First of all, I hope y’all understand and have some sympathy for why I’ve left my blog on autopilot recently. It’s not just that I’m lazy. Winter is kicking my ass and I’ve got a million irons in the fire. Extreme weather burns too much of my limited time keeping pipes and chicken waterers thawed. Something had to give. The blog was volunteered to take the hit.
Sooner or later I’ll warm up. Then I’ll get my shit together and have time to generate more original posts. Don’t bail on me. I’ll be back!
Second, something went wonky with one of the endless updates to WordPress software. I have bits of code called widgets on the left side of my blog. Some are links to cool shit I like from Amazon. I get a small kickback from Amazon if you buy the items (or anything else) from those links.
With such a seemingly simple task it should be a no-brainer. However, the fluid world of the internet conspires against me. That’s one of the things I hate most about digital media. If I write shit on a piece of paper, it will still be there until I’m dead. If I write shit in bits and bytes and some wingnut in an office in a a different timezone barks the word synergy and my stuff gets scrambled. You’ve all experienced this in your lives too.
Apparently most of my widgets are “legacy” and they’re getting funky. (Yes “widget” is the the whimsical term the dipshits use. I can only assume someone with a business degree and excellent hair but no brain came up with that term. Is there something wrong with adult words like “code” or “plugin”? But I digress.)
Meanwhile, my browsers (yes, I use a variety of browsers, doesn’t everyone?) don’t necessarily display WordPress widgets in a way I can see them. Most of my browsers are set to eradicate advertisements on sight; which includes (ironically) my own links to Amazon. Note, if you’re not using some privacy based browser with paranoid and vicious settings stop reading right now and fix your shit. You don’t need data collectors crawling up your ass any more than I do. I like Brave but your mileage may vary. I use several different browsers. I also use VPS and various operating systems too. Remember this, loyalty to software is dumb.
This created a conundrum. I can’t see what I (or an update) might have fucked up because most ads are nuked before I know it. Thus, I can’t easily rectify the situation. (Chew on that logic. Because I can’t see the fuck up, therefore fixing it is hard. I’m pretty sure I share this trait with the president. I also like ice cream.)
This post is a diagnostic tool and storage place. I like all the links and don’t want to simply lose them. I decided to paste those old widgets to this new realm. Can you see them?
Eventually I’ll figure out a more efficient solution… possibly just dumping Amazon altogether or maybe some other idea. But this ought to hold the line while I go plow snow for the umpteenth time.
Stay warm!
