Today Google announced its going to end Picasa starting in May. I've been using Picasa for a couple months now because Google Photos won't give me a clear link to my pictures thats suitable for using in this blog. I wrote about it back in December and the problem still exists for the same reason.
So what Google is going to do is make Google Photos effectively useless to me. If that goes down the way it looks like its going to I'll probably go back to Photobucket. I left them because their website is insanely slow... I should ask around and find if going the paid route with PB is faster than their free system. If thats true it might actually be worth it.
Showing posts with label rants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rants. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Oh Google, you're going to make me drink
So the pics clearly are not fixed, or not reliably anyway. Strange that some of my Google Photos show just fine and some don't.
Anyway today I discovered that since Picasa is part of the Google family my Google Photos are available through there. Perhaps I can get Picasa to give me clear links to the photos which Google Photos won't.
Turns out that Picasa will indeed provide a clear link. Heres an example of what I'm talking about. Here's a picture of potatoes harvested from our garden:
Here's the link Picasa provides: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YCXP_OgIDJs/VdH5KfSZ3-I/AAAAAAAAAgc/thAfLdZJvqI/s800-Ic42/IMG_20150817_100726153.jpg
Notice how it ends in "IMG_20150817_100726153.jpg" this is what I refer to as a "clear link", meaning its an actual web path to the actual file residing on some server somewhere.
For the same image Google Photos provides: https://goo.gl/photos/A9nPix8cVc67MDn49
This is not a clear link, it takes you to a web page, not the picture. I got that using the "share" link in the photo, the alternative is what I did with Picasa, right click on the image and choose "Copy image address" which is something it would appear Google doesn't want you to do because sometimes you need to right click two, three or four times before you can get that option. Anyway the link it provides looks like this: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NJEes5mtUxLWrPHn0tAbFdGnUw0pdccXbdWnFOnqN8Nx9XhW_sWwAeOEEQOGMqU8DV9IGkld4pmXOlnGZ8w39ZBi0Dn_gfIKUd-wsQd8oPBPYxSPWMRFJKDz7XhQd9hSlHjdMLv815pEMRze7ZgU-imMMZ5uimU4GAeMf-yGtrsRyW4FdRYsuyeMKLvA28alg_gEAucDbhIOM_JkfEzdu8RbMTCux3CqtqT_R5myHkBDq04XQWkHOqL1LvwUKcWF0a-xWJZ49NCwKyGTktf7IiFJTbFGofe23v7-vDSJj6yaeovmv-Q4pf-nQ5m_8qyn7Manx0h52lel7IrQart3uLi52INL6jEfn4XQYUFns-CZE5YoL_1xaGQBcl11CK5p4H9wYGkD3k_LTgJ2d3Ww5QJG12rMZRmq1VlIHafT91f3G5aqT7uqPZ9lyxW2QXCGSdJqfX9sS66CsTl2qc9mvxcmCbd8AE5LmKYGsrppdVu4bvHlI4tzUNANew2ggB_DayxAU532I_Kg3VP6NJB2LA-0zma5Dqf6QMDWjUWP0TDsgzb_7Z-N4silHcjljJyyCm83=w1216-h2158-no
which is sort of a direct link in that it takes you directly to the photo but it isn't a clear link because theres no file name in it. Because theres no file name its useless for posting pictures on webpages and I think this is the reason Blogger has been having a hard time with it. Interestingly my wick lantern post hasn't had half the issues some of the others have and I don't know why...
Anyway hollar at me if you can see the pictures on the first couple posts below, if it doesn't work this time I'll go back to Photobucket. PB has a pretty good system for providing clear links but their web page is soooo sloooow it takes forever to work with. I think they do this so you'll click on the ads, but thats not working for me at all...
Anyway today I discovered that since Picasa is part of the Google family my Google Photos are available through there. Perhaps I can get Picasa to give me clear links to the photos which Google Photos won't.
Turns out that Picasa will indeed provide a clear link. Heres an example of what I'm talking about. Here's a picture of potatoes harvested from our garden:
Here's the link Picasa provides: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YCXP_OgIDJs/VdH5KfSZ3-I/AAAAAAAAAgc/thAfLdZJvqI/s800-Ic42/IMG_20150817_100726153.jpg
Notice how it ends in "IMG_20150817_100726153.jpg" this is what I refer to as a "clear link", meaning its an actual web path to the actual file residing on some server somewhere.
For the same image Google Photos provides: https://goo.gl/photos/A9nPix8cVc67MDn49
This is not a clear link, it takes you to a web page, not the picture. I got that using the "share" link in the photo, the alternative is what I did with Picasa, right click on the image and choose "Copy image address" which is something it would appear Google doesn't want you to do because sometimes you need to right click two, three or four times before you can get that option. Anyway the link it provides looks like this: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NJEes5mtUxLWrPHn0tAbFdGnUw0pdccXbdWnFOnqN8Nx9XhW_sWwAeOEEQOGMqU8DV9IGkld4pmXOlnGZ8w39ZBi0Dn_gfIKUd-wsQd8oPBPYxSPWMRFJKDz7XhQd9hSlHjdMLv815pEMRze7ZgU-imMMZ5uimU4GAeMf-yGtrsRyW4FdRYsuyeMKLvA28alg_gEAucDbhIOM_JkfEzdu8RbMTCux3CqtqT_R5myHkBDq04XQWkHOqL1LvwUKcWF0a-xWJZ49NCwKyGTktf7IiFJTbFGofe23v7-vDSJj6yaeovmv-Q4pf-nQ5m_8qyn7Manx0h52lel7IrQart3uLi52INL6jEfn4XQYUFns-CZE5YoL_1xaGQBcl11CK5p4H9wYGkD3k_LTgJ2d3Ww5QJG12rMZRmq1VlIHafT91f3G5aqT7uqPZ9lyxW2QXCGSdJqfX9sS66CsTl2qc9mvxcmCbd8AE5LmKYGsrppdVu4bvHlI4tzUNANew2ggB_DayxAU532I_Kg3VP6NJB2LA-0zma5Dqf6QMDWjUWP0TDsgzb_7Z-N4silHcjljJyyCm83=w1216-h2158-no
which is sort of a direct link in that it takes you directly to the photo but it isn't a clear link because theres no file name in it. Because theres no file name its useless for posting pictures on webpages and I think this is the reason Blogger has been having a hard time with it. Interestingly my wick lantern post hasn't had half the issues some of the others have and I don't know why...
Anyway hollar at me if you can see the pictures on the first couple posts below, if it doesn't work this time I'll go back to Photobucket. PB has a pretty good system for providing clear links but their web page is soooo sloooow it takes forever to work with. I think they do this so you'll click on the ads, but thats not working for me at all...
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Stupid Google Photos
Google owns blogger so you'd think it'd be easy to use Google Photos to share my pics with you guys, not so apparently.
Somebody mentioned that they couldn't see my pictures. I took a look from my phone and couldn't see them, rats. So I logged into my computer and COULD see them. Thats odd right? So I logged out of my Google account and now I can't see the pictures.
The odd thing is that I actually have 2 Google accounts and I can see the pictures if I'm logged into either of them but not if I've logged out. So apparently I've got a setting wrong somewhere but I'll be dammed if I can find it. Google is surprisingly no help at all, they apparently don't know that Google Photos exists, they only ever reference Picasa which I think is dead now anyway...
So the search for a good photo host goes on...
Somebody mentioned that they couldn't see my pictures. I took a look from my phone and couldn't see them, rats. So I logged into my computer and COULD see them. Thats odd right? So I logged out of my Google account and now I can't see the pictures.
The odd thing is that I actually have 2 Google accounts and I can see the pictures if I'm logged into either of them but not if I've logged out. So apparently I've got a setting wrong somewhere but I'll be dammed if I can find it. Google is surprisingly no help at all, they apparently don't know that Google Photos exists, they only ever reference Picasa which I think is dead now anyway...
So the search for a good photo host goes on...
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Yoga pants frustration
I'm sure some of you will be surprised that I'm into yoga. If I'm honest I'm not THAT into yoga but from time to time I'll get the mat out and move around some. It helps my back immensely.
I'm also sure that some of you will be surprised that I'd like to start jogging. I've talked about wanting to lose weight in the past and frankly I've hit a wall. I beat the 210 pound barrier but the 205 pound wall is one I've been struggling with for 6 months now. I can get slightly under it but not for long. This is an important line for me because I remember getting my first hunting license at age 13 and I already weighed 205. In retrospect I was quite porky at 13 but I was nearly full grown at that point, I don't think my inseam has changed since then.
So anyway for Christmas I asked Angie for a pair of yoga pants. I haven't done any yoga in the house all winter since it was too cold to do it in shorts. The pair she got me are nice but they're long, like you can't see my feet at all when I wear them. Today I was thinking I'd like to get going on the jogging thing. I read an article last night about the 20X training plan and while I certainly don't want to work out like a navy seal I realize that if I'm ever going to get under 200 pounds I need to move a lot more and I need to burn a lot more calories when I'm moving which means I need to move faster.
Off to Amazon to search for yoga pants and its just as Angie explained, shorter yoga pants seem to be in short supply. I can find shorts and pants so long they'll get under my heels but nothing in between, with one exception. The exception is skin tight and frankly guys my size either don't want to be seen in something skin tight or SHOULDN'T be seen in something skin tight...
So there are my choices, mid thigh or dragging on the floor. I don't understand this, how can I do yoga if every time I try to put my foot down I have to pull the pants out from under my feet? Don't people get frustrated with this? Does nobody else do yoga in a house thats too cold for shorts?
First world problems right?
I'm also sure that some of you will be surprised that I'd like to start jogging. I've talked about wanting to lose weight in the past and frankly I've hit a wall. I beat the 210 pound barrier but the 205 pound wall is one I've been struggling with for 6 months now. I can get slightly under it but not for long. This is an important line for me because I remember getting my first hunting license at age 13 and I already weighed 205. In retrospect I was quite porky at 13 but I was nearly full grown at that point, I don't think my inseam has changed since then.
So anyway for Christmas I asked Angie for a pair of yoga pants. I haven't done any yoga in the house all winter since it was too cold to do it in shorts. The pair she got me are nice but they're long, like you can't see my feet at all when I wear them. Today I was thinking I'd like to get going on the jogging thing. I read an article last night about the 20X training plan and while I certainly don't want to work out like a navy seal I realize that if I'm ever going to get under 200 pounds I need to move a lot more and I need to burn a lot more calories when I'm moving which means I need to move faster.
Off to Amazon to search for yoga pants and its just as Angie explained, shorter yoga pants seem to be in short supply. I can find shorts and pants so long they'll get under my heels but nothing in between, with one exception. The exception is skin tight and frankly guys my size either don't want to be seen in something skin tight or SHOULDN'T be seen in something skin tight...
So there are my choices, mid thigh or dragging on the floor. I don't understand this, how can I do yoga if every time I try to put my foot down I have to pull the pants out from under my feet? Don't people get frustrated with this? Does nobody else do yoga in a house thats too cold for shorts?
First world problems right?
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
No more direct to Vegas
Heres an odd one for you.
Since 2007 I've been to Las Vegas for a week or so in April every single year so this year will be my 8th trip. This is all for business, I'm not a crazy Vegas addict or anything.
Anyway other than the first year where the travel agent pushed me onto US Air (a saga in itself) I've always had a direct flight. The first couple years out of Manchester, New Hampshire (MHT) a couple years out of Providence, RI (PVD) and last year out of Hartford, CT (BDL). I like where we live because it gives me options for what airport I fly out of. Hartford is the farthest at just under 2 hours but its a nice low stress drive and only a half hour more than Boston, worth it for a direct flight.
Trouble is this year there is 1 direct flight from greater Boston. Its on Jet Blue which is normally a good thing but all the return flight options either get you into the airport after midnight (and then I've got an hour and a half drive home) or leave at night and arrive in the morning, the dreaded "red eye".
I'm rotten on red eye flights, I don't sleep well on the plane, so I end up being a zombie the next day. My plane sleeping schedule is pretty much always the same, we get up in the air, I fall asleep for 20 minutes and I'm awake for the rest of the flight.
So the red eye option is clearly out. Which means I'm stuck with a stop. The internet makes it nice and easy to search around for flights but the computers at the various airlines also have a grand time coming up with crazy options. It takes about five or five and a half hours to fly from here to Las Vegas, seven hours total I put up with (so 5 hours of flying with 2 hours of layover. 20 hours I will not but yet the airlines all like to put those options out there. They'd like to have me make a bunch of stops and cool my heels.
I made the multi-stop mistake years ago when Angie and I went to Barbados. We flew out of Providence because I was frankly scared of Boston. We had to go to JFK, then Miami and finally to Barbados, the return was the reverse. It was the first time we had ever flown together and was about as much fun as you'd imagine it being... I was young and now that I travel more than most people I've totally learned my lesson.
This thing about Vegas bothers me mostly because a used to fly the route often from Manchester, change in Vegas for Burbank. The flights were almost always full, in some cases crammed full. Apparently I'm good for business, if Southwest quits a route it means they can't make any money at it. In this case either they weren't charging enough or when I wasn't on the plane nobody else was going either...
Angie and I joke that we're good for business, we see this in restaurants a lot, the place is empty, we show up and it fills up. Apparently its true for airlines too. I wonder if I could make a career out of it? Like William H. Macy's character in the "The Cooler".
Since 2007 I've been to Las Vegas for a week or so in April every single year so this year will be my 8th trip. This is all for business, I'm not a crazy Vegas addict or anything.
Anyway other than the first year where the travel agent pushed me onto US Air (a saga in itself) I've always had a direct flight. The first couple years out of Manchester, New Hampshire (MHT) a couple years out of Providence, RI (PVD) and last year out of Hartford, CT (BDL). I like where we live because it gives me options for what airport I fly out of. Hartford is the farthest at just under 2 hours but its a nice low stress drive and only a half hour more than Boston, worth it for a direct flight.
Trouble is this year there is 1 direct flight from greater Boston. Its on Jet Blue which is normally a good thing but all the return flight options either get you into the airport after midnight (and then I've got an hour and a half drive home) or leave at night and arrive in the morning, the dreaded "red eye".
I'm rotten on red eye flights, I don't sleep well on the plane, so I end up being a zombie the next day. My plane sleeping schedule is pretty much always the same, we get up in the air, I fall asleep for 20 minutes and I'm awake for the rest of the flight.
So the red eye option is clearly out. Which means I'm stuck with a stop. The internet makes it nice and easy to search around for flights but the computers at the various airlines also have a grand time coming up with crazy options. It takes about five or five and a half hours to fly from here to Las Vegas, seven hours total I put up with (so 5 hours of flying with 2 hours of layover. 20 hours I will not but yet the airlines all like to put those options out there. They'd like to have me make a bunch of stops and cool my heels.
I made the multi-stop mistake years ago when Angie and I went to Barbados. We flew out of Providence because I was frankly scared of Boston. We had to go to JFK, then Miami and finally to Barbados, the return was the reverse. It was the first time we had ever flown together and was about as much fun as you'd imagine it being... I was young and now that I travel more than most people I've totally learned my lesson.
This thing about Vegas bothers me mostly because a used to fly the route often from Manchester, change in Vegas for Burbank. The flights were almost always full, in some cases crammed full. Apparently I'm good for business, if Southwest quits a route it means they can't make any money at it. In this case either they weren't charging enough or when I wasn't on the plane nobody else was going either...
Angie and I joke that we're good for business, we see this in restaurants a lot, the place is empty, we show up and it fills up. Apparently its true for airlines too. I wonder if I could make a career out of it? Like William H. Macy's character in the "The Cooler".
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