Unit value - learn some algebra, save some money

Today I went to buy ink for our you-beaut printer. Actually, I do really like the printer. The paper tray is enclosed, so the paper doesn't get all bent out of shape and dusty. There's a built in scanner, which is super easy to use. And the print quality is good.

But the ink is a scam.

At the store I was faced with a selection of ink for my printer. I really only needed black, but as I have no spare cartridges at home (a dangerous situation) I thought I'd grab some colour ones while I was there.

I had two size choices - normal, which is approximately 250 pages of black ink and 300 of colour ink, and XL, which is approximately 550 pages of black ink and 750 pages of colour. I'm sure the page quantities are exaggerated, based on pages with minimal printing, but that's the quantities nominated on the box.

I also had a choice of multi-packs or single packs. We are trained by ... well, I don't know what we're trained by actually ... but we are trained to think that "bigger is cheaper". But as I looked at the multi-packs I thought perhaps I was being conned. I dug out my notebook and calculator (phone) and did some quick sums.

Now, some people say algebra is a waste of time, but what I did was algebra. Taking the price of the package and dividing by the number of pages it will print will give the cost per page. Multiply that answer by 100 (for ease of comparison) gives you a cost per 100 pages.

And here's what I found:

A single black XL cartridge costs $4.72 per 100 pages.
A combo of 3 normal black cartridge (touted as being a bargain deal) costs $6.47 per 100 pages.

The cheapest way (that this store offered) to buy black ink is to buy the black and colour Xl combo box ($3.50 per 100 pages of black and $3.58 per 100 pages of colour). Online I can buy a pack of four XL black cartridges for $3.50 per 100 pages. Oddly enough, buying a pack of 15 cartridges costs $3.83 per 100, and a pack of 10 costs $4.11 - both cheaper than buying a single cartridge, but dearer than buying a four pack.

It pays to never assume that bulk is best and to work out unit prices, for which you'll need a smattering of algebra.

Drastic measures

A friend posted a rather innocuous comment yesterday about feeling at odds because there was nothing on TV, nothing happening on Facebook, and just generally feeling dissatisfied because she wasn't 'connected'. I started to think about my level of 'connection'. This morning I decided my Facebook addiction (and that is what it has become) has to come to an end.

I didn't consider complete cold turkey; I do enjoy the interaction and keeping up to date with friends and family. Heck, if I didn't post on Facebook my mum wouldn't know what I was doing in life. But I did decide that checking in every time I walked past the computer or sat down had to stop.

Taking into account my disastrous attempts to give up coffee, late nights and chocolate, I realised I would need some 'assistance' to limit my access. I have added Leechblock (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/leechblock/) to Firefox. Leechblock allows you to specify sites and add 'rules' for access; either a time limit (e.g. 1 hour) or time range (e.g. 9:00am to 9:15am). You can also set rules for what happens when you try to access the blocked site outside the rules and you can hide or block the app so you can't change the rules while they're running (that is, if the rule says only one hour, once your hour is up you can't just open the app and change it).

I haven't been too onerous. I have blocked Facebook for six hours on weekdays - 9 til 12 and 1 til 4. I haven't hidden the app or blocked it. And I've only installed it on one computer; I could still use my laptop or phone. However, I figure if I can't limit my access this way then I really do need help - professional sort of help.

Today has been quite productive. I've got things done that have needed doing for some time. I have struggled to not want to just sit and gab all morning. The three hour afternoon session seems to be a little easier.

As I've set this up on the main computer, there may be others who try to use Facebook during my blocked sessions (I couldn't find a way to block just my access). I've set up a page here on my blog (http://suebk.blogspot.com.au/p/facebook-not-available.html) that Leechblock will redirect to, if anyone tries to access Facebook in the blocked out times. If you open the page - don't worry, your Facebook account has not been blocked.

SocialFixer

If, like millions of others, you use Facebook; and if, like sane people everywhere, you avoid using Internet Explorer, then you really should be using SocialFixer. SocialFixer helps to eliminate some of the more annoying aspects of FB. I don't use all the options on offer, I doubt anyone does. The main strength of SocialFixer is it allows you to use FB how you want.

One of the main features I like is the tabbed newsfeed. My newsfeed is so full of shared photos and junk that I miss the actual going ons in my friends' lives. With the use of filters, I can push page updates, group posts, shared photos, and 'stuff' to separate tabs. I can even hide posts I just don't want to see.

The filtering use a code system I haven't used before. I'm familiar with the code needed for Microsoft macros and database programming and I'm familiar with standard Boolean code. I have never used "regular expressions" before. It's taken a bit of trial and error to work out how to filter my FB newsfeed just how I want, so I thought I'd share.


The basics (that I use and as I understand, and I'm open to helpful comments) are:

• use a / to open and close an argument /this is my argument/
• use a | to denote a "or" option /search for this|that/
• use i after the argument to make case irrelevant /search Upper or lower case/i
• .* searches for wildcards i.e. a string of characters of varying lengths and types (I can never remember how to search for an actual fullstop/period, so I don't use them in my filter strings)

My current filters are below. The filter string that I use in shown in blue. I've given some examples of the types of posts it picks up. I've used grey to show text that isn't included the filter, and orange to show text that is picked up by the wildcard (.*)
 
/added .* photo|was tagged in .*'s photo/i  - moves to Photos tab
Jane added 6 photos
Bill added a new photo
Bill added 6 new photos
Bill was tagged in Jane's photos

/shared .*'s photo|shared .*'s status update|likes a photo|.* (shared|likes) a link/i - moves to Shares tab
Jane shared Bill's photo
Jane shared Bill's status update
Bill likes a photo
Bill shared a link
Bill likes a link

One could argue why not simply use /shared .*'s/ or even /shared .*/ rather than including two strings with 'photo' and 'status update'? I have found that sometimes the more definitive string is safer. A friend may post a status update along the lines of "I shared Bill's coffee" or "We shared a coffee", which is not the same as sharing Bill's viral photo.

/added .*|changed .* profile picture|updated .* cover photo/i - moves to "Timeline" tab
Jane added Bill as a friend
Jane changed her profile picture
Jane updated his cover photo


/Group Name|Group Name/i - moves to Groups tab
Simply copy the group name from your list and use in the filter. Be aware of punctuation that requires code to be read as actual punctuation. As I mentioned, I can never remember it, so I just use 'bits' of my group names, to avoid the full stops and the like.

Pages - in the far left column of the filtering tab of SocialFixer, is a list of your friends. At the bottom of this list is a list of your pages. Simply highlight all of them, and move them to a "Pages" tab.

These five filters save me a lot of "argh" moments. My home tab is mainly status updates directly from my friends and not repeated rubbish. I'm sure there are other "standard" posts pushed through by FB; as I find them I add them to my filter strings.

Of mice and men

It's a beautiful winter's day, but the sun hasn't quite made it my living room. In the meantime, I'm using the mouse with my left hand so I can wrap my right around the tea cup and warm it up. it's strange how un-co that is. Strange because at work I always use my mouse left handed. It drives IT up the wall. But I always know when someone else has used my machine, because they never, ever return the mouse to the left.

When mice first started to become "normal", you couldn't set the speed the thing moved or reacted. I was having difficulty controlling it (bizarre thought now) and one piece of advice I read was to use it with your non-dominate hand. After a while I could use it equally comfortably with either hand. I made a decision to use it left-handed at work and right-handed at home to spread the strain. Eventual carpel tunnel in both wrists instead of one, anyone? Hubby is a leftie, so he gets to use the mouse with his non-dominate hand at home.

One other advantage of left-handed mouse use is that it's easier to keep things central and reachable. With the mouse of the right, you have to cross over the number keypad to reach it. On my smaller desk, I find I keep shoving the keyboard to the left, off centre, to have room for the mouse. With the mouse on the left, the main section of the keyboard is centred on the desk.

Our main home mouse (we have a number of computers; more computers than people actually) is symmetrical. I know you can get lovely ergonomic mice, but have you noticed they are for righties? I've avoided them because there is a leftie in the house and because of my mouse-ambidexterity. So, if this mouse is completely symetrical, and I'm used to using a mouse left-handed for five or six hours a day, why does it feel so awkward to use it left-handed?

Bit of a moot point now. My tea is drunk, my cup is cold and I can move the mouse back to 'where it belongs'.

Unique passwords

Passwords are surely the bugbear of modern life. This site wants at least eight mixed alpha/numerical, this one wants four numbers, this one will only allow six characters with no specials. Sigh. Of course, the really annoying thing is not creating these, or even remembering them. It's remembering what the rules were for the site when you return to it. Thankfully, as security is studied and a becomes a measured science, more and more sites are beginning to use the same rules - usually "at least" six or eight characters, with a mix of alpha/numerical and the occasional capital letter, please.
Years ago our ISP assigned us a password. It was just an odd collection of letters and numbers. We created a crazy sentence to try and remember it. If we needed a shorter password, we stopped part way through the sentence. However, the current advice is to regularly change your password, don't use the same password for everything. This is just adding confusion upon confusion.
I think I have worked out a way to at least use a different password for every site and still know what it is. For what it's worth - here's my trick:

Think of a sentence that includes the name of the site. For example (and this is NOT one I've used, so don't bother trying it) - I love Google mostly for wasting time now.

Shorten it to just the initial letters, keeping the capital letters — IlGmfwtn. This is eight letters long.  If you're only allowed, say, four letters, just use IlGm.

Substitute numbers for obvious letters (I or O or 'for') - 1lGm4wtn.

For every site, you simply use the same combination of letters and numbers, substituting an appropriate letter/letters for the site name. If you want to write down your passwords, just keep a list of the site and the letter/letters you using. For example:

I love passwords
Google - G
Games Manic - GM
Grinners are Winners - G (6)

Without your coded sentence the list is useless to anyone else. But you can read this as "this is a list of passwords using my "I love" sentence. The Grinners are Winners is s six letter password. All the others are the standard eight letters.

Facebook privacy

I'm not an expert at FB, although I really should be given how much I'm on the site.There is so much confusion about the privacy of people's posts, I thought I'd share just a little tid-bit. People post mile long dribble about "hover over my name and click this or that". Rubbish, people, absolute rubbish.

Simply put, for the most part (with some exceptions), you control who sees your posts. Here's how - set all your privacy settings to "FRIENDS ONLY". It's really that simple.

Here's how you know if you've done it right: at the bottom right hand side of the status update box it will say "public", "friends", "only me" or "custom". If your overall privacy settings are set to "Friends" it will say "Friends".

See the tick next to friends? That's what you want!

Say I update my status, with privacy set to "friends". Friend #1 comments on it, her friends will see it in their ticker feed IF (and only if) they are also my friends.

The top post is set to public, if I comment on this post everyone and anyone can potentially see my comments - FBUser #10 friends and their friends (including my friends). The bottom post is set to friends only - the only people who will see my posts are FBUser #16's friends - not my friends, but FBUser #16's friends.

You might be looking at your ticker feed and seeing a whole bunch of names you don't know. Usually it goes "Friend commented on Stranger's post". Click that post and you will find that "Stranger's" post was set to public.

In this ticker feed example. I know FBUser #42; I do not know FBUser #41, but note that their posts setting is "Public".

So, the upshot is:
- if you want the world to see your message, use the public setting (and be prepared to wear the consequences, both good and bad)
- if you just want to communicate with YOUR friends, use the friends setting.

At the beginning I said "with some exceptions". If my post is set to "friends", someone is tagged (either by me in the original or by a friend in their comments) my post is now shared with the tagged person's friends.

If I post and tag my husband - all of my friends AND all of his friends can see my post.

If I post and Friend#234 comments and tags their friend #45, all of my friends and all of #45's friends (even though I don't know them) can see my post. So, beware of who is being tagged in your comments!

(Note, my screenshots may not look exactly like yours. I use Social Fixer (https://www.facebook.com/Socialfixer) which is a wonderful browser add-on for removing some of the annoying features of FB.)