For the web application at friendoflearning.com, everything passes through the file named index.php. Depending on what values are included in the CGI portion of the URL, index.php includes one or more other scripts, which may in turn call others scripts.
There are three cookies which I programmed index.php to set: one for the session, one for the language, and one for Amazon payments. There was none for the little boy who lives down the lane, but he hasn't complained yet.
After a request for a file has been made and delivered, the tcp session is broken. The ID stored in the session cookie matches one in the database, and allows the program to know who it's communicating with. Without this cookie, the value could be stored in every link and every form, but it's easier to use a single cookie rather than have to add an ID to every single link, or to have the user log in with every page. So this cookie is one I want to keep.
The homeschooling application was designed with the intention that it would eventually be multilingual. Tables for translations were added into the database from almost the beginning of the project, but the functionality was not completed. There is only one login for which the language cookie is set, but since the user's language preference is also stored in the database, there is no need for the cookie. I'm not sure at this point why I decided to use a cookie for language. Possibly so I could store a temporary value on my computer without changing the value in the database. In any case, I don't need it anymore, so that cookie is history.
One of my login IDs is the only one with access to what little language functionality there is, and I can see now that without the cookie it doesn't work properly. But that won't affect anyone else, so that's a problem for another day.
There is a piece of code in index.php that looks at the browser's language setting, and that may be useful when the app is fully multilingual, but it's not important for now, nor is it a problem, so I just left it. The way the "if" statement works, it won't be called, but it will be there when I'm ready to use it.
The third cookie was for Amazon payments. I was going to use that for taking subscription payments, but I was never able to get it working. For now I'll probably use Locals, but when I eventually add to the website the ability to take payments (which would be useful for selling physical products) I'll probably use a different payment service.
Most websites now seem to have a cookie notice on them. I find those notices to be very annoying, but I realize that without them I'd be tracked by nearly every website I go to. I think the notice is a requirement of the EU.
In order to avoid the pain of having to program an annoying window that the user would click on, I just put a notice on the bottom of every page. The notice says:
"Note: this website uses a single cookie with a session ID. However, we do not use crackers on this website. Not that there's anything wrong with crackers, but after one cookie, we really don't need the extra calories."
Hopefully that will satisfy the internet police.
Tomorrow's project: add a way for users to opt of receiving any emails.
Dr. Drew interviewed Scott Adams recently, and Scott Adams mentioned the absurdity that Republicans went to overthrow the government on Jan 6, but they neglected to bring their guns. On the first or second anniversary of the event, that alleged oversight made the narrative appear absurd to me, so I made a "video" that was supposed to be audio from January 6, captured on a video camera from which the lens cap had not been removed. I'm posting it again just because.
While I was waiting on hold to talk with a human at the IRS, I decided to put some food out for the dogs. I set the full bag of dog food on a chair, and walked away to get the bowls. When I turned around I saw the bag slowly tipping over, spilling much of its contents onto the floor. Fortunately I had help cleaning it up.
The main task for today is to begin revising McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader. It may take a couple of weeks, possibly more. I still have to work at Publix, and next week I start a new job in the memory care unit of a rehab/nursing home facility, and I'll also be working at Publix at least one night.
After that I'll take a look at the double-slit experiment, and see if there is an interpretation that is consistent with my theory of wave physics.
Also, I came across the attached meme, which I had created two or three years (or so) ago. I thought I'd include it because I still like it.
I recently proposed a theory of matter and energy called Wave Physics. In this theory, the only things in the universe are energy and the universal membrane, which is the medium through which all energy is transfered and stored.
Tonight I realized that according to this theory, everyone and everything in the universe are connected to each other at all times. Things that would be impossible according to the standard model of particle physics, are very possible in the universe of wave physics. Psychic transmissions and the power of prayer are physically possible and make sense if the universe works in any way like the theory I proposed.
If you've ever heard the phone ring and felt sure who it was before answering it, and were proven correct, this makes sense in wave physics, but not with particle physics. If you've ever looked intently at someone, and had that person quickly turn and look directly at you (I have), that phenomenon makes sense if all of us are parts of the same vast, ...
I was only scheduled to work three days this week, so I decided to work on a theory I'd been playing around with for fun over the last few years. I'd never been a big fan of the standard model of particle physics, so a few years ago, just for fun, I thought about exploring some alternate ideas, with zero training and zero experiments.
This week I wrapped up a few loose ends, and posted it to a community I created called Wave Physics. Originally I had called it Alternative Physics, but I changed my mind, so the link still has alternativephysics in it, but the community name is Wave Physics. I'd love for people to pay $5.00 a month to tell me how wrong I am.
https://alternativephysics.locals.com/
I also posted it on my personal website:
