Psycho Cybernetics
by Maxwell Maltz
I love this book! Delve into the power of your subconscious mind to discover your hidden ability to win. Not a bunch of self help nonsesense, this book (this is AN OLD book by the way) will help you trust the hidden parts of your wetware. This book also explains why my best college papers were written the night before they were due. (or was that the morning of?). If you want to get more power from that thing between your ears. Get this book.
Psycho-Cybernetics, A New Way to Get More Living Out of Life

The Ultimate Sales Machine
by Chet Holmes
Having done Corporate America for as long as I have, I found this book to be SPOT ON. I’d threaten to give this to EVERY sales manager in your world. Tie them down. Make them read this. Give it to corporate owners of small to mid-size businesses. I promise, anyone who reads this book will have a better understanding of what makes a sale more complete for both the customer and the company. Get this book and read it. Today.
The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies

Steve Jobs
by Walter Isaacson
This book about Steve Jobs will make you laugh. It will make you cry. It will make you understand why Apple’s products kick ass. I’m still confounded when I see people fighting with their Windows computers. I remember those days. What these people don’t realize is that Apple and Jobs were Innovators. The heart of what we know to be true about Apple products is that they rock…not because they are just pretty. But because Apple’s stuff WORKS BETTER! Everything else is like driving something from the dark ages.
Steve Jobs

Accidental Creative
by Todd Henry
My father turned me onto this book. If a guy that’s 78 years old is still working every day in an engineering capacity for US Aerospace, then by god, I’m going to read what he recommends. This book is a nuts-and-bolts break down that speaks to creatives. I know first hand how it can be intimidating for an organization to house a creative. I also know first hand how easy it can be for a creative to get overwhelmed. This book helps put the whole process into perspective and keeps you off those three martini lunches.
The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice

The Tiger
by John Vaillant
The cover of this book says “A true story of vengeance and survival.” And it delivers. The source of this vengeance and survival plays out in northern Russia between man and tiger. Yes. A tiger. Didn’t think they had anything but bears, vodka and bull-sha-viks in Russia? Think again. Here is what I posted to Mr. Vaillant’s Facebook Wall the other day. He was kind enough to respond. Which was very cool of him! “This book is completely absorbing! I’m loving the chance peek into Russia’s hard-scrabble history, the canvas on which this tale of The Tiger unfolds. Thank you Mr. Vaillant for sharing such a treasure with us.”
The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival (Borzoi Books)

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
by T.S. Elliot
A friend of mine wrote a fantastic article about the origin or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. In that article he mentioned some of the most popular books of 1939, the year of the Great Depression. The Book of Practical Cats by TS Elliot was one of them. Now. This is a tiny book of poems that add anthropomorphic qualities to cats. It covers the naming of cats. And then also delves into the lives of a few cats. It’s very funny. Great for reading to young kids. You can practically get through it in one sitting. Or two visits to the bathroom–depending on where you do most of your reading. It’s cute. But it left me thinking that Mr. Elliot was HIGH as a kite when he wrote it. Hey, just saying.
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats

Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline
Wow my inner GEEK loved this book. Hell. My outer geek loved this book. If you grew up in the 80s, owned an Atari, Commodore 64 or an IBM PC, and played Adventure games like ZORK, dug Monty Python and have a pretty good grasp on 80′s pop culture trivia with a dab of MMORPG, then crank up the Devo and read this book. It will send you back to the future.
Ready Player One

How History’s Greatest Pirates Pillaged, Plundered, and Got Away With It: The Stories, Techniques and tactics of the Most Feared Sea Rovers from 1500–1800
by Benerson Little
Wow, this book came at me from left field. But the screenplay that I just finished in December (the big reason why I haven’t been writing on my blog as much) required that I get some good knowledge of Pirates. Not today’s Somali ass-clowns in their motor boats. I’m talking about real pirates like Black Beard, Barbarossa, and Grace O’Malley (didn’t you know that there were women pirates too?) Terrifying. If you like Pirates and Buccaneers and want to delve into their sinister histories, then read this book.
How History’s Greatest Pirates Pillaged, Plundered, and Got Away With It: The Stories, Techniques, and Tactics of the Most Feared Sea Rovers from 1500-1800

Inbound Marketing
by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah
When I was first turned onto this book, I was like… yea right. Another book about marketing. Oy. I’m sooo tired of books about marketing. It’s all such a bunch of bull shit. Except for this book. If you are running a company, working for a company, working for yourself, or planning on working for yourself or a company, read this book. The information here is exactly what more companies should be doing to get a handle on their marketing expenditures. And for those companies that are stuck doing 1960′s advertising in a 2012 world… you won’t have to worry about it. You won’t be here tomorrow anyway.
Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series)

Content Rules
by Ann Hadley & C.C. Chapman
I really liked this book. But I liked the Kindle book better than the Audible book. Combine this book with Inbound Marketing and you have IMMEDIATE access to a modern marketing plan that will kick ass. I know because we’ve been applying a lot of these techniques for years with our own clients. I keep this as an active book on my Kindle so that I can go back and read through my notes. This book will help you jump start your company marketing on the Internet. Yes…it’s harder than it looks. But are you brave enough?
Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (New Rules Social Media Series)

Write Great Fiction–Dialogue
by Gloria Kempton
When you’re writing a novel, a screenplay or a bit show for a lazy Saturday afternoon, and no one knows your name you need ALL the help you can get. I found this book, which is part of the Write Great Fiction series, to be extremely engaging and useful. Some yahoo on Amazon wrote a negative complaint about the book’s selection of certain scenes was inappropriate. That person was clearly some sort of Lord of the Rings/D and D purist who has no real business sharing their myopia with us. This is a good book. If you want to give your characters more depth, read this book.
Write Great Fiction – Dialogue

Rum Diary
by Hunter S. Thompson
By far one of my favorite all time Hunter S. Thompson books. Something about this early work of his that feels sharper, cleaner and slightly tamer than his later works. After Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail of ’72, this is the book to read. Or maybe just read this and the Curse of Lono and then spend the next two days at the bar–thinking that you are Hunter himself. (I went through that phase years ago. Miracle I didn’t get my ass arrested.) Anyway… I love HST. My first X-wife’s brother turned me onto him in college and I’ve never found better. No one can duplicate the great Hunter. And I love what Johnny Depp has done with his memory. This is one of the few books I actually read twice. What about the movie? I haven’t seen it yet. Sue me.
The Rum Diary: A Novel

The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern World
by Justin Pollard and Howard Reid
Let your inner egghead out. Delve into the history of the most amazing city of antiquity… a city formed on knowledge. The epicenter of all known knowledge at the time hundreds of years before and after the birth of Christ. Enter Alexandria and walk through her streets. A refreshing historical portrait that’s not tainted by the lens of religious dogma and fear. At least I didn’t feel like I was in Sunday School when I was reading this. Hear her philosophers and inventors and stand by as the library, museum and city are founded and then returned to the sands of time. If you want to sharpen your horns against organized, religion, this is a good book to have in your bag.
The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern World

The Driver: My Dangerous Pursuit of Speed and Truth in the Outlaw Racing World
by Alexander Roy
My motorhead-anti-authority nephew (who is building a COBRA in his garage) is the coolest for turning me onto this book. If you’re into things like seeing how fast you can drive from New York to California, and want to see how a group of people actually got behind this lifestyle…the inspiration for the Cannon Ball Run, then read this book. But make some time. You won’t want to put it down. And then take a few deep breaths before you get behind the wheel. If you don’t already have the bug for pissing off cops and blowing through speed traps, this book will give it to you. Remember, it’s only a problem if you get caught.
The Driver: My Dangerous Pursuit of Speed and Truth in the Outlaw Racing World

Moonwalking with Einstein
by Joshua Foer
How could I forget this book?! How could I forget the list of things that they make you remember at the beginning (check me): pickled herring, cottage cheese, smoked salmon, bottles of wine and some socks. Well. That’s not perfect…but pretty good. How do you increase your memory? Well, if you’re trying to remember a name, like say for instance Diogenes Laertius, I think of Lady Di on her knees getting it doggy style. But that’s just me. This book WILL help you with your memory. Even just reading it I have increased my ability to recall people’s names and details of the past sort of automatically. Yes. That means it’s retroactive. And the more sex you apply to your memory hooks, the better your memory hooks will be. Now how can you go wrong with that?
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

Rework
by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
If you are in the software development business, or in any sort of business to be creative and you have a product you need to deliver, you need to read this book. Written by the guys that created Basecamp, there is lots to learn in here. And if you don’t know what Basecamp is, where the hell have you been? It’s only the best project management software out there today.
Rework

Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
by William L. Shirer
This is a massive book. It’s about 72 hours of audio. I swear if you try to read this all…without some sort of break between chapters or parts, you’ll go insane. If you’re like me, and take on the affectations of those you are reading about, then be careful of this book. This book shows you just HOW vicious people can be to other people. It also shows you how the 3rd Reich grew in power. This book dissects exactly how Hitler-Ass-Clown and his merry gang of fuck faces grew their power base by degrees. Read this book to discover how tyranny can creep into government and eventually own a people and a people’s destruction.  This is a good book that reminds us all that government  isn’t always ON the side of RIGHT.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Cleopatra: A Life
Stacy Schiff
If you are at all interested in discovering more about the amazing Cleopatra, this is the book for you. The splendor of this period of time is something that can only be imagined by modern people. Not an Egyptian but of Greek Macedonian descent Cleopatra does not necessarily beguile her MEN (Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony) because of her beauty…but because she was SMART. This is  an extremely engaging book about a figure whose history is clouded in the misogynistic anti-pagan revisionist collections that we’re so used to having thrown around. Yes. she was married to her 10 year old brother. Whom she had killed. Nutty. But hey, when in Rome…right. Read this with the Rise and Fall of Alexandria to get a full understanding of the times and how the Library of Alexandria was so important in the formation of Cleopatra’s intelligence.
Cleopatra: A Life

If you’re under pressure to sign for that big website that you’ll probably need to hock your first born for… step back from the pen. You have more options than you think…

Enough setup…here is my letter…(the names and prices have been changed to protect the guilty…er..innocent.)

******* Begin Letter *******

Hey,

I just read your letter. On many levels the guy pitching you on that new website is right. And perhaps, at another time in your company’s life cycle, he could do very well for you.

But keep this in mind: There is NO silver bullet.

The game with the Internet is that it’s about SO much more than just a website. Or (as I’ve seen mentioned in a few books) the size of your wallet. The web–and Marketing today–for that matter—is about being AUTHENTIC. How does this website help you be Authentic?

And as heretical as this may sound–your website DOES NOT MATTER.

What matters is your ability to be the top expert in your field. To offer the best service in your field. I mean ACTUALLY offer the best service…not just say “we strive to…. blah blah blah”.

What matters is being able to work with customers in REMARKABLE ways that let your customers know YOU are the MAN.

Before you spend 12k I’d like to see you define HOW you ARE the man for your customers.

Oh…and while I’m at it…about that pitch the guy gave you on his “proprietary CMS”. The notion of “proprietary” is not only terrifying…it’s placing the focus entirely on the wrong end of the bull. For the record, when someone says to me “Proprietary CMS” …I run…for the hills…as fast as I can. Proprietary CMS is another way of telling you that at some point you are going to get fucked. hard. backwards. Twice.

Why not have a CMS that’s FREE and OPEN and ALL OVER THE place…used by millions of people? One that’s not controlled by a single company? One that has people clamoring to work on it…for you…with you…?

CMS’ like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, hell even SquareSpace are better than someone trying slather their crappy PRIVATE CMS all over you…

But…

I’ll say it again. Your website is irrelevant.

You could take your business from where it is today to wherever you want it to be WITHOUT a website. That is NOT to say that you don’t need a web presence. But fancy photos and a bunch of marketing spew that says “we strive harder with better product than anyone” is bull shit that no one cares about. Consumers are too smart for that 1950′s Mad Men impotency…unless they are drunkards.

Lace a 12k website with that phony baloney and you’ll have the equivalent of a 12k paperweight.

Why not get a feel for what people are ACTUALLY going to do with your website? Why not focus on generating kick ass content 2x per week that you post–to just a blog? Or get published on blogs. Or even in magazines?  Why not test some concepts, landing pages, inbound marketing, whisper campaigns, email blasts, Lead Nurturing, Lead Scoring, conversion rates and customer reaction to what matters….your product…your message….you! NOT the size of YOUR WALLET?

You can hide behind a 12k website and expect that it’s going to be a silver bullet. But the minute the wrapping is off that shiny new thing, it’s all plugged in and sitting there…these words are going to come out of your mouth “Ok, where are the customers?”

And that’s when you’ll get hit with This campaign and That campaign. Why isn’t that great website bringing customers to bang down your door?

That’s like the guy that wants to get into mountain biking. And if you’ll forgive the analogy…He goes out and gets all the garb. Sparing no expense. Then goes and gets the best bike on the market. Again, sparing no expense. Then on the big day he suits up in all his expensive shit. Gets to the mountain and away he goes. Only to find out that the bike doesn’t fit right, his back hurts and his balls are on fire because the $300 pants “designed to wick away water and heat… leaving your package cool and comfortable” make him feel like he just caught the clap. Hell if this guy has money to burn, maybe this is the right approach for him. But why not take a more sober approach?

Test some pants. See if you like them. Test a few bikes. Rent one. Beat the snot out of it. Beat the snot out of yourself. But test…inexpensively…a lot. Then refine. Revise. Test again. Repeat. Spend as little as possible for tests…Then go back to the mountain with 1) better equipment 2) improved knowledge of what works and 3) clearer handles on what Success really means….and a gauge for what it will take to achieve success.

A website does not a successful company make.

Customers are what makes a successful company. Customers don’t give a shit about your website. The only thing that they care about is what are you going to do for THEM. What value are YOU going to provide them.

The more layers you place between yourself and your customers…though old-school website/marketing tactics– the easier it will be for your prospects to become someone else’s customers.

I don’t know anything about your finances right now. But I can tell you this for sure. Your placing 12k on a website is like sitting at the craps table and betting everything on Black. You might “win”. But we both know that THOSE odds favor the house. And in this sense…[Your company] is NOT the house… (no matter how big and fiery your balls are)

Great book to read:

The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies

Another book that has good ideas:

Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series)
(beware…some people might read this book and go completely overboard with what’s recommended. Inbound Marketing isn’t a silver bullet either..but it’s a sold platform on which to build.)

While you’re at it check out www.infusionsoft.com
(just to get an idea of how far 12k can take you…)

Turning the Kindle on and off doesn’t seem to clear the issue.

Turning the WIFI on and off doesn’t fix the issue. Logging onto your Kindle orders on Amazon and clicking “Deliver To My…” under Actions…doesn’t fix the problem. Repurchasing the book also does not solve the problem.

The odd part about this is the book comes down just fine via the Kindle app on other devices such as iPhone, Mac OS and iPad.

I broke down and called Amazon tech support. They were able to fix the issue.

This is for the Kindle w/out a keyboard.

Hold down the power button for 20 seconds… Even when the screen goes black, make sure you keep holding the button for 20 seconds.

When you RELEASE after 20 seconds, wait. The screen should flicker. Then a moment later you’ll see the Kindle splash screen and a fill-up bar. This is basically a hard reboot of your Kindle. The fill-up bar will…fill up and then your Kindle will come back to life. You MUST see this fill-up bar at this stage. If not, you have not rebooted the Kindle, you have only powered it on and off. So, make sure you see the fill-up bar on the Kindle splash screen.

After the Kindle turns back on, go to your Archived items and try to re-download the book in question…you should have a successful download.

Thanks to Kindle tech support for walking me through this.

Up until a couple of months ago, Omnigraffle flow diagrams were my #1 communication tool for software and website design. That all changed for me when I discovered the web-based prototyping tool called Pidoco.

With Pidoco you don’t have to be a programmer. You don’t have to be a designer. The skills required to fly Pidoco you learned when you were 3. What you get with Pidoco is a robust (Chrome and Firefox)-friendly tool designed to help you rapidly prototype a website’s wireframe. Add links, copy, images, radio buttons, dropdowns,  date pickers, checkboxes and more with the ease of drag and drop. Once you’ve got all your elements on your “canvas”, test out your prototype by previewing it on any web browser. This is simply the fastest way I’ve found to communicate simple and complex user experiences to my clients and production staff.

Whats’ more, because your programmers and designers can see exactly how your site will function, you eliminate  the back and forth confusion that plagues projects.  And for those of you off-shoring some of your web programming and design, Pidoco sidesteps the language barrier by letting those you’re working with LIVE your ideas rather than just READ them.

I know I sound like an unabashed fanboy here. But Pidoco works so well, I can’t imagine building another site without it. My current prototypes range from a website reconstruction project to creating a distance learning platform from scratch. Both projects have been fast tracked because with Pidoco I can share more and speak less… (something my x wife would have appreciated).

Here is a snapshot of what I love about Pidoco:

Display in Sketch View:
When you view your prototype you can tell Pidoco to show it in Sketch mode. This nice touch gives your website the appearance that you sketched it out by hand. This means you can communicate the layout of elements without getting mired in design look and feel. (Nothing can be more frustrating than showing a client the logic of a page and they get hung up on the color of a button.)

Linking Pages:
The heart of Pidoco is a feature called Screenflow. With Screenflow you can visually arrange your pages and then link them by dragging arrows (links) from one page to another. What’s more, you can connect buttons and text links to pages (just like a real website). If you can click, hold and drag a line from one box to another, you can create links. Some time-saving features in Screenflow let you duplicate links from headers and footers as well. Very handy.

Layers: 
Websites are like ogres. They’re made up of layers. And Just like in Photoshop (or Adobe Elements) you can build your Pidoco pages in Layers. Let’s say you want to change the top navigation on your site. If you’re using layers, you only have to do this once and that change will appear on all of your pages. Placing any element in a layer that might be common to more than one page will save your bottom–line. Tech support showed me the other day that you can re-order your layers by dragging them around. This is necessary when one of your objects is being covered up by another.

Clicking, Dragging and Edits:
Whoever coded Pidoco deserves a big wet kiss on the lips. This thing operates through your browser but feels very much like a desktop application. It’s so good it’s actually–dare I say–fun. The process of building a page involves dragging pre-defined elements from your Stencil Palette on the left onto your canvas. When you view your prototype all the little elements come to life. Radio buttons work like radio buttons. Drop downs work like dropdowns. Date pickers work like date pickers. Snozberries taste like Snozberries! (hah. couldn’t resist).

Exporting Your Work:
I have to admit when I was Pidoco-ing my first prototype I was expecting disaster to strike any minute. One wrong move and poof…everything would be overwritten. I’m hyper-paranoid about working web-based. All too often I’ve hit the wrong button and Refreshed my screen..and POOF…work gone. Pidoco seems to have known this about online users. Your work is constantly being saved. There is even an Undo button. If that’s not enough for you, then you can make a copy of your prototype AND export the entire thing as HTML to your local hard drive.

 Sharing Your Work: 
Now what good is a prototype if no one else can take it for a spin? Pidoco gives you the tools to share your work via email. When you share the link Pidoco also lets others comment directly on the pages they are looking at, which is great for collaboration. I have to admit I only have limited experience with the collaboration and usability testing tools so far. But, when you’re able to share your site designs like this, you get  very clear idea of what works and what doesn’t.

For my money Pidoco solves the age old problem of working out the issues of a hypertext world in a way that’s easy to build, easy to share and easy to alter. Pidoco has forever changed the way I approach website and user interface build outs. For more check out their video: https://pidoco.com/en/guided-video-tour-wireframe

1 can red salmon (save liquid)
1 egg beaten
Parsley 1/2 cup (1/4 saved for coating)
Panko bread crumbs 1 cup (1/2 c saved for coating) (or use regular bread crumbs)
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
Salt/Pepper

Notes: Remove “yucky” stuff from canned salmon. Save liquid. Crush bones with fingers.

Add 1 beaten egg, Old Bay Seasoning 1/4cup parsley 1/2 cup Panko crumbs salt/pepper (Scott preferred the version with REGULAR bread crumbs not the sissy Panko stuff)

Mix thoroughly

Shape into balls with hands, any size you want

Roll into bread crumbs, combined with parsley

Saute in olive oil/butter mixture

Turn when golden brown on one side.

Cakes can be flattened in the pan or served round.

(best served with Kraft Mac and Cheese.)

In this article I’m going to explain a better way to proof your work by using some of the more human qualities found on your computer.

We all know that most modern computers handily underline your spelling mistakes as they happen. I blame this feature for the utter deterioration of my skelling spills. But computers can’t pick up everything. What if you used father in a sentence but meant to use farther? Neither will be underlined. Or what about special words that ARE underlined but correct like when you wrote McCreepy and meant to say McCreery. (Sorry Scotty). Will your computer honestly tell you when a sentence doesn’t make sense or isn’t Active? (Word tries, but has failed to be effective in my book).

Why is it so hard to proof your own work? You know how it is. You’ve just bled over that newsletter, blog post or article and you’ve read it and re-read it a thousand times. Then you give it to someone, and the first words out of their mouth are why did you spell Microsoft Microshift? Or banal anal? Or what were you trying to say with this paragraph?

Blame your brain.

Law of Closure

Take a look at the two illustrations on the right. You’ll see gaps. But does it matter? Obviously that doesn’t get in the way of your ability to recognize the square and a circle. Right? What you’re seeing are patterns and your brain is connecting the lines for you, automatically. That is what is referred to as the “Law of Closure.” (which should not be confused with finally receiving your divorce or burying a loved one).

Our brains have self-organizing tendencies that automatically fill in the gaps. That’s a nice way of saying your brains lie to your eyes. So while this auto-gap-filler-brain-thing is great when we’re driving a car, catching a ball, or voting for Republicans, what we’re seeing and what we’re perceiving are two different things than what’s actually on the paper…and that’s where typos come from.

Subjective Contours

To the right is another visual exercise. In this illustration (lifted from here) we see a representation of “Subjective Contours” In it you’ll see a white triangle, although clearly there is no white triangle present. Your brain makes the connection based on the patterns it recognizes. It closes the loop. Connects the dots. Fills in the walls. (There is no spoon Neo.).

Call it what you like, but at the end of the day the Law of Closure and Subjective Contours spell MISERY for you as a proof reader. While your eyes are scanning through your words to pickup on any typos, your brain is filling in the gaps. Care is Car. George is Gorge, commas and periods appear exactly where they should. Your brain doesn’t care that what you “meant” to put on the paper is totally different (or slightly different) from what you “actually” put on the paper. It sees only what it wants to see, or what it expects to see! According to your brain everything is “A-OK”. This is a lie. How’s this for a News Flash! Your brain is working against you to keep its friend, your enemy, the typo alive.

It’s time to take control of your lying, cheating brain and kick some Gestalt ass. You need to TRICK your brain into being a better proofer helper. Seriously, another great way to detect errors in your copy isn’t with a bitchen set of books from Chicago and the AP, although those are good to have. What you need is a good set of ears. One ear will do if that’s all you got.

When proofing, our ears can pick up on subtle problems within the text that our eyes and brain conspire to miss. So how do you get your copy read to you? It’s not like you’re going to be able to ask someone to do it, unless you pay them. To the rescue is Apple’s text to speech feature built into OS X.

I have no idea what the origins of Apple’s text to speech are, but I’d like to give the person(s) that thought it up a big wet kiss. Speech is my #1 way of proofing what I write. (Hopefully you find few if any typos in this article!!!)

Here is all you have to do to engage Apple’s text to speech feature on your Mac.

Select the copy you want to have read to you. NOTE: this works in Pages, TextEdit and most writing programs on the Mac. I don’t yet see this feature in WORD. Duh.  So right-mouse click on it. Click Speech. Click Start Speaking. Your computer will automatically convert the highlighted text into the spoken word. Now, if you haven’t played with this feature before, you might want to change the voice that your computer uses. You can do this in System Preferences. Click on the Speech microphone. Make sure ALEX is selected. He’s the best. He gives you the most natural sounding reading you’ll find natively on the Mac.

Now that you have Alex reading your text to you, listen to him. Listen carefully. He’ll help you pick up on problems with punctuation and spelling. Yes, sometimes Alex bobbles a word, like Live and Live. Ok, he’s not exactly good at context. That’s fine with me. What he is good at picking up is problems with your sentence structure, typos and punctuation. Now my brain is forced to experience my copy in a whole new way.

Here, you can play an example of an earlier paragraph from this article. I recorded this out of TextEdit using WireTap Studio.

sample_text_to_speech

By listening to what you’ve written you have a better chance of picking out the problems. Today I actually had my computer read back the outline of a new story I’m working on. It took 22 minutes. I was able to record that reading and synch it to my iPhone. Then during my hike this morning I was able to listen to my words read back to me. It was really cool. I brought along a small tape recorder so that I could make note of changes.

Now before you send or post that copy, listen to it. Hear the problems. Hear where your punctuation is off or where you used the incorrect word. You’ll be amazed at how much cleaner your copy can be because of Alex. Of course you could always stick to reading your copy backwards, but then again that’s really not practical while hiking.

Now our email, novels, novel ideas, designs, blog drafts, documents, tax returns, financials, divorce papers, hate mail, love letters, spreadsheets, insurance papers, mortgage documents and that photo of me chewing on my chihuahua’s head are out there, somewhere, floating blithely along “on the cloud.”

Sounds a LOT like having unprotected sex. One of these days something unexpected is going to happen.

My problem (my paranoia?) is that EVERY time I post something “to the cloud” I feel like I’m feeding this great unknowable thing. It’s like this huge, big hungry monster lurking out there, waiting to devour us!

Way back in 1995 Nicholas Negroponte mentioned in his book  “Being Digital”  that “When things go digital, control is lost.”

Enter Cloud Computing, the bastion of CONTROL…LOST.

I’ll be the first to admit that the cloud is SUPER convenient. Seriously, Dropbox has altered my digital life in many positive ways. Simply not having to lug a jump drive or a computer around has been a treat. Not really worrying if my house burns down–destroying the novels i’m working on–has been liberating. Still, there has been this nagging voice in the back of my mind about The Cloud.

How secure is our data on the cloud? Companies like Dropbox have great language on their websites about how secure your data is. How they apply military-grade encryption to your files. Still, how secure is MY data is on THEIR servers? How can my data be totally secure if THEY can send me my password, if I forget it? What’s to stop an employee from rifling through my shit…your shit…others’ shit?

So I’ve determined that a company’s comments about security just isn’t good enough for me. I need, I want, I have to have, an added layer of protection for which I and I alone control the keys.

When you think about it digitally, Security and Convenience are not great partners. If they were on Dancing With the Stars they would have been voted off the first night. Shoes would have flown into the audience, moves would have flubbed, and most assuredly there would have been a wardrobe malfunction, or two. There is simply too much tension between security and convenience. Think of taking an Arthur Miller class with your X wife (or husband).

In reality if you want something super convenient, then that thing runs a good chance of being easy to crack, infect, reach, steal or spoof. Convenience is inherently insecure. (I mean that as data insecure not Psycho-Cybernetics insecure). Likewise if you want something super secure, then you will have to face a gauntlet of time-zapping hurdles just to interact with the information. The key to being secure AND convenient is balancing one with the other. Too much on one side and you’re miserable.

I’m not satisfied that being secure “on the cloud” is the domain of the super geeky. I’m also not satisfied that I can’t reach a level of confidence about my most precious data on the cloud without having to thread a needle with a camel.

So here is the simplest way I’ve found to add an additional layer of control to your files on Dropbox (or on the cloud in general):

First here is a quick NON-TECHNICAL overview of what we’re going to do:

1. Create an encrypted folder, let’s call it a “Vault” on your LOCAL COMPUTER using a piece of FREE software
2. Place the files you want to protect into the Vault
3. Upload your Vault onto Dropbox
4. Sanitize Dropbox so that none of your protect files are available “in the clear”

Here is the “technical” side of how we accomplish this:

Download and install TrueCrypt. This is a free, open source program that works on all platforms. Follow their GREAT and EASY instructions on how to create your first encrypted volume, aka Vault. (I’m just going to call this thing the Vault until Apple tells me I can’t.). If you don’t trust TrueCrypt, then take a gander at what security guru Steve Gibson says about it.

One thing that screwed me up when I first tried this was pre-determining the fixed size of the Vault. If you’re only going to secure 10MB of stuff and you set the volume…cough…I mean Vault size to 5MB, then you won’t be able to fit everything in your Vault. Likewise, if you set the Vault size to 1GB and you only use 10KB, then your volume will STILL take up 1GB of your Dropbox. Do a little planning. Build out your Vault to the size you need plus leave some extra room for growth. You know the old chestnut:  Measure twice. Cut once.

NOTE: When the system asks you for a password don’t be a pansy. Come up with a password that’s impossible to break. DO NOT USE THE SAME PASSWORD YOU USE FOR EVERYTHING ELSE!!!

Once you’ve created the Vault on your computer and UNMOUNTED it from TrueCrypt, then you can throw that file up onto Dropbox. Here was a point of confusion for me. When you talk about a file to me I think of a single file. When TrueCrypt disconnects from your Vault, the Vault changes from a Volume or a Folder into a file. It’s a file, but it’s not really. So throw this file up onto your Drop.

Now, make sure you take a pass through your Dropbox so you can delete ALL of the files that you have protected in your Vault. Keep in mind if it’s not in the Vault, it’s NOT protected.

Two questions that came to my mind when I was first getting into this:

Can I  open my Vault using my iOS device?

No. So the way around that is to allow the stuff you post to your Drop to reside in insecure space until you get a chance to scoop it into your Vault. So let’s say there is about a day’s worth of stuff that you haven’t secured. If there is a breach, then potentially you’ve only exposed about a day’s worth of work. Better than giving them the full monty, right?

How do I interact with my Vault once it’s on the Drop.

When you launch TrueCrypt you can then open this Vault directly from your Drop. When you’ve unlocked it, the Vault will appear on your desktop a Volume icon (Speaking from the Mac point of view). Click on this Volume and your files will be there ready for you. When you’re done, Unmount the drive, and it will pop back into Dropbox. All nice and tidy.

If you are collaborating with someone and using these protected Vaults, I read somewhere that you can cause real problems for yourself if you don’t UNMOUNT your drive when you’re done. I have not experimented with this yet. Let me know if you find anything on this front.

Ok, that should cover it. Go forth with renewed confidence and be sure to practice safe sex..er…cloud. haha that too.

For further reading:

http://www.grc.com/sn/SN-041.htm

http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/

http://www.randomwire.com/storing-sensitive-data-in-the-cloud

http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2011/04/how-dropbox-sacrifices-user-privacy-for.html

When I got the keyboard home, that’s when things went a little weird. The keyboard paired with the iPad without a problem. But then when I went to do the same with the laptop, it wouldn’t show up. Not a signal. I tried putting the iPad on the other side of the house. That still didn’t work. Clearly the iPad and the keyboard were still communicating, preventing the keyboard from pairing with the laptop.

The reality is that the fix is so simple. But when you Google “How to use a bluetooth keyboard with two devices” you’ll see a lot of crappy results. Even the “font of all knowledge” is only as good as its source.

So for you thrifty ones out there trying to get more for less…here is all you need to do to get 1 BT keyboard to work with 2 devices:

First of all you CANNOT have one bluetooth keyboard controlling two devices SIMULTANEOUSLY.

Think about it…

You don’t need to control your computer at the same time you’re controlling your iPad. Do you? Do you really need to have the characters you’re typing on one keyboard show up on both devices simultaneously? Who are you, Keith Emerson? So just get that notion out of your head. What you DO need is the ability to choose which device you want to interact with, and have the keyboard work with that device, without jumping through a bunch of hoops.

So what to do?

First of all, the key to this whole puzzle has to do with turning your Bluetooth on the target device on and off. If you want to use the Bluetooth keyboard on your computer, make sure the bluetooth radio is turned off on your iPad. and vice versa. I don’t just mean you’ve disconnected the Bluetooth device from your target machine. I mean you have to shut the radio down completely. This is easily done:

How to turn Bluetooth “OFF” on the iPad.

Settings—->General—-> tap Bluetooth, slide to OFF.

How to turn Bluetooth “OFF” on the Mac.

On the Menu Bar click the Bluetooth icon—>Turn Bluetooth Off

So now as long as you stick to the rules, the keyboard should play nice with both of your devices. Ahh, sweet harmony…Still…You Turn Me On.

Mäxchen is the art of being deceived and detecting deception with dice. Best to be played with four or more scoundrels.

Items required for play:
1 pair of dice (I found that the dice you buy at the Stratosphere in Vegas are too big. Something a little smaller is better.)
1 cup for rolling the dice (backgammon cups work nicely if they are handy.)
1 cardboard coaster (preferably one stolen from a German Pub.)

You also need something on which to scratch out your scores. Carving on the furniture will earn you a date with the Cat O’Nine.

How to play:
Assuming your party is sitting around a table (or a dead man’s chest), play advances clockwise from the starting scoundrel.

Dice are read together. For instance, rolling a 6 and a 2 equals 62.
Doubles beat singles any time.
Doubles higher beats doubles lower.
Mäxchen (21) beats all.
The number you receive ALWAYS has to be higher than the previous roll.

Scoundrel with most points gets strung up by the yardarm.
(or buys the next round).

How Play Advances:
Start the game by placing both dice in the cup.
Cover cup with coaster.
Shake cup.
Hold cup upside down so that the dice are resting on the coaster.
Lift the cup up slightly so that you (and only you) are able to read both dice underneath. You don’t want your opponent to see your roll.
Read the number on the dice to your opponent, and pass.

The person receiving the cup from you has 2 choices:
(to believe you or not to believe your swine-loving heart)

Don’t Believe Your Opponent?
If you don’t believe the scallywag is telling you the truth about what number they rolled, you can lift the cup and read the dice.
If you’ve caught them in a lie, they get the point. Cup returns to them. They have to roll again.
If the scoundrel spoketh truth, point goes to you. And it’s your roll Long John.

Believe Your Opponent?
Do you believe your opponent is telling you honestly what number is upon their dice? And truthfully there is very little reason for your opponent to lie to you at the opening of the game–unless you’re married to them. However if you DO believe your opponent, you can’t look at the dice.

For example, your opponent rolls and looks. They pass you the cup and say “52″. You agree that’s a number they got, and that it’s possible for you to beat it. But if you agree with their number, you cannot look at the dice. You must roll by shaking the cup. You’ve let your opponent off the hook. Now, this is where your inner scoundrel gets to have a run around the park:

Check the dice…
If your roll is higher than the last roll (say a 63), read the dice number to your opponent and pass.
OR you may lie about the dice number to your opponent and pass.
Either way they will have to determine if you play false with their trust.

Or

Close the cup, shake the cup, and pass to your opponent (without looking at the new dice) and say “higher.”
The chance your opponent must take at this time is to believe if your new roll was higher than the last spoken number. If they lift the cup and the number is indeed higher, then the point goes to them. If the number is NOT higher, then the point goes to you.

Mäxchen (21) beats all
If you roll a 2 and a 1 that’s Mäxchen. This number trumps everything (singles and doubles) and can be your get out of the stockades for free. For instance if your opponent rolled a 4 and a 4, you would either need to roll higher doubles or a 21 in order to get out. If you do roll a 21, you can say Mäxchen. Of course, your opponent to whom you pass this bit of plunder to must either believe you or not. If they don’t believe you and you do indeed have 21, then two points go to them. If they don’t believe you, and you lied, then you’re two points closer to buying the grog.

Dirty Pool & Tips
Scoundrels are allowed to shake the dice and pass without lifting. They pass by saying “higher”. If they do this, their roll has to beat the previous roll or they get the point, and play returns to them. Abuse of this tactic is not recommended for those wishing to avoid a trip to Davy Jones’ Locker.

It is considered cheating to remind the person who is rolling what the last number was.

***
I’d love to list out my friends who helped us learn this game. But they are German, and strangely strange about their privacy online. So a simple Danke! will have to suffice.

First of all, the fix isn’t about installing a plugin. At least I didn’t find a plugin that handled this without radically changing the nature of the Gallery. The solution is a tiny bit of code I found out about at WordPress support. (I was surprised that the forums were not very good at answering this question.)

Here is what you need to do:

With the Gallery already added to your post, go into your Post Editor. You want to edit the post containing the Gallery.

Click the tab to view the post in HTML.

Scroll to the area where you see the code for the gallery. If you’re not used to reading HTML, get over it. It’s not real code. Think of HTML as a dumb word processor. It’s so dumb you have to code how to <bold>bold</bold> a word. Now scroll down the HTML and find the tag:

This is where you’re going to add a your exclude code. (cough) I mean HTML tag.

Now, before you can do this, you need to know what the ID# is for the image you want to exclude. To find this out, just Preview your article. Then click on the image in the Gallery that you want to exclude. Look up in your browser’s URL location bar you’ll see the URL for that image. The end of the URL shows the ID#. Copy that number.

Return to your Editor and HTML.

The syntax for excluding an image from your Gallery is:

*If you want to exclude more than one number use commas to separate like this (shown with sample numbers):

Here is what the finished code for excluding one image from the Gallery looks like :

In the above case the image with the ID# of 1134 was excluded from the Gallery on my article about making paper boats. That was the image I only wanted to use as the Featured Image. Notice that image is NOT in the Gallery.