Chat from August 21, 2013, edited by Sandra Dodd
THE IMAGE MARKERS WERE SMILEY FACES.
Jill Parmer: I have met 4 out of the 7 of you from the internet, and I've stayed at 3 of your homes.  And I'm aliiiiiive to tell about it. \^^/
THE IMAGE MARKERS WERE SMILEY FACES.
Jill Parmer: I have met 4 out of the 7 of you from the internet, and I've stayed at 3 of your homes.  And I'm aliiiiiive to tell about it. \^^/
Jill Parmer: ....to tell about how great it was. 
AlexPolikowsky1: I am one of the lucky ones to have had Jill in my house!
Marta Pires: Jill, I hope you can come to my house too! 
Marta Pires: At least, you said you were thinking of coming to Lisbon with Addi one of these days... 
Jill Parmer: Saving my pennies, Marta.
Laura Z:
Heather Booth: Austin is asleep and Monty is in a meeting and I am bursting at the seams to tell someone...My best friend who's pregnant just called and she's having a boy!
Robin B.:
Marta Pires:
Sandra Dodd: And she's in Texas?
Sandra Dodd: You're going to try to be there for the birth?
Jihong joined the chat 32 hours ago
Heather Booth: I mean that would be great! But I'll likely wait until she has the baby and go a couple days after. Unless something happens where she ends up needed a scheduled c-section, I just don't know how I can be there on the day it happens. Yes, she's in Texas.
Sandra Dodd: My son, Kirby, is in town since last night. He's coming over after the chat, to introduce me to his girlfriend, Destiny. We're going up on the tram. She grew up in Texas and hasn't been up on a mountain, I don't think.
Marta Pires: Cool, Sandra!
Sandra Dodd: Today's topic is Internet Safety.
Sandra Dodd: I don't think people are as afraid of internet "exposure" as they used to be.
Sandra Dodd: Or maybe I just run with a less paranoid crowd.
Robin B.: Which would be us .
.Heather Booth: It's a big topic right now with all the NSA stuff. I suspect the people who are paranoid are even more paranoid.
Robin B.: Yes, could be, Heather. I have a friend who will not use her real name online, ever.
Robin B.: It'll just confirm what she's always feared - that someone is always watching her.
Marta Pires: Sandra, you've helped me not worry so much, relax more. A lot of people around me are paranoid about it.
Sandra Dodd: If the government can read your e-mail, they'll be able to find out who your made up name is, probably.
Robin B.: Yup!
Robin B.: IP addresses!
Marta Pires: Hehe
Jill Parmer: Maybe it is getting more common with conventions of gaming and comics. Several years ago I told someone that Luke and I went to visit (and stay at their home) some friends we me through World of Warcraft and they looked at me like I had three heads. But I'll give them a bit of benefit of doubt,...they had little kids and maybe that idea was more scary for them.
Robin B.: Well, she avoided even having a computer for years. Only when her ex gave her daughter one did she sort of relax.
Jihong: I am still having lots of concern, but just take the risk and go with it.
Robin B.: What kinds of concerns, Jihong?
AlexPolikowsky1: I was heavy in message boards like ICQ in 1996 so I have never been paranoid. Had friends from years that I kept in touch!
Sandra Dodd: I wouldn't know any of you if it weren't for the internet. Virginia and Kim, I might meet someday.
Jihong: a lot of personal information on the internet
Marta Pires: We wouldn't have pulled off that surprise last week, if it weren't for the internet. An international surprise, if I might add! 
An international surprise, if I might add! AlexPolikowsky1: I met my husband online! Need I say more?
Sandra Dodd: My husband fears that too, but he has printout of bank statements. Someone could come to the house and take those papers away. He has charge cards and checkbooks in his desk.
He has charge cards and checkbooks in his desk.Robin B.: I wouldn't have known how to be a better parent if it hadn't been for the internet (and specifically unschoolingdotcom and AlwaysLearning). My in-person homeschooling/unschooling group only took me so far.
Marta Pires: What Robin said!
Virginia W joined the chat 32 hours ago
Kim_AR: We've met a couple of times Most recent at Un in the Sun. Dani spent 30mins with the baby octopus.
Most recent at Un in the Sun. Dani spent 30mins with the baby octopus.Sandra Dodd: Oh, true! Keith and I couldn't have gone out to that sweet dinner if not for the internet.
Sandra Dodd: OH! Sorry, Kim! I was thinking of my house or your house. I get faces with names eventually.
Jill Parmer: Then there's Brian (Alex's husband) and all his farmer friends on the internet that tried to keep some of us ahead of a snowstorm.
Kim_AR: I'm quiet though...
Virginia W: We have a big crush on the internet at my house. We think the risks are dwarfed by the benefits.
Sandra Dodd: I'm still giddy when I think about that octopus.
Sandra Dodd: I have a little octopus flip book in the bathroom. I flipped it yesterday, and thought about that octopus.
Kim_AR: It was definitely cool for my animal loving girl
Virginia W: And the risks don't seem all that different from meat-space risks.
Virginia W: We give out a lot of personal information every time we leave the house, to anybody who can see us.
Virginia W: I know people who think it is risky to wear a tshirt with your name on it.
Jill Parmer: What are "meat-space risks"?
Robin B.: I was just going to ask that, Jill!
Sandra Dodd: People used to cover up their checks with one hand, when writing checks at grocery stories, to keep people from seeing their address or phone number, when people used to write checks for groceries.
Kim_AR: You can see my front door on google earth
AlexPolikowsky1: JIll or maybe saved the cow and calf ( at least a huge vet bill) the other day as my husband looked up something on his Iphone /Internet in the middle of the pasture!
Robin B.: I'm thinking baby back ribs!
Sandra Dodd: Paranoia has been around a long, long time.
Virginia W: "Meat-space" = the physical world. As opposed to online.
Robin B.: I used to call my friend a techno-luddite, but that might have been redundant!
Sandra Dodd: noun. a term, originating from cyberpunk fiction and culture, referring to the real ( that is, not virtual) world, the world of flesh and blood.
Robin B.: Well, so glad it's not Learn Nothing Day!
Robin B.: Not a term I'll use much, I don't think.
Sandra Dodd: People repair their own appliances with video directions. I watched some tile videos last time I was doing tile. I wanted a refresher, and to see whether there were new materials on the market I should know about.
AlexPolikowsky1: I really enjoy my virtual/online friends! I have met some in real life and it s pretty cool!
Sandra Dodd: I could've gone to the home improvement store where they would have sold me a book and pressed me to buy the most expensive stuff.
Robin B.: I learned how to sew stretch fabric. I know enough not to ever want to do it again.
Robin B.: From YouTube, I mean.
Sandra Dodd: People can watch other people quilt, and knit and play guitar—how to play particular songs.
Jill Parmer: I figure getting to know folks online to decide if you want to meet them is kinda cool. Sorta like the women who wrote to soldiers during the wars and met afterward and married. You get to know a lot about a person through writing.
Sandra Dodd: I think for writing itself, the advantage of communicating online is huge.
Sandra Dodd: Real writing, with real readers.
Virginia W: I replaced the screens of two different phones using instructions from YouTube
Sandra Dodd: So maybe one "danger of the internet" is that some technicians, and guitar teachers, might not have as much business.
AlexPolikowsky1: I learned to build a computer ! on my computer! HA!
Jill Parmer: All those How-To Youtube videos, make me like and appreciate the goodness of people. Taking their time to video and tell how to do something. Lots of gratitude there. I fixed my dryer from one of those.
Sandra Dodd: People don't need to go to a bar at night to "be around other people."
Sandra Dodd: Or if people do want to go to a bar, they can read reviews, look at menus, and invite their friends by facebook.
Heather Booth: I met Jill here, then at Always Learning Live a couple years ago. Her whole family came and stayed with us for three days a couple weeks ago, but it all started here; online.
Jill Parmer: And a lovely home and family Heather has!!!
Heather Booth: Right back atcha!
Kim_AR: I love the ability to read from a wide variety of sources and form my own opinion.
Robin B.: I know Jill, Sandra, Heather & Jihong in person, but first met them online.
AlexPolikowsky1: Robin only needs to come visit and we will be like BFFs
Heather Booth: I met Sandra after a talk at HSC, but got to know her online. She's also been to my house.
Robin B.:
AlexPolikowsky1: Yes When I met Sandra and Jill I felt like I knew them already and they were old friends. IT was pretty awesome!
Jill Parmer: I don't think all the information saves gullible people though, even with all kinds of reviews and such. If one does not know how to read between the lines or gather more information or be a critical thinker, one will be just as gullible with a door to door salesman as and online solicitation.
AlexPolikowsky1: Yes Jill !
Marta Pires: Even I have had the chance to meet some of you in person! You came all the way to Lisbon! (Jihong and Sandra and Joyce)
Jill Parmer: Yes, there is that ease of connection, Alex. I felt like I already knew you, and so the beginning of meeting was easy, and I just got right into the flow of whatever we were doing that day and then going to your home.
Sandra Dodd: Because Marty moved out, and Holly wants to have house shows in the back of the house, she has been helping me move two rooms full of my own stuff into Marty's old room.
Sandra Dodd: Because of the internet, there are lots of things I'm willing to throw away now.
Jill Parmer: Wow, that's huge for you, Sandra. Wow.
Sandra Dodd: Pictures of costumes, or of medieval objects, furniture, heraldry—I don't need to keep pictures like that anymore.
Sandra Dodd: Dictionaries. I used to LOVE dictionaries.
Jill Parmer: fyi, Sandra has amazing pack rat abilities.
Sandra Dodd: If something is easily available on the internet, there's not much reason to keep it.
AlexPolikowsky1: I know many families that the parents use computers but kids are no allowed or very very restricted. I do not understand why. Really.
AlexPolikowsky1: All the fear.
Laura Z: If it wasn't for the Internet we would never have met Kim before moving to AR. I knew ahead of time there was a family from here attending the Un in the Sun conference
AlexPolikowsky1: Cool Laura and Kim!
Laura Z: And we keep in contact with friends and family from around the world. And it's allowed Caitlyn to make friends with kids around the world.
Sandra Dodd: That's going for sewing supplies, too, in an odd way.
Sandra Dodd: I've kept some things because they would be hard to find again.
Sandra Dodd: But with the internet, I can find ANYTHING again, just about.
Jill Parmer: Wait. I don't get the connection between internet and sewing supplies?
Jill Parmer: ah.
Laura Z: I was just talking with someone whose house was broken into and they DID have all their personal papers stolen. And I've had my credit card stolen online but also from people who stole the number in restaurants.
AlexPolikowsky1: and I love Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads! They have help me keep in touch with loved ones, family, friends, be inspired, learn ( TONS) find good books I want to read!
Laura Z: Yes Alex!
Sandra Dodd: Jill, things like overalls buckles, or twill tape with snaps set in...
Sandra Dodd: I can give them to the thrift store now. If I need more, I can find some to order online.
AlexPolikowsky1: Laura Gigi really wants to meet Caitlyn!!!!!!
AlexPolikowsky1: She loved meeting Mary last year at the ALL Minnesota! Now she wants your daughter!
Laura Z: Alex
Robin B.: I've sourced many things for cosplay online that I wouldn't find, no matter how many stores I physically visited.
Jill Parmer: When Luke and Addi were young and playing games with people online, I helped them think through things, about if they wanted to play with a particular person or trade with them or whatever else like that. They got to be discerning with a helper right by them.
Virginia: We're ready to give up the majority of our books because of the internet.
Sandra Dodd: Holly and I went through DVDs today, to move them to another room. There's a pile for Marty to check through, but I think Marty's pretty much watching things online only, now.
Sandra Dodd: We gathered up several dozen DVDs for Holly to give a friend of hers who's studying film.
Sandra Dodd: We gathered up several dozen DVDs for Holly to give a friend of hers who's studying film.
Robin B.: Yes, Jill. Senna learned a lot about people when gaming.
Robin B.: I've taken all our DVD's out of their cases and put them in the equivalent of photo albums!
Robin B.: I've taken all our DVD's out of their cases and put them in the equivalent of photo albums!
Laura Z: My brother is still old school - wants to read his book in his hand, flip the page, touch it. I love my kindle because I can hit the next page button and keep on folding.
Robin B.: I like both "platforms" Laura!
Laura Z: Robin, I like non fiction in paper but fiction on Kindle
Laura Z: And we have stacks of DVDS that are mostly on the Internet now. I found Gnomeo y Julieta (Gnomeo and Juliet) in Spanish last night on You Tube - the entire thing
Laura Z: Robin, I like non fiction in paper but fiction on Kindle
Laura Z: And we have stacks of DVDS that are mostly on the Internet now. I found Gnomeo y Julieta (Gnomeo and Juliet) in Spanish last night on You Tube - the entire thing
Sandra Dodd: Folding what, Laura?
Laura Z: Sorry folding clothes
Jihong: We are "digitalized", at least my life and my kids' life, which is great for mobility
Sandra Dodd: I like to fold corners on books.
Robin B.: Oh, sacrilege!
Sandra Dodd: I write in books.
Marta Pires: Me too, Sandra (fold corners on books)
Sandra Dodd: The copy of the Big Book that I'm using for chats is one that I didn't mean to write in, but I mistook a blank copy for my Just Add Light copy, and marked in it.
Laura Z: I do like to fold corners on books too, but interestingly I really do prefer reading the fiction online. Non fiction I still like to hold, mark up, fold pages
Sandra Dodd: That makes good sense, Laura.
Robin B.: It must be left over from school. I had hand-me-down textbooks and I didn't like someone else's notes on "my" book.
Jill Parmer: I like to write notes in my books.
Laura Z: And I do like having someone sign my books - like my Big Book (thanks Sandra)
AlexPolikowsky1: I love books but man!!!! My kindle rocks! Cheap books, fast and I can carry many everywhere! Plus instant preview and sample!
Sandra Dodd: Although I used to fold down a corner or two in (ahem...) historical novels, for a quick read sometimes...
Robin B.: Or, just a personal quirk. I like bookmarks over folding corners, as well.
Sandra Dodd: Although I used to fold down a corner or two in (ahem...) historical novels, for a quick read sometimes...
Robin B.: Or, just a personal quirk. I like bookmarks over folding corners, as well.
AlexPolikowsky1: So safety!
AlexPolikowsky1: Gigi will not answer calls on Skype or accept friend requests of people she does not know.
AlexPolikowsky1: My son has met and kept a few friends online. People I do not know. One girl that he used to play a lot of role play and write stories with.
AlexPolikowsky1: My son has met and kept a few friends online. People I do not know. One girl that he used to play a lot of role play and write stories with.
trista: I love how great the internet is for introverts--Sam and I are watching Futurama downstairs while Brook is up on her room watching the same episode, but we have her on Skype. Both are in their most favorite, comfortable places and yet we're still together.
Robin B.: Nice, Trista.
Virginia: That's sweet, trista. Sounds like my house.
Sandra Dodd: Interesting, Trista!
AlexPolikowsky1: Cool trista! My kids will skype with each other and they can just talk through the wall if they wanted!
Laura Z: I like that idea Trista. WE're moving in a couple of months (will be in same town as Kim yay) and will have an upstairs now. We'll have to try the Skype out for upstairs and down
Virginia: My Lydia (8) recently moved her computer from her bedroom to the living room so we could be more together.
AlexPolikowsky1: I used to Skype my son to ask if he wanted something to eat!
Virginia: Sometimes Miriam (6) calls me on her phone to wipe her bottom.
Robin B.: LOL Virginia
Virginia: Sometimes Miriam (6) calls me on her phone to wipe her bottom.
Robin B.: LOL Virginia
Laura Z: Where we are now - we actually have a big table with our computers and Stephane watches TV about 10 feet away so we're always close. Not sure how we'll set that up in the new house, but I do love it here.
Robin B.: You're moving again, Laura?
Robin B.: You're moving again, Laura?
Laura Z: LOL yes Robin...
Laura Z: But Caitlyn is good with it this time!
Robin B.: Good that you're closer to Kim, Laura.
Laura Z:
Virginia: Can we talk about how the internet helps *keep* people safe? Is that on topic?
Jihong: When my mother hands me a shopping list for grocery, I don't take the list any more, I take a picture with my iphone and that is it
trista: I know Brook has tried to watch show with her friends on Skype, but it gets frustrating with all of the sound overlapping. But I remember reading somewhere that there is now a site where you can watch together? Anybody know what that one is?
Laura Z: Yes that was me that posted that Trist
Virginia: I think there's a way to do that on Xbox live.
Sandra Dodd: When The Jetsons had their videophone, it was the size and shape of an early iMac.
Sandra Dodd: When The Jetsons had their videophone, it was the size and shape of an early iMac.
Robin B.: Oh, that's right Sandra. I remember that from the Jetsons.
Sandra Dodd: Now, though, videophones are iPhones and other smartphones.
Sandra Dodd: Ipads.
Laura Z: But we also use Skype to screenshare and she can watch videos with friends that way too.
Virginia: It makes a little virtual "theater" with the show on the "screen" and xbox avatars in the "seats".
Sandra Dodd: That's fun, Jihong, but how do you line through things you've gotten? I take a sticky note, put it on the cart handle, and line through. Or I don't, like last time, line through, and then I forget something.
Jihong: Sandra, I dont line through, just double check
Jihong: Sandra, I dont line through, just double check
Jihong: also I am exploring learning language (French)---amazing resources available. I am thinking of teaching other people Chinese with my kids throughhttp://verbling.com/i/55353791630004705654
Laura Z: great link Jihong
Laura Z: great link Jihong
Laura Z: I like that idea Jihong. I write a list and promptly lose it.
Kim_AR: Grocery IQ is an app I love
Sandra Dodd: Virginia, start us off. What are you thinking about how people are safer because of the internet? I'm for talking about that.
Virginia: Little stuff or big stuff?
Virginia: People have already mentioned getting to know somebody before meeting in person.
Virginia: Which keeps people safer physically and emotionally.
Laura Z: Yes that would be useful for me because my brothers are very against Internet becuse of government and others checking on us
Laura Z: Well how about how you can already find inforamation ABOUT people.
Laura Z: You can get a good feel for who they are, what they've posted, etc.
Sandra Dodd: you can also find inflated made-up "information" about people, but that's another subject. That was always true, and can be true in person (people wearing better-than-normal clothes, using false names and fake accents).
Laura Z: Yes exactly Sandra
Jihong: second that, Laura. facebook timeline weaves a story about that person
Laura Z: Yes exactly Sandra
Jihong: second that, Laura. facebook timeline weaves a story about that person
Kim_AR: My husband's business travel has decreased a lot since they can now teleconference. I like him safe at home.
Sandra Dodd: That's a good point about teleconferences. Keith, same.
Sandra Dodd: That's a good point about teleconferences. Keith, same.
Jihong: also people are on their best behavior, for online reputation and credibility...
trista: I can order my groceries and have them delivered to my house! Not only does it save a lot of frustration, but it keeps us off the road (not a good place to be when you're all frustrated).
Sandra Dodd: I can order something obscure, and not drive all over looking for it (and buying things I didn't need, and failing to find the target thing)
Marta Pires: I also love to be able to order a lot of cool (and sometimes cheaper) things on the internet, from around the world and have it delivered at my door.
Laura Z: Yes agreed Marta.
Sandra Dodd: Oooh... Remember when people could first order books on Amazon, and local bookstores were cranky and going out of business?
Sandra Dodd: Now people hardly order books at all, just electronic things.
Sandra Dodd: Now people hardly order books at all, just electronic things.
Laura Z: Maybe you can order something that you'd have to drive to an unsafe area to find otherwise
AlexPolikowsky1: I went to pick up GIgi's horseback riding instructor at her new home and I google mapped it and even saw the front of the house so it was so easy to find (that can make it safe)!
Marta Pires: Yes Alex, google maps is great too.
Marta Pires: Yes Alex, google maps is great too.
Virginia: We almost never need to go to big box stores. (Not casting aspersions) Amazon is the biggest box of the all.
Laura Z: Well I do order books still, but from Amazon or sellers on Ebay.
Laura Z: Rarely from the bookstore.
Sandra Dodd: Now, though, publishers probably wish people were at least buying books from Amazon.
Sandra Dodd: I got a catalog in the mail the other day—Bill Blas—used to be all books.
Sandra Dodd: Now it's coffee mugs, decorative items, t-shirts for book lovers...
Sandra Dodd: Now it's coffee mugs, decorative items, t-shirts for book lovers...
trista: We can find recommendations for who to hire when we need to have someone to the house. I'm always leery having someone out, but things like Angie's List make me feel a lot better.
Kim_AR: We love the animal cams. You can get up close to almost any animal from the safety of your home.
Jihong: Ki, what is animal cams?
AlexPolikowsky1: JIhong like the Bear Den Cameras and Owl cameras where you can watch the animals live!
Sandra Dodd: Jihong, animal cam is like a camera set right next to an eagle's nest or something, so people can see the eggs hatch
Virginia: Google has a music service for $10 per month that is basically everything. I hope one day they can offer the same for books, and video.
AlexPolikowsky1: I buy stuff now on Facebook groups that are local and it is even better than Craigslist sometimes. Safer!! You can see the person's page and have an idea
Jill Parmer: Gosh I must be living pretty dangerously....I check with out local bookstore downtown before ordering on the internet, and I ride my bike to pick it up, and it's next to my favorite tea shop, so I'll usually get a matcha latte.
Sandra Dodd: The last line on the page in the book on Online Safety is this: "Playing Halo online isn't as dangerous as hanging around outside a convenience store."
Virginia: I love how you pierce the image of "violent" gaming. They're sitting on a couch, twiddling their fingers, next to their mom. Not violent.
Laura Z: Yes Alex that is a great thing! I usually prefer Ebay over Craigslist for electronics because you have recourse if something is a dud
Laura Z: but Jill you have those favorite local shops. Not everyone does
Jill Parmer: True Laura, plus I live one mile from our downtown.
Jill Parmer: True Laura, plus I live one mile from our downtown.
AlexPolikowsky1: JIll I love buying books and find them local thrift stores !
Kim_AR: I love reading the notes others' have written in the used books.
Sandra Dodd: With multi-player online gaming, kids can "socialize" for hours, without the danger of the new friends' other friends, older brothers, whatever, being drunks or druggies or bullies. It doesn't matter, if they're not at your house.
AlexPolikowsky1: Yes Sandra!^^
Sandra Dodd: There's not the worry of some other kid's mom or dad driving them somewhere without being completely sober. The kids are home.
Sandra Dodd: There's not the worry of some other kid's mom or dad driving them somewhere without being completely sober. The kids are home.
trista: I love online banking--I always feel like i need to hurry and keep my head down at the ATM.
Laura Z: Wasn't there something posted recently about a little boy who was able to guide his grandmas car to safety from skills he learned playing video games?
Laura Z: maybe it was here?
Laura Z: maybe it was here?
Sandra Dodd: Not here, Laura, unless it was the day I forgot the chat and missed the first hour
Jihong: And internet makes travel much feasible and safe...the reviews give me assurance what kind of people I am dealing with and what kidn of properties we are going to occupy
Laura Z: Trista - that online banking also provides a safety net because you can check your account often. I've found out when people have stolen my debit card number much faster than if I had to wait to be notified aftera bunch of fraudulent purchases.
Marta Pires: I don't think it was here either, Laura.
Laura Z: although not directly Internet - lots of gaming is Internet based. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...
Sandra Dodd: There is online gambling.
Sandra Dodd: In the UK, TONS of it. In the UK, roadside services (like our rest-stops, crossed with a mall) have electronic gambling machines.
Virginia: I think that's still safer than a casino.
Sandra Dodd: And yes. It's safer (and cheaper) than a casino.
Sandra Dodd: Safer than machines at roadside services in the UK.
Sandra Dodd: Used to be people needed to walk down to the betting shop (often combined with a small grocery store) to place bets in th UK. Now, they can do it online.
Virginia: Safer than driving to the store for a lotto ticket or a scratch off even.
Sandra Dodd: There were bets on the royal baby. They bet on American elections, American sports, Australian sports.
Virginia: People in alabama drive to georgia and florida to buy lottery tickets.
Jill Parmer: If people are up to causing trouble in online games it's easier to not play with them and they can't get a mob going. I've seen in online chats in World of Warcraft people defending victims, and people not rallying to a bully.
Sandra Dodd: There are longterm bets—what the royal baby will study or do as an adult.
Robin B.: I can take photos of my checks and deposit them online.
Virginia: They're almost infinitely more likely to die in a car crash buying the tickets than to win.
Sandra Dodd: True, Virgina. Grim but true.
Sandra Dodd: And driving BACK from a Casino? Crazy dangerous, especially if one won money.
Robin B.: And been drinking.
Sandra Dodd: So there. The internet makes gambling safer for everyone except those in Alabama.
Sandra Dodd: [Brits] think our guns are shocking, and I think their gambling is shocking.
Robin B.: Put 'em together and you have: Vegas?
Virginia: DO people have a lot of guns in NM?
Sandra Dodd: Oh sure, Virginia.
Sandra Dodd: There were little sticker signs on the doors of the theater where Holly and I went two weeks ago that said no guns allowed inside.
Sandra Dodd: There were little sticker signs on the doors of the theater where Holly and I went two weeks ago that said no guns allowed inside.
Robin B.: I think both things are shocking but I'm Canadian.
Robin B.:
Robin B.:
Sandra Dodd: When Keith and I drove through Texas, I took a photo of a "no firearms allowed" on a convenience store.
Virginia: We see that around here, too. They're not expecting people who are legally packing, though. It's security theater.
Laura Z: Arkansas is pretty firearm friendly
Robin B.: WA is an open-carry state, yet I rarely see anyone with a gun in plain sight.
Sandra Dodd: Internet is safe-ish from firearms.
Sandra Dodd: I had an incident where I put something on my blog and someone (a homeschooling mom in Texas, I'm pretty sure, who was mad at me for not liking some stuff she wrote) called the state of New Mexico on me.
Virginia: I would expect open carry to make people safer. Concealed weapons are much scarier.
Sandra Dodd: I guess she didn't know how to find out what county I was in.
Robin B.: Holy cow!
Laura Z: come to Arkansas Robin
AlexPolikowsky1: Wow really Sandra?!
Sandra Dodd: So I talked to someone, assured her I really HAD thought of all those things...
Robin B.: No thanks, Laura!
Robin B.: Well, except to visit you, perhaps.
Sandra Dodd: VERY very interestingly... the person whose job it was to educate me about internet safety had not looked on the internet at the thing being complained about.
AlexPolikowsky1: Everyone has a gun in Minnesota you do not see it unless it is hunting season!
Sandra Dodd: This was the thing someone went crazy about. I was safe from everyone except this one person who wanted to be RIGHT about how dangerous it was.http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2007/05/h...
AlexPolikowsky1: My kids will call me and ask me if something is safe online. They are safer than those kids who will sneak at the interned because they have no idea
Robin B.: I'll bet she didn't think you should put Holly's DL online with her address visible.
Virginia: It has been possible to find the address of almost anyone whose name you know with a technology known as a "phonebook" for a looooong time.
Sandra Dodd: YES, Alex. It's like kids who will play with matches or lighters in secret, in a closet or a storage shed, because they don't want to get caught.
Sandra Dodd: You can call information and get an address, still.
Sandra Dodd: We're still in the phone book.
Sandra Dodd: And my name and address was published right at the top of the first page of the international Society for Creative Anachronism quarterly magazine for years and years.
Sandra Dodd: And it's here: http://sandradodd.com/house
Sandra Dodd: With a photo of the house, so that anyone who wants to leave a flaming sack of dogshit on my porch can do it!
Sandra Dodd: So far, nobody. Nothing.
AlexPolikowsky1: You can pretty much get anyone's address and phone number online, google map them and SEE their house!
Virginia: I think people forget that when they try to reduce risk, they are likely to introduce new risks, which they might not even be aware of.
Heather Booth: When Austin was 9 or so he had someone he was playing online with try to convince him to give him his log in info so they could trade stuff. Austin was online savy enough to know that was a bunch of hooey and blocked the user, then told me about it.
Heather Booth: When Austin was 9 or so he had someone he was playing online with try to convince him to give him his log in info so they could trade stuff. Austin was online savy enough to know that was a bunch of hooey and blocked the user, then told me about it.
AlexPolikowsky1: YES HEather! My son has sometimes tells me stuff like that!
Virginia: There are adults who still fall for stuff like that.
Laura Z: yes and you can now find out who owns a house that you found on Google, how much they paid, when, etc unless that county is not y et online.
Sandra Dodd: I think the most dangerous thing for a kid is unhappiness.
AlexPolikowsky1: Cool Sandra I loved seeing your house!
Sandra Dodd: When a child wants out and away from parents, then things outside the house can seem appealing.
Sandra Dodd: Even questionable strangers in cars with tinted windows, who will say "meet me in the alley."
Virginia: I agree. Unhappy kids are vulnerable. Kids whose parents won't listen to them will pour their hearts out to any adult who is halfway friendly.
Sandra Dodd: And that has been happening since before the internet.
Virginia: If they're lucky, it will be a nice person, because most people are nice.
AlexPolikowsky1: The interned has helped save and reunite some of those kids!
Sandra Dodd: Finding kids who ran away?
Kim_AR: Another thought. The internet is also good for the environment. Less people on the road shopping, business travels, etc so less fuel consumption and pollution
AlexPolikowsky1: Reunite not only kids , but lost loved ones, lost pets, adoptive kids and parents,....
Virginia: Kim, yes, and finding out about new ways to do things. My front yard is a "prairie" because of something I learned on the internet.
AlexPolikowsky1: I have put my cel phone on my Facebook wall several times and on local groups too. I have never had a problem. People really do not bother you or use it for anything other than getting a hold of me!
Sandra Dodd: Yesterday someone put up a photo of a dog that was found, and asked if people knew where it lived, and someone in her town did—at last the complex/building. That's cool.
AlexPolikowsky1: Yes Sandra kids that ran away or worse.
erika E: I know Brennan is a happier kid since he started skyping with friends while he games.
erika E: I know Brennan is a happier kid since he started skyping with friends while he games.
Sandra Dodd: So, Kim, the internet will put filling stations out of business? Car repair shops?
Sandra Dodd: How rude!
Sandra Dodd: How rude!
Kim_AR: Not with the amount of driving my teenagers do
erika E:
AlexPolikowsky1: There are big Pet reuniting State wide and local in my area. Pets are getting reunited so much easier now! Even months later! IT is amazing what it can do the dang internet!
trista: ooh, I thought of another safety thing--we've gotten flash flood warnings sent to our cell phone, which has been really helpful!
AlexPolikowsky1: Gosh Pet reuniting Facebook pages!
Virginia: How about this for the internet keeping people safe: Pewdiepie is raising money for clean water.
trista: Wow Virginia! I hadn't heard that.
erika E: Yes we just made a donation to his site and got a copy of the game Amnesia.
erika E: I think it's on his youtube channel.
erika E: I think it's on his youtube channel.
Laura Z: Yes Trista through humble game package purchases. Alex, thanks for sharing that through ...the Internet.
Virginia: Us too, we buy all the Humble Bundles.
Sandra Dodd: I told this story somewhere lately... in England?
Sandra Dodd: Marty and Kirby used to play a game called AoN, on AOL. Alliance of Nations.
Sandra Dodd: It was like an elaborate D&D, played in chat rooms for 30, and chatrooms for 10 and 5, and messages. Like chatrooms were places, on the map of the game, and people were in one "nation" or another, with questions and assignments. Big deal, pretty elaborate.
Sandra Dodd: There was a woman playing who was 30 or so. she had a severely disabled daughter, and so she couldn't get out. The daughter was 12 or so, I think, non-verbal, non-moblie.
Sandra Dodd: Marty and Kirby used to play a game called AoN, on AOL. Alliance of Nations.
Sandra Dodd: It was like an elaborate D&D, played in chat rooms for 30, and chatrooms for 10 and 5, and messages. Like chatrooms were places, on the map of the game, and people were in one "nation" or another, with questions and assignments. Big deal, pretty elaborate.
Sandra Dodd: There was a woman playing who was 30 or so. she had a severely disabled daughter, and so she couldn't get out. The daughter was 12 or so, I think, non-verbal, non-moblie.
Sandra Dodd: And the woman really liked Kirby, who was about 16 at the time.
Sandra Dodd: That worried me.
Sandra Dodd: She came to visit. She got someone else to watch her daughter for a week and she drove to Albuquerque not just to see Kirby, but four or five kid who were in the game, all teenaged boys.
Sandra Dodd: She brought them expensive gifts.
Sandra Dodd: I was nervous that she might want to talk Kirby into going back with her.
Sandra Dodd: But the boys were wary, and decided not to be alone with her. And she was nice, and lonely, and LIKED that these kids were nice to her online, and that they were good at playing an elaborate game.
Sandra Dodd: So she had a nice few days, hung out at the gaming shop where they also hung out, and then went home.
Robin B.: Probably a highlight in her life, Sandra.
Virginia: A lot of mothers would have used that fear to prevent the visit.
Sandra Dodd: IF Kirby had been unhappy at home, someone who had a car and a house and could afford hundred-dollar gifts might've persuaded him to come and help her with her daughter, and be her sweetie and to be a noble hero.
Sandra Dodd: She didn't stay at our house. I would've let her, but I don't know where she stayed.
Sandra Dodd: And once Marty was invited to meet a girl at a mall, that he met in that game (or another similar).
AlexPolikowsky1: Erika Amnesia is scary! Cool of Pewdiepie!
Sandra Dodd: He suggested she bring friends and he would, too. So their groups of three or four friends met, and it was like a date for Marty and the girl, but they had bodyguards and advisors.
Virginia: Botanicula is in the HB, it is awesome. Sandra: Sweet!
Sandra Dodd: They didn't hit it off, but they were polite and had some fun, and parted politely.
Virginia: My husband got upset recently because our daughter put on a "naked" minecraft skin.
Virginia: My husband got upset recently because our daughter put on a "naked" minecraft skin.
Robin B.: Virginia, can you explain the "'naked' Minecraft skin" for those who don't play, please?
Virginia: Sure. Minecraft is a game with low-resolution graphics.
erika E: Alex I thought I might play it with him it looks like it has quite a bit of story to it. That's the kind of games I like.
Virginia: Players can change their "skins" to anything.
Robin B.: Oh, I see. I know Minecraft - I didn't know about naked skins.
Virginia: Lydia changes her skin around once per day.
AlexPolikowsky1: cool stories Sandra!
Sandra Dodd: What is "a skin"
Sandra Dodd: The frame, like on a music-player "skin"?
Sandra Dodd: Or a character
Sandra Dodd: Or a character
Virginia: The "skin" is the appearance of your character.
AlexPolikowsky1: erika my son loves it since he was 9 or 10!
Virginia: Yes. The default skin is "Steve"
Virginia: There's a site called the "Skindex" with thousands.
AlexPolikowsky1: Gigi makes her own skins!
Laura Z: and it could be clothes/hair/shoes etc
Jill Parmer: A naked skin can't be anymore than flesh colored cubes, can it? It's hard to get fine details in Minecraft, no?
Robin B.: And your husband was upset because her character was nekkid?
Virginia: A "naked" skin would be one that resembles a naked body.
Virginia: Yes.
Virginia: Yes, those were my thoughts.
Sandra Dodd: There are instincts involved, dads of daughters.
Sandra Dodd: Don't blame him too much.
Laura Z: But it could be safer for her to explore running around naked as a game character than as a streaker
Virginia: Sandra: I get it. Furthermore, if you saw someone on a Minecraft server, in a naked skin, would your first thought, or even your second be "That is a female person in that nude skin."
Virginia: My first an second thought would be that it was a male troll.
Laura Z: And maybe he's concernced that she will want to do that in person, or that it might draw the wrong kind of attention.
Virginia: I know, I agree, I get that he has valid concerns.
Virginia: I didn't say anything to him about it.
Laura Z: But there are lots of skins on Minecraft that aren't covering the body
Virginia: And there are ones that don't even look human.
Laura Z: Virginia is she playing on servers like that or only on her own world
Virginia: She plays super craft bros.
Laura Z: okay
Virginia: And she just started playing pixelmon on a couple of servers.
Robin B.: Did he express his dismay to you or to your daughter?
Virginia: I was not present, but I know he did say something to her.
Robin B.: I forget how old your daughter is, Virginia.
Virginia: He said something like "I don't want to embarass her, but..."
Sandra Dodd: I think any child whose parents will listen to him or her, who are glad she's home, who aren't giving her reasons to be sneaky, is probably pretty safe!
Virginia: She is 8.
Virginia: Yes, she occasionally wants privacy, but it's just not because she's sneaking.
AlexPolikowsky1: Gigi likes privacy too but not sneaking anything!
Jill Parmer: "Naked" to an 8 year old in a safe home means something very different than "naked" to a grown man with a daughter.
Virginia: She really is a bit of a nudist. She goes nude whenever she can.
Virginia: She really is a bit of a nudist. She goes nude whenever she can.
Sandra Dodd: There was a time I objected to something about Holly, and it's silly.
Sandra Dodd: So I had the instinctive desire to protect her from her nasty self.
Sandra Dodd: Ready to hear what it was?
Jill Parmer: Not sure, should I be worried?
Marta Pires: Yes
Sandra Dodd: Holly's player name on XBox or Playstation II or something was "Holly-Would."
Sandra Dodd: I thought it was going to give people bad ideas.
Robin B.: Uh-oh. Porn name.
Sandra Dodd: That's as lame as a nekkid minecraft icon, isn't it?
Jill Parmer: Heh, and I'm guessing Doozy was being creative with "Holly" and "Hollywood".
Sandra Dodd: I don't think she was in danger. But the suggestion of willingness to... do what? She was 11 or 12.
Robin B.: Did she mean it as a play on "Hollywood"?
Sandra Dodd: She said Marty helped her come up with it.
Marta Pires: My thought too, Jill!
Sandra Dodd: I guess Hollywood was taken.
trista: And my kids, who love word play, would say, "THAT'S A HOMONYM!!"
Robin B.:
Sandra Dodd: So sometimes parents are irritatingly over-protective.
Robin B.: That's when "breathe!" helps.
Sandra Dodd: Someone write a clever conclusion, please.
erika E: Yes I have to "breathe" often =)
Jill Parmer: Oh, yeah, there are so many creative ways to spell your characters name, which is a necessity when names are "taken". 
Kim_AR: The internet is wonderfully life expanding...
Kim_AR: and can help create safety
Kim_AR: and can help create safety
Robin B.: And it doesn't necessarily mean "breahthe and say nothing or do nothing" - just gives you extra space to calm down from thinking the absolute worst thing is going to happen.
erika E: yes totally
Jill Parmer: What kids think about the things they are doing are usually way cleaner than what parents think of the same thing.
trista: it is the way of the future!...until something even more amazing is developed.
AlexPolikowsky1: Virginia my 7 year old daughter loves naked too!
Jill Parmer: Trying for the clever conclusion there. 
Kim_AR: lol
Virginia: I love that story, Sandra. I think I would call that a "Don't just do something, stand there!" moment.
Jill Parmer: Maybe instead of "cleaner" , I should have said "innocent".
Laura Z: Isnt' that a good reminder that our baggage isn't theirs
Sandra Dodd: Kirby and Marty will be here soon, and Destiny, Kirby's new girlfriend. I'm going to get up, stretch, load the dishwasher. You're welcome to hang out in here if you want. Thank you for being here!
Sandra Dodd: Marta and I are moving chats (new ones and old ones, eventually lots) here:
Marta Pires: Have a good time!
Laura Z: thanks Sandra
Sandra Dodd: Thanks!
Robin B.: Jill and they're more aware of the nasty bits (and avoid them) than we think.
AlexPolikowsky1: As we can see this group of people have met online and some even in real life ( after meeting online) and they are all alive
They send one of the people in the group they never ever met money and the person did what she said she would! WOW Internet is not that scary anymore
That one met her husband online and that other one spent a week in another ones house before ever meeting other than oline
Conclusion:
Internet can be safer and kids that have been using it safely at home and are happy and connected to their family will not just take off with a wack job!
They send one of the people in the group they never ever met money and the person did what she said she would! WOW Internet is not that scary anymore
That one met her husband online and that other one spent a week in another ones house before ever meeting other than oline
Conclusion:
Internet can be safer and kids that have been using it safely at home and are happy and connected to their family will not just take off with a wack job!
AlexPolikowsky1: Bye!
Jihong: thanks for the chat
erika E: Bye...Thanks everyone! =)
