Category: Uncategorized

Just spent a good amount of time wondering why I couldn’t add a clickable link to a YouTube video description. It kept on companioning about not allowing angled brackets!! Turns out the YouTube account was newish and to stop the bad guys YouTube now needs you to verify your account with either an ID upload or a facial scan! Bloody hell!

The only issue is that this is far from obvious and the only indication of the verification process is teeny tiny text at the bottom of the description field – see the image blow. Well done Google – 100 billon dollar company fail!

So skimming our credit card transaction I came across the following:
Purchase / PAYPAL *FAIRCHILDFI 402-935-7733 CA Date ……… What…. I have a PayPal account but don’t recall paying $160 x 2 so decided to dig a little deeper.

There are numerous alarmist article on the inter web about the phone number, 402-935-7733. Well it turns out that it’s PayPal’s and they had the same number for at least 10 years, you thing the alarmist would have realized that by now! This transaction simply is a record of someone you paid via your credit card and who used PayPal as their payment processor – you don’t need to have a PayPal account to pay via PayPal!

So it really just a legit charge, in my case made by my better half. I was confuse as I sometime pay via PayPal and didn’t recall making this charge – it was to a running coach for out two little money sucking buggers aka kids!

I was looking to book two return tickets from Denver to London in March 2023 and needed to see what tickets allow for changes to the return date. There is a little link on the united.com website that pops up a window to list the different ticket types – here is a copy of the pop up window. I also made a text list below the image.

Basic Economy
(most restrictive)
Choose your seat for a fee
No upgrades
No changes allowed
Checked bag fees
1 carry-on bag included

Economy
Choose your seat
Upgrades available
No change fees
1 checked bag included
1 carry-on bag included

Economy
(fully refundable)
Choose your seat
Upgrades available
No change fees
1 checked bag included
1 carry-on bag included

Premium Economy
Roomier seat
Upgrades available
No change fees
checked bags included
1 carry-on bag included

Business
Extra-spacious seat
No change fees
2 checked bags included
1 carry-on bag 

And I even asked ChatGPT to summarize the list above.

Here are the differences between the ticket types you mentioned:

• Basic Economy: Most restrictive. Seat selection available for a fee. No upgrades or changes allowed. Checked bag fees apply. 1 carry-on bag included.
• Economy: Seat selection available. Upgrades available. No change fees. 1 checked bag included. 1 carry-on bag included.
• Economy (fully refundable): Same as Economy but fully refundable.
• Premium Economy: Roomier seat than Economy. Upgrades available. No change fees. Checked bags included. 1 carry-on bag included.
• Business: Extra-spacious seat compared to Premium Economy and below classes. No change fees. 2 checked bags included and 1 carry-on bag included.

So in summary, if you want to change your ticket then choose any ticket type BUT the BASIC ECONOMY ticket type. Remember if you change your ticket you will need to pay the difference between the price you paid and the new price.

Here is a list of prices for each ticket type March 20, 2023

For shits and giggles I decided to show you the price difference for the tickets – $7000 OUCH!!!

One of the best features of iCloud is the ability to add family members to your account to share Apps, iCloud storage and more.

This article goes over the features and advantages of family sharing but is primary about how to change your kid to a child account if you accidentally set them up as an adult when they first got their appleID. Eg Sue is 8 but when you set up her account you said she was an adult. But now you want to use the screen time function as this own works for non adults. Note, when then get older you still can use screen time, it’s just account initially set up as adult account that can’t be managed with screen time.

According to Apple:

Family Sharing lets you and up to five other family members share access to amazing Apple services like Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Arcade, and Apple Card.1 Your group can also share iTunes, Apple Books, and App Store purchases, an iCloud storage plan, and a family photo album. You can even help locate each other’s missing devices.

Here is a big list of all the features.

What you can do with Family Sharing

With a Family Sharing group, you can set up or share the following:

• Apple and App Store subscriptions: You can share Apple subscriptions, including iCloud+, and eligible App Store subscriptions. See Share Apple and App Store subscriptions with family members on iPhone.
• Purchases: You can share items purchased in the App Store, Apple Books, and Apple TV. All purchases are billed to the family organizer. See Share App Store, Apple TV, and Apple Books purchases with Family Sharing on iPhone.
• Locations: When you share your location with your Family Sharing group, all family members, including any new members added later, can use the Find My app  to see your location and help locate a missing device. See Share locations with family members and locate their lost devices on iPhone.
• Apple Card and Apple Cash: You can share Apple Card with trusted members of your Family Sharing group or set up an Apple Cash Family account for a child. See Use Apple Cash and Apple Card with Family Sharing on iPhone (U.S. only).
• Parental controls: You can manage your children’s purchases, how they use their Apple devices, and more. See Set up parental controls with Family Sharing on iPhone.
• A device for your child: You can set up a new iOS or iPadOS device for a child and customize parental controls. See Set up a device for a child with Family Sharing on iPhone.

Of course all members of you family need to have an Apple ID and when you set up their AppleIDs need to state their age. The big advantage of this is you can set up screen time and manage their devices remotely!

You can see some members above are not adults – any non adult’s device can be managed by an Organizer or parent or guardian. You can do all kinds of nice stuff like blocks apps, bloc specific websites and disable all their devices for a chunk of time!

But say you bugged up and started out by making a kid an adult!

In our case a kid under 13 was initially setup as an adult. After a presentation at school I realized it was probably a good idea not to have them have full unbridled access to their devices and the inter webs.

So I basically needed to change their age back down to their correct age!

It’s actually quite simple:

• Log into iCloud.com using THEIR appleID
• Go to the top right corner and click on their face and then click on manage AppleID
• Click on Personal Information on the left then on birthday
• Now change the birthday

After changing the birthday the iCloud Organizer will get an email to verify the changes. Now you will see you kids with their age under their name and they are now under the control of the Organizer and Parent Guardian. Of course you don’t have to turn on screen time at all and can just use the features like getting an approval every time they download an app or

Boulder, Colorado, is surrounded by beautiful natural areas and is a great place for hiking. Here are a few suggestions for short hikes in the area:

1. Chautauqua Park: This popular park is located on the western edge of Boulder and has a variety of trails ranging from easy to difficult. The Bluebell-Baird Trail is a short, easy hike that takes you through a beautiful meadow and offers great views of the Flatirons.
2. Mount Sanitas: This moderate hike is located just a few minutes from downtown Boulder and takes you up a steep, rocky trail to the summit of Mount Sanitas. The views from the top are well worth the effort.
3. Flagstaff Mountain: This mountain is located just outside of Boulder and has a variety of trails ranging from easy to difficult. The Flagstaff Summit Trail is a short, easy hike that takes you to the top of the mountain, where you’ll find great views of the surrounding area.
4. Betasso Preserve: This preserve is located in the foothills west of Boulder and has a variety of trails ranging from easy to moderate. The Ben Trail is a short, easy hike that takes you through a beautiful canyon and ends at a waterfall.
5. Eldorado Canyon State Park: This state park is located about 20 minutes south of Boulder and has a variety of trails ranging from easy to difficult. The Rattlesnake Gulch Trail is a short, moderate hike that takes you through a beautiful canyon and offers great views of the surrounding area.

I think it did a good job although there are a few easy hikes 1 mile north of Boulder at Boulder Valley Ranch and the Hogback ridge trail west of there over the other side of the highway 36.

Trying out ChatGPT and this is the reply to my question I gave it regarding the best coffee shops in Boulder, Colorado.

There are many great coffee shops in Boulder, Colorado, and the best one for you will depend on your personal preferences. Some popular coffee shops in the area include:

1. Ozo Coffee: This local chain has several locations in Boulder and is known for its high-quality, sustainably-sourced coffee.
2. Boxcar Coffee Roasters: This independent coffee shop has a cozy atmosphere and serves a variety of specialty drinks.
3. Atlas Purveyors: This coffee shop has a focus on sustainability and sources its beans from small farms around the world.
4. The Unseen Bean: This coffee shop is popular with students and has a relaxed atmosphere. It also serves pastries and sandwiches.
5. Trident Booksellers & Cafe: This bookstore and cafe is a popular spot for coffee and has a large selection of books and magazines.

It’s worth noting that these are just a few of the many great coffee shops in Boulder, and there are many other options to choose from as well. Some other popular spots include Huckleberry Roasters, Amante Coffee, and The Laughing Goat. It’s a good idea to try out a few different places to find the one that you like the most.

My Take

Not a bad answer but what about Beleza in N.Boulder. Atlas Purveyors went out of business in 2013! Hmmm ……

Bing

This is what bing had to say:

According to my web search results, some of the best coffee shops in Boulder, Colorado are Rapha Boulder, Ozo Coffee Co, Trident Booksellers & Cafe, Boxcar Coffee Roasters, Alpine Modern Café, Village Coffee Shop, and The Laughing Goat 1.

Bing

Well probably more current as ChatGTP’s data is from 2021 but bing sill recommend The Village Coffee Shop which is not a traditional coffee shop as it’s more like a diner that serves breakfast and lunch.

I’ve put together a little cheat sheet on how to “quickly” set yourself up to use Zoom meetings. This information seems to be buried in the Zoom website and across the inter-webs but here is all you need to download Zoom Meetings.

Once you are setup you can join a test meeting here to see if it’s all working.

Some Caveats

• Obviously 😂, you will need a Mac, PC, Chromebook or Smartphone. Sorry no Blackberry support!
• You use Zoom either in a browser, Google Chrome only or using a program / app.
• You don’t need to create a Zoom account to use Zoom – the meeting co-ordinator will send out a URL via email and you simply click on it to join the meeting!

How to get zoom on your Mac, PC, Chromebook or Smartphone

Mac OS X – iMac, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Desktop Mac
You will need macOS X with macOS 10.7 or later – if you’ve got a newish Mac 2012 or greater (iMac, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air) you’ll be golden.

You can use a web browser or program to use Zoom. To use a browser only the Google Chrome Browser is recommended. You can’t use Safari 🙁 Get Google Chrome for OS X here.

Zoom OS X desktop app – I suggest you download the Zoom program rather than using the Chrome Browser. Get Zoom Desktop program – click here —- NOTE: to install it on your Mac it’s a little tricky as you may need change your Security and Privacy settings to allow for apps downloaded from identified developers See this article from Zoom, click here, on how to change your security setting.

iPhonei / iPad – Download the IOS Zoom App – Requires iOS 8.0 ( you can use iPhone 5 and above, iPad 2 and above and iPod touch) Download here.

Chromebook
Click this link to use the Zoom App on your Chromebook.

Android
Get the Zoom app for Android click here:

Windoze 10
Download from here, choose the link for the Google Play Store:

Blackberry / Newton
🙂

You’re all set click this link and join a test meeting here to see if it’s all working correctly.

Final thoughts

Some random musings from my one week of Zoom usage.

Make sure you mute your microphone when you join the meeting (if the moderator has not already done it at the start by default). Especially for the younger users. It’s nice to see everyone but we don’t need to hear every request to go to the toilet 😂.

Apple users 🍎: If you want to host a meeting and all participants are drinking the Apple Cool aid you can use Group FaceTime Call to simply create a meeting of up to 32 people. See this link . 100x easier than messing about with Zoom although you won’t have all the features you can get a small group together without any downloads.

The FREE pandemic Zoom account has limits – you have a 40 minute time limit on meetings with a max of 100 people. The free account does not have access to fancy features like a user management or rooms. Still it’s nice that we have this option today and I initially scoffed at Zoom meetings but it has so many more features than FaceTime, WhatsAPP or Skype.

Fun and games with backgrounds : “The virtual background feature allows you to display an image or video as your background during a Zoom Meeting.” Here is the link for a how to video zoom backgrounds – you can insert any photo or video behind you. Project a photo of a tidy bedroom behind you or you can even have a looping video of beach.

First draft – March 27, 2020, version 1.0.

Ok no affiliation here and both Comcast / Xfinity and CenturyLink are monopolies here in Colorado in my opinion but if you’re an Xfinity customer and just need plain old internet / no TV they have a great deal for 2020, a $45pm deal valid for 1 year that goes up to $55pm after that. Speed is 100Mbps up and 5Mbps down, fine for almost everyone (we run 10+ devices on our network and it’s fine) Of course you’ll need to be running your own modem to get most benefit financially (I’ve had the same old Arris modem for the past 5 years+) and at these lower speeds you don’t need a fancy cable modem with tons of DOCSIS channels.

If you need to purchase a modem here is a list of approve modems for Xfinity as of 2020. I’d get the ARRIS SB8200 ($140 on Amazon) if I were in the market to future proof my purchase but we’ll all be waving these monopolies goodbye in 2 years when we get City of Boulder gigabit fiber for $50pm – I hope 🙂

Approved Cable Modems for Xfinity as for 2020

ARRIS T25

ARRIS SBG8300

ARRIS SB8200

Motorola MB8600

Netgear CM1200

Netgear CM1150V

Netgear CM1100

Netgear CM1000v2

View detailsSelect to Compare

Netgear CM1000-1AZNAS

Netgear CM1000

Netgear C7800

I really don’t like shoveling cat shite but I have come up with a easy solution and want to share it with you.

So to scoop Jesse’s poop:

The cat box is located in the basement so you need to walk down the stairs and then turn on the Basement light. The light switch will be at the bottom on the left-hand side. To your right you’ll see a small room 3′ x 2′ where the cat box litter box is located.

1) locate the long handled cat scoop, see the picture below, this is my invention! Patent pending. The long handle makes it super easy to scoop and you will be a long distance away from the offending cat box!

2) Use the handle of the cat scoop it to turn on the overhead light in this little room, you’ll see some masking tape on the wall leading to the switch, it’s basically a rigged up power strip with some bulbs in it.

3) Use the cat scoop to open the lid of the little black trashcan. You’ll be dropping the poop in here.

4) Get scooping! You’ll find it very easy with the long handle. The secret is once you scoop some poop rather than throwing it into the trashcan and spill cat litter on the floor, scoop and then tap the long wooden handle with your hand. The excess cat litter will be filtered back into the box leaving the poop in the scoop.

5) Once you’re done use the cat scoop to close the little trashcan and then use the long handle to turn off the light switch if you can’t reach.

That’s it, well done, you’re now also qualified to work as a foundry man in a steelworks.

It seems that Spotify has no interest in you getting hold of the track names and artists without drinking their coolaid. So I looked elsewhere and found a script that creates a nice CSV file of all your songs with links back to Spotify too.

So I signed up to Spotify for for a month for a school event and created a nice kid friendly playlist for a bike event I was the DJ for. Seeing as the subscription would end after a month I need to export the playlist for later use. Heck, I may even want to buy the tracks and give them to the school for future use – perhaps. (Now it requires an active subscription to Spotify and a cellphone …. a simply thumb drive or $20 MP3 player would be easier right)

This is a script I found – Exportify — Export your Spotify playlists.  Exportify

Simply log into your Spotify account via the Spotify App on your computer and click this link. No idea if you can do this with a web login or IOS/Android device. It works nicely then you can simply print off a PDF of the spreadsheet.