Author: TechyDad

Aloha Friday: Private Journals

Aloha Friday, Blogging, Writing

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When I was young, I kept a journal.  In it, I wrote about all of the private thoughts, fears, and feelings that I felt I couldn’t tell anyone.  Well, that was the general idea.  By "kept a journal", I really mean I wrote in it for about a week, rediscovered it a month later, wrote in it once more and then forgot about it for another three months.  I was never very good with writing things with paper and pen.  My love of writing only flourished when I was first introduced to computers.

Fast forward to the present.  Sometimes there things we feel the need to write about that we just can’t blog about.  Perhaps family members read your blog or perhaps the issue crosses a TMI boundary.  However, despite these misgivings, there might still be an urge to write about it, just not in a public manner.  After all, writing is a very good way of organizing your thoughts on matters.

At one time, I considered setting up a private WordPress blog for my son for this very purpose.  He could use it to express his thoughts on anything and everything.  The posts would not be publicly visible.  After all, he’s only 8 and doesn’t need a public blog.  However, B and I would be able to read it.  I actually got it all set up, but never showed him it.  Perhaps when he’s older he’ll use it.

As for me, I’m thinking of setting up a private blog for some of my thoughts.  They might be matters that I don’t feel comfortable shouting out to a random mix of strangers, friends and family.  They might be matters that I feel don’t interest my TechyDad.com audience (or my Twitter or Google+ followers).  Or perhaps it is something that has been on my mind that might be a blog post at some point, but hasn’t been fully fleshed out yet.  In any event, it would be nice to have a place to record my thoughts privately and a non-public blog seems ideal.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever had a journal or a private blog to record your thoughts?

P.S. If you haven’t already, go visit FollowerHQ and let me know what you think of my Twitter application.

P.P.S. For a bit of fun, try my other Twitter Application, Rout. It’s a +F in Fun!

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #122

Disclaimer: The “Paper,Write,Pen” clipart above is from OpenClipArt.org.

Stop SOPA, Prevent PIPA

Copyright, Internet

StopSOPA_PostPerhaps you’ve heard that there’s a threat looming on the horizon.  A pair of dark clouds hanging over our favorite websites.  The dark clouds are called SOPA and PIPA.

If you haven’t heard about them, allow me to bring you up to speed.  You see, content providers are scared that their content is being copied online.  There are laws in place to deal with this, but they want more laws.  Tougher laws.

Under SOPA and PIPA, not only would copying copyrighted content be a crime, but linking to it would be a crime too.  It doesn’t even have to be you posting a link.  If you own a blog and a commenter leaves a link to a site that contains a copyrighted image, your blog can be shut down.  Not only that, but any ad network or Paypal accounts can be shut down too.

You might think that your site would be immune to this shut down because you would defend yourself in court or take down the offending link and/or content when you are notified about it.  However, the shut down provisions can take place BEFORE any court hearing.  Yes, you are guilty before being proven innocent.  After your site is taken down, then you can defend yourself against the charges and *maybe* get your site brought back online.  (Think of the “fun” that a malicious individual could have faking copyright infringement claims to take down blogs he/she doesn’t like.)

To imagine the effect of this, picture every blog having to police every link that they and their commenters post lest one lead to a site with a single infringing image.  Now, picture Twitter or Facebook having to do this.  Imagine Google needing to not only filter out Google+ but their normal search results as well.  After all, one of the links they index might have an image that someone else claims was wrongly posted.  Google and dozens of other Internet companies will need to make these decisions on the fly.  If they make one wrong move, you could say goodbye to services such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Speaking of which, YouTube is always a source of entertainment: Animals acting cute, people acting out strange stunts, and kids singing pop songs.  Well, strike that last one.  If you post a video of your kid singing a copyrighted song, you could end up behind bars for 5 years.  You read that right.  Five years of jail-time for a YouTube posting.

Now, you may have heard that SOPA was killed.  When people heard the news, they began to celebrate.  This celebration was, sadly, premature.  SOPA hasn’t been killed or even shelved.  Instead, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith plans on continuing work on SOPA next month.  The claim is that this break is due to “Republican and Democratic retreats taking place over the next two weeks.”  Personally, though, I think this was a delay tactic to try to get the outcry to die down.  Even if it is killed, though, we will need to remain vigilant.  Legislators love taking controversial bills, breaking them apart into different pieces, and sneaking them in attached to other pieces of legislation (the more “must pass”, the better).

Lest you think that all of this will, at least, somehow stop piracy, it won’t.  The site takedown only keeps the domain name from pointing to the site.  If you know the IP Address, you can still get to the site.  This will hurt you and me as normal users won’t remember your site’s IP address.  Pirates, however, will still be able to connect to their destinations just fine.

Maybe you are wondering how the tech companies allowed these bills to get this far.  Simple: They were not only not consulted, but actively excluded from the discussions.  Only pro-SOPA companies were allowed in.  Meanwhile, during hearings, Congressfolk seemed to reveal in their ignorance of how the Internet worked.  They said that they aren’t “nerds” and that discussions of Internet security were a “waste of time.”  They ignored experts saying that this would break the Internet.  Apparently, not knowing how something works isn’t a barrier to passing a giant legislation package regulating it into oblivion.  Is it any wonder that the bill wound up so one-sided?

So what can you do?  Contact your state Senators and Representatives and tell them to vote NO on SOPA/PIPA.  Make your voice heard now or you might not be able to make your voice heard online later.  (This site is a useful tool to see where your Senators/Representatives stand on SOPA/PIPA.)

Review: Family Game Night (Wii)

Fun, Games, Video Games, Wii

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Soon after The Hub network premiered here, NHL discovered Family Game Night.  This game show showed two families competing for cash and other prizes by playing modified versions of classic games such as Scrabble, Connect Four, Yatzee and Sorry.  NHL quickly grew to love the show and insisted that we record each and every new episode.  He would excitedly root for a favorite team and developed favorite games.

Meanwhile, NHL loved playing games on the Wii including one of the Family Game Night series that we had purchased.  He really loved the idea of taking a board game and playing it in video game format.

Combine the two and you get Family Game Night 4: The Game Show.

There are two modes to this game.  The first is a one or two player version of the Family Game Night TV game show complete with announcer Todd Newton assisted by Mr. Potato Head.  In this version, players compete in versions of the Family Game Night TV show’s mini-games.  Winning players get Monopoly cash cards.  At the end of the game, you see just how much those cards were worth.  The player with the most Monopoly cash wins.

In the other mode, players can play the individual mini-games either against another player or against the computer.  There are also slightly altered versions of the games.  For example, Sorry Sliders becomes Sumo Sliders.  Instead of merely sliding your Sorry sliders shuffleboard style and worrying about other sliders, you also need to worry about some big (aka Sumo) non-player sliders that are already on the board.  Just to keep things interesting, you can win trophies for completing various activities (like getting 4 in a row in Connect 4 Basketball in only 4 shots).

Though they were a bit much for JSL (age 4), NHL (age 8) and I loved playing both the game show and individual games.  This is definitely a game that we will be playing over and over again.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Family Game Night for the Wii from EA Play.  No other compensation was given and no review expected.  The opinions stated above are my own.

Hostess Memories

Food, Memories

P1070227Growing up, I loved the rare Twinkie or Hostess cupcake.  Are they healthy to eat?  Not by a long shot.  Are they as good in quality as a fresh baked treat?  Of course not.  Still, there’s something special (and nostalgic) about opening that package and eating those cream filled cakes.

When I heard that Hostess was declaring bankruptcy, I felt a wave of sadness.  I hadn’t eaten one of their snack cakes in years.  I couldn’t even remember if NHL or JSL had ever eaten one.  I know that the bankruptcy will likely just be a reorganization of the business, but I decided to introduce my kids to this snacking phenomenon.

P1070226We went to the grocery store and stopped by the display.  I let the boys pick out a box each.  NHL decided he wanted Twinkies.  JSL chose the chocolate-y Suzy Q’s. (I was secretly hoping that they would pick the cupcakes so I could show them how to peel off the fudge-like top to save for the end.)

When snack-time rolled around, the boys were highly impatient.  They wanted to dive right into the snack cakes and didn’t appreciate that dad was taking so long with the pre-snack photographs.

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P1070233Up first was the venerable Twinkie.  Introduced in 1930, it’s a snack cake that many generations have enjoyed.  My boys loved seeing the little yellow cake come out of the package and get unwrapped.  To better take a shot of the cream in the middle, I split the Twinkie in two and showed the boys the delicious filling.  As a bonus, this meant that I could give each boy a half of a snack cake.  They could each try both cakes. This way.

P1070234NHL seemed to love the Twinkie.  At least, that’s the impression I got when, after an initial bite, he nearly shoved the remaining Twinkie in his mouth whole.  JSL seemed to savor it more.  He liked it but wasn’t as enthusiastic.  (He really is a chocoholic and Twinkies completely lack chocolate.)

Up next was the Suzy Q.  Suzy Qs are much younger than Twinkies (introduced in 1961).  To be honest, I don’t think I had ever eaten one.  After taking my picture, I split the cake into two and gave the pieces to the boys.

P1070237NHL and JSL both loved this one, but their levels of appreciation were reversed.  JSL loved each and every bite of the chocolate, cream filled cakes.  NHL, meanwhile, liked it but wasn’t as enthused as he was with the Twinkie.

In the end, the boys loved the cakes.  B and I split one of each of the cakes also.  They were good, but I’ve got to admit that I remember them being better.  Perhaps the haze of memory and nostalgia has enhanced how I remember them tasting or perhaps my tastes have simply grown up.  Most likely, a combination of both of these.  Still, they were good.  I’m not going to make eating these a daily routine, but as a once in a very long while treat for the boys, they aren’t too bad.

Do you buy Hostess (or similar) snack cakes for your kids?

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