We've noticed that comments submitted from Apple Safari (Mac or iPhone) are dropped without any notification if the blog is set with Comment location = Embedded. Having set it to Pop up (I think), it worked. We're going to try some more tests. That's what this post is for! From the comments testing we discovered some useful things: Using Comment location = embedded: Is necessary to enable replying to specific comments. Comments posted from Safari (laptop or iOS) are silently dropped. It looks to the person posting the comment that it went through, but the blog moderator sees no sign of it at all. Using Comment location = Pop up or Full page: Inhibits option to reply to other comments – no comment threads Enables comments from Safari The trade-off is clear. Losing comments from people who think they submitted them successfully is not acceptable. Particularly from a prominent browser (currently estimated to be a bit less than 4% of users). I just hate to lose comment threadin...

I'm copying the following from a post by someone else - a fellow named Rex, on a mailing list named Twister - because Rex is one of those rare people who basically is always sensible and informative when he speaks - always worth listening - and I'm hungry for some clear perspective on COVID-19, and think others might appreciate it, too. A nd, selfishly, have an easy place to find it for my own future reference. To not get too carried away, though the guy is smart he's does not omniscient, and things might develop differently than he expects. I find this helps me get a sense of proportion on what is currently known, but not more than that. Ken March 3, Rex: It's a virus which hopped from animals to people.  Happens now and then. Kinda flu-like symptoms, but greater severity, especially for older or unwell people.  There have been influenza strains that are approximately as bad, but not for a long time.  (The H1N1 outbreak of 1918 probably had slightly lower mor...

In Google Calendar's (current) default configuration there's an opening for unlimited spamming, with an opportunity for dangerous phishing links. There's a Google Calendar setting that closes that opening, but in a way that also closes some information flow in legitimate collaboration with known colleagues. The details are a good example of the intricacy and difficulty in adequate requirements analysis. The problem is in what happens when someone creates a calendar event that include you as a guest. The person including you can elect to send out notifications to the event guests via email. Your calendar has a setting which regulates when a calendar entry is automatically created for events of which you are a guest: "Automatically add invitations" (in General > Event settings) Here are the options: Yes Yes, but don't send event notifications unless I have responded "Yes" or "Maybe" No, only show invitations to which I have ...

For a long time I've needed a website platform that is versatile while also being easy to use and maintain. I've found that I can use Google Sites, in combination with a minimal paid G Suite Basic account, and satisfy my rather stringent requirements better than I could have hoped. In the process of the evaluation I've gotten clearer about my requirements. That clarity, plus some nuances in the way I'm achieving them, is worth describing. Here are my crucial criteria: Easy to use and navigate. The editing interface is fairly simple and easy to use, and the nuances, to get complex functionality, are of the sort that I like - discoverable, if you ask sensible questions. Page layout is fairly easy to understand and employ. It's sometimes constraining, but that can actually be a good thing for me, in so far as it tames my tendencies to communicate in overly elaborate ways. The constraints have not prevented me from doing any of the sophisticated things that I act...

My first blog post is a good opportunity to introduce myself, and a good starting place for that is a confession: I'm a bit of a "depth junkie". I like to explore, to understand how things fit together, to build stuff, to develop - abilities, understandings, designs, opportunities. I'm not very quick at it - I'm almost 60 and haven't been married nor had kids. I spent some of that time occupied by digestive problems from infancy that reoccurred in my late teens. I feel I started to get a handle on them in my twenties, and eventually returned to being fairly healthy, but I continue to contend with and be puzzled by new twists and turns. I have had some work successes but am still striving to develop insight and expertise the area where I'd most like to concentrate. I always go for a walk after my daily meal, and I do not walk fast. I am patient, and curious, and willing to play the cards I have been dealt and see how I can make the best of this life. Grad...