Is Foursquare or Facebook Places Safe?

by Ron Davis on August 29, 2010

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I rarely look at my web site stats, but today while relaxing a bit during the ball game, I decided I’d look at my analytics reports.

I noticed a lot of people have been finding my site by searchingfor information on Foursquare and Facebook Places. Most of the time searchers are finding my post about whether Foursquare is safe or not.

Since I wrote that post, Facebook has started making it really easy to disclose your physical location, making their users’ personal safety a thing of the past. I suppose that explains the surge of people looking for information on the check-in services.

My recommendation for these check-in services like Foursquare and Facebook Places is to not use them. They are dangerous threats to your personal safety, and I’d suggest you just avoid them altogether.  For more information about keeping yourself safe online, you can visit my employer’s site.

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Writing Because…I Enjoy It

by Ron Davis on August 26, 2010

Somewhere out near San Francisco, my junior high English teacher is in tears laughing at the title of this post. When I was in Mrs. Losey’s 7th grade English class, writing was not something I enjoyed – not even a little bit.

Now, many years later, I operate and contribute to several blogs online.  Some are for fun, some are serious, and others, well, I hope they’ll make me a little cash one day.  I write much more now than I ever thought I would, and I’ve found that I actually enjoy it.

I’ve been thinking about this and trying to understand it a little bit over the past week or so, and I have come to the conclusion that when I write, it’s for one of two reasons.

Therapy
The first reason is that it’s become a rather therapeutic way for me to process my thoughts. When I got interested in politics a couple of years ago, I wrote on my political blog as a way of confirming what I believe about limited government and other things in which you non-political friends have zero interest.

Writing to process my thoughts was a bit unintentional at first, but now I see how well it works for me, and it’s not uncommon for me to sit down to write solely for the purpose of processing some thoughts, even if it’s something I have no intention of posting online.

Creativity
The second reason is one that I realized just the other day. I write to be creative. I believe that we all have been given some ability for creativity. My friend Geof takes beautiful pictures. My songwriter friends write amazing lyrics and music. My friend Brandy likes to make things in the kitchen (when she’s not writing).

I was reading this the other day, and at the end of that long post (that’s totally worth your time to read, btw), there’s a link to a Wendell Berry poem called “The Peace of Wild Things.” I read that poem and thought “Wow, that’s beautiful.” Then I read it again. And once more after that. And I’m not one to get all gushy over poetry.

The point here is that a creative outlet is a good thing.

Recently my wife and I launched a web site, a blog written from the perspective of our cat, Liberty. Yes, really. She writes most of the content, but I write the Kitty Haiku posts. I’ve found that writing there – even silly little poems – brings a sense of completion that I really enjoy. It’s like when the lawn is all freshly mowed, except without all the sweat.

So where am I going with all of this? I don’t know. Maybe I’m just processing thoughts.

Or maybe it’s a little note to some of you who have a creative outlet and aren’t using it. You know who you are. Go now!

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10 years

August 13, 2010

Ten years ago today, a little girl came into my life and changed me forever.  I can’t believe it’s been a decade already.
These pictures were taken about 15 minutes after she was born. They got her cleaned up, wrapped up, and then we spent a few minutes with her before I went to get my [...]

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Minefields

July 22, 2010

On Tuesday, my parents celebrated 36 years of marriage.  That’s 13,140 days. 315,360 hours.  More than a third of a century.
Yeah, it’s a long time.
I was thinking about this while I was listening to a song “Dancing in the Minefields” that Andrew Peterson wrote about marriage.  Andrew had this to say about the song (and [...]

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Life Lessons From George Steinbrenner

July 13, 2010

George Steinbrenner passed away today. I’ve always admired the Boss, not because he owned the Yankees, but because of some of the things I’ve learned by watching him over the years.
One of the highlights of the many Spring Training trips that Dad and I have made was getting to meet Mr. Steinbrenner. We spent about [...]

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Fireworks

July 11, 2010

Last night we went to the annual fireworks display here in Paulding County.  I took my camera and tripod, hoping to get a few decent pictures, and I was really happy with the way they turned out.  They’re not perfect, but I like them.  You can see the whole set on my Flickr account if [...]

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Hard

July 7, 2010

I’ve got “Hard” from Rich Mullins in my head today, and it seems to apply to a situation some friends of mine are in. I thought I’d share this chorus here because we can always use a little more Rich Mullins in our day.
Lord, it’s hard to turn the other cheek
Hard to bless when others [...]

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2010 Peachtree Road Race

July 4, 2010

I ran my first 10k race today.  I’m not sure what I was thinking.  I made it through, but I’m absolutely exhausted. 55,000 people participated, and I’ve got to say that 55,000 is a LOT of people.  I couldn’t believe it.  There were literally people as far as I could see, both in front of [...]

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Birthday Thoughts

June 24, 2010

Earlier this week, I used an iTunes card that my parents gave me for my birday to pick up “Choosing Sides” from Andrew Osenga.  I’ve been processing a lot of stuff in my mind lately, and this was really what I needed to hear this week.
One song, “Rest,” really stood out to me.  These lines [...]

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State of the Ron (with pictures)

May 6, 2010

Things have been busy here, and as is usually the case when that happens, the blog has gone without updates for a while.  I decided to do a State of the Ron update to catch everybody up on some key things happening with me and to practice my obviously amazing Photoshop skills.  This update features [...]

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