What have I been up to?

I've been Answerbagging since earlier this year. It's an extremely addictive question and answer website, at www.answerbag.com. For the most part, I've been providing advice for relationships, having some fun, and answering Answerbag questions. I've put a page in my Orange Frog Productions FAQ section about "Prettifying Your Answerbag Profile", explaining step-by-step the HTML you can add and modify. (It's a bit like entering a blog... You don't have to do paragraphs, but you do have define the whole page as a DIV and do your styles on IT to do them all.) I'm working on a comprehensive User Guide for it. It will be on OFP soon, I hope!

Meanwhile, my VR counselor was promoted, and I've gone through two more Crossroads job coaches - the last is changing positions soon. AND, I'm STILL looking for a job. I don't understand why 25 years of programming experience doesn't seem to count for anything. Anyway, I'm only looking for entry level (or a little above) for programming, help desk, customer service, office, web design/devel0pment, etc. Sooner or later, someone will take me, I hope! Or, the two people I've been talking with, and I, will start a business tied in with Genealogy. We'll see, I guess.

Speaking of genealogy, I haven't been doing much on it, recently. I WILL be getting back to it when I get that User Guide done, I'm sure.

Also (genealogy/history-related)... Even MORE history was lost recently in the midwest, with the number of homes and towns destroyed and damaged by the floods in Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, etc. It should be a wake-up call to everyone to MAKE SURE you scan and/or otherwise protect your family's photos, documents, and anything else you can, and save copies on multiple CDs/DVDs, sending copies to other family members who are not in the same areas as yourself. While the digital copies will not be LEGAL, at least you have all the information in all of them, can have pictures reprinted, etc. Imagine all the historical records LOST when the downtowns of these places flooded out. This is why THEY should scan all their records to optically store them, and have digital text copies, besides! I hope SOMEONE takes this type of thing into account. Also think about the cemeteries that were lost/damaged by the flooding. It's sad... It's really sad, that all this history is gone forever.

That's enough for today. TTYL

Be Careful Answering Work-At-Home Ads

I received an email on my OFP account, this weekend:

From: [removed email address to protect privacy]
To: [see Orange Frog Productions or leave a comment here]
Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2007 3:41 PM
Subject: Incomeathome.com

I heard a commercial on Sirius Satellite radio about something called "incomeathome.com". Have you heard of it and do you know if it is another scam?

Greg, NY

Now, I don't normally reply to requests like this, because it doesn't have to do specifically with a page on my site. But, because I DO have a Scams page dealing with Work-At-Home scams, because I've seen so many commercials on TV for Work-at-Home jobs, and there are so many ads in other media, I "took a quick look", and replied:

from BBBOnline.org

Online Business Systems
http://www.incomeathome.com/
www.theonlinebusiness.com/contact.php

GlobalNet Marketing Solutions, Inc. is an advertising company that sells
Herbalife products and utilizes Online Business Systems as a marketing tool

The business appears to be based on an Amway/Quixtar model, and since the original founders of Amway have retired or died, Amway seems to be more interested in selling the business than their products, which makes them more of a pyramid scheme.

Amway PRODUCTS used to be very good products (and I assume still are). It is and was possible for entrepreneurs to make money (though, from my understanding and experience, not in the amount always dangled in front of distributors). It's also a way to learn about the complexities of business.

As with many other distributorships and in-home sales opps (Mary Kay, Amway, Quixtar, Avon come to mind), it depends on a number of things how much money you can make:

• how many friends you have
• how willing you are to sell them product and the business
• how willing the friends are to refer you to their other friends
• how outgoing and how good of a salesman you are (to recruit and sell to non-friends)
• etc.

The costs of joining are noramlly relatively inexpensive. The cost of seminars promoting the business aspect are also not normally too expensive, compared to many others. However, those costs can add up quickly. The seminars are meant to keep you "pumped up" to keep selling, and to attempt to achieve what the speakers have. And the speakers are GOOD and motivational.

However, in my own and my parents' experiences with Amway, many years ago, while becoming a distributor means you can buy product at reduced cost (and the product almost always costs more than a comparable product would in a retail store), and this seems to be the only way you can GET the product for that price, that's not really a good reason to join.

Be VERY CAREFUL with any work-at-home offers. If it comes in spam emails, ignore them. If it's advertised on TV/Radio, in newspapers, magazines, on the internet, or any other media, search the internet for them. (Go to Google, and enter the name of the company in quotes, or their website) before signing up for anything associated.

Pay attention to scam and rip-off reports. While they may be disgruntled associates, former employees, etc., they also may give you an indication of what you may have to deal with. Read OFPv2 - Scams - Work-at-Home Scams Home and its links.

For more information, check out OFPv2 - Scams Home, OFPv2 - Shams (Infomercial Info) Home and OFPv2 - Shams - Business Opps Home and their links.

Bill Sanders

PS: I am going to post this on my blog (Me, Myself and I, not OFP), to help warn others. I will remove your email address.

A lot of the information provided was from personal experience and the links I suggested Greg read are to pages on my main site. However, for more about this specific ... "opportunity", check out the Google search results for incomeathome.com, yourself.

I hope this helps others looking for Work-at-Home businesses.

-wds

Scam Alert

I've published a new page on OFP related to some emails I received yesterday. They contained the subjects

You've received a greetingecard from a Neighbor!
You've received a postcard from a School mate!

Note that neither mention a name, which is one of the warning signs. See my experience, full examples, and a link to a Scam Alert about these at OFPv2/Scams - Malware Email Examples #009-011.

I've also added some correspondence I had about my OFPv2/Shams - NRPI page, and sent a letter to the editors of the Lebanon, Indiana Reporter and Indianapolis Star newspapers concerning the cemteries article I mentioned last week.

Other than that, I've been researching the William J (or G) Laughner family in Tennessee and Boone County, having problems finding them in 1850 (they're supposed to be in Boone County). They seem to tie a lot of my peripheral families together.

Sports, Politics, Etc.

Sports

We spent the day watching the Colts and NASCAR (two TVs going at the same time...) And I have a few observations:

Colts Win

The Indianapolis Colts beat the Tennessee Titans, 14-13. Why is it that everyone is making such a big deal of "the winless Titans" almost beating "the undefeated Colts"? On any given day, any NFL team, from the ones with the worst records to the ones with the best can win. This means that one team has to lose. Duh! Why can't anyone remember, in one of the Indianapolis Colts' worst seasons, in the 80s, (I always remembered it as the ONLY game they won, but they may have won a couple of others... Thought it was the Dolphins they beat, and they were after another undefeated season...), must have been in early-mid November, they beat a team that was undefeated to that point. (At least that's the way I remember it!) It can happen... And, as was proved last year, they can't "sit back" and "rest on their laurals(sp?), assuming they can beat teams having a tough time, and they can't "let the starters rest" in the final games of a season. They need to keep the momentum going for the finals. (I'll stop there... Don't wanna jinx anything!)

NASCAR

Talladega, October 8, 2006 - Dale Earnhardt Jr is leading in the last few laps. Jimmy Johnson and Brian Vickers (teammates) are directly behind, with Johnson waiting for the last (white flag) lap to get a run and try to pass Jr. The white flag falls... Johnson drops back to get the run, Vickers still behind him... They take off, Johnson drops below Jr, is about half-way past, and Vickers follows. But he was moving faster than Johnson by just that tick, taps Johnson's back end as he gets behind, which turns Johnson up into Jr's door, and wrecks them both. Vickers goes on to win.

My wife almost screamed out "He did that on purpose!", though you could see by the replays that it didn't appear to be so. She kept saying "Jr better be the winner!", though it was obvious that that was not going to be the case. Even Jr said nothing looked "purposeful" in the replay. Johnson, on the other hand, without seeing the replay, pretty much put the blame on Vickers, saying, without actually saying it, that he'd done it on purpose. I guess this will be up to NASCAR to figure out, but, again, it didn't happen at the finish line, so there's no way that Earnhardt or Johnson will be scored the winner.

Oh... Another "friendly arguement" I have with my wife has to do with certain other drivers. (I don't root for ONE driver... I root for a few, usually Stewart, Jr, and Jeff Gordon - probably because no one else likes him (I always like the underdog!)) What's strange is the illogic of TRUE NASCAR fans! (Apparently, I'm not one, because I see logic in a lot of places others don't.) Here's the point: If Jeff Gordon says anything in interviews about ANY favored driver (especially Jr!), my wife says he's whining. Where, if Jr says exactly the same thing about ANY other driver, he's NOT whining. What's the difference? Jr has a Southern accent, and Gordon's speech is nasally (therefore "whiney" to some). Hell, I even understand the fanaticism of race drivers.

I used to watch Wild World of Sports and loved the "Stock Car Races". I knew some of the drivers' names, and watched them go. I loved Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt (Sr), and others. Was I "fanatical" about it? No, but I did enjoy it, and usually decided sometime at the beginning of the race who I would root for. SOME fans, obviously, love THEIR drivers. I wish I could get that deep into it, but to me, it was just "fun". Now, it's even more "fun" to watch the race. My wife is a die-hard Earnhardt fan. She works nights, so tends to fall asleep during races, but if Jr's in the lead (or near) WATCH OUT!

The thing today? See, when Jeff (Gordon) went out of the race in a wreck (not caused by what he was complaining about), he said the "bump drafting" (where one car goes nose-to-tail with the car in front, literally "bumping" him forward, or raising the rear tires slightly off the pavement, where the lead car loses traction - sometimes causing a wreck, depending on where it happens), especially by JR (OMG!), which NASCAR said it was going to watch carefully, was really bad. My wife immediately goes "WAH! WAH WAH! Such a baby"... I kept trying to point out that if Jr said the same thing, she wouldn't have said that... She said "Jr never would"... BS! I've seen it with my own eyes! Everyone, but Jr, drives dirty, and everyone but Jr (and a few of the older drivers) is a baby! See the "logic" in this? I don't! GEEZE! (We were both grinning about the "arguements" we were making, so, no... no worries about that, but she was pretty adamant! LOL)

Politics

Oh, gawd! They're at it again... If you didn't know it, this is an election year (and if you don't, you need to get off the internet and watch TV more! ;-)

It seemed to start fairly nicely... Local prosecutor wanna-be put an ad on TV asking for your vote. Nothing negative there. Then (I can't remember who started it) one of them pointed out the other's record, then one pointed out the other's record (or lack thereof), and it's off to the races.

I understand. The saying is "If you can't find something nice to say about someone, don't say anything." However, in Politics, it's "If you can't find dirt on someone (or make some up) you will lose." The "make some up" part is not strictly true. They find ANYTHING they can make negative comments about and put it on. No wonder people don't want to be politicians any more... Even if you make it, you are up for more and more and more scrutiny. There aren't a lot of people out there that want EVERYTHING in their past (from when they were about 12 or so on) detailed in public! Even if it built their values to be those others would respect.

BTW: Various political ads report the opponent voted AGAINST various legislation apparently desired by those who would vote for that person. Think about this: MANY, MANY times, desirable legislation is added to - usually items that favor one small area (as in "pork barrel" projects) - and the only way to keep the "pork" out is to vote against the desirable legislation. Who knows? It COULD even be a strategy of certain parties (individuals or the whole group) to add this "pork" in, knowing certain congressmen will vote against it, thereby giving them "fodder" for these political ads. By the same token, if the desirable legislation is voted FOR by the opponent, THEN they could say they voted FOR various pork barrel projects.

Politics is a nasty business. Actually, politics, itself, may not be nasty, but the tactics used in political ads DEFINITELY is.

Other Stuff

Bad Ads

Some of the ones previously discussed are still out there (or trotted out for occassional play). Thank GOD it's not as often as before. There are others... I can't think of them at the moment... Apparently, I just "put them out of my head" as soon as I see them. (Defeats the purpose, doesn't it!)

Infomercials

Looks like a new crop of infomercials have arrived at Discovery and History Channels. Some are new versions for many I've already researched at www.orangefrogproductions.com (Scams, Shams and More Flim-Flams button.) Some are new things. Soon as I get the following up and running CORRECTLY, I will have to get on to researching them.

Orange Frog Productions

Version 2 will be out soon. I have not made major changes to OFP since it went up in 2003. This revamping will (hopefully):

• I am dividing it into three logical sections - Main; Owner; and Scams, Shams and More Flim-Flams (scams = various types of scams, shams = Infomercials, Flim-Flams = Rumors = Trivia lists, Urban Legends, etc.; and it includes information on Spam.) There are probably other ways that I SHOULD have done it, but it works for me, for now.
• I am making it more "accessible" (the print is designed to enlarge - or shrink - if you wish) - The sidebar buttons will currently overlap the content area, but it will work.
• I am adding buttons to all external links, allowing users to open that link in the current or a new window)
• I am adding definitions (glossary entries and tool tips)
• The background is a bit lighter, so the contrast will make it easier to read
• I'm trying to be more careful, so it works in both IE and Firefox. I know there are other browsers out there, but they seem to follow the lead of those two. I've already found and fixed some things. Hopefully there are few others. Most have had to do with the styles used to format things.

While it's not completely done, I believe it's ready to debut as OFP's main site. I have also included a Sitemap for the new site, and a Sitemap from the old site that links to the new pages.

A little more work (want to use Google Sitemap to let Google know there are changes, and have to make sure the old links will go to new pages via .htaccess file), and I will republish the site.

Keep an eye on it. www.orangefrogproductions.com. The new version is currently at www.orangefrogproductions.com/ofp2/index.html, but will be moved "down", soon. Let me know what you think.

That should do it for now.

TTYL

BigDaddyBS (Bill S)

Odds & Ends

VR and ME Update

My van's been modified. TWO DAYS... I waited THREE YEARS and for over SIX MONTHS after the bids were let. The low bidder (who shall remain nameless) for SOME reason or other DID NOT return calls and could not be reached after all that was needed was the completion date.

Superior Van & Mobility, Indianapolis, took a little over a week to get the parts in, and TWO DAYS to get it done and back to us. We took it in Wednesday afternoon, talked to the guy about where the seat should go (move it back and to the right a little), where the hand-controls were going to go, and we came home. Friday (today) we were called to come in around 3. We got there at 2:50, and he was pulling it out of the garage as we entered their lot. We parked, watched him park, turned and saw the Crossroads people pull in. (Jennifer Radloff, Occupational Therapist/Driver Training - kewl lady! and "her student").

We went to the van, the installer explained how the hand-controls worked, and told us they'd moved the seat back THREE inches, not two, as planned. I didn't want to get into it until we'd seen how the lift worked, first. He brought the scooter out of the van, explaining the remote functions as he went, and set it on the ground, unhooked it, and showed how to stow the hook. Then he handed me the remote to show I knew how to get it back in. No real problem... It will just take getting used to the remote(s) - There's a wired one ON the lift, and a wireless one to carry with me. I got into the driver's seat and PLENTY of leg-room, for the first time EVER. In fact, I straighted my arms out like we always picture race-drivers (they don't, the damn steering wheel's REALLY close to their chest).

Jennifer had me drive around a little to get used to the hand-controls (not too hard... Still push when I should pull at times! But that's GOOD... Push is brake, pull is gas), and we went back to Superior, where Jenn and her student got out, Chris got into the "Green Machine" van, said she'd follow me home, and we took off. I figured out the cruise control (Chris seldom uses it, and I had NEVER used it in this van), and used it on 465 and 65, most of the way home.

WOW! Only the SECOND time I've driven (without a trainer/tester) in almost THREE YEARS. I even pulled it into the garage! (This might not sound like much, but for the past three years, Chris has driven me everywhere I needed to go. I walk down the ramp and wait, while she backs the van out, then I get in. It's kinda tight on the passenger side, to leave room on the driver's side.) It'll take a little getting used to, but getting in and out (Driver's side) is MUCH easier, I'll actually be able to let Chris sleep and go to my own doctor's appointments myself, and (if I can find a job) I can get to it. I can't afford gas, now, though, but I CAN GET OUT ON MY OWN! WOO HOO!

Now I just gotta make sure VR gets any papers it needs, find out what I have to do before I get the ownership papers (right now, VR owns the stuff), find a job I can manage and afford to get to and from (hopefully in Lebanon, and hopefully pays decently!), and ... Well, you know the drill, right?

9/11

For ANYONE who wonders why our soldiers are overseas, especially in Afghanastan, and even those in Iraq and elsewhere, watch the History Channel. Recently, they've been running reenactments, with interviews with the real people involved, on everything from how people survived, what lead up to, how they closed all airspace in such a short time, etc. Seeing this will REMIND you why we're at war.

Just leaving Iraq and Afghanastan now will only alienate those who believe in us (we don't see that much on the news... it's not controversial or sensational enough), turn those who are on the fence against us (we did that with Hussein and Bin Laden, remember?), allow the insurgents to declare victory over the US, invite ever more and even stronger attacks on our own soil, and ensure that every soldier over there feels we let them (and their fallen comrades) down.

Watch the shows. Remember. NEVER FORGET! We promised it then, and this is a promise WE SHOULD KEEP FOREVER!

Kyndel Christine Klump

And, for those who don't know it, Chris' (my wife) youngest daughter had a baby. Check that out (with pictures) here.

New OFP Website

DAMN! I didn't know I had that many pages. I've split many into multiples, especially in the scams, shams and more flim-flams section. I have a few more of the rumors to do, then the graphics capabilities, and I will put it up. I don't know for sure how I'm going to "keep the old pages", but update it to point to the new ones. (All names have been changed.) I have people finding my site searching for these things, so have put even more information on each on the new version. (The SITE name will not change, but all the pages within it have new names. I think I'll be putting some type of cross-reference from the old pages to the new ones in, but am not sure.)

Anyway, it's coming along. Shouldn't be TOO much longer, now.

Scams

Speaking of scams, they're coming fast and furious through email (and maybe elsewhere). BE CAREFUL. I've received 4-6 "Nigerian Scam" letters (some inheritance, some something else) in the last few days. I just received word from a relative that they received information on the Jury Duty scam, where they call you, tell you that you didn't show up for Jury Duty, and a warrent has been issued for your arrest. When you protest that you've never been called, they ask for your Social Security number and Date of Birth to verify the info and cancel the warrent. NEVER GIVE YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER TO ANYONE WHO CALLS YOU OVER THE PHONE. If you are worried about it, get the number to call them back. (If they get hostile, they're most likely scammers, so who gives a shit what they think of you?) Then, look up the number in the phone book, and call your own local government office/court house, and ask if they called you. If not, tell the authorities. (This should work for ANYONE who will ask for your personal, bank and credit card information over the phone. DO NOT GIVE IT TO THEM WITHOUT CHECKING THEM OUT AS DESCRIBED. Get a number to call back, look UP the number in the phone book, call THAT number, find out whether they called YOU, and report it to authorities if they didn't.

This is from the email sent by my relative:

The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on Their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.Check it out here: http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp

Think that's it for now. Have a happy! And BE SAFE!

Bill

Where've I Been?

Ok... So I'm not very good at "keeping up" as far as journalling my activities and interests go. Sorry!

I've been working on adding new content to and revamping Orange Frog Productions (my website.) I'm trying to do as much as possible in CSS and SSIs. Currently, the site uses external javascripts for some of the formatting, and this causes the warning bar to appear. I've worked out some problems (using divs, a class to indent instead of "blockquote" and other things), and am working on splitting the site into three sections (main, personal and scams/shams... ) with a link to my subweb, LYAO OnLine. It will take a while to convert all the current pages to the new styles (especially with working on other things), but I believe it will be well worth it.

Speaking of LYAO, I'm continually adding to the LYAO subweb... I'm revamping and adding all the old LYAO joke-letters to the site. So far, I've got between 60-70 from 1998 in there... a few more months of those and I can start on 1999! Then only 6-8 more years to go! WHEW! I didn't realize I'd put out so many of them! AND, after a hiatus, I'm pretty-much back to sending them out at least once-a-week.

I've also been working on some genealogy (distant cousins). I'm having problems finding my great-great grandmother (Florence Elizabeth Rawlings/Rawlins/Rollings/Rollins/etc. b:06/1860 IN, d:03/07/1920 Sheridan IN, m:12/18/1877 Hamilton County, IN to John Charles Freemont Emry/Emery b:1857 OH) ) with her parents in ANY census records (I use Ancestry.com.) My only conclusion at this point is that I have the wrong parents for her (Aaron and Hester A (Stephens) Rawlings/Rawlins/etc.?) Anyone have any ideas? (This and the following paragraph may appear in a genealogy category/section of this blog, too.)

BTW: Those of you with ties and/or relatives from around Sheridan, Noblesville and Boxley, Hamilton County, IN and Lebanon, Boone County, IN should know there's a great monthly newsletter put out by Barb Hiatt of Lebanon (formerly of Sheridan area). The site is www.sheridannews.net. The newsletter is called "Our Home Town" and past newsletters are archived. Barb gathers and posts information about the happenings in these areas, the obits and asks for "memories". I have found hundreds of items on family members (many distant and many not-so-distant) cousins and relatives in the archives. You can sign up for the newsletter on the main page. The archives are "passworded" (a simple password to remember) and there's a pretty good search engine used in them. Barb is "genealogically inclined", so tries to make sure there's family information in the obits. Check it out.

I'm STILL waiting to get hand-controls and other modifications to my van through Voc Rehab (see OFP, What's New(s) for more). I can't believe that it's taken almost three (3!) years to get to the point where at least we have the bids and are just waiting on a completion date from the vendor so authorizations can be sent out. I can "get out" now and then, when I have someone to drive me and help get my scooter out of the back of the van using aluminium ramps. (I can walk some, but if I will have to walk very far, I need to use the scooter.)

My son graduated from Purdue, May 12th, and because my wife works third shift and sleeps during the day, and because I couldn't ask my 70+yo father to help with the ramps, I couldn't go. (Ok... and because of the hassle of driving a scooter around Purdue with all the students and parents and...)

My uncle's girlfriend's mother and uncle - her mother's brother - passed away just a few days ago (within a couple of hours of each other) and, for the same reasons, I couldn't go.

Luckily (if you want to call it that - scheduled for a Friday, so my wife could sleep after it), I made it to my ex-wife's mother's viewing a couple of weeks ago. ("Ex-wife's mother?" you ask. Yes. I spent 15 years with my ex and had two boys. The divorce was between me and HER, not her family, and her mother was STILL my sons' grandmother... Right? Even if we didn't get along, I needed to at least "make an appearance".)

If my van was modified, I'd have at least had the option, the prior times. GEEZE!

And, of course, all the "good" television shows (as far as I'm concerned) have been running their season finales.

I don't know how well I'll do on "keeping up" here, but I guess we'll see. Check out those links (and the ones on the side.

Later