The ramblings of an inquisitive idiot

The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration, scheduled to distribute $4.7 billion in broadband deployment grants over the next 15 months, will count on volunteers to review grant applications. The NTIA is asking for people to apply to become volunteer reviewers of the broadband grants. The NTIA’s broadband grant program is part of $7.2 billion that the US Congress approved for broadband in a huge economic stimulus package approved earlier this year. It’s ‘a little scary’ that volunteers will have the power to accept and reject broadband applications, said Craig Settles, an analyst and president of consulting firm Successful.com. Volunteers may have limited expertise, or they may have biases that aren’t evident to the NTIA, he said. This may be just the ticket for someone with enough time to work on it.

I notice in todays newspaper that the tobacco companies have lost their appeal to retain the ability to brand cigarettes as “light” or “mild”. It seems the government thinks they are fooling people into thinking that those cigarettes are somehow safer than others. I think anyone with a brain in their head knows that no matter what you call it a cigarette is bad for you. You may know that it is a little over 16 months ago that I laid down my last smoke and have not touched one again. I didn’t set out to quit but I simply wanted to see how long I could hold out and I have made it a little over 16 months. I still have a pack of Pall Mall’s just in case I decide to smoke but I am not craving any smokes. I quit but feel strongly for smokers rights and feel that the tobacco companies ca call their cigs mild or light if they want to. I would not smoke a cigarette with a filter and would jokingly remark that it was the filter that caused you problems even though I know I was as full of shit as a Christmas turkey. I feel that smokers who smoke low tar cigs are deluding themselves in the same way. In the back of their mind they know they are doing something dangerous. Anyhow thats my look on it, while the appeals go on.

I have had to help several of my friends with their blogs with the new upgrade to 2.7.1 When trying to update the wordpress blog we were running into the error message, “You Do Not Have Sufficent Permissions To Access This Page” I was certain that it was something within the MySql database but where was a big unknown. Finally after lots of searching and a thorough web search by my friend Shirley of Sweet Resistance we located the “fix” for this problem. What I had to do was rather simple once we located the location of the problem. To fix it I went to phpMyAdmin,
Select your database for your blog.
Find wp_options (assuming your database uses wp as a prefix)
Pick wp_users_roles with the edit icon (pencil)
Replace the text with the following

a:5:{s:13:”administrator”;a:2:{s:4:”name”;s:13:”Administrator”;s:12:”capabilities”;a:53:{s:13:”switch_themes”;b:1;s:11:”edit_themes”;b:1;s:16:”activate_plugins”;b:1;s:12:”edit_plugins”;b:1;s:10:”edit_users”;b:1;s:10:”edit_files”;b:1;s:14:”manage_options”;b:1;s:17:”moderate_comments”;b:1;s:17:”manage_categories”;b:1;s:12:”manage_links”;b:1;s:12:”upload_files”;b:1;s:6:”import”;b:1;s:15:”unfiltered_html”;b:1;s:10:”edit_posts”;b:1;s:17:”edit_others_posts”;b:1;s:20:”edit_published_posts”;b:1;s:13:”publish_posts”;b:1;s:10:”edit_pages”;b:1;s:4:”read”;b:1;s:8:”level_10?;b:1;s:7:”level_9?;b:1;s:7:”level_8?;b:1;s:7:”level_7?;b:1;s:7:”level_6?;b:1;s:7:”level_5?;b:1;s:7:”level_4?;b:1;s:7:”level_3?;b:1;s:7:”level_2?;b:1;s:7:”level_1?;b:1;s:7:”level_0?;b:1;s:17:”edit_others_pages”;b:1;s:20:”edit_published_pages”;b:1;s:13:”publish_pages”;b:1;s:12:”delete_pages”;b:1;s:19:”delete_others_pages”;b:1;s:22:”delete_published_pages”;b:1;s:12:”delete_posts”;b:1;s:19:”delete_others_posts”;b:1;s:22:”delete_published_posts”;b:1;s:20:”delete_private_posts”;b:1;s:18:”edit_private_posts”;b:1;s:18:”read_private_posts”;b:1;s:20:”delete_private_pages”;b:1;s:18:”edit_private_pages”;b:1;s:18:”read_private_pages”;b:1;s:12:”delete_users”;b:1;s:12:”create_users”;b:1;s:17:”unfiltered_upload”;b:1;s:14:”edit_dashboard”;b:1;s:14:”update_plugins”;b:1;s:14:”delete_plugins”;b:1;s:15:”install_plugins”;b:1;s:13:”update_themes”;b:1;}}s:6:”editor”;a:2:{s:4:”name”;s:6:”Editor”;s:12:”capabilities”;a:34:{s:17:”moderate_comments”;b:1;s:17:”manage_categories”;b:1;s:12:”manage_links”;b:1;s:12:”upload_files”;b:1;s:15:”unfiltered_html”;b:1;s:10:”edit_posts”;b:1;s:17:”edit_others_posts”;b:1;s:20:”edit_published_posts”;b:1;s:13:”publish_posts”;b:1;s:10:”edit_pages”;b:1;s:4:”read”;b:1;s:7:”level_7?;b:1;s:7:”level_6?;b:1;s:7:”level_5?;b:1;s:7:”level_4?;b:1;s:7:”level_3?;b:1;s:7:”level_2?;b:1;s:7:”level_1?;b:1;s:7:”level_0?;b:1;s:17:”edit_others_pages”;b:1;s:20:”edit_published_pages”;b:1;s:13:”publish_pages”;b:1;s:12:”delete_pages”;b:1;s:19:”delete_others_pages”;b:1;s:22:”delete_published_pages”;b:1;s:12:”delete_posts”;b:1;s:19:”delete_others_posts”;b:1;s:22:”delete_published_posts”;b:1;s:20:”delete_private_posts”;b:1;s:18:”edit_private_posts”;b:1;s:18:”read_private_posts”;b:1;s:20:”delete_private_pages”;b:1;s:18:”edit_private_pages”;b:1;s:18:”read_private_pages”;b:1;}}s:6:”author”;a:2:{s:4:”name”;s:6:”Author”;s:12:”capabilities”;a:10:{s:12:”upload_files”;b:1;s:10:”edit_posts”;b:1;s:20:”edit_published_posts”;b:1;s:13:”publish_posts”;b:1;s:4:”read”;b:1;s:7:”level_2?;b:1;s:7:”level_1?;b:1;s:7:”level_0?;b:1;s:12:”delete_posts”;b:1;s:22:”delete_published_posts”;b:1;}}s:11:”contributor”;a:2:{s:4:”name”;s:11:”Contributor”;s:12:”capabilities”;a:5:{s:10:”edit_posts”;b:1;s:4:”read”;b:1;s:7:”level_1?;b:1;s:7:”level_0?;b:1;s:12:”delete_posts”;b:1;}}s:10:”subscriber”;a:2:{s:4:”name”;s:10:”Subscriber”;s:12:”capabilities”;a:2:{s:4:”read”;b:1;s:7:”level_0?;b:1;}}}

Save your work and you should now be able to simply use the auto update process which takes only a few moments
I hope this helps you out. If you need anything else let me know and I will try to help you out.

I have been real busy trying to build a Ebay business. Believe it or not I am succeding, on paper anyhow. In 3 months time I have managed to make power seller. With all those sales and the amount it shows we sold I should be reaping rewards but instead I think all I am doing so far is making more money for Ebay and Paypal. What I have done is sink almost everyting I made right back into more stock. I have a buyers account in my sister in laws name who is my partner in the Ebay store. She is able to keep track of all the stock and knows exactly where it is when we sell something. I could not do it without her help. I can easily do the listings and the html involved to make a good looking listing, but when it comes time to do all the shipping is when I run aground and need help. I have been spending a lot of time on it and have let my blog suffer as I enjoy limited success on Ebay. It seems everytime I started to type a post I ran out of things to say or just could not let them flow from me. Anyhow I will not let it be as long between posts like this anymore.

I have had some pretty rough days lately plus I had to repair this blog and some of them I host when World Pay did not give proper credit to my hosting provider causing them to think I was behind on my payments when I was not. This caused some real problems when all of our pages were yanked and then the websites, blogs and all my ebay images were gone from the web for several hours at the first of the month. I think I have it so that I will have no more problems but I will be monitoring it very closely when the payment comes due next month. Between that, my reopening my ebay store and then hitting a really rough spot with my fibro I have been slow to post. It’s hard to post when you do not have enough energy to barely get out of bed. This is a “tough row to hoe” somedays and I would not wish it on anyone.

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House Says Bloggers Don’t Count As Journalists
Posted on March 1st, 2009 by the ringleader
There are currently two versions of a bill in Congress that would protect a journalist’s right to keep his or her sources confidential, effectively banning the government from forcing journalists to reveal whistleblowers. One version though–the House version–gives an incredibly stupid definition of journalist that excludes not only bloggers, but freelancers, independents, and nonprofit journalists as well. For the most part, the Senate and House agree on what a journalist’s duties are and what journalism are:

“the regular gathering, preparing, collecting, photography, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.”

The house version though adds this to the description of a journalist:

“for a substantial portion of the person’s livelihood or for substantial financial gain and includes a supervisor, employer, parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of such covered person.”

This will eliminate freelance journalists (no boss) anyone who does it as a hobby or public service this includes most bloggers who are not paid. The government then has the right to force you to tell who told you anything that you might report about much like they tried to do with journalist Judy Miller under the Bush Administration.

I have had some pretty rough days lately plus I had to repair this blog and some of them I host when World Pay did not give proper credit to my hosting provider causing them to think I was behind on my payments when I was not. This caused some real problems when all of our pages were yanked and then the websites, blogs and all my ebay images were gone from the web for several hours at the first of the month. I think I have it so that I will have no more problems but I will be monitoring it very closely when the payment comes due next month. Between that, my reopening my ebay store and then hitting a really rough spot with my fibro I have been slow to post. It’s hard to post when you do not have enough energy to barely get out of bed. This is a “tough row to hoe” somedays and I would not wish it on anyone.

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Tags: Blogging // Add Comment »
House Says Bloggers Don’t Count As Journalists
Posted on March 1st, 2009 by the ringleader
There are currently two versions of a bill in Congress that would protect a journalist’s right to keep his or her sources confidential, effectively banning the government from forcing journalists to reveal whistleblowers. One version though–the House version–gives an incredibly stupid definition of journalist that excludes not only bloggers, but freelancers, independents, and nonprofit journalists as well. For the most part, the Senate and House agree on what a journalist’s duties are and what journalism are:

“the regular gathering, preparing, collecting, photography, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.”

The house version though adds this to the description of a journalist:

“for a substantial portion of the person’s livelihood or for substantial financial gain and includes a supervisor, employer, parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of such covered person.”

This will eliminate freelance journalists (no boss) anyone who does it as a hobby or public service this includes most bloggers who are not paid. The government then has the right to force you to tell who told you anything that you might report about much like they tried to do with journalist Judy Miller under the Bush Administration.

There are currently two versions of a bill in Congress that would protect a journalist’s right to keep his or her sources confidential, effectively banning the government from forcing journalists to reveal whistleblowers. One version though–the House version–gives an incredibly stupid definition of journalist that excludes not only bloggers, but freelancers, independents, and nonprofit journalists as well. For the most part, the Senate and House agree on what a journalist’s duties are and what journalism are:

“the regular gathering, preparing, collecting, photography, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.”

The house version though adds this to the description of a journalist:

“for a substantial portion of the person’s livelihood or for substantial financial gain and includes a supervisor, employer, parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of such covered person.”

This will eliminate freelance journalists (no boss) anyone who does it as a hobby or public service this includes most blogggers who are not paid. The government then has the right to force you to tell who told you anything that you might report about much like they tried to do with journalist Judy Miller under the Bush Administration.