Occam's SE Razor Ordered:

I'm happy to report that my blog was not effected after Google plus was shut down which is a very good thing. Today, I also pulled the plug and ordered Occam's Single Edge Razor from Classic Shaving while it's on sale. I've been wanting this razor for a while. Even though I do enjoy using my Monster Black Hawk single edge, it has too much bite for my sensitive skin. This new razor is adjustable with different razor heads along with different amounts of blade exposure which I think will make a huge difference in my shaves with these types of blades:

Normally this specific razor goes for $220.00 U.S. Dollars when it's not on sale but the specific razor I ordered was only $55.00 U.S. Dollars while the rest of the finishes go for $99.00 to $110.00 U.S. Dollars and for this kind of razor, I consider that to be great deal: 

I'm also trying to get back into straight razor shaving. It took a really long time and a lot of shaves to determine what my skin type needs but the perfect edge for me is the Naniwa 12K Super Stone. My friend, Dr. Matt fixed a razor for me and he finished that razor on that very stone and it was an excellent edge. The Belgium Coticule is soft enough for my skin, but it really struggles to remove the hair. The ILR has no issues at removing my beard but it tends to be really harsh for my sensitive skin. I've had many Japanese natural edges and they are great in a lot of ways but they are extremely challenging to get "dialed in" on where I want the edge to be and they are extremely expensive. So for me the logical choice is the Naniwa 12K super stone.

Stan Retires From Above The Tie:

Before I share his post, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you Stan for all that you have done for the wet shaving community. It won't be the same knowing that I could drive down the road 2 hours away and that you will not be there. You will be missed. Here is Stan's post from their website:

STAN'S RETIREMENT

Posted by Stan H on Mar 08, 2019

Hello Friends,

While some of you may already know, I wanted to take a moment and share that I have retired from Above the Tie.

In January, my son-in-law Matt accepted responsibilities concerning the business. Above the Tie is in great hands. The dedication to service and quality has never been better.

I have had a wonderful business experience, but most importantly I have enjoyed getting to know all of you. I feel like I have an extended global family. Clearly, my life has been made richer from interaction with each and every one of you. All of you have played a role in making this little family business in the foothills of Tennessee known around the world.

It is my hope the razors I have designed continue to provide pleasure and enjoyment to wet shavers each day. In fact, my hope is that many years from now, these same razors will still be providing nice results to their “new” owners. It has been a pleasure and an honor to have been a part of this community, and I hope any small impact I may have had was a positive one.

As for me I feel great and will enjoy my new found freedom. This is my second retirement—first health care and now business. Who knows, in time I may start dabbling in something new.

Regardless there will be plenty of good times traveling, reading, playing guitar and of course having the grand-kids over.  Life is good.

God bless,

Stan 

One Down in 2019:

Well as I mentioned in one of videos, scratch one of my soaps from my collection. I finished off Stirling Soaps Lemon Chill which had a lemon meringue pie scent to it and the menthol chill was fantastic especially if you had some sinus issues. I will miss this one for sure. This was my "go to" soap when I was sick or having problems with my allergies and especially after doing yard work. I don't when I will be getting this one again. Stirling Soaps has a ton a products that I want to try: 

I don't know which one I will finish off next. My record is 20 soaps in one year.

Twig = Permanent Moustache Razor:

If you saw my video today, you saw some blood in my moustache area. Even with the Rockwell 6C, my moustache area is really hard to shave without getting cut. So I have decided to use the Twig Sculptor for each and every shave from here on out. I don't want to keep a moustache and as my friend Ace Cavendish says, Shave it off! So I intend to do just that with moustache area using the Twig Sculptor:

And some changes have occurred to the blog. My Nikon app no longer works and I have to remove the memory card from the camera to upload photos which is no problem to do. This is due to Google + being discontinued on a permanent basis. Below is a photo of the notice that was on blog today:

So things are going to work out for my blog. That's how I upload videos and thumbnail photos, I simply use the front memory card on my laptop after I transfer them to a micro SD card. So I have no problem removing my memory card from my camera and uploading photos to my blog. So things are looking great.

Google Plus Ends Monday?

There's 2 dates I want you to remember. The first is on February 4th, 2019 which is this coming Monday. As you will read in the email pasted below that was sent to me 2 hours ago, you won't be able to create profiles, communities, pages and/or events. In other words, NO NEW Content. So if you was planning on creating an event in any of the G+ communities, don't bother that feature along with a few others has been permanently disabled. The other date that was given to me was April 2, 2019. That's when ALL of my Google Plus content and profile will be deleted from Google Plus ONLY. According to the email, my blog will NOT be effected. Here's a photo of the email containing the first date given to me:

The second date is shown in the photo below:

And here's a pasted copy of the email Google sent to me 2 hours ago:

Google+ Team <noreply@plus.google.com>	12:54 PM (2 hours ago)
to me

You've received this email because you have a consumer (personal) Google+ account or you manage a Google+ page.
In December 2018, we announced our decision to shut down Google+ for consumers in April 2019 due to low usage and challenges involved in maintaining a successful product that meets consumers' expectations. We want to thank you for being part of Google+ and provide next steps, including how to download your photos and other content.
On April 2nd, your Google+ account and any Google+ pages you created will be shut down and we will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts. Photos and videos from Google+ in your Album Archive and your Google+ pages will also be deleted. You can download and save your content, just make sure to do so before April. Note that photos and videos backed up in Google Photos will not be deleted.
The process of deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts, Google+ Pages, and Album Archive will take a few months, and content may remain through this time. For example, users may still see parts of their Google+ account via activity log and some consumer Google+ content may remain visible to G Suite users until consumer Google+ is deleted.
As early as February 4th, you will no longer be able to create new Google+ profiles, pages, communities or events.
See the full FAQ for more details and updates leading up to the shutdown.
If you're a Google+ Community owner or moderator, you may download and save your data for your Google+ Community. Starting early March 2019, additional data will be available for download, including author, body, and photos for every community post in a public community. Learn more
If you sign in to sites and apps using the Google+ Sign-in button, these buttons will stop working in the coming weeks but in some cases may be replaced by a Google Sign-in button. You'll still be able to sign in with your Google Account wherever you see Google Sign-in buttons. Learn more
If you've used Google+ for comments on your own or other sites, this feature will be removed from Blogger by February 4th and other sites by March 7th. All your Google+ comments on all sites will be deleted starting April 2, 2019. Learn more
If you're a G Suite customer, Google+ for your G Suite account should remain active. Contact your G Suite administratorfor more details. You can also expect a new look and new features soon. Learn more
If you're a developer using Google+ APIs or Google+ Sign-in, click here to see how this will impact you.
From all of us on the Google+ team, thank you for making Google+ such a special place. We are grateful for the talented group of artists, community builders, and thought leaders who made Google+ their home. It would not have been the same without your passion and dedication.
Google LLC 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043
You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google+ Page, product or account.

The real reason is because of 2 data breaches which has exposed nearly half million users to being hacked. The first breach was in August of 2018 and the original shut down date was August of 2019. That was moved up due to another breach which occurred in December, 2018 just a few days before Christmas. This nonsense of "not enough users" is complete B.S. Fox News was where I first heard about it and it has since appeared in numerous tech blogs and magazine articles all over the web and it's also appeared on every social media platform in addition to every news media available. So why Google is lying about the reason behind this, is unknown and it makes no sense at all because everyone pretty much knows about this now apart from official dates which I have posted here. 

Blade Set Up & Blog Update:

I have decided to keep blogging ladies and gentlemen. There just won't be any where near the blog posts that I use to do compared to today. There still has been no word on whether or not my blog will be effected when Google Plus ceases to exist this coming April, 2019 and there's no guarantee that will be the final date either because it's already been moved up once due to a second breach back in December. But what I did do was go into options and switch my profile from my Google Plus profile to a blogger profile so my blog should be okay. I'm also certain that I chose not to share my new blog posts on my Google Plus profile. I've also have not shared any new blog posts or videos to my Google Plus profile. So that's where my Blog stands at the moment. Now onto my new blade set up details and what my plans are. So lets get started:

As you can see below, I have no blade in the bottom slot of my Leaf razor. The reason is because I keep getting too many weepers and the shaves have been some what harsh with a blade in the bottom slot. So with that being said, I will be sticking with the top 2 slots of my Leaf razor and just using one DE blade split in half from here on out:

The blade of choice, the Gillette 7 O'clock Super Platinum black label blades which can be seen below. I can get 5 shaves per blade and since I only use the Leaf once a week, 2 packs of these blades will last me over a year easy. I only need enough for 52 shaves :

In terms of the Twig Sculptor, I will be sticking to one single blade for it and that is the Feather blades seen below. I can get 140 shaves out of a single pack or Feather DE blades in the Twig sculptor. I'm only using HALF of a DE blade per shave in the Twig:

So I will be doing another blog post to break down exactly how many shaves I get along with blade economics. Basically I don't need to buy any more blades at this point. If I just stick with the ones that I just bought along with just 2 packs of the Gillette 7 O'clock Black label blades for the Leaf and one pack of Feather blades for the Twig, I am good to go for a really long time.

YouTube Videos With Smartphones Revised:

I saw a video from a friend's YouTube channel today and it was very sad to see it. His computer equipment is failing that he uses to make videos and it's not in his budget to make videos. So I thought I would take the time to do a revised edition of my "Making Videos with Smart Phones" blog post. First the reasoning behind it is because I want to help my friend and secondly, I had a piece of equipment fail on me. It's extremely easy to upload a video in 1080p Full HD without the need of video software and no computer is needed to do so. First you do need a camera app and for those of you with Samsung Galaxy phones, I highly recommend the open camera app seen below. The factory camera app will work but the open camera app is much better and much easier to use than the factory camera app is. I have no clue about the other phones that's available on the market today but there's a 95% chance that it will definitely work on them as well. This app is free and has no ads. Here's the link to this specific app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.opencamera&hl=en :

Now for those whom wish to edit their videos and add photos and such, you are not going to beat Cyberlink by PowerDirctor. There is 1 catch though and that is the limit of HD is only 720p without the subscription but on some phones you will not be able to tell the difference and yes the app itself is free but it also does contains ads to but you can easily skip them. Here's the link to this awesome video editing app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cyberlink.powerdirector.DRA140225_01&hl=en :

^ Both apps can share directly to YouTube with no issues. All you need is an internet connection and you are good to go. For Android based phones this is past being easy. All you do after you record your video is hit the share button seen below:

Next you will see the screen below:

You then simply select the YouTube icon and then type in the name and information/description of your video and follow the on screen instructions and your video is uploading. It takes about an hour or less depending on how long the video is. I usually try to keep my videos around 20 minutes or less and I set the video duration to a maximum of 1 hour recording time. Another thing I highly recommend getting is a Micro SD card which can be seen below:

^ This is not needed unless you plan on making long videos but if you keep your videos to around 20 minutes or less, you don't need it. But it does help if you have long videos. You can find these at Walmart for a reasonable price. For audio I use a simple plug and play lapel microphone that you can find on Amazon for around $10 to $12 dollars and it does make a difference:

^ That's all I use besides a basic magnetic suction cup mount to make YouTube videos and the mount was only $20 dollars which can be found in Walmart as well.