tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-150295242024-03-13T08:31:06.701-04:00Qaptain QwertyRunner. Cartoonist. MacHead. Environmentalist. Punster.Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.comBlogger927125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-40176021017854154752022-01-02T22:22:00.002-05:002022-01-02T22:38:08.411-05:00LIFE DURING PANDEMIC, JANUARY 2022<p> <span style="font-size: large;">My son thought it was a good idea to have COVID testing done to make sure he's not infected, even though we just had a test about a week ago. Negative result, whew. A little bird told me to try the simple, walk-in service at Nathan's Pharmacy at the corner of Bath and 19th Avenues. Alas, it was closed, possibly because it was Sunday, maybe more so because it was the New Year weekend. Once or twice I saw some testing van by Calvert Playground so I made a trip there. Alas, no van. It was there when I needed it, not there now when I wanted it to be there. I pulled into a parking spot and searched for "COVID testing near me" in Google Maps app. I already had my preference for the Brooklyn Army Terminal (B.A.T.), so that was all I could see, in particular a LabQ site in the area. The site was listed as the LabQ office on some floor in Building A. I went there once before. They weren't supposed to take any patience that day, so I was told, but they were nice enough to take me in. Mobilize to the B.A.T., let's go!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Street parking wasn't readily available as usual. Cars were double-parked near the few queues in the area. I decided to park on the pier for once. There was plenty of room. A short walk over to Building A and there was a sign on the door that told us to use their Mobile Service on First Avenue between 57th and 58th Streets. It had to be Rapid Testing because the line went around the block. Just a block away at the corner of 58th Street and First, near the entrance to the B.A.T. campus, there was another, shorter line. We took that queue, since the difference is really a day or two, at least from what we experienced on Staten Island, with Pro Health, when we took both PCR and Rapid. It was a decent day, not as cold as that day we were on the queue for Pro Health. The line moved fast, too, we were done in about an hour. With Pro Health, we had to wait for hours just to register, they had to scan our insurance card, asked about our preferred pharmacy etc. Then we had to go back to our car to wait to be called in. The queue length maybe the same but because of the extra paperwork the whole ordeal was like five hours versus today's one. I decided not to waste a test resource and let my son go in by himself, even though I was on the queue for about an hour myself. Son said it was a saliva test, not the nose-swabbing type that we experienced a few times before. Whatever, they didn't ask him for his insurance card. While we were on the queue, a staff member showed us a QR code to scan, to register before going in. I tried but never got any confirmation email, but the idea is good. Instead of two or three staff people doing all the typing for the entire queue, let the patients register themselves while they have time to kill. On an unrelated note, booster shots were still administered, you would enter the gate by the bus stop. Or wait outside by the gate if the guard tells you so. Then further toward Second Avenue, there was another test queue, another mobile unit named DocWorks or something like that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I saw some people carried containers of fried chickens and biscuits so I thought there was a KFC nearby, perhaps in the same building with the Dunkin nearby. That was not the case. We decided to patronize Wendy's at Caesar's Bay instead. Traffic was bad on the Belt Parkway, just before the merge with the off-ramp of the Verrazano. Took the local to swing by Poly but it wasn't much better. Once I was on the Belt then it was all good. The parking area by Five Guys was chaotic, people leaving and pulling in as if they own the place. There were plenty of space just a few yards away but people just had to park right next to the building.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Now we wait for the results.</span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-58595550215920582722021-11-08T22:16:00.002-05:002021-11-08T22:24:38.635-05:00WORD BLITZ: HOW TO PLAY NON-FRIENDS<p> <span style="font-size: large;">Seasons change, Facebook changes, and Word Blitz changes. Especially Word Blitz, I must add. Ah, the risk of writing documentation, sort of. The instant it is published it is already outdated. But no harm, let us update the process of initiating a game with someone who is not already a Facebook friend. Of course, I am referring to the Facebook Gaming version of Word Blitz, where you play within the Facebook environment. No special ID to identify you.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">After a spate of changes, the latest version of Word Blitz now has two buttons on the Main Screen. One is Play With Friends, the other is Random Player. The relatively new Random Player function is pretty good at matching players of similar skills. It does so probably and mostly on the number of trophies. Some people think it is not that great or misunderstand that Random really means being matched with people who are too strong, or too weak, compared to them. And then there are people who want to have a little chit-chat, even if it's not within the game, so sometimes they request players. The easiest thing to do is to send friend requests. I prefer not to do that, if I can help it. There are scammers out there who would gladly steal your info, whatever you put out there for friends to see. It's just too big of a price to pay just to have people play games with. I recommend making use of the available option of playing with non-friends, i.e. people who you are not already friends with.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In groups like <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/wordblitzplayersandfriends" target="_blank">Word Blitz Players & Friends</a>, from time to time someone would post something along the line of, "I need players!" Instead of sending them a friends request, send them a message. That's the white squiggly thing in the black speech balloon, as highlight in red below.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bgPPF3kVb18/YYnF7KZIIKI/AAAAAAABFNI/ep2mitnEv1INZxfv43_HWnKwioZmSnH8gCLcBGAsYHQ/s729/1-go-to-requester-profile-to-send-message.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="729" height="482" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bgPPF3kVb18/YYnF7KZIIKI/AAAAAAABFNI/ep2mitnEv1INZxfv43_HWnKwioZmSnH8gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h482/1-go-to-requester-profile-to-send-message.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Write in the message something like, "Let us play Word Blitz"</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XofnkpGJ3nQ/YYnGB-sE2PI/AAAAAAABFNM/b0GaI53LilMDncY7Rok0vVm5zGpdAWBTwCLcBGAsYHQ/s750/2-sample-icebreaker-message.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="750" height="492" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XofnkpGJ3nQ/YYnGB-sE2PI/AAAAAAABFNM/b0GaI53LilMDncY7Rok0vVm5zGpdAWBTwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h492/2-sample-icebreaker-message.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Immediately open Word Blitz in Facebook Gaming and click Play With Friends. Yes, to Word Blitz having sent a message to someone makes that person a friend you can start a game with. There are cases where that's not true but in general it works.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HRAnObC7ZLQ/YYnGIH6SlUI/AAAAAAABFNQ/p9ioTOOK3FsPhXHxIR4x25Y2WaVpJ5DzQCLcBGAsYHQ/s862/3-click-Play-With-Friends.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HRAnObC7ZLQ/YYnGIH6SlUI/AAAAAAABFNQ/p9ioTOOK3FsPhXHxIR4x25Y2WaVpJ5DzQCLcBGAsYHQ/w556-h640/3-click-Play-With-Friends.jpg" width="556" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">You don't get to see your list of friends to choose right away. Instead, Word Blitz always invite you to play some tournament. We don't want tournaments for now so just scroll a little bit down. It always show the last three people you exchange messages with, including people who just played their turn. If you don't act fast, your "new friend" may be bumped off the list. That's why as soon as you send that ice-breaking message, go immediately to the game and click Play With Friends.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--pOrQIc3Mws/YYnGM1JvNRI/AAAAAAABFNY/KYIwC6HtvjM87sKRRfN3GIud35opCND3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1294/4-requester-should-be-first-on-the-list.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1294" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--pOrQIc3Mws/YYnGM1JvNRI/AAAAAAABFNY/KYIwC6HtvjM87sKRRfN3GIud35opCND3gCLcBGAsYHQ/w370-h640/4-requester-should-be-first-on-the-list.jpg" width="370" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-size: large;">Go back to that group where your "friend" said they need players. Comment that you just started a game with them. Tell them to accept it by clicking on your name and clicking the Message icon, that white squiggly thingy inside the black speech bubble, as shown below. They should say something back, like "OK, let us do it". They should then go to Word Blitz and find the game that you started with them. Back and forth you can play. If the skill level turn out not so comparable, don't start a new game when one is done. Or done respond to a new game request and it will go away in a few days. Rather drastic but I heard of people blocking others just so that the other person no longer start unbalnced games with them.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-543W9avhGeo/YYnGUw820yI/AAAAAAABFNg/VK0FgG-h_ucR0hJzl0ARt9zhD7U8J2gqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s750/5-requester-replies-back.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="750" height="582" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-543W9avhGeo/YYnGUw820yI/AAAAAAABFNg/VK0FgG-h_ucR0hJzl0ARt9zhD7U8J2gqwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h582/5-requester-replies-back.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps because of different privacy laws in different nations of the world, when the requester is in a country different from yours this little trick may not work. Facebook, or maybe Lotum, the German-based company that puts out Word Blitz, is an international company and have to adjust their environment to satisfy the different laws. So far with this technique, I can play people in the U.S., India, Australia, etc. Not possible are people from Greece, the U.K., and maybe Ireland. I am sure there are more countries for both lists. I have enough players so I don't seek people out that often. As the saying goes, your mileage may vary.</span></div><br />Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-53024739513546109722021-10-24T16:29:00.000-04:002021-10-24T16:29:18.606-04:00HOW TO SHARE A WORD BLITZ TOURNAMENT TO A FACEBOOK GROUP, iPHONE VERSION<p> <span style="font-size: large;">At the rate of changes Lotum introduces to the game of Word Blitz, it seems silly to even bother writing instruction on how to do things, but I persist. Here goes another instruction for HOW TO SHARE A WORD BLITZ TOURNAMENT TO A FACEBOOK GROUP.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Pre-requisite: be a member of the Facebook group Word Blitz Tournament Center at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/435605317529797/">https://www.facebook.com/groups/435605317529797/</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Recently, Lotum added a Podium icon for the purpose of creating tournaments. It is circled in red in the picture below. As long as you don't already have seven tournaments going, whether created by you or others, you will have the Podium icon. (At one time, it was an icon of a Trophy. But then it started to malfunction, went away, and now it's back as a Podium.) Clicking it will create a new tournament.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_dUbIJ_iyMU/YXW0dnDqJVI/AAAAAAABEqE/zTqOJ3LEuN8QqMgcutWP_xUw_Dy1zbbnQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1334/IMG_2660.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_dUbIJ_iyMU/YXW0dnDqJVI/AAAAAAABEqE/zTqOJ3LEuN8QqMgcutWP_xUw_Dy1zbbnQCLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h640/IMG_2660.PNG" width="360" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><p><span style="font-size: large;">The tournament is almost created... First, make sure under your name there is an icon of the globe and the word <b>Public</b>. That's the Privacy setting. It needs to be Public, so that anyone can play the tournament. To finally create the Public tournament, click the <b>Share </b>button.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AHCeJarrUPA/YXW0rGUBFBI/AAAAAAABEq0/qB9uBzZZO24-EWAaSxrGQgulPlEKbzH2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1334/IMG_2661.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AHCeJarrUPA/YXW0rGUBFBI/AAAAAAABEq0/qB9uBzZZO24-EWAaSxrGQgulPlEKbzH2QCLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h640/IMG_2661.PNG" width="360" /></a></div><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;">After clicking Share, just sit back and wait for the tournament to show up. Note the time and date info under the word TOURNAMENT. A tournament lasts 7 days, I was already 17 seconds or so since the time I created the tournament, so it will run for 6 hours, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 43 seconds. The game is shared to my Facebook profile and it's been only 17 seconds or so thus nobody joined the game yet, I am the only and therefore #1. Click the X in the upper right corner to close the new tournament.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jsZys8gXY0c/YXW0zjGk_uI/AAAAAAABErM/rd0wRxGdnlYELd-BiZLS-yvrlDzVVv7fQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1334/IMG_2662.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jsZys8gXY0c/YXW0zjGk_uI/AAAAAAABErM/rd0wRxGdnlYELd-BiZLS-yvrlDzVVv7fQCLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h640/IMG_2662.PNG" width="360" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Out of the Word Blitz game environment and back in the Facebook screen, click <b>Menu </b>in the lower right a few times until your name and profile photo appear at the top left. Click <b>See your profile</b>.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oP4AwuvNiG0/YXW09u_9uUI/AAAAAAABErU/HpWzLvD7qsgSXerNESpCJN-_9psmNuS7QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1334/IMG_2664.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="621" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oP4AwuvNiG0/YXW09u_9uUI/AAAAAAABErU/HpWzLvD7qsgSXerNESpCJN-_9psmNuS7QCLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h621/IMG_2664.PNG" width="360" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">On your profile page, scroll down a bit to find the newly created tournament. Click the <b>Share </b>button in lower right.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wdcgF9ksiY0/YXW1Ewe2O5I/AAAAAAABErY/EsML_ekuK_4ij67WSZ9Fq2IHcKwbTJVlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1334/IMG_2665.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wdcgF9ksiY0/YXW1Ewe2O5I/AAAAAAABErY/EsML_ekuK_4ij67WSZ9Fq2IHcKwbTJVlQCLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h640/IMG_2665.PNG" width="360" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are many ways to share a tournament. For our purpose, click <b>Share To A Group</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n5P02ODE4Rg/YXW1KYl6A-I/AAAAAAABErc/Sq5fh4QOo-AVL7YkFdSwi3hHL0nL0xTpQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1334/IMG_2666.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n5P02ODE4Rg/YXW1KYl6A-I/AAAAAAABErc/Sq5fh4QOo-AVL7YkFdSwi3hHL0nL0xTpQCLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h640/IMG_2666.PNG" width="360" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">I already shared many tournaments to the group Word Blitz Tournaments Center, with Facebook knowing everything about its users, the group is listed at the top of the list. If it's your first time doing the sharing, you would need to click the Magnifying Glass next to the word Search and type in a few letters of the group name, starting from the left. I think <b>Word Blitz</b> would be enough, unless you joined many groups that start with those words.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cAzUS22WB1Y/YXW1P-UdicI/AAAAAAABErk/b3UCgccD9qQY_Pkcmw9V3wiOXPARCr88gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1334/IMG_2667.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cAzUS22WB1Y/YXW1P-UdicI/AAAAAAABErk/b3UCgccD9qQY_Pkcmw9V3wiOXPARCr88gCLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h640/IMG_2667.PNG" width="360" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Three things to notice in this final step: 1- the group name now shows under your name; 2- the tag, which is the hash sign # (also known as pound sign) followed by the day of the week; 3- the <b>Share Now </b>button. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">#Sunday in this case denotes the tournament was started on a Sunday. To circumvent the restriction of 7 tournaments, some people seek to join only tournaments that end within hours or minutes. By using the Topics button at the top of the group, they can see the various tags corresponding to the day of the week. In the ideal world, tournaments that ended would already be deleted by the original creator or by an admin or moderator, so that you would only see tournaments that ending on that day of the week, plus the ones that were started on that day. For example, if Joe started 3 games on a Sunday, a week later those games will appear as ending in hours or minutes. Similarly, if Peter started 2 games on the morning a week after Joe started his 3, Peter's 2 games will also appear when the #Sunday filter was applied.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Finally, the <b>Share Now </b>button is what completes the process. Go ahead and click it!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9BlqTsyUmw/YXW1U5sRYcI/AAAAAAABErs/RbIw2rhWQkQTr5De63VclFC8MccQ1PtRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1334/IMG_2668.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9BlqTsyUmw/YXW1U5sRYcI/AAAAAAABErs/RbIw2rhWQkQTr5De63VclFC8MccQ1PtRwCLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h640/IMG_2668.PNG" width="360" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-34801870087284225432021-08-22T11:38:00.005-04:002021-08-22T11:46:42.218-04:00HOW TO SHARE A WORD BLITZ TOURNAMENT TO A GROUP<p> <span style="font-size: large;">Word Blitz, the popular Boggle-clone word game, has yet more "improvements" that make sharing a tournament game to a group even more difficult. There are slightly different versions of Word Blitz, the one I am discussing is played via Facebook. First some background:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">At its basic level, you play Word Blitz against a friend. Next up, you somehow hook up to a non-friend. The two of you play three rounds of the game and whoever have the most points win. As surprising as it sounds, sometimes you cannot find opponents to play against. Again, I am talking about the Facebook version, where games are limited by the friends or non-friends you have who also play the game. There is also another outlet, The League, where you can usually play up to six single-round games, one at a time, against a random player. Personally, I think it is great that the game doesn't make it too easy to play all the time. Smartphone users in general already spend too much time playing games. But then again there is the Tournament option.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>With Tournaments, you can play against a wider range of players. You have up to seven days to try again and again with different board configurations, not of your own choosing, to get the best score you can. There is a limit of seven tournaments you can join at any given time. Still, having seven games over seven days is still a lot of play time. Alas, the issue again is finding people who would join the tournament games you created, which by default only appears on your own timeline. So you need friends who would join. I am somewhat selective these days and try not to have new Facebook friends unless I already know them in person. Or have a need for it, like teachers at my old high school, since I run an active alumni group. Others may have other reasons not to friend people on Facebook. This is where Facebook groups created solely for sharing Word Blitz tournament games come in. One such group is the Word Blitz Tournaments Center, lo</span><span>cated at </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/435605317529797" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/groups/435605317529797</a><span> . I am a member of the group and a frequent question is "How do I share to the group?" I hope the instruction below will help. The instruction is for an iPhone user in the U.S.A. In future posts, I can make another for Apple MacOS or Microsoft Windows. Go join the group before you follow the instruction.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Recall that I mentioned there are changes to the game that makes sharing tournaments more difficult? It used to be you can create an almost limitless number of tournaments while participating in only seven or fewer. Maybe some or many tournaments ended up with no participants or maybe the many number of tournaments somehow cost Lotum, the distributor of Word Blitz, too much money. The new rule is you have to be in a tournament game else nobody can join it. You still cannot play more than seven games simultaneously so create tournament games only when you have fewer than seven games going. If you already play seven games and try to create a tournament, you will get some unhelpful error message. No, it does not tell you that you already have seven games active and that you must be in a new tournament game that you create.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">On with the instruction!</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z551NkBAIno/YSJotT8JWuI/AAAAAAABD-0/wi0lndqk0cYWWKs6Le-IQMi8RM7v0XnFQCPcBGAsYHg/s1047/IMG_2438.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z551NkBAIno/YSJotT8JWuI/AAAAAAABD-0/wi0lndqk0cYWWKs6Le-IQMi8RM7v0XnFQCPcBGAsYHg/w458-h640/IMG_2438.PNG" width="458" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At some random schedule, there is a podium icon that sorta reads Create Tournament, as circled in green. Note the partly hidden Invite button on the far right of that row. It may be necessary to scroll sideway to bring the podium icon into view. Click Create and you will be on your way to creating a tournament.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cEtW-bAKzDY/YSJrYy8jaQI/AAAAAAABD_A/bIIkgV_mWU0BVbt-ni2D9FZBkNrlvnOFQCPcBGAsYHg/s1334/IMG_2439.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cEtW-bAKzDY/YSJrYy8jaQI/AAAAAAABD_A/bIIkgV_mWU0BVbt-ni2D9FZBkNrlvnOFQCPcBGAsYHg/w360-h640/IMG_2439.PNG" width="360" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Be sure to click the line below your name to have it show Public. If it is left on Friends Only then group members who are your friends cannot play. Next click the Share button near the bottom then don't do anything for a few seconds. If you have fewer seven games going, in a few seconds a new game will start. Give it your best, if you wish, to get some high score then leave Word Blitz altogether.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xsBltZwULUQ/YSJsTJzI0BI/AAAAAAABD_I/YcwWPIu5Tt86QsUZz4h3pTUV_4m3emkfgCPcBGAsYHg/s1334/IMG_2440.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xsBltZwULUQ/YSJsTJzI0BI/AAAAAAABD_I/YcwWPIu5Tt86QsUZz4h3pTUV_4m3emkfgCPcBGAsYHg/w360-h640/IMG_2440.PNG" width="360" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click the Menu icon in the lower right then scroll to the top and click See Your Profile. Try to do this as soon as you quit Word Blitz in the above step, before your timeline have other new stuff.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ygSXRtXLyJg/YSJstD3JS6I/AAAAAAABD_Q/w559J1LtJ6YZbXJIQLMn6zXPkJoReszeACPcBGAsYHg/s1334/IMG_2441.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ygSXRtXLyJg/YSJstD3JS6I/AAAAAAABD_Q/w559J1LtJ6YZbXJIQLMn6zXPkJoReszeACPcBGAsYHg/w360-h640/IMG_2441.PNG" width="360" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new tournament game you created and shared to your timeline should be easy to find. Click on its Share button. Note the score of only one point. If I played some words before, my score would be higher. In this case, I didn't play any words.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TBUBjYwP7KY/YSJs_IXypwI/AAAAAAABD_Y/A5LPbeRcC0Mtj5CILRrGEUNMo_mkRwE0ACPcBGAsYHg/s1334/IMG_2442.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TBUBjYwP7KY/YSJs_IXypwI/AAAAAAABD_Y/A5LPbeRcC0Mtj5CILRrGEUNMo_mkRwE0ACPcBGAsYHg/w360-h640/IMG_2442.PNG" width="360" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click Share To A Group (I used title-case to make the instruction easier to follow. I am aware the actual title for link is slightly different).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qq0S_ANtEdA/YSJtTqPoFtI/AAAAAAABD_g/7Gg1UeKMF_Ir1gz1a5phsqGVZjskBE58ACPcBGAsYHg/s1334/IMG_2443.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qq0S_ANtEdA/YSJtTqPoFtI/AAAAAAABD_g/7Gg1UeKMF_Ir1gz1a5phsqGVZjskBE58ACPcBGAsYHg/w360-h640/IMG_2443.PNG" width="360" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You should already be a member of the group called Word Blitz Tournaments Center. In the screenshot, next to the magnifying glass, I typed <i>to</i> and the list of groups shortened to just two items. I clicked on the lower choice.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PO0MBTnlw_k/YSJuMckATCI/AAAAAAABD_o/JtEuauMOkqQYuGKTYWkdp4gEBKWp7LmgwCPcBGAsYHg/s1334/IMG_2444.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PO0MBTnlw_k/YSJuMckATCI/AAAAAAABD_o/JtEuauMOkqQYuGKTYWkdp4gEBKWp7LmgwCPcBGAsYHg/w360-h640/IMG_2444.PNG" width="360" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At last we come to the final step to sharing a tournament game to a group. Note that near the top of the screen the group name is shown. I strongly recommend entering some info to make your game different than the many others that are shared to the group. Of great use is the day of the week. Recall that games last seven days. Some people like to join games that end soon, so that they don't have to wait a week to join a new game. For example, if you join seven games that were started on a Sunday, you can only play those seven games and cannot join any new ones. When you include the info, i.e. day of the week, in your posts, people can search for the word <i>Sunday</i>, or whatever the case, and join only those games. Finally, click Share Now and your game will be shared to the group for all to enjoy.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-73779720631363089882021-05-31T10:33:00.000-04:002021-05-31T10:33:01.462-04:00THROWN UNDER A BUS, WHEW, JUST A DREAM<p> <span style="font-size: large;">Many books have been written about the subject of dreaming, as in seeing things while sleeping. I wish I know a better word to describe it. Nowadays, to dream can also mean wishing for something, a positive thing. The English language can be great for making puns and being ambiguous but sometimes I want to be direct about the subject. I want to simply talk about the things I saw while sleeping, something that my brain somehow made up on its own, not because I want it to really happen. Sure, it maybe something I did subconsciously, fer sure. But not something I actively want. But enough of the meaning of "dreaming".</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In real life, I am a cautious pedestrian. I always look both way crossing the street. I don't wear headphone and such, so that I am always aware of my surrounding. Definitely not staring at the smartphone screen while walking, as some people I know regularly do, very annoying. But in last night's dream, for lack of a better word, I caused a three-bus accident at a street intersection that seemed to be that of Canal Street and Baxter Street in Manhattan Chinatown. I crossed Canal Street from the north side to the south side but then immediately tried to cross to Baxter but the light was changing. A bus in the bus stop was moving forward so I tried to run behind it but then another bus was going in the driving lane. It seemed as I tried to go back to the sidewalk yet another bus came from the other direction of the two-way street. Now, in real life Baxter Street is very narrow, just enough for two parking lanes and one driving lane, it's a one-way street. In this dream, it was a two-way street, wide enough for buses to go through, so maybe it wasn't Baxter, but hey it was a dream, it didn't have to match reality. Anyway, perhaps because the third bus tried to avoid me, it braked too hard and went flying and hit the first bus. Again, physics may not apply in dreams. One thing I was sure is that as the levitated bus came at me, I was alert enough to lay flat and the bus flew right over me. I do recall feeling guilty for causing the accident, who knew how many people died or got hurt, so I guess my dream version also had integrity. I don't know what happened next because the shock in the dream woke me up. Or maybe it was my busting kidneys needing to unload.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Yes, back to reality. It is a three-day weekend, Memorial Day today, thank you to all who made the ultimate sacrifice. It was rainy for the first two days so I was home all day. I was hoping to do something outdoor today but the house has a plumbing problem. A plumber came yesterday but the problem is bigger than originally thought. He's coming back today with tools to rip off part of the bathtub wall etc. Water's been shut off for now for the whole house. It's a minor inconvenience, we lived through worse times.</span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-49455303359693959422021-05-30T14:09:00.003-04:002021-05-30T14:12:29.796-04:00STILL NO INDOOR DINING AT MACDONALD CARTERET<p> <span style="font-size: large;">This past Friday I again had breakfast not at home. I was happy to see that the MacDonald's in Carteret was done with the renovation. "We are open!", the sign said. Alas, unlike the Burger King down the road, they still didn't have indoor dining. Nope, take-out only. Ironically, on that day New Jersey governor announced additional relaxation of COVID rules, that businesses were free to not require masks etc. I suppose Mickey Dee wanted to be extra safe.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This past Sunday I was in Chinatown for an errand. On Mott Street I saw what appeared at first as one of those outdoor dining structure being taken apart. Ah, another sign of the city going back to pre-pandemic atmosphere, I thought. Just to be sure, I stood a few buildings away to observe the "dismantling". Nope, I was wrong. The workers were carefully measuring things with retractable measuring tape then screwed things down. It was an additional area they were working on. Weird, if you ask me, but who knows, maybe this particular restaurant was slow in getting the outdoor permit or things are going so well with outdoor dining they decided to add a few more tables outside.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Something else I noticed on Mott Street was that perhaps because of the outdoor structures, there were cars parked halfway up the sidewalk. The drivers were in the cars, I suppose in case the traffic cops come around they would move. It was news to me but who knows, maybe it had been like that for a while, since I rarely go into Manhattan these days. The scene reminded me of a certain section of Pennsylvania Avenue in Brooklyn, just a tad north of Linden Boulevard. Street parking is allowed, except for certain days when there was street-cleaning. However, the road is narrower than usual, so perhaps voluntarily all the cars would park halfway on the sidewalk. It is illegal probably but maybe there's an unspoken rule between the traffic agents and the local drivers. Maybe too many cars got side-swiped so people don't want to take a chance with parking completely on the street.</span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-54133443787081986762021-05-21T22:13:00.002-04:002021-05-21T22:13:55.098-04:00ANOTHER SIGN OF NORMALCY - EAT-IN AT FAST FOOD RESTAURANT<p> <span style="font-size: large;">I am happy to report that today I was able to have a sit-down breakfast at the Burger King near my office. For a long time now, I had my breakfast, whether My Way or Not, in the car. I usually have a podcast going, either Somethin' Rhymes With Purple or Ask Me Another. It's nice and all, but I want the option of sitting at a table and not worry about littering in my own car.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps because of the nearby McDonald's being closed for renovation, service was slow at Burger King. No one else was in the dining area, but the drive-by window had to be busy. At least it seems that way. I do prefer McDonald's one chunk of hash brown as opposed to the King's little tots. Hopefully McD will re-open soon. It's a little closer to the highway exit, BK being a little further away. I am a lazy driver, the less I have to drive the better I feel.</span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-57785213638691167232021-05-21T22:08:00.001-04:002021-05-21T22:15:15.862-04:00WE ARE LIVING IN INTERESTING TIMES...<p><span style="font-size: large;"> We are living in interesting times but we have no time to write things down to look back on. I love history and especially enjoy recalling my own past. Social media is nice and all but I still prefer a blog. I hope to revive this blog, at least try to have new posts every weekend. Where did I hear that before? It cannot hurt to try.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">What happened today (Wednesday 19 May 2021)? New York State followed CDC recommendation to relax mask requirements for vaccinated people. I will go along with that, unless I am in an enclosed area with other people. Who knows if any of them are anti-vax people who may be carrier of the disease or its variants.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">My CityStrides.com stat isn't so great these days, at least with regards to Brooklyn. For a while, for fear of the COVID-19 virus, I didn't run at all. Did all my exercising in the backyard or in the living room. I did resume a bit but it's a slow process. Carteret, NJ and Staten Island, NY are now my main focus during the week. I work in Carteret and go through Staten everyday. I thought I was #1 in Carteret but all of a sudden some Private User popped out of nowhere to put me in the #2 spot. Staten Island I have a comfortable lead but I have to keep it up. So many streets, so little time.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">[Originally written on perhaps May 19, 2021, but it's been so long since I blog that I forgot to click the Publish button until today. Sigh.]</span></p><p><br /></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-55837496876528136652021-01-16T10:41:00.007-05:002021-01-16T10:49:12.788-05:00OPEN OUTLOOK WITH MULTIPLE VIEWS<p><span style="font-size: large;">It's been a while since I literally work a desk job, i.e. sitting at a desk with my own phone extension, a computer monitor, drawers for my own stuff etc. I started a new job about a month ago and that's exactly what came with the job. I now also have two monitors to work with, a great thing to have to meet today's work demand. One monitor for email, the other for the web etc. With two monitors, I rarely need to print things out, just put the things to compare side by side.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">One thing I love to do is have my programs run as soon as I log in. Outlook, Chrome, Windows Explorer, a DOS box, etc. stuff that I would launch sooner or later. As I now have two monitors to use, I started the habit of having up to three views of Outlook while using it. Most people have Outlook show them their email then switch to the Calendar view when needed and switch back afterward. Instead of just clicking on Calendar, if you right-click on it there's an option to open the Calendar in a new window. I do that, also for Notes. Nice to have Mail, Calendar, and Notes up and ready, just a click away, without having to switch back and forth with Mail.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>I already have Outlook starts up along with other programs but it only opens the Mail view. I knew there must be some command line switch I can use but at first there seems to be none. (FYI, most, if not all, programs that you use in Windows is actually a pretty icon on the front, behind it is some filename that ends in .exe and such that you can type to start the program.) </span>I did come across this link, <a href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/command-line-switches-for-microsoft-office-products-079164cd-4ef5-4178-b235-441737deb3a6#ID0EAABAAA=Outlook">https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/command-line-switches-for-microsoft-office-products-079164cd-4ef5-4178-b235-441737deb3a6#ID0EAABAAA=Outlook</a> but it wasn't so obvious. Ultimately, it was the <b>/select foldername</b> option but the use of the word <i>foldername </i>threw me off. I think of folders as those things I created in my Inbox to keep things tidy. I have one for my boss, one for some news subscription, etc, with matching Rules to filter the incoming mail into them. I am lucky now that I don't have many email message to wade through but if needed I can easily find my boss' email because he has his own folder. But folder the way Outlook sees it, per the Microsoft link anyway, is what I think of as View. So what I have now are three separate commands:</span></p><p><span face=""Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", wf_segoe-ui_normal, "Helvetica Neue", "BBAlpha Sans", "S60 Sans", Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1e1e1e;">c:\program files\microsoft office\office15\outlook.exe" /select outlook:Mail</span></p><p><span face=""Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", wf_segoe-ui_normal, "Helvetica Neue", "BBAlpha Sans", "S60 Sans", Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1e1e1e;">c:\program files\microsoft office\office15\outlook.exe" /select outlook:Calendar</span></p><p><span face=""Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", wf_segoe-ui_normal, "Helvetica Neue", "BBAlpha Sans", "S60 Sans", Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1e1e1e;">c:\program files\microsoft office\office15\outlook.exe" /select outlook:Notes</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>The exact path to Outlook.exe may be different for you, depending on whether you use the same Office version etc. I already have an Outlook shortcut in my Startup folder, set to the Mail View, so I copied it twice, then edit the path to use outlook:Calendar and outlook:Notes. </span><span>Voila! As soon as I log in, I have the three "Views" opened for me. </span><span> </span></span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-54538519882683637212021-01-06T20:54:00.002-05:002021-01-06T20:54:47.117-05:00WORD BLITZ - PLAY WITH NON-FRIENDS<p><span style="font-size: large;">My current favorite word game is Word Blitz by Lotum, usually played through Facebook's relatively new game engine. It's basically a Boggle clone, i.e. you have a grid of letters to work with, connect the letters to form words in the allocated two minutes, in a race against an opponent. Like most word games, the words you form don't necessarily have useful daily usage, but rather it depends on the letters' assigned points, not unlike Scrabble.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">One strange thing with the Facebook version is that you don't get to randomly play against opponents, not easily anyway. You either drag many of your friends into the fray or earn some Hearts, whether through a timing system or by watching video ads, so that you can play in a tournament. I suppose that's how they primarily make money, eyeballs supposedly exposed to advertisements. While the game is popular, many people have a hard time convincing friends to play the game. Waiting around to have enough Hearts to be able to enter a tournament is a pain. A popular request in some Facebook groups for players of Word Blitz is that they need friends to play with. There is no obvious way to play with people who are not already a friend in the Facebook world. But it is true that you don't need to be a friend of someone to be able to challenge them to a game.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The trick is you first need to make a connection with a player via Facebook Messenger, which is the messaging system in the Facebook ecosystem. Anyone can send a private message to anyone via Messenger, unless one party doesn't like the other and already blocked them. When you see someone say, "I need someone to play me!", go to their profile and send them a message, something like "Let us play Word Blitz!"</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Next launch Word Blitz and scroll down the Leaderboard, all the way down to the bottom of the list to find the Invite entry. In the screenshot below, I scrawled over people I am friend with to give them some privacy. Click on the plus sign next to Invite.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K6YXAyu_TU4/X_ZfpNJEGQI/AAAAAAABASA/PPCm2AbmvyEx6WXuawkb_trytJj5I-c-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/challenge-non-friend-via-Messenger-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="540" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K6YXAyu_TU4/X_ZfpNJEGQI/AAAAAAABASA/PPCm2AbmvyEx6WXuawkb_trytJj5I-c-ACLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h640/challenge-non-friend-via-Messenger-01.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Scroll a bit down to find the list of people who you recently exchanged messages in Messenger. It can be a friend or in this case, the non-friend that you just verbally challenged to a game. That challenge of course was nothing more than to establish a link, so that that person would show up in the list after you clicked the plus sign in the screen before. Click Play.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-12I3u0WNXWU/X_Zn07NxypI/AAAAAAABASM/J4GErGXKnIs6pfJzk50iup3KBbaQgc1hgCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/challenge-non-friend-via-Messenger-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="540" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-12I3u0WNXWU/X_Zn07NxypI/AAAAAAABASM/J4GErGXKnIs6pfJzk50iup3KBbaQgc1hgCLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h640/challenge-non-friend-via-Messenger-02.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-size: large;">That's it! That's how you can play people who are not friends with you on Facebook. Personally, I do this from time to time. People would send me friend request for the sole purpose of having an opponent. It is so unnecessary once you know this way. Not straightforward, but it works. I'd rather just play someone this way instead of having to see people's posts in my feed.</span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-3246377917893900512020-11-25T11:17:00.004-05:002020-11-25T11:19:50.225-05:00STRAVA MULTIPLE RIDE MAPPER<p><span style="font-size: large;">I love technology, things like computers, smartphone, and programming. I also enjoy long distance running as a form of exercise. It's wonderful when the two areas of my life converge. Through a blog comment, I learned about the tool called Strava Multiple Ride Mapper (SMRM), <a href="http://www.jonathanokeeffe.com/strava/map.php">http://www.jonathanokeeffe.com/strava/map.php</a> . It's a web form that lets you specify a range of dates to load your Strava activities and put them all on a map. It works for most Strava activities, like running and walking, not just bicycle rides. My first use for it was to make a word without having connecting lines between the letters. It can be done but it's tedious. You have to end a run after each letter. Three-letter word would mean three separate runs. I think the system that I have in place, whereby most of the time the letters are linked at the bottom, works fine for me. It does save time, like if you make the letter U you can just end at the upper right corner instead of having to run back down to the bottom of the letter. But as I said, it is too much work, from my point of view. I also don't like to monopolize people's Strava feed. For example, if I spell Strava with SMRM, that's six separate runs, or six entries in the Strava feed of people who follow me there. I just don't like it. I regularly unfollow people on Facebook who regularly post nothing but links to YouTube videos, one after another.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">What SMRM is great for is to make phrases and I put it to use with my latest three runs. The phrase is Live Laugh Love, that cheesy phrase seen all over Etsy. I planned the words so that they are kinda strung together but not on the same baseline. I like to work with rectangular grids but there is not enough room to spell all three words across. It may be possible to stack them but I really like how the phrase turned out. It's irregular, less boring, somewhat whimsical.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">A few tips on using SMRM:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;">You do have to grant SMRM access to your Strava account. If you are hiding from The Man, or working for The Man on a secret mission, this is not for you. You probably shouldn't be using Strava in the first place anyway. Or something like that, you know what I mean.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Have patient once you click that Load button. It takes a while to parse through your Strava activities to find matching info. Not only can you specify the date range, you can also select type of activity, whether to ignore Commuting entries, etc. Give it some time.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">While the tool works on smartphones, it's best used on a desktop or laptop computer. If you have to do it on a smartphone, put the phone in landscape mode first.</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-size: large;">A wish-list:</span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;">Strava recently switched to OpenStreetMap and while there are some downside to it, a welcomed change is the lack of all these local businesses clogging the map. Google makes some money with all that info, not the open-sourced OpenStreetMap. I wish SMRM would get away from GoogleMap too.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">There's a link called Download KVM but it doesn't work. I love to explore all the features of a given app or tool, but clicking that link only produces the error message <i>There was a problem generating the KML file, please try again.</i></span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Similarly, if you try to give the author feedback, the link for that gives me the error <i>Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress</i>. I don't know what that means and don't want to go through the trouble of "fixing" my system just to leave a comment.</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-size: large;">The author, Jonathan Okeeffe, actually has a few Strava tools offered. I find SMRM useful and made a donation. Check it out and donate if you agree it's a good tool to support.</span></div></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--djcywz4y8E/X759fF7lWTI/AAAAAAAA_iE/ref8yDA4dnE0nAvm8wTQ78rbYKmAoJJdgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2569/Live-Laugh-Love.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="2569" height="304" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--djcywz4y8E/X759fF7lWTI/AAAAAAAA_iE/ref8yDA4dnE0nAvm8wTQ78rbYKmAoJJdgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h304/Live-Laugh-Love.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-22391196077695759132020-11-22T22:30:00.009-05:002020-11-22T22:40:50.066-05:00WII FIT PLUS SEGWAY CIRCUIT<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">When I feel lazy in Wii Fit Plus, I merely play the Balance Games instead of doing yoga poses or strength exercises. The nice thing with Wii Fit Plus is there are many more so-called Balance Games. Wii Fit Plus may call them something else, but they are basically games, something more interesting than the regular exercises. I got pretty good with all the games and was able to secure the top spot, or completed all the levels. Until I hit Segway Circuit. Pretty much the only control you have is lean forward to move forward and lean backward to, uh, move backward. Well, you also turn left and right by turning the WiiMote, which you hold horizontally with two hands, the front of the WiiMote (the part where the infrared light shoots out) pointing to your left. The goal of the game is to go around bumping into beach balloons that were inflated by moles or gophers. There is a time limit and the last mole has rocket-propeller to travel faster. With the Amateur Level, it took me a while to realize that the only to catch up to the Last Mole is to use a ramp to speed up. One bump into The Boss Mole, I think, and it's game over for Mr. Mole. Or at least that's what I vaguely recall. I should go back to it just for fun.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span><br /></span><span>For the longest time, or at least it seems so, I was stuck with the Advanced Level. There are more beach balls to bust and that Last Mole was impossible to catch. Through some YouTube video, I learned that once you have the puppy to follow you, pressing A sic the dog to the Balloons. It saves you time from having to traverse the distance to bust the Balloons yourself. Just travel a bit toward a Balloon, press A, then the dog will do its job. Be careful not to press A too many times. Press once to get the Balloons busted by the dog, but don't press too quickly or you will call the dog back to you. Another button that is useful to know is the 1 key. In the overview map on the right, pressing 1 will zoom out a little bit to show you where the Balloons are, so you don't end up wandering all over searching for them. Lastly, don't bump into the Moles while they are above ground. You lose points and I think it makes them run away to another hole, making it harder for you to bust the Balloons.<br /></span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Even with more time at the end to chase the Last Mole, I still couldn't catch it. Eventually, I realized that the dog can only do so much work. It may slow the Mole so that I can bump into it, to bust its on-board balloon. The on-board balloon is replaceable, so pop one and another one comes out. Only after the third balloon popped that you would be done.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /><span>I am now on the Expert Level and it seems to be even more difficult. There are buildings to go around, Balloons may be on the sidewalk or within some place that's higher than the road, thus your progress is slow. I think the trick is to get the dog as soon as possible. Luckily, the dog seems to be in the same spot all the time. In the Advanced Level, it's under the tree on the left if you make the first right turn on the road. In the Expert Level, it's between the building in town. I will try to ignore all the Balloons and go hook up with it next time. That may be the only way to quickly bust all the Balloons, with the dog's help, to have more time to defeat The Boss.</span></span></div>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-25203728607128093012020-10-30T12:37:00.003-04:002020-10-30T12:38:24.110-04:00POWER OF ADVERTISING<p><span style="font-size: large;"> Someone recently joked that he was so bored at home that he started buying stuff through Facebook ads. My one experience with that ain't so great. We spend so much time in FB it makes sense that the advertisers would target us. The thing I bought was some motion-sensing LED light. Perhaps because many FB users also went for the same ad, it took me a few weeks to receive the item. It was about $20, light is yellowish, and needs to be re-charged every few days. Yes, the seller kept me updated, but it still took what seemed like a long time. Some time later I bought two sets of 3-pack lights from Amazon, from two different vendors just to see the differences, for about $10 each light. The Amazon stuff, as usual the case, arrived in a few days. The Amazon lights also last for weeks before requiring a charge! There are actually many choices with Amazon but for now I prefer the LED lights from Otinlai. I like that they have a physical switch to go between Always-On to Off or to Night-Mode. The other light I got from Amazon has one button to press to cycle through the three modes. I had to read the little text on the light's body each time I want to make the changes. </span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-30354142937664357762020-10-29T09:21:00.003-04:002020-10-29T09:21:39.828-04:00VOTE<p><span style="font-size: large;"> On Monday, I voted early. It was relatively painless, I just walked in, had my barcode scanned, signed, made my selections, scanned both sides of the ballots, then out in maybe less than 15 minutes. From what I heard on Facebook, the scenario was different elsewhere. People waited on queue for hours. I did go to the poll with a book and with my iPhone fully charged. I've been trying to cut back on Social Media time on the iPhone but I was hoping to catch up on the many podcasts I subscribe to. It is good to come prepared. Wednesday I had the opportunity to go for a morning run and the message is VOTE.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MEz-i3XBrqA/X5rBRaJ8EtI/AAAAAAAA_Q8/6DE14Shvz2onUbf5TJUgCQC59A1Zk8OPQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/VOTE-in-blue-n-red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1305" data-original-width="2048" height="408" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MEz-i3XBrqA/X5rBRaJ8EtI/AAAAAAAA_Q8/6DE14Shvz2onUbf5TJUgCQC59A1Zk8OPQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h408/VOTE-in-blue-n-red.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uX4fF-cuWLI/X5rBRWYYP-I/AAAAAAAA_RA/9hEnUOm191wb3JjQGO5VLAgsTzUrG0O-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/VOTE-regular-orange.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1301" data-original-width="2048" height="406" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uX4fF-cuWLI/X5rBRWYYP-I/AAAAAAAA_RA/9hEnUOm191wb3JjQGO5VLAgsTzUrG0O-ACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h406/VOTE-regular-orange.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-19010308426548005422020-10-27T10:17:00.004-04:002020-10-27T10:21:36.355-04:00I VOTED EARLY<span style="font-size: large;">I voted early! I suspected the weekends would be busy so I waited until Monday to do it. The rain probably discouraged some people to procrastinate. It was quick, no waiting at all. I walked straight in, some staff member shouted at someone at the door that no photography allowed at the entrance, I proceeded to the check-in desk.<br /><br />I recall when I worked on Election Day some years ago, the workers were assigned these booklets that let us look up voter's Districts, based on that the staff, at the desk for the Districts, would find the voters' documents for them to sign. It was a two-step process. We had to use a straight edge to better find the info. One colleague had the great idea of writing certain oft-needed info on a separate piece of paper and that helped sped things along. Today, the workers had some tablet device that can scan the barcodes on the booklet I received in the mail, which I brought with me. Signed my name with a stylus and off I went with a ballot to the filling station, filled in the many bubbles needed, then finally walked over to the scanning station. The scanner doesn't do duplex so you have to scan one side then flip the ballot over and scan again. Let's hope wherever those scanned data go it's securely protected against tampering!<br /><br />Vote early if you can. All the info is actually in the voter's booklet you already received in the mail. Where to go if you want to vote early, the hours the place is open (some day it opens early, others it closes late, to accommodate different people's schedule), plus the usual info related to Election Day, it's all there. I found things via the 311 app on my iPhone but it wasn't necessary. Bring the booklet with you, open it to the page with the barcodes, save everyone's time. I was lucky to walk right in but by the time I left, a queue was already spilling out of the building.</span>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-7163962440009219802020-10-26T10:13:00.003-04:002020-10-26T10:14:17.061-04:00NO MACS SLEEP IN BROOKLYN<p><span style="font-size: large;">My desk is tiny but sometimes I want to use an external keyboard with my Mac laptop. With an external monitor connected, I want to close the laptop lid then rest the keyboard atop it. Alas, I soon found out that, unlike Windows, there was no system setting to tell the Mac to Do Nothing and stay awake. Instead, as soon as the lid closes, the Mac went to sleep. Supposedly there was some app to force the Mac to stay awake but it was no longer in development. What I have been doing is, either keep the Mac's lid open and use the external monitor as additional real estate, or jam the lid so that it wouldn't close all the way and use the second screen as a mirror of the laptop. I sometimes use a Bluetooth keyboard from Apple and it jams the lid perfectly. But there must be a better way.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">By mere coincidence, I recently had my Mac laptop connected to power source, as opposed to running on the built-in battery, and closed the lid while connected to a monitor. Boom! There it is, on the glorious second screen, my Mac screen! The computer didn't go to sleep, it simply went from two screens to just one, which is fine. I can now put a full-sized keyboard, or whatever keyboard I want to use, right atop the closed laptop.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It's nice to discover things on my own, but I suppose with the correct terms to search I would eventually come across the official words from Apple:</span></p><p><a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201834" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201834</span></a><br /></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-79050337805284268442020-10-25T10:43:00.003-04:002020-10-25T10:45:08.669-04:00SCREEN TIME GRAY BARS = SCREAM TIME<p><span style="font-size: large;"> I recently resumed using iOS Screen Time, found in Settings, to keep track of my iPhone usage. As suspected, I spend too much time on Social Media, in particular Facebook. Lots of other useful info, like how often the phone got picked up, what apps were launched after that. Nice little bar graphs to show you what's going on. What's not so nice is there are these gray bars that don't seem to match anything. You would think the Internet has the answer to everything, but after some Googling, or maybe Bing-ing, the answer is either Miscellaneous Apps or, gasp, Background Tasks carried out by the iPhone itself. I am not convinced of either answer but if I have to choose one it would be Miscellaneous. If it's Background Tasks, then this is a classic case of the nerdy engineer collecting info that is useless for the average user. Screen Time's primary use is for the user to see how much time he uses the apps. Things that he initiated. Background Tasks are not initiated by the users and should not be included in a graph that shows how user spends his time. Maybe in The Matrix, the Computer Overlord may be interested in Background Tasks, but out here in our simulated world, we only care how much time we spend scrolling down our Facebook Wall.</span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-76745069584271489402020-10-24T22:05:00.004-04:002020-10-24T22:08:10.674-04:00THE LAST TIME WE...<p><span style="font-size: large;">On Facebook, many people post a lot of useless stuff. However, someone recently posted something that I got very emotional thinking about it. It was a quote that goes like, "One time you had fun with your friends but did not know that it would be the last time you would be together." I am not much of a party animal but I suppose the scenario can apply to any gathering. Maybe just a simple dinner with loved ones. More recently, on Mac Geek Gab podcast I heard about an iOS app called Last Time. Supposedly you make an entry in the app and it keeps a running count of whatever that you just entered. Looking at the app some time later, you would learn that you have a certain pair of shoes for so many months, you last had dinner at some place so many weeks, and so on. In my emotional state, I am not sure I want to install the app but I think eventually I will.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This week I learned of the sudden death of an elderly friend. He is older than me by some twenty years. He was a young medic during the Vietnam War while I was still a toddler. Vietnam is a big country and we never met there but some forty years later in Brooklyn, NY we did, through a run club. He took up long-distance running late in his life but he was good. I am not fast to begin with but he was indeed faster than me. I used to think that when I get to his age I would be happy to still be able to run like him. One time he paced me at a Summer Series 5K and it was one of my best times. I was in much pain, since on my own I usually don't run that hard, but I was very happy too. He was a good friend and a good coach. A very nice guy overall.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For me, his sudden death left two unfinished businesses. I am not 100% sure, but I think he once mentioned he had this letter he found on a wounded enemy combatant. Recall that he was a medic in the Vietnam War. He wanted me to translate the letter, just out of curiosity. He never got that letter to me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The other unfinished business is that at one time I wanted to make a route-art, StravaArt if you will, for him. Since he was in the armed force, I thought it would be appropriate to use his last name. At the end of his name, I would add a red cross, to signify his role in the war as a medic. Maybe I thought that I better run the idea by him first, but never got around to it, nothing ever came out of my StravaArt idea. I may still be able to do that one of these days. I do plan to resume running regularly so it's a good possibility.</span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-549463543954664322020-10-20T22:45:00.004-04:002020-10-20T22:46:54.064-04:00PAIR OF EYEGLASSES FOUND IN GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> <span color="var(--primary-text)" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">P2MX+48 New York</span></span></p><div><div dir="auto"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc e5nlhep0 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_fw" style="padding: 4px 16px;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql gk29lw5a a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d9wwppkn fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb hrzyx87i jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="display: block; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Every now and there’s some alert on Facebook or such social media of someone gone missing. Their family would try to spread the word as far and wide as possible to try locate them. This post of mine is similar in nature although not as critical.</span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Today (Tuesday October 20, 2020) around 6pm I happened upon a pair of eyeglasses on the sidewalk outside David’s Auto Repair in Greenpoint, at the northeast corner of the intersection between India Street and McGuinness Boulevard. (The code at the beginning of this post is used by Google Maps to locate the business). I picked up the pair of eyeglasses and asked the man who happened to be sitting near the entrance of David’s Auto Repair. It wasn’t his. I went inside David’s and left it with the receptionist. Ideally the owner of the glasses visited the business recently and eventually traced his way to the store. </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Just as an experiment, I am going to post this story in my places on the Internet and maybe you can help too. Ideally the post should go to some Greenpoint, Brooklyn groups or networks.</span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4 l82x9zwi uo3d90p7 h905i5nu monazrh9" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" style="border-radius: 0px 0px 8px 8px; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="l9j0dhe7" style="font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><div class="bp9cbjyn m9osqain j83agx80 jq4qci2q bkfpd7mw a3bd9o3v kvgmc6g5 wkznzc2l oygrvhab dhix69tm jktsbyx5 rz4wbd8a osnr6wyh a8nywdso s1tcr66n" style="align-items: center; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--divider); color: var(--secondary-text); display: flex; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; justify-content: flex-end; line-height: 1.3333; margin: 0px 16px; padding: 10px 0px;"><div class="kb5gq1qc pfnyh3mw c0wkt4kp" style="background-color: white; color: #65676b; flex-grow: 0; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; width: 7px;"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-13691611619899567282020-10-02T22:43:00.000-04:002020-10-02T22:43:03.175-04:00I BELIEVE I CAN SLIDE<p><span style="font-size: large;">My good fortune with Wii Fit Balance Games is rolling along fine. Or maybe my skill just keeps getting better and better. With Balance Bubble games completed, my new Balance Game these days is Penguin Slide. You control a cute critter, the penguin, that stands on an iceberg. Fish jump out of the water onto the berg, some gliding along, some jumping. You shift your weight left or right to slide in that direction and gobble up as many as you can. Be careful not to slide too far to the edge, as falling into the water costs you time. At the edge, if you quickly shift you weight back toward the center of the iceberg, your movement becomes a jump, which you definitely need to catch the 10-point hovering, red fish.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For a long time, I struggle to get into the Top Ten list. Naturally, my son, younger and more nimble, occupied the top slot, probably a few slots in the top five as well. Thanks to much practice and a better understanding of how the characters in the game behave, I got better and was able to get into the Top Ten list more frequently. I discovered that when the Red Fish appears, it's best to get ready for it. No more chasing the 2-point Green Fish or the 1-point Blue Fish. Just stay in the center of the berg, as soon as the Red Fish emerges from the water at whichever side (left or right), hovering in midair because it has some special power, slide that way and jump. With that technique, I got enough points to bump my son off from the #1 position. I even got as high as 98 points! Now I plan to keep trying until I get 100 point, or more, then I will move on to other Balance Games.</span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-63576382125968825082020-09-30T22:26:00.002-04:002020-09-30T22:27:36.769-04:00BALANCE BUBBLE PLUS COMPLETED!<p><span style="font-size: large;">The first time I tried Wii Fit Plus' Balance Bubble Plus, it was so difficult. The idea is the same as the original Balance Bubble. You "travel" in a bubble and direct the movement by leaning left, right, forward, and backward. Yes, it's very useful to be able to move in all four directions. And it's a bubble so the slightest bump and your "vehicle" busts, game over. First time I played Balance Bubble I also thought it was difficult. Too difficult for mere mortals! Luckily the "harzards" moved in the same pattern so after a while I knew what to do to complete the game and completed it I did. The Plus version introduced a rotating arm, a big one, shortly after you make a few turns. This is where it's important to be able to go backward a step or two. You don't want to move faster than the arm. Every now and then I can even squeeze right in front of the arm and not have to wait for a gap to open up. Then comes the dark tunnel, with which I had to constantly stop to observe the surrounding because your light can only see so far. Move forward too fast and you can bump into the floats or whatever that's floating around you. Out of the tunnel there are two small rotating arms going in opposite direction. You need to time your movements and squeeze into the gaps. Last hazards are the bees! I hate them! There are five or six of them, just cutting across the screen as you try to reach your final destination. In a classic case of witnesses with unreliable memory, after I completed the game I watched some YouTube videos and now I cannot recall if I paused on the first two bees then zoomed past the remaining bugs, or if that's what I saw in the videos. Whatever, I did finish the game, not easily, far from the ease the YouTube people showed. For example, it looks like when they arrived at the dark tunnel they just went straight through without pausing like me. Oh well, I should be glad that I at least finished it.</span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-83749989806753648612020-09-29T15:19:00.008-04:002020-09-29T15:25:58.778-04:00SWIPERS GONNA SWIPE<p><span style="font-size: large;"> I love the iPhone and smartphone technology but in some aspects my old-school way of thinking can only take me so far. In particular I am talking about swiping with the finger(s) as a way to interact with smartphones etc. Swiping with one finger, say as a way to look through a list, is kinda easy. Pinching and un-pinching to zoom in and out isn't too difficult to learn. Some maps would tell you to use two fingers to move around. The message would be there so you can read it and act accordingly. That's the max for me. I understand there's a whole slew of things you can do with three fingers or maybe even four fingers. That's too much for me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I looked forward to using iOS 14 just for the ability to add captions to photos. I hate it when I cannot find a particular picture I want. Having the appropriate caption associated to each photo would be useful, but only in the recently released iOS 14 can that be done natively. The thing is I couldn't find the place where I would enter the caption. I know there's an Edit button, after you selected that you can do some simple manipulation of the photo, like rotating, cropping, or messing around with its color, brightness, etc. So that's where I went to find some mythical button that says Add Caption. Except it's not there! I tried Googling for it but because of my choice of words all I got back was lists of features of iOS 14. Why, some of those lists even mentioned the ability to add caption, just that they are so busy talking about the new features there's no time to show me how to actually do it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I decided to ask a friend who upgraded a few days earlier. Maybe my iPhone 7 is too old to support the feature. Not so. The feature is there, I just had to get the photo in full-screen mode then swipe up from there. Doh! There it is, a blank space to take Caption! Of course, afterward I searched for <i>How to add Caption in iOS 14 </i>or something similar and there are many useful hits, albeit useless now. Now that I know how to add caption, it vaguely dawned on me that I came to that screen before, where there are other info about the photo, like Location. I probably arrived there by mistake, otherwise I would know how to get there. Maybe it's just me, but that's not intuitive at all. Oh well, years from now when old farts like me die off the young people (young now anyway) will all agree what a great interface it is, so natural to swipe up to see more info about whatever they are looking at.</span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-11397351401696898112020-09-28T22:59:00.003-04:002020-09-28T23:01:26.423-04:00CLAPTRAP BY TOM RICHMOND AND DESMOND DEVLIN<p><span style="font-size: large;">I love MAD magazine. Being a bit artistic myself, I love to see the caricatures in the magazines. I don't know why I didn't buy it more regularly. For a while, I decided to buy it every two months, that's their publishing schedule, six issues a year instead of the usual twelve. It gave me an excuse to wander into Barnes and Noble. I even stated buying the compilation books, which technically are just reprints of the magazine, except for the foreword and other writings in the beginning. But I missed so many years/issues, the regurgitated materials in the books were new to me. I even decided to stick with MAD after the move from the East Coast to the West Coast. New staff, new this new that, many people hated the new stuff, but I didn't mind. But my measly support wasn't enough. Now MAD supposedly won't even publish much new materials any more, except perhaps the cover and a few pages inside. Enter former MAD cartoonist Tom Richmond and former MAD writer Desmond Devlin! Together, they are putting out a new book with at least ten parodied movies, brand new, never published elsewhere. There are a few Indiegogo tiers to consider but simply put for $25 you can a book featuring materials normally seen in a MAD magazine as if the mag is still churning out new, monthly content. They already plan to do Volume 2, if this pattern continues it's almost like having a monthly MAD magazine with new materials. Who knows, they may even release something every two months!!!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">First, Tom and Desmond needs your help. Support the IndieGoGo project, if you share my love for MAD magazine.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/claptrap-movie-spoofs-in-a-classic-humorous-vein?fbclid=IwAR1ToPkFdB-xN9uPeor3baZkH4Y-pX5FQQBRB9LcTsYmO0Stj95O71IuJ2k#/">https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/claptrap-movie-spoofs-in-a-classic-humorous-vein?fbclid=IwAR1ToPkFdB-xN9uPeor3baZkH4Y-pX5FQQBRB9LcTsYmO0Stj95O71IuJ2k#/</a></span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-45298143932594325322020-09-22T12:41:00.001-04:002020-09-22T12:42:31.826-04:00NO SLEEPLESS IN MAC LAND<p><span style="font-size: large;">I finally have a modern computer monitor that can directly connect to my not-so-modern, but not that old, Mac laptop. Typically with laptops using external monitor, I prefer to keep the lid closed. I have this fear that a laptop is very vulnerable when it's wide open. A push of the screen in the wrong direction can snap something and it won't function the same way any more. When not in use, I usually keep the lid either closed all the way or at least leaning toward the closed position. Alas, the way Mac OS X works, as soon as you closed the lid, the computer goes to sleep. There's no built-in function like Windows where you can tell the operating system to Do Nothing. There are utilities to disable sleeping but they don't work with laptop lids closing. What a bummer! Ya know, back in the day, the Mac was a superior graphical interface but in some areas Windows now has overtaken it. Like this Sleeping issue, for instance. My so-called workaround is to keep the Mirroring function, so that the laptop screen and the external monitor show the same thing, then close the laptop lid but jam it with my Bluetooth keyboard. The laptop lid is in a slanted position so I don't gain any additional real estate space on my physical desktop, but at least I can see the big screen with the laptop screen sorta out of the way.</span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15029524.post-70506337727155376902020-09-21T12:27:00.009-04:002020-09-21T12:28:06.173-04:00WII FIT - BALANCE BUBBLE GAME<p> <span style="font-size: large;">Part of my daily exercise regiment includes, usually, 30 minutes with Wii Fit Plus. For those who don't know, the Nintendo Wii game console interface is more physically-involved than other systems. It's a decent way to get some exercise while playing games. They even go as far as having exercise programs such as Wii Fit and its sequel, with which you do actual yoga and strength training exercises. The interaction is achieved with the help of the Wii Board, which the player would stand on. You can weighed everyday to track your pounds. You can also find out how balanced you are, even though your left and right sides are not identical, you do want to try to have a sense of balance of the two sides.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes the yoga and exercises get too boring. You can unwind a bit by playing Balance Games and such. They are basically video games but you control by shifting your body to move around. Just like video games, with some games you can only advance so far and it seems there's no way to complete the game. With some computer video games, there are cheat modes that you might find to finally complete the game. Not a good idea to always cheat, but it's just a game and if you already tried hard enough you just want to get over it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">One game I finally complete is Balance Bubble, found in the original Balance Games of Wii Fit. Like many things in life, the first few times I didn't get very far. I kept trying and got better, eventually completed the Basic Level. In Advanced Level, there are bumble bees buzzing around and would bust your fragile bubble that you ride in when you cross their path. Again, for a while I couldn't get past these pesky insects. Luckily, once you know that the bees fly in certain pattern and that you can go backward or stay in place, then it's not too bad. Also, in places where the wave emanates from the shore, the current isn't that strong so you don't need to overreact and end up crashing into the shore.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I am now trying to complete Balance Bubble Plus. The route is totally different, there are rotating arms, and there's a dark tunnel that you can only see so much ahead. You just have to move slowly and carefully avoid bumping into the round objects floating about. Once you are out of the tunnel, there are two rotating arms, with smaller radius so that you have less room to maneuver, one set of arms after another. And they rotate in different directions, too! The furthest I got was past the first set of arms. Even if I somehow get past the second set, time may be running out, too, so I'll have to try to lose little time in the easier, beginning section. These games are supposedly to be relaxing but they are getting my blood pressure up!</span></p>Qaptain Qwertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10086701757034748207noreply@blogger.com0