Gone in a Flash

 A few weeks ago, I received a notice from Apple about a systems update.  As usual, I checked it out before applying it, to make sure it was legitimate and what it would do to my computer.  The update was predominately for changes to Safari, Apple's web browser.  Most of the changes looked minor.  For instance, slight changes to extensions to help them work better for more web pages.  One change took me by surprise.  Apple was doing away with the Adobe Flash service early.  Flash is, was, a program used for graphics interfacing on web pages.  The primary users were games, but any site with intensive graphics would have a use for it.  Since it was first developed, newer programs came about that worked better, especially as computers became more advanced.  So, in 2017, Adobe began to phase out the use of Flash, setting the end of 2020 as the termination date.  Apparently, Apple was setting itself up to end the use sooner than that, even before the releases of its latest operating system soon.  As of yet, I have not updated my computer, nor I am expecting to upgrade either, when the time comes.  Why you ask?  Some of the sites that still use Flash include some of my Facebook games.  Many of them are transfers from smart phones and mobile devices.  Those versions already had switched over.  The Facebook versions either did not or could not do so.  I'm not entirely sure how many of my games will go away once Flash is disabled.  The only one I know for sure is Songpop 2.  The game is quite simple.  You and an opponent listen to a music clip.  You have four choices or either artists or song titles.  The one who picks the correct answer the fastest wins the round.  After five clips, one person wins "coins" that can be used to purchase new categories, with the loser receiving just one "coin."  The faster one correctly answers, the more game points one receives.  The more correct answers one gets in a row, the more they fill out their mastery levels in the category, opening access to more clips.  This occurs even if they don't already own the category.  The more players you beat during the week, the more power-ups you get at the end of the week. The power-ups can be used to eliminate wrong answers, as well as providing bonuses in the games party mode.  In the party mode, you and four opponents try to guess ten songs.  The person who gets the most right answers in the shortest amount of time, thereby getting more points, wins.  Players spend tickets to get into these party mode games, earning more through daily bonuses or purchases. Each party mode game lasts about a day or so, with winners getting in games bonuses based on the final tallies.  I don't play the party mode that often.  I've Benn focusing on finishing out my in game achievements and category masteries.  I lack one last achievement-- playing fifty games against a single opponent in one week.  So far, the best I can do is forty-four.  It's hard finding time to play the six or seven times a day to reach fifty, especially since so many of my regular opponents aren't playing any more. I would have tried my Facebook friends, but almost none of them are being listed any more.  I should have tried going up against them when I had the chance.  The only regular opponent I can count on is the computer.  That's right.  One of my opponents is probably just a random computer pity opponent that the game uses to make sure everyone has at least one.  It took me over a year to realize the she wasn't a real person.  I could tell by the fact that her category mastery levels have never gone up from basic levels, even after getting one round with five in a row usually gets you the first level.  I'm hoping to get that last achievement before Facebook cancels the game at the end of the year.  I've already been notified.  I also am trying to master current seven categories that I am lacking in that time. I have not received any other notices about games leaving Facebook.  At least one other had used Flash, but it may have upgraded since then.  Anyway, I am so into too many of my games, that I don't dare update Safari until I absolutely have to.  Either that, or try to get an iPhone by Christmas.  Can't afford it and don't really need it, but I'll still be gaming.

Eggplants

 With so much news about celebrity scandals and such lately, I decided to put my two cents in.   I even searched the web for some of the news, and images. Today, I have decided to write about eggplants.  The eggplant is known to come in a wide variety of shapes and colors.  The typical eggplant is somewhat long with one end being slightly rounder and larger than the other.  However, some can be very long and straight.  Others are smaller and rounded.  Most eggplants come in that particular shade of reddish-purple that is difficult to be found anywhere else.  Some are paler, all but white.  Others can be found with a distinctive dark stripe.  Regardless of size, shape, and color, all eggplants can be treated in about the same way.  While fairly hard, they are known to become quite some at times, when under the proper conditions.  If one is not careful with their eggplant, one may have to go to the hospital because of not waiting for the eggplant to get in the proper state.  If one doesn't know how to properly treat an eggplant, there are many place on the internet where one can find out.  Many have images as well, so one doesn't get confused about the eggplant they have.  Just be careful in you searching, as some sites might not have the type of eggplant you are searching for.  Or maybe even more eggplants than you can deal with.  Too many eggplants can be a problem, unless one really, really, likes them.  Eggplants are frequently found with tomatoes.  I, for one, find it hard not to think of eggplants without having some of those orbs nearby.  It is practically a crime not to have the two together.  I mean, why have one without the other.  To two were made for each other.  While one could have the two separated, it would leave the eggplant incomplete.  Sure, there are other ways of having eggplant without tomatoes, but why?  I was going to have a link to some, but I had a hard time choosing.  There are just so many.  Ultimately, this one seemed to be the easiest.  Not too long or hard, but very thorough. Click here to see it.  I mean, isn't it great!  I have seen plenty of eggplants in my days, but this one is very good. Some people don't like eggplants.  I get that.  They are an acquired taste.  Either you have one, or you don't.  You either want one, or many more, or you don't.  Personally, I just like one eggplant, at a time.  More aren't really necessary for me.  All I need is my own eggplant.  I could look, and have,  at other eggplants, but most of the time, I can do without them.  As for melons.  Well, that is the subject of a whole other post.

Shall We Play a Game? Psych! Not Tonight.

 So, just after dinner last night, I went back to playing my semi-regular, weekly, six-hour, double-bonus, session of Candy Crush Saga.  I use this bonus to try a run through as many levels as possible in the limited amount of time I have.  It helps racking up secondary bonuses.  After I ran out of lives, I went to another game so I could exploit a glitch the my computer has with interacting with the game.  As I mentioned in previous posts, whenever I exit Candy Crush, the game resets to its baseline immediately after I return to it.  This means I have full lives, and I receive my first day daily bonus again, exactly as if I just signed in for the day.  This allows me to play through levels faster, since I can always get full life back any time I want just by refreshing the page, as well as getting huge numbers of the current first day bonus. It limits me to just one type of bonus, at least on my regular browser but not others.  It also means that certain side quests don't activate until I play a level.  I sometimes miss out on some bonus points for some side quest due to this.  Anyway, it is still a benefit.  Well, when I went to my second game, it didn't download.  Did I mention that I play these games only on Facebook?  Well, I do. I tried refreshing the page.  I switched browsers.  Nothing worked.  It wasn't just one game, it was three games that I play regularly, and two I don't but I still leave up just in case I want to go back.  Strangely enough, my Candy Crush games weren't effected.  Neither was my lone instant game that I have up.  Not was a trivia game I only keep up so I don't lose some of my accomplishments on it.  The situation lasted through the night.  I lost out on a large bonus on one of my games, which will probably reset to day one when it comes back on.  I missed out on two free bonuses, as well as the changed to improve my weekly score, on a second game.  The third game?  I just missed out on playing more games.  Unfortunately, it will make it harder trying to score my last achievement missing form that game before it leaves Facebook at the end of the year.  Still, I'll keep trying for it.  When I went back online this morning, at least the one game I checked on had came back.  I didn't check the others, at hat would have activated the daily bonuses on them, and I didn't have the time nor the inclination to play them so early. I had sent Facebook a message about the problem just before I logged off last night.  I don't know if that was why the game came back or not.  For all I know, it was just a side effect form Facebook's upgrade that is finishing up soon.  As long as I can still play in some form, I don't care, although I will admit to not really liking the new format that much yet.

Hanging out with My Group-ees

 I am involved with a number of online groups, compared with my actual life where I am pretty much solo.  This is partially due to my own social awkwardness.  I am just not that used to being around people any more.  Also, I don't know that many people, at least those that I think share these interests with me.  They are somewhat niche interests.  This past weekend, I was searching for a few more groups, not to join necessarily, but just to see if a I could look in on a get information.  Many of the groups were private, so I wouldn't be able to see what the online group was about, unless I tried to join.  I wasn't up for that at the time, so I didn't try to join those groups.  I looked into a few others where I discovered some I at least want to follow a bit before I decide to join.  There was also a few topics in another group that really intrigued me.  By the way, the majority of the groups I am talking about are game related.  Since I don't have a physical group to play with, at least I can converse with like-minded people and get tips and information.  Well, many times when I comment, I feel like I am faking it.  Sure, I talk a great deal, but I frequently fear that I don't have an idea what I am doing.  I have yet to post anything directly, just Like or comment.  Just last night, I was actually involved with a thread that really made me think about the game, about the ideas behind the game and its related partner game lines.  I almost posted a link to this blog, one of my older posts that has pertinent ideas to the thread.  I didn't, of course.  I was afraid that I would be breaking the group's rules, or that it was too off-topic, or that it wouldn't be accepted in the way I intended.  And so on.  I was out of touch with so much of the world for so long that there are things that are commonplace that I have little idea about what they are.  What if my favorite interests are no longer available in the ways I remember them?  I know that is slightly an exaggeration, but not by much. I just don't have the background most people have.  That is why I usually just lurk behind-the-scenes on so many public groups.  I get the information and the "conversation" I crave, I am just unable to participate unless I join.  There are times that I just want to comment on some opinion or correct a grievous mistake, but can't until I officially join. I wish I could do more in many of these groups, but I am just not social enough.  I just don't know enough to feel like an equal.

This Mystery Novel Doesn't Have a "Clue"

 I recently read the latest novel in the "Witch City" mystery series.  It stars Lee Barrett, currently a field reporter for a Salem, Massachusetts television station.  She has not had the best life.  Her parents died in a plan crash when she was four, leading her to be raised by her aunt Ibby.  After spending time at the station as a "fortune teller" hosting the late night horror movie, she went to Florida.  There, she married a NASCAR driver, who died in a terrible wreck.  Lee then moved back to Salem, living off her inheritance and her husband's life insurance, as well as a teaching a television production class at a local art school.  Soon after she returned to Salem, she was the one to find a murder victim.  This also triggered her long lost talent of scrying.  As a scryer, she can see visions of events form the past, present, and possible future when she looks into a reflective surface, such as a mirror or shiny metal.  She can't control when she gets a vision, nor can she quickly determine the meanings behind her visions.  While she investigates this crime, she meets up with police detective Pete, who later becomes her boyfriend.  In a later novel, she becomes the caretaker for O'Ryan, the former cat familiar of an actual "witch" who was also killed.  The cat seems to have abilities of its own.  In the current book, Murder, Take Two, Lee is asked by some former students to investigate a recent murder where their nephew is the prime suspect.  She easily agrees.  During her investigation, she still has to do her job at the station.  One of her assignments is covering the opening a new toy store in town.  In a slight coincidence, the store is running a promotion on the mystery board game Clue.  It is during an interview with the store owner that a mistake occurs.  The owner suggests that the famed New England game company, Parker Brothers, based the game on a famous murder that happened a century ago, one that the current murder is remarkably similar to. There's one very big problem with that theory.  Parker Brothers never developed the game; they only licensed it from England, where it was created.   The murder was never an inspiration for the game.  Even the store owner's theory on the suspects' names and the weapons are totally wrong, as the character names and weapons were altered before the game went into mass production in England. While there were some minor changes when the game came to America, done reflected any attempt to link the game with the famous murder.  Don't get me wrong, I still like the book, and the series as a whole.  I just get annoyed when an easily checked fact, such as this, slips by and editor.  Maybe the author, Carol J. Perry, wanted the connection to be made, even when it was patently wrong.  Perhaps she wanted the toy store owner to make a link that wasn't there for the sake of the plot, even though in makes Lee look unprofessional for not double-checking the facts.  I actually owned the anniversary edition of the game, which featured much of this information.  Unfortunately, I lost the game, as well as pretty much every other game I owned, back in the 2003 flood, and I have yet had to opportunity nor the interest, to repurchase any.  Still, I remembered the background material enough, as well as an article in a fairly recent issue of Games World of Puzzles magazine, to catch the mistake.  I'm just surprised no one else did before the book was published.