I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.

E. B. White US author & humorist (1899 - 1985)

What Private Facebook Information Your Friends Can Publish

I ran across this today.  Just when I thought I had all my privacy options set correctly.

Anyhow, first from the post is the how to change.  Then the why.  These are both from here. 

HOW

 If you're using Facebook as a private place to just talk to friends, in addition to setting your profile parts to "Friends only", make sure you also hit up the what friends can share about me panel (under Privacy Settings > Applications and Websites > What your friends can share about you). This way, if you're a 14-year-old who is friends with your old aunt, she won't get to see comment threads that might embarrass you. (The sad truth is that most teenagers aren't spending the time to update their privacy settings, so things like this are just going to keep happening.)

WHY

I'm Facebook friends with my teenage nephew, who is friends with another teenage pal who I am not friends with. This pal has his status updates set to "Friends only" access, which means I can't see them. But, he hasn't changed his default "what friends can share about you" settings. So, my nephew "liked" one of his pal's status updates, and it showed up in my newsfeed, since my nephew and I are friends. I clicked on the status update, and by virtue of the like, I could see the status and the 50-comment conversation that followed between a handful of teens whose profiles are set to "Friends only" and who I am not friends with. Essentially I could see private posts that were never meant for me to see--I'm pretty sure my nephew would be embarrassed if he knew I'd read some of his comments directed at his friends. I felt like the invisible adult who'd stumbled into a middle school locker room conversation that clearly wasn't meant for anyone to hear but these teens.

She is so sweet!

More Baby Pictures

I love the fact I can get pictures of my new grandbaby so quickly.  James and Emily posted more photos of Anna at their blog.

A Motivational Story with Wisdom - The Mouse Trap

I heard this at church this morning.  I don't recall ever hearing it before, but that doesn't mean anything.  As far as I could tell, the author is unknown.

A Mouse, Pig, Cow and Snake A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package; what food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a mouse trap! Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning, "There is a mouse trap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house." The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me; I cannot be bothered by it." The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mouse trap in the house." "I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse," sympathized the pig, "but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; be assured that you are in my prayers." The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, "Like wow, Mr. Mouse, a mouse trap; am I in grave danger, Duh?" So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected to face the farmer's mouse trap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well, in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat. So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when the least of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

Death by Powerpoint

I really had to laugh when I saw this today.

I am sure that I have been guilty of producing deadly presentations myself.

We had one at work a few weeks ago where several of finally had to get up and leave before we started screaming.

If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.

Ludwig Wittgenstein Austrian philosopher (1889 - 1951)

I was afraid of that

Quote on burning bridges

We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.

Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
British dramatist & screenwriter (1937 - )

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.

John Cage
US composer of avant-garde music (1912 - 1992)

New Granddaughter

My son James and his lovely wife Emily gave birth to a healthy baby girl this afternoon. Emily did all the heavy lifting. Mother and daughter are fine.

Pictures and name to follow.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Virginia's new iPad

It looks like Apple has found the perfect target market for the iPad. Too bad there aren't more folks that old.

On the plus side, she is able to read this where she isn't able to read books anymore because of her eyesight. Something to be said for x-large fonts when you need them.

KFC's Double Down Healthier Than Salad

Well, that should be some salads. 

Fascinating little article.  Makes me want to stay away from fast food joints forever.

Burger King, McDonalds and Wendys all have items with more fat and calories that the KFC Double Down, including salads.

Children are all foreigners - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson US essayist & poet (1803 - 1882)

Rachel on the Move

Rachel gets around more than anyone else that I know.  I am delighted that she is taking advantage of living on the east coast.

I am also glad that she is going to be part of our family's travel plans at the end of May.  I will finally get to see southern Alberta!

Barbara has always wanted for the entire family to visit Waterton. After the cancer scare with James a few months ago, it reminded us that we need to make dreams come true sooner than later.

It will be interesting to see if John enjoys the scenery as much as the rest of us will.

Great picture from Emily

A great picture of Emily.  Only a few days left!

Rachel on the BYU Law School Webpage

Rachel took an internship at a law firm in Australia between her first and second years of law school. 

Rachel in Sydney.

While she was there, Russell and I took a trip down under to visit.  Our first stop was Sydney. 

One of the snapshots I took made its way to the page on 'Externships.'

Not Always Right: ABC

I love these.  I am not always right either, but generally I feel a little better knowing there are people who are not right more often than me.

A-B-C, Easy As D-U-H

BOOKSTORE | MASSACHUSETTS, USA

Customer: “Hey, can you help me find this book?”
Me: “Sure.”
(He holds up a piece of paper with the title and author of a book on it. I find it on the shelves and hand it to him.)
Customer: “Thanks! How’d you do that so fast?”
Me: “Well, I’ve worked here awhile, and the books are all in alphabetical order by author’s name.”
Customer: “What do you mean?”
Me: “Alphabetical order. Like the alphabet song? You know, A’s before B’s?”
(He looks confused, but then widens his eyes.)
Customer: “The letters actually go in that order? I thought that song was just to remember them all!”

Andre Gide on Truth

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.

Andre Gide French critic, essayist, & novelist (1869 - 1951)

Aldous Huxley quote

 At least two-thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity: idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religous or political ideas.
        Aldous Huxley
        English critic & novelist (1894 - 1963)