Category: Notes to Readers

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Subscription changes for the RSS Feed

What the heck is an RSS Feed? Well, that’s the feature of all blogs that pushes content to your computer. It is anonymous, and totally in your control to subscribe or unsubscribe. You can even have the RSS Feed delivered by e-mail if you use the Feedburner option. That is sound and secure, but not so anonymous because your e-mail address is captured for delivery of content.

Most readers of this web site learn of or actually read the content through the RSS Feed first. Then they come to the web site for the full story or more stories. So the RSS Feed is important to subscribers and followers.

Okay, what does all this mean?

Recently, Google announced they are going to discontinue the number one RSS Feed reader—Google Reader. I have been using it for years to follow all the web sites I am interested in. So with the discontinuance of Google Reader in July, I wanted to find another reader, and I think I have found a good one to recommend.

I use Chrome for my internet browsing, and have found Feedly to be a very good application for reading RSS Feeds. In fact, I like the layout much better than Google Reader. You can find the Feedly app in the Chrome Web Store.

If you are using other browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari, you can search for RSS Feed readers for those applications. Google Reader may pop up on the search list, but just ignore that one. It’s going away.

Thank you for following and reading.

Brent

Posted on

Will U Marry Me?

will_u_marry_me

A small pickup truck stopped on the county road behind my house like it was waiting for traffic—a little odd, but not completely rare. It demanded a little inquiry. Across the road, a compact SUV was stopped on the edge of the road with his flashers on. There is not much of a shoulder there on the road, so his stoppage required traffic to  wait for safe passage in a single lane.

One driver inquired if he was okay, and he must have affirmed there was no problem. When traffic cleared, he exited his car and walked up to the walking path, bent over, and appeared to be writing on the pavement. He finished, walked back to his car, turned around in the roadway and left, turning into the adjacent subdivision.

Curiosity got the better of me. I grabbed my coat and walked out the back door, across the road to the path, and found one of life’s most intimate questions. “Will u marry me?”

There is going to be a marriage proposal! Let’s see. The car pulled into the next-door subdivision, and I didn’t see it pull out again. Perhaps someone is going for a walk?

Shortly, here he comes with a young lady, hand-in-hand. They’re also walking a dog which looks like a Corgi. They cross the street, and come close to the writing on the path.

She stops abruptly and clasps her hand over her mouth. Looking at him, she is clearly surprised and caught up in emotion. He gets down on his knee.

Of course, I am a silent witness to this intimate moment, watching through my back window from across the street. It does not take much imagination to understand the conversation and the body language of young lovers.

They kiss and hold each other as they wipe away tears. They stand there for maybe 30 minutes, talking, hugging, kissing. The dog waits patiently.

I think she said, “Yes.”

Brent