Beach-lovers beware: Umbrellas injure thousands every year, sometimes quite seriously and occasionally, fatally, according to this BBC article from today: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48360832
I feel quite lucky that I've survived to my sixities unscathed. Especially when I remember that trip to Florida a few decades ago.
Tags: beach, dangers, umbrella, brolly,
What's up with photobucket? Why the sudden jump from $30 US a year for embedding and storage to $400 US. In a word: John Corpus. He's the new CEO at photobucket, and he claims the old model was "unsustainable:" http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/16/photobucket-fee-hike/ He must not have got the memo about dreamies.de: https://www.dreamies.de/ which does it all for free and quite well, too. (Some folks also use a site called imgur: https://imgur.com/ also, free, but I haven't myself yet managed to make that one work for me.) But dreamies is excellent and easy to use. Apparently, folks in Denver have been howling to the Better Business Bureau over the changes at photobucket and the lack of notice given to subscribers, and the BBB, frustrated at the complete lack of response by photobucket to the complaints, has responded by awarding the latter an 'F.' https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2017/09/13/photobucket.html?ana=twt It's always a red flag when there's a flight of other execs out the door at the time a new CEO takes over, I think: http://blogs.denverpost.com/tech/2016/01/15/photobucket-management-upheaval/20183/ Here's a little more on John Corpus: https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2016/01/16/photobucket-has-new-ceo.html I predict that photobucket will be gone entirely by 2020.
Tags: photobucket CEO John Corpus
Thinking of using a match-making or online dating service? I stumbled a couple of thoughtful and informative articles this morning that I'd like to share with Boomer Place peeps. I've never used one myself. My own experience is that even people who were somewhat acquainted with me were not good at predicting who I might like in the romance dept. On one occasion, I was invited to dinner at the house of a couple I had recently become aquainted with, only to find a crowd including a man they'd invited to try to set me up with him. They sat us next to each other at dinner, where it took about five minutes to decide we both hated each other. He'd arrived with a friend, an older blind man, whom nobody introduced me to, but with whom I merrily chatted for the rest of the dinner. He was bright, interesting and much less opinionated than Derwood there at my side. Apparently clueless to the cloud of dislike between me and the 'shoulda-been' suitor, my hostess asked me how I liked him, after the other guests were gone. I didn't, I said, but I did like the blind guy. He's married, she said tartly. Well okaaay then. But, enough about me. Back to the articles: The first is some good advice about the potential pit-falls, and the second is a set of cautionary tales involving one Texas-Canadian company. I like using CBC News for references, because their links stay up forever, unlike some online news services.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/online-dating-avoid-the-pitfalls-from-pricey-matchmakers-to-scammers-1.3012556
and
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-matchmakers-lawsuit-1.4068837
I would just add to the advice that is generally given to people, on finding someone: the most important thing is their set of values. It doesn't matter if they don't like to dance, you can work that out, but if they think nothing of lying to you, if they're rude to people who are of no potential benefit to them, then this is something that is not fixable. A lack of a sense of honor should be a deal-breaker. Also, don't ignore warning signs that something is wrong. We always get them, but it's easy to dismiss them.
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Tags: match-making, service, lonely-hearts, online, dating, service
