Imgur Rocks

[yogi]

To be perfectly frank and honest, what I'm about to tell you brought tears to my eyes when I first discovered it. I have a presence on many social websites, the ones owned by Zuckerberg being the exception. While I have been registered for many years at most of them, my active time has mostly been confined to right here on Brainformation. On rare occasion, and I do mean rare, I'll post a reply on one of those other places, and even more rare are my original posts. You've seen my blog on Tumbler, but that does not represent what I do at all those other places. I read all of them, but hardly ever participate actively.

You may or may not be familiar with Imgur. I am locked into their "Most Viral" presentation of user submitted material because that's where all the interesting stuff is posted by people 1/4th my age. I like to keep track of what them young'uns is up to. Apparently each Christmas they run a special theme where people are encouraged to post a selfie of themselves and offer whatever Christmas greeting they cared to. I was looking through the submissions a day or two prior to Christmas taking note of all the variety of people. Some of them were cute, some average, some down right ugly. They all had nice things to say about Christmas and I was feeling the spirit. Thus I took a selfie and posted it. Being the ugly nobody that I am, and 4 times older than most of them, I didn't expect much of a response. In fact it was not until today, ten days later, that I looked at my own post to see what became of it. I was totally shocked and could not believe the statistics that it accumulated. Even more astounding were the comments people made regarding my selfie. It's chilling.

Have a look, and expand the comments to get the full effect

https://imgur.com/gallery/9bisfCD

IMGURstats.JPG (33.2 KiB) Viewed 735 times

[Kellemora]

Wow, congrats Yogi! (I think) hi hi.

I looked at a few things on there while I was there, after I got their block windows out of the way.
I'm not a member, and I use an ad-blocker, but still got to see a lot while there.

One thing of interest was the Customs Agent who took an ax to the boards on a shipping crate and found them to contain packages of some illegal substance.

I lose way to much time during the day, when I hit a website with something I get interested in, hi hi.

[yogi]

Imgur is an interesting place, but as you point out a person can waste a lot of time there. They seem to have their act together, which is one of the reasons why I like going there. You can filter what you see in several different ways, pretty much like Twitter, and I simply look at what they call the most viral. These are snippets that get a lot of views for one reason or another. A lot of times the reason for it being viral is totally not obvious to me. Some of the craziest things get the most attention. My selfie, for example.

I was not aiming to stir up any trends and the last thought on my mind was being on page one for three days. An objective look at that picture of me would not be very inspiring. However, I did put some thought into the captions. Stating my age as revolutions around the sun is a cute way of saying I'm an old guy. It's not a common way to express one's age and I think that had a little bit to do with the interest in what I posted. Then to mention that I'm STILL above ground at Christmas put the icing on the meme. Many of the comments make reference to that phrase probably because I'm in the 1% of really old people who participate in Imgur. Some folks made reference to the oddity of an old guy being there in the first place.

I was hoping to get a comment or two, and there were literally millions of other better looking people doing exactly what I was doing, i.e. posting a Christmas selfie. It's genuinely an big deal to get even a few thousand views, but my George Burns look alike got nearly 73,000. OK, so those are Harry Potter glasses, but who's counting? My only regret is that I didn't find out about this popularity until a week after the event occurred. I would have enjoyed answering some of those comments live. The irony of it all just boggles my mind. Irony you say? Well yes. You do recall me ranting about how my neighbors here in the Show Me State have been more or less ignoring me for 5 years, right? This Imgur event just made my day. My week. My month. Hell, it made the whole coming year look a lot brighter.

[Kellemora]

There once was a website (could still be around) called Weebly. Not referring to the current day web hosting company by that name. It looked a worked more like a newsfeed but was an early social website which may have started as a BBS.
The only reason I was on it, was it was offered by my first Internet provider.
You couldn't create your own topics, those were fixed. One could make a new post under a topic, or respond to posts already there. Some threads got quite long and deep too. If you were interested in following a certain thread, you could click a box to keep that chain going so it appeared first when you went to that topic.
I had clicked on a few I wanted to follow, and I made a crazy comment on one once, and it got over a thousand chain renewals. For that website, it was a lot, hi hi.

One of my persona's is on Twitter, and my ranking there is 97% which actually surprises me.

But other than that, I'm not a very popular guy on Social Media sites. To busy with other things to do!

[yogi]

Interesting. I didn't realize Twitter had a ranking system. Then again, by far the bulk of my time there is in the read-only mode. I could have a rank, but I'd have no idea where to look for it. LOL

My interest in people and their behavior has been part of me for as long as I can remember. One reason this website exists is due to that interest. I wanted to attract a global audience to sample how other people in the world live, breathe, and think. It served that purpose well in its early years, but then real social networks started popping up. This is a nice place for two old timers to chew the rag, but it's hardly a social website. I realized what was happening way back when and started looking around at what those other places were doing. I could not keep up with any of them, but it was exquisitely satisfying to see what other people throughout the world and in every age group were doing socially. A few of those early attempts are now history or badly disfigured from the original. I still keep a handful of my favorites running in my browsers and on rare occasions will do something to retain my membership, such as post a picture for Christmas viewing. Unlike you, I have nothing better to do. I learn a lot by reading about other people in real time, but in the final analysis it's all for naught. Who cares what I know about people and their behavior? Only me, and sometimes I don't care either.

[Kellemora]

It's a separate website name Retweet Rank.

I know, as good as my BBS did, when the Internet came along, even though we eventually switched so people could get to it using a web browser, folks were no longer interested in the BBS style of format.
No biggie, I created a website, and for years it got thousands of hits per month, then simmered down to next to nil.

I only popped in to give you the name of the Super Glue we have here, but didn't find where I mentioned it fast enough, and have run out of time.
What I have here right now is LocTITE Super Glue Ultra Gel Minis.
This type is Impact and Water Resistant, and Flexible.
It can be used on Rubber, Metal, Leather, Paper, etc. But this type cannot be used on Glass, Polystyrene foam, foam rubber, or any sheet plastics. Also it is not Microwave, Oven, or Dishwasher safe.
But it can be used to glue sheets of rubber together, to make a larger sheet of rubber that is still flexible.
The bar code number for it, is 0 79340 64787 9, should you want to look it up.

[yogi]

Thank you for the super glue information. I have some LocTITE super glue down in the basement. I don't think it's the same type that you mention, but it's possible that it is. I have a few different adhesives for different purposes but this Pliobond stuff seems to be a universal kind of goo. I think it was invented for military use and filtered down to the consumer market something like duct tape did. The reason I sought out the Pliobond has to do with my favorite mouse - which is not the best mouse ever made, but it's my current favored one. There is a rubber type material glued on where your thumb and fingers would grasp the mouse. SteelSeries makes good stuff, but the glue they used on this rubber coating failed very quickly. One day I removed it and cleaned all the adhesive off, which wasn't difficult give the poor quality of it. I then got myself some ... LocTITE caulking which is a sealer and adhesive used typically around bathroom appliances. I've used this stuff to glue tiles to the walls and it works beautifully for that purpose. So, I thought this LocTITE caulk would be the perfect answer to glue rubber to plastic. It has in fact been doing well for a couple years, but I can now see a small corner of it breaking away from its bond. If it does need repair again, I'll try the Pliobond next.

I went to the SteelSeries website and to my surprise they were at the time offering free replacements for that rubber material. From what I read in the comments they didn't change the adhesive so that they never really fixed the problem. I guess the cost of good glue would make the mouse unaffordable, or something.

[Kellemora]

Even though I use a stationary mouse, I do move it around for different projects.
The old Logitech meeces had pads to grip to move them around.
The new one is slick on the side, so I sanded a spot to make it more rough, but it wears back down to slick too fast.
So, I took some Shoe Goo and smeared a thin streak of it where my pinkie hits. It hasn't come off yet, hi hi.

There isn't any glue I know of that will last very long when the oil from our fingertips soaks into whatever it is supposed to be holding in place. Either that or plastics have a way of rejecting something stuck to them.
I've even tried clear sticky dots on the keys on my keyboard that I tend to wear out right away.
They are made of mylar so should be impervious to oils. Even so, after a month or so, they get sticky underneath and come off, and then the next one won't stick for as long.
I guess to make the keyboards cheaper, they only paint the letters on, put a dab of clear over the writing, although I don't need to see what letters are there when doing normal typing, but if I have to just hit a key for something, unless I set my hands on the keyboard in typing mode, I don't know where the keys are, hi hi.

I've worked with some really strange adhesives over the years.
Thinset or Quickset Mortar is one that befuddles the mind. Looks like cement, acts like Gorilla Glue and never lets go.

[yogi]

Oddly enough I have used thin set as a leveling medium on my basement floor. I then put pre glued tile on top of that and it lasted for many years. A couple of the tiles came loose prematurely, but I think that was due to an imperfection of the adhesive and not the thin set. The stuff I used dried hard as a rock and did indeed tend to level itself out.

Me thinks you are using the wrong approach with your keyboards wearing out. You should be wearing finger cots or surgical gloves when you type. I know that would stop the skin oils from contaminating the keys but I'm not sure how effective it would be against erosion from the roughness of your touch. But, alas, those rubber gloves probably would exceed the cost of buying keyboards by the caseload. It would only be beneficial if it takes a lot longer for the keys to wear when you use finger coverings.

One thing I like about these gaming keyboards with the fancy lighting is that I can see the keys in all lighting conditions. Like you I don't need to see them most of the time, but when I do need to peck on a key the illumination is a brilliant idea (pun intended). Plus, because the keys are backlit there is no wearing out of the lettering. It's clear through the entire thickness of the key cap.

[Kellemora]

My early Royal and Smith Corona typewriters, and my early keyboards, the color of the letter when all the way through the plastic keys.
Well, the super early Royal typewriters had a clear plastic cover and chrome ring over each key.
I have had some expensive keyboards in years gone by, but something always went wrong with them.
Or they became outdated due to the monster plug on them, before the PS2 days.
I knew what keyboard touch and feel I liked, and when I stumbled across a cheap keyboard that felt exactly the way I like it, I bought one, used it for a year, then bought a case of six of them. Glad I did too, but now I'm on my last one. They are all PS2 compatible, but if I plug a USB adapter on it, they still work via a USB port just fine.
But the newer keyboards and meeces with a USB connector, not all of them are PS2 compatible, so using a USB to PS2 port adaptor does not work, especially on the new Logitech meeces. Which is why I'm glad I have the KVM switch with walking USB ports. The USB port I have the mouse dongle plugged into moves to whichever computer I select on the KVM!

You have to remember, as a writer, I spent from 8 am until 9 pm daily constantly typing. I still spend from 8 am until 9 pm up here, but not all of that is typing anymore, usually just messing around on the web.
But for a 19 dollar keyboard to hold up to the daily abuse I put them through was amazing enough.
I never had a key that quit working, only those I physically wore holes in. Usually the space bar or L key gets a hole first, then the A, T, and R keys. I think the space bar wears out first because you hit it the most often, and also slide your thumb back and forth on it. I only use the space bar with my right thumb and when it wears through, the edge of the plastic is super sharp, just like a razor blade and can shave skin off easily. So, when it starts getting thin, I put a piece of Mylar tape over it, hi hi.

[yogi]

I can't say that I've ever worn out a key cap to the point it was not usable. I have worn off the lettering on a few but never cut my thumb on the edge of the space bar. Then, too, I don't type 12 hours a day. I am here at the keyboard for that length of time, but I don't do a lot of typing. Over the years I have found that paying extra for quality mouses and keyboards was well worth it just for the feel. I think MX switches are probably the most friendly to my fingers, plus they can be replaced easily enough. They come in a wide variety of pressure sensitivity too, and the brown ones seem to be my favorite. The current keyboard is not MX equipped, but it has the unique ability to adjust the trip point of the switch. Those keys in the home row are programmed to need a little more pressure than the other keys, and that works out fine for me. While the feel might not be MX quality, I don't make as many mistakes typing with the sensitivity being different for each row of characters. I know you will find that hard to believe given the number of typos I leave in each thread. But take my word for it. There would be a lot more with a lesser keyboard. LOL

[Kellemora]

I hear ya Yogi - I loved my expensive keyboards also. They didn't quit working per se, the technology just moved past them.
It's the cheap keyboards made from cheap materials that I wear out so quickly.