B"H, I'm Back

Some of you, especially those who follow me on Instagram, 365 Project, Facebook and my blogs may have noticed that I have/had been pretty silent the few days. The blog posts that went up here and on Shiloh Musings Wednesday morning had been written and programmed to post on Tuesday before I left home. Yesterday I returned to Facebook, and last night I looked at Instagram and liked some photos, but that's it.

I'm human. I was sick.

The realization that something was wrong hit me while I was with my kids, and I ended up spending two nights with one of them, getting lots of loving care. So I didn't make it to Matan on Wednesday or any of my other plans. And now, even though now I'm safely home and much improved, I reduced various social commitments until I'm completely better.

Baruch Hashem, Thank Gd, I didn't have anything serious and I was in a place and with people who could help. All I needed was rest, liquids and some time.

In a few hours it's Shabbat and then after Shabbat a new week begins. May it be a good one for all.

Shabbat Shalom u'Mevorach

May You Have a Peaceful and Blessed Shabbat

Photo Experiment on My Virus "Cure"

Let's "kill two birds with one stone" as the saying goes...

• this is a health post, a natural health cure
• experimenting with simple settings on my camera, Canon IXUS 145

For years I've been using a very simple "cure" for "colds" and other viral annoyances. I drink water, tap-room temperature, that has freshly squeezed lemon juice added. Yesterday, I, davka, added another simple natural ingredient, a bit of fresh ginger. And since then my "scratchy, then painful throat has softened into a runny nose, but my hip now hurts a bit. Actually it hurts less now than earlier in the day. And Gd willing this little "virus" will soon be gone. 

Now for the photo experiment. 

no flash
1/50 sec. f/3.2 5mm, ISO 800

flash fired
1/60 sec. f/3.2 5mm, ISO 125

Slow Sync flash mode
1/10 sec. f/9 5mm, ISO 500

These photos are totally untouched, unedited, not even cropped. So you can see that I was the same distance from the glass mug when I shot the pictures. All three were done at the sametime, with barely seconds between them. All adjustments were done automatically by the camera. All I did was choose the flash mode from none, flash and slow sync.

Which do you like better? 

Hacked! Don't Know Exactly How

My Website Has Been Hacked! Now What?
The instructions are for Wordpress, not Blogger

I guess that one of the reasons I had trouble falling asleep Saturday night was that when I checked in on my blogs, email etc after Shabbat I had a shock. Someone had gotten into my Shiloh Musings blog, and could have done the same on this, and posted a "message" with link. I was terrified. Would I be able to retake control of my blogs and email?

Shiloh Musings

I managed to delete the post and then change my password. And as soon as I changed it on the computer, the phone announced that I would have to do it there, too. So, I changed it. Now I must remember the new password... Also, a cousin messaged me that he had gotten one of those "hack/virus" messages from my email.

Yes, I feel violated, freaked out totally!

And since I was able to change my password, it meant that the hacker didn't have mine. He/she/it or whoever may have gotten into my account on a "device" I had used to check email/blog while not at home. Many of us who travel without a laptop, tablet or really powerful phone, find ourselves taking advantage of offers to use other people's computers, or hotel lobby computers, and sometimes we either don't properly sign out/log off or a lurking virus takes hold when we're happily reading and writing.

I also took off a few people I had as "administrators" on my blogs. They can still blog, but they cannot make changes.

I don't think I've clicked any dangerous sites, but one doesn't really know. Sometimes there are viruses lurking in news, pictures and lyrics sites that google lists when we search for something. (Porn sites are notorious for facilitating virus invasions, but, B"H, that's not my interest.) I am so relieved that I succeeded in changing my password and hope that locked the evil one out. The person who set up my computer put in the free AVast virus catcher. I guess it's not effective enough, unless, as I am guessing, that the problem came from a different device, not my home computer.

PS The article I found with the illustration above said I should also clean up my "history" and "cookies," which I did which has now gotten me totally messed up, since I must relog into absolutely everything. And to do it, I have to remember all my passwords...