The Library

[ginny]

The Library Our library cafe is open 24/7, the welcome mat is always out. Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with us. We look forward to hearing from you, about you and the books you are enjoying (or not). Let the book talk begin here!

*Suggestion Box for Future Discussions
*SeniorLearn's Archives 

[ginny]

Jean! THERE you are.  Sorry to hear about the health problems but you sound on the uptake now. SPRING has sprung! That will do it. So glad to see you back!

Is your presentation on Women soon?

Frybabe, thank you. Yes i can access it,  but no, the search  does not work as it did. I used keywords when I saved documents   when I first discovered that search  on the Windows 7 iteration, and those keywords would bring up the various documents or covers of documents I'd saved with that in the title in the past and all the "Agendas" I use in handouts for my face to face classes which start up again on the 23rd.


It no longer brings, however, my files  up by those code words or by any words. This, to me, is a tremendous loss.   It just shows me documents files but does not winnow out what's wanted.  I found the Desktop.

At least Clipmate Works, I'd be lost without it.

Maybe I just need to keep working with it, I just found Audacity and Roxio, so that's good. Meanwhile it's installed a new tab called APPS.  I don't want APPS. I want my old files, searchable as they were. This is not an improvement. Imagine working in an office with this thing and having to talk to Cortona and ask her where the Bremmerman Divorce file is out loud?

There has got to be another way.


Steph, I'm using Firefox with 10, it says it loves it. That's nice. It retained all my former bookmarks. That's also nice. I have my old screensaver.  The emails work, and I like LIVE better than Thunderbird. . I am ignoring  Cortona or whatever it is, that's ridiculous. if I wanted SIRI I would have used an Apple product. I can see it's nice and all but I think Microsoft overreached itself this time trying to imitate  Apple.  They say 10 is the last. I sure hope so.

I didn't do anything to cause all that, it just did it, except when it said it's own Internet browser  Edge or whatever it was would not support what I had on it, did I want to switch and use (list given) Firefox I did, and voila. That's all I did to it so far.


Still if I could just have my  search feature I believe I could live with it. Otherwise we're going to have to go back, whether I hire somebody or not, one way or the other, I need those searches to work.

[ginny]

Success! OH! I found it, Frybabe, thanks to you. It IS that window. In fact it's always there, it's now black and part of the black task bar, you wouldn't know it was actually there, and in tiny, I'd say 5 font print  with the words "Search the web and Windows" kind of greyed out? I literally cannot see it when looking at the computer.  Obviously the senior is not the intended audience for this thing. That's IT, you have an extra step to search your own computer but it works!

I didn't want to "Search the web and Windows," I wanted those files. Now I have them. Many thanks! I believe I can live with it now. And it's only been two days and of that time I've had about an hour to try to deal with it.


THANK you!

[ginny]

I also found the Go back to Windows 7 or 8.1 setting, it's right there, and no problem to find.

You don't need to hire anybody for it.

I think I'll leave it now, I've got what I want and it looks the same as it always has.

[bellamarie]

I feel even more confused as ever after reading all these posts for Windows 10.  I use Google Chrome for searching the internet.  I love it!!  It has a history that keeps track of everywhere I go and I can clear it out anytime I wish to. 

JoanK., I am waiting until they force me to switch, if and when that ever happens.
Maryz., When I talked to the technician at Best Buy he told me it is better to buy a new computer with Windows 10 rather than to upgrade to it with an older computer with Windows 7 or 8. 

I have Windows 8 and am hoping to just keep things the way they are for now.  I was the technology instructor/buyer/target shooter for my K-8th grade Catholic school when I first began a computer lab back in 1984.  I just no longer have the patience for learning new technology since I retired.  I'll keep seeing how all of you are managing with your upgrades to Windows 10.  I don't want Firefox as my browser, doesn't Windows 10 work with Chrome? 

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow - I really think we need to know this - The work that is done to make this the site we have grown to trust and love needs to be told - we should not take for granted the volunteer effort by those who protect us from behind the scenes.

Message this morning from Ginny, Administrator...

I came in, tho, to tell you what Marcie has done which has made such a HUGE difference to those who have to go after the spammers. She's incorporated a captcha thing which forces the bot trying to register to choose photos in response to a text question or something, it's brilliant.

Since the day she put it up there has not  been one more spammer@!!!!!!  NOT ONE! It's a miracle to come in here and not see on the top left hand of the page the numbers of "people" waiting to be hand checked. And if you would skip a day it would take forever to clear them. And on holidays it was a nightmare.

Getting rid of these scumbags is a tiring job. They sometimes sneaked in anyhow and Jane has been patiently winnowing them out. So great is the difference that the check for Spammers thing no longer comes up and I can't see how many we have manually removed but it was something like 248,000 or something. Jane or Marcie may know how to access that check screen, I don't, and quite frankly I hope I never see it again, but isn't that marvelous?

A lot safer for us, too, since the bots can't see the emails unless they are registered.

So hooray for Marcie for doing this and for Marcie and Jane ALL THESE YEARS manually getting rid of these people who need a job instead of trying to cheat us all. The last bit was from Russia I think?

Jane, Administrator

Incredible...but the number now is:   

266852 Spammers blocked up until today

[JoanK]

JEAN: GREAT TO SEE YOU BACK! you've been missed.

[Frybabe]

Super, thanks for passing that on. Kudos to Marcie.

I wonder if that is the new little routine I have been seeing which says "I am not a robot". When you click on it you get a word and a set on pictures from which you choose to match the word. It is kind of fun.

[jane]

Yes, Frybabe, that's exactly what that is.  It's a method to keep "bots" from registering at sites to post commercial stuff, links to porn sites or to try and harvest emails, etc.  You see it at so many sittes now because there are so many of these bots out there.  My library's digital book site require the 'I'm not a robot' answer to a question, matching photos or something similar.  Up to now, we have had to do that deletion manually here.  Now they can't get as far as that.  Good news!

[mabel1015j]

Thank you Marcie! You have one of those jobs about which I frequently say "I don't want to do it, but I sure am glad someone wants to!"

Frybabe - my eye doc says that you have to get a good omega 3 like Nordic Naturals, or PRN, or Lovaza. She said when she had taken them for a couple months her blood pressure, cholesterol and tricycerides all went down to normal levels, as well as fixing her dry eye. I've had problems with statins and have been reading reports that they don't help cholesterol. My cardiologist and I have had a couple discussions about whether I should continue to take them. So I'm looking forward to getting healthier with a good omega 3.

Ginny - i gave the first presentation on women's history atthe library last week. It was "Women in the Neighborhood". They were all Burlington County women except for Elizabeth Haddon, who, as you know, is just across the boundary in Camden Co. The others were Margaret Hill Morris, a "doctor" who kept a journal about Burlington City in the Revolutionary War. ( you can all read part of the journal at
http://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/war/text7/margaretmorrisnj.pdf 

Or you can read the complete journal by searching "Margaret Hill Morris journal")

There was also Clara Barton, Patience Lovell Wright who is considered the first professional woman sculptor in America and Elizabeth White who developed the domestic blueberry and, of course Alice Paul!

I can't believe you remembered that I am doing that.

Next Monday I'm concentrating on New Jersey women. I'll tell you about them next week.

Jean

[bellamarie]

Marcie thank you so much for the work you have done to help keep our site safe.  I have seen those pop ups that have me to confirm I am not a robot.  Had NO idea what they meant.  Learning something new every day.

[Frybabe]

Jean, I've been taking Red Yeast Rice and CoQ10 for my high cholesterol. It works . When I first started, I had my doctor do check my cholesterol and triglycerides first. After two months, the time necessary to see results, he did another test. Both dropped. George and I have been both taking them for around 15 years. Our doctor does not want us switching to prescription statins since this works. I do have dry eye, so I think I will add the Omega-3 to see if it helps. I've heard of Nordic Naturals, but not the other two you mention.

[Steph]

Hmm, Will look up Omega3... I take a statin and have high blood pressure and take medication for that..and dry eye, but I just take a normal tear drop stuff for that.
I do admire all of the work that goes into this site.. Amazing to me, since I am not good at what they do and how.. but I do know that one of our corgi rescue sites just got hacked and it is a mess.. Thank heaven, it is an idiot real estate salesman who thinks he can convince us to call him.. Boo.

[bellamarie]

I have dry eye also, and only so far have been using Visine dry eye tear drops, my optometrist told me to use.  I think it is getting worse and I probably should use it more than once or twice a day.  She recommended  3-4xs a day.  I may pick up some omega 3 supplements when I buy my woman's vitamins.  I try to eat tuna and shrimp twice a week to get it through the natural foods. I really appreciate the tips from all of you. 

[maryz]

I've had dry eyes for years, and use artificial tears whenever needed - especially each time I get up during the night and first thing in the morning.  My optometrist recommended taking fish oil capsules, and I've done that for quite a long time.  I briefly saw a chiropractor for some back problems, and she suggested I double the amount of fish oil I was taking.  That seemed to really help the back pain, so I've continued on that account, too.

My cholesterol started going up (but not above normal), and my family suggested I start on Red Yeast Rice.  I did, and after a year, my cholesterol had gone down 20 points.

All this just anecdotal, of course, and just my history.

[Steph]

I have been taking fish oil for some years. Seems like every doctor I visit recommends it.. Red Yeast Rice did not help my chloresterol.. I also take COQ 10..and a variety of vitamins.. Added in Turmeric last fall after going to a lecture on antioxidants.. No idea if it is doing its thing, but I have not had a single cold or illness all winter thus far.

[JoanK]

Sometimes I hate it when I'm right!

Watching TV, I frequently saw ads fow a charity: "Wounded Warriors." Looking for places to give, I thought "No, I won't give to them: the ads are vague and don't say a single word about what they actually DO, just that they "help."

Now it's all over the news. What they actually DO is apparently throw lavish parties! May whoever is doing this rot in hell! they fired a couple of execs, but it has to go deeper than that! A slap in the face to everyone who has served their country!

[maryz]

I had heard years ago that this was one of the charities where only a very small percentage of income actually went to the "charity".  I've gotten to where I only give to local charities, where I know my money stays "at home". 

[bellamarie]

I am so surprised to hear Wounded Warriors is not credible.  Thanks for the heads up JoanK.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yep, and no longer these calls from the police asking for funds - have no idea who, what, where the money goes plus they are one of the biggest expense this city includes in its budget.

What has been fun this year is bringing a secret gift to a local middle school teacher every week - the program leader of this effort suggests once a month but I cannot afford the big monthly gift and so each week it is something - I have so many gift books that I include with things like Tea or foot massage cream or a collection of postits or a box of note cards - even did a small teapot - about the only thing I purchased has been a plant and a large motivational stencil for the wall - just about everything else is from my gift cupboard that this effort will only make a dent. Tried to sell all my notepaper at a garage sale and no takers so each week she gets a card with her gift.

I need to and keep putting it off sending a weekly card to someone at Walter Reed - just a light note and it seems like so many habits I want to do I have not started - I'll get there...

As to donations - it is the local schools and the local Girl Scouts - period...

[bellamarie]

I have ton of charities I give to mostly local:  Catholic Charities, Cherry Street Mission (for the homeless), Heartbeat of Toledo (for pregnant mothers who choose life over abortion), a Charity a friend began for Drug Awareness, Sals Pals (a non profit our friends began for Cystic Fibrosis), Alzheimer's, Autism Awareness our neighborhood Catholic elementary school and sports program, and Girls Scouts.  I am a bit of a softie. 

[Steph]

there is a check list on line that lists charities and percentage of funds raised that do not go to their work, but instead to executive costs. So I give but not to them.Wounded Warriers was a bit one around here, but now people understand they are not doing what they said they would. The originator of the group was good, but as they grew, they went and got one of those professional fund raiser, who had never even been in the service. Thats when I cut them off. Good charities.. Second Harvest... Salvation Army...I also give to some animal rescue places as well as animal shelters.. We have a local one New Beginnings.. Very few paid workers and they have a good program. Houses for both men and women( and children). You have to commit to a 12 month program. It has a good success rate , so they are getting a lot of my attention.

[JoanK]

I give "microloans" through kiva.org to families all over the world who need small amounts of money to start a business, buy seeds to plant, dig a well. I give a new loan very month, plus as fast as the loans are paid back, I relend. I've loaned to 38 different countries on all continents. A small amount of money can make a huge difference.

[pedln]

JoanK, I remember reading some of your earlier positive comments about the kiva loans.  And was it you who also involved grandchildren by letting them choose the loan recipients? Sounds like a good way to plant the seeds of charitable giving. I'm sorry to hear of problems with Wounded Warriers. I've frequently seen their ads requesting donations and have thought, "I could do that."

Like some of you have mentioned most of my giving also is local.  One in particular is a network against sexual violence, that works with both adults and abused children. It began several years ago with an unpaid founder and two volunteer nurses, limited space and very little funding. Now it has expanded and has more permanent space and a paid director and staff. And unfortunately, just this week, the director, who had a salary of $60,000 was arrested and charged with stealing $34,000 of the networks funds. The comments in the press are blaming the board of directors for not having any preventative measures in place.  She did this over a two-year period.

This is the third local charity I donate to that has suffered theft by employees in the past three to five years.

[kidsal]

I give , or rather re-give, to Kiva.  Each time loan is repaid I select another.  My original donation has resulted in many re-loans.  Also like HEIFER -- they send animals or seeds to other countries to help in agriculture.  And then is Doctors Without Borders!

[Frybabe]

Kidsal, I am so happy to see you mention the Heifer Project International. It is not an organization that gets a lot of attention, at least not around here. Like the organization I used to work with, the Heifer Project supports sustainable agriculture. It also supports developing small, often craft based, businesses. Many of these are women owned.

[Steph]

I have several Kiva loans going. Always to women.. But Heifer, I looked up and their executive costs are way high, so I dont give, even though the program sounds nice.

[bellamarie]

I just finished reading The Odyssey by Homer and am trying to understand the meaning of it.  Odysseus repeats his going off to the Trojan war and what happens next, over and over, and over again. If I had to read of Penelope's tears once more I thought I would scream! I'm beginning to sense I just have little liking for mythology after reading The Metamorphoses and The Odyssey.  I don't really care for Science fiction either, so maybe that explains it.  I have The Iliad since it came in the same book with The Odyssey, but may hold off on reading that for a long time.  My first introduction to mythology was The Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble and The Night Villa by Carol Goodman. I actually found both of these books quite interesting, thrilling and yet a bit strange, but the last two books by Homer and Ovid, are just too over the top for me.

The Metamorphoses, for me simply put is... although life changes, some things never change.
The Odyssey, I suppose is.... never give up, love wins out in the end. 
Who knows......... maybe I missed the entire meaning???

[Jonathan]

'Who knows......... maybe I missed the entire meaning???'

You're a great reader, Bellamarie, with a very inquisitive mind, and I always love to read the meanings you find in the books we discuss. You were doing great in The Metamorphoses. Not to mention Pinnochio.

I find it interesting that you mention Margaret Drabble in your post. I've just started reading something by her husband Michael Holroyd: A Book of Secrets. He starts off with this:

'High above the Gulf of Salerno, some fifty miles south of Naples, is the medieval town of Ravello. Higher still and at the end of two meandering roads from Ravello, you find yourself in a place of fantasy that seems to float in the sky: a miraculous palazzo, now called the Villa Cimbrone, which answers the need for make-believe in all our lives....For a hundred years the place has offered people solace, escapism, opportunities, illusions. Though the legends which fill the atmosphere suggest that many famous people were drawn there, this is something of a mirage. Instead there are forgotten names with lost identities that still haunt the gardens and terraces.'

Have you ever heard of Alice Keppel, Eve Fairfax, and Violet Trefusis? This is their story. The subtitle of the book is Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers.

The lives of women 'always on the periphery of the respectable world.' Lives without meaning.

[bellamarie]

Thank you Jonathan.  Sometimes I do question myself.  That book you are reading sounds very intriguing, I have not heard of those women, although Fairfax seems familiar for some reason.  I'm taking my granddaughter to the library tomorrow I may check to see if they have your book.  " Lives without meaning"...... is this possible?

I did begin The Girl On The Train, and am already full of questions.  My neighbor friend is reading it also, so I may have to go chat with her to see her take on it.   

[nlhome]

I just finished "A Man Called Ove" this week. I had bought the book for my sisters - a holiday tradition to get them a book to share and pass on. They both enjoyed it and said I had to read it. It took me awhile, because I'm more a mystery and short story reader, but I did read and finish it this week - outside on the deck in Wisconsin in March! - and I do recommend it. It's a thoughtful book. Also, it's funny.

[Steph]

Hmm, know two of the three women and will look for the book.. Greek mythology is interesting, but I am simply past the point of wanting to do it over and over.. so am not in the reading group. Still looking at the new book,, just looking you understand. Sue Klebold, mother of one of the boys in the Columbine Massacre.. I am not quite ready to dive in.. The agony of a mother facing this has to be hard.. I will read it, but think of it for a while.

[ginny]

Jonathan, as always, how beautifully you write.

Ravello! I've been to Ravello, the Cimbrone is now a hotel. What I remember about Ravello is the famous  1000 Steps, and getting lost. Footpath of the  Gods they call it. Modern mythology, which we all do. We all mythologize our lives.  Legends are born  every day. Take sports figures:  I heard a Scottish announcer the other day say that Lionel Messi is not human. hahaha So there's a myth in our own making as of two days ago.

I got lost coming back down from wherever I had gone in Ravello. The signpost clearly pointed both ways, the way I had come up and a "short cut" down . I took the short cut. Mistake. Even now thinking about it gives me chills and of course today I could not have made it. Down the rocky narrow path I went. As  I went I noticed (which I would notice FIRST today) there were no handrails, down and down, narrower and steeper, the "steps" began to  disintegrate,  when I stepped on them,  into rubble which went down the mountain in front of me, one startled man to the left seemed to watch in horror, down and down until it was almost the slope of a ladder and I realized my mistake. It was hard to even turn around, just the simple act of turning around in place was a gymnastic feat,  nothing to hold on to, nothing to stand on, almost literally. When grabbed, the  odd bush broke off, and then the climb back UP, unbelievable.

Yes, Ravello. Famous for its 1000 Steps. Forget the famous 1,000 Steps, and stay on anything paved. It's hard enough walking on the pavement much less wandering off on "short cuts."

Every  trip I seem to go on has its own "Hell Walk," which you didn't expect at the outset and later lived to regret. The beautiful, stunning, and wonderful Coastal Path in Cornwall from Doyden Castle (seen in the Doc Martin episode where Mrs. Twitchell steals the baby) to Port Isaac (where Doc Martin works).  About an hour the ledger in Doyden House said.  hahahahaa  Yeah. By space ship maybe.

[Jonathan]

WOW! Thanks, Ginny, for taking us to Ravello, and the Villa Cimbrone, with its 'rocky narrow path' and the 'steps down disintegrating into rubble.' What a hardy walker you are. You may regret having taken some but for the rest of us it's wonderful to hear about them. I remember the pleasure I got reading about your close call crossing that street in Rome, a few years ago. You always come back alive. What's to regret in that?

I'm hooked on the writing style of Michael Holroyd and your use of the word rubble reminded me of his use of it in describing the lives of his parents, in his book Basil Street Blues. I can't resist quoting it:

'MY parents, who had long been divorced, and gone through a couple of subsequent marriages, each of them, as well as various additional liasons, were by the late nineteen-seventies living alone in fragile health and meagre circumstances. They appeared bewildered by the rubble into which everything was collapsing. After all, it had started so promisingly.'

But leave it to Holroyd to find meaning in lives. He has written excellent biographies.

[JoanK]

GINNY: " About an hour the ledger in Doyden House said. hahahahaa  Yeah. By space ship maybe."

The first thing I learned on my one trip to Britain was not to believe anything anyone told me about walking distances. "it's close: you can walk it in --- minutes" immediately roused my "NO WAY!" button after my first walk from hell.

Brits must be the world's toughest, fastest walkers!

[BarbStAubrey]

What was that book that was all the rage last year about a retired guy walking the length of England to meet up with a gal he knew who was in a nursing home - he just keeps walking one day when he went out to post a letter... a big difference compared to walking here is that in England you do not walk for 40 miles or 100 miles seeing nothing but pasture with no stops along the way and only the traffic that is incidental on these long stretches so that today you wonder just how safe you are walking from town to town.

[Frybabe]

What we learned in London, JoanK, was that whatever directions we thought somone told us, go in the opposite direction.

[Steph]

Oh I do love that idea. The best directions we ever got.. were in Zurich, Switzerland.. We got a bit lost and were examing the route maps posted by the side of the road by the buses. A dear little gentleman came up and asked if he could help. We told him where we wanted to go.. The grossmutter cathedral and he said.. Here and we all jumped on the little open bus and off we went.. We protesting that he should just tell us and he laughing and insisting he loved the chance to practice english.. We got there safely and he even came into the cathedral with us and told us stories and then off he went.. A wonderful memory of a kind and gentle knight.

[bellamarie]

Speaking of England, I just finished the book The Girl On The Train, which takes place in England.   Oh my heavens I can see why it sold so many copies and is going to be made into a movie.  Once I began reading it, I could not put it down.  Stayed up til the wee hours of last night trying to finish it, and got a little spooked and decided to go to bed and finish it today.  Everyone I know who is in a book club said they have read and discussed it.  There is a waiting list at all my libraries here and we have over twenty libraries.  I promised to pass it on to my daughter in law, twenty year old granddaughter, and then her friend who is in nursing school who has not been able to get her hands on it, and wants to read it and she recommended it to her mother and twenty-one year old sister. 

If you like a psychological thriller it is the one to read!  I am pretty good at solving the who dunnit early on in books and movies but I have to admit, this took me almost til the end to figure it out.  Phew......

The Girl on the Train (2015) is a psychological thriller novel by British author Paula Hawkins.[1] The novel debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 2015 list (combined print and e-book) dated February 1, 2015,[2] and remained in the top position for 13 consecutive weeks, until April 265.[3] In January 2016 it became the No.1 bestseller again for two weeks. Many reviews referred to the book as "the next Gone Girl", a popular 2012 novel.[4][5]
By early March 2015, the novel had sold over 1 million copies,[6] and 1.5 million by April.[7] It has occupied the number one spot of the U.K. hardback book chart for 20 weeks, the longest any book has ever held the top spot.[8] By early August 2015, the book had sold more than 3 million copies in the U.S. alone.
The film rights were acquired by DreamWorks Pictures in 2014 for Marc Platt Productions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_on_the_Train_(novel)

[Steph]

I hated Gone Girl so much that I have shyed away from The Girl on the Train.. Because it is compared to it all the time.. Hmm,, oh well, I am so far behind on books I want to read..