Category: Unrelated News

Installing an Ad Blocker in Firefox

Recently I was at my brother’s house using their computer for a bit of surfing. I have gotten used to my computers having ad blockers on them and I rarely see an ad for anything questionable. It was a shock to my system to see so many advertisements show up on screen.

I decided to write a tutorial for them on how to get rid of the ads. I hope it helps others.

This will be dependent on you using Firefox as a web browser. There are probably other solutions for other browsers, but I use Firefox and that is all I currently recommend. I am also going to be working through this on Windows so I can get the steps right for them.

Start by having Firefox open. Select Tools | Add-ons from the menu. Click the tab that says “Get Add-ons” and do a search for adblock plus. On my search, it was the first hit returned. Click the “Add to Firefox” button and go through the installation procedure. Once that is installed then restart Firefox.

When Firefox restarts it will give you a list of filters that you can apply to Adblock Plus. Choose the Easy List (USA) option. Then get back to the Add-ons section (it was still open after the Firefox restart on my machine). Now look through the search results and install the Adblock Filterset.G Updater. Again you will have to restart Firefox. When it comes back up the filterset updater will be up and running and will install the latest update. Exit out of those windows and you will be ready to use Adblock Plus.

Notice that there is a small red octagon beside the search box on the top right of the screen. This is where you can make changes to the way Adblock Plus operates. As it is, it will eliminate the vast majority of advertisements. But there may occasionally be a site that needs extra tweaking to get rid of especially offensive ads.

I know there is controversy as to whether you should block ads on websites. Many sites are able to be free because of the ads that support them. I understand that. But, I also don’t want my kids nor myself to be inundated with ads for activities which are not appropriate for our family. When I do use someone else’ computer to touch the Internet I am always shocked at the lewdness of advertisements on-line. With an adblocker I am able to control most of what comes across my computer screen.

Observations from a week with missionaries

Monday through Wednesday of this week I was in a conference with other missionaries and pastors who are closely associated with our mission board. While we are independent Baptists, we depend greatly on one another to accomplish our work. It was great getting together with a group of friends whom we had never met, but because of association, are immediate friends.

Preaching
We had some great preaching during the week. We had a main speaker and several other men who preached during the time there. One of the preachers was the doctor who spoke on gluttony that I posted previously.

Singing
We had some great singing primarily provided by Evangelist Bill Blount. I have always enjoyed his company. He is a generation or two older than me, but out of all the guys in our group, he is one of the most technologically advanced in our group. He was sporting a Samson Zoom H2 that he set up for recording our sessions. I told his son that when Bro. Blount makes his exit from this world that I wanted to be in the will for the recorder.

Reporting
One of my frustrations of the week came from the missionaries when they spoke. Having spent so many years in camping ministry, I see the need to keep things moving on schedule. We had one session where the missionaries were given 5 minutes each to give an elevator pitch of who they were, what their ministry is and what they are doing to accomplish that.

Remember that we were missionaries in a room full of pastors. These pastors are men who are there partially for the purpose of seeing which missionaries they would like to align themselves with and financially support. The missionaries needed to do everything they could to make an impression on these pastors. While support will not be determined on this 5 minute speech, it could affect whether the missionary got a meeting in churches for possible support.

Every missionary went over his 5 minute limit. Some went over by as many as 3 minutes. Pastors are very jealous of their time in the pulpit. When a missionary can’t stay within the time limit imposed on him, a pastor is going to be less interested in having the missionary in his church. I have been told by some pastors that if I went over, by one second, the time limit I was given that it would instantly mean I would not be supported.

One of the missionaries proceeded to talk about how he has been in churches in which the pastors have lied about their willingness to support missionaries. Also how some pastors have put on a show in front of other pastors to look good, and then privately told the missionary he really was not interested in missions. Basically he spent his 5 plus minutes disparaging pastors across the board. Not real smart when you are in a room full of them. Those are things you may experience and think, but you should never say out loud. And certainly not to a group of pastors that you want to support you.

Fellowshipping
I had a great time getting together with other missionaries and pastors. Many of these men I have known for 8 years. They have become friends by association.

Though I was there as part of a conference of missionaries, I was able to see PlaneT3rry again. He was “in the neighborhood” and took time out to drive down to the meeting area and take me out for dinner. (Thanks again for supper!) This was only the second time we have met in person, but it seems like we have been friends for years.

Driving
When it was all over on Wednesday night I loaded up my stuff and started the 11 hour trip from Pigeon Forge to Pensacola. I left about 10:30 at night and was able to drive until 2:00 AM. When I am alone, I am somewhat of a minimalist. Hotels are over-priced for just one person. I slept about 5 hours in my van while shivering myself awake occasionally. I had on 2 shirts, a sweatshirt, 2 jackets and a suit coat. I misplaced my sweater, which would have been my best defense against the cold. But, I got the rest I needed and made the trip home without any problems.

Microwave popcorn

I wanted to make microwave popcorn last week, but hate the pre-packaged stuff. Might as well eat a candy bar loaded with salt if you eat that.

Long ago I heard that you could make popcorn in the microwave without having to spend the big bucks. I knew it involved a paper bag and loose popcorn. But that is all I knew. With a little googling I was able to find a lot of information on it. I found all kinds of videos and step-by-step how-tos. But it is not nearly as complicated as they make it sound.

What you NEED:

  • Lunch bag
  • 1/4 cup loose popcorn
  • Microwave

What you may want:

  • All items from above
  • Teaspoon of oil or butter
  • Salt

Easiest method is to just put your corn in a bag, fold the top down a few times so that it stays shut, squeeze out the air and place bag in microwave and cook for 3 to 5 minutes (depending on your machine). Listen for the pops to taper down to about a pop every 2 or 3 seconds. Don’t over cook it. Only takes doing that once to prefer tossing out uncooked kernels as opposed to eating burnt popcorn.

If you want to add some oil and salt you can do that right in the bag before popping.

Power level seems to have an impact not just on cook time but moistness/dryness of the popcorn.

Handle like any other microwave popcorn. Don’t burn yourself opening the bag.

Coming up…

I have been on the road most of the afternoon. When I got to the place I am staying I was really pressed for time to get my blog post of the day out. Instead of a full post I will just give you a preview of what I have planned.

  • How to install an ad blocker in Firefox
  • How to make your own microwave popcorn
  • Half marathon plans
  • Hammer Nutrition sale

These are all subjects that I plan to write about in the next few days.

Stay tuned!

Tribute to John Williams

Have you seen the Star Wars song on YouTube? It is quite popular this week. I wanted to point out a couple of interesting things about it.

I first saw it when it had been viewed 300,000 times. Just a couple of hours later it was up to 450,000 views. Now, a day later, it has been viewed more than 1,000,000 times! Quite the craze.

Being the curious type about these things, I had to learn more about it. I clicked the link to the lyrics which led me to the main page of MooseButter a capella comedy group. The song is called Star Wars and was first performed in 1999. In the video the artist, Corey Vidal, is shown singing all the parts. Actually, he is just lip syncing the MooseButter group. Very well I might add.

Enjoy the video!