Family Handyman : Add Instant Curb Appeal

This is what America is really about - always increasing home value. Not like Japan - where they want to endlessly upgrade business..

http://www.familyhandyman.com/landscaping/projects-for-instant-curb-appeal/view-all?pmcode=IDFEC160&_mid=2467152&_rid=2467152.1046228.51368

Paint, paint, paint
Install new house numbers
Upgrade your mailbox
Line a walkway with bricks or pavers
Replace a light fixture
Plant a tree
Add low-voltage lighting (driving the solar stakes into the ground along walkways)
Install shutters
Install a new storm door
Install flower boxes

Der Wisdom of Trevor Blake

Three Simple Steps :

1) Master your mentality - be able to deploy your shield that bounces negativity off
2) Take quiet time at the start of every day alone, seated to allow brilliant insights into your mind; Connect with nature ("plug into the matrix")
3) Set intentions, not goals - these are in Past tense, Personal and Positive. Set higher intentions than your immediate desire.

Have a way to tune out of negativity if there's bad gossip, etc - you're treading a beautiful road through shallow blue waters, etc.

Practise these daily. Discipline is the key.

A sales trick he's used : Can you think of anyone else who could benefit from this?

OpenCV on Raspberry Pi

Hack A Day seems to have enough resources to get you started :

http://hackaday.com/2013/03/04/using-opencv-with-the-raspberry-pi/

I was more drawn to Solutions Cubed - Sensors from $10 - they even have design services. Ask them for a quote and you're probably 10% of the way there.

How do you like that idea?

1) Come up with an idea - no clue about how to implement it
2) Ask SC for a quote. They tell you what they're going to do and for how much
3) Take the first part of that to someone else and say you want just that - they break it down some more and tell you how much..
4) You get the idea.. Naughty?

They're not kidding. Look at who's gone to them already :

• Agilent Technologies
• Bayer Health Care
• Citgo Petroleum Corp.
• GE Energy Management
• General Dynamics
• General Motors R&D
• Griffin Technology Inc.
• Harmon Consumer Group
• Hewlett Packard
• Kyocera Wireless Corp.
• Lockheed Martin Corp.
• NASA
• Microchip Semiconductor
• Northrup Grumman Corp.
• NXP Semiconductor
• Power Designers, LLC
• Sandia National Labs
• Schilling Robotics
• Segway Incorporated
• Siemens Energy and Automation
• Sunsweet Growers Incorporated
• United States Army
• United States Air Force
• United States Treasury

Where You Should Get Your News

Cording to Trevor Blake, you should only get your news from :

John Pilger (Ozzie) and Greg Palast (who also made Bush Family Fortunes)

Excerpt from Palast :

Dear Mr. Martin,

I have a 16-year old son. I cannot imagine losing him because some beast decided to play Lone Ranger.

And so, with cautious humility, I make this suggestion, this plea.

Sue the beast. You must.

I understand you are reluctant to launch another painful trial of uncertain outcome and cost, monetary and emotional. And I know a money judgment won't bring your son home.

But imagine this: George Zimmerman gets a half-million-dollar book deal and $25,000 a pop to appear at gun shows - plus a fee to put his name on a 9mm semi-automatic. The 'Zimmerman Protector.'

Good to see Brit humour is still alive and kicking..

A Little Learning Every Day

http://www.ted.com/talks/russell_foster_why_do_we_sleep.html

• Brush your teeth at least 30 minutes before you head to bed - you don't want to be in a brightly lit bathroom cleaning your teeth just before bed.
• Reduce your light level 30 minutes before bedtime - get adjusted for dreamy land.
• If you're waking up because the alarm goes off, you're not getting enough sleep.
• My resolution - from now on, I'll be in Airplane mode while I sleep - I use my smartphone as an MP3 player in bed. Shame :)

In case you didn't know already, your phone charges much faster if it's in Airplane mode - so that's one more reason :) Things I can't do without - the blue blocking glasses and f.lux.

If Russel Foster doesn't teach you much, you can try Matt Walker on Masterclass

What's Lateral Thinking Good For?

So proud, did the whole book in one day. But, like he says, it's no good without practice. Let's see how that works out with everything else I've got going on.. It can be applied to three things : Descriptions Problem Solving Design So concise :)

Po Power

After a 3 hour stint with de Bono's classic (on headphones while I lay in to let my body recover from recent workouts)

Po suspends judgement
Po indicates forward thinking and suspends backward thinking
Po is protective - engenders cooperation between participants
Po is disruptive - how can the established pattern be recreated
Po is provocative - encourages rethinking

Use Po. Until you're used to it, use it in caps : PO at the start of your sentence

Another useful tool, get random words from the dictionary and apply them to your current problem and see a new way of looking at the problem and associated ideas.

There is no work that people shirk from more than that of sustained thought - I got that from "The Science of Wealth"

Powell's Prescient Wisdom Echoes my Recent Troubles

Gosh, wish my recent boss had read this stuff..

Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally "nicely" regardless of their contributions, you'll simply ensure that the only people you'll wind up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization.

 I know I'm being a bit self-glorifying by putting that there, but you get the lesson he's conveying. Question : did Powell figure this out the hard way? What was his Aha moment?

Here's another cool one. Echoes my recent troubles. I stopped asking for permission and started asking for forgiveness after taking action because my old boss loved to micromanage. A good idea or a good solution was one that originated from him. So sad to behave that way in your mid-fifties. When a person brings a problem to you, what he's really saying is, my priorities have changed and I need time for this, not "solve this". Duh! Sure, you might have experience that directly applies or know of someone who can tap the case in the right place..

The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership

One of Welchi's tidbits that Gail Denter violated : "Make the organization chart as flat as possible."

By contrast, what I observed was that people were being rewarded for a**-kissing and yes-manning with hierarchy in the org-chart. What a sad state of affairs. Powell says "A tip : Don't invest in such companies."

Applying what I Learnt from Colin Powell

Not directly of course - a presentation I saw about 15 years ago (yes, I have a decent memory :)

something about "Seek out mentors, ..."

My latest interaction :

Hi X,

        I visited once and met you. I'm between jobs now and have some time. Are you open to me spending a day with you looking at what you're working on and seeing what gaps I have in my skillset and discussing how to fill them?

I'm an IC designer, but my dream is to do computer vision stuff...

X :

I'm sorry to say I don't yet recall our meeting. My current work is in electronics and design for manufacture of wearables and gadgets.

I'm currently in NY and might be back Mid Sept some time ... though then I might be headed to china for a bit.

Why don't you email me again a week or two into sept to see where I'm at of that works for you

Me : to me : so that's basically a no. But, not to worry. My subconscious mind will find a way.

The PPT of General Powell's leadership advice is here (thanks ) :

http://www.policeone.com/chiefs-sheriffs/tips/1778991-Colin-Powells-tips-for-leadership/

I remember this one and it makes me ashamed from time to time :

Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: you'll avoid the tough decisions, you'll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted, and you'll avoid offering differential rewards based on differential performance because some people might get upset.

Welchi sums it up : Leaders have a knack for making unpopular decisions and gut calls.

A User's Guide to the Brain

(while reading Michael GW's book, Super Body, Super Brain)

John Ratey :

What makes us move is also what makes us think
Our physical movements can directly influence our ability to learn, think and remember.
Evidence is mounting that each person's capacity to master new and remember old information is improved by biological changes in the brain brought on by physical activity.

Synthesizing a Problem - Using the Wisdom of Dana Clarke

For the USB-PD transceiver I'm going to be working on, we can be sure we'll get at least one customer return from the field some day.

Is it possible to synthesize such a customer problem through a gedanken experiement it, think of what could possibly create a problem for the customer and have all the solutions available. A team that could do this will certainly be on track to 100% market share for the first year - sort of like FDTI.

Dana used to have a "Resources" section on his web. Gone now, but, I'm getting the TRIZ book for sure. Can't hurt to have that stuff down in my new job :)

http://www.innovationrainmakers.com

Yikes - he recommends a book - 40 Principles : TRIZ Keys to Innovation
Amazon used : $38. Half.com : $17!! WT*? I checked the ISBN numbers - the same *ing book!

Rule 1 Investing

Okay, the website seems like a real time-waster, but the book is okay - I guess..

Shooting for 15% a year is a noble goal. Throwing $5m away on NEXT because Steve Jobs is the boss shows you in a poor light of course.

The mnemonic : Me-Mo Ma-Ma : Meaning-Moat Management-Margin

• Does the company have meaning for you - would you be passionate about owning it?
• Does the company have a moat to ward off invaders?
• Does the co have excellent management?
• Does the investment have enough safety margin - are you getting it for 50c per $?

If you can answer yes, then buy and sell when it's fairly priced.

To Phil Town's credit, he might have some tangible stuff in the Rule #1 for 401K Investing... I downloaded it but haven't had time to look at it.. He mentions some small cap growth funds I think.

After 10 Years, Knoppix Still Kills Dell + M$

Well, to be fair, I was using a 10 year old reinstall CD to get Win XP up and running. Knoppix has gotten me out of tight spots before - when I desperately needed to look something up online and Windows just couldn't hack it.

But, here's the kicker - M$ cannot get me internet access via Ethernet on a platform (D600) that swears by M$ and Knoppix can. Sure, the page renditions are not very pretty, but WTH? You can see why M$ and Dell are both going nowhere..

What's Important to Know About Self-Control

aka Willpower :

• It's a mind-body response, not a virtue
• Is a limited resource - like muscle strength - use a lot of it at work during the day and you know why you need a shot or a smoke or a quickie when you get home
• Temptation and stress hijack the brain's systems of self-control, but the brain can be trained to withstand higher levels without giving in
• Guilt and shame over your setbacks lead to giving in again, but self-forgiveness and self-compassion boost self-control
• Giving up control is sometimes the only way to gain self-control
• Willpower failures are contagious - you can catch the desire to overspend or overeat from your friends - but you can also catch self-control from the right role-models

Don't believe me? Then read "The Willpower Instinct" by Kenny McGonigal (interesting combination of Scotch-Irish and Prussian there)

Never Guess About Your Finished PCB Again

Thanks to this maestro (Jerome really impressed me with huge abstraction and adaptation skills even in the stressful setting of a MMO development; he quickly became someone you can rely on, which is very rare for a first position!) you can (if you're unlucky enough to be on Windows V or higher, actually 7 isn't that hot a hell) drag your gerber file onto GBRV and see what it's going to look like - in 3D.

For the record, this is written in Lua.

Raspberry Pi Consultant Takes on ADT for Home Security

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Hc0JWI4I0