- Grammerly – free and paid
- ProWritingAid
- Hemingway App
- WhiteSmoke
- Readable
- Wordtune
- Ginger
- Sapling
- PaperRater
- Reverso
- SlickWrite
- language Tool
- Writer
AI writing
- Quillbot.com
Grammer and Spell Check Tools
December 15th, 2022Yoda’s Quotes
December 5th, 2022“Do or do not. There is no try.”
This quote is a simple lesson in commitment and the power in giving something our all—not just giving it a try.
“You must unlearn what you have learned.”
As creatures of habit, we tend to love our routines and our go-to methods. But sometimes, we have to shake up our process—and even unlearn our process—to succeed.
“Named must be your fear before banish it you can.”
When we call out our fears directly, they become less of an ominous force and a challenge we can tackle head-on.
“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
Indulging our fears (whether with our thoughts or actions) gives them power to hold us back. And Yoda points out how our fears can impact those around us, too.
“That is why you fail.”
When Luke says he doesn’t believe in the power of the force, Yoda serves up this piece of wisdom. We have to believe in ourselves—and our abilities—in order to persevere and succeed. Without faith, we can only go so far.
“The greatest teacher, failure is.”
We learn from our mistakes—plain and simple.
“Pass on what you have learned.”
The wisdom we gain in life is a gift to pass along—not to keep to ourselves. Make like Yoda and share your insights with others.
Inspirational Quotes
December 5th, 2022- Your Time on this earth is limited
- Focus. Commitment. Sheer will.
- Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.
- Adapt. Improvise. Overcome.
- Do not pray for an easy life. pray for the strength to endure a difficult one. (Bruce Lee)
- Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it.
- I will never fear a pride of lions led by a sheep but I will always fear a flock of sheep led by a lion. (Alexander The Great)
Musashi’s Dokkodo
The 21 lessons:
- Accept everything just the way it is.
- Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
- Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
- Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
- Be detached from desire your whole life long.
- Do not regret what you have done.
- Never be jealous.
- Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
- Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself or others.
- Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
- In all things have no preferences.
- Be indifferent to where you live.
- Do not pursue the taste of good food.
- Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
- Do not act following customary beliefs.
- Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
- Do not fear death.
- Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
- Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
- You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honor.
- Never stray from the Way.
My USB Mouse in No Longer Recognized by Chromebook
December 4th, 2022If your mouse is suddenly not recognized by your Chromebook, there are few methods to try and solve this issue.
I suspect there is a driver issue with Chromebook OS (Build 108.0.5359.75) so installing a brand new mouse may not necessarily resolve this issue.
Method #1 – try your “non-working” mouse on another PC
- If your mouse is not recognized by another PC, either your battery is dead or transceiver/mouse is broken
- Insert a fresh battery and try again
- Logitech provides 1 or 2 year warranty on their mouse devices; if you do not have a receipt, Logitech may replace a single device as a courtesy (meaning you cannot submit a bunch of broken devices without receipts). You can submit your warranty claim here
- If your mouse is recognized by another PC, proceed to Method #2
Method #2 – Chromebook refresh/reset
Most school-issued Chromebooks are locked down so you cannot turn on the Linux IDE feature so your reset options are limited. Follow these steps and see if your problem gets resolved.
- Log out and power down your Chromebook
- Disconnect all peripherals (HDMI, USB-C, etc.)
- Wait 3 minutes
- Hold down the REFRESH key (semi-circle with an arrow, usually an F5 key) and the POWER button to turn on your Chromebook
- Once your screen displays either a Google or Chromebook logo, release both keys
- Log into your Chromebook
- Plug in your “non-working” mouse transceiver to see if is recognized
- If your mouse is still not recognized, proceed to Method #3
Method #3 – Purchase a new mouse
This may sound crazy but when my daughter was experiencing this same problem, I gave her a brand mouse (same make/model) but it also did not work.
Curious, I tried that brand new mouse on my PC and saw that it was working fine.
So I got even more curious so I took my existing mouse, which happened to be the same make and model as the new replacement mouse I gave to my daughter, and tried on her Chromebook and it worked!?
Conclusion
Without “jailbreaking” her Chromebook and digging and find out what is going on, I am left to wonder if that USB port will ultimately fail sometime in the future.
If you purchased a warranty through school, it is definitely worth getting your child’s Chromebook replaced before something else goes wrong.
Where to Learn How to Code – Free and Paid Plans
November 28th, 2022Domain Transfer from GoDaddy to PorkBun
November 3rd, 2022Table of Contents
Unlock domain names at GoDaddy
- Log into your GoDaddy account
- If two factor authentication is required, enter the 2FA code
Unlocking domain names
There are two ways you can unlock your domain names:
From DOMAIN PORTFOLIO screen:
- Click on the domain name
- Click on the LOCK button and choose the unlock option
From the MAIN screen:
- Click on the domain name
- Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click DOMAIN LOCK on the “Locking prevent unauthorized changes, including transfer to another registrar”
Get the authentication (EPP) code from GoDaddy
- From the MAIN screen
- Scroll down to the bottom of the screen
- Click on the link “Transfer domain away from GoDaddy”
- From the next screen (Domain Transfer Out), click CONTINUE WITH TRANSFER button
- In the next screen, copy the authorization code
Submit Transfer Request with PorkBun
- Click on TRANFER TO PORKBUN screen
- Enter the domain name and Auth Code and hit SUBMIT button
- It will take about 4-7 business days for the domain transfer to complete
submit domains to transfer
Best Domain Registrars
November 3rd, 2022There are literally thousands of domain registrars all vying for business.
Having bought, transferred and sold domain names for over 20+ years, I can tell you that there some shady domain registrars that you want to avoid.
Also, with the explosion of gTLD flavors (.life, .baby, etc.), it was expected that prices for “older” gTLDs (.com, .net, .org) would go down but that proved to be false.
“Best” is defined as:
- Should be ICANN-accredited for gTLDs and ccTLDs
- Reputable, Financially Stable
- Low prices (initial and renewal)
Best registrars as of November 2022
- Porkbun
- Pros: low initial price, renewal price
- Cons: relatively new
- Reviews
- https://www.quora.com/Is-the-Porkbun-domain-registrar-reliable
- Namecheap
- Pros: rock solid; have been around for a long time
- Cons: renewal prices are too high
- Dynadot
- Pros: solid web interface
- Cons: prices are going up
I also use GoDaddy but their renewal prices are way too expensive.
Although I like Namecheap, they have been steadily increasing their prices too so I will probably move bulk of my domain names to Porkbun
Reference Links
- List of ICANN Accredited Registrars
- https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/registries/registries-en
- Registry operators: https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_registrar
Advertisers for Low Traffic Websites
November 3rd, 2022Monumetric
- Minimum Pageviews: 10k
- Application process is slow
- Google certified Partner for Ad Optimization – yes
Ezoic
- Minimum Pageviews: 10k
- Wants ability to add or delete content
- Google certified Partner for Ad Optimization – yes
Clickio.com
- https://www.reddit.com/r/adops/comments/vi0i7e/clickio_what_are_your_thoughts/
- Google certified Partner for Ad Optimization – unknown
Playwire.com
- Minimum Pageviews: 500k+ for website; 1k users for apps
- https://www.playwire.com/faq
- https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.playwire.com
- https://www.reddit.com/r/adops/comments/pjrbso/urgent_have_anyone_worked_with_playwire_how_are/
- Google certified Publisher Partner – yes
Adthrive.com
- Minimum traffic: 100k+
- certified Partner for Ad Optimization – unknown
Mediavine
- Minimum Sessions: 50k over 30 days
- Google certified Publisher Partner – yes
Freestar
- Minimum Sessions: unknown
- Google certified Publisher Partner – yes
Monetizemore
- Minimum Sessions: unknown
- https://www.monetizemore.com/how-to-join/
- Google certified Publisher Partner – yes
Adpushup
- Minimum Sessions: must already be generating $5k
- https://www.adpushup.com/frequently-asked-questions/
- Google certified Publisher Partner – yes
How do I test my website on mobile??
October 11th, 2022App Testing
Browser Testing
- Mobiletest.me
- Chrome Browser – developer view
- WordPress Page preview
- Google Mobile Friendly Test
Reference Links
- https://www.browserstack.com/guide/mobile-web-testing
20 Websites to Find Free Images
October 7th, 2022Paid vs Free
Paid sites like iStockPhoto and Getty Images traditionally have lot more images than free sites because more photographers are drawn to them to earn income.
Free can be a misnomer because there are different types of “free” images:
- Creative Commons Images– this non-profit organization allows its images to be shared and used under various conditions. Some free images may dictate that you provide attribution (author of an image) or for certain uses only (print vs. web)
- Public Domain Images – Images fall under this category if the copyrights have expired or forfeited. However, grabbing a random image does NOT mean they are public domain images!
- Royalty Free Images – Most images under this category requires you to pay a one-time payment.
Royalty Free Image Sites
- Adobe Photo
- Getty Images
- iStockPhoto
- Shutterstock
Free stock images
- Burst (link)
- Pexels (link)
- unsplash (link)
- freepik (link)
- pixabay.com (link)
- freeimages.com
- kaboompics
- stockvault (link)
- stocksnap.io
- canva (some images are paid so pay attention)
- lifeofpix.com
- flickr.com
- crello.com
- Vecteezy (includes vector images)
