The Singing Chapmans: Redeemed By The Crucified One

 It took some work, but all 12 song tracks from the Chapmans "Redeemed" album are uploaded to Youtube now.  I'm going to post them here, also.  Not all at once, but over time.  Starting with the title song, Redeemed By The Crucified One:

    

    I was too young to know much about the Chapmans.  Freil was a rock star to me with his amazing piano playing.  I knew Aunt Elsie May, obviously, and the twins, Odell and Othell.  The others were just adults.  They weren't in my circle, and I never got the chance to get to know them.  According to ChatGPT, The Singing Chapmans were based out of Tennessee.  Since Monique found this particular record album on eBay, and it was being sold from Tennessee, that seems like a connecting link.

    The group included father, Walter Chapman, and his sons, daughters, and a son-in-law.  I can't verify, but it seems likely Freil was the mentioned son-in-law.  If not with that generation, then probably with the succeeding generation after that.  They're credited with other records, radio and tv work, including an appearance on the "Old Time Gospel Hour" with Jerry Falwell.  Falwell was still near the height of his fame in my early 20's, which would put them all together in the right time frame.

    That doesn't sound like a lot of information, but it's more than I'd found previously.  The small amount of corroboration I could find was mainly from a record album of theirs, "Six Hours On The Cross."  I don't know much about it, but the song list includes some songs Aunt Elsie May was known for singing as church specials.  I especially remember her singing "Love Will Roll The Clouds Away."

    In other exciting news, my sister told me today she still has the other Chapman album that Freil was in (not sure of the title, but she called it "the green album."  It was the first one, and if I remember right (it WAS 50 years ago), it had more of my favorite songs.  Not certain, it's just a vague memory of playing the first one, over and over and over.

    Anyway, I'll be visiting family this weekend, and she plans to bring it for me.  To borrow... not to keep.  But that's perfect, I'll digitize it just like with this one, and be able to listen to all the music from both albums.  Plus share it on Youtube so many other old-time fans can hear their music again.

Finally Solved the Cookie Consent Riddle!

 I've been struggling with the whole European Union Data Protection (EUDP) Regulation... the Cookie Consent requirement, and by extension the California Consumer Protection Act.  It's easy to understand the need to protect everybody's privacy.  It's not so easy to understand the technical procedures to meet the requirements.  I'm a little more disgusted with government in general after all this.  If they're going to make a law requiring compliance, it should be built into the process.  Not laid on the end-user, many of whom, like myself, just want to write and lack all but the most rudimentary under-the-hood skills.  We're end-users, not professional programmers.

    I'm reasonably intelligent, but didn't want to spend weeks learning website code.  Especially when the advice on the internet is confusing, often incorrect, and overwhelming.  Or hidden behind a paywall, or a membership requirement.  Just at the time you think you learn something, you realize that's just one step, and then you have to learn more to implement another step.  Then you find out what you thought you knew was wrong, and you have to go back a few steps and start over.  It's been frustrating.

    In my last post, I shared a conversation with ChatGPT, asking for advice about how to comply with the cookie consent laws.  The chat occurred on Friday.  By Sunday evening (tonight) I've achieved conformity.  At least, as far as complying with the requirements.  Using the AI's advice as a springboard, I've learned what's actually needed, and how to approach it.  It's not that ChatGPT gave me the exact answers to my questions.  Rather, it gave me enough knowledge and understanding to find my own solutions.  And that's all I needed.  Just some honest, useful, advice.

    To begin, I wrote a Privacy/Cookie Policy page.  I learned the difference between writing a POST on Blogger, and writing a PAGE.  Learned how to use a widget under the layout tab, in the HEADER section, which gave the blog header tabs, in order to have my PAGES easily accessible.  Learned enough to follow (simple) directions from websites that provide the cookie consent popup.  Figured out how to access the HTML code from the Theme tab, and where to paste the popup code.

    Additionally, I learned that many of those "help" websites don't work.  It took trying several, and tampering with the HTML code for the site Theme (the look and feel of my blog, provided by Google).  I had to sign up for several services before finding out that the code they provided didn't function.

The site that worked for me, CookieYes, required a signup as well.  They offered paid services, but lucky for me they have a free service that worked nicely.  And included a tracking page, so you can track the consent record by IP address and date.  (Yes, apparently you have to provide this in case Big Brother wants proof that you're properly getting consent.)  To be honest it did a lot more than I expected, automatically.  I had to sign up first, making sure I chose a FREE service, not a TRIAL OFFER.  (Yeah, I picked the wrong one at first.)

Since I have some old blogs on Blogger, I'm not sure if they fall under some kind of umbrella, or if I'll need to do each one uniquely.  But there's no pressure, because I don't plan on using AdSense on any of the others.  I'll figure all that out another day.

Unlike some of the sites that offered free popup services, CookieYes' popup actually... you know... popped up.  I had to give my own consent to view my blog with the cookies.  For added confirmation that it's working, their stats page actually tracked when I clicked the approval button.  It's SUCH a huge relief to finally understand what needed to be done, and know that it's actually working!

Jump-Starting Grace Notes: Surprising Solutions

 In the previous post, I was (honestly, ranting) explaining about the difficulties of installing a cookie consent widget into Google Blogger.  I've learned a lot about how to do it, but the more I learn, the more it seems there IS to learn.
    The solutions I've tried so far haven't worked.  But even minor progress is still progress, and I'm still trying to figure it out.  Yesterday, a good friend (Thanks, Eugene!) gave me the most amazing suggestion... ChatGPT.

    I'd never heard of it.  If you haven't either, it's an AI that you can freely talk with (like talking with someone on a forum, but more polite).  Ask questions, and in a reasonably natural writing style, it will do its best to answer.  It felt like I was talking to a very smart, and very polite, person.  The suggestions it offered seemed useful and well-thought out.  If you're curious, below is a transcript of the conversation we had:

    I asked, very specifically, how to add a cookie consent widget to my Google Blogger website.  Here's the result.  (My comments are bolded to make it easier to follow)