Scrivener Will Not Allow You To Change Text Color

Scrivener Will Not Allow You To Change Text Color

Comments 9 comments

One day I was driven nuts because Scrivener, my favorite long format writing application, was typing red text.  I tried everything.  I went to text color and chose black but it simply would not take.  I went on the Internet, conducted a search and there were no answers.  I just kept poking around until I found the solution.  I must have left off with my writing project with first revision which turns all the text to red.  I only had to choose the menu item “Format > Revision Mode  and then mouse down to “None” to get my text color to become black again.

 

What Does The NRA and The Book Plant Paradox Have In Common?

What Does The NRA and The Book Plant Paradox Have In Common?

Comments 0 Comment

I just started reading Plant Paradox, a book that makes a convincing case that we are choosing to eat the wrong foods, a vast over simplification of that book, but I can’t do better. For me a second message in that book is that corporations have been modifying our food chain to gain added profit which is why we need to pay attention and pick the best foods to eat. I then hear of another school shooting in Santa Fe Texas, May 18, 2018. Ten students are dead and ten are injured when I wrote this post. For me, I see a crude similarity in the two situations. Agricultural corporations have been using their profits to buy power and thwart regulation in modifying our food chain to advance their profits. Gun manufacturers have been using their profits to sell more weapons of destruction and thwart gun control. People are injured and die as a result in both cases. Corporations do not give a damn about you or me. They are out for more money. They both use the legal system to maintain their control over them winning and us loosing. Why then do we allow this? In the case of food chain modification, corporations have secretly manipulated the political process to allow passage of food control legislation. The NRA has similarity used their political power to purchase politicians to not institute gun control regulation. Children die because dollars are more valued for the gun industry. The rest of us suffer illness and death because the chemical industry has poisoned our food chain. We just stand by and let this all happen.  How stupid is that?

Avantree DG40S Bluetooth USB Finally Works After 3 Days Of Trying

Avantree DG40S Bluetooth USB Finally Works After 3 Days Of Trying

Comments 0 Comment

I recently purchased Avantree DG40S Wireless 4.0 Micro USB Adapter for my Toshiba Satellite A505 laptop. It would NOT work. I sent Avantree support the following e-mail:

Support,

I received from Amazon the Avantree DG40S Wireless 4.0 Micro USB Adapter.
Delivered Wednesday, May 16, 2018
My laptop is Toshiba Satellite A505-SG025.
Operating system: Windows 10.
Audio Bluetooth Headsets are Apple AirPods.

Problem is the Apple AirPod headsets will not stay paired. I hear no audio.
What I have done:

  • Updated all of Windows 10.
  • Updated all the Bluetooth devices.
  • I have tried to pair my headsets to your DG406 Bluetooth USB numerous times.
  • I have tried inserting your DG406 Bluetooth USB into all 4 USB ports on the laptop and have rebooted Windows after each port change, trying to get the device to operate properly.
  • I have tried to get “choose your output device” to show anything other than speakers. No success.
  • I have performed “Troubleshoot” when available. I get a message that the headsets are not connected.
  • The Bluetooth device flashes continously a LED light when inserted in my laptop USB ports.
  • Your DG406 appears as a Bluetooth device (CSR8510 A10) and will pair with the headsets but will NOT stay connected. My headsets only connect for a second or two and then disconnect.

Solution:
I am not exactly sure what made the headsets work so let me go through some of my last efforts:
I kept finding that I had Realtek audio in my laptop. I searched and found their Windows 10 drivers and installed them. I then tried to pair my headsets but now I found that the USB port at the rear left did not allow the Bluetooth device to flash it’s LED.

I selected Troubleshoot and Headphones – AirPods No jack information available. I had done this numerous times but now I ran this task with the Bluetooth device plugged into the left front USB port. The results of the test shows a list of audio possibilities that the computer will then start testing. I believe I chose the AirPods and this time something new took place. I noticed that pop up windows appeared that indicated that Windows was installing new software to recognize the AirPods. Then the computer window for Sound that shows “Choose your output device” now showed Headphones (AirPods Stereo). The Windows screen for “Bluetooth & other devices” showed the Audio list of devices as “AirPods Connected voice, music”. That was new.  Previously it only would show AirPods Paired.  The computer screen never before showed “Connected”.  I took one of the AirPods out of its holder and there was my test audio running. I finally got it to work after 3 days of trying everything. What a royal pain!

PS: I purchased this Bluetooth because my very old D-Link DBT-120 would cut out at about 8 to 10 feet from the laptop.    The old device worked perfectly with my new AirPods with absolutely no difficulty except I was getting tired of having to pull the AirPods out of my ear when I went to the kitchen to get some food or tea..  The new device worked for about 20 feet so I could now keep listening to my music while in the kitchen.

iMac Spinning Color Wheel

iMac Spinning Color Wheel

Comments 0 Comment

The customer’s iMac, desktop computer, started to display a color spinning color wheel on the display and the user could not perform any computer activity. There are a number of almost secret Mac utilities one can very easily employ to try to fix these problems. Let’s go down the list as I had to do to find a fix for this computer. My list order can be changed. The order I show here can be changed. My point is to try them all until the computer is fixed.

#1 I reset the non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) using Macworld procedures outlined below (my changes included):

To reset your NVRAM, you use exactly the same procedure you once used to reset PRAM.
Shut down your Mac.
Press the power button, and as soon as you power up the laptop, hold down Command-Option-P key and -R key.
Keep holding down those keys until you hear a SECOND chime.  For me this took a long, long, time.  After you hear the second chime then let go of all the keys and allow your Mac to continue starting normally.  The startup process for me took some time.
Then check the Startup Disk, Display, and Date & Time panes of System Preferences to make sure they’re set the way you want them.
If you hold down Command-Option-P-R at startup and you see nothing but a gray screen that doesn’t change for several minutes—no Apple logo, no progress bar, no second startup chime—don’t panic. The most likely cause is that your Mac isn’t registering the key presses due to wonkiness with a USB device. Disconnect all USB devices (except your keyboard, if it’s a wired keyboard), hold the power button down until the Mac shuts off completely, and then press it again and immediately hold down Command-Option-P-R.

#2 I reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
Before you can reset your SMC, you must shut down your Mac. After that, the procedure varies depending on the type of Mac you have.
Desktop Macs: Disconnect the power cord (either from the Mac or from the AC outlet). Wait 15 seconds and plug it back in. Then wait another 5 seconds and turn the iMac back on by pressing the power button for 8 seconds or more.

#3 Safe Boot:
I performed the safe boot.

  • Press and hold the Shift key immediately after you hear the startup tone.
  • Release the Shift key when the Apple logo appears. Safe Boot appears on the Mac OS X startup screen.
  • Failure to solve the problem but this allowed me to launch Disk Utility and Activity Monitor (shown below).

#4 Disk Utility:
I ran the disk utility and it showed nothing wrong with the hard drive.

#5 Activity Monitor

I got the computer to run for a short time so I launched Activity Monitor. This application can be found in Applications > Utilities. When it is launched it can appear quite intimidating. A long list of current computer activities is shown with the most demanding activity listed at the top and boy does the list constantly change. The trick is to concentrate on the top list of items because they use the most computer time/resources. Instantly I spotted “Backup” being the top list item. That did NOT make sense to me.  I was not running any backup application.  I double clicked on that task.  A window appeared on the screen showing that task information.  From that window I selected “Quit” option. The computer began to work way better.

#6 System Preferences

I then went to the computer “System Preferences” and mouse clicked on “Users & Groups”. I mouse selected the customer’s “Current User” name. I then mouse selected “Login Items” and found that the “Data” hard drive appeared. That is WRONG!  There is NO computer application called “Data”.  I mouse selected “Data” and mouse clicked the negative or minus icon to delete that start up item.

#7  Time Machine

I went to view the Time Machine settings and found that the customer had chosen to backup “Applications”.  In my opinion, this was a mistake.  You typically want to backup your data such as documents, pictures, movies, etc.  I removed Applications as a backup.  To really make sure the customer’s computer was working, I turned Time Machine off.  Let’s see how the computer works for a week or two.

The computer worked quite well after these changes.

 

Revised:  8/24/2022.  Removed web page links because they were broken.

Some Republicans Allegedly Become Criminals

Some Republicans Allegedly Become Criminals

Comments 0 Comment

The Republican Party wants to close down the Russian investigation. The obvious reason is those Republicans intend to participate in the criminal activity by protecting the alleged criminals. If successful, the pending criminal Republicans can cover and protect all the participants, including themselves.

The facts show that the Muller investigation has exposed serious crime. These criminals have in most cases, attacked the United States institutions. Following is a list proof that the Russian investigation is a viable and fruitful investigation:

Trump Investigation score card so far (May 2018):

  • More than 100 criminal counts have been issued.
  • Criminal counts have been cast against 19 people.
  • Three Trump associates have been charged. Two have pleaded guilty.
  • Criminal counts against three companies.
  • Thirteen Russians are accused of meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Apple AirPods Definitely Work With LG V30 Cell Phone

Apple AirPods Definitely Work With LG V30 Cell Phone

Comments 0 Comment

I have been annoyed with my JayBird X2 Bluetooth headsets for a number of reasons.

  • The ear pieces do not seem to fit into my ear very well.  I have to keep pushing the earbuds into position from time to time on my weekend walks.
  • When I take a walk with my wife, I notice that the cord connecting both headsets rubs against my shirt collar and at times the cord pulls on one of the ear pieces and I have to push the earpiece back into my ear.
  • The rubber fins keep coming off the ear pieces when I take the headsets out of my pocket.  I have lost a number of them.
  • Getting the JayBird X2 Bluetooth to sync to my cell phone, about half the time, takes repeated efforts to pair with my LG V30 cell phone.  I have even had to do a cell phone restart to get the pairing to work.  I am not sure where the problem lies, the cell phone or the headset.  The JayBird X2 does pair with my Toshiba Satellite Windows 10 laptop.

I love to sit watching news programs from my Macbook Air every night while eating dinner.  I never use the JayBird but instead use a wired headset,  I use only one earpiece, for some reason.  I would love to have a single Bluetooth headset instead of wired.

I think I began seeing only a few individuals wearing the Apple AirPods early 2018.  They look sort of dorky.  I went with my daughter when she shopped at the Apple Store for an Apple Pencil.  I decided to buy the Apple AirPods.  No Apple sales person could confirm if the AirPods would work with my Android phone or not.  A sales lady fired an AirPod up to pair with my phone but there were so many Bluetooth devices in the store that it failed to show.  I went home and did a quick research and one web site report gave some hope that the AirPods should work with the LG V30.  I drove back to the store and purchased the AirPods.  If they did not work, I could take them back for a full refund.  When I got to my car, I opened the box and took out the AirPods and tried to pair them with my cell phone.  THEY WORKED!  I used one of the AirPods to listen to my favorite Pocket Cast show, Background Briefing.

Here is what I like about the AirPods:

  • The case that you store the AirPods in is extremely clever. The case is extremely small.  The earpieces seem to get sucked into the box each time you put them in.  The case can charge the earpieces multiple times with no USB cable attached!  So put the earpieces back into the case each time.  The LED under the lid will show you when they attain full charge.
  • The pairing button on the back side of the box is a bit hard to view but clever.
  • The case lid snaps shut nicely.  The lid activates the LED indicator inside the lid.  Note that if the lid is left open, the LED indicator will not show.  To see the LED status light if it extinguishes, just close the lid if it was left open and then open it again.
  • The LED light inside the case shows you the status of the headsets when the headsets are inside the case:
    • RED = Charging
    • AMBER = Not Fully Charged.
    • GREEN = Fully charged.
    • WHITE FLASHING = Pairing.
  • I found that the whole case slips into my jeans coin pocket.
  • The unit comes with a USB charge cable.  If you buy the unit, remove the bottom cardboard piece under the AirPod case to find the cable.
  • The audio quality is very good.  I think it is a bit better than the JayBird X2.
  • The earpieces are very comfortable.

Note:  (Alternative to pairing using the case)  I have had the headsets loose pairing.  This can happen when I place my cell phone down on a table and walk away some distance.   All I need to do is put the headset into my ear and go to the audio source (cell phone, laptop, etc.) and initiate the pairing from the source.  The headset will give me a brief tone indicating that pairing has taken place.

What I do not like about the AirPods:

Once I paired my Airpods to my LG V30 Cell phone it would not pair with my MacBook Air.  This should be an embarrassment for Apple.

Here is what I do like with the JayBird X2:

These headsets pair with my LG V30 with some difficulty.  They Pair easily with my MacBook Pro.  They pair easily with my Toshiba Satellite Windows 10 laptop.

I love the audible messages that the JayBird X2 is turned on, turned off and paired.

The JayBird X2 seems to be the better value if you have a number of different devices that you want to use them with.

 

What I am concerned with:

  • The AirPods earpieces do not seem to lock into my ear canal tightly but I found they do stay in place.  The JayBird X2 have rubber fins that sort of help keep the earpiece in place but I have more trouble keeping them in place than the AirPods.
  • These AirPod earpieces are so small, I am worried that I will loose them.
  • The case is so small that I might loose the whole unit.  I get a lot of free address labels because I donate money to charities.  I put one of those address labels on the case.
This post was written and put up, May 11, 2018.  As I gain more experience with the Apple AirPods, I may modify this post. This post  was updated May 29, 2018.