Tag Archive | technology

The Little Prince & Technology

Aug25

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

The Funny Things Kids Say

So Momma got a new phone this week. I LOVE my new phone! It’s a Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

The man child also loves my new phone because he can play Angry Birds and F18 Flight Simulator. I think he’s spent more time on my phone than I have.

But last night when we were looking for the flight simulator game, he said the funniest thing. Well it’s not what he said, it was the way he said it.

“Momma, can you play MetalStorm on your Nukesus phone?”

..the answer is No..MetalStorm is for Apple devices only. But I’m not sure it would work on a “Nuke-sus” phone either.

© 2012 Evil Wordsmith. Evilwordsmith.com. All Rights Reserved.

 

Must Have Utilities For Your Computer

Aug13

Recovering from a PC Virus – Some Lessons Learned

 

Protecting Your PC

Yesterday I allowed our 9 year old Prince to play on my computer. That turns out to have been a mistake. About an hour into his foray of watching some lego video, he receives a message over the browser window. Instead of reading it and asking his dad or me about it, he clicked a button and went on with his video. Something he has been told NOT to do. And he discovered the reason…he infected my computer with a pretty nasty virus!

Thankfully both SirEvil and I are IT geeks. But my IT skills are more related to mainframes and corporate servers, than desktop computers. Thankfully SirEvil is the desktop King. It took the entire day from about 10am to midnight to fully correct the infection and ensure everything was ok, running right and safe again. With a few extra checks and tweaks this morning, my laptop is virus free and more tightly secured. Which includes not allowing our little Prince to touch my laptop again!

Yes I already had virus software..sadly that doesn’t help when someone doesn’t ‘read’ and volunteers to install the virus. Virus software alone may not be all you need to find worms and protect your machine from invaders. So here is a list of helpful, reliable and FREE tools and advice to help keep your pc and your information safe. Continue reading →

Help Us Help Others In Need

Aug5

A Special Request

Help Us Grow Our Services
To Help Those In Need
Click the image and View The Campaign!

Help us help others with consultation and counseling services on Skype & iPad’s Face to Face. For those who are shut-ins, out of state and overseas in the military. And receive a nice Perk for your gift in return. Check our many perks on the right of our campaign home page. Will you give a little to help a lot?

Your contribution can be made securely through PayPal! Learn more @ Help Us Help Others

If you’ve read other articles here on Evil Wordsmith you may know that I’m a licensed Minister and I hold a Doctorate of Divinity in Metaphysical Science and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Spiritual Counseling. I counsel individuals, families and women of rape and abuse.

Providing help to those in need is a very rewarding job. But sometimes saying no to someone can tear at your heart and your head.

In the past 6 months we have received an increase in requests from people asking for Skype or iPad face to face communications. Some of these people are shut ins due to health issues, tragedy or trauma from violent crimes. Some simply can’t afford to travel to our location.

We have even received requests from some military personnel stationed overseas who simply want someone to talk to and who holds the same spiritual beliefs as they do. These men and women are fighting for our freedoms, and they didn’t ask you what you believe in before they joined up and put their lives in harms way for you.

We’re looking to fill these requests through Skype and iPad Face to Face communication services. But we need your help to make this a reality! Will you give a little to help a lot?

Your contribution can be made securely through PayPal! Learn more @ Help Us Help Others

Continue reading →

Family Fun Time!

Jul29

Bonding Through Online Games

Aedan Thundercloud & Penny
Level 42 Storm Wizard

Wizard101 is a multi-player adventure game and fun for kids and adults of all ages. We’re certainly proof of that.  And because the game is designed to encourage social activity and interaction among the players, it’s a great form of entertainment for families.

My son saw a commercial on Cartoon Network and asked if he could play the game.  Trying to be a responsible Mom, I did some research and checked out the game first. I quickly became satisfied with how the company protects kids within the game, what type of violence might be in the game and what the overall reviews from other players. When teachers are recommended the game, it can’t be all bad. But the more I researched, the more I was impressed with the approach KingsIsle Entertainment (creators of Wizard 101) take to provide a safe and fun game for kids.

Of course I kept an eye on him while he first started playing. It was long before he asked me to play with him. I figured he’d like that for a few short sessions, so ok. Pft…little did I know how addicting this game can become for adults too! We love playing together, battling monsters, achieving goals and sharing time together. If you’re familiar with the World of Warcraft, this game is similar, but with a little more help for kids and certainly ‘G’ rated.

As a Mom I love this game because of the many things it has taught my son. He began playing when he was 6 and he’s 9 as of this posting. Continue reading →

Exorcism Inc.

Jul17

ouijaEvery Monday night at 9:00 I like to listen to Aenigma Project (aenigmaproject.com) on Tenacity Radio (www.tenacityradio.com/listen). This is a show about paranormal topics. If you’ve never heard of it, go there next Monday, join the chat. It’s a lot of fun.

Tonight’s show was about the Zozo Phenomenon which, near as I can tell, is a way some guy thought of to get his Tribute to My Space web page to the top of the Google rankings. If you go there, put on #14 welding goggles first.

But I digress, since this post is all about me. Being a businessman, especially a failing businessman, everything looks like a business opportunity to me. And tonight was no difference. While we were discussing exorcisms it occurred to me that there might be a business here.

I’m not a big believer in the paranormal. Despite seeing a LOT of ghosts, I’m not sure I believe in them, and I don’t believe in demons and monsters or possessions. Maybe it happens, but my bet on that is it’s rare, like winning the lottery rare. If I hit the lottery tomorrow night, I’ll change my mind. Continue reading →

Another Design Guy Sighting

Jul17

Been a while since I posted any Design Guy sightings. This, if you don’t know, is the guy who made it so that when you set the temperature on your oven, you also have to press “Start”. Yes I’m talking about the Most Evilest Man in the World.

Lately the Queen’s laptop does something that can only be the work of the Design Guy. When she plugs in the power cord she gets a message that says, “Plugged in, not charging.” Think about that a minute and explain why that’s even an option? And it’s not a hardware problem, from the looks of things (with a little magic on her part), she can actually get it charging.

Every time someone does a little Voodoo Dance to get the computer to work, one of the Design Guy’s minions gets his horn. Then it stops charging again.

E.W.

This reminds me also of the message on the TV a while back, “You seem to be experiencing difficulty with your cable. If this persists, you should call your cable provider.”

© 2012 Evil Wordsmith. Evilwordsmith.com. All Rights Reserved.

Battery Plugged In, Not Charging

Jul14

Windows 7 and Vista Software Issue

I can’t believe this is even an option in battery management. What in the world was Microsoft thinking?! Why would you NOT want to charge the battery when it’s plugged in?!

So here’s the issue, no matter what brand of laptop you have, HP, Dell, Toshiba, Acer or some other brand; if you’re running Windows 7 or Vista you will eventually have a battery management issue. It’s NOT a battery problem, a driver problem, or a BIOS problem. It’s a Windows OS problem! Now it’s a good idea to double check your system now and then and ensure you’re running the latest versions of all that software. But that’s probably not the problem with this issue. 

The problem seems to occur after a Windows update. If you have automatic update turned on, you may not even know that has occurred.

Update: 07/15/2012
If you have applied the latest Windows update, you may have noticed that your laptop stops recognizing the battery in the middle of a session. That means, while this fix may probably work for you, there are no permanent fixes to this problem as yet. The following and other processes like it, will only work for a short time. Before this latest Windows update, it would correct the issue until the next update. That’s no longer the case. Isn’t that special?! Friggin’ Windows!

Update: 08/20/2012
After the latest batch of Win7 updates; this problem has gone away for me. We’ve always known the issue is an OS problem, not a physical computer problem. So it appears Microsoft may have corrected the problem in their software. At least for me..the issue has been resolved and the battery recharges simply by plugging in the AC adapter as it should. Continue reading →

When Sports Idols Fall From Grace

Jul9

How To Talk To Your Children

AJ Allmendinger
Nascar Driver

On Saturday July 7, 2012 Nascar announced the temporary suspension of A.J. Allmendinger driver of the #22 Dodge for Penske Racing. ‘Dinger as he’s known, failed one of the racing series random drug tests that it administers to Officials, Drivers, Crews and anyone who works on a car driven in any level of Nascar.

In Kentucky officials approached the well liked driver, who immediately complied in the in-field care center. Nascar collects a sample which is immediately divided into two containers, sealed and initialed by the testee. These become the ‘A’ and ‘B’ samples. On Saturday Penske Racing was notified that Dinger’s ‘A’ sample failed.

Nascar has a long list of banned substances, from the mundane to the extreme. Neither Nascar, Penske nor Dinger released the substance that was initially found in the sample. Dinger has until Tuesday to request testing of the second ‘B’ sample.  (Story updates at the bottom of this article.) Continue reading →

More Adventures in Stupid

Jun5

A couple evenings back, we all went out and sat on the porch. Rascal, our Dalmatian puppy was playing on her lead with the Prince down in the yard. Suddenly the Prince is very excited because he’s discovered a frog. A Fowler’s toad to be exact. If you’re living in the south and you’re male, this is the frog you’ve played with a thousand times.

Well, when the Prince discovered it, so did the mutt. And she did what she’s done with voles, mice, birds and even bats. She ran over and bit it. Now I didn’t know this, but it turns out that those toads are poisonous. It was pretty obvious from the reaction of the dog. She spent a minute or so looking like she was trying to spit out her own tongue.

images3.jpg

So we ran out there, got her in the house and the Queen washed her mouth out. Then we did some research. Now I’ve seen a smaller dog bite a poison arrow frog in Florida and live. Of course about six hours of that living wasn’t all that pleasant. but he did live. So I wasn’t too worried about a frog I didn’t even realize had poison. Bottom line, as long as she didn’t eat a couple of them whole, she was in no danger.

Now the really bad part is that it was close to the Prince’s birthday and one of the things he got were little glow stick swords. So right after the dog’s first ever psychedelic trip began, we turned off the lights and started waving around glowing colored sticks. After she got done watching the glowing colors, we turned the lights on and she spent some quality time staring at a white wall. I guess that’s the equivalent of standing still on firm ground after riding one of those whirly rides as the fair.

E.W.

We’re starting a pool on how many more of them she has to bite before she figures out not to bite them. I’ve got three…

© 2012 Evil Wordsmith. Evilwordsmith.com. All Rights Reserved.

96 Points in the Game on the Wall, 96 Points in the Game…

Jan10

Picture an airport bar, somewhere halfway between Green Bay, Wisconsin and Phoenix, Arizona…

A bunch of large surly looking men, half which are in red pajamas and half in green, are sitting at the bar, watching a football game having a few beers.  One of them in red shouts, “GEEZ, he scored again!”

His buddy in green replies, “I bet I could have stopped that…”

Red says, “Ever get that feeling you’re forgetting something but you can’t remember what it was?”

“Yeah, I’ve had that feeling all day, seems like I was supposed to be going somewhere.” Green says.

“And you know that feeling is never wrong…”

“Another touchdown… good thing we aren’t drinking to the scores.”

E.W.

In walks a bunch of irritated guys in darker green jammies, “… no flights to Dallas at all till next Fall…” one of them mutters.