by Dan on October 14, 2011- 275 views
When people talk about the size of their LinkedIn network, many make reference to the “Total users you can contact through an Introduction” number, which is the sum of your 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree connections. The question I, and many others have asked is: Why are my total LinkedIn connections dropping? If I’m adding connections shouldn’t it at least stay the same or be increasing?
Most people don’t realize that the number representing LinkedIn users three degrees away is only an estimate, an approximation, a GUESS! [click to continue…]
by Dan on September 25, 2011- 223 views
When people get curious about baking with sourdough starter and I explain how it works, I can tell they are a little uneasy at the idea of keeping the culture alive, day in, day out, 24/7/365…
I understand the concern, so I’m always quick to mention that starter can be kept in the fridge for a while without an earth shattering scenario taking place. My personal experience is that you can leave it in the fridge EASILY for a week; I’ve done two weeks several times and even tempted fate once by going 20 days. I realized OH Snap! and went to emergency resuscitation mode, administering CPR for a couple of hours. Actually, all I did was dump out half, feed it and then repeat again a day later. Whew! So if a “little while” is moving towards forever and you don’t want to lose your precious starter, simply dehydrate it and pack it away for a rainy day.
Dehydrating Sourdough Starter is an easy procedure if you’d like to share your starter [click to continue…]
by Dan on September 11, 2011- 241 views
Go Twitter Go
As Twitter has increased in popularity, link shorteners like bit.ly, Su.pr and YOURLS have grown. The 800 pound gorilla of shorteners, by far, is bit.ly; which is the default link shortener for Twitter and has more than 70% of all short URLs tweeted on twitter (say that five times fast). Every month, bit.ly shortens over 1 gigalink. (OK a billion) That is a very enticing target for spammers.
Why bit.ly?
Why? Bitly takes a long URL like http://w6lsn.com/blog/2011/07/downgrade-wordpress-plugins/ (58 characters) and converts it into something like http://bit.ly/qGR3RF (20 characters) this gains you back 28 characters or over 20% of your quota. Brevity is nice but that could really hamper you. The problem for the receiver of the tweet is that you can’t tell where you’re going to end up. You can’t see “behind” the bitly short url. Is it really somewhere I might want to go or am I going to end up at a hacker’s site waiting to infect me with malware or spyware?
What’s behind bitly url’s
To find out what is behind a bit.ly short url, [click to continue…]
by Dan on September 10, 2011- 302 views
I remember choosing my class ring as if it was yesterday. I was very fortunate as my grandfather insisted that I needed a genuine gemstone in the ring. While my birthstone is amethyst, I really liked the blue of aquamarine. I got to peruse several stones and selected one for my ring. The Jostens® representative wrapped it up, placed it in a small envelope and stapled it to my order form.
When the ring arrived second class year it was even more handsome than I imagined possible. Ring Dance was magical and I can remember dipping it in the Seven Seas. I thought I would wear the ring always. As it turns out, I would take it off to shower and sleep, workout or work on cars and even to wash my hands. I hated getting soap lodged in the anchor chain and the sticky mess that it would leave on my hand.
Nearing graduation, I was at a party at a friend’s house. I took off my ring, [click to continue…]
by Dan on September 9, 2011- 125 views
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.
by Kahlil Gibram
Earth would not seem homelike without your little sunny acts.
by Emily Dickinson
The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so… it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.
by Walter Scott
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
by Aristotle
by Dan on September 8, 2011- 205 views
I wanted to put a banner ad in my thesis based blog. The header is a simple, Text only one using CSS to color the background. It is not an image. I found this tutorial http://franklinbishop.net/thesis-tutorial-banner-ad-in-header/ it did most of what I wanted…
I had one difference for the function, I wanted to have a particular ad display on a particular page. I didn’t want the same ad showing on all pages, I wanted the ability to tailor the ads [click to continue…]
by Dan on August 22, 2011- 183 views
This poem by Admiral R. A. Hopwood, R.N. (Retired) first appeared in Reef Points in 1920 and, I believe, has appeared continuously ever since.
1.Now these are the laws of the Navy,
Unwritten and varied they be;
And he who is wise will observe them,
Going down in his ship to the sea;
2.As naught may outrun the destroyer,
So it is with law and its grip,
For the strength of ship is the Service,
And the strength of the Service the ship.
3.Take heed what you say of your seniors,
Be your words spoken softly or plain,
Lest a bird of the air tell the matter,
And so shall ye hear it again.
4.If you labor from morn until even,
And meet with reproof for your toil,
‘Tis well, that the gun may be humbled,
The compressor must check the recoil.
5.On the strength of one link in the cable, [click to continue…]
by Dan on August 16, 2011- 136 views
I’m sure you’ve heard that the recommended amount of daily exercise is 30 minutes or about 3 hours per week. While driving in the car today I heard about a new study recently released that was conducted in Taiwan over many years shows that even just 15 minutes per week is helpful. The study said that getting that much exercise would increase the person’s life expectancy by three years. “Wow! Is that worth it?” was my immediate question. So here is my “back of the envelope” calculation:
- 15 minutes / day * 7 days /week = 2 hours / week
- 2 hours /week * 50 weeks / year = 100 hours / year = 4 days per year.
- assume the average person lives for 70 years
- That means in 70 years you would do 280 days of exercise or 9 months, 3/4 of a year.
So if you get 3 years of additional life for investing 3/4 of a year, that’s a pretty good deal in my book. That’s a 4 to 1 ratio or payback. Pretty nice!
Now, I exercise between 30 and 45 minutes per day five days a week, so I’m fairly close to the recommended number. In fact, on a good week I’m doing more on a bad week, about the right amount. The Taiwanese study went on to say that more exercise would give you more benefit, but they didn’t quantify the results. After looking at the study one of the deficiencies in my mind is that the study respondents self-reported. In other words, the individuals weren’t followed around and the results were subjectively analyzed. They didn’t conduct the study until everyone died, they estimated their remaining longevity. Even still, I think it points out the benefits of exercising, even a minimal amount, in improving your quality of life and longevity.
Post Script: After writing this up I found a report on the study on-line. Turns out the amount of exercise was only 90 minutes / week, meaning the days were 210 not 270 and the payback was actually over 5 to 1. All the more reason to “get busy”! So don’t feel bad if you only can get in 15 minutes, as the Nike® ad says: “Just Do It!”
by Dan on July 15, 2011- 761 views
I’ve had to downgrade WordPress plugins a number of times and after having to do it again today, I decided I would write it down so that I wouldn’t goof it up or page through the WordPress codex another time. Why might you have to downrev or downgrade WordPress plugins you ask? Some developers don’t do as thorough of a job coding and testing so either they make a mistake or someone else’s code affects their plug-in in an unknown way. [click to continue…]
by Dan on July 12, 2011- 870 views
Refilling Travel Toothpaste can be done both easily and cheaply. In this article I’ll show you how to make an adapter for refilling travel toothpaste. I’ve always been one that prefers to travel light. Before 9/11 I could travel on an overnighter and take only my briefcase. The briefcase could store my change of clothes and toiletries, the laptop, customer files, and even a book to read. My toiletries consisted of a razor and shaving oil, a toothbrush and [click to continue…]