tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12367051434485898962024-03-16T07:05:36.023-07:00BradHallArt BlogBrad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.comBlogger1762125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-65922733246237757072024-03-14T06:29:00.000-07:002024-03-14T06:29:04.023-07:00What will happen to TikTok after the ban<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOV8krXisDoEloOyXFVsmrKoGsxhsIWC_3T1j9HTGW9nUI69Pnox43VPmdGw4EtXss8GpRGbotweXzqbQCv1XUU6Zehc-Hkt6Kfnh8eY4wBWWsmqVBnHO38tDCLkGwAs3ebH6mCaKwhWAFvhAw1m-eiFByK4MvV8pI4VGPUZiqQ-8B5yArQ83XetLckhH4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="708" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOV8krXisDoEloOyXFVsmrKoGsxhsIWC_3T1j9HTGW9nUI69Pnox43VPmdGw4EtXss8GpRGbotweXzqbQCv1XUU6Zehc-Hkt6Kfnh8eY4wBWWsmqVBnHO38tDCLkGwAs3ebH6mCaKwhWAFvhAw1m-eiFByK4MvV8pI4VGPUZiqQ-8B5yArQ83XetLckhH4" width="294" /></a></div><br /></div>One of my favorite phrases that I've often heard in a long life is: "They can't do that, but they did". And as an old marketing guy, I've been keeping my eye on the latest thing that is happening to one of my favorite apps, TikTok. If you haven't been following the story, I'll try to explain it as briefly as possible.<div><br /></div><div>TikTok is a social media app, similar to Facebook, Instagram, and for those of you who are old enough to remember, Google+, and MySpace. And that means that it's filled with stuff that people on the app create to amuse themselves, and others. Speaking for myself, I like to see videos of wiener dogs, that sort of thing. There are always community guidelines, which prohibit obscenity, etc. And like all social media apps it watches what you do and it automatically refines what you see based on what you like (sometimes I will see just about nothing but videos of wiener dogs, which is fine with me).</div><div><br /></div><div>But here is where it gets kinda tricky - this very valuable app (I understand that if you want to buy it you'd have to come up with 50 billion US dollars), is owned by a foreign country, China. And it's like buying a car made in a foreign country, the profits go to that country, not your own, which is a consideration, but not the main one.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unlike things like the toys that I get for my dogs, which are made in China, a social media app can be used for nefarious purposes. And that's because a social media app functions much like a broadcast, which in the United States has traditionally been under some type of control (you can Google more about the FCC) so that it doesn't become an instrument of propaganda (nowadays that's called "misinformation").</div><div><br /></div><div>And since the United States doesn't have control of what content China chooses to share, for purposes of safety it will be transferred over to an American company which can be controlled the same way that the FCC regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.</div><div><br /></div><div>And make no mistake, this is a preemptive strike, TikTok has been innocuous up to this point. But if things change, and it becomes a weapon used against the United States by a hostile country, it will happen too suddenly to stop, and it needs to be kept under the control of the U.S., which is what's happening right now.</div><div><br /></div><div>My best guess is that TikTok will be purchased by Amazon, or Microsoft, or some other big company with deep enough pockets. It's too valuable to just throw away.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope this helps.</div>Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-76428120870615575612024-02-04T09:49:00.001-07:002024-02-04T09:49:53.831-07:00Why you never see ads for Chinese food places<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhIaSVBVWAP4UZ-4GDMPccsKolhFYXGiz4ym_EcUk7oRrp9R9QhjSeKfPRaQfmyu3jDKpXGJzC7QOYEzY7FUrIy-t1boxhaKWA9UmK_Z-Drlpfv6o4j4bPi3A-rtE2kHA3aOf8ffDTKRmTv32UWVUKUYuukOwhNeOcICwTUM1fmDS7gWN4m6CKoM7OFSPTk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1799" data-original-width="3529" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhIaSVBVWAP4UZ-4GDMPccsKolhFYXGiz4ym_EcUk7oRrp9R9QhjSeKfPRaQfmyu3jDKpXGJzC7QOYEzY7FUrIy-t1boxhaKWA9UmK_Z-Drlpfv6o4j4bPi3A-rtE2kHA3aOf8ffDTKRmTv32UWVUKUYuukOwhNeOcICwTUM1fmDS7gWN4m6CKoM7OFSPTk=w400-h204" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div>Since I've always been interested in advertising, every once in a while I hear someone say something that tells me that they don't understand even the basics of it, and I try to just change the subject, because I never wanted to be "that guy", the one who goes off on a rant because no one seems to understand a particular specialty of his.<div><br /></div><div>But since this a blog about stuff like that, and you have chosen to read it, I feel more comfortable talking about advertising for places like Chinese Food restaurants, or local pizza places. And you have to start with something called promotion.</div><div><br /></div><div>Promotion means anything that a business does above and beyond simply providing a product or service. And it starts with such basic things that it seems almost invisible as promotion - like a nice big sign. Those things cost money, and that's where a business starts. After that expense, it could be printing up menus that people can walk out with, with the hopes that they will end up somewhere where people will see them, in their kitchen, or maybe a friend's house. At this point most people wouldn't call that advertising, but it's something that a business can deduct as an advertising expense.</div><div><br /></div><div>Local businesses do a lot of things to get their name out in front of people - like sponsoring softball teams for example. I don't want you to become cynical about why businesses do that, and yes it helps the community, but it's basic promotion, and advertising.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course once a business gets big enough it starts to invest in what most of us think of as advertising, like billboards, or commercials. Commercial time used to be cheaper late at night on TV, and nowadays I often see local businesses doing a YouTube commercial.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, if you've defined ads as being just the stuff that is very expensive, like Super Bowl commercials, of course small local business don't ever do that. I hope this helps.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Ad at the top of this post: Emperor's Garden from 1977, Scottsdale, Arizona.</i></div>Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-65811976662988096532023-12-07T06:23:00.001-07:002023-12-07T06:23:42.637-07:00What a kickback is in business<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxo4tgEGsznLlUAplERorWPeF9nkGyZQui1uHJslHmx2dqE9gRRKITtp8CD9mra9QiG9omd4RG2d8u4Ggkg53f4087dva1FYu4s_tLVt8v998S1r6Z11_-3E8ZfA7GtKZIEoc-fdJmYgY2W6AkaeWUu79jIfgLaF6A0dCs2hA_h4ybHluLdx1j_S4fzZR8/s1200/Cartoon_baseball_player.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1200" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxo4tgEGsznLlUAplERorWPeF9nkGyZQui1uHJslHmx2dqE9gRRKITtp8CD9mra9QiG9omd4RG2d8u4Ggkg53f4087dva1FYu4s_tLVt8v998S1r6Z11_-3E8ZfA7GtKZIEoc-fdJmYgY2W6AkaeWUu79jIfgLaF6A0dCs2hA_h4ybHluLdx1j_S4fzZR8/s320/Cartoon_baseball_player.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I admit to being surprised when I learned about business "kickbacks". There are many terms for that, and it just basically means that I would use my influence to direct someone to a business, and that business would give me money for doing that. An example might be if someone sees my vehicle purring like a kitten and wonders how I do it, I can whip out a business card for the repair shop. And it really could be any business, if someone asks me where to go for good pizza, I could refer them to a place that gives me money which is "kicked back" to me, or it could be free food.<div><br /></div><div>There's nothing new about this devious practice, and it's devious when the referral isn't genuine, and is only motivated by the potential of getting money (or free pizza!). And the trick to it is that it has to appear genuine, even when it's not.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Now let's be clear here, this isn't the same as paid advertising, which is easy to recognize. I could walk around all day holding a sign that advertises a business, and the money that I would receive would simply be for doing advertising. Advertising is part of doing business, and as long as it's recognizable as such, it's fine.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>As a freelance graphic designer I was often asked to refer a client to a printer, which of course I did. I knew the best people in town! And the first time that a printer wanted to give me a "commission" for this, it didn't seem so bad. They saw me as a valuable salesman, and wanted to show appreciation, but something just didn't seem right. I'll see if I can explain.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course I knew all of the best places in town and was happy to refer people to them. And I knew that I was sincere, but it's impossible for anyone else to know. Maybe I was referring them to a terrible place just so that I could get my "kickback"?</div><div><br /></div><div>I stayed away from anything that involved a percentage of profits, and instead focused on doing work for an hourly rate, which was fine for me. I did a lot of freelance work in a small town, Santa Barbara, and my reputation was excellent - there wasn't even the slightest smell of "kickbacks".</div><div><br /></div><div>The most famous example of kickbacks happened with something called "Payola", which you can Google, but I'll try to sum it up quickly. Radio disc jockeys were given money to play particular records on the radio, and were given money by the record companies to do so. That was a LONG time ago, and is now just history, but it gives you a vivid example of what money can do to corrupt sincerity.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's all up to you, and it's a grey area, like multi-level marketing, that sort of thing. I just choose to stay away from that kinda stuff.</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-8900793296087804662023-11-13T10:21:00.002-07:002023-12-07T06:29:44.691-07:00Living without a microwave<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3U6xPDVxxkIan4ZE81SP7kqoqFUYajIJn2DLEIeaanPxvLXpvVsVG34ttLoNe7i45rtBcXkESoUJpZ6zueQ3TF3R-LeAOowEtPddrmpadWJqZe-uabJctkrUMbFgjghoirhvx09bNnsN5LCc8lb95Ji6buNrD5MEX3qwR6XUz44PY6e1ilGk2BZbKslT2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="2870" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3U6xPDVxxkIan4ZE81SP7kqoqFUYajIJn2DLEIeaanPxvLXpvVsVG34ttLoNe7i45rtBcXkESoUJpZ6zueQ3TF3R-LeAOowEtPddrmpadWJqZe-uabJctkrUMbFgjghoirhvx09bNnsN5LCc8lb95Ji6buNrD5MEX3qwR6XUz44PY6e1ilGk2BZbKslT2=w320-h273" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div>My microwave just up and died a couple of weeks ago after about ten years, and while I've been pondering having it fixed, I've been doing fine without it, and at least for right now I've decided to live without a microwave, which apparently I've been using mostly as a timer, and as a light over my stove. I got the timer for cheap at the grocery store, and I've ordered some under counter lighting, which is also going to be considerably cheaper than fixing the microwave.<div><br /></div><div>But calm down there if you think that I'm doing this just to be cheap, really it just has to do with how I've used technology all of my life. I'm happy to use the latest technology, but I'm also happy to go "low tech". By the way, I just love the "tick-tick-tick" on the timer, and cheerful little bell when it rings instead of the annoying sound that the microwave timer made, which is also so loud that you could hear it even if you were outside mowing the grass, over at your neighbor's (and no, there's no adjustment, just "on" and "off" for the shrill tone).</div><div><br /></div><div>And don't get me wrong here, I don't eat at restaurants - maybe just one or twice a year, so I do make good use of my stove, and my oven, and I will continue to do so. And I have no intention of removing the microwave, it looks great there in my kitchen, but that's all it's gonna do, unless I plan to store stuff in it, which I might do.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have a couple of bags of microwave popcorn, but I've been ignoring them for a long time, so they're probably expired anyway. I'm making good use of my air fryer, which heats up things like a microwave but does a better job for my purposes (and also has a gentle bell instead of a shrieking tone).</div><div><br /></div><div>So there ya go. Don't expect me to be giving up high tech stuff in general, but if it's just a waste of my time and money, I'll give it a miss. I'll let you know how it goes.</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-70620783419676568962023-11-06T07:12:00.000-07:002023-11-06T07:12:39.144-07:00The pros and cons of upgrading to the latest model<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuGyIAhHjHZeEXOmvr1diJF_1gyytuitX47Bj-aSF5t8CS6cZv4lANx4GUm2vRYHPt_MoT6yHO-cl6SD2yDkUYJ1Ec-5NlB4ObtL-A3J0WbBspMU7Bb7yBOXZ58uaBEbvj4albzuHlvxnQxYENuEwrqjfa5dtUj9q-ILCxjRCT0Rl6IEYgDT73zYpoIC9/s1450/Screenshot%202023-11-06%20at%206.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1450" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuGyIAhHjHZeEXOmvr1diJF_1gyytuitX47Bj-aSF5t8CS6cZv4lANx4GUm2vRYHPt_MoT6yHO-cl6SD2yDkUYJ1Ec-5NlB4ObtL-A3J0WbBspMU7Bb7yBOXZ58uaBEbvj4albzuHlvxnQxYENuEwrqjfa5dtUj9q-ILCxjRCT0Rl6IEYgDT73zYpoIC9/s320/Screenshot%202023-11-06%20at%206.38.24%E2%80%AFAM.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Although I've always been enthusiastic about the latest technology, I have to admit that sometimes it's just kinda annoying. And if you've reached that point in your life where you wish that everything could just stay the same, and stuff never wears out, I think that I can help. Stay with me on this.<div><br /></div><div>In a long life I've owned a lot of cars, a lot of computers, a lot of phones, and it's always the same thing - I mostly just want their function, and I'm resentful of the "learning curve" that is forced on me when the new item arrives. I always read owner's manuals, and I like being congratulated on "buying the finest...", and of course you should never use harsh cleaning materials, only a soft rag with water. That never changes, but somehow so much else does.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm upgrading to a new recumbent trike, after having worn the old one out over the past six years. And like everything, it's expensive, and I have mixed feelings about stuff that remains the same, and stuff that's different. Part of me wants things to stay the same, of course, and part of me wants to justify the expense with new features.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm an old Marketing guy, and I know that there are a lot of "urban myths" about products, including "planned obsolescence", which means that manufacturers are forcing us to throw away old products and forcing us to buy new ones with their devious plans. But of course that's not true, things are made (even expensive things) to be as affordable as possible, and they just plain wear out, especially if they have a lot of moving parts. And if it makes you feel better to imagine that designers and manufacturers are so good at what they do that they could intentionally design thing to fail many years in the future, I won't take that away from you - it's actually a very optimistic view!</div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking for myself, I know that things are made my people who are often doing the best they can, and it just isn't all that great. I know that a lot of spectacular engineering is invisible to people like me, I just look at how shiny things are, but I know that underneath the shiny is a degree of engineering that can be spectacular, or kinda crappy.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm excited about my new trike, which will arrive here via FedEx completely assembled from the manufacturer. I've already climbed up a bit of the learning curve, and I will take the rest as a personal challenge. I'll be going from eight gears to eighteen, so I'll have to learn how to handle them, that sort of thing.</div><div><br /></div><div>And someday, hopefully way in the future, I'll be doing this again, and I promise to write another blog post about it. Hang in there!</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bradhall" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me A Coffee" src="https://cdn.buymeacoffee.com/buttons/v2/default-yellow.png" style="height: 60px; width: 217px;" /></a></div></div>Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-70536169100222894022023-10-13T19:39:00.001-07:002023-10-13T19:39:24.590-07:00What a mask is in Adobe Photoshop<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOY6yi1AlNRyBDaARcqcRV6ifQplNBEmRP58gFnI9pan2Q0BjcYw2SUsZICwCYPbim632PhA3zJphRU8JP1TS4Fx9q1ZCrpWcp4qAqlb1Eb8Lv1YyB0X0m2cRwzlWfrXZLeZMPyZdZfluHrqXH439HLMyvP29W6I0pdWThBf8QUSSLtfNjCnRMwNN4Gp4r" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1464" data-original-width="1938" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOY6yi1AlNRyBDaARcqcRV6ifQplNBEmRP58gFnI9pan2Q0BjcYw2SUsZICwCYPbim632PhA3zJphRU8JP1TS4Fx9q1ZCrpWcp4qAqlb1Eb8Lv1YyB0X0m2cRwzlWfrXZLeZMPyZdZfluHrqXH439HLMyvP29W6I0pdWThBf8QUSSLtfNjCnRMwNN4Gp4r" width="318" /></a></div><br /></div>If you've heard people talking about "masking" in Photoshop, and are puzzled by the term, well, I really can't blame you. So let's go back to a time before Photoshop was invented, and if you needed to paint an area (yes, with real paint), you had to cover up areas that you didn't want the paint to touch. And actually, it's a technique that's still very much in use whenever, for example, a house painter wants to apply paint without getting it all over the place. That's what masking tape is for, and that's where Photoshop gets the term "mask".<div><br /></div><div>If you've ever applied masking tape you know how important it is to be very precise with it before you reach for the paint can, or the paint sprayer. Masking takes some time, and it's an art form, both in the analog world and the digital world.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once you've wrapped your head around the concept of masking, it will make much more sense when you see it in Photoshop. And it isn't something that I just made up, Photoshop was invented to be like that, it's essentially a painting program. And yes, you can try to use just the paintbrush, and some people do, but once you've understood what a mask is for you can tap into some very powerful functions in the software, especially the "select and mask" function, which is just amazing.</div><div><br /></div><div>But before you start clicking around in Photoshop, make sure that you know what a mask is, and what it's for. After that, it'll be easy!</div><div><br /></div><div>Enjoy!</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-40602392918715935372023-09-29T06:44:00.002-07:002023-09-29T06:44:44.859-07:00Fear of TikTok<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKhPPbh3dzjCqR2rsGOiaCr-XL3xoH5IxN6-eTvdBFzcs8EY8ImVxdTJxI-smEvB4om0r3hqO-p-rnncmDMQ1_Mwz59mqcq9YYf3eT85LaTumRhbRjVA_jJroC39-SpmdQvWesbd3XtTetRmLNZGpL8M1k5mfPx9wGkbtqPg3RDsh6pJydBIKQ_YPdjeQ/s750/Screen%20Shot%202020-08-03%20at%202.52.34%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="750" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKhPPbh3dzjCqR2rsGOiaCr-XL3xoH5IxN6-eTvdBFzcs8EY8ImVxdTJxI-smEvB4om0r3hqO-p-rnncmDMQ1_Mwz59mqcq9YYf3eT85LaTumRhbRjVA_jJroC39-SpmdQvWesbd3XtTetRmLNZGpL8M1k5mfPx9wGkbtqPg3RDsh6pJydBIKQ_YPdjeQ/s320/Screen%20Shot%202020-08-03%20at%202.52.34%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I've been enjoying the app "TikTok" for many years now, for several reasons. First of all, it's very light and entertaining, with short videos that remind me of how much I used to enjoy "America's Funniest Videos" when the only place you could find that kind of stuff was on TV. And secondly, since I'm a fitness fanatic, I enjoy the short videos of fitness gurus who will often remind me to do something, like going to the gym. There's even one creator who mostly just gives you a hard look and says, "Time to stop scrolling, go to bed!", and he's usually right. But the thing that really got me was the way that information seemed to flow in a way that reminded me of "Radio Free Europe". Yeah, I'm old enough to remember that.<div><br /></div><div>If you're not old enough to remember "Radio Free Europe" I'll see if I can describe it briefly. If was a radio broadcast that people behind "The Iron Curtain" could tune into and hear instead of just the official information that they were supposed to hear. If you're a history buff, you know how this works.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, all of this information freely given can be quite annoying to people who want to control information. And of course controlling information controls people. There really wasn't anything that could be done about radio signals reaching people who were supposed to listen to what the official leaders wanted to say, and so they simply got angry, and tried to convince people that this was a dangerous thing to listen to.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've noticed that it's the same with TikTok, which spreads information so freely that it angers the people in power who want to control information. I've lost count of how many times TikTok was supposed to have been shut down. And of course if you don't know anything about it, just like Radio Free Europe, it just becomes something to fear, because you've been told to fear it by people who see it as undercutting their political power.</div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking for myself, I just love this kinda stuff. I started reading banned books back when I was a kid, and I add them to the mix of what I read so that I can sift it all in my mind and make conclusions about how life should be. And that means that I've also read things that are just kinda wacky, just to understand them.</div><div><br /></div><div>TikTok is very subversive, the way that I remember Mad Magazine being when I was a kid. Grownups disapproved of it, and somehow my having access to it gave me the ability to take in a wider scope of ideas. And so, if you're afraid of being "brainwashed" by anything from banned books to TikTok, I recommend that you stay away from them. If not, enjoy!</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-80355658558866213652023-09-16T08:18:00.001-07:002023-09-16T08:20:23.928-07:00How to tell if only your friends are viewing your YouTube videos<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkspgockLBUtbAwspQlt2WMccToLy1Ie4WyHsG92UP4yPuCRJ8NGGiTlXyeRhEftCP4Ibq45RigKRoytWrmX5kHinsD1l5bDNVkSxrjfhaBNLIT0SVyhjuMceQguhYWXu4nv7Gh2bhbPp_xj2qj36q5ZMqd_GIuzGqJktsZCv0-mz8-xSJ_t0wSKlXYROI/s1280/Brads%20Tropical%20Paradise%20Podcast%20thumbnail.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkspgockLBUtbAwspQlt2WMccToLy1Ie4WyHsG92UP4yPuCRJ8NGGiTlXyeRhEftCP4Ibq45RigKRoytWrmX5kHinsD1l5bDNVkSxrjfhaBNLIT0SVyhjuMceQguhYWXu4nv7Gh2bhbPp_xj2qj36q5ZMqd_GIuzGqJktsZCv0-mz8-xSJ_t0wSKlXYROI/w400-h225/Brads%20Tropical%20Paradise%20Podcast%20thumbnail.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Although you can't really tell exactly who is viewing your YouTube videos, I've found that you can do an educated guess by looking at the number of "likes", "dislikes" and total views, and believe it or not, you want fewer "likes" and even some "dislikes". I'll see if I can explain.<div><br /></div><div>If you're like me, you always post a link on Facebook so that your friends can watch your video. Of course not all of your friends will do that, and many will just go there to click "like", so if you have, for example, four views and four "likes" chances are pretty good that those were just your close friends. But if you have the same number of views, and no "likes", and even a "dislike", it usually means that your audience has expanded beyond your friends.</div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking for myself, I rarely click the "like" button when I watch a YouTube video, even if I like it. I never click "dislike", but I know that people do, and the reasons can vary from their disappointment that the video wasn't long enough, or was too long, or any one of thousands of reasons why people express dislike. Your friends, of course, won't do that, any more than they would boo you while you were giving a speech in public - only strangers do that, and strangers are what you want, because it means that there are people who are interested in the content, not just friends who will support you no matter what.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, if you posted a video, and are seeing visits, but no "likes", or even some "dislikes", don't despair, because it's actually good news. It means that your audience is arriving on their own, not just because they're your friends who want to be supportive.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gJSOVQeLS8s" width="320" youtube-src-id="gJSOVQeLS8s"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>So go ahead and post that video, and check the number of views, with "likes" and "dislikes". If your "likes" are at 100%, or match the number of views, you know that your audience hasn't expanded.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope this helps.</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-36374688770736169452023-09-15T11:49:00.003-07:002023-09-15T11:49:49.988-07:00How to charge for one-on-one coaching, for anything<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ-LvrZF_jIpmNStYbiCAQr-IGK7wAmpD8w8CS_M-TEB8o3K3gTEMhxLBLs3oHMhXp_U6W1ZvfsngXE30NiqF9AX08m67m8n0Ba9NILsn_TwUWAz_DTIWGaAfc5vr1RgnpCm9I5U2_iqGoH4VVoMoWMDyt1zBKLURh1rXFRrszdTfit5dec_He5KzuaiXo/s390/Cartoon_haircut.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="390" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ-LvrZF_jIpmNStYbiCAQr-IGK7wAmpD8w8CS_M-TEB8o3K3gTEMhxLBLs3oHMhXp_U6W1ZvfsngXE30NiqF9AX08m67m8n0Ba9NILsn_TwUWAz_DTIWGaAfc5vr1RgnpCm9I5U2_iqGoH4VVoMoWMDyt1zBKLURh1rXFRrszdTfit5dec_He5KzuaiXo/s320/Cartoon_haircut.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Something that I did for many years, although I don't do it now, is one-on-one coaching. My specialty was computer graphics, but it can be anything that you know well and that other people want to know how to do. And if people have been asking you to do it, and seem prepared to pay you for it, you have some preparation to do.<div><br /></div><div>The first thing you need to do is to have the appearance of knowing your stuff. That doesn't mean a list of degrees, which most people know are essentially useless, it means showing people that you have experience at whatever you do. If you're going to coach someone in fitness, it would be best to be fit yourself, and if not, you need to have a reputation for training people for fitness (like for example, having trained twelve different Mr. Universe winners). But that's the easy part, because if you know your stuff, you can help people to know it, too.</div><div><br /></div><div>So hold on there, before you start giving your coaching away just because of your enthusiasm. If that's you, don't be surprised that people don't want to pay for your expertise. And you have to start with what people are willing to pay for. For me, I found that it was time. Yes, time.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now we have to do some numbers, and if you can't do that, you're stuck. I'm no math wizard, but I knew that people are kinda touchy about money, and they want to know exactly what they're paying, and for what. I charged for time, no more, no less. I had an hourly rate, and I had a three-hour minimum. I did not charge for travel time (as long as they were in the metro area, and they all were), I didn't charge any miscellaneous fees, I gave them a number and that's what they paid. If you can't do that, people won't hire you, and if they do hire you and find that you're charging more than what you said you would, they will hate you, and you deserve to be hated.</div><div><br /></div><div>I always asked for a 50% deposit. Whatever you charge, if you ask for 50% up front, your client knows that the rest of the money is going to be the same amount. No surprises! Yes, this takes some preparation on your part, and some work, but it's part of the cost of doing business. Many people are surprised that a business isn't just pure profit, and that often the three hours that you charge for takes you twice as long to do including everything else that goes into it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope this helps.</div><div><div><br /></div></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-79367514053188347302023-09-09T15:32:00.001-07:002023-09-09T15:32:22.453-07:00How people make money on YouTube<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioiZy3U5mmt65WrrrjS9-nOZOf_G2X3JX7Em4h_ONjju4S1gQAb56LWyxoqswt_02dYbtzpUz8sQ0eYsN5w07KKecr6liyf9zE_4KijFbJEue_escPYJMSosl83g4tri68vwdlyE-lKtA5MXW9o3HjCbPpboXRJsJpH3fgClgE10DdqDBo4n65weRPUjU8/s1280/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-12%20at%206.52.04%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="1280" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioiZy3U5mmt65WrrrjS9-nOZOf_G2X3JX7Em4h_ONjju4S1gQAb56LWyxoqswt_02dYbtzpUz8sQ0eYsN5w07KKecr6liyf9zE_4KijFbJEue_escPYJMSosl83g4tri68vwdlyE-lKtA5MXW9o3HjCbPpboXRJsJpH3fgClgE10DdqDBo4n65weRPUjU8/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-12%20at%206.52.04%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>People make money on YouTube by allowing advertising. It's the same program that I use here on my blog, called Adsense, with the idea that your content will be interesting enough to enough people that it attracts advertisers, who then pay Google/YouTube, and the person who makes the video gets a percentage of the money.<div><br /></div><div>That's really all there is to it. There are of course limitations of what you can post, and when you post something on YouTube, especially if you allow advertising, you gotta agree to those limitations. Personally, I find those limitations to be entirely reasonable, and I won't list the things that you're not supposed to post, just because to me it doesn't need to be said. Yes, I've read the guidelines, and you're not suppose to steal other people's stuff, or post things that are obscene, but my thought has always been that if you need to be told that stuff specifically, you really don't understand (and a lot of people really don't).</div><div><br /></div><div>If you're wondering if someone on YouTube is making a lot of money, although you can't tell the exact amount, you can get a good idea by looking at the number of views, and subscribers. Of course, there have to be ads, and inevitably there are, and if you see a "K" after the number, which means that you multiply it by 1,000, or an "M", which means that you multiply it by a million, you have a pretty good idea that they're bringing in the bucks. Yes, YouTube/Google shares the wealth.</div><div><br /></div><div>The volume of videos that YouTube handles all of the time is enormous, and just like here on Blogger it's monitored by 'bots, which is short for robots, which read everything all of the time (yes, even YouTube, because it's transcripted). And every once in a while the 'bots see something that they think is a violation, and suddenly the money stops flowing in (it's called "demonetization"), and a creator can fill out a form that eventually gets in front of human eyes. 'Bots aren't evil, or vindictive, but they're often what we would consider to be very dumb. They might see a word, like "dachshund", and suddenly it might trip an alarm in an algorithm that a human being might not ever understand. When in doubt the 'bots always win, and it's a case of "guilty until proven innocent", which seems kinda strange, but keeps what might be a questionable video from staying up.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are a lot of people making a ton of money on YouTube, and if you want in on it, I recommend that you do so. Make some videos, even shorts, and who knows? You might strike it rich!</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bradhall" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me A Coffee" src="https://cdn.buymeacoffee.com/buttons/v2/default-yellow.png" style="height: 60px; width: 217px;" /></a></div></div>Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-56004660150699773742023-09-05T15:21:00.001-07:002023-09-05T15:21:34.657-07:00How to help people with neurological blindness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFjOeAEtjTHJXQbN823fVZHf6wKxt7F2mw28j5a1GnwFoy86HtY035peRQPAaeUCyfyNwltIABvr7DMzNIGNv128Y3X0PTWiec7DmbbLy7c-1m2CdvSQ70hPs-tGSIA1CNEWbYKTCub4m3WeT3V0yVytr_0WiGstWCgTfnvQ4SXAhiSlRZwt8NayvdxIW/s1200/cartoon_little_girl_leash_dog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1071" data-original-width="1200" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFjOeAEtjTHJXQbN823fVZHf6wKxt7F2mw28j5a1GnwFoy86HtY035peRQPAaeUCyfyNwltIABvr7DMzNIGNv128Y3X0PTWiec7DmbbLy7c-1m2CdvSQ70hPs-tGSIA1CNEWbYKTCub4m3WeT3V0yVytr_0WiGstWCgTfnvQ4SXAhiSlRZwt8NayvdxIW/s320/cartoon_little_girl_leash_dog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>When I started teaching, long ago, I often helped people with neurological blindness. Of course, I had no idea what it was, and it's only recently that I've learned the concept, and it's really not blindness the way that we tend to think of it. By the way, there's neurological deafness too, and if you give me a chance to explain, it will start to look very familiar to you, I'm sure.<div><br /></div><div>Something that most people don't realize is that our brains can't possibly take in everything that's presented at any given time. Our brain has to process what we're looking at, the colors, the shapes, what we're hearing, what we're feeling, not to mention all of the other processes that go on in our brains like what we're gonna have for lunch. And so to keep from being overwhelmed as our brains develop, they learn to filter things. And for some people, with an extremely complex world around them, including a lot of noise, the filtering can be very extreme.</div><div><br /></div><div>I often ran into students who had such effective filters that they quite literally never heard me say, or show, something. That is, I could demonstrate something on the computer and say that the assignment is due next week, along with writing it on the board and giving a handout, and someone would say, in all sincerity, that I never said that. Of course, the thirty other people in the classroom would disagree, so I would just trade "never said that" with "didn't hear".</div><div><br /></div><div>And that's the key. Because if you understand that they never heard something, and never saw something, the only solution is to repeat. And I did a lot of that. If someone asked me to repeat something, I would, because for them it might be the very first time they had heard it. It happened so often in my teaching career that I strived very hard to repeat the exact same words, in exactly the same tone. And it works!</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, the reaction that most people have when someone hasn't been watching, or listening to them, is to get angry, and that just makes it worse. I've seen people with neurological blindness afraid to speak up, with the same fear in their eyes as a dog that's been beat. And when I would repeat something, often I knew that there were more people who appreciated it. Of course I tried not to do so much of it that it dragged the whole class down, but I often found that people without neurological blindness were fascinated by what I was doing, and some expressed their appreciation for my effort.</div><div><br /></div><div>The world is a complex place, and the human brain can only do so much. I've been working on trying to develop some neurological blindness, and deafness, to help everything around me not overwhelm me so much, and I feel that I'm making progress. I'll never be at the point where I can't see flashing lights or hear sirens, but I'd like to have that one slightly out-of-skew brick over there not bother me so much.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope this helps.</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bradhall" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me A Coffee" src="https://cdn.buymeacoffee.com/buttons/v2/default-yellow.png" style="height: 60px; width: 217px;" /></a></div></div>Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-87999774433645812532023-09-05T12:14:00.001-07:002023-09-05T12:14:09.449-07:00How and why to translate Google Analytics for ordinary people<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgy2zggIyLn6D4HQECpeE29zzxtXSKRP3CUOgx7zR6OyNKNOd8AGB-94qYzQhja_bqWb3Ha995ChhmJ4l6yM927FyvsoTANpz0wFPXrvQ3l-kgnB6TkAsBrRlPEWPXWO--qNsYkuY8AD5d9Ic_fJH2F3gh207XSbYzGlxjWnXnR08UFQcqlZRDU23U2rPA0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="1210" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgy2zggIyLn6D4HQECpeE29zzxtXSKRP3CUOgx7zR6OyNKNOd8AGB-94qYzQhja_bqWb3Ha995ChhmJ4l6yM927FyvsoTANpz0wFPXrvQ3l-kgnB6TkAsBrRlPEWPXWO--qNsYkuY8AD5d9Ic_fJH2F3gh207XSbYzGlxjWnXnR08UFQcqlZRDU23U2rPA0=w400-h188" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div>I haven't used Google Analytics for years, and even when I did use it, it didn't give me much useful information. But that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of useful information there, it's just that I'm not one of those rare people who can understand this type of data presentation - charts, graphics, percentages, averages, etc. I've met some people who just love that kinda stuff, and I respect them, but to ordinary people like me it's just mostly gibberish. But don't give up!<div><br /></div><div>If you've been tasked with taking a look at the information for your website that Google Analytics has, I sympathize. And that's because if you're in that rare category of people who enjoy this kinda stuff, you're gonna find that most people will tune out after just a few minutes of your talking about it, no matter how enthusiastic you sound, and if you're like most people (like me), you'll look at the enormous amount of complex data presented in front of you and just be overwhelmed. So I'll start with the first category, those of you who understand this kinda stuff, and maybe live for it. If that's not you, you can skip the next paragraph.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hate to use the term, but you're gonna have to "dumb it down" for the rest of us. You may consider people like me to be absolute idiots, and maybe we are, but if you want us to get anything out of your presentation, you have to make it something we can digest. If you can do that, you are amazing, and very valuable! OK, on to the other category.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you don't live for charts and graphs and numbers, your first look at Google Analytics will be completely overwhelming, but don't give up. You can find useful information there, you just have to ignore most of it. And you can ask yourself "what's important?", and off the top of my head it would be if anyone was visiting your site. If it's zero, you have a problem with the website. But once you find that number, you can find more stuff, like where your visitors live, whether they're viewing your site on a desktop computer, tablet, or phone. The list, of course, goes on and on, and you'd be wise to ask the people that you're presenting to what they would like to know.</div><div><br /></div><div>And let's get this out of the way right here and now - in spite of people who say otherwise, there really isn't any way that Google can get personal information from people, the same way that people used to be afraid that a photograph would steal their soul. Don't be surprised if people ask you if Google can tell someone's shoe size (they can't, unless they order shoes, of course), and other such things that people get nervous about. I'm an old Marketing guy, and there are so many things that people believe that just isn't true I hardly know where to start (like hypnotic messages hidden in photos of ice cubes).</div><div><br /></div><div>The reality of all of this is that this information, properly handled, can greatly help your business. Google Analytics can't answer all of your questions, but it can answer a lot. The trick is to ask the right questions.</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bradhall" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me A Coffee" src="https://cdn.buymeacoffee.com/buttons/v2/default-yellow.png" style="height: 60px; width: 217px;" /></a></div></div>Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-2200091833586757042023-08-26T12:37:00.000-07:002023-08-26T12:37:50.156-07:00Why I lost interest in cryptocurrency<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgN6yrlAHov1nSh-SYuDZV1JD2YEzDOVpTM73gBAOlZaSLFqe1wWW4g0oee9tI9lHyvyqLqLAcj3qaEA0xzD7NoHO5ve5SRawYk3nAfz7VpxBnwPhOGG9m2LcKZkT-6pBYDt3smGgY_tyqHcOF8IwFGam5Xf1bq2QKDfIub__PFEmuLCnDsF3Vw9kqsR4U/s1248/Screenshot%202023-08-26%20at%2012.34.00%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="966" data-original-width="1248" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgN6yrlAHov1nSh-SYuDZV1JD2YEzDOVpTM73gBAOlZaSLFqe1wWW4g0oee9tI9lHyvyqLqLAcj3qaEA0xzD7NoHO5ve5SRawYk3nAfz7VpxBnwPhOGG9m2LcKZkT-6pBYDt3smGgY_tyqHcOF8IwFGam5Xf1bq2QKDfIub__PFEmuLCnDsF3Vw9kqsR4U/s320/Screenshot%202023-08-26%20at%2012.34.00%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>I like the latest thing, and I learn best by doing, so about a year ago I downloaded an app and had ten United States Dollars (USD) converted into crypto, and I figured that whatever happened, I would get value out of it. That is, either I would be in on the ground floor of something phenomenal, or I would get ten dollars worth of education. I used to be a teacher, and I believe in investing in your education, so I would say that I got my ten dollars worth out of it, even though I lost interest in it this year. There were two fundamental reasons why I lost interest in it, and if you stay with me a bit, I'll see if I can explain.</p><p>The first thing that I was immediately disappointed with is that my cryptocurrency was always referred to in dollars (USD). I have no memory of the conversion rate, but it wasn't as if I were using pounds, or yen, or some other currency other than USD. I really wanted it to say the value of my money in crypto, not in USD. And I was inclined to think that they did that because crypto wasn't really money, but USD was. I wanted to go to the grocery store and buy a candy bar with crypto, not have to convert it to USD. You know, the way that you can buy something in the UK with pounds, or in Japan with yen. Foreign currency is real money, and people who use it don't need to convert it into USD. That was my first disappointment with crypto, it didn't have the feel of real money.</p><p>The other reason may surprise you, since I'm a digital kinda person, and that's that there's nothing tangible with crypto. I've been using computers long enough to know that sometimes when you go to open a file it no longer works because the app is gone. And with no way to open a file, the data is essentially locked up, and useless. Not the end of the world if it's presentation that you made ten years ago, but if it were money, that would be terrible.</p><p>Now hold on there, I know that the United States has been off of the gold standard since I was a kid. There are no stacks of gold, or silver, sitting somewhere, like in Fort Knox, behind the pieces of paper (dollar bills) or coins that I use to buy my coffee (when the system is down and I want to pay for something). But there's a whole government standing behind that dollar bill, and it's been doing it for a long time. In fact, the United States has been doing it so well, and for so long that it's the standard for the world.</p><p>When I went just about completely digital, back in the '90s, when I worked for a bank, my paycheck would just show up as numbers on a computer, and no piece of paper was mailed to me. And things like my mortgage payment were digital, too. And I used to joke that someone might sneeze at a computer terminal and erase my money, but that really can't happen, even if I log in to my bank account and see nothing but zeros (which happened to me many years ago), they money is safe and sound as USD. Well, as safe and sound as the United States government, and I've known people who have been waiting for it collapse for as long as I remember.</p><p>So there ya go, it was fun to learn about, but like a lot of things that sound interesting at first, I lost interest in it eventually. I'm gonna stick with good old US of A greenbacks!</p><p><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i></p><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bradhall" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me A Coffee" src="https://cdn.buymeacoffee.com/buttons/v2/default-yellow.png" style="height: 60px; width: 217px;" /></a></div></div>
Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-85455174711833704582023-08-14T13:14:00.006-07:002023-08-14T13:15:21.426-07:00How the word "goat" has changed<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_5T0MlxxEsvxBNOYVSjmKiEgeKKEC-HV5U3DoZoCfR9Bbxn4gvG0niS9yv7PWszGdTQhYh0aHcpKVnp-VcLSWvjymPdjmhqHBrX9ufaBhV04S4-s46uAfd5AN7Do4iwIdL6b_IFRkc1WJCTOCxR78avKwEAwN4DYlTQ4qt-VzyE9wC8qiRDlfkOwLDhvO" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1108" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_5T0MlxxEsvxBNOYVSjmKiEgeKKEC-HV5U3DoZoCfR9Bbxn4gvG0niS9yv7PWszGdTQhYh0aHcpKVnp-VcLSWvjymPdjmhqHBrX9ufaBhV04S4-s46uAfd5AN7Do4iwIdL6b_IFRkc1WJCTOCxR78avKwEAwN4DYlTQ4qt-VzyE9wC8qiRDlfkOwLDhvO" width="288" /></a></div><br /></div>Back when I was a kid, really not that long ago, being a "goat" was a bad thing to be. I don't know why we were picking on that particular animal, but it just meant that you were the opposite of a hero. You might have dropped the ball to lose the big game, something like that.<div><br /></div><div>But nowadays when you see some described as a goat, you have to look more carefully, because it now means the opposite of what it used to mean. In fact, it means "Greatest Of All Time", abbreviated as GOAT.</div><div><br /></div><div>To use it properly, you wouldn't say that Charlie Brown was a goat, you would say Charlie Brown was the GOAT, which he was.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope this helps.</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bradhall" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me A Coffee" src="https://cdn.buymeacoffee.com/buttons/v2/default-yellow.png" style="height: 60px; width: 217px;" /></a></div></div>Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-61960502171958575502023-08-07T17:54:00.004-07:002023-08-07T17:54:54.062-07:00How to give instructions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6zLH1IZfVpxu0MniaHRHnzm9sVy3-ia0ENjdX8JmOJVfv1FSu6uL5E6VKk6X5QoTkFFKQP3bz2YXWQkSIq_vuQkrA8ULthRTh2AuO-HcPhZGZHYzfioqpBmHRvfwtkFmcgsSNPTDo05JO_X-ntywVVdn9LIXllnOltd5g5M-sbIkFSKFjinOIanM-aUV_/s2048/Cartoon_kitten.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1669" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6zLH1IZfVpxu0MniaHRHnzm9sVy3-ia0ENjdX8JmOJVfv1FSu6uL5E6VKk6X5QoTkFFKQP3bz2YXWQkSIq_vuQkrA8ULthRTh2AuO-HcPhZGZHYzfioqpBmHRvfwtkFmcgsSNPTDo05JO_X-ntywVVdn9LIXllnOltd5g5M-sbIkFSKFjinOIanM-aUV_/s320/Cartoon_kitten.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><div><br /></div>As a graphic designer, one of things that I've most appreciated is clear instructions. People who can do that are rare, but everyone can learn to be better at it, and it just takes some practice. I got better at it when I started teaching, and it's something that I enjoy continuing to improve on.<div><br /></div><div>The biggest mistake I see is people telling someone what NOT to do, like "don't drop this!" when they mean "hold on to this very tightly!" And some people create a bit of a mini-problem for the other person to solve, such as "the bottom of this is hot!" when handing something over, instead of saying "hold this from the top!" I've even seen people start to scream their convoluted instructions, which just makes it harder for someone to understand.</div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking for myself, I've always enjoyed a bit of inductive (or is it deductive?) reasoning, but not when I'm in a hurry, trying to do something for someone. I've been known to try with a series of guesses, waiting to hear "yes" or "no". And that leads me to the next thing that people get so terribly wrong with instructions, they pad it with a lot of verbal garbage.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think I understand why some people do this, especially very timid people, and people who are afraid of being rude, or abrupt. They will say things like, "Well, why don't you go ahead and..." as a preface to their instructions, and often with a lot of padding at the end as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I became I teacher I had to take out whatever padding I wanted to put in, and not make it a guessing game for a student. I learned to say "no", and then stop, or "yes", and then stop. If it seems a bit harsh, and abrupt, it really isn't, for someone who wants to follow instructions it's wonderful. This isn't a guessing game and I don't expect people to be mind-readers.</div><div><br /></div><div>And you never know what's going on in someone's mind - they may be thinking of a bunch of other things while trying to process your instructions, such as "My coffee cup is empty", when you really should say, "I would like more coffee, please." See? It's not rude, it's really very considerate.</div><div><br /></div><div>By the way, before I let you go I have to give you instructions on how to carve a statue of a horse - get a piece of marble and carve away everything that doesn't look like a horse! And if people don't understand your instructions, you just might be sounding as ridiculous as that!</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope this helps.</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bradhall" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me A Coffee" src="https://cdn.buymeacoffee.com/buttons/v2/default-yellow.png" style="height: 60px; width: 217px;" /></a></div></div>Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-24242076902471561752023-08-05T18:19:00.002-07:002023-08-05T18:19:25.824-07:00How advertising pays for things like Facebook<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihWwSPBNqLnLr7WDXt8i0r7-xWtTlHNomf1OnFnDkVrl3Jy_WsLIFX_DLaDFEnmfZumieOtG0Hl3bYiGHMaZY50HOJkbDAl-wY3EVHb75D47se9UAGPjCKqTv1mQTCHXNeyd_p_heN28QHbE19lv20kLW67oPBV2wknPKgkH-CVfJn7KWCC8-tGmabVyN-/s740/Facebook_logo%20copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="740" data-original-width="724" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihWwSPBNqLnLr7WDXt8i0r7-xWtTlHNomf1OnFnDkVrl3Jy_WsLIFX_DLaDFEnmfZumieOtG0Hl3bYiGHMaZY50HOJkbDAl-wY3EVHb75D47se9UAGPjCKqTv1mQTCHXNeyd_p_heN28QHbE19lv20kLW67oPBV2wknPKgkH-CVfJn7KWCC8-tGmabVyN-/s320/Facebook_logo%20copy.jpg" width="313" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>I've always been fascinated with advertising, and even though all I've ever done is graphic design, I've paid attention to how advertising works, which for most people is a complete mystery, and is kinda evil. Of course it isn't, and I can just point to the fact that it pays for free stuff, like Facebook, and even this blog, on Google. And if you like evil conspiracies, you will find what I'm about to talk about just plain boring. Sorry about that, but hey, this is the internet, I'm sure you can find some wild conspiracy blog post. That's just not what I do here. If you don't mind it being a bit dull, please stay with me.<div><br /></div><div>Advertising is a huge industry, spending LOTS of money all over the world with the goal of getting people to buy goods and services. And if you're wondering why a company like Coca-Cola spends money on advertising, it's because if they didn't, the impression worldwide would be that they had gone out of business. But don't worry, they're fine. And if you're wondering if the money that they spend affects the price of the product, it doesn't. A company can ask any price they want, but they will only get what people are willing to pay.</div><div><br /></div><div>And if you're wondering why some magazines and newspapers charge a subscription fee, along with accepting money for advertising, there are two reasons. The first one is that paying the subscription gives people the feeling that they're getting something of value, and the second is that it's an additional revenue stream for the company, and why not?</div><div><br /></div><div>And here's the reason that I've been thinking about all of this today. Every once in a while someone on Facebook posts a slightly-panicky (and a bit angry) post that Facebook is planning to charge something like $4.99 a month. And for someone like me, that's exactly $4.99 more than I would care to pay, even though it's a pittance to Facebook. They make a LOT more on advertising than they would be able to get if they somehow managed to convince everyone to pay $4.99 a month. That would be a drop in the bucket as compared to the ocean of revenue they earn on advertising.</div><div><br /></div><div>I grew up with advertising. There were commercials on the radio, and the radio was free, there were commercials on TV, and that was also free. There were ads in the comic books I read, because apparently twelve cents wasn't enough for them to print Spiderman in the 1960s.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the past few years I've experimented with whether people want to pay for something, or get it for free with advertising, and the conclusion I've drawn is that people like free stuff. Of course, some people will pay extra to not have advertising, but it's a small percentage of people, and it really doesn't affect places like YouTube.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh yeah, before I forget, there's no such thing as the kind of subliminal advertising that people used to talk about, with some type of obscene image hidden in the photo of the drink's ice cubes. If you're seeing that kind of stuff in ice cubes, you may want to get out more often (hint-hint), but if the advertiser wants you to buy their product, they'll just make it look as wonderful as possible. And that was my job, as an art director/graphic designer. No foolin'.</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bradhall" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me A Coffee" src="https://cdn.buymeacoffee.com/buttons/v2/default-yellow.png" style="height: 60px; width: 217px;" /></a></div></div>Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-61146354163811558952023-08-05T09:37:00.000-07:002023-08-05T09:37:06.614-07:00Confusing knowledge with education<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRWxe2beF-k3j9AOjNw9Ho2qr89mFTGRlC8WyjAD-V2DIGxrc21MKKWVpgtYq3bC1a3i0RXrxzo6Da6ijoUEfQBSuXFRgPErbfYG7vQDMEXwAQki-22v2KRE57wzhTWg6y2FjT251pmrcdVMsWkPODqbeEfx_7tFVKrgC2ZIM8256q2t2bYgsYyJ8WiaVF/s1200/Cartoon_baseball_player.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1200" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRWxe2beF-k3j9AOjNw9Ho2qr89mFTGRlC8WyjAD-V2DIGxrc21MKKWVpgtYq3bC1a3i0RXrxzo6Da6ijoUEfQBSuXFRgPErbfYG7vQDMEXwAQki-22v2KRE57wzhTWg6y2FjT251pmrcdVMsWkPODqbeEfx_7tFVKrgC2ZIM8256q2t2bYgsYyJ8WiaVF/s320/Cartoon_baseball_player.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Although I'm flattered when people describe me as "highly educated", it's really not true. I did get a college degree, but it was only in Fine Arts, and it was quite a while ago. In fact, it was so long ago that my graphic design degree didn't include desktop publishing (Photoshop, InDesign, etc.), because they hadn't been invented yet. But I learned the most important thing that you can learn from a University degree, I learned how to learn.<div><br /></div><div>Don't get me wrong, I did learn some practical stuff at ASU that I was able to put to use in my chosen field, and for that I'm grateful, but I really can't blame them for not teaching me the Apple Macintosh computer, because that hadn't been invented yet. When I did discover it, the rest of my education kicked in, and I learned.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I started teaching, back in the '90s, I encouraged this way of thinking. The idea was to understand things conceptually, not memorize and recite. Of course, some people just couldn't break out of that way of thinking, and were completely overwhelmed by things like Photoshop, etc. By the way, the private college where I started my teaching career always encouraged people to think about being able to do software that hadn't even been invented yet. The class that focused on Photoshop was called "Image Manipulation", and if a student had suddenly needed to switch gears in the future to a different software program, they could, because they had learned it conceptually.</div><div><br /></div><div>And I really do have to give credit to all of my teachers, going back to grade school, who encouraged me to read. It became something of a "superpower" when I became an adult, and continues to be so. And to this day I can use the Dewey Decimal system in the library and go straight to the books on dinosaurs!</div><div><br /></div><div>If you've read this far I'm inclined to think that you're kinda like me, and are puzzled by people who say stuff like "Why didn't they teach us that in high school?", and all I can say is that you have to realize that most people don't read much, and most people have poor comprehension. But calm down there, I don't mean that these are bad people, not at all, they just don't see a bigger picture of how the world works - and I really can't blame them. How could they know?</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm retired now, but I like to talk to young people and encourage them to learn and grow. For me, life has always been a wonderful experience of learning, and it's made me feel more comfortable in a complicated world. And no, I don't know it all, but I do know how to use the Dewey Decimal System!</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope this helps.</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bradhall" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me A Coffee" src="https://cdn.buymeacoffee.com/buttons/v2/default-yellow.png" style="height: 60px; width: 217px;" /></a></div></div>
Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-71017107263134301342023-07-07T13:59:00.000-07:002023-07-07T13:59:00.951-07:00Basic introduction to the social media app Threads<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcicOjhRu2wi-7atlBWMPjkgYG_3qvxkB2QuqAurcPEK7z9Ve9DfL5R26GpVVP_Fxjbo6xtcaPKF4uo0K4WveqVAc0sYlFGO0RnEp_h6lMVOaHg2ZbfO7IZqe5g_d2YC_sJCbHSvY8lCd50P8ZiFcgOLu5uX2-jw6GPlqg3DP7cM9WVTYDlYWvB2wID_Lf/s1180/Screenshot%202023-07-07%20at%201.37.03%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="1180" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcicOjhRu2wi-7atlBWMPjkgYG_3qvxkB2QuqAurcPEK7z9Ve9DfL5R26GpVVP_Fxjbo6xtcaPKF4uo0K4WveqVAc0sYlFGO0RnEp_h6lMVOaHg2ZbfO7IZqe5g_d2YC_sJCbHSvY8lCd50P8ZiFcgOLu5uX2-jw6GPlqg3DP7cM9WVTYDlYWvB2wID_Lf/s320/Screenshot%202023-07-07%20at%201.37.03%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Like about seventy million other people did recently, I just joined Threads. I learn best by doing, so I downloaded the app and started playing around with it. And if you're like me, I recommend that you skip reading this blog post and go do the same thing. That's fine, I won't be offended - go ahead.<div><br /></div><div>For those of you who are still here, I will tell you what I know, and as soon as you feel confident enough to go do it, go ahead. No, I won't mind, that's what I do. I did this kind of thing when I started teaching software, and the sooner I could get someone to stop listening to me yakkin' and to go open up the application, the better.</div><div><br /></div><div>Where was I? Oh yeah, Threads is a direct competitor of Twitter. If you're not familiar with Twitter, I'm sorry, you need to go find that out, I won't be covering that here. And if you are familiar with Twitter, you'll immediately understand Threads. They're so similar I understand that there was a lawsuit filed just about right away. I'm an old marketing guy, and I know that as soon as one big company has a successful product, another big company tries to do the same thing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I've been around the tech world long enough to see old tried-and-true apps just seem to disappear overnight, and also competitors starting out with a whoop and a holler and then disappearing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Still here? OK, let's see, Threads is part of the Facebook-Instagram system. And if you have an Instagram account, like I do, all you gotta do with Threads is tell it that it's you, and you're done - same profile pic, same username, everything.</div><div><br /></div><div>Question in the back? Yes. What's that? Yes, they collect data about you, all apps do that. And my recommendation has always been the same for people who don't want that to happen to them - stay away from social media apps.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope this helps. I'd like to tell you more, but I've only been on Threads now since yesterday. I'm following some news organizations, but the only other person that I know there is a good friend of mine that likes to help me out, and encourage me.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you're looking for me, among the many Brad Halls that are already there I'm guessing that only one has a profile pic wearing a bicycle helmet, and that says that they are a fitness fanatic, dachshund person, and live in the tropical paradise. Yep, that's me.</div><div><br /></div><div>See you there!</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bradhall" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me A Coffee" src="https://cdn.buymeacoffee.com/buttons/v2/default-yellow.png" style="height: 60px; width: 217px;" /></a></div></div>
Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-58839692429899676792023-07-05T12:10:00.001-07:002023-07-05T12:10:53.331-07:00Introduction to basic investing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqYBMZXDG6uGUzfd975pcPuuzbSOZ4_xHl2ORBGEZWEDCLPhHTSOJPmf1Tr66Xesd8CU8t9Mi7zybmZZ7JeEU931X4nFO30RtXHJZJ1sw4SS2CcuDAq18_WqPpbpjHAbkh8YXGcdHkYZZ4ZI5rc6nBwPpA6l_U0EPu-y3qMWYTdgzkXaD8Z3BIDAGTHkHX/s1000/Cartoon_Beverly_Hills_Storage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="776" data-original-width="1000" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqYBMZXDG6uGUzfd975pcPuuzbSOZ4_xHl2ORBGEZWEDCLPhHTSOJPmf1Tr66Xesd8CU8t9Mi7zybmZZ7JeEU931X4nFO30RtXHJZJ1sw4SS2CcuDAq18_WqPpbpjHAbkh8YXGcdHkYZZ4ZI5rc6nBwPpA6l_U0EPu-y3qMWYTdgzkXaD8Z3BIDAGTHkHX/s320/Cartoon_Beverly_Hills_Storage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>If you're interested in investing, you may be wondering where to start, and I think that I can help. And I apologize in advance for how dull it is, because it really is. You start with an income that covers your monthly expenses, and any money you have left over after you've paid for the necessities of life is what you can invest. And to determine the basic necessities of life, you really have to ask yourself - no one else can tell you that. You can, of course, get involved in the world's dullest argument with some people, but that never interested me. Let's get to investing.<div><br /></div><div>Your first step is a saving account, which you can do through your bank. Interest paid on those is tiny, but there's no risk that you will lose your money. Be sure that your bank is FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) insured, and you will be fine for up to $250,000. When I first opened a savings account, as a kid, FDIC insured up to $10,000, and that amount would still be fine for most people. You could actually stop there, and unless the FDIC fails (in which case there will be panic on the streets) your money will be safe, and there will be a lot more of it when you go to take it out.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you work for a company that has a savings plan, you would be wise to use that. The companies that I worked for had 401-Ks, which were tax-deferred, and they even added matching funds up to a certain amount.</div><div><br /></div><div>OK, if you're still here, I appreciate your patience with me. Now you need to get a whole life insurance policy. You pay into it for your whole life, and if you don't die (the money is meant to go to your survivors if you do), you can start taking the money out. This not only gives you peace of mind so that your loved ones will be cared for in the event of your early death, it's a solid investment. Choose a good insurance company.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you still have money left over (lucky you!) you can now begin to invest in the stock market. But hold on there, it isn't time to buy individual stocks quite yet, you need to start with a mutual fund. And yes, mutual funds are not FDIC insured, and can lose value - they're made up of stocks of course, but if you choose a mutual fund that has mostly "blue chip" stocks, you'll be fine. My first mutual fund (which an uncle of mine purchased for me when I was a baby) was made up of the biggest, and most stable companies possible. When I got old enough to read up on it, I realized that I had shares in both Pepsi and Coke (for example). It was at an early age that I realized that if General Motors and Ford both disappeared (also part of my mutual fund), the United States would be in ruins, and probably zombies would be roaming the streets.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was going to list everything, including CDs (Certificates of Deposit) until I realized that this post would just go on too long. So let's get to individual stocks, like investing in a particular company. At that point you're kinda on your own, as it's as close to gambling that you can do outside of Las Vegas. If you have money to spare, then don't let me stop you - but remember the words of the song that said, "A man should never gamble more than he can stand to lose".</div><div><br /></div><div>I passed the Series 63 exam in 1996, but didn't stay with the company, and never actually sold any insurance policies or mutual funds. But it was fascinating to learn about, and I think about it often. And if you're wondering how to be absolutely double-dog sure that you will never lose value on your money, then go spend it. The best investment you can make is a good steak dinner, and you will never run the risk of losing money that has already performed its function for you! That's what money is for.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope this helps.</div>Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-25969083482307167232023-06-28T18:03:00.001-07:002023-06-28T18:03:27.297-07:00How to enjoy conspiracy theories<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1veA9GsyvOqpfslEbjX5JFmwBWa-dnsWSXjh2-WQRd61CWi7Wm2pBqxzm4mRnEiLuP_6jYC4Kkis_x_AhBWkvWUOP-D5AU-ysmssETl6KDNV_VFm_q_vywSHPuLiqzpFwthp7jdWSSy5zZun4nLYbWmE9EiPaa_sgDOIvg9LiV_7SVWHcO-oRfjF3CLYY/s1000/cartoon_Beverly_Hills_Storage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="776" data-original-width="1000" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1veA9GsyvOqpfslEbjX5JFmwBWa-dnsWSXjh2-WQRd61CWi7Wm2pBqxzm4mRnEiLuP_6jYC4Kkis_x_AhBWkvWUOP-D5AU-ysmssETl6KDNV_VFm_q_vywSHPuLiqzpFwthp7jdWSSy5zZun4nLYbWmE9EiPaa_sgDOIvg9LiV_7SVWHcO-oRfjF3CLYY/s320/cartoon_Beverly_Hills_Storage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>One of the proudest moments of my life happened when I was about 14 or 15, and got the OK to read some paperback books that my mom had found at a garage sale, about a secret agent that I had seen on TV (James Bond, which I always watched on the Monday Night Movie). My dad, a man of few words, and immense dignity, agreed to read them, and declared me mature enough to understand the difference between fantasy and reality. I still remember that vividly, and found that the world was much more fun if I could escape into fantasy every once in a while, and then come back out.<div><br /></div><div>But even before that, when I started reading Spiderman, at age 9, I was aware that it was just make-believe, for fun. And to this day I love to let my imagination run wild, especially with "what if" scenarios, like "what if the British army had quelled the rebellion that happened in 1776?' And my love of imaginative fiction has made me enjoy conspiracy theories. Of course some people are unable to separate reality from fantasy, but there's nothing I can do about that.</div><div><br /></div><div>A good conspiracy theory always has a complex labyrinth of coverups, and things that mean other things, and it can be a wonderful exercise of your mind, trying to keep track of everything. I've always like stories with a good twist, like finding out that you've been on Mars all of the time (yeah, I love science fiction!) or that the dog was actually the villain in disguise all along.</div><div><br /></div><div>As a graphic designer, and especially when I started teaching it, I've always been surrounded by people with active imaginations. I couldn't help but notice that since they can see the difference between reality and fantasy, they often don't realize that many people can't, and take things literally. Go Google the panicked reaction to the radio program "The War of the Worlds" in 1938, and you'll see that doing something like this became too dangerous to broadcast anymore.</div><div><br /></div><div><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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiNEH_z2tTmGtM2l4685zBPif14UsD52fzpzIP-EdaCNunjqJy0LYECw_T7kgerQBa-ysgkclF7K7Kd_ePPVFdZcinnAKBR_9MbcZUnNrYGE7fMVv0_qNJNX1CwwHT18ldSpSwbF8WANeMbS72faBZJh6UqgqRsvEjl2WsjU-BccbMNg_JBQCqos8YR8tgS" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1622" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiNEH_z2tTmGtM2l4685zBPif14UsD52fzpzIP-EdaCNunjqJy0LYECw_T7kgerQBa-ysgkclF7K7Kd_ePPVFdZcinnAKBR_9MbcZUnNrYGE7fMVv0_qNJNX1CwwHT18ldSpSwbF8WANeMbS72faBZJh6UqgqRsvEjl2WsjU-BccbMNg_JBQCqos8YR8tgS=w400-h200" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wrote this in HTML and later updated it with CSS. The ftp program was called "Fetch"</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Speaking for myself, back when I first started learning web design, over twenty years ago, I wrote some of the most ridiculous stuff I could imagine, just to make the process more interesting to me, my favorite being about how dogs evolved from whales, and had written Christmas songs (among other silly stuff). I had to learn how to ftp (file transfer protocol), so these pages were live. I took them down when I realized that someone might use something on a school report.</div><div><br /></div><div>So no, I don't believe in conspiracy theories, the same way that I don't believe that a secret agent would travel all over the world being recognized by bartenders who would always serve him a vodka martini, shaken, not stirred. But I enjoy them just the same.</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-82472651167022832972023-06-28T11:43:00.000-07:002023-06-28T11:43:14.395-07:00The difference between being well-educated, and well-read<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCEWWgfWKeRtkdoq9EA8FhgNYs9ZUp7RezgS-l2nfDBZtmyjQ2xoVSzQoDicGt2paPEv4zSZZdXTuOzpOhyVBckZhJYBaycnXhkEt2GL9QSHSxu3ni8zaQEro1MwITd80CBdWJL-2RoE_pjEQxvLkcdyUWj4e-oofoWVdAN41nC3CpJOOaSFQtkvQLhM8R" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="926" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCEWWgfWKeRtkdoq9EA8FhgNYs9ZUp7RezgS-l2nfDBZtmyjQ2xoVSzQoDicGt2paPEv4zSZZdXTuOzpOhyVBckZhJYBaycnXhkEt2GL9QSHSxu3ni8zaQEro1MwITd80CBdWJL-2RoE_pjEQxvLkcdyUWj4e-oofoWVdAN41nC3CpJOOaSFQtkvQLhM8R=w400-h268" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div>Every once in a while someone will describe me as well-educated. It's actually not true, but I accept it as a compliment, and it also gives me an insight into their world view. I'll see if I can explain.<div><br /></div><div>To be fair, I went to college, and got a degree. It's a Fine Arts Degree from ASU, and anyone who knows about it doesn't gasp in amazement that I was able to attain it. I'm inclined to think that if they have any amazement, it's that I actually did finish up my four-year degree, which took me seven (yes, 7) years. And whatever I learned there about graphic design was so long ago that computer-based graphic design hadn't even been invented yet. And if you ask me what education I got from high school, it seems to me that I learned that kids can be cruel, especially if they think that you're bookish, and nerdy.</div><div><br /></div><div>And that's me, bookish and nerdy. I really do have to give credit to my parents for encouraging me to read (although I'm inclined to think that it was just something for me to do to play quietly with). I started with the writings of Stan Lee, and also the usual gang of idiots in Mad Magazine, and from that point on I had an absolutely voracious appetite for books. And I understood them conceptually - that is, I didn't just read and forget, I would absorb and synthesize, which is something that I never stopped doing.</div><div><br /></div><div>I like to encourage people that I talk to, but if they say things like "I never learned that in school!" or have no idea what the Dewey Decimal System is, they're pretty much told me to gently change the subject, whatever it might be.</div><div><br /></div><div>Don't get me wrong, people who aren't intellectually curious aren't bad people, although they often can be easily misled. Many of them are very happy, with no interest in learning anything beyond what they now know, and I find them relaxing to be around. </div><div><br /></div><div>But I like learning stuff. When I was a kid, I wanted to know everything, and I've never outgrown that. I had an accident many years ago that affected my ability to read for many years, but I worked on it, and got better. It's hard to describe how frustrating it was to me, especially to people who haven't read a book since their school days, or who read books to pass the time without any comprehension.</div><div><br /></div><div>In my younger days my goal was to read every book ever written, but of course that can't be done. I've had a library card since I was a little kid, and I often say that I store my books in buildings in whatever town I'm living in, and if I'm not reading them, other people are welcome to. In order words, libraries. I don't have a bookshelf of books that I read over and over because that would be too narrow for me.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are things yet to be that I will learn about in the future. So much left to see, so much left to learn!</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-1000517837166192352023-06-18T16:10:00.003-07:002023-06-18T16:10:17.122-07:00Taking money from people by telling them what they want to hear<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRmIa7oCPNS2S1t5sUCUO5kN3_e6eJk4g-1YY0LgP8CIX4Hofwm9U5uWk_UAAxtf0ydaU_UAl83UCeS4rN22UKskYPlb-_es7vBXsIM8jGYb2M7yhEeyz9woqOlX0AwLq5Pd7_Gr8Ka98UjM1HpWCRVLD7LJQf0RPz2UE7901SX7kL3J7esjSw1JTj0Q/s1200/Cartoon_baseball_player.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1200" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRmIa7oCPNS2S1t5sUCUO5kN3_e6eJk4g-1YY0LgP8CIX4Hofwm9U5uWk_UAAxtf0ydaU_UAl83UCeS4rN22UKskYPlb-_es7vBXsIM8jGYb2M7yhEeyz9woqOlX0AwLq5Pd7_Gr8Ka98UjM1HpWCRVLD7LJQf0RPz2UE7901SX7kL3J7esjSw1JTj0Q/s320/Cartoon_baseball_player.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I'm an old marketing guy, and I did some teaching and training for several years, and realize that there's a very fine line between encouragement and just plain telling people what they want to hear, even if it's not true. It's the difference between sharing information that can help people, and just lying to them. And I'm a good guy, not a bad guy, so I won't lie to you, even if you want me to. I'll see if I can explain.<div><br /></div><div>First of all, let's be clear here, I'm an optimist. And I know that if you don't even try, you definitely can't succeed. And I can't see the future, I don't know if the next song you write will be a big hit and make you famous, so you won't hear me saying stuff like that. But I will encourage you to keep writing songs, if that's what you enjoy. And who knows? Maybe someday you will have a smash hit!</div><div><br /></div><div>Reality can be harsh, and when I taught graphic design at a private college, they didn't pull any punches. Students were told that there was no magic shortcut to success in their chosen field - there were a lot of things that they needed to learn, and to be able to do. Of course there were people who thought that just a few tricks in Photoshop would be enough for them to have a successful career in graphic design, but that's just not true. And if they wanted to hear it from me, or the college, it wasn't going to happen. I saw a lot of hurt feelings because of that, because however gentle you try to be, people are in for a shock when they find out what they thought they knew wasn't true.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nowadays I see people make a lot of money on the internet telling people what they want to hear. It's a big business, and since there's no ramifications for doing so, it continues to grow. It saddens me to see "the ONE trick that you need to know in Photoshop that will make you $10,000 a month!" I'm sure that you can think of other examples.</div><div><br /></div><div>And I understand. We all have issues of confidence in a complicated world. When I got my graphic design degree at ASU I really had no idea if it was enough to get me a good job. Luckily, it was. I was required to take a LOT of classes, from typography to oil painting, and when it all came together I had become a pretty good graphic designer, which I learned from job offers, not just from people telling me what I wanted to hear.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I started doing part-time teaching and training, specifically in Adobe programs, and web design, I never talked about the bigger picture for the people taking classes from me. Some people did realize on their own that it was going to take more than a semester of Photoshop in order to become a graphic designer, and I distinctly remember someone absolutely "freaking out" during a break in one of my Community College classes. I got chewed out big time, screamed at and yelled at, but I just sat there taking it, because it was part of the job. I listened to this person scream at me, and then when it was over I invited the class back in to continue. I never told this person what they wanted to hear, because that's not what I do.</div><div><br /></div><div>But please don't become discouraged. I won't ask you to "reach for the sky", I'll just ask you to keep trying, one little step at a time. Steps add up, you know!</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/bradhall" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy Me A Coffee" src="https://cdn.buymeacoffee.com/buttons/v2/default-yellow.png" style="height: 60px; width: 217px;" /></a></div></div>Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-30899433817054171662023-06-03T06:24:00.004-07:002023-06-03T06:27:03.672-07:00How, and why to hang up your car keys forever<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg9917KhYIAi-CUDUzXgqr_XxzO5JgKvn4ig0a6v2GDl-ZFlizeGTluzRY_9s98mrwhLi7YGdRwWuE_WUr0UX7_zQbs6PMNZoqqBCiypOBv8zWVmLnPLPNIIo8mF7IUXlA8V2bFUTQAshWD3NocEBf6AAPPU-wT-waO4uwevXc4EAc69TV8AbaOwSvjfg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg9917KhYIAi-CUDUzXgqr_XxzO5JgKvn4ig0a6v2GDl-ZFlizeGTluzRY_9s98mrwhLi7YGdRwWuE_WUr0UX7_zQbs6PMNZoqqBCiypOBv8zWVmLnPLPNIIo8mF7IUXlA8V2bFUTQAshWD3NocEBf6AAPPU-wT-waO4uwevXc4EAc69TV8AbaOwSvjfg" width="278" /></a></div><br />One of the best things that I ever did for my own safety, and the safety of people around me, was to hang up my car keys. It happened about five years ago when I had finally decided that my driving just kinda sucked, and admitted it to myself. If you're in that situation, you may feel trapped, but I'm here to tell ya it's gonna be OK, it will just take a different mindset.<p></p><p>If your first thought is, "Do I need to have friends drive me everywhere?" you're thinking short-term. Yes, if have a short-term medical situation, of course it makes sense to ask your friends to drive you to places. But if you want to be independent, you need to think differently.</p><p>Speaking for myself, I've always surrounded myself with experts. I've happily allowed pilots to fly the planes I've been on, I gladly have an expert mechanic work on my vehicles, I take my dogs to the groomers - the list goes on and on. I do these things not because I'm lazy, but because other people have skills in particular areas that are better than mine.</p><p>And that's where you start. If your motto has always been, "If you want something done right, do it yourself", then I'm sorry to say that you're wrong. Hire a plumber, get someone else to cut your hair. Yes, of course, "do-it-yourself" projects are fun, and I encourage you to do them, but not in a situation where you might accidentally hurt someone, or kill them (I'm talking about driving now).</p><p>And really, if you know full well that your driving is terrible, when you get into a collision (not if, when), it won't really be an accident. Not really. I call those things "inevitables", not "accidents". They're just waiting to happen, and who wants to live with that kind of stress? Not me!</p><p>Like a lot of elderly people, I resisted using an Uber for a long time. When I did it was a revelation, and the very next day I called my friend who had always wanted to buy my car. By the way, before I forget, I had been having things delivered for years, and was comfortable both on my desktop computer and on my phone. I consider those things my lifeline, and I lean heavily on them.</p><p>If you're already ranting that you'd never use one of them "new-fangled gol-durned things" and order stuff on Amazon, or use an app on your phone, I'm sorry, I can't help you. You have painted yourself into a corner like a stubborn child who refuses to learn.</p><p>But you're not a stubborn child, you're a full-grown adult. You've learned a lot of things in a long life, and you've done it because it made your life better. This is the same thing.</p><p>I hope this helps.</p><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on <a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/bradhall">buymeacoffee.com/bradhall</a>, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-25752160105024147112023-04-18T12:23:00.002-07:002023-05-24T05:06:58.154-07:00Dealing with minor nuisance people on Facebook<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg02Cy-zz7R8EffVfyjLnW1BKTWaxLH7BmduhllZYwetGWECeHPhziaXJxt77Vla3vxQnNcH-OS2sKLAZCqF8F6H7ETSiJWMogwz9fWXAwY40kUt-l4Wvm1wuq6CSVrequVrlSv79B_O2CuLkx91lODhWS9aR1-36DZRICUMAog8NQwvNXVzn8wbPMVHQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="740" data-original-width="1898" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg02Cy-zz7R8EffVfyjLnW1BKTWaxLH7BmduhllZYwetGWECeHPhziaXJxt77Vla3vxQnNcH-OS2sKLAZCqF8F6H7ETSiJWMogwz9fWXAwY40kUt-l4Wvm1wuq6CSVrequVrlSv79B_O2CuLkx91lODhWS9aR1-36DZRICUMAog8NQwvNXVzn8wbPMVHQ=w400-h156" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div>Nuisance people are nothing new, they didn't just appear with Facebook. And no, they're never gonna go away, they're like weeds in your garden.<div><br /></div><div>The first time I encountered these nuisance people was when I was a kid, and over the years I learned to just keep my eyes forward, and move on. In a perfect world I would have been able to just push a button and they would just disappear. Luckily, Facebook has that button - it's called "Block".</div><div><br /></div><div>If you yourself are a nuisance person, I kinda wish you weren't, but you must have your reasons, and when I block you, you simply turn to the next person. Or if you're an extremely obnoxious weed, the next thousand people. And if someone responds to you, you can get started on scamming them. There are a lot of people who "just fell of the turnip truck" or were "born yesterday", and hopefully you won't take too much from them, and they'll get a lesson that they can apply in the future.</div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking for myself, I like to block nuisance people in my spare time. I like to do it the same way that I spray for weeds, as a no-brainer, maybe sipping some coffee.</div><div><br /></div><div>By the way, to be more specific here, no one needs to ask you to send a friend request, they can just send the request themselves, which you can block.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope this helps.</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on Buy me a coffee, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to:</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1236705143448589896.post-77778813879210908382023-04-16T16:02:00.002-07:002023-04-16T16:02:01.630-07:00Some tips and tricks for using the grocery self checkout<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgGHdSKRDJJo2-TClSJj74hkc29Qs1IdwMA-IpbSasnsmgG1hJdo46KsvnTZea5BrBsbEVWTEhHHLRFUGwgUsf5umo62LgI8Gwh8ha5qevWfwqeA7M-fF4AaQyEXBUM-EvI75oCxOmPOu8WgfjVgTmd858hlmPbLfc7opGfqrYZLXAQT1FIy_2YGg9teA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1558" data-original-width="1170" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgGHdSKRDJJo2-TClSJj74hkc29Qs1IdwMA-IpbSasnsmgG1hJdo46KsvnTZea5BrBsbEVWTEhHHLRFUGwgUsf5umo62LgI8Gwh8ha5qevWfwqeA7M-fF4AaQyEXBUM-EvI75oCxOmPOu8WgfjVgTmd858hlmPbLfc7opGfqrYZLXAQT1FIy_2YGg9teA=w240-h320" width="240" /></a></div><br /></div>Like a lot of people, I was very slow in deciding that I would, -sigh-, use the self checkout at the grocery store. Hang on, I'll let you do a rant about how cheap big companies are, or how service is now a thing of a past. There. Feel better? OK, let's proceed with a few tricks that I'm learning as I go along.<div><br /></div><div>OK, we're start by cheating a bit, and making things easier when you get to the checkout area. Take all of the items with barcodes and face them up. That will mean less time looking for them as you go - and you can scan with speed. Oh yeah, and it should go without saying that if you have a big load of groceries, stay out of the self-checkout - there's no limit posted, but it's a tiny space so be reasonable. I plan on using the self-checkout 90% of the time, and when I need a cashier, I'll do so.</div><div><br /></div><div>When you're in the self-checkout area, remember that you're being watched. And I don't mean by just the security cameras, I mean by the attendant. And if you're like me, and don't want someone walking up to you right away trying to be helpful then you will need to move in a confident way. Beep, beep, beep!</div><div><br /></div><div>I put the fresh fruit at the end because it's the slowest thing you'll have to do. I like getting a banana, but that's about as far as I'll go with fresh fruit that needs to be weighed - otherwise I'll buy stuff in bags, with barcodes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh yeah, stick with the same store - don't try to learn multiple stores' systems - that's just insane. I go to the same Walmart Neighborhood Market all of the time, the one on 75th Avenue, and that's where I'm doing this.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's really no need to look at the screen as you go. It might ask you some questions, but if you just forge ahead it'll just move on. No need to tap "start scanning" on the screen - just grab your stuff and start going beep-beep-beep! In the computer world this is known as "going with the defaults".</div><div><br /></div><div>Don't bother with the bags, just pile everything where it can tell you paid for it, then put it back in your cart. I carry reusable bags and bag outside. I'm not in any kind of particular hurry, but I like the concept of it being a "pitstop" like at a race, and I want to be in and out like I was Steve McQueen.</div><div><br /></div><div>Be sure to flash a winning smile at the attendant, and you're back on the road again!</div><div><br /></div><i>Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on Buy me a coffee, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to:</i><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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Brad Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00533083404576505634noreply@blogger.com0