O'Cor

I have a new hobby: listening to podcasts. It's a wonderful experience to ride your bike on the way to work or home or while doing your grocery shopping and to have someone riding along and telling you a story in the privacy of your ears. Some stories are so wonderfully and intimately told that it's easy to think they were made just for you. I bought a pair of JBL earphones just for the experience of getting immersed in a different world. It's one of the best buys I made this year. Get immersed in an alternate world Listening to podcasts this way brings me back to my childhood when my parents or grandparents told stories just for me. I can almost hear my grandmother's voice again reading me an exciting new tale from one of my favourite children's books while I cuddle up to her. Listen to Ocor's Ten Podcast Favourites That is the kind of experience you can have while listening to a professional podcast. And ther

On June 12, 2019 I wrote an op-ed on the subject of Facebook and privacy , which also was a review of one of its social media alternatives, MeWe. The gest of the article was: 'Facebook has such a bad track record on privacy that you can't trust it, or its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. So, jump ship and have yourself rescued by MeWe'. At the same time I realized that there are many more companies and websites that track your activities online. Privacy is a hard-to-come-by commodity on the web these days. One sensible principle to live by is to always check - and change, if necessary - your cookie settings! I know you get tired of websites asking for your consent, but if privacy is important to you, that's an annoyance you will have to learn to live with. But there is more. There are many programs and addons that can enhance your online privacy and safety. This is part one in a series of articles that address the internet and safety, the uncomfortable relationship betwe

I am not an activist, nor one to climb the barricades, but sometimes I get so provoked that I'd almost become one. Facebook's provocations over the years have had me pulling my hair out more than I'm willing to admit. So much so, that I'd almost climb those barricades "armed with clubs, axes, pitchforks, and firearms and carrying icons and banners" * 1 . Pirating Privacy I hope that everyone is aware by now that there is no such thing as Facebook and privacy. In fact, mentioning the two in the same sentence is almost blasphemous. Two of the most recent privacy and security breaches were: March 21, 2019: Facebook made public that millions of user account passwords had been stored in plain text format, which potentially allowed employees to gain access to people's accounts without their knowledge (source: Business Insider * 2 ), April 4, 2019: "half a billion records of Facebook users were found exposed on Amazon cloud servers, containing informat

In a side project I have been working on a WordPress website for a health and food blogger. There is a huge amount of food themes available for WordPress. Although this may seem like a big advantage, this large choice of themes also gives me stress. Another source of stress is me being picky about the choice of fonts and colours. Although I was given free reign, which I like, the responsibility to make the correct choices weighs heavily. Choosing colours How do you choose colours for a website? Often a client has a logo or house style, which makes the choice a little easier. Sometimes even there is no choice at all, but preconceived ideas and designs. Color circle by Ellywa at Dutch Wikipedia - downsized from 600 x 600 to 400 x 400 However, more often than not a client has not really given any serious thought to design elements. So, where to start when choosing colours? In this case I came up with the idea to work with colours linked to different food items. So, I present

SEO and XML go hand in hand on the Blogger platform. So do XML and learning, for me at least. After my first post on Blogger and search engine optimization, Blogger Tutorial: the best SEO title tag , I wasn't quite satisfied with the results. On search results, label pages and archive pages, the title still showed ' O'Cor | O'Cor '. I realized that these have their own objects that could be used to display a relevant title. Now, I know that these kinds of pages are not indexed by search robots, so why bother? Well, first I like to challenge myself and to learn new things. Second, it felt like there were some loose ends to tie. I don't like loose ends. Third, I don't really need a reason: it's my personal blog and I can do as I like (and it feels GOOD!). So, I set about learning on how to optimize the title tag even more. After a sleep deprived night (almost), I think I came up with a satisfying result. If you wish to jump to the code and don't

A funky organ, a funky brass section, a steaming rhythm section, easily the best guitar player this part of the western hemisphere (okay, not counting Jan Akkerman) and the most soulful smokey singer you have ever heard. All of that and gorgeously crafted songs, a lot of soul and passion. That's the new album Not Over Yet by fusion veterans Back to Basic. It was released yesterday, June 25th. For me this is no doubt the best album Back to Basic has ever released. And that's saying a lot. I suggest you install Equalizer APO , plug in your earphones and have a listen: The album is available on many music platforms, including YouTube (see above) and Spotify and can be purchased via Amazon , among others. For me this is no doubt the best album Back to Basic has ever released. And that's saying a lot. Review Honestly, what's not to like? Admittedly, to some young folks out there the band's members may look like old rockers. And I guess they are that too