Google Analytics and Blogger Stats

The data reported here seems to be via two independent methods. In the case of this blog I use both Google Analytics and the built-in Statistics that is part of Blogger. I can see that there are far more visits recorded by Blogger that appear in my GA reports. This is also strange as I have  told Blogger not to record my own visits, something that I previously did with GA but gave up as it used cookies and required more programming.

I am surmising that the discrepancies are due to visits from those that are suppressing Javascripts but I am not sure if Blogger excludes visits from spiders. On the later I would think that Blogger does suppress Googlebot as it is part of its own DNA so to speak. However, I do see that a newly posted entry gets a visit soon after posting and I assume that is the first scan by the robot and have observed that the entry can then be found when making a Google Search. This is an indication that the new page is in the Google index.

This is not a problem for me as the combination of the two tracking methods allows me to get a pretty good idea of who is visiting and what they are interested in. The additional information that I can get from Google Analytics is useful as I can see geographic location and time of access more readily, but this is just icing on the cake.

As one of the reasons for running a website and this blog were to understand the dynamics of all this it is of little consequence to me that there are these differences. However, it is an interesting point to note and is in keeping with the over-all trust of my sites. As I am decommissioning my Canadian website, I don't intend to renew the current hosting when it expires I am relying less and less on what I see in the Analytics reports. I am also migrating some of the content from my Canadian domain to a UK one, but that is getting only limited response (in compared to this blog) so I might just continue with this blog exclusively. 

Strimmer fixed

The clutch spring from Einhell finally arrived. Fitting it was a question of taking off both shoes and attaching the spring so that they are pulled together. This is not easy as you have to fight with the spring, the solution was to stand on the shoes having offered them together at an angle I used a piece of cardboard to prevent the shoes getting scratched, as that possibly would have scored the inside of the clutch.

I should get around to posting the photos of the disassembled strimmer so that anyone else who has an Aldi 2-in-1 Grass trimmer/Brush cutter can see how to replace the clutch spring.

EU Lawmakers and Google

The latest fine imposed on Google for misleading the public in their shopping habits is a prime example of why voted to leave. The EU seems to think that we are all stupid in that if we make an Internet search we are not able to disseminate the results. The fact that there may be a bias that favours their own interests is obvious. It does not mean that this is unfair, it is just up to us to make our own determination of what is true and what is the best way to make a purchase (if this was the reason for out search). Google is a private company not a public service, is their any wonder that they may be promoting items where their business model makes money?

The last time that I made a comment on the EU and their stupidity regarding Internet searches was in relation to the "Right to be forgotten" legislation. In which the proposal was that outdated information about individuals would be excluded from search results when some searched for their name. I made a comment that I could not even search for my own name - this did not turn out to be the case and you can find out information that way, largely incorrect I might add!

The EU lawmakers seem to think that they are the guardians of the Internet and want to protect their citizens from "Big Brother". In the case of Microsoft and their inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows was a case in point. It was not as if there are not alternative browsers, they didn't have to insist that a special version of Windows be produced for the European market without I.E. being the default browser. As far as I know this ruling has been about as effective as the "Right to be Forgotten", and there are no differences in the versions of Windows that I have purchased recently in Europe. Perhaps the EU determined that the UK had already left the union?

It is my contention that Google's approach to this is more of a competition with the likes of Amazon. This is all part of doing business in the Internet age. I do have a problem with the fact that rulings like this have an effect on the share price. I personally see a fall of thousands of $US in my holdings of Alphabet stock. I also own Amazon, so that probably balances it out.

Why I maintain this blog

Basically to get things off my chest. My wide following of visitors seem to be interested in what I post and, hopefully, find some interesting information on people and services that I comment on.

As you will see if you take the trouble to look around at some of the posts on this blog the subject matter is very wide and is not restricted to a particular topic. Unlike many blogs and websites this blog does not focus on a particular agenda such as the promotion of a political ideology, discussion of a particular technology or certainly not as a means to discredit an individual that I disagree with.

The difference between a Blog and a Website.

A blog is essentially a chronological account with the most recent post appearing first when the site is accessed. In this case that post becomes the "Home" page of the blog. With a "website" you can choose a "home" page.

The navigation of a blog is mainly via a calendar list of posts. A Website would have to have a specially designed menu system. As such the blog will display the last item that the author has posted to the blog. This may not be the intention of the owner of the blog.

A blog is generally easier to maintain as all the "overhead" is taken care of by the blogging software. If you run your own design of website you are responsible for not only the HTML of the pages but also the upload and organisation of the files on an Internet server. It is far easier to maintain a user feedback mechanism in the way of comments using a blog as the moderation and handling of those comments is taken care of by the blogging software. If you have just an email link on your website you will have to administer that separately from the blog. While it is possible to include a comment facility on a website, it is no trivial task. Typically the communication portal outside the blogging environment is a prime target for hackers and you will find that most of your time will be spent dealing with blog spam. However, some blogging software such as Wordpress, suffers from the same problems with respect to spam.

Using a blog or website to discredit. 

While this can be done there are far better ways of using the Internet to make your point. In the days of Social Media there are many ways to post vitriol about someone that you have an issue.

As most of the population spend many of their waking hours on-line using Social Media, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter would be the obvious choice for such an attack. Donald Trump makes a lot of capital using his Twitter account. The only problem with these platforms is that you have to be famous in the first place for people to follow you and to make your their friends. However, this is where the majority of the action is on-line these days and the users of such platforms are not likely to follow blogs or visit random websites. Sure, these users will make the odd Internet search (often for their own names or for people that they know), but the major source of information and news is from the "new normal" of Social Media. Not that a blog is not part of the Social Media mix, it is just one that requires the average Internet user more effort to participate in.

and there is You Tube.

Another form of Social Media that seems to be popular these days.

Articles of Dissolution

The graphic of a copy of my "Articles of Dissolution" was of interest to someone in Montreal yesterday.

I am not sure why as the corporation name had been removed as was the corporation number. The date of dissolution was still there and I guess that could be used to track down my details if that was the intention of the visit. Again, I am not sure what value this would be as I never ever did any business under the corporation named on the Articles.

I need to post more photos

Problem is that I take them on the Surface and I have forgotten my Google password. I could reset it but I am too lazy to get my partners mobile phone so that I can receive a text with the code that I will need to reset it. In any case my Lenovo is permanently logged in and I don't want to change the login just for that.

I have a lot more of the house and garden to post. I even have one of the centrifugal clutch, showing where the spring is fitted and so that I can see where it is when I finally get the part and I have to take it apart again. I guess I could still use the trimmer with the clutch permanently engaged if I am careful with it. Still, the best bet with nettles is to pull them by the root.

The "back forty" is looking much better now that I have got the Blackthorn under control. I have had a few bonfires now and the one last week was alight from Monday until Saturday. The pheasants are having a field-day with all the ash in the old fire. I have a new one on the other side past where the thicket was. Some old raggedy cedars have been taken down and I can now see the fields beyond the lower drain much better. There was much activity yesterday taking the hay bails away to be stored. I also thing that the farmer was also checking to see where all the chainsaw noise and smoke was coming from.

I really need to get back to dredging the pond and the Bergamot is growing back around the western bank. The ducklings seem to have moved on as I have not seen them for a couple of days. I can also continue with clearing the stream and the lower pond as that was popular with Mrs. Duck and her 3 youngsters. 

Centrifugal clutch

The spring on the centrifugal clutch on my "Whip-a-Snipper" (Strimmer in the UK) broke and the head rotates continuously. I don't think that it is safe and I have ordered a replacement. The Blackthorn thicket is coming on quite well but I cannot strim the groind I have exposed. Still, pulling nettles out by the root is probably for the best.

I can now see into the field at the foot of the property. The farmers were harvesting hay on the weekend and there are now a nice arrangement of plastic wrapped bales in view now. Maybe we will see some horses or cows in the fields now.

Encryption vs. Privacy

This has been a subject that I have been blogging about for some time.

On a personal note I don't really care about my own privacy. I can make myself as anonymous as I require. I am aware that anything you do online is potentially there for anyone to see. The use of end-to-end encryption is something that I have been interested in from an academic perspective, although I don't have a requirement for such methods myself.

There have been those that have suggested that end-to-end encryption be banned as it denies the LEAs the ability to detect the planning of terrorists. However, there are others that continue to promote the use of such methods to keep us all safe.

Many make a big deal about privacy, I personally don't really care that there are people "listening in" to what I have to say. I am not doing anything that could be construed as illegal or a threat to my security or anybody else's. Encryption and security part and parcel of how we all carry on business over the Internet, otherwise whose that see fit to exploit us would have a much easier job.

The use of encryption is essential for the operation of electronic communication and business transactions. Without it everything would laid bare. There is no "half-way-house", you cannot suggest that communication platforms, such as Snapchat, do away with the use of encryption or insist that "backdoors" be inserted into all manner of software.

The banking community is also ready to embrace Blockchain technology to make transactions more secure in the future. The concept of a "Distributed Ledger" kinda flies in the face of those that both condemn the actions of terrorists and those that use BitCoin on the Dark Web. They are all intrinsically entwined with the extensive use of cryptography and encryption.

The problem is that all this technology has gone far beyond the level of understanding of those that we elect to govern us. All we get are nonsense statements  and "knee-jerk" reactions at the latest crisis. These include hacking attacks and terrorism.

Privacy is just an additional benefit of all this and something that cannot be sacrificed for an increase in matters that "keep us safe".

and then there is You Tube

I have posted about my distain for this form of Social Media.

Whereas I have watched few You Tubes and have found some useful information from them. However, in most cases the media is really a nonsense - content is poor and in the most part self-serving. Those that post videos are ding so for their own self promotion and their "3 minutes of fame".

I particularly find that the comments are particularly puerile. Those that make the comments are worse than those that post them (IMO).

I have recently been witness to a series of You Tube videos that ate beyond stupid. These videos are just ramblings from a disgruntled client of a company who was supposed to help their business grow by re-vamping their website. The people, or one person in particular, with the company providing the alleged website upgrade has also participated in the same nonsense of posting such videos.

The posting of a video that purely consists of the camera pointing at a computer monitor and a half coherent commentary hardly make for compulsive viewing. The computer screens are supposedly proof that a fraud and a scam has been perpetrated and all they really are just things that have been found on the Internet. Many of these are from my website and blog. Permission for which was not sort or given for their use, even if they are in the Public Sector.

Am I supposed to care about who is selling whose car (vehicle)? and how is this a matter of Public Safety?

Video Blogging has also found a following and those that are too lazy to type found  that they could achieve the same result by sitting in front of their webcam. An example of this was that of Texas Fred, who took his whole blog down due the abuse that he was getting from his followers. He said that he would close it if Hillary won the US election but continued even when Donald made it to the White House. His form of political rhetoric was particularly amusing as is his use of the word "Lib-tard".

Getting a website shut-down

and barring the author access to the Internet.

There are only a very few cases where this is possible. These include where a Nation-State has the power to block and pursue criminal proceedings against the operator who is engaging in activity that is disadvantageous to the State. This would include the promotion of terrorism and hate, possibly the commission of other criminal acts. In many cases some Nation-States, such as China, Internet content is highly controlled as there is a great desire to limit what their citizens see of the outside world.

As a private citizen, or an enterprise, you are not likely to be in any position to have content removed from the Internet and the authors of websites banned from posting their thoughts on any subject. You may not like what they say, but the Internet is largely an open forum for free-speech.

It has been claimed that I have had my website shut down and that I was banned from the Internet. This was not the case. At the time I was self-hosting my website on my Rogers cable connection using a Linux server in my basement. I was not sure if this was allowed under the EUA that I had with Rogers but they did not seem to care. The unfortunate consequence of using my home connection to host a website was that the I address resolved to the location of the Rogers server. A person that I was having a dispute with at the time, it is presumed,  contacted Rogers and asked to have my connection revoked. They did not do this and in fact never contacted me about the matter. However, at the same time I decided that my experiment with self-hosting had come to a conclusion so I reverted to a private hosting service. The process to migrate to this service took some time. At no time was my Internet connection disrupted.

As I said, a waste of time!

and money. Now we have to face Brexit with a hung parliament!

The most interesting thing yesterday was watching James Comey's testimony at the Senate Intelligence committee. At the time of writing this I don't think that "The Donald" has Tweeted a comment on this - we shall see as he has to do something when he has his early morning pee.

Election day

What a total waste of time!

Let's hope that folks are sensible enough not to elect Jeremy Corbin to PM. Theresa May is bad enough.

At least the EU negotiations can be returned to. Not that I expect that anyone is going to agree to anything anytime soon. I predict that the UK will exit the EU many years hence, if ever. The whole point in getting out is that it takes so long to come to a decision about anything. It is a true Catch-22 in the political sense:

You have to try and come to a resolution (not being mad) with a political body that is dysfunctional (mad). You have to be mad to want to be a member of such a body.

Comey's testimony is fascinating

I wonder how Donald will respond?

The concept of "independence" seems to be beyond Trump. The FBI is not a "tool" that he has at his bidding, at least I hope not. "Loyalty" is what he wanted, "Honesty" is what he got. Let's not talk in public (or with others to hear) , a "one-on-one" is the way to go. A good job that there were no secret recordings made!!

... and what does "misleading the vice president" mean?

“Because I have been very loyal to you, very loyal; we had that thing you know" - "That thing"?

I can't believe that we actually live here!

Why did we spend so long in Canada? True, it was a good place to accumulate some wealth, but the cultural and natural beauty of where we live is far superior to Ontario, or at least around Toronto.

The intention was to buy a property in the UK, it still is, but where we are currently renting is almost perfect. More land than we would probably purchase, but all the garden work and firewood you could ask for.

Blackthorn Thicket

Work continues on the clearance.

It is really nasty stuff it is not called BlackTHORN for nothing! In some places it is as high as the canopy of the original trees and cutting the trunks of the Blackthorn just leaves it hanging with the top still entangled in the canopy. It is a miracle that I have not bent the bar of the chainsaw yet as it inevitably gets stuck in the trunk of the Blackthorn when a cut is made.

Still, there will be plenty of firewood.

The audacity in calling me a Terrorist!

In light of current events I think that it is rather rich that Wayne McAlpine did this in an email to me and subsequently posting it on one of his stupid websites that he set up in an attempt to discredit me.

The recent terror attacks in Manchester and London are real terror attacks not the simple posting of an opinion about someone's business and ethical practises. This is just what Wayne McAlpine did. It is clear that he has no idea what true terrorism is and he should be called out on that fact. I urge anyone reading this to contact him and tell him that you think that he is despicable and should not accuse those that are clearly not involved in violent acts that they are tarred with the same brush.

Wayne McAlpine tried to liken the use of a pseudonym and making anonymous comment on his and his business associates as an act of terror. I guess this was on the strength that the so-called "victims" did not no for sure who was making the claims about them and there was nothing that they could do defend themselves.

The real nature of  terrorism is that the perpetrators are well known, as with the case of Islamic State. Far from being an unknown threat we are all too aware of the threat that they posed on society today. Far removed from the petty squabbles of a "second-rate" failed business person from Saskatoon, Canada.

Guide to Suffolk Churches

A really great guide to these churches can be found here.

Sam (D.P.) Mortlock is our "go-to" for our visits.

Climate change is a bit like God

.... in that neither exist and the only ones that believe in them are those such  as the Pope.

Who cares about saving the planet, as long as America is Great again!

Deleting comments on posts

.... in such a way that prevents someone who is being criticised from giving their side of the story.

While I have deleted some comments on my posts, I have never deleted any that raise a contrary view to my own. To someone to suggest that a reason for not allowing comments on a blog/website that they created with the expressed purpose to discredit what I have posted about them, is that they have commented on this blog, and I have deleted those comments, is preposterous.