Stormbringer's Thunder

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen In the thrilling days of internet yesteryear, people were using emoticons to express reactions with face-like symbols. This platform automatically turns the text version into a picture so I am unable to make one of the old styles, but you know: Those things with a combination of a colon, dash, right parenthesis to make a smiley face. They evolved into graphic emojis, and people do not need to turn their heads to see them. Credit: Unsplash / Lidya Nada Now the things are ubiquitous on social media, and even show up in more serious online posts and articles. (In my opinion, they should be avoided or at least used sparingly, depending on the article, subject matter, and so on.) Smartphones make them exceptionally easy to use. Text messages are an entirely different animal, so it's obviously up to the individual in that regard. Using desktop browsers, I have an option insert them 😸 as well as other special characters. Also, this dreadful Blogger platform has a s

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Back in the 1960s, there was a fad with a ball made of synthetic rubber that would bounce back very efficiently. Throw it in the living room, it bounces a lot, maybe breaks your mother's favorite lamp, makes the cat hide behind the couch, scuffs the walls, and so on. My articles on browsers and security have been bouncing around. The first one is here , then a few more, and something a bit tangential is over at " How to Conduct Insufficient Research ". Now I bounced over to this weblog again. Credit: Pexels /  energepic.com We hear so much about internet security nowadays, and reports seem conflicting and incomplete. Some of them touted certain lesser-known browsers as the safest, while others specifically condemned them. The big players I discussed in previous articles had varying reviews, and sometimes that is from people doing tests of a clinical nature. They were pretty much deemed reliable. From what I gather, on browsers were out-of-the-box a

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  For many years, Firefox was my main browser. It has several features that I were very useful to me. After my bad breakup with it , I ended up using a fork known as Waterfox. It has been pretty good, but is not my default browser and more like a utility that I use on occasion. Something I like in FFX and forks is the download indicators. Those in Chromium-based browsers irritate me. Except... Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos / Stuart Miles As stated before, I have the perspective of a Windows 10 user, so this article is unhelpful for users with mobile devices. While I use a smartphone, it's a derringer compared to my .44-40 desktop. When I do research and obtain information, I want the downloads on the big gun, not on the little thing where they are inconvenient to obtain. Many people like to hate Microsoft. I'll allow that they rush things to market before thorough testing (one reason I don't hurry to download new software releases right away), love money t

As many Christian apologists know, all believers must sanctify Christ as Lord and be ready to give a reasoned defense for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15). Misotheists and other anti-creationists claim to love science and reason, but many are weak in these areas. Left: Christ Resurrected / Herbert Gustave Schmalz, 1890 Right: Prayer of Moses after the Israelites go through the Red Sea / Ivan Kramskoy, 1861 God's Word tells us that those who claim that God does not exist are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness and are without excuse (Rom. 1:18-23). In addition, the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God (1 Cor. 1:20-25), and we have the Holy Spirit living in us, so we can see through God's leading and the Bible how worldly wisdom is at odds with true wisdom. With these truths in mind, Christians should easily be able to see why it is improper and unbiblical to argue from an evidence-only position that puts God on trial. This is can also be clearly seen when  argu

 by Cowboy Bob Sorensen While many propagandists use heavy-handed tactics such as concentration and repetition, harassment, appeal to ridicule, and so on, others are conniving sidewinders. In " Pop-culture Evolutionism ", Paul Price discussed how evolutionism is spread through popular culture. In a similar way, this is happening with sexuality. Credit: Pexels /  Marcos Flores Non-Christians easily follow trends in the world, but it's mighty difficult for Christians to resist floating downstream as well. Television, movies, music, performing artists, news media, sports stars, and others influence our way of thinking. People have been duped into thinking that the number of LGBTQ+ people is much larger than it really is, party because of how they are  presented on television . My wife and I watch  The Good Doctor , a program about an autistic surgeon and his struggles with the medical community. (An episode  inspired me to write an article .) It is made quite well and gets v

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  This article will be linked in another about how misotheists and evolutionists try to put Christians and creationists on the defensive, but is a stand-alone example of how logical thinking is useful in daily life. Really. It's not just for apologetics, science, and academia. While social media is a hotbed of irrationality, I challenged someone to see what would happen. It paid off. San Francisco at night image credit: Unsplash / Trevor Wilson The HBO documentary Allen v Farrow  was trending on Twitter. (I don't have or want HBO.) While I liked a few of Woody Allen's movies and a couple of his books long ago, I really have no interest in the subject. Justice may be done and the truth may come out now, but there is no doubt that when he stands before the Creator in judgment, there will be righteous judgment with no appeal. I noticed a comment by Paul Haynes . (I learned later that he is a co-producer of another HBO documentary that I did not watch call

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Here is the final article in the trilogy. The first part was an introduction , then the privacy and other things were discussed in the second part . Now it is time to examine a few extensions (also called add-ons) that this cowboy has found helpful for productivity and security. Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos /  dfrsce It doesn't take an architect to add extensions since other people did the construction. Finding them is not much of a challenge, but loading good ones requires discretion. They can easily be added onto the browser's structure. Sometimes, too easily. Once again, I must point out that I am writing about my experiences using a Windows 10 desktop computer. Do my experiences and learning qualify me as a "power user"? Some Extensions can be Harmful Yeah, get the caution out there before discussing what I am using. I was unable to learn how many extensions are available for Firefox, but there are quite a few . Most people use browser extensio