Law 19 There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive of outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents …
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proof-texting considered harmful
Myriad excellent works of the faith throughout the centuries have used the “proof-text” method for supporting their statements: Westminster Shorter Catechism, Second London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, and many many more. On the surface, it seems like a great idea – quote the single statement (or sometimes a couple single statements) that support your …
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do not build fortresses to protect yourself – isolation is dangerous – law 18 – #48laws by robert greene
Law 18 The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people, find …
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keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability – law 17 – #48laws by robert greene
Law 17 Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your …
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pmp project management professional certification exam preparation course in a book for passing the pmp project management professional exam by william manning
New record for longest blog title I’ve ever had. I think. First, the pros: it’s concise, finishing at a mere 91 numbered pages, including sample questions and the index. Second, the cons: it’s 63 pages of bullet points with little-to-no explanation of terms, examples, etc. {{William Manning}} appears to have done an admirable job of …
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blackout by mira grant
I finished the {{Newsflesh}} trilogy this week, which culminated in {{Mira Grant}}’s book {{Blackout}}. The basic storyline and character development continued apace, and the story does end admirably. If you’ve read the first two, you should finish the trilogy. This one adds human cloning as a core plot point, and does it well. However, I …
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use absence to increase respect and honor – law 16 – #48laws by robert greene
Law 16 Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. Your must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity. –{{Robert …
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evaluating “work from home” “opportunities”
It seems the number of advertised “work from home” “opportunities has gone ever higher since the advent of prolific social networking. A not insignificant portion of these opportunities really are legitimate – 31, Avon, Mary Kay … – but a lot of them at the very least feel scammy. The good ones tell you everything you …
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check your home, auto, and plp insurance policies
Every few months to year I take a look around to see if anyone can give me a better rate on my auto & renters’ (home) insurance. This month, after 3 years, I found a carrier who could knock about $60 a month off my payment *and* give me more coverage. Interesting things I learned …
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after “the cloud”
Cloud computing has been hyped for the last decade+. For those few of you haven’t heard of it and understand it, cloud computing is a computing-as-a-utility concept wherein compute (and storage) happens on systems which you may not own. That’s it. So – now that we’ve been offloading our storage, computing, and other tasks to …
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what if human cloning …
… instead of making a unique individual spawned from a synapse record instead created the reverse of a horcrux? For those who haven’t seen the {{Harry Potter}} movies or read {{J K Rowling}}’s books, a horcrux is an object (potentially “alive”) into which a wizard can split his/her soul to make themselves harder to kill. …
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zombies and vampires
Many people recently have asked me why I like [some] zombie and vampire stories (and, more generally, why they’re so popular right now), and after taking the time to think carefully on the topic and explain it to them in person, I thought I’d do my 3 readers a favor and write it out here …
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crush your enemy totally – law 15 – #48laws by robert greene
Law 15 All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihiliation. The enemy …
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alif the unseen by g willow wilson
Along with {{Mira Grant}} (Feed & Deadline reviews), I think I have found a female author I can read. {{G Willow Wilson}}’s debut novel, {{Alif the Unseen}} blends technothriller (a la {{Cryptonomicon}}), Arab mythology, statism, distrust of the government, and more. The story follows a young mixed-blood technophyte who has been making his living on …
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hashtagiquette – inline, or append?
There seems to be a great deal of divide over where, when, and how hashtags should be used on social media services like Twitter. If you google “hashtag etiquette”, you’ll get a variety of differing results. So – what’s the best route to follow? When is it ok to create your own? Why would you want …
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Christian apocalyptic fiction
Stories like the popular {{Left Behind}} series, or really any eschatalogical – other than {{Jerusalem Countdown}} – story always has a rapture event in it somewhere. Excepting the aforementioned movie (which was very good, in my opinion), I think there is a simple reason for this: if Jesus’ second coming is not presaged by a …
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what is the “new” python?
9 years ago, {{Paul Graham}} made a controversial statement: [W]hen you choose a language, you’re also choosing a community. The programmers you’ll be able to hire to work on a {{Java}} project won’t be as smart as the ones you could get to work on a project written in {{Python}}. And the quality of your …
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seamless is now avnet
As mentioned a couple weeks ago, Avnet has finalized the purchase of my former employer, Seamless Technologies. All of STI was brought over “intact” – ie, we’re still a unit, and Avnet purchased us for the people – but it’s very weird to go from such a small company (about 60 people) to such a …
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pose as a friend, work as a spy – law 14 – #48laws by robert greene
Law 14 Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for …
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an rts or tbs game like aoe or civ, but where the player only influences via stealth and espionage
That may be the longest blog title I’ve ever had. I know I will never be a game developer. I thought several years ago it would be something I’d like to get into, but it’s just not me. However, I do enjoy playing certain kinds of games – especially the strategy and puzzle varieties. I …
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civchoice.com
I found out about a super cool company a few days ago – CivChoice. The basic gist is that you create an account with CivChoice, put money into it (which is a one-way street: it’s a “donation” to CivChoice), and from there you divvy it out to the charities of your choice. You get a …
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consistency – pro-life or pro-death
Recently I wrote a post about how you are either pro-life or pro-death. I’ve since referenced that blog post a couple places, and have been attacked for it. I stand by my previous writing, but here extend the logic just a little. When I talked about this on a facebook post last week, I was …
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p2p cloud storage
I have yet to find a peer-to-peer file storage system. You’d think that with all the p2p and cloud services out there, there’d be a way of dropping files into a virtual folder and having them show up around the network (encrypted, of course) – replicated on some kinda of RAID-over-WAN methodology. I’m thinking {{Cryptonomicon}}’s …
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when asking for help, appeal to people’s self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude – law 13 – #48laws by robert greene
Law 13 If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and empathize it out of all …
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avnet buying seamless technologies
Avnet (AVT) is acquiring Seamless Technologies (my employer). Full Press Release (well, the important part): (and WSJ reprint) Avnet, Inc. Announces Agreement to Acquire Assets of Seamless Technologies, Inc. Significantly Expands Cloud and Automation Solutions PHOENIX–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT) announced today that it has agreed to acquire substantially all of the assets of Seamless Technologies, …
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