. It’s all very South Park-esque, lol.
For those who liked the song, here’s the “full” (one minute) version:
I originally posted this 4 years ago, and it’s overdue for a Christmas reappearance.
I have a special holiday treat today; peppermint bark brownies. The original, make it from scratch recipe is courtesy of San Francisco’s famous Ghirardelli chocolate company. Occasionally some good comes out of S.F. lol.
Unfortunately for those outside the U.S, everything is in our measurements, so you’ll have to do conversions. If you’re interested in using authentic Ghirardelli peppermint bark, you’ll have to order fast. It disappears at Christmas and won’t be back until after Thanksgiving. Whatever you do, make sure you use high quality peppermint bark here. I tried substituting Costco’s store brand one year and took the tub back for a refund it tasted so bad. Quality ingredients are probably the biggest unspoken “secret” to good cooking or baking.
So, here’s the “from scratch” version:
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (12 tablespoons) 3 large eggs, at room temperature 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 8 Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark SQUARES™ chocolates, chopped into large chunks (for the brownies) 18 Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark SQUARES™ chocolates, broken in to large chunks (about 8 pieces per square) (for the finishing)
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. n
Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with foil and grease with pan spray. In a medium saucepan, bring 2 inches of water to a gentle simmer. Put the 60% chips and butter in a heatproof bowl and set it over (but not touching) the simmering water.
Stir the mixture with a rubber spatula until the better is melted and both ingredients are completely combined. Turn off the heat and leave the bowl over the warm water.
Sift together the flour and baking powder and set aside. In a large bowl whisk together eggs, salt, sugar and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture and whisk together gently. With a spatula, fold in the flour.
Immediately pour ½ the mixture into the prepared baking pan and spread it evenly. Next, sprinkle the chopped peppermint bark over the batter and then pour the remaining batter over this. Spread evenly.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. The center should be fudgy but not dry. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.
Place Peppermint Bark chunks on top of warm brownies and allow them to soften for 1 minute. Using a spatula, gently swirl the melting Peppermint Bark to create swirls of melted chocolate. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Trim the 4 edges of the brownies by 1/4 inch. And cut into 18 squares.
SILK’S EASY SHORT CUT VERSION:
There’s one big shortcut to making these brownies and a few tweaks to make them turn out even better.
The Shortcut: Instead of manually making the brownies from scratch, use Ghirardelli (and only Ghirardelli) brownie mix. The version I think works best is the Triple Chocolate Brownie mix and that’s the one I used this year. Follow cooking directions / time on box.
Substitutions: The brownie mix will tell you to use water and vegetable oil. Instead of vegetable oil, use an equal amount of butter (1/3 a cup). Instead of water, use milk. I use just a little more than the 1/3 a cup that the box calls for; right in the middle of the 1/3 and ½ a cup marks on the measuring cup. That way they stay moist but don’t turn to goo.
Tricks: There are three tricks I’ve discovered with making these. First is to add a half teaspoon of Peppermint Extract to the brownie mix. This adds a bit more peppermint flavor to the brownies without overpowering the chocolate. Make sure to mix everything thoroughly if you go this route so that the peppermint flavor gets evenly distributed into the mix.
Second is a prep trick that makes clean up easier. When breaking up the Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark squares, I use a blender or food processor. To make clean up of the blender / food processor easier, I freeze the squares in the freezer overnight. The pieces will break more cleanly and not start to melt in the food processor. This will let you almost just rinse the processor clean.
Third: I place the Peppermint Bark on top of the Brownies 2 or 3 minutes before they’re ready to come out of the over (when a toothpick will come out of them almost completely clean). They’ll melt into an even topping better that way.
Yes, time for a mini-rant, lol. I’ve been complaining about WordPress for ages, and have been debating leaving for at least a couple years. The bugs are REALLY starting to get to me though.
Recently, I’ve found out that my post notifications are only going out to about 20% of my readers. I’ve also noticed that the spellcheck only half works now. WP will tell you when you spelled something wrong, or at least that it THINKS you did… Keep in mind that it’s own Spellchecker doesn’t even recognize WordPress as a word, lol.
The bigger gripe for me is that if you click on the word, WP won’t offer any suggested spelling corrections or the ability to change the spelling with a click. My email provider even checks grammar, and offers to correct, but WP can’t even do spelling anymore. I’m a good speller to begin with, but I make mistakes occasionally. Particularly if I’m tired while writing. Having to use a search engine for spelling because WP can’t maintain their software… annoying.
I just noticed today that WP has started randomly double spacing my words as well. It’s fixable if I put my cursor in the gap between words, backspace and then forward space again. Should I have to though? Big errors are usually caused by some sort of unlikely insanity. I can write those off as long as they’re fixed in a reasonable amount of time. This kind of small error says they just don’t care.
I looked at the process for reporting bugs also. You have to prove to them it isn’t your theme or some other issue before they’ll take the bug seriously.
No, I’m not really THAT frustrated (the GIF is funny though, lol), but it is obvious they’re hiding behind a nuisance wall designed to discourage most bug reporting. That, in turn, is a direct indication of how they view their users.
Another gripe for me is the way users disappear at random off follower lists when they didn’t actually stop following. I’ve experienced it. I’ve heard others complain about it, and it causing misunderstandings as well.
Then There Are Those Users…
There are some truly great people on WP, but there are alot of turkeys as well. Everything from people who try to trade likes and follows without ever caring what you write to outright trolls.
As a side note, for those who have never understood why the fake follower trade thing is a hot button for me… All my life, the vast majority of people I’ve dealt with have been manipulative and disingenuous (to put it nicely). Sincerity is a trait I value greatly. Being fake and manipulative with me, and then expecting me to reward it by acting against my own nature… NO. Period.
That’s the funniest way I could put it, ROFL. Watching that fire truck do the Bankhead Bounce is a riot. :D
Seriously though, even on Twitter, the people were more sincere, and that’s saying something. Not at first maybe, but it seems alot of the good folks have left WP.
And So, Here We Are…
I promised myself that I’d never make the choice unless I was in a good place when I did. No making the move because stress influenced my decision. I’m finally at that place for the first time in a long time.
I can’t guarantee I’m going to leave, BUT given all the problems with WordPress, and the growing number of options for it that are out there, I think it would be foolish to not at least look around some and test the waters. Disqus brags it’s got better networking features than WP, and it sure looks that way. Medium at least comes close… Hell, I haven’t posted anything in my self-hosted blog in 7 months and I get more traffic there via search engines than WP brings me here, LOL. That’s just scratching the surface of options too.
So yeah, I’m going to take a look at options. I’ll keep posting here in the meantime. I’ll report what I find also. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know we ALL deserve better than WordPress is delivering currently.
This post is inspired by events that Refarmer is suffering through right now. Having worked with PCs since the mid 1980s and built my own since the late 90s, I’ve dealt with this issue plenty of times in the past. I’ve got a tremendous amount of sympathy for anyone who has to deal with it also. Not much is more aggravating in today’s technology focused world than having your system go down.
An inside view of a HDD with a completely shattered data plate, RARE.
First, Best Practices to Avoid Corrupt Data:
The first step to avoiding issues caused by software is to be aware of your drive’s need for empty space to be able to move data around efficiently and for virtual memory space. For a Windows based system, you want to keep 25% of your disk based drive free. If the drive is a Solid State Drive (ie a giant bank of memory chips to over simplify), then you can get away with 20% left free.
With a Linux based system, I had a harder time finding best practices. 20% for either type of drive seems to be the most common answer however. Maybe WP’s resident Linux guru Renard will come along and answer that in the comments. Apple seems to claim anywhere from 5 to 20% free space needed for their systems also.
So what happens if you go past that “safe” limit? You can get away with it, at least in the short term. You’ll notice slower performance at first. Get below 10% free space and that’s when you run the risk of Windows brainfarting while opening, closing or otherwise managing files. That’s not a guarantee, but the risk is there, and the longer you do it, the worse your odds are of ending up with corrupted data.
If you need to know how to check how much space is left on your drive, open Windows Explorer, and right click on any of the hard drives in your system, then select properties. That will tell you how much space you have left, among other things.
Randomly pulled of the web
Next; How to Catch the Problem Early and Minimize Any Damage
Like 90% (IMO) of everything else out there, computer parts quality is not what it used to be. Ergo it’s important to safeguard your data. First, let me state the obvious, and keep backup copies of anything truly important. Ideally, I’d advise doing what I do and keep your Operating System (OS) on a separate hard drive. That way, if the main drive gives you trouble due to physical problems or file corruption, you already have your data safely on another drive.
If you have alot of video files, you’ll probably want a full blown external hard drive. If you’re only concerned about protecting documents and pictures, a thumb drive or two is cheap. Current ones can hold massive amounts of pics and data. Per DigitalWarRoom.com, a gigabyte (GB) of storage can hold the following:
Text files: Nearly 678,000 pages per gigabyte.
Emails: More than 100,000 pages.
Microsoft Word files: Almost 65,000 pages.
PowerPoint Slide Decks: Roughly 17,500 pages.
Images: Close to 15,500 pages.
Multiply that times 32 or 64 (the average size in GB of a thumb drive nowadays), and you can hold an insane amount of documents or pictures in a TINY space.
Now, if you need a full external hard drive due to a movie collection or similar video files, my personal recommendation is Western Digital’s “Game Drive” that’s designed to be used for X-Box, Playstation or PC. Since they’re intended to be used as console gaming system hard drives, they’re designed to run a long time. They’re made to WD’s “Black” standard for drives, their top of the line.
Image via LegitReviews.com
Don’t take my word for the quality though, check out LegitReview.com‘s review of the 5TB edition. The review even features an analysis with Crystal DIsk’s monitoring software, which we’ll cover below.
The nice thing is that a 5TB version is sometimes under $120 at Amazon.com. Right now it’s sitting at $139, which IMO is scalping for last minute Christmas demand. I’ve tried other external drives and have had bad luck with them being able to go the distance. It even survived Amazon’s crappy packaging and the post office’s heavy handed delivery, (you might want to consider a store like Best Buy instead for those reasons). One last note here, there IS a version of this drive that’s advertised as for ONLY the X-Box, so be careful to get the correct one if taking my recommendation.
And the Monitoring Software:
If you have the Professional version of Windows, you can get a basic idea of disk health via the Admin options. If you have the home version, you’re stuck going into a DOS prompt box and running the Chkdsk (check disk) command. I imagine MacOS and Linux have similar but better options for users.
For a long time, my favorite option for third party free monitoring software was Acronis Drive Monitor. It would keep an eye on your drive’s physical health and temperature. Acronis abandoned the program years ago however. You can still download it, but it’s not compatible with newer drives. Solid State Drives in particular will get false overheating warnings. Most of Acronis’s other disk management and copying software work fine for me however.
My current choice is CrystalDiskInfo. It’s also free, although the developer does have an optional donation button at their site. It’s display window looks like this:
From the Internet Once Again
If you don’t know much about computers and that seems overwhelming to you, all you really need to pay attention to is the upper left side of the window. In the instance of the drive pictured here, the health status is good, and the temperature isn’t displaying a warning either, so the drive is healthy.
There’s an option in the settings that will change the blue color to green, yellow (for at a warning level) and red (for extreme heat or impending failure). I’d strongly recommend that setting as it makes it even easier to spot a problem.
The current version will also display a percent full along with the drive letter at the top. Note that is NOT the percentage of life your drive has left, just how full it is.
There are also cute (or silly depending upon your POV) amine girl themes (also free) for the program. The info displayed is otherwise the same whatever theme you use though
2TB Drive… That’s so cute, LOL
In the case of the drive pictured above, you can tell it’s a new one based on the power on hours and the health status still saying 100%.
Other Best Practices:
Aside from the above, there’s a few other things that people often forget about. These tips are basic bit can make a big difference in extending the life of your PC.
First, remember to keep space around your PC. This relates mainly to desktop systems, but lack of air flow can impact even laptop systems. With a desktop system, keep a minimum of 2 or 3 inches (or roughly 5 to 7.5 cm) clearance on all sides and on top. Likewise keep at least the space created by the case’s feet underneath your system. Many systems have fans on the bottom and top. Likewise, don’t put a book or other paperwork on top of the case while working. That will act like a heat blanket, trapping heat in the case, as well as potentially blocking vents and/or fans. Likewise, keeping your tower inside of a closed compartment such as a specially purposed desk “drawer” is going to trap heat and block air flow.
Cooling is absolutely critical to PC life and performance!
If you have a laptop, I’d strongly advise a cooling tray of some sort. They’re a base with fans that blow air into the vents on the underside of the laptop. As somebody who briefly used a laptop for gaming, a cooler can make a HUGE difference in temperature and performance when a laptop system is using resource heavy programs.
There’s also the issue of cleanliness. Dust and dirt will get sucked into the case via the fans. Keeping your area clean will reduce but not eliminate that issue. That’s why you’re going to want to open up the tower and clean it with compressed air or a mini blower of some sort.
You’re ideally going to want to do this at least once every 6 months, maybe as often as 3 months if you have pets that are around your work area.
One critical warning about cleaning the interior like this: Some compressed air cans use freon as a propellant. Yes, freon loose in the air is bad, but corporations are special so they get exemptions (end of rant). Even if they don’t, the wrong kind of dust in the wrong area can cause an electrical short and damage your hardware. To prevent that, power down the PC, then flip the power switch on the back of the power supply. Unplug the power supply and let the PC sit for a few minutes to allow any residual electricity in the system to dissipate. THEN, you can remove the cover and spray any dust off the system. Pay particular attention the fans. Do it right and your system won’t end up looking like this:
Extreme example, but it makes it’s point. Amazing what you can find on the internet, lol.
My step-father’s next to last PC wasn’t that bad, but it had enough dust in the case that it not only shorted out, but also almost caught fire.
The unplugging thing is important too. I got complacent with my last desktop, and left it plugged in. I even killed the power switch on the power supply, and figured “good enough”. When I sprayed the power supply with compressed air, the freon in the can caused a short that blew out the power supply and took the main board, CPU and video card with it. Even though the power supply was switched off, and wouldn’t normally have let current get to the computer, the freon let it arc internally. Yes freon will conduct electricity. Not like copper wire will, but enough to ruin that old system.
If you use an electric blower like the one below, do your best to keep the motor away from the case as possible, just to prevent any sort of static discharge between the blower and PC. The chances are small, but better safe than sorry, right?
Yes, they make leaf blowers for computers also, lol
That little gizmo may seem silly on the surface, but it does have the advantage of not having any potentially damaging propellants, unlike canned air.
Wrapping It Up:
I was going to get into how to replace a drive and potentially recover data from it, but that would have made this post extremely long. At this point, my plan is to do it next Thursday instead.
Keep that disk monitoring software in mind. No matter how perfectly you maintain your system, eventually you’re going to get a drive failure unless you’re so wealthy you’re upgrading constantly. Disk monitoring will give you enough time to get the data copied to another drive before it’s lost.
This week’s post inspired by a vibe I was picking up from a few readers last week, even with nothing being said, (the joys of empathy). I was picking up an angry “women shouldn’t be talking about the UFC and martial arts” vibe. A remarkable set of assumptions on so many levels… 🤣
Can Women Fight? Is It Ladylike?
Let’s tackle the first question, since it’s so easy to prove. There’s video all over the internet of women martial artists fighting each other, fighting off muggers, and even fighting in the UFC (like Rhonda Rousey):
Yes, women absolutely can fight. As for the question of how lady-like or feminine a woman being able to fight is… that’s a slightly more complex issue.
First and foremost, I’d say that there’s absolutely nothing ladylike or sexy about being a potential victim. Anybody who tells you otherwise is probably suffering from a near fatal dose of toxic masculinity. Beyond that, the answer is a question of degrees.
Take the above mentioned and pictured Rhonda Rousey. She was a professional fighter, but still “cleaned up” well, and to this day looks great in a dress. Check her out in the last couple of Expendables movies if you have doubts there. The difference there is that even as a professional fighter, she acts civilly in public; like a lady. She doesn’t argue and look to pick fights (outside of her acting in the WWE anyway). On the opposite end of the spectrum, we’d have the stereotypical female gangbanger, etc… who will act like her male counterparts and throw punches at the slightest provocation.
As true for women as it is for men.
Women vs Men in a Fight:
I’m going to be completely realistic here. All other factors being equal, a woman is at a modest disadvantage against a man in a fight. It’s not politically correct, but it’s true. Men, on average, have greater muscle and bone density which lets them give and take damage more effectively.
The key words there are “All other factors being equal”. A large size difference is going to make things tougher for the woman. Conditioning and training can more than balance things out for the woman. Take a look at Rousey’s arms above. Even at 5′ 7″, she’s very likely able to flatten the average schlub. Things can get complicated when the guy has training and conditioning also, as this video shows:
She has powerful kicks and held her own in most cases, but she got manhandled (literally) in a couple of cases. That’s why it’s best to not allow your ego to write checks your body can’t cash.
Yes, that from Top Gun, lol. I was binging Suits yesterday and got reminded of that quote.
The bottom line however, guy or gal, is train and work out to have your best chance of surviving a fight IF you can’t avoid it at all. The more you do, the less you’ll present a victim vibe to society’s predators, and the more they’ll find somebody else to pick on. Self-Defense training of any kind is a great self-confidence booster, which can be beneficial in every area of your life.
I should also add here that while men being willing to attack women has become more common in recent years, it takes a pretty pathetic excuse for one to hit a woman. The only exception I’ll make there is if she legitimately presents a serious threat to him, such as coming at him with a knife. Crazy doesn’t gender discriminate after all.
The Reality of Basic Self-Defense Classes:
I have a love-hate relationship with “women’s self-defense” classes taught as a one or two class situation. While some training is better than none, these classes often fall short on training and can give women a false sense of security.
One area where that happens is that the classes teach “do this and you’ll be fine” tactics. This is all you need to do to escape a hair grab from behind, or somebody grabbing your wrist, etc… The reality is that there is absolutely no such thing as a perfect technique, even if perfectly executed. EVERYTHING has a counter, and that counter has a counter, etc… and on it goes until one side doesn’t know the next counter.
If your wrist is grabbed, and you try to twist your arm out of it (a common judo-originated counter), BUT the attacker keeps a tight grip and you can’t out-muscle them, then what? Many self defense classes won’t teach a next step to counter that. An easy next step is stomp on their in-step or otherwise hit them in a vulnerable spot (knee, groin, eyes, etc…) in order to break their focus on the grip.
These classes also tend to focus on gross motion or motor skills without teaching the little details that make a difference. Let’s take a simple example; a kick to the knee to allow you to escape an attacker. If the class only teaches the basic movement without any extra knowledge or the importance of “killer instinct”, all a woman may do is cause enough pain to anger her attacker. If the class teaches to kick hard, and “drive through” the knee, there will be enough tissue and joint damage that the attacker won’t be able to run after her.
While that sounds brutal, remember you may be fighting for your life or to avoid a brutal rape. Violence should ALWAYS be the last resort, but when it’s necessary, you shouldn’t hold back.
Lastly for this sub-topic, some classes don’t emphasize the importance of continued practice of what’s been learned. If you can’t do the technique without thinking… as a matter of pure reflex when when you’re in a jam, it will be of no use to you.
There’s NO Such Thing as Women’s Self-Defense!
What do I mean by that? Simple. From a practical standpoint, certain styles or defense techniques don’t magically work better or only for women. What IS true is that certain styles and moves will be more advantageous for smaller people (men or women) against larger opponents. These styles are generally going to focus on strikes to vital points, or joint manipulation and destruction. Somebody who is 5′ 5″, man or woman, can’t trade punches with a 6′ 4″ 295 pound mutant weightlifter, so the smaller person has to focus on quickly disabling the larger attacker to neutralize their threat. So be just a little skeptical when you hear something is “best for women”.
All that said, I do support the idea of women only classes for beginners. Training with men can be a little intimidating for some, so these women only classes can be a good way to get some initial self-confidence built up.
Conclusion:
Yes, women CAN fight, self-defense is absolutely NOT unladylike, and I believe it greatly benefits a woman on many levels to learn self-defense.
As Dean Martin sang; “Ain’t that a kick in the head” :D
Bonus: Krabi Krabong (Style of the Week):
I wanted to add a little extra to my martial arts posts and introduce readers to some of the more exotic styles I’ve come across over the years. Probably one of the least known styles in the West is Thailand’s second art; Krabi Krabong. It is starting to make it’s presence known here however
While Muay Thai is unarmed, Krabi Krabong focuses on stick / club and sword use. Krabi Krabong literally means club and sword. Both martial arts were developed in Thailand for use on the battlefield, and they have a long history of success.
Krabi Krabong shares some similarities with Indonesian styles like Pencak Silat and Filipino Escrima. Sticks are used at first so as to master the basics with less risk of injury. The styles are also all very flow of motion of focused, and the swords are intended for close range slashing attacks.
Side note: Straight blades are generally piercing or stabbing weapons, while curved blades are slashing weapons. Horse mounted cavalry used curved blades so as not to get the sword stuck while slashing an opponent during a charge.
In the case of Silat, Escrima and Krabi Krabong, they were also all designed to be used in areas with restricted movement, primarily jungles or hilly terrain, hence the blades being a little shorter than the traditional Western long sword or Japanese katana.
For those who are curious, here’s a video of a basic Krabi Krabong flow drill:
As for the art’s history… there are many stories, just as there are with Muay Thai. This link goes to the Thailand Foundation’s website and details what can be historically verified about the history of the art
Silk Chatters 