Category Archives: The Internet

The Thieves Among Us

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As you may or may not be aware (and if you aren’t aware, you may be a bit blind), content theft is kind of my hot button issue when it comes to blogging.  I have my copyrights and licenses displayed everywhere on this blog (along with my Copyscape banner), and on A Canvas Of The Minds, I’ve put the same safeguards into place, generating a unique copyright for everyone involved with the project.  I’ve been to the mat many times with sites that insisted on violating intellectual property rights, and I have won every fight.

Today I saw something that upset me and prompted me to write this post.  My friend Ruth Jacobs, who writes the incredible Soul Destruction blog, has been victimized.  Some jackass blog (and I will not direct you to it here, as the last thing they deserve is more hits) has taken an entire page of Ruth’s writing and posted it as their own.  No credit to her, no links, no nothing.

Many of you may say “Such are the hazards of writing on the internet”, to which I respond, “WRONG!!!”  Your writing is absolutely protected.  But taking additional steps will make you less likely to be targeted.  WordPress has set up a wonderful page to help you Prevent Content Theft, and it is worth reading even if your blog is hosted somewhere else.

And if you suspect your work has been used illegally, there is also a page on Content Theft – What to Do.

Sites often think we are easy marks.  We’re just individual people, writing our blogs, telling our stories.  What can we do about it if they take something from us?  Let me tell you, we can do a lot.  And the more of us that do it, the stronger a force we become, the more hesitant the thieves are to take us on as “easy pickins”.  Help you brother and sister bloggers out.  Take action on any content theft you are victim to, no matter how small (just make sure you know what is and isn’t legal – someone linking to your site or quoting you with credit or “reblogging” your posts is not content theft), and notify other bloggers if you think you see their work being abused.

By the way, if you’re a subscriber, you’ll have likely noticed that you no longer get a complete text from me in your email.  That’s one step to prevent content theft I seem to have missed on the first go ’round.

Be nice and don’t steal.  Those aren’t just someone’s words, they are someone’s soul.

Kisses,
Ruby

Addendum and Apologies: The post in question was actually one written by Ruth, stolen from another wonderful blogger friend, kyle mew. See how widespread and insidious this shit is?

© Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. This work is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Because I Like It Like That

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I want to say a huge thank you to all of the friends I have met blogging whom I now also keep in contact with through email and facebook and other ways.

I love reading everyone’s blogs, but the other means of communication just really add a layer of intimacy and a different way to get to know people.  Which is a huge deal to me.

So if you haven’t, yet, you can email me at mywonderfulabnormalmind@gmail.com, and find my personal fb page here: Ruby Tuesday.

Hope to hear from you and get to know you better!

Kisses,
Ruby

© Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. This work is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

An Interruption To My Irregularly Scheduled Silence. . .

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Regular readers, new readers, lovelies in general, please, please do take note that the following is NOT in any way directed towards you.  I actually read all comments flagged as spam, and I have a very precise, as yet infallible system for distinguishing the real people comments from the idiot-generated comments.  Your comments I treasure, lovelies.  That’s a lot of the reason I am posting this. . .  Trust me!  

Forty-six spam comments in one day on this blog?  Game on, assholes.  I’ve been through this one already, and will not quietly ignore this.

You’ve been warned.

Kisses,
Ruby

© Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. This work is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

I Made Something Pretty

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It’s a “Cover Photo” for the facebook page dedicated to our blog A Canvas Of The Minds (so yeah, those of you who are subscribed to that blog as well are getting a double dose today).  For those of you who haven’t checked out Canvas, you really ought to have a look.  It’s a great site with multiple authors talking about all aspects of mental health.

So while I am verbally stunted, I did something tactile.  Ta-da!

Check out our page (http://www.facebook.com/acanvasoftheminds), give it a ‘Like’, show us some love!

© Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. This work is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Time Must Have A Stop

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If I am ever to get caught up to where I meant to be last week, that is.  I have so very much to get done, and some of it is sort of time sensitive, depending upon how I choose to view it.

You see, I have decided that all of this information-at-your-fingertips-speed-of-light-communications-creating-all-of-these-obligations-and-expectations-and-now-now-NOW! crap is not for me.  I was born into a world where things were done at the speed of humans, not of computers (okay, yes, I know some stuff – lay off, I’m sleepy).  That is the world in which I grew up; a world of writing letters and making telephone calls where a message was left for someone with an actual person, and it took time for that person to relay the message, and then you had to wait until the recipient of the message had time. . .

I waited a lot.  And everyone around me waited, too.  And it seems to me that, by and large, we were perfectly okay with the whole concept of life taking its time and not gratifying us instantly until we were informed, en masse, that we didn’t have to be okay with it.

Funny how that happens, i’nnit?

Well I have tendered my resignation and I am choosing to once again move at the speed of humans and take time with my life, even though I have a ton of things I want to write about, lovelies, and a ton of correspondence and such. . .  

The facts are as follows.

Fact One:  I know and love too many people whose birthdays fall in March and April, and it is very surprising to me how much time birthdays can take up, what with the shopping and the wrapping and the dining and the partying and the caking and the giving.  I seem to have forgotten about that, but I have a celebration dinner tonight, a soiree on Saturday, another occasion with a date yet to be determined, etc.

Fact Two:  My sleep deprivation is showing.  I have been up since six o’clock p.m. yesterday, and it is beginning to wear on me.  Rest assured (I did not intend that awful pun) that this is no mania, nor is it cause for concern, I am merely resetting my circadian rhythms.  Or trying to.

Fact Three:  I love the people I have developed relationships with through this particular medium, but there is so much life to be lived out in the world, and I am absolutely in love with living it!

So this is a big, 500ish word mass explanation as to why no one is hearing from me.  Apologies.  I shall work on catching up tomorrow.  Right now I have some really fantastic gifts to wrap (giving gifts is so much more delightful for me when I can anticipate the delight they will bring).

Moral of the story Random note: I don’t actually steal all of my really good titles. But this one was purloined from the very wonderful novel by the very wonderful (and very dead) Aldous Huxley. There. Now my moral devoir is fulfilled.

© Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. This work is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

My New About Page, Not Very Creatively Named “The Blog”

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I have a great deal of tweaking to do on this site.  I don’t really intend any major structural renovations, mostly I want to clean up and clarify and rearrange, a little bit at a time.  But tonight I rewrote my About page, and it honestly knocked me out, emotionally.

So I am going to paste it below as my post for the day.  I think it was worth all of the effort I put into it, I hope that you who are reading it do, too.

And incidentally, since it is an actual page and not technically intended as a post, I have forgiven myself the effort of adding a moral.  I hope you lovelies will show me the same degree of understanding. Also, know that I will keep you updated via posts when I make any changes to the site’s content.

The Blog
(That’s the actual link to the page, but what it will take you to can be read in its entirety, directly below.)

This page is tricky, and this page is so very simple.

The tagline of this site reads:  Here is the place where I say whatever happens to nag at my mind.  And that is the absolute, honest-to-God, straightforward truth.  Alright, I admit that a little filtering goes on, but it should be obvious by the posts I have written thus far that it is a very little filtering.

I realized while exploring other blogs that this page is really the first impression, how d’you do, this is me section of the site.  When I come across a new blog, the About page is generally where I go first, so, well, I know what it is I’m going to be reading about.  I usually even check it out before the Author page, which I hope my lovely readers, and obviously other blog authors, will not consider to be rudeness on my part.

So.  The complicated part is distilling for you, my lovelies, what exactly is it that does nag at my mind most frequently throughout these posts?  I came to understand that wasn’t a question I could answer objectively in my own mind.  So I looked at my tags (keywords and subjects you add to sort of direct people to the content of your post, for all of you non-bloggers) and I also looked at my categories (I imagine those don’t need explanation).

Here is what I came up with:

Words that were most often present as both tags and categories: bipolar disorder/manic-depression, family, writing, mental differences (my pet name for mental illness/health), blogs/blogging.  

Other terms that made frequent recurrences as tags or categories: support, love, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), friends, gratitude, honesty, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), children, trust, coping, lifestyle choices, my brain, relationships, uniquity, and the all-encompassing other things.

So I guess that tells both you and me what the major confluences are that direct my thoughts.  But I honestly don’t know that it gives you an accurate and fair picture of this blog.  Not really.

The posts are filled with emotion and anger and fear and happiness and reactivity.  I honestly can tell you that I went full and completely mad last year, and that’s saying something.  I usually refer to myself as “crazy” in a very flippant manner, though I know it to be true.  It just doesn’t happen to bother me much, not the fact of it.

But I took some time off at the end of last year.  Before I started blogging again, I reread many of the posts I had written, and with some time and distance I felt like I got a much more accurate idea of it all. . .  I will be honest, I had a long internal debate about wiping the slate clean, getting rid of all the reminders of the me I was now so afraid of.

Ultimately, I chose not to.  Those feelings were genuine, those thoughts and reactions were valid parts of my reality as it existed then.  And while there is so much that I am not proud of, I would be lying to all of you and invalidating a big part of me and my own life were I to destroy those writings.

I want to go forward and be positive.  I want to heal and be strong and happy and loving.  And I guess if you want me to sum it up neatly, that is what this blog is truly about.

© Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. This work is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

I Don’t Know Why I Feel This Way

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But someone whom I respect tremendously (and have a bit of a crush on – yes, still, and forever) has kindly offered a medium to explain at least the way I feel for me so’s I can give my overloaded brain some respite.


(This song and video are solely the property of their respective owners and artists. Absolutely no copyright infringement is intended.)

(And anyone who knows anything about me knows how crucial it is to me that he introduced the bass player/vocalist.)

Moral of the story:  “Give your ears a chance.” ~ My maternal grandfather and most kindred spirit, heart of my heart, soul of my soul

© Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. This work is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Do You Remember When I Used To Blog?

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Okay, it really isn’t that bad.  But I’ve been working hard on this new project, A Canvas Of The Minds, trying to recruit more voices and get out all of the bugs and actually write something for it here and there, and it seems I let my own blog fall a bit by the wayside. It hasn’t been that long, but it’s been too long for me.

I need to hurry up and get someone to pay me for the things that I write, because it has been taking up so much of my time.

But I have had some really good things come from all of this mishigas.  I’m connecting with people in a way I never would have, otherwise.  I’ve been (kind of) learning to write in HTML, which may not seem like much to the casual observer, but considering how little I used to know or really care to know about computers, it’s a pretty big deal.  It’s given me a way to focus my energies and – well I don’t want to say mentor people, because that just sounds sort of big sister/pretentious to me.  I guess maybe recruit and encourage some people who have good talent and important things to say, and just never would have found a voice or venue otherwise.  I’m not sure about that part, we’ll have to see, mostly it’s still in the works (ahem).

It has also been a really positive thing for me, because it has taken my focus and turned it more outward, at least somewhat.  I’m not saying that I still don’t have a great deal of work to do on myself, and that the very concentrated time being hyper-focused inward wasn’t necessary and important, but I think I hit the point where it was really a good thing to start working through everything and doing self-therapy the way I’ve always done it best – by looking at and doing what I can for other people who are struggling.  Not even just people who are struggling, as such, but people who could use some direction, guidance, or even just a nudge or a new idea or encouragement.

I guess that having been so mired down in myself, it’s really a wonderful feeling to once again turn outward and notice the rest of the world and how I might be useful and good for them, even just a very little bit at a time.

Plus, since this whole experience requires making commitments to other people, but they’re people who understand where I’m at personally and are very kind, while there is an obligation to others, it isn’t the kind you have if you’re in a traditional work environment with deadlines, or even if you’re a parent who has to get the baby fed and bathed and dressed.  Although I really, really do miss those days.  I still remember the smell of baby, fresh from the bath. . .

Things have been nice and much less stressful because I’ve had the house to myself, as well (that ends soon).  Also, I have something really exciting and positive to look forward to in the very near future.  Oh.  And of course I’ve been watching loads of iCarly.  ;)

Moral of the story:  (I feel so out of practice at this part) I haven’t gone anywhere, and I’m sure my fingers will be flying across the keys for this blog as frequently as usual soon.  But I’ve found all sorts of new ways to help myself feel better, so be happy for me!

© Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. This work is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Wait Is Over

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Here it is!  I have been working very hard, and collaborating on the development of another blog.  This one is a different approach, a community of people blogging together.  Well, it will be, anyway.  Three authors (including me) are already on board, another has given a yes, and after the diversity is a bit more properly on display, we’re going to get to reaching out and recruiting and advertising.

As far as I am concerned, I’m keeping this blog for my primary, and just contributing to the new project here and there, and only with regard to my mental differences.  Although so far there are two posts up, and they’re both mine.  But I have the most time, currently.

So shall I give you the link?  Would you like to know where to find it?  Are you sure?  Do you really want to know?

Okay, I’ve kept you in suspense long enough.  A Canvas Of The Minds - still very much in development, but I’ll keep you posted!

Ruby

© Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. This work is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Get Ready. . .

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Something new and exciting is coming very soon! I promise, it won’t be much longer. . . Details, details!

That’s all that you get right now.  ;)

Kisses,
Ruby

P.S.  Farewell password protection on blog posts (although I of course reserve the right to change my mind in specific instances).  Any issues people have with me and what I write are theirs, not mine.

© Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ruby Tuesday and I Was Just Thinking. . . with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. This work is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.