Water Cooler 2

wow - this is getting dark.
i feel like my mom just started running this thread.
she tried very hard to teach me not to trust (or count on) anyone, and to never let down my guard, as i was growing up. Hmm... could that have something to do with why i left home for good at age 17?
Sorry Eleanor - i'm sure you didn't mean that quite as harshly as it sounded.

What I meant by "let down my guard" I started posting a lot pics of my precious grandson and this is really not the place to do it. I've loved sharing him with my Northeast family but as Victor said hackers can get into any site. I didn't mean you guys, I was talking about the hackers. Eleanor

Not just hackers, but any subscribed DG member as well (and anyone with access to their computers!). This is not paranoia, Amy. Unfortunately, it's the real world we live in.

Victor speaks the truth, hacking is a hobby now with many sites which teach you the basics and offer free programs and tutorials as well. A hacker does not pay to get into websites or enable trial programs offered by companies. There are many FTP sites which give them the info they seek to enable their endeavors. A hacker can easily track your IP # to your living room or wherever you have your computer complete with maps, directions and zoom-able satellite images of your house. It has become a high tech cat and mouse 'game'. It is not only a domestic issue, it's as international as the internet is... it's worldwide.

It's not paranoia, complacency and a false sense of security is exactly what they count on & they are very, VERY good at what they do.

Victor, there are limits to how untrusting i am willing to be. Sometimes that has caused me trouble, but mostly i'd rather have those problems than their opposites.

Before you say i am hopelessly naive, let me assure you that is not true. i'm a city girl (south STL) and i was a crime victim more than once (though having my car stolen, or getting mugged had little to do with trusting people). i worked in rough places and hung out with people who did things i'd never choose to do. (being on your own from age 16/17 has a dark side.) i have learned to be careful about many things and in many situations and aware of the bad things that happen. But i try to stay aware of the good things that happen too - connections made in unexpected ways, random acts of kindness, and all the examples i see of people doing the right thing even when it is hard. The news focuses on the worst things that happen because if people are worried, they are more likely to tune in. It is a business, just like any other.

no, i wouldn't give out my credit card number or home address online - but i have a link to my myspace page on my DG page - a resource that has reconnected me to many old friends i thought i'd lost track of forever.

So i am not advocating that people should post pictures, or share information they are uncomfortable about. But i worry when i hear things like "You can't trust anyone." i just think of the epigraph to the book Howard's End: Only connect.

WC2, i was still editing my post when you wrote:

If they are good - they can Amy. This I know from first hand knowledge. I won't go into the details but their capability was beyond my belief at the time and it did not emanate from this country... "nuff said", it's just a warning and a confirmation of what Victor has been warning DG friends about for awhile now with my good intentions and bad experience (which I dont care to elaborate on ☺), to back it up.

Amy, I don't believe you are naive and when Eleanor said you can't trust anyone, I am sure she was referring to strangers being able to view photos of children - not making a general commentary on society.

Yes, the news focuses on the negative, but in the case of children and the internet, the negative reporting can, and hopefully does, have a positive effect - to remind people over and over that there is no shortage of people stalking kids on the web.

As for hacking, I doubt that DG has been a frequent target, but it is a possibility. For WC's point, it does matter what info you share if that hacker is following through with all those other 'tools' because of a photo he saw. But again, I don't believe hackers are the biggest concern with posted photos. There are over 6600 paid subscribers on DG, who have access to all forums. This is really just about protecting kids. Nothing more.

- Surfing the web trying to find where I can get a 'Shidava Gold', VG. Exceptionally nice maple... getting late, gonna continue my 'quest' tomm ☺.

I am a subscriber ;)

ROFL! you crack me up Al !!

I suppose I should have said - you can't trust everyone!! But in this day and age you really need to be careful with strangers and the internet. Sometimes even people you know - a few years ago we woke up and read in the paper one morning that a neighbor was arrested for sexual abuse and his brother we read about another time was arrested for a robbery sting in our area. That hits close to home as my kids grew up with these guys and played with them all through their childhood - we trusted them but are now very leary of everything they do since they are both out of jail!! I wonder why I'm leary!! One of them is a real smooth con artist! After drug re-hab that didn't work and getting out of going to jail the first time for robbery, he was a model citizen by day and at night he had a great job - sneeking out of his parents basement window and hitting several business each night. Went on for quite a while as all believed he had changed his ways. Even teachers are getting into child molesting or should I say child molesters are getting into teaching? I'm generally a very trusting person but I will protect my grandson and not take chances with his safety. I won't trust a stranger with his safety!! Again individuality and experience play an important role in how trusting a person is and I'm sorry if I upset you Amy. My experiences have dictated to me to be careful and I usually am in strange situations and with strangers. Churches have even had a problem and we now have to have 2 unrelated people present when they are with children to keep our church a safe place for them. Eleanor

I agree. It is not a 'safe' world. But it never has been, and never will be. It's just a lot easier now, with technology's help, to hurt people. The same old, same old crimes are out there. And new crimes are being thought up each day.

So trust? I trust to the limits of my knowledge. And even then, I get 'caught'.

What the technology does is expand the 'neighborhood' to include virtually the entire world.

So true, Victor. So true.

There goes the neighborhood....

When i was in high school in the late 1980s, a priest who was close friends with the theatre director and his wife, was arrested (along with another teacher) for unspecified inappropriate behaviour with male students. The priest was the biology teacher - we used his lab as the makeup room for the plays. (i was the makeup crewhead, so i spent a lot of time there.) Everyone was stunned. The director was so upset that he cancelled a production, which was really hard for us theatre kids.

The part that makes it sound like a joke now is that the priest's name was Father Funke (pronounced funky).

We just had an incident with a priest in the neighborhood parish here.

Victor, I thought I said some forums.

Yankee Cat: I'm with you on audio books. Keilor's Comedy Show is in my car tapeplayer right now.

You may have Dave, but the discussion was in the context of our posting photos on this forum so that's why I thought it was otherwise. Sorry if I was mistaken.

NBD

More! No (?) Dude?

Just tweaking you. Its "No Big Deal"

Looks like I'm old at 44 and Dave is in with kids.

Actually had a college roommate (and still friend) who talked like that back in the seventies. It confused me then too.

Wow - aoht!

Victor (notice I put you first) and Dave - I thought it brought up a very good discussion and gave us lots of things to think about!! Again, thank you both for bringing up the matter of posting kid's pics on-line!! I supposed to be cleaning the house but I keep taking breaks!! Should get back to work. Eleanor

You're welcome!

I love pictures of my kids - I mostly make them anonymous like this one.

Oh well, I can't find it, but it's a side profile from a distance of my daughter who was taking a picture of a butterfly on a coneflower while I was taking a picture of her.

x, C

That's YOUR daughter!

Yeah, sort of like the back shot of my DH and my dog walking in front of me......That may be a challenge for the bichon predators! But seriously.......the reminder is an important one....especially as to children!

Eleanor, thanks (even though I'm second).

OK Victor,what is aoht?

Ahead of his time.

All you New England and Buffalo people out there, are you a bit not thrilled with all this flex time of game changes? Todays moved to 8:15 and the Steelers game moved to 4:15. Only two of the last 7 games for the Pats are at 1:00 now. Don't mind the 4:15 ones but those 8:15 games can run pretty late. I think I would be really more than a little miffed if I had tickets to one of the flexed games. You know what it is like getting out of there after a game, it can take almost as long as the game itself. Like watching on the tube better, much better view of everything. Do you think this is a good policy or not?

Bummer about Spring Training this year with the Sox going to Japan and sticking it to the season ticket holders here for the second half of March. We usually take in 4 or so games, but it will be pretty tough to get tickets this year.

This soil down here is so different from the soil in NH. It looks so sandy, you'd think nothing would grow in it, but WRONG so far. I've been throwing seeds around and things are coming up everywhere.

I pulled out those dangerous, dog-killing cardboard palm seedlings. Now I'm having fun deciding what to put in their place. I have just planted several seeds from my White Luna hardy hibiscus. Can't wait to see if they come up and have blooms that are true. I have a couple of spots in mind for them. I also scattered some seeds from this orange daisy that I planted last year, and they are coming up nicely.

I returned from church today to find my DH down in back of our house by the canal clearing out some of the brush and running the branches through the chipper. I was amazed and thrilled - he actually did it without my nagging. I really don't nag, I just do it myself. (By the way he was standing right in the middle of where I got the poison ivy - I sprayed there but I'm sure it's not all dead) It is great to have some help clearing out the brush so I can eventually put a garden there. I told him to leave the chipper down there with a tarp over it, but he insisted on dragging it up the hill. Poor guy, I thought he was going to have a heart attack. Next spring I'll invest in a small storage shed and then we can leave it down at the bottom of the hill where we will be using it. I plan on having a compost pile down there for wood chips, leaves and grass clippings. This pic was taken from the other side of the canal in the spring, but that is looking at the area where we are clearing the brush. I'm through until next spring!! Eleanor

Eleanor:

It looks like that will be some job come next Spring! It's so nice to have good help like that.

I fell asleep during the Pat's game shortly after the third quarter began. I guess I should have known that the game would be a blow-out. When it began, I watched the opening kick-off, went down the hall to brush my teeth, came back, and the Pats had already scored!

I agree with their coach's philosophy, though. "It's not up to us not to score. It's up to their defense to prevent us from scoring." It reminds me of my mom telling me to always do, and be, my best at all times.

Edited for a mean typo!

This message was edited Nov 19, 2007 5:09 AM

CRISIS! We barely beat out the Mid-South Forum! It's one thing to lose to silly Games, but this is intolerable. Let's talk it up out there!!

I know, where was everybody all week?

I'm heading out to save the dahlias but I'll be back........like Arnold.