Social Media Rules of Etiquette

    This is about the use of screencaps.  You know those pictures you take with your computer or, in my case, a cell phone of a scene of a tv show or movie. I do a lot of screencaps because I know I'll be referring to a favorite actor, scene, or show/movie on social media and it's great to use pictures to help illustrate my points.  I don't do any fancy editing of the pictures but I know some folks who do and it's quite the hobby for them. 

    I bring all this up because of something I just saw on a social media site. On that site someone posted a screencap of a scene from a tv show. It didn't look edited. Then someone replied and wanted credit for the picture. To me that seemed weird. Unless she took the picture on the set of the show that day, I would think credit would go to the person who filmed the scene. An unedited screencap isn't exactly original work for the screencapper. It is the original work of the people who filmed the scene though.

    If you love a show and you take a picture of a scene and then you post it on social media, seemingly for people to enjoy, then maybe don't be so picky when someone chooses to enjoy it in their own post. Why not just sit back and think about how that picture made someone just as happy as it made you when you first posted it? Social Media is full of hate and anger and fighting as it is. Why bring more negativity to it by sucking the joy out of some fan's day?

Merry Christmas

    It's been a while since I last posted. I just can't make myself sit down and concentrate on writing more than a couple sentences at a time. Social media has ruined me. LOL.

    Today is Christmas and it's a time to be thankful for what you've been given, be appreciative of all the love and friendship you've received, and think about the coming year and how you can make it great.

    It's also a time to remember those who are no longer with us. For me that's Barney the guinea pig and Cookie the cat. They will always be on our Christmas tree as I have picture ornaments for all my pets so every Christmas I will be able to think about what they gave me in the years we shared.

    I've set a goal for 2024 to be done with the greedy local hospital and its shady billing practices. That means eliminating the need for blood pressure medication. I can do it. I also have some financial goals for the coming year and a couple of big expenses I'll have to incur. Planning is good. 

    So, for those who observe the holiday, enjoy your Christmas. For those who don't, I hope you have a great day doing whatever you choose to do today. 

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

    The rock?  The insurance company.  The Hard Place?  The hospital billing department.  The hospital billed a mental health charge to the insurance company. The insurance company processed it as outpatient mental health services.  In the middle between the two?  Me who keeps telling people she never received any mental health services. The hospital billing department told me it was a "hospital charge".  They didn't tell me it was for specific services and I asked them to tell me what was done during my routine office visit that required this mental health billing to the insurance company. I'm going to ask again tomorrow.

    Anyway, this is nagging at me because I haven't resolved it yet. It makes me want to hide under covers and not come out. But I have to be out if I want things like a paycheck, food, etc.

    I went to the regular eye doctor this morning for my yearly checkup. This afternoon Winnie has to go to the vet for her boosters. That's another Rock/Hard Place situation because I'm killing time between two appointments.

Checking In

    As I've noticed a few people actually viewed some of my blog posts, I thought I would check in with a hodgepodge of goings on.

    I've been immersed in narrowboat videos on Youtube. It's fascinating how people buy these boats, perform DIY on these boats, fit their boats with solar power, and travel the canals and rivers of Great Britain. Some videos are quite calming. Some are more entertaining. A few to check out if you're interested:  Country House Gent, Floating Our Boat, and Boat Time.

    I've decided to try to run some of my things on solar power full time. We'll see how it goes this winter. I'm going to try the TV, the Roku, and the DVD player. I have my solar panels outside just sitting there and I haven't been using them. So, I might as well try.  

    I have spent way too much money in the last couple months. But on the upside:  I've gotten four raises this year at work! I can apply for a raise if I complete certain types of courses. Can't wait to see my savings account grow.

    I'm still working on weight loss. That will be a never-ending thing with me. I did manage to hit the weight target I was aiming for by the time of my doctor's appointment. But even if I don't lose any more weight, as long as I continue to try to get 30 minutes of exercise each day at least 5 days a week, I'll be happy.

    Dreading the weekly work meeting tomorrow. I tried to explain something to my boss yesterday and he didn't get it. I feel like he might bring it up tomorrow in front of everyone. I wish I could skip the meeting but it's on my telework day. I can't really skip something that I can attend from the comfort of my own home. I could fake an internet outage.

    Winnie, my chihuahua, is barking. I checked the outside cameras because I'm an introvert and don't want to encounter anyone at 10:15pm. The porch camera has something strange on it, probably a spider web, but it's bright on camera and moving back and forth very slowly. Stare at it long enough and your imagination will get carried away and you'll be hiding under your bed.  At least, I would.

    Finally, I'm in the mood for Christmas. I changed the lights on my Christmas tree that always stays up to Christmas colors and I'm really itching to start playing some Christmas music. I might string up some battery-operated lights.

I'm Not a Consistent Blogger

    It's true and you can verify it. It's been a while since my last blog post. But that doesn't mean there hasn't been stuff going on.

    Cookie, my sick cat, passed away. I've been sad about that. She was a good cat who actually liked me. Unlike Parker, my other cat who bites me and swats at me with enough force to nearly break a bone. Maybe someday I'll get a cat who will like me, but it won't be for a while.

    I've begun patching my driveway. I do this every year as the driveway is old and very long and patching is all I can afford. I wanted to use blacktop patch but I sent Dad to get the stuff and his penny-pinching nature steered him toward concrete mix. So, more work for me, but more material to use. 

    Ezra and Henry, my guinea pigs, are giving me a lot of laundry to do. I use fleece to line their cage and I'm doing laundry essentially every other day. But they are adorable and I love them. They make a great diet aid because they shriek every time I open the refrigerator like an alarm. A great deterrent to snacking.

    I've been trying to clean up some of the pasture. It's gotten overgrown since I rehomed my two goats a few years ago. So, the weed trimmer and push mower have been doing the job this summer. I haven't made a lot of progress but I've made some. The really thick blackberry vines can't be mowed or whacked.

    My garden is doing very well. I have many tomatoes and unfortunately, the acid is upsetting Dad's stomach so I can't give him any. I'll take him some anyway. He can give them to my sister.

    Finally, I'm irritated by my carpool co-worker. I don't really want to get into it as I'd rather get over it. 

That's me, all caught up. Winnie, my 16 year old chihuahua, has been having some arthritis issues so she's getting a supplement. I finished the work on the front porch and I've put a folding chair out there. I'm hoping to actually sit out there at least once.

And now, I'm caught up. Maybe.

Eventualities

    I've been dealing with a painful situation this week. My 12 year old cat, Cookie, has been sick. 

    It started Sunday. The first I noticed things were different was when she didn't want to eat the little piece of turkey that I tried to give her. Then she didn't scratch at the bedroom door to wake me up during the night. She was definitely sick by Monday morning. I kept an eye on her but she wasn't too bad by Monday afternoon.  Of course I tried to give her some canned cat food but she didn't want to eat. By Tuesday she was worse. Seriously worse. Lethargic, a congested purr, not eating. I tried to take her to the Vet Tuesday after work. The Vet's wife who runs the office said they were too busy to see me. I could write a book about what I think of them right now. Anyway, Wednesday Dad took Cookie to the Vet since I couldn't get off work to go. The Vet said it was allergies and gave her a couple shots and some oral medication. They all treat infections so if she did have a respiratory infection instead of just allergies, this medicine should help. But she hasn't improved much at all. Her purr sounds a little better. She still isn't eating, so so lethargic of course. Dad went to the store and got me some food options for her.

    Anyway, I'm thinking of eventualities. What if Cookie's sick more because of her age than an allergy? She's been a wonderful member of my family, even when she scratches at my bedroom door three or four times a night to wake me up.  I wish she was back to doing that.

I Never Wanted To Be THIS Social

    I've been on Twitter for what seems like ages. I like Twitter. All my friends are there. But Twitter is broken and it's only getting worse. So, like many others, I've signed up with other social media platforms to try to find a new home.

    If you take a look at the sidebar, you'll see I have a lot of presence on the web. I just added Blue Sky and Meta's Threads comes out tomorrow. I'll be checking that out. I never wanted to be on Blue Sky. I don't like Jack. But the one guy that's a must-follow on Twitter landed there. So, I had to have an account there. 

    Want to know my thoughts of some of the platforms? I'm going to share them anyway.

    Twitter:  Broken, but my friends are there. You can avoid trolls by curating your following list and your feed. It's my go-to place for snarky political takes and politics. It's also where I post most of my personal comments, such as my daily workout report or what my pets have been doing. Twitter collects data from you for its own purposes.

    Instagram/Facebook:  I pair these together since they are both Meta products. Horrible products if you want to follow accounts because Meta doesn't believe in chronological order. I hope Threads adheres strictly to chronological order. It's what everyone prefers. Meta collects A LOT of data from you for its own purposes.

    Mastodon: Quirky little place with it's federated universe and instances. I'll admit, I've been there for a while and still don't know what all that's about. I mainly post my "On This Day" posts there just to maintain a presence, but I have been reading some posts lately. Mastodon does not collect your data.

    CounterSocial:  It's the Pop Rocks platform. You remember Pop Rocks, the candy that pops when you put it in your mouth? That's CounterSocial.  That said, my "On This Day" posts produce a lot of interesting feedback. People will reply and say they met so and so, or visited this place or that. It's awesome to meet these users and discover real life connections to those moments in history. Counter Social does not collect your data.

    Spoutible:  In my mind Spoutible might be the most polished of the new platforms I've joined. It's still a work in progress but it's much further along than you'd expect. I've made some new connections there and my "On This Day" posts seem popular. Some have even told me they look forward to them. A feature of Spoutible is the "Normal" rating. This is a percentage that tells you how likely an account will "engage in targeted harassment, toxic trolling, or use deceptive tactics engineered to cause division or chaos." So, if you're looking for a peaceful experience, you can curate your following list by choosing those with a low "Normal" rating. Spoutible does not collect your data. Spoutible only has an Android app at this time but they are working on an IOS app.

    Post (News):  It's sort of a news aggregator type of social media platform. Individuals can read news articles and there is something called "micropayments" and a points system that's designed to allow individuals to pay for access to articles. So, news producers can make some money here. I haven't spent a lot of time on this site. When I joined everyone was posting pictures of their pets so I can't expand on what daily life is like there. The founder wants polite discourse so there are rules of behavior and moderating. As for data collection, I couldn't find a lot of information. Your log in info obviously. And if you're paying for these points, then probably some financial data. Post News only has an IOS app so check out the specs to read more about data privacy.

    Blue Sky: I only have this account because one person I follow on Twitter decided this was where he was going to go when Twitter gives up the ghost. It's still in Beta testing so it isn't fully developed, which for all the hype surrounding it makes it a bit of a letdown. I mean, they've been working on it for a long time and it's still like this? Anyway, it's based on instances and a federated setup like Mastodon but you don't really notice it. It collects quite a bit of data and uses it to train its AI. That means your photos, videos, words you've posted are all fair game for Jack and his programmers. At present, many of the accounts are people trying to avoid conservative viewpoints. As the company has been very strict on allowing new accounts, many of your favorite twitter personalities aren't there yet. This can make the place seem boring and slow. It seems Blue Sky is the hot ticket for celebs and notable twitter accounts. 

    What does all this mean? If you want less of your data collected, check out Mastodon or Spoutible.  If you want to sit at the "cool kids" table, check out Blue Sky. I'm 1MirandaAllen on all of them.