The Importance of a Well-Run White House (Without Leaks)

Ret. Marine Corps General John F. Kelly

The reasons for appointing a general to White House chief of staff in 2017 are the same for President Donald J. Trump as they were for Richard M. Nixon in 1973. Watergate and Vietnam raged then. Tight command was needed in the highest offices of the United States.

Constant media attack, continuous leaks, and pending foreign military action drive this president's choice.

The big difference is that active Army Major General Haig transferred over from his position as Military Assistant to the Presidential Assistant for National Security Affairs (Henry Kissinger), while retired Marine Corps General John F. Kelly comes to the White House from his role as United States Secretary of Homeland Security.

What does this say?

1. The Department of Homeland Security is not really all that important to our security.
2. Kelly wasn't doing such a great job over at DHS.
3. A well-run White House (without leaks) is more important to U.S. national security than a well-commanded DHS.

Perhaps this lets the secret out that the DHS is just a $50-billion layer of bureaucratic boondoggle that really doesn't enhance our "homeland security". A handful of highly-skilled sharpies in the West Wing could do a better job of coordinating the work of our various intelligence agencies (e.g., CIA, FBI, NSA, etc.).

Questions have been raised by those who view the closing down of illegal immigration in to the U.S. as to Kelly's commitment to this effort. Maybe it's better to put somebody at DHS who's fully dedicated to this aim.

With military action pending against North Korea and other hot spots around the globe, and the virulent and unremitting attacks on the U.S. president from the media, the argument that having a tight ship in the White House is critically important to our national security. 

And what about those leaks? We can only hope all the best minds in technology and security are brought to the task of tightening down on them as well.

Rainbow Points the Way

Time to buy a Kindle

The 7" Kindle Fire tablet was selling for $49 when I was trying to pick a tablet/phone combo to help me usher in the 21st century of technology.

No matter which salesman I spoke with--at Best Buy, at Radio Shack, etc.--when I started talking about low-end tablets they always steered me toward the Fire. Better maker, better supported.

Then the price fell to $39.

Staples was one of the places that had it at this super-low, gotta-give-it-a-try price, but I kept delaying the purchase till I could get my head right on it. I'd get home, then take another look in coming days. But, then I stopped for gas on my way home and the rainbow pointed the way.

It wasn't just over Staples Plaza, it was actually pointing to the part of the shopping center where Staples was located--pointing right at its entrance.

That's how I came to purchase a Kindle Fire 7" tablet for $39*--and now my life is completely transformed.

---

*note the excellent customer reviews.

It's a Miracle!!

My life came crashing down around me recently with a large cup of black McDonald's coffee—flavored blueberry coconut—that lightly splashed my Acer laptop computer.

Blueberry-coconut-flavored coffee on my laptop.

A friend in the booth behind me had asked a political question regarding the chances of #NeverHillary vs. #NeverTrump, and as I turned to enlighten him on that point my arm/finger/sleeve combo took the coffee with it.

My big failing was not lifting the laptop.

The spill didn't seem so great on the actual computer, just in front of it. The McDonald's employee came with a mop and paper towels. I mopped up what I saw, but there was a lingering issue that kept me from lifting my laptop. I'd been meaning to swap out my charger/adapter/cord for a new one for quite some time as it was getting fiddly. In fact, I could barely get it fiddled into a position where it might actually transmit power to my laptop. To lift the computer to clean around it properly might have cut the power I'd spent so much fiddling time to get flowing to it.

The coffee had pooled underneath the computer.

It was only as I closed up shop to move on that I noticed the pool of coffee under the laptop. I didn't think too much about it at the time, not understanding the importance of the fan located there. I did start having fritzy cursor behavior—which evolved into no keyboard response by the next day.

The fan had been spraying coffee into the innards of my computer?

Technically-minded friend #1 explained this to me, as well as suggesting such a spray might short out the motherboard. When I asked if that meant getting another computer—which I'd been contemplating for some time, putting it off as long as possible—he said, quite simply: "Just get a USB keyboard."

That sounded expensive.

But where would I get one of those? Would I have to drive into New Hampshire to find one? Spend $65? "More like $9", defusing my computer/life crisis matter-of-factly. Taking this suggestion to technically-minded friend #2, who was working at the local library at the time, he said: "We have them upstairs. Just disconnect one from the public computers." It was only as I was doing just that I realized I had some of these USB keyboards at home.

Attaching a separate keyboard opened up new worlds.

With the separate keyboard attached via USB cable to my laptop I found I could maneuver both more easily—putting the laptop to the side and placing the keyboard where I could best work it. When using the computer in the car, for example, I could put the laptop in the passenger seat next to me, placing the keyboard in my lap. My computing life had actually improved after the blueberry-coconut-flavored coffee catastrophe.

Then the BEEPING started.

The laptop started BEEPING on first start-up. Next try it would boot up properly. Then it started BEEPING every time I tried booting it up—first time, next time, every time. When I described the sound to technically-minded friend #3 he thought it sounded keyboard-related. This plus the continued fritzy cursor suggested keyboard signals as culprit. A YouTube video showed me how to remove the keyboard with tweezers. "Would I really need to use tweezers?" I asked techie friend #2. "Just RIP IT OUT," he replied (with perhaps a little too much relish).

Busticated keyboard remains

So I RIPPED the keyboard out.

When I got the first layer off I smelled the blueberry-coconut-flavored coffee. Keys went flying everywhere, but I got the connector free. "The connector's key here", techie #2 had informed me.

It booted up (with help from Windows repair function).

I cut a piece of cardboard to tape over the gaping space left by the now ripped-out keyboard. This would protect my computer against any further coffee (or other) assaults. I wrote on it with a Sharpie, to remind myself (and others) how often I'm blessed with things turning out better than I thought they might . .

"It's a miracle!!"

Returning from a medical absence, techie friend #4 mildly debunked the fan-pulling-coffee-into-computer-innards theory of techie friend #1, noting his experience with moisture and computers was almost always related to the keyboard. The fan destroying my laptop from below might therefore be described as a "red herring" in this story.

Six Tools to Help You Get More Done

by Kelsey Meyer

You don’t need to be the superhero of tasks to save your business every single day. Take advantage of productivity tools available and watch your scary to-do list melt away like the Wicked Witch of the West.

Zapier: Connect the apps you use, automate tasks, get more out of your data.
Being able to automate tasks and processes can change the way you and your team work, from helping streamlining hiring to tracking lead generation to communicating via your internal messaging system. They've just launched Multi-Step Zaps a tool that lets professionals easily connect business software, such as Slack, Trello and MailChimp, to create a series of automated events.

BuzzSumo: Analyze what content performs best for any topic or competitor.
Follow along with what’s trending in your industry, stay up-to-date on your competitors, and where your industry is headed. This helps you create consistently relevant content and helps you find inspiration for your next blog post.

Organizational "knowledge bank.''
Cataloging the knowledge and expertise of your organization's internal experts is invaluable when creating exceptional, engaging content. Simply use Google Docs or a knowledge management template, and organize tabs that align with your industry and internal processes.

Mixmax: Track, automate, and enhance your emails with the essential productivity suite for Gmail and Google Inbox.
Follow up with leads, track and automate Gmails. See who opens your Google messages, etc.

Buffer: Social media management for marketers and agencies.
Organize your social media efforts and maintain consistency for a more effective marketing strategy. Allows you to schedule social posts, efficiently promote your company’s content, easily monitor conversations your audience is having online, and track the success of your posts.

15Five: Know The Pulse Of Your Company—what they accomplished, where they’re struggling, how they’re feeling and more.
Ensuring your team is on the same page, enjoying what they do and communicating wins, losses and what they’ve learned can have a major impact on your company’s culture and overall productivity. Give someone a shout-out for being awesome that week!

"25 Percent"

“We estimate, based on win margins in national elections around the world, that Google could determine the outcome of upwards of 25 percent of all national elections.”

Robert Epstein

American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology

Student Instruments Go Pro

Jiggs pBone is a featherweight, mostly plastic trombone designed for kids but hitting high notes with top brass players for sound quality and durability. Ashley Shabankareh, trombonist in New Orleans ska band The Local Skank, says with a standard metal mouthpiece attached, it sounds much like her brass instruments. $179

Vibrato A1 was company's first alto saxophone. The main tube, bell and neck are made of a blend of polycarbonate and ABS, the former providing "the required resonance", the former "elasticity and flexibility". The Vibrato A1 "has a vintage character that is a dark and warm sound that is hard to find in modern saxophones nowadays." Suitable for young children and ideal as their first saxophone--it's super lightweight at 850 grams--making it the lightest fully-functional alto saxophone available in the world today. The big deal are the self-leveling silicone pads that are non-toxic and soft
"to ensure the perfect seal on every tone hole." With DIY replacement, these pads are highly reliable and user friendly. “It plays like a dream and weighs only 2 pounds. I’m not sure how they did it, but it feels a bit like magic,” Clint Maedgen said. $575

Casio Mini Keyboard SA-76 is a 44-key digital piano that runs on six AA-batteries and sells at Toys “R” Us. Beck named a single after it. Mark Ramos Nishita, keyboardist and longtime Beastie Boys collaborator currently in David Byrne’s Atomic Bomb Band says: “Plug it into a wah-wah pedal and a stack of Marshalls, and it would sound amazing.” $70

Suzuki Q Chord is an electronic take on the autoharp that "produces enough distinct—and just plain ethereal—sounds to fill in for an entire band." Fans include David Bowie and Jim James of rock band My Morning Jacket. Some strap it on their bodies and play it like a stand-up keyboard or “keytar.” Beautifully-orchestrated song cartridges contain favorite
song titles in diverse genres (with lyrics). Plug in and strum.$300

SEE: "Too Cool for Music School" by Steve Garbarino.

"Outperforming Established Engines"

"Even our prototypes are outperforming established engines of the same displacement and there's a lot of development left in there for further weight reduction and performance gains. So we're very optimistic."

Duke Engines

"We're Just Noticing Now"

“The world has always been messy. In part, we’re just noticing now because of social media and our capacity to see in intimate detail the hardships that people are going through.”

Barack Obama

Social Media Explained

"Once-Revered Repositories of the Humanities"

"Parents are beginning to see that this is a $65,000-a-year scam that won't get their kids a job in an economy that wants quantification skills. Parents and students increasingly will flee the politicized nut-houses for apolitical MOOCs—massive open online courses.

Still, it's a tragedy. The loonies are becoming the public face of some once-revered repositories of the humanities."

Daniel Henninger

Hashtag Rescue

(Eric, great concept, but all those doing nothing appear to be male!)

Twitter Micropoets

PS SMS: "Since twitter has become a great outlet for micropoets, it’s only natural to create a list of twitter micropoets."

'via Blog this'