I saw this post yesterday from Patrick Rhone and thought I would share it here:

This had been his “thing” since he was a teen. And, over time, he started to pick up various tricks. He, in fact, became quite good. He’d show up at parties and people would ask him to yo-yo. Mesmerizing the crowd for an hour...Pretty soon, he built a business around this. He’d hire himself out for parties, sell instructional videos, win cash prizes at competitions. Not too long after, Duncan offered him a paid sponsorship.

Words and thoughts to live by.

I am happy to be apart of this online community, even with the limited time that I can play. It's the challenge of the game plus the friendships and teamwork that happens that keep me coming back. I look forward to seeing what CCP brings to EVE in its second decade of being online.

My latest cigar review is up at the Tiki Bar Online. For this month's review, I took a closer look at one of my favorite cigars: the RoMaCraft CroMagnon EMH.

I came upon this link via Nate Konty who used this theory in achieving a better work product (and lunch outings):

I use a trick with co-workers when we’re trying to decide where to eat for lunch and no one has any ideas. I recommend McDonald’s.

Cool idea but there is one flaw with this: What if the bad idea (or lunch choice) you suggested actually gets taken and accepted? What then? Sure, White Castle always sounds good at the time but have too many (or doesn't sit well) and...well, you get the idea. I guess if you really want to help steer positive thought (or lunch ideas), make sure you float your heaviest stinkers first.

The folks behind the failed Kickstarter project Bark! are back with again with a revamp to their cork-based wallet and iPhone backs. I would love to see this project get off the ground because it's a unique way to use cork. Give them a look and if this is something you think you can use, pledge them a little bit. I did.

I came across this article a couple months ago and kept in my Reading List for when I had some time to put some words to it. It's funny that I didn't see it linked from the popular technology/productivity/"hack your life" sites but from Ally Bank's twitter feed. The article was up front in saying that the productivity market is becoming a huge money sink. An example from the linked article above:

Some people enjoy searching out new methods, seeing the process as continual improvement. Daniela Bolzmann, a marketing manager for WeDeliver, a Chicago business-delivery startup, has churned through 40 different apps since graduating from college in 2010. She tossed out one after another because they didn't synch across all her devices, took too long to figure out, made it too hard to enter tasks—or were just flat-out ugly. "If it's not beautiful, I won't use it. It's got to be sexy," she says. Her current favorite is a task- and project-management app named Trello.

I liken this to musicians buying new horns constantly to "perfect their sound" or fix a problem area of their playing. I know because I was one of them. You end up wasting a lot of time and money and sacrificing your work product or technique by tinkering.

As with horns, I utilize the same principle with productivity software: Use the program or system that allows you to get your work done with the least amount of resistance. Then stick with it for a considerable amount of time to know if it works for you or not.

After seeing what passes for "tech journalism" today, I have decided to put together a set of rules to help prevent me from wasting my time reading garbage. I invite all those who are as tired of reading crap to take this article and add their own rules to it.

I don't care which smart phone/tablet/computer/operating system you use and why. Use whatever works the best for you and your situation. Everyone's use case and situation is different; they will not always match yours. Get over it. The market is certainly big enough for many platforms to thrive and does not even remotely reflect a Highlander-type mindset ("There can be only one...").

I don't care about the latest tech rumor from [name of tech company]. Until the product is officially announced, it doesn't officially exist yet. Should you report on nonexistent products like they are real ("The iPhone 8XL is going to be delayed because..."), I block your site from my machine's hosts file.

If at anytime on your site I read "My sources tell me..." or "Our inside sources confirm...", I block your site, especially when your "sources" turn out to be wrong.

If you invoke a past CEO (i.e. - "This would never happen under Steve Jobs."), I block your site.

Writing that a company is doomed for failure when they make billions of dollars in net revenue and are top in their respective markets makes you look like a partisan hack. And I block your site.

If you write anything resembling "10 Reasons Why [Name of Company] Should Do [X]", I will stop what I am doing and make it a point to block your site immediately.

Reviewing a product dictates that you hold it in your hands and use it for a considerable amount of time. A product that you can not touch, can only see through glass or use but for only a couple of minutes does not a review make.

When you quote an article from another author or website, give credit where it is due. You wouldn't like it done to you, so don't do this to your fellow writers.

When you make a mistake, own up to the mistake and state it clearly in your article. If someone should call you out on your mistake in your comments or in an email, treat that person with respect (i.e. - don't edit/remove their comments or act like a dick to them).

Calling other writers or a company's user base names ("fanboy") just makes you look like an immature douche. Grow up.

When you write glowing reviews about a company's product, bash their competitors in obviously biased reviews and just happen to be a paid consultant for that company, you give up any credibility of being objective, so stop pretending you are.

The Internet has a very long memory. If you think that deleting your work doesn't mean it can't be found, think again. Bear that in mind for everything you write.

Dr. Drang had a nice article on the insanity of the so-called reporting of Apple's quarterly earnings reports:

I don’t use a Mac or an iPhone because of Apple’s balance sheet. I use them because they (usually) work for me, and I save my anger and frustration for when they don’t.

Apple sells a metric ton of phones and iPads a quarter, makes billions of dollars in net revenue a quarter, and does it better than anyone other tech company on Earth. But somehow, they are doomed and failing as a company according to many financial analysists and tech bloggers.

Yet another reason in the pile of why we can't have nice things.

A big thanks to my wife for sending this to me this morning:

And interestingly enough, the timing of this article goes hand-in-hand with the above "notice": (Thanks to Patrick Rhone for the link via App.net)

“For me, the iPhone had become a toxic compulsion. It had completed its invasion and occupation of my interstitial time — all those minutes riding the train, waiting in line, that used to be such fertile territory for daydreaming and storymaking.” - Robin Sloane, writer.

Remember: You are the user of the phone, not the other way around. Moderation is the key. If you keep your head buried in your phone/tablet/laptop, you just might miss what is going on around you in real time.

My review of the Padilla Reserva Maduro is up at the Tiki Bar Online. It turned out to be a great medium to full bodied smoke. Check it out.