Snoskred Opinions

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Take Note.

8 Comments Posted on June 19, 2008May 30, 2015 by Snoskred

People..

If you see naked children in the driveway of their home, this is not a usual or normal thing. It’s not ok. It means that someone isn’t paying attention to those kids, or that someone doesn’t care enough to make sure they have clothes on.

Why do I mention this? 18 month old twins were found dead in a house in Brisbane this week. And in the story linked to back there appears this comment –

Although two of the boys had appeared naked in his driveway from time to time, Mr Zammit said they looked quite healthy and he never suspected their parents might have been neglecting them.
“They’re kids, they run around and do these things,” he said.

In this day and age, no kids run around naked.

Unless you’re living in some kind of nudist camp, if you see this in your neighbourhood, get on the telephone. Even if they “appear healthy”. You might not know who to call, but the police would probably be a good start. There’s also usually some kind of child protective services.

wrong world

The Queen Is Unhappy

6 Comments Posted on May 25, 2008May 30, 2015 by Snoskred

In case you missed the news, The Queen is not very thrilled that photographs of a wedding she attended turned into 100 page wedding special in Hello magazine. And neither are the Princes Harry and William, even though William was not there. I would suspect that making such a deal with a magazine and not letting the Queen and family know about it could equal being on the shit list for many years. However, if I were the Queen, I would have been pretty happy because the outfit she was wearing was nothing short of FIERCE!

Aww, isn’t that sweet. Harry is so cute. On the other hand, I would not have been so happy that Camilla Parker Bowles was wearing very similar headgear, though Camilla’s was less pretty due to being all one color.

But then again, could it be possible that the two ladies shopped together and bought similar hats intentionally? Could it be that Her Majesty and Camilla actually like each other? I would hope so, because it is clear that Camilla makes Charles happy and she has done for many years.

I wonder what it says about me that I quite like the outfit that the Queen is wearing. Some people would probably say it looks a bit like a set of curtains but I love the colors and the concept of a large long coat over the top of a dress. Classy!

royals

What Would Josh Lyman Say?

3 Comments Posted on February 5, 2008May 30, 2015 by Snoskred

He would say “Its’s time to let go of these scraps of hair, Senator. Seriously.”

He would say “Shut him up or dump him, Hilary – and where did you get that horrible outfit?”

Josh is the character I miss most, out of all the shows that have finished.

politics, US Elections

Maintaining A Positive Attitude While Chronically Ill

8 Comments Posted on December 22, 2007May 30, 2015 by Snoskred

Please welcome Sandy from Fighting Fatigue to the blog –

As someone who has suffered from chronic illness for almost 20 years, I know firsthand how difficult it can be to maintain a positive attitude while sick. But in order to survive, and because my illnesses are “chronic”, never going away, I have had to learn how to deal, adjust and cope despite multiple health problems.

I have been sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Interstitial Cystitis for most of my adult life. Being afflicted with just one of these illnesses can be disabling, but put all three together and life can be pretty miserable at times. I have had to give up my career due to my illnesses, but I refuse to let that stop me. Even though I am sick, I do not use that as an excuse to give up on life. I may not be able to do the things I once did, with the same energy and focus, but I am still alive and each day is a gift and I’m grateful to be alive.

I have seen too many people who are sick just give up and not try. I know that being chronically ill takes a toll on a person’s body physically and emotionally. But there are ways to keep from getting depressed and from living in the “pity party” mode 24 hours a day. I don’t want this to sound as though I think I’m better than anyone else who is chronically ill because I’m not. It has taken years of my own pity parties, depression, and mastering coping skills to get to where I am today. I still have times where I think “Why me? Why can’t I go and work like everyone else?” but I only allow myself a five-minute pity party and then I move on.

Here are some coping skills that I have learned over the years to help deal with being chronically ill and in chronic pain:

– Keep a journal and write in it daily what you are grateful for. I call this my “gratitude journal”. Even though I might wake up and not be able to do anything other than wash my hair, I record that I am grateful that I was able to do that small task. It helps through the difficult times and it makes you realize that even though things may be bad, there are still positive spins you can put on each situation.

– When you feel like complaining, smile! A lot of people are usually amazed when they find out how many health problems I have because I try not to let it show. When I am very miserable I am not able to be out in public, but I never feel good – ever. But I always try to keep a smile on my face because smiling just makes everything seem better.

– Read positive, uplifting books. I have found this to be especially helpful. When I start to feel a little down or depressed, I will go to my small library and choose a book that has inspirational sayings or quotes and I will read those until I feel better.

– Instead of becoming a victim of “poor me”, become a victor and learn from your experiences, grow and help others. I have used my struggles with chronic illness as a positive in my life by starting my Fighting Fatigue website and my Fighting Fatigue Forum to offer support and resources for others suffering from chronic illness. When we first become ill with a chronic illness, we feel as though we are alone. It’s important to have people to talk to who can share what you are going through.

– Never give up hope! One thing that keeps me going is believing that there will be a cure found for the chronic illnesses I suffer from. I always have hope and when you have hope everything looks brighter.

Sandy Robinson is 38, Female, live in the Northeast, married with a 6-year-old beautiful son. Sandy started the Fighting Fatigue website to help raise awareness and offer support to others for the chronic illnesses I Sandy personally suffers from: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Interstitial Cystitis.

Sandy also runs the Fighting Fatigue Forum and Message Boards for chronic illness sufferers to support each other about what they are going through.

Thanks for a fantastic post Sandy. All of us can benefit from the coping skills you mention. Please check out her website and message boards and if you know anyone suffering a chronic illness be sure to point them in that direction.
And remember, you can get out of your niche too – all bloggers are welcome. Just contact me.

Get Out Of Your Niche, power of positive thought

Gossip Girl.

6 Comments Posted on November 28, 2007May 30, 2015 by Snoskred

Being a female scambaiter is not easy at the best of times but when you’re a strong person who has strong opinions the difficulty level shoots up a few thousand levels. ;) I’ve gone through a lot during my time as a scambaiter. I’ve written about it a few times here on the blog. The worst part about me is I was capable of getting a lot done in a short amount of time. Ask Sephy, he’ll tell you I can be positively frightening when there’s something to be done and I want to get it done five minutes ago.

Strong is ok on its own. Opinionated is ok on its own. Capable is ok on its own. Female is ok on its own. Add these together and some people literally quake at the knees. They fear you are going to make them look bad. When you get so much done so quickly some people fear that it makes their efforts look pathetic.

The truth is, generally those kinds of people are too busy gossiping and badmouthing others to get much done at all. One of the biggest mouths in the business who loves badmouthing and gossiping hasn’t scambaited a scammer in *years*. It makes me wonder why they call themselves a scambaiter!

My journey as a scambaiter has taught me some of the most important and valuable lessons in my life. The one I consider the most important of all is to stop worrying what other people are saying about you. It is something I have struggled with since high school.

I used to feel an insane need to get the truth out there, to make sure people knew what was being said was wrong, to show them that I wasn’t the person they said I was. I used to yell and scream about it. I used to sometimes force my truth down other peoples throats when it wouldn’t have mattered if I had video camera footage of my truth, they would still not have believed it. There are some people who just want to believe the worst. That is their loss, not mine.

The people I value are those who would hear the story and then come to me and ask me for my version. I would give it to them plain and simple. They would then make up their own minds. They would base it not just on what I told them but on having the full story from both sides, and knowing the past behaviour of both myself and the other side.

So what is the secret to letting the gossip go when everyone around you is determined to tell you all about it? And believe me, everyone was determined to let me know who said what about me. They’d even send me emails or text chats they’d had with people where I was the main topic of conversation.

I soon found the best thing to do was cut them off quickly, and focus on what is important. What person one said to person two about you is probably the least important thing in the world, when you take into account the things in the world. Instead of worrying about that, worry about doing what you do do best. That is one way I get so much done. ;) They can say what they want while you go out there and get shiznit done!

This post was a Hump Day Hmmm – you can take part too! The topic this week was The Gossip Game. All you need to do is write a post on the topic, and drop over to Julie Pippert’s blog and follow the instructions.

Gossip, people talking about you, scambaiting

An Ode To Antony

6 Comments Posted on November 24, 2007May 21, 2022 by Snoskred

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more brainy and more accurate:
Rough winds do shake the country,
And election night hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the studio light shines,
And often is his laptop power dimm’d;

Dinner is ready to go in the oven.
The cheesecake is in the fridge.
I await my evening of Antony.

Once every four years is not enough.
Who knows what the night will bring?

Whatever it is, Antony will
keep me informed
with his laptop and his pie charts and his
analyst ways.

And then, almost like a dream
he will be gone *sob*
and the election will
be over.

Then the waiting will begin again
another four years
or two or thereabouts, if you are lucky
and he covers your state election.

But wait! What light through yonder Internet breaks?
He has a blog!

(Updated with correct blog link and edited 21/05/2022 to add) – Thanks Antony for all your many years of excellent election reporting. :) You must know how much we all respect you but do you know how much we all love you? There are no numbers that add up to that amount.

Aussie Culture, elections, Men I Love To Watch, politics

Report Adsense Paid Links?

4 Comments Posted on November 18, 2007May 30, 2015 by Snoskred

Google is encouraging people to be snitches and report paid links, so a good friend of mine who shall remain nameless on one of their last visits to an old gmail account took a moment to report some links. They took a screenshot, which they shared with me.

If Google wants to be the link police, shouldn’t they begin with their own backyard?

Apologies for all the Google Stuff –

I hope ya’all will bear with me during this time. The bottom line is I am angry with how Google are treating people. I don’t want to shut up and disappear into the night. My blog is my place to speak out and I intend to keep doing it as long as Google intend to keep acting like bullies. But I will try to keep some “normal” content coming your way, and only post more links when I have enough to make a post worthwhile.

Goodbye To Google

More Bad Press For Google.

21 Comments Posted on November 17, 2007May 30, 2015 by Snoskred

Google may have once thought they were immune to bad press, that nobody would ever say anything bad about them.

There Will Be More Bad Press –

The reason there will be more? When a company of 13,000 or so employees takes on individual bloggers and shamelessly bullies them into behaving the way they demand they behave or else, that is big news. I was bullied when I was a kid at school. I’m damned if I will let them bully me now that I’m an adult. I’m not the only one who feels that way. It isn’t really about page rank to me – it is about bullying. They could give my page rank back and I would still feel this way. I would still be taking my power back.

I Feel Good, I Knew That I Would-

I have not visited a Google page in almost 24 hours now. Wow, it feels good! How can my decision not to visit Google sites any more hurt them, you wonder? Let’s look at an example.

Visits Count – So Stop Visiting –

I used to visit Google Search 10+ times a day. That’s over 70 visits in a week Google will no longer be getting. If 10 bloggers who visited Google 10+ times a day stop visiting – that’s 100 visits a day right there. That’s 700 visits in a week. You see how the numbers start to add up? What if 100 bloggers who used to visit Google 10+ times a day stop visiting? 1000 bloggers? Every visit counts. Every visit increases their alexa rank, every visit is logged and adds to their traffic. So if you stop visiting, that counts too.

Refuse To Be Bullied –

If you had a kid in school who was being bullied, would you do something about it? Would you speak to the school? And if the school did nothing and let your kid be bullied regularly, would you remove your kid from the school? If you hate bullies, stop visiting Google today.

Your Thoughts?

What do you think about the Big Google Bully? Do you think it is ok for a search engine to bully people and tell them who they can link to and who they can’t? How would you feel if they did it to you?

Goodbye To Google

Say Goodbye To Google Today.

68 Comments Posted on November 16, 2007May 30, 2015 by Snoskred

There’s a lot of people very unhappy with Google right now, and rightly so. We gave them too much power, and it is time to take it back. This post gives you everything you need to STOP using Google today, completely.

Why Say Goodbye?

So this morning I wake up to the refreshing news (thanks to email from a fellow blogger who went to a 0) that I now have a page rank of 0. ZERO. I can’t see what I’ve done wrong, or why I deserve such treatment. But what I can tell you is, I’m finished using Google. Here’s a list of the things I am using instead. If you feel angry at them for how they have treated me and other bloggers, you can feel free to do the same. In my opinion many of the following are actually BETTER than Google’s services anyway.

Goodbye Google Search, Hello Dogpile –

Don’t worry, you don’t have to completely stop using Google. What I suggest is that you use a search engine called Dogpile. It is a neat little search engine that combines results from Google, Ask.com, Yahoo and others. This way Google does not get a “hit” to their site when you search – Dogpile gets the hit and the traffic.

Goodbye Google Search – Hello Scroogle –

Goodbye Google Reader, Hello Bloglines –

In the past I have been a vocal supporter and user of Google Reader. I have suggested it to many fellow bloggers. I know plenty of people who have used it based on my recommendation. I thought “Oh no, I don’t want to switch, I love my Google Reader, it will be difficult to import all my blogs etc”. It turns out that isn’t true. Sephy wrote a post – How To Move From Google Reader To Bloglines. He did it for me and it took him about 2 minutes. I have to say I like the look of Bloglines a lot better than Google Reader. Time will tell if it works as well but I know a lot of people do use it.

Goodbye Google Calendar, Hello Sunbird –

I was a recent lover of Google Calendar but there were a few things about it which drove me nuts – the inability to print off more than 10 days in advance on your agenda was one of them. Sunbird can do this, so I’m all set. You can use Sunbird which is a stand alone program, or if you use Mozilla Thunderbird, you can use Lightning which integrates with Thunderbird.

Goodbye Gmail – Hello Many Options –

I personally am using my own mail server these days but if you don’t have the ability to do that there are plenty of options for free email which don’t have the annoying spam server that Gmail uses. That spam filter often sends legitimate email to the spam bin! Here’s a few of my favourites –

Fastmail.fm

The only thing missing at Fastmail is storage space. You get 10mb with a free email account. If you can keep on top of your mail and ruthlessly delete, this is the best free email on the web. I’ve had many dealings with customer service over there (fastmail supports scambaiters and has been excellent to us over the years) and they are fast, responsive, helpful and brilliant. Unlike Gmail who closed *10* of my email accounts and have not bothered to get back to me re retrieving my lost emails.

Don’t Forget Yahoo –

Yahoo now offers unlimited storage. You can sometimes find it difficult to get the email ID you want, but I was starting to find that with Gmail these days too. If you want POP3 email for free, Yahoo is the best way to get it – just remember that you do not get free POP3 on yahoo.com, it has to be one of the country endings like yahoo.com.au or yahoo.co.uk.

Goodbye Blogger, Hello WordPress –

I personally made the change to a self-hosted WordPress blog a little while ago.

However there are other free blogs out there OTHER than blogger. This article from Mashable – 40+ Free Blog Hosts contains many of the options.

Other Things You Could Do –

If you have Adsense, remove it from your site.
Make a decision never to click on an Adsense ad.
Contact bloggers you know who use Adsense and tell them you object to the use of Adsense.
Contact advertisers you see using Adsense and ask them to use different methods of advertising
If you are in Australia and your blog has been affected, contact the ACCC – they are already taking Google to court re sponsored links
Support your fellow bloggers by saying Goodbye To Google as mentioned above – because who knows who Google will target next? It could be you.
Spread the word – link to this post, blog about saying Goodbye to Google.

Watch Google Stock Nose Dive

Some of the people being penalised may have owned Google Stock – or perhaps their calls to sell Google stock is working, because Google Stock is dropping – and I for one am applauding that. You can watch it drop yourself at Yahoo! Finance. I hope that is sending a message!

Goodbye To Google

Please Excuse Me. I Must Bitch. Cheese With Whine Here.

16 Comments Posted on November 10, 2007March 21, 2015 by Snoskred

Today seems to be Day 109 of the evil flu from hell, though I know it cannot truly be that long. Time is passing so slowly in this unwell state of being. The little things are beginning to irritate. This is going to be a rare negative post. Normally I try to keep the positive on here at the blog.

Bear with me. I support ya’all when ya’all snark it up from time to time, so support me in my snarkiness. ;) And then at the end I talk about politics, which ensures this will be a post everyone will hate.

Houston, We Have Neighbours.

Actually we got neighbours a while ago, I just never mentioned it here on the blog. They are not at all what I hoped for. I had hoped for people who might be friendly, people who might say hello, perhaps people we could become friends with.

What we got is elephant feet. These people STOMP around like elephants. Unfortunately because all the units must be sitting on the same concrete base? It sounds like they are walking right down my hallway. It is freaking me out. It is like having ghosts or something. I don’t even know how anyone could stomp around like that all day – it must be bad for their joints. Can anyone say hip replacement in later life?

I’ll be sitting here writing, the STOMP begins, and I turn around expecting to see.. I don’t know.. maybe a catwalk model doing a fierce walk, or some burly security guard – or even the other half arriving home. Then I remember what the noise is. They’ve been here for about a month now and I still haven’t got used to the STOMP. As yet I have been very good. I have not STOMPed back. But after this week I am tempted. Maybe I need to STOMP so they can realise how noisy it is?

We saw them in their driveway when we arrived home last week. The Other Half went out to get the mail. No hello. :(

Paid Post Insanity

I’ve been having some trouble with a few blogs in my Google Reader. It’s like this. I subscribe to what seems to be a rational, friendly, excellent blog written by an interesting blogger. Then they get accepted into Pay Per Post and suddenly go from posting once per day (or 2-3 times a week) to posting 5-10 times a day. The quality of posts goes from wow, I really enjoyed that post to cringe worthy stuff. I try to keep up. I try to tolerate it.

I write to the blogger and let them know I am feeling overwhelmed. Most other people would just unsubscribe but I try to let them know what they are doing can drive off their readership. Unfortunately most still keep posting insane amounts of posts, even after that. ;( I don’t get that. If you drive off the readers your alexa ranks go down which means you can’t keep being paid. So you might be raking in the cash right now but later you’ll be left without readers and without income.

Don’t get me wrong, I support a bloggers right to be paid for their posts. But I believe more than 3 posts in one day is too many. If you’re hitting me with more than that, don’t expect to keep me as a reader much longer. I’m sorry. I just can’t keep up and the content quality isn’t good enough to make me desperately want to, either. And I’m a fast reader!

The Australian Elections

Oh, someone stab me in the forehead with a fork already. There is nothing I dislike more than a blogger who seems to believe that one political party is better than another one, that their candidate for PM will change the world, make lives better, and fix all the pain in the world simply by getting elected. Good, reasonable bloggers that I usually love reading have apparently lost their minds in the midst of apparent hysteria that their chosen messiah KRudd might be elected.

They have forgotten that 90% of the voters turn up at the polls and think “Am I all right?” If yes they vote to keep the government. If no, they vote for a change. They don’t care about war, poverty, green issues, or the ugliness of one leader VS the other. They are selfish. They care about themselves. Issues, schmissues. Polls, Schmolls. They have a right to be that way, and they each get a vote to do with what they want. That is the reality of elections where everyone is FORCED to vote. These people would not bother to turn up on polling day if voting were optional.

So bloggers, please note. Nothing makes a reader cringe more than someone saying things similar to “Labor is guaranteed to win” “KRudd is our next PM” etc. This assumes facts not yet in evidence. And if it turns out to be wrong, you’ll hate yourself for having said it. It’s like you’re putting a jinx on. If you want Labor to win you don’t want to be putting the jinx on.

A Positive Note

There is only one good thing about elections. There is only one man I would ever consider a God of Politics and a politician he ain’t. I’d vote for him though. I look forward to election night and spending the evening with him. I’ve seen him on TV a few times already and he has me all excited. Antony Green is an intelligent man who can make an election downright sexy. I wish you had such a man in the USA, my American friends. Do you?

I wish the one we have in Australia would sit down to have some decent glamour shots taken of himself because I can’t find a blog worthy photo. I’ll try and get some screenshots on Election Night. This time two weeks from now I will be preparing myself for the evening of such incredible televisual delights from the ABC election coverage that one gets to experience once every four years on Federal Election Night. Fellow fans of Antony Green will agree – we do not hold elections often enough!

Aussie Culture, bitches, politics, potential disaster