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April 15, 2010

     The spring sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and indoors the telemarketers have returned! We had very little action in that area earlier in the year. But now, when I look at the phone’s caller ID and see that “Unavailable” is calling for the fourth time today, I rejoice. Why? Because to me it’s a sign that the economy is getting better. That someone felt hopeful enough about the future to hire Unavailable and his cohorts to try and sell me something. Of course I let Unavailable’s calls go on the answering machine. I may be a cockeyed optimist, but I’m not stupid.

     And, speaking of optimism, in the last issue I mentioned the German study that found that people who ate a lot of fruit and vegetables did better on cognitive tests than those who ate only a few. This study made a deep impression on me, as I’ve reached the age where words I know perfectly well keep dangling just out of my reach. So yesterday I bought two large bags of apples rather than my usual one. Have also been rapidly working through a bag of baby carrots, along with goodly numbers of radishes and green peppers. Am I smarter already? Well ... um. I can only say that I remain hopeful, and no one ever died of a carrot overdose. Or got fat eating carrots, for that matter.

     Which led us to a discussion of Bill’s snack life last night. He lacks enthusiasm for fruit and vegetables, though, as a creature of habit, he has for years purchased six bananas every week, eating one a day. Which bananas have doubtless contributed to his sound thought processes, such processes boosted by his morning glass of orange juice and whatever vegetables I include with his dinner. And, when I described my intelligence project with its projected flashes of vegetable-based brilliance, he seemed quite interested. He is seriously considering the intellectual advantages of tangerines and celery.

     Janette Blackwell

----Table Of Contents----

1. Why The Internet Will Fail
2. Strange Wall Paintings
3. Lose Weight Fast And Other Popular Wikis
4. From Couch To Five Kilometers In Nine Weeks
5. How To Stay Motivated
6. Five Top E-Mail Scams
7. A Search Engine For Scams!
8. And Then There Are The Urban Legends
9. Moments Of Happiness
10. Grow Your Own Native Plants
11. Coffee Grounds: Garden Friend Or Foe?
12. Seed Savers Exchange
13. Tracking Tax Refunds Is Now Easy
14. Where Your Cell Phone Won’t Work
15. PayPal Makes Things Simpler

1. WHY THE INTERNET WILL FAIL

     This NEWSWEEK article was printed in 1995, just before the Internet took off. It clearly explains that “no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/106554

2. STRANGE WALL PAINTINGS

     They fool the eye:

http://www.zuzafun.com/trompe-loeil-wall-pictures

     And for some great art as well as more casual art, click on ART & PHOTOGRAPHY in the lefthand column. It’s absolutely amazing what you can find on the Internet these days.

http://tourthesites.com/

     THEY CLIMB WHERE A FLY COULDN’T LAND:

http://www.zuzafun.com/amaizing-rock-climbers

     And ZUZAFUN has lots more for you – just look off to the right.

3. LOSE WEIGHT FAST AND OTHER POPULAR WIKIS

     WIKI HOW tells you how to do hundreds of things – plus, since these are wikis, you can add to the items you read. At WIKI HOW you can learn how to get rid of fruit flies AND get rid of black circles under your eyes. But no one tells you why 3 million girls want to know how to tell if a boy likes them, but only 2.5 million boys want to know whether a girl likes them.

http://www.wikihow.com/Special:Popularpages

4. FROM COUCH TO FIVE KILOMETERS IN NINE WEEKS

     This isn’t some casual little program someone just thought up. Many people have succeeded at it, and there are several sites teaching people to go from couch to running five kilometers (three miles) in nine weeks. The secret lies in the way you start yourself off.

http://www.c25k.com/

     And to learn how to create more brain cells through exercise (yes, really!) click on OUTDOORS, ENVIRONMENT, EXERCISE in the lefthand column. The information is in the second-to-last item.

http://tourthesites.com/

5. HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED

     I’ve found something that keeps me motivated to exercise: gardening. But, as I dig out front, I see people briskly walking down the street, getting their exercise on a beautiful spring day. But I never seem to see them the next day. Or the day after. Now, maybe we’ve got too many barking dogs on our street, I don’t know. But there seems to be a motivation problem. Learn from the DUMB LITTLE MAN how to stay motivated:

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2009/02/
how-to-stay-motivated-to-meet-your.html

     AND DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN. No, this isn’t a chain letter. It’s a site for you, if you’re trying to start some new healthy habits. With DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN you can watch your successes add up.

http://dontbreakthechain.com/

6. FIVE TOP E-MAIL SCAMS

     These are your basic scams. You’ve probably seen some that are even sneakier. Bill has. He regularly advertises his transportation services on Craigslist. And he got what seemed to be a genuine inquiry from a supposed Englishman who wanted Bill to drive his wife around town when she came to visit Washington. Bill answered it, then got the scam where they send you a big check (in this case $3500), and you are supposed to deposit it in your account, then send part of it ($500) on to someone else. And then, after you’ve sent your good $500 check, the $3500 check turns out to be a fraud, and your $500 is gone forever. Only Bill fooled them. He just stuck the $3500 check in his checking account and waited. He didn’t send any money on, and the $3500 check was of course a fraud.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-current-e
-mail-scams-you-should-know-about-nb/

     HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM SCAMS. This page also tells you how to track down the culprit and report a scam – though this won’t do the average victim much good.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/take-a-stand-against
-spam-and-report-email-scams-in-the-us/

7. A SEARCH ENGINE FOR SCAMS!

     I swear, the Internet comes up with unbelievable things on a regular basis. JASON MORRISON has just produced one of them. His site asks, “Wondering if an ad, email, or miracle cure is a scam? Ask the Internet.” His site offeres “a Google Custom Search Engine tuned to anti-scam and anti-fraud sites, useful forums, and government agency websites.”

http://www.jasonmorrison.net/is-this-a-scam/

     Learn search secrets and more about specialized search engines by clicking on COMPUTERS & TECHNOLOGY at left.

http://tourthesites.com/

8. AND THEN THERE ARE THE URBAN LEGENDS

     You’ve probably gotten an e-mail saying that Microsoft has teamed up with AOL, and they are going to give $245 to you every time you forward this email to another person. And maybe another e-mail telling about a horrible file on your Windows based machine called PAGEFILE.SYS. Both e-mails are hoaxes of course. To check out a hoax, the best source is, as you probably know, SNOPES.COM. And since SNOPES.COM constantly adds new and strange online beliefs, you may want to take a fresh look at the latest weirdies:

http://snopes.com/

     SNOPES is so widely known that I’ve even gotten e-mails claiming something or other is listed on SNOPES as absolutely true. Don’t believe it! Go to SNOPES.COM and see for yourself, and you may well be in for a surprise.

9. MOMENTS OF HAPPINESS

     Sometimes we’re so busy noticing the weeds in the garden that we forget to see the beauty. Here are Japanese flower photos with Japanese music background.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tj1z29uxmhY

     THE WORLD OF VIOLAS. I once grew a viola mix that had dozens of different faces, colors, and patterns. It was such fun to look at! I’ve tried to find it since but haven’t been able to. If you know where it is, do let me know. And in the meantime we can enjoy this lovely photo:

http://violaworld.net/flowers/2005/f01.jpg

10. GROW YOUR OWN NATIVE PLANTS

     I’ve enjoyed RACHEL SHAW’s blog, HUMMINGBIRD WAY, because she’s into native plants for the mid-Atlantic region, where I live.

http://hummingbirdway.blogspot.com/

     But you probably live in a place where the natives are entirely different. If you go to eNATURE, they can give you a native plant list tailored for your state.

http://www.enature.com/native_invasive/

     And then I’d suggest you put into the GOOGLE search box “native plants” followed by your state or region, and you’ll find more really nice sites.

11. COFFEE GROUNDS: GARDEN FRIEND OR FOE?

     Coffee grounds do great things for the soil, BUT they’re acidic. Some plants love that, some don’t. You could put the coffee grounds on your hydrangeas, turning their flowers blue, or on your acid-soil loving azaleas. They’ll be delighted.

http://www.green-talk.com/2007/10/10
/coffee-grounds-garden-friend-or-foe/

     Or see this LIST OF PLANTS THAT LIKE ACID SOIL:

http://www.helium.com/items/888028-best-plants-for-acid-soil

12. SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE

     They say, “Since 1975, Seed Savers Exchange members have passed on approximately one million samples of rare garden seeds to other gardeners. We are a non-profit organization of gardeners dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds.”

http://www.seedsavers.org/

     GROWING TOMATOES FROM SEEDS:

http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/2010/04
/tomato-seedling-progress-report.html

13. TRACKING TAX REFUNDS IS NOW EASY

     So you’ve submitted your tax forms. Now the question is, Where’s my refund? KIPLINGER PERSONAL FINANCE says the Internet has made the solution easy:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content
/article/2010/04/09/AR2010040906334.html

14. WHERE YOUR CELL PHONE WON’T WORK

     Major carriers like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon don’t tell you about the “dead cell zones.” Find them the hard way or find them here:

http://lifehacker.com/5398614/deadcellzones-
shows-real+world-carrier-coverage-in-your-area

15. PAYPAL MAKES THINGS SIMPLER

     According to KIPLINGER, PAYPAL is now letting us use credit and debit cards for “micropayments” ranging from 50 cents to $12. It should make things easier online in a number of ways.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content
/article/2010/04/09/AR2010040906344.html