The Flow

Composing and Cogitating

Reflections and tips on tech, websites, the economy, investing, and other insights that come my way
Debra McNeill

Wix User Permissions for Member Pages

Wix Website Management
Wix User Permissions for Member Pages
Wix is a terrific website development system. It provides fast, efficient website development tools that are really easy to use and can save a small business significant costs in development and maintenance.Recently, the company has provided some systems for creating custom websites for event bookings, e-commerce, hotel reservations, and membe...
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WixMembersManagement WixMemberSubscriptionSystem Wix
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Debra McNeill

1099 eFile system reviews

Odd Stuff Uncategorized
1099 eFile system reviews
I needed to file a 1099 for a contractor and didn't get the forms ordered early enough from the IRS. (The government shutdown probably didn't help expedite delivery of the forms.) Given that I only need to file one form, I was considering running over to Office Depot or Staples to buy the smallest quantity of forms available. Then I realized I coul...
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Debra McNeill

Plaster Craft Painting Instructions

Odd Stuff
Plaster Craft Painting Instructions
This is an odd entry for this blog but these instructions could come in handy for a crafter someday. The following is from a kit I purchased many years ago from Wee Craft that came with acrylic paints. I've omitted some of the instructions that are particular to the project. Apply paint with brush directly to the piece. One coat is adequate; howeve...
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Debra McNeill

Windows 10 Fall Creator Update Kills Seagate's Backup Plus External Hard Drive

Technology
What a coincidence...? Windows 10 Fall Creator updates Sunday/Monday. My Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive appears to have died - lights are on, engine is running but it's not accessible from my hard drive. (Yes, we looked at the Disk Management system.) Happened to have a brand new Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive handy, so I restored...
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Recent comment in this post
Guest — Sheila McPhelps
Hmm. Makes you wonder about what was intended with that Microsoft update.
Thursday, 14 December 2017 10:47
Debra McNeill

Some Perils of Passive Investing

Investing Economics Uncategorized
Some Perils of Passive Investing
This week, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has published at least fourteen articles on passive investing, many of which tout the virtues of the process over active management, particularly for U.S. equity investing.  Passive funds provide an efficient, lowest cost vehicle for individual and institutional investors and I own a couple of flavors ...
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Recent Comments
Guest — Mike Olinger
Well written and a good read.
Sunday, 30 October 2016 00:42
Guest — Debra McNeill
Just read a very interesting article on the NYT website about Seth Klarman, very successful, highly regarded manager of $30B. Her... Read More
Thursday, 09 February 2017 10:14
Debra McNeill

Prayers for Orlando

Uncategorized
Prayers for Orlando
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good...
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Debra McNeill

Temporary problem with WSJ.com, nasdaq.com and dictionary.com

Security Technology Uncategorized
Temporary problem with WSJ.com, nasdaq.com and dictionary.com
If it's not broken, why would I update it?  Yesterday (June 8, 2016), I ran into a problem loading dictionary.com, nasdaq.com and WSJ.com.  It all started with dictionary.com loading very, very slowly and I informed them of the problem.  By the end of the day, none of the sites would load on Chrome or Firefox.  I was convinced I...
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Debra McNeill

Website Update Delays - Where Are My Changes?!

Website Management Security Technology
Website Update Delays - Where Are My Changes?!
Are you finding that code changes to your website can take up to five minutes to go live? Do you suspect that your web pages are being automatically cached somewhere between your webhost's service and your device but DNSFlush isn't resolving the problem? Are the delays in reflecting code changes consistent over an extended period of time...
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Debra McNeill

Breakthrough Energy Coalition - Too Important for Just a Comment

Technology Investing Economics Clean Energy
Breakthrough Energy Coalition - Too Important for Just a Comment
Yesterday, I was listening to an interview with Bill Gates regarding his "Breakthrough Energy Coalition".  I thought, "What a great addition to my initial blog post - Apprehensive Optimism!"  But Mr. Gates' announcement is far too important to be footnoted in a comment of a blog post.  This is HUGE!  The Breakthrough Energy Coal...
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Debra McNeill

Build Your Own Website In A Day? For Free?

Internet Marketing Website Management Uncategorized
Build Your Own Website In A Day? For Free?
Sandwiched in with the typical New Year's ads for weight loss, vacations and tax services, I've noticed more advertising from website builders such as Wix, Weebly and Squarespace. These companies offer really easy, non-technical system for website creation and maintenance. But these ads have been promoting "Build Your Website In A Day!", "…For Free...
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Debra McNeill

Investment Firms Are Handing Out Freebies

Investing
Investment Firms Are Handing Out Freebies
Excellent Free Investment Resources"Save more, spend less" is the fourth most popular resolution for 2016 according to GoBankingRates.com, trailing health, happiness and weight loss. Fortunately, saving more can take far less effort, discipline and ingenuity than the top three New Year's resolutions. If you devote a few hours to research and educat...
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savings investing free investment tools
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Debra McNeill

Protecting Your Domain Name and Webhost Assets

Internet Marketing Website Management
Protecting Your Domain Name and Webhost Assets
While polishing up a post about free investment resources, I came across a small, essential but potentially overlooked piece of internet marketing housekeeping for small business owners. As with most of my small business advice, this one sprouts from real situations. Most small business owners don't like to be distracted from their passion with the...
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Recent Comments
Guest — Sheila
For the non-nerds/geeks in the world, what the heck is an SEO? I'm sure it will be a palm-forehead revelation.
Wednesday, 27 January 2016 11:21
Debra McNeill
I'm glad you asked that question because, for some, it may not be a palm-forehead revelation. "SEO" stands for Search Engine Opti... Read More
Wednesday, 27 January 2016 12:27
Debra McNeill

Best Wishes

Best Wishes
Best Wishes
Thus, the wise man looks into space, and does not regard the small as too little, nor the great as too much; for he knows that there is no limit to dimensions.  ~Lao Tzu
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Debra McNeill

Reservation Paranoia

Security Travel
Reservation Paranoia
When you live in an out-of-the-way state like Montana, most air travel requires at least one stop or plane change prior to reaching your destination. After making reservations, it seems like every couple days I'll receive a notice from the airline stating that an arrival or departure time for one of the four flights that will get us th...
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Debra McNeill

Apprehensive Optimism

Technology Investing Economics
Apprehensive Optimism

Enough procrastination, it's time for the first blog post. I've been wracking the brain for days, looking for the hidden gem of an economic issue, hoping for the blue moon insight on an upcoming technology trend and I've come up with nothing. I have all sorts of notes with ideas for blog posts but they don't have the flash-bang I would love for the first blog post *drum roll-to-fizzle*. With or without a Nobel prize worthy topic (yeah, right...), it is time to get started.

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Recent Comments
Guest — Rev. Todd Young
About that solar power plant in Morocco . . . Should those of us who live in the U.S. worry that Morocco is sucking up all of the ... Read More
Wednesday, 16 December 2015 11:50
Debra McNeill
The Noor 1 Solar Power Plant went on line last week! You can read about it here - http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/08/africa/ouarzazate... Read More
Tuesday, 09 February 2016 11:37