Happy Monday to all and sundry.

Today, I have a complaint. I want to complain that I am tired of hearing (or rather, reading) other people complain that they are tired of reading/receiving unwanted Facebook Applications.

Today, I would like to empower you with a simple thought: YOU actually do have the power to end your misery, rather than to simply complain about it. Facebook has provided you with the tools to solve this problem, but to know that, you would have to have read the fine print. And I understand - clearly fine print reading is not something that everyone can be bothered to do - specifically not when they are supposed to be "having a good time." No. We'd rather complain. But, as the adage clearly states: "the Devil is in the Details." So, I'll give you a quick crash course - do pay attention!

1. REMOVE APPS FROM YOUR NEWS FEED

a. At the top of your home page, make sure you have clicked NEWS FEED. (See Example 1)

b. After you've changed your home page feed to NEWS FEED, scroll to the very bottom, and click EDIT OPTIONS. (See Example 2)

c. When your EDIT OPTIONS screen opens, it should resemble EXAMPLE 3. (See Example 3) If it does not, it means you are still in the "LIVE FEED" and you need to scroll back to the top and change over to your NEWS FEED and try again. If you have not blocked any person or application before from your news feed, this box will appear blank. As you can see, I have blocked numerous applications and some people (we wont even delve into the "persons" I've blocked). You will not see this unless you have already blocked someone or an application (and you have no need of this note!) At the top of the box simply switch between Friends or Applications to re-add the applications or friends back to your news feed.

d. The business of actually hiding applications (or friends) from your NEWS/LIVE FEED is thus: when you see the hated application (or person's status), simply mouse over it, and click the "HIDE" icon that pops up to the right of it. You will be prompted to confirm that you want said status or application hidden from your future news feed. (See Examples 4 & 5)

e. Voila! Pat yourself on the back you maestro of Facebook minutia! The next time you check your EDIT OPTIONS at the bottom of your NEWS FEED, you'll see that you, too, have blocked applications. Breathe deeply, my friend - that's the smell of an App Free News Feed. (The apps you want to stay, stay, of course!)

2. BLOCK UNWANTED APPLICATION INVITES

a. This one is easy peasy. In small print, directly below the application invitation, there is a link that says: BLOCK THIS APPLICATION or IGNORE ALL INVITES FROM THIS FRIEND. Click the appropriate link. (See Example 6)

b. At this point, you see the confirmation screens as shown in Examples 7 & 8. Simply click whichever works for you. (See Example 7 & 8)

Done, and done! Now, instead of being inundated with apps, you can literally DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. And because this is a one-sided fix on your end, you needn't even let your friends know you are annoyed with their pesky applications - you simply fix it, and no one is the wiser. Always a win-win solution! ;)

Enjoy your day!

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The Hat Confessional No.2: The Souvenir Hat

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The Hat Confessional No.1: Cubs v. Bears

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And the #1 viewed JolietChurch Youtube video so far is....

clocking in at 1,976 views since posting - for a home brewed christian video - NOT TOO SHABBY!




with Number 2 clocking in at 1,111 views, its


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Another Free Scoreboard!

By the by, was browsing around on the topic again before our church's annual New Year's game, and found yet ANOTHER free scoreboard program. 

The link is at

http://www.zenbasketball.com/news/stories/2009_02_17_scoreboard.html
 
This scoreboard is great as well, because it is Flash based, and allows you to operate it with the MOUSE, and not with keystrokes. This is huge positive, because I have found that for me the gameplay goes so fast that I occasionally have to remind myself what keys go with what function for the program, and god forbid, sometimes I hit the wrong key and give the wrong team a foul or point, and end up having to correct it! Im hoping that with the mouse interface, this sort of delay and error will cease to be a problem.

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A (Bad) Sonnet to 30

Oh, 30. How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways. 
I loathe thee to the dark and deep and dank 
Place in my life: the utter reaches of life's other bank 
That marks the end of Youth and Innocence. 
I loathe thee without recompense. 
Yet on thou cometh, and hope rising, sank. 
I loathe thee with resignation, as I walk the Aged Plank. 
I loathe thee with regret, as men wish for more time. 
I loathe thee with the impulsiveness untamed In my youth, and with a laundry list of things To Do Before 30. 
I loathe thee with a fear so common, yet unnamed 
That I'll be this forever - I loathe thee for catching me unready 
To pass this watermark! - and if God be blamed For time? 
I shall try to not fear thee so.

based on EBB's Sonnet from the Portuguese #XLII

http://www3.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/literature/elizabethbarrettbrowning/poems/sonnetsfromtheportuguese/howdoilovetheeletmecounttheways.html
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Free Scoreboard Software

Ran across this thread in my search for scoreboard software last weekend. I do the web page for my church, and recently, began announcing the basketball games. Our scoreboard died, so I decided to project a scoreboard from my laptop onto a larger monitor. I could find nothing free last weekend, so I paid for the Golasso Basetball Scoreboard 2009. (about $50)

Then, I continued searching, because I wanted to modify the program, and ran across these 2 free Scoreboard programs that made me wish I had waited before spending my money! Hope someone is able to benefit from them.

1. http://www.acahoops.com/ (They have a program called Laptop Scoreboard v. 1.4)

2. BaileyVision Scoreboard for Windows -(http://download.cnet.com/BaileyVision-Scoreboard-For-Windows/3000-7427_4-10738114.html) this program is AWESOME! and free. I just found it today and will be using it next weekend. The nice thing I like about it as opposed to Golasso and the Laptop Scoreboard is that it has the Shot Clock and Time Out buzzers and game ending horn integrated into the program so i dont have to press a separate button. This one is just the most versatile of the free programs. Thank the Lord!!

There's also a free JAVA one I found, but I didnt have time to fully familiarize myself with it. I may later. Its here:

3. JAVA Scoreboard: (http://java-scoreboard.sourceforge.net/)

And finally, there's a several others that are not really up to par or for basketball per se, but an experienced programmer may be able to modify them.

4. Yahoo Scoreboard Widget: (http://widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/scoreboard)

5. ScoreMaster 2: (http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/mkellytecy/488186)

I hope this helps shorten someone else's search. I looked for days.

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