shadoehare

Are there any places that are good (and free) alternatives to Yahoo Groups?

Back in 1997-2000, I used to belong to a Redwall club called "T.O.M" (which stood for The Troops of Mossflower.) 

I really miss the club and some of the friends I had there. It wasn't my club, but the owner's name was Bladeta (his character's name.) He closed it down in 2000 because he didn't have time for it anymore.

I have done fan fiction based on the club which I don't intend to publish. But this made me wonder...

Even though Bladeta created the club, he didn't copyright anything. This was just a typical 90's club. There wasn't any merchandise or anything, just missions to earn points to raise in the ranks. (The "missions" were basically writing prompts where you wrote how you rescued some one in need, things like that.)

You also earned points by submitting Redwall recipes, fan art and other things.

Since T.O.M doesn't exist on the internet anymore, and since Bladeta didn't copyright anything, would I be allowed to use the club's name and characters in a book of my own?

I know I couldn't use "Redwall" or "Mossflower"...those are copyrighted. I would have to have the "M" to stand for something else.

But would I be allowed to use everything else?

I plan on applying for disability in September. Do I need to hire a lawyer before I apply or apply and then get a lawyer? Or would it be better to get a lawyer if I'm turned down? (I've heard you always get turned down the first time.)

Thanks. 

I REALLY miss Yahoo clubs. I was a member of two Yahoo clubs back in the day (1997-2000.) 

Feeling nostalgic, I tried going to them a couple of years ago to read old posts, but I saw that Yahoo had shut them all down.

I recently found out that there is a way of getting into old Webtv email accounts. That made me wonder...is there anyway of seeing old Yahoo Clubs posts?

I have problems comprehending a lot of spoken instructions so I'm wondering if I have a learning disability, perhaps something like auditory processing disorder.

When I was 21, I got a job at a supermarket and went to cashering school to learn how to use their cash registers. I couldn't do it and wound up being a bagger.

I worked at Blockbuster for two years but never got how to use the computers. I always had to call for assistance when ever I had to do something very complicated, so much so that my boss made my login password: "help."

When I worked at Burkes clothing outlet, my boss got irritated that I had to be shown, repeatedly, how to sign people up for the Burkes credit cards. (I was fired after a month.)

I worked at a dollar store where I was able to tape record my boss telling me how to do the paperwork at closing. She didn't like me doing that, (she said it wasn't complicated) but I knew it would be for me. 

For the first time, I was able to do something complicated because I was able to learn at my own speed. I wrote everything down on a "cheat sheet" for me to use at night.

I seem not be able to do jobs that are complicated. I could never work at the post office or have an office job. (Too many steps.) I'm 51 and don't have a career as a result of all this.

I started talking late, but was a "talker" in elementary school. I and have trouble learning foreign languages and I suck at Math.

Does this sound like a learning disorder? If so, which one?   

Every time I ask where something is in Walmart, the employee pulls out a smartphone and looks up to see if they have it.

Are Walmart employees, particularly stockers, required to have a smartphone or are they issued one?

If this is the case, I don't have a smartphone so I don't think I could work there. :D

I'm a big Stephen King fan, but I can't help feeling that it Stephen King's best work was done before he was hit with a van. 

He wrote such awesome books like Pet Semetary, Carrie, Cujo, etc.

Admittedly, some books were better than others, like I didn't find Cujo near as good as The Green Mile, but Cujo was still good.

However, after Stephen King's accident, it doesn't seem like he's able to write as good anymore. I feel like his books only sell because he's Stephen King.

Does anyone else feel like Stephen King's writing dramatically changed after his accident, and not for the better?

Ive heard a lot of kids are depressed from not being able to go to school. 

I find this hard to believe. I mean, what kid actually "wants" to go to school. Just to hang out with their friends, surely, not to learn anything.

I homeschooled my last two years of high school due to bullies, and I loved not going to school.

This is something they have never talked about on the news....the good side of homeschooling.

If your children were having a hard time at school because of bullying and harassment from other kids, do your kids love learning from home?

Has anyone noticed that kids seem to hate doing online school yet enjoy being on Facebook and Youtube for hours?

I've heard kids have gotten depressed  and even suicidal because they can't go to school. 

Homeschool has been around for ages but I've never heard of any of those kids getting depressed or trying to kill themselves.

I actually homeschooled the last two years of my high school and I loved not being in school. (Too many bullies.) 

And I homeschooled before computers were common place.

What kid in their right mind would want to go to school? I think they just want to go to hang out with their friends, not learn.

Does anyone else think these stories of kids getting all depressed and suicidal is a bunch of crap? 

There might be a couple of kids who've committed suicide, but they probably just got stir crazy from not being able to go anywhere fun, like the mall.

I am 51 and have had 27 jobs. The longest one lasted 4 years, barely.

I am on medication for depression and panic attacks, but the meds don't help much.

I plan on getting Disability for the panic attacks and since I'm unable to hold employment because of them and other reasons.

I read today that SSI can decrease payments if you live with someone, but the payments are bigger if you live alone.

At 51, I still live at home with my parents. 

I moved out once at 23, when I had tried the roommate thing, but it didn't work out. One of the roommates wasn't paying her share of the rent. Due to this stress, and my parents hounding me daily to move back home, I started having panic attacks.

I pay my parents $100.00 a month to cover the electric, water, stuff like that, but we live in a big house so that really doesn't make a dent in their bills. They just like me to contribute something. We call it "rent" but it isn't really. 

I also buy my own food, clothes and personal items. Due to my job situations, I've never been able to afford my own car so while I drive one of my parent's cars, I do pay for the gas and any repair.

My question is, if I got Disability, would I get the entire payment? (I'm supposed to get around $1,000.)

Or, since I live at home still, would the Disability payment get cut a little?

Oh and, once I got Disability I plan on getting my own place. I hate living at home at 51. :(

I sometimes think it's better to give to the needy to other countries than to the needy in the US.

I know there are people in the US who have lost their homes due to fires and natural disasters, I think giving to them is fine and I have done so.

But I've had people at work ask me for money so they can buy their lunch. (I tell them 'no' and remind them that they have a job.) 

And when I see people on the news standing in long lines, or waiting in their expensive cars, for handouts at the food banks, half of the people are obese and look like they could use a diet. 

Not long ago, a local church brought my next door neighbor, who happens to be a welfare-queen with two kids, a half-dozen bags of clothes, toys and other donations for her. 

The neighbor put the bags on her porch where they stayed, unopened, for months. One day the bags all disappeared. I think she might have thrown everything away since the bags were outside in the rain for so long.

If I donate anything, I prefer to send it to people in other countries, like Africa, because I know they'll appreciate it. 

I used to give toys for the Toys for Tots, but stopped whenever I saw how the kids around here don't take care of them. Plus, the kids here all have grandparents and other relatives that buy stuff for them so I know the kids are getting toys. 

Would you rather give to the needy in other countries or the U.S.? Why bother donating to people who are abusing the system don't appreciate anything.

Gay used to mean that someone was really happy or something being bright and colorful. 

Any ideas on when the word "gay" changed to mean "homosexual?"

What is the common term for grandparents in upper Maine?

I'm writing a story set in upper Maine with grandparents in it and I'm trying to be accurate.Someone (not from Maine) told me they thought the terms: "Grammy" for Grandmother and "Papa" for Grandfather were used. But they weren't sure.Are these terms correct? If not, what are the correct terms?Thank you. 

I was just remembering the show "Dino Squad" which aired in 2007-2008. 

It was about 5 teenagers who got covered in some toxic goo when they were swimming in the ocean. The goo gave them the ability to turn into dinosaurs.

They team up with their science teacher, who can also change into a dinosaur, to help stop a bad guy named Victor Vilasi, who can also change and wants to transform the earth back to the era of the dinosaurs.It was a VERY lame show. There was poor writing, bad animation, some story lines were unrealistic and didn't make sense.However, I found the characters and transformation scenes quite good and this could have been a fantastic show had the writers been more into it instead of just cranking out episodes.

The show was only on for a year and there wasn't any merchandise apart from dvds.

Would I be able to write a book, or a book series, based on the show using the same characters, location and the basic plots (only making everything way better.)

I was thinking a series, or just a book, that used all of the above, but written Animorph style.

There is a book series called "Dino Squad", but that's the only similarity to the show.

Would I need permission from CBS (the broadcast station) and/or the creator, to use the characters/plot?

Thanks.

Joe Biden has gotten pretty much everyone mad at him for his stupid executive orders, causing the crisis at the border, letting China and other countries walk all over him and he's being sued by several states for the closing the pipeline. 

I won't even mention his cognitive disability.

Could Joe Biden get eventually removed if he keeps screwing things up? Not that Kamala could do better.

Despite the inconsistences, poor plot, bad writing, bad science and crappy animation, did you like the show "Dino Squad" when it was on?

What did you like/hate about it?

After the Texas freeze, people lost power for days. Afterwards, many people had thousands of dollars in electric bills.

Why did they get a bill, especially this high, when they didn't even have any electricity  to use?

In America, they air commercials during TV shows unless it's a public broadcasting channel (PBS), then they air commercials for other PBS shows before and after the program.

However, when I watch British shows on PBS and Britbox I've noticed they don't have spaces for commercials.

In Britain, do they show commercials before and after the program? 

If so, that must be nice to watch a show and not have it interrupted with an ad for a "My Pillow" or something.

I used to watch the series "Dino Squad" when it was on a few years ago. It takes place in Kittery Point, Maine.

If you have seen the show, and have been to (or live in) Kittery Point, Maine, how accurate is the show's version of Kittery Point verses the city in real life? 

For instance, I believe there are two high schools in Kittery Point. Do either of them look like Max's in the show? 

Is there a lighthouse there that looks like the one in the show?

Etc., etc....

Thanks!

A boy from Florida is sent to live with his grandparents in Maine after his parents were killed in a car accident during a birthday trip to Disney World. The boy was the only survivor, but he had massive leg injuries which now requires him to wear leg braces, making him unable to run and hard to walk. 

Granddad is patient while Grandma is easily annoyed and really religious, but both are overprotective and won't let the boy go outside by himself, and since they have a lot of farm work to do; the boy spends most of the time in his room.Late one night, as he looks out his bedroom window, he sees a werewolf prowling outside. The creature tries to get in the barn after livestock, but it's padlocked shut as a precaution from Granddad, who says he doesn't want them stolen. The werewolf spots the boy and, feeling hungry, climbs up a trellis to the second story window. He breaks the glass and is halfway inside, but gets a surprise attack by Grandparent's cat, the boy's only friend. The werewolf runs off as the grandparents rush in. Grandma blames the boy for the broken window, but Granddad thinks it's strange the window is broken from outside and convinces his wife not to punish him. The Granddad doesn't say anything, but finds claw marks and black fur caught in the window frame.Is one of the grandparents the werewolf? An escaped ex-con?A hobo? Just a stranger? Will they ever find out? What do you think should happen next? How could this story end?