My Google Friend Connect is a "sometimes" thing. My December 23rd posting finally showed up in my Dashboard reader on January 1st, a little over a week after it was published on Blogger.
Better late than never, I guess. But it doesn't inspire much confidence. I think it's pretty obvious that my GFC gadget is headed on the way out on March 1st with the rest of the non-Blogger gadgets because it was born on the Google Friend Connect site.
While inspecting my Dashboard reader today I also noticed a bunch of postings on the first day of the New Year, from a Blogspot blog that doesn't appear to have been updated since August. There's also no sign of these supposed new posts. Weird stuff is happening and I'm hearing from other bloggers who have concerns.
I just started a blog for the theatre group I belong to on Blogger Custom Domains called "Another Opening, Another Show." I'm leaving it with Blogger for the moment. But I haven't started a "Follower" gadget for it and I'm using the regular Blogger feed and not Feedburner.
As for Starlight Wishes, it seems doomed along with Google Friend Connect. I'm thinking of starting another Wordpress.org blog on StarlightRose.com because it's similar to my company name of Starlight Rose Inc. that I hope to be publishing under this year. I found a way to include all the old postings from Starlight Blog, so at least it will carry a bit of history.
Looking around, it seems most bloggers are using Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr to stay in touch, with a few of them joining Google+ as well. The "experts" who talk about Feedburner's API being deprecated are saying that RSS feeds are basically "out."
To everyone who has Feedburner, I suggest you hold tight and see what happens, even as you try and push your followers to things like Facebook, Twitter,Tumblr, and maybe Google+. I'm giving up Feedburner since most of my followers come from GFC and that's going away. So, I might as well shed Feedburner as I go.
For those who have a "Followers" gadget on Blogger, I think you should hold tight too. But, I think you should also try and push people to those other things. I'm a little afraid of Google+ myself because it doesn't seem to be catching on as well as Google hoped. But I may look into it. We'll see.
I'll put up links here when the new Wordpress blog is in place. Keep your fingers and toes crossed!
First and foremost ... A very Happy Holidays to everyone! May you have the best time ever! And may the New Year be full of wonderful surprises!
Now ... Google Friend Connect ... and Feedburner ... and Google Blog Search.
Google is putting a number of APIs on the chopping block. Feedburner is among them. My blog is tied up in Feedburner, which I've noticed is moving even more slowly than usual lately. I've also learned that it's had some recent problem with numbering subscribers. At the moment Google says it has no plans to junk it, but it's not going to be developed anymore, so I'm thinking it's time to bail before it gives up the ghost.
Google Friend Connect is also going away for non-Blogger blogs on March 1st. Since my GFC gadget was originally gotten through the Google Friend Connect site for a Wordpress blog and it doesn't say "Followers" on it, I'm afraid my present GFC gadget will disappear on March 1st as well. I checked with the online Help areas and that seemed to be the consensus.
Since I once again have to begin over because of GFC, I figure I might as well drop Feedburner at the same time. I'm thinking of going back to the Starlight Blog name on Blogger, either by getting a similar Google Custom Domain or forwarding the original domain over to Blogger.
I think a lot of these changes by Google have to do with getting people to move over to Google+. We'll see if that happens. Meanwhile, since most of my contacts are on Blogger, it makes sense for me to stay there. Google is trying to find ways to feed Blogger blogs into Google+, so I assume it's not ready to get rid of Blogger quite yet.
While wandering the web, seeing what other people are saying about all this, I saw that many people think feeds in general are dead. They think "Real Time Technology" like Facebook and Twitter are more "in." So I will make up my new/old blog to reflect that.
I hope you all won't be bothered by this too much. I figure I can post here until March 1st and then switch over to my new/old blog. A lot of the Wordpress blogs are already removing their GFC gadgets so no one inadvertantly joins through them.
I'll keep you posted!
Have a Merry!
I finally got to see the latest Twilight Saga movie ... "Breaking Dawn, Part 1!"
I confess I was never all that much into the series. I started the first book, but never finished it. Probably because (as Amazon says) the series is for "Young Readers" and I'm not that young anymore. I did, however, see all the earlier movies at some point on HBO when they happened by. And they were all right.
For some reason I had a strong curiosity about the final book and decided to give it a try. Maybe because so many of the fans of the series were divided on it. Some said it was a departure from the rest of the series. And I guess they were right because I liked it. I mean I really liked! It was one of those books I just couldn't put down.
I liked it so much I decided to go and see the first part of "Breaking Dawn" in the movie theater soon after it came out. And we hardly ever get to see movies in a movie theater anymore. Our schedules are just too busy.
Unfortunately, I didn't like it. It moved too slowly for me, perhaps because they broke the story down into two movies instead of one. There were several points when I felt we were hanging around in a scene too long. The book had much better pacing.
So ... many kudos to Stephanie Meyer for the enjoyable time I had reading her final book in the Twilight Series. And not so many for the makers of the movie. I would still urge people to try reading the last book, especially if you're like me and you like paranormal, but you're not a "Young Reader" anymore. LOL
In the Adirondacks we've already had our share of frosts and even some slight snow. Still, it hasn't been that cold yet. Winter takes longer nowadays to reach full force.
The contracting work on the outside of our house is just about done. There's a little inside work, but that should be finished well before Christmas ... I hope. The last couple of months have been filled with outside work that absolutely had to be finished before the winter.
We got this thing called a footing drain put in around the house. Which necessitated my having to dig up and move any of the foundation plantings I hoped to save beforehand. My aging knees took it hard! I only wish I'd had the time and energy to move all of the plants. But how do you move 20 years of plantings in 2 weeks?
The contractor moved two giant hardy azaleas to a new spot for me. But I had to cut off the tops as the diminished roots wouldn't have been able to support six feet of foliage. I won't know if they survived the move till next spring.
We also switched from a single buried outside oil tank to two inside the basement. I learned that outside oil tanks can usually only be relied on for about 20 years. Ours was 25, so it was an accident waiting to happen.
When the contractors were done with the foundation work, I gathered rocks from around the yard and scattered them under the drip line from the roof so the rain wouldn't pound down directly in a straight line through the sandy soil, but instead would scatter a bit after hitting the rocks. We don't do roof gutters in the Adirondacks because the heavy snows tend to rip them off the roof. Then I caulked and repainted the cinder block foundation to help protect it from the weather.
Over the weekends we went through the basement and threw out as much stuff as possible to make up for the space now taken by the new oil tanks. We would have continued painting outside, but the weather has gotten too cold for some of the paints. That work will be waiting for us in April when it starts to get warm again.
I am really REALLY ready for the Holidays!
May all of you have a very Happy Thanksgiving this week! May your blessings be greater than you can count. And may they stretch on into the New Year!
Labor Day has just passed. I know it's a tough time for some folks. In the last two weeks, one friend got laid off with a lot of others. And a second saw more than half her department laid off.
I also know people who have had to take part time work because there wasn't anything else. And others who have had their salaries cut even as their workload was increased. And still others who were retired, but are looking for work again because they fear Social Security and Medicare cuts.
It's definitely a time to stop and appreciate labor.
It's also ten years since 9/11 this weekend. There are some new warnings out, so everyone stay safe.
I worked in the World Trade Center way back when. And my husband was in the city further uptown during the 9/11 attacks. For months afterward you could smell the smoke, even in Queens.
Did you know that barely an hour after the buildings collapsed, New Yorkers were standing on lines that went around the block uptown looking to donate blood for the survivors we all hoped there would be?
Many thanks to the people who came running from other states to help New Yorkers out during that tragedy. You let us know we weren't alone.
This week the governor of Texas sent out requests for relief for the difficulties they've been facing there with drought and wildfires. Ironically the Northeast has been struggling with flooding. It's been a tough time for many people. May we all grow closer together once again as we see it all through.
Have a good weekend everyone! And have a good Fall too!
