Poll: 25% Of Americans Want Their State To Secede From The United States – How About You?

While browsing the news this morning and seeing that voters in Scotland had rejected breaking away from the United Kingdom, I was shocked to then see a story reporting that an incredible 23.9% of Americans want their state to secede from the United States. The findings were published in a Reuters poll on Friday. As you can see from the chart below, it’s spread fairly evenly across the US. The poll claims to have a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2 percent.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

My take on this is pretty simple:  “haters gonna hate”!  I think this is nothing more than right-wing nutbars who just can’t get over the fact that Barack Obama has twice been elected President of the United States. What do you think?

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DuckDuckGo Is Not About Those TV Duck Morons!

In my blog yesterday, the very last item in a long list of new features included in Apple’s iOS 8 update was “DuckDuckGo support in Safari”.

My friend John (RV Live On Wheels) left a comment expressing some bewilderment about what in the heck was a “DuckDuckGo”? 

Well, it certainly isn’t about those TV morons on Duck Dynasty that’s for sure. Instead DuckDuckGo is a new search engine that is taking dead aim at Big Brother Google by claiming they respect your privacy and don’t track you. Here’s how they put it:

DuckDuckGo has everything you expect a search engine to have, including images, news and places, all while respecting your privacy. Great results without tracking you. That's DuckDuckGo in a nutshell.

For the record, the company name originates from the children's game Duck, Duck, Goose which I’d never head of. I Googled it and found out it’s a children’s game where a group of players sit in a circle, facing inward, while another player, the "picker" (a.k.a. the "fox"; some young children call the "picker" the "ducker"), walks around tapping or pointing to each player in turn, calling each a "duck" until finally picking one to be a "goose" and the process begins again.

DuckDuckGo has been around for a while, in fact, it was launched way back in 2008. It’s the brainchild of Gabriel Weinberg who had what a lot of folks called “the crazy idea” that he could go up against Google simply by guaranteeing private searching on the Internet. His little startup got a tremendous boost in July, 2013 after Edward Snowden first revealed the NSA's extensive digital surveillance program to the world. DuckDuckGo exploded and now they are growing at a rate of 200% to 500% a year.

Gabriel Weinberg founder of DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is hardcore about privacy. When you do a search from DuckDuckGo's website or one of its mobile apps, it doesn't know who you are. There are no user accounts. Your IP address isn't logged by default. The site doesn't use search cookies to keep track of what you do over time or where else you go online. It doesn't save your search history. When you click on a link in DuckDuckGo's results, those websites won't see which search terms you used. Give it a try!

Enough about ducks, let’s move on to Apples and, in particular, the iOS 8 update.

As you can see from the image on the left I was able to begin downloading iOS 8 at precisely 9:54am PT which was 6 minutes before it was due to be released to the public..

I had actually tried to upgrade at 9:45am but it wasn’t available yet. So, I’m thinking that by trying again just a few minutes later and succeeding I must have been one of the first few gazillion in the queue for the big 1.1GB download. I’m happy to say that iOS 8 downloaded to my iPhone 5S in a little over 1 hour and 20 minutes later it was installed o.k.

I spent some time playing around with the new Messages app and liked it a lot – no more typing if you don’t want to so it’s great. The Photos app has some nice new features as well including an easy “straightening” tool which is very handy. After a that, I got busy upgrading Paulette’s iPhone 4S and both of our iPads,

Another iPhone thingy I finally got around to after upgrading to iOS 8 was to setup Touch ID on my iPhone 5S. Touch ID is an easy way to use your fingerprint as a passcode.

After going through the setup process in Settings > Touch ID & Passcode I was amazed to see how easy it was to use. No more typing in a passcode to unlock my iPhone – all I have to do now is touch the Home Button and the Touch ID sensor quickly reads my fingerprint and unlocks my phone.

Thinking this was pretty cool, I couldn’t wait to show Paulette.  After watching my little demo, she cut to the chase asking “how can I use your phone if you die, does this mean I’ll have to cut off your thumb and carry it around with me like a ‘thumb drive’ ”  Ha, Ha! Very funny! 

Anyway, while setting up Touch ID you are required to also setup a 4 digit passcode. Then, if you turn your phone completely off, or more than 48 hours have elapsed from the last time you unlocked your iPhone, then you must enter your passcode. Thankfully, I’ll be able to keep my thumbs.

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Today’s iOS 8 Release Apple’s Biggest & Best Ever

Apple is releasing iOS 8 today, September 17th, two days before the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus go on sale. Users of Apple iPhones and iPads should be able to download the new iOS anytime from 1pm ET if Apple sticks to their usual release times. You can download iOS 8 by going to Settings > General > Software Update or by connecting your device to your computer and using iTunes. Apple requires an iPhone 4S or newer and iPad 2 or newer to update to the latest software.

Unlike iOS 7, this new OS doesn’t contain any major changes to its visual design. Last year’s big change to flat icons remains but even so Apple says iOS 8 is its biggest ever. In looking at some of the stuff Apple CEO Tim Cook talked about last week a few new features stuck out for me. I’m only going to deal with a few of the new features I found particularly interesting as there are far too many for one blog.

Tap and Talk is a major update to Messaging in iOS 8

Paulette and I aren’t much good at typing with our thumbs the way the kids do. With our Apple iPhones, we’ve pretty much relied on using the microphone feature to speak our messages then wait a few seconds to have them translated into text and then send them off.  Even with having to make the odd change it’s still a lot faster for us than 2-thumb typing. The new iOS 8 is going to make it even easier for all of us with its new Tap and Talk.

The new Messaging allows for instant embedding of videos and images

Messages in iOS 8 makes it easy to capture any sound — your voice, a song, or a big laugh — and make it part of the conversation. Simply touch and hold the new microphone button to record your message. Then swipe to send it. To hear a message, simply hold iPhone to your ear and listen like it’s a phone call or just tap the Play button. It’s almost like using a phone. Tap to Talk allows you to listen to incoming audio messages from the lock screen as well.

Apple says the new keyboard is their smartest ever

iOS 8 brings the biggest changes to the keyboard since the very first iPhone. It will be able to predict what you’ll likely say next no matter whom you’re saying it to.  Apple’s predictive text adjusts based on the person you’re communicating with because your choice of words is likely more laid back with your spouse than with a friend. Your conversation data is kept only on your device, so it’s always private. iOS 8 will learn and adapt to your writing style as you use it.

A brand new Health and Fitness App

The new Health app puts your health data in one place, accessible with a tap, giving you a clear and current overview of your health. You can also create an emergency card with important health information — for example, your blood type or allergies — that’s available right from your Lock screen.

iPad and Macs can now answer phone callsSometimes when your iPhone rings, it’s not where you are. Maybe it’s charging in another room. Or it’s buried in your jacket or purse. But your Mac or iPad is sitting right there. Now you can make and receive phone calls on those devices as long as your iPhone running iOS 8 is on the same Wi-Fi network. Incoming calls show the caller’s name, number and profile picture. Just click or swipe the notification to answer, ignore or respond with a quick message. Making a call is just as easy!

Instant Hotspot automatically sets up a Personal Hotspot when out of WiFi

I like this new feature!  iPhones and iPads have long had a feature called Personal Hotspot for tethering your cellular data connection over Wi-Fi. To setup the personal hotspot, users had to navigate to settings and toggle on the feature. Then, the device would appear as a Wi-Fi network. It was kind of clumsy even though it worked. In iOS 8, with Instant Hotspot, iPads and Macs intelligently discover when an iPhone is nearby and automatically list the device under Wi-Fi networks in Settings.

When an iPad is no longer using your iPhone’s cellular network, it intelligently disconnects to save battery life.  When enabled, a blue bar appears at the top of the Home screen like normal. It even provides you with signal strength and battery life indicators directly next to the iPhone’s name under Wi-Fi networks, both of which are important details when using a personal hotspot.

The new Camera app has all kinds of new features 

In addition to the above new features, Apple has also added a lot of neat new stuff in its Camera and Photos App including an interesting new Time-Lapse Photo feature. The new photo features would take an entire blog to detail so I’ll leave that for another day. I can’t wait to download iOS 8 and try these new features!

Here’s a list of some additional new features in iOS 8:

• Auto night mode in iBooks
• Panoramic photos on iPad
• Battery usage by app
• Travel time notifications
• 24 new dictation languages
• Camera timer
• Instant burst mode
• Separate focus and exposure in Camera
• RSS feeds in Shared Links
• Improved zoom for accesibility
• In Case of Emergency card
• Purchase iTunes content with Siri
• Rich text editing in Notes
• Touch ID to exit from Guided Access
• Indian, Tagalog, Irish Gaelic, and Slovenian keyboards
• Private browsing per tab in Safari
• See your books as a series in iBooks
• DuckDuckGo support in Safari

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One Photo For Your Thoughts On A Quiet Day

Cowichan Bay Estuary

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Setting Up A New Private Family Blog Brings Back Memories

A few weeks ago while in the midst of struggling with the “issue of what’s “too much information” and what’s “not enough?” to put into my blog I made the rash decision to turn my present blog into a totally private blog. I further compounded that mistake by publishing this post: I’ve Discovered The Secret To Happy Blogging!  Private!!  Then, just a few hours later, I changed my mind, posted a new blog entry, and announced I was My Idiot of the Day. Even so, I thought the private blog idea still had some merit.

September 14, 2013

September 14, 2014

After considering different ideas and approaches I went ahead and created a brand new blog that is accessible only to myself and anyone in my family I choose to invite. I’ve been writing it for about 2 weeks now and I think it’s gone a long way towards meeting my goals of keeping a history of not only my daily activities but that of our family. It’s not a personal diary by any means. But, it is a way to get around the legitimate privacy concerns of those who don’t want photos or stories of themselves splashed around my blog for all the world to see.

.A year ago!

Yesterday – sampling some pizza with his hands – attaboy Mason!!

The private family blog is not a daily venture as I only write entries when something family specific happens like a birthday, visits, weddings or anything to do with Mason of course. The exception to my private blog is, of course, Mason. as Carrie is o.k. with me writing about our little man and posting pics of his smiling face on my blog. To get my new private blog rolling, I actually went back to the day Mason was born and imported all of my posts where Mason has been featured. Wow! Has there ever been a lot!!

A year ago exactly

That’s how I came across these pics of Mason from September 14, 2013 and compared them to ones I took of him just yesterday when we went down to Victoria and took our little guy for pizza and then cake back at Carrie’s afterwards. Seeing these photos of Mason then and now made it crystal clear to me that having this family blog is a great idea no matter how long I continue to write my current blog.

Digging into some Birthday Cake and feeding himself with his spoon!

I’m enjoying my Rick’s Bits ‘n Bytes blog more now because I’m able to write about things I’m interested in without having to be concerned about privacy issues with members of my family. I still get heck once I a while for mentioning things I feel are perfectly o.k. but set off alarm bells with others. But, on the whole, it’s a much, much better for everyone including me. The more I stick to bits ‘n bytes the better off I am!

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Google Chrome Browser And Adobe Flash Conflict Fix

Just recently, two fellow bloggers have reported problems with their Google Chrome Browser not responding resulting in their computers crashing. One of those bloggers Bob (The Caretaker Chronicles) put it rather succinctly saying in his Sep. 8 post:

I’ve had enough of your “Chrome is not responding”.  And the only solution is to either close the program,  or wait for it to what? wake up?

And yes,  some of you computer wizards are going to pipe up and say, “But Bob,  you can do this or that,  and your problem will be solved.”  Um. No.  We’re done.  I shouldn’t have to *do* anything.

A few days after Bob’s post, I got an email from my fellow Vancouver Islander Croft (Croft’s Mexico) saying that he was having the same problem as Bob with his Chrome installation and did I know if there was a solution to it? As a matter of fact, I did know of a solution because I had struggled with the same problem a few years ago after switching to Chrome from Firefox. The changes I made them have left my Chrome browser trouble free no matter how many times Adobe Flash issues updates.

Here’s the situation with Chrome and Adobe Flash Player:

Adobe Flash Player is directly integrated with Google Chrome and enabled by default. Available updates for Adobe Flash Player are automatically included in Chrome system updates.

Adobe Flash Player is one of the most consistent and annoying apps that pops-up on our computers requesting updates. So, its likely that many Chrome users may end up with 2 versions of Adobe Flash Player installed on their computers. One is the version embedded with Chrome while the other is the version downloaded directly from Adobe for use with other browsers like IE and Firefox. For Chrome to work effectively with Flash Player you need to make sure that that you have only the Chrome embedded version enabled.

It’s a fairly easy task to check and fix this if you’re a Chrome user.  Here’s how:

1. Type chrome:plugins in the address bar to open the Plug-ins page.

In this image you will see only one plugiin listed for Adobe Flash Player

After typing in chrome:plugins in the address bar you may see only 1 plugin listed for Adobe Flash Player. To determine if you've previously installed Adobe Flash Player separately, then to see both plugins you’ll first have click Details in the upper-right corner of the page as shown above. That may result in 2 plug-in listed as shown below.

 The embedded Chrome plugin is the pepperflash version.

As you can see the above image shows 2 plugins installed for Adobe Flash and therein lies the problem. The plugin you want to keep is the one with pepperflash in the description. The one you want to disable if Chrome is you default browser is the Adobe Flash Player as shown below in Green:

Disable the Adobe Flash Version

Once you’ve disabled the Adobe Flash Player as shown above that should get rid of the “Chrome not responding” problem.

There’s one more thing. If Chrome is truly your default browser and you don’t intend to use Firefox, IE, Safari etc. and therefore have no need for the separate Adobe Flash programs then you can completely uninstall it by going to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and uninstall the two programs shown directly below. That way you don’t have to even worry about all the gobbeldy-gook above as Chrome will take care of all future Adobe Flash updates for you.

Adobe Flash Player 11 ActiveX
Adobe Flash Player 14 Plugin

So, that’s it. I know you didn’t want to hear this, Bob, but Chrome is the best browser on the planet and just because Adobe messes it up you really should take a second look at this problem. But, as you often say “keep it out of the ditch” and if another browser is working for you without problems then’s that’s the way to go!

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Apple Books Every Cargo Flight Out Of China For 2 Weeks

The demand for Apple’s new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus has been overwhelming and pre-orders for the 6 Plus have already been sold out. New units of the iPhone 6 Plus may not be available for 4 to 6 weeks. However, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 version is still available for delivery on Friday, Sept. 19. Apple has apparently built a massive 80 million iPhones for delivery prior to year end. How do you get that many phones delivered? If you’re Apple – then book every cargo flight out of China!

Overwhelming demand for Apple’s new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus

According to PC Magazine and several competing cellphone manufacturers Apple may have booked every cargo flight from China to the U.S. on three major freight carriers for two weeks to deliver enough iPhone 6 units to fulfill demand when the phone goes on sale September 19th. Apple appears to be doing everything it can to ensure that it has enough iPhones on hand for the September 19th launch it the US. I wonder how many cargo planes it would take to deliver 80 million iPhones?

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