I recently finished The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
01
Feb 12
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
30
Jan 12
Dual N Back Results
Due to an increased workload I have not been practicing as much dual n back as I should, which means that I must delay posting my dual n-back results by several weeks, if not months.
24
Jan 12
How to fix problems sending email through GoDaddy
The Problem: You are trying to send email through GoDaddy Web Hosting Account, and it will not send
The Cause: GoDaddy is finicky about how email gets sent through their servers.
The Solution: Use this code:
System.Web.Mail.MailMessage oMail = new System.Web.Mail.MailMessage();
oMail.From = “From@SomeSite”;
oMail.To = “To@SomeSite.com”;
oMail.Subject = “Test email subject”;
oMail.BodyFormat = MailFormat.Html;
oMail.Body = “Sent at: ” + DateTime.Now.ToString();
System.Web.Mail.SmtpMail.SmtpServer = “relay-hosting.secureserver.net”;
System.Web.Mail.SmtpMail.Send(oMail);
oMail = null;
lbl.Text = “it worked”;
And that’s it!
22
Jan 12
How to pull an image from a database and display it in ASP.net/C#
The Problem: You have an image saved in Blob form in a database. You need to pull an image from a database and display it to the user in asp.net/C#. How do you do this?
The Cause: There isn’t really a problem, so this doesn’t really apply.
The Solution: Use a generic handler to take care of the problem. Simply create a generic handler called ImageLogo.ashx in Visual Studio 2010, and then paste the following code.
public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
{
ApplicationContext ctx = new ApplicationContext();
Entity ent = ctx.Entities.First();
context.Response.ContentType = “jpg”;
context.Response.BinaryWrite((byte[])ent.Logo);
}
Please note, I am using Entity Framework 4 and Linq to Entities to handle my data access. Then all you have to do is add the following image tag to your html
<img src="ImageLogo.ashx" />
That’s it! That’s all you have to do to pull an image from a database.
18
Jan 12
Mindhacker: 60 Tips, Tricks, and Games to Take Your Mind to the Next Level by Ron Hale-Evans and Marty Hale-Evans
I read Mindhacker: 60 Tips, Tricks, and Games to Take Your Mind to the Next Level
- Interesting: 6/10
- Useful: 5/10
- Readable: 8/10
17
Jan 12
Business Model Generation A Handbook for Visionaries Game Changers and Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur
I recently finished Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers
- Interesting: 7/10
- Useful: 8/10
- Readable: 6/10 (it could have been half the length and not lost anything)
11
Jan 12
What if the 960 Grid System and the Golden Ratio had a baby?
A wonderful starting point for any design
I was doing some redesign work and stumbled across the 960 Grid System.
A few weeks ago I stumbled across the Pearsonified Golden Ratio Typography Calculator.
As I am much more of graphic thief than a graphic designer I intend to use these these two systems as the starting point for every future design. I created some template files and presto! I now have a great place to start for every graphic design project from now on. I did set a minimum font size, so the system is not strictly in the golden ratio, but the end result is still good.
You can download my template files (960 Grid System with Golden Ratio Typography here). I think it will be a good starting point to use for many years.
Background on the 960 Grid System and the Golden Ratio
For some background the 960 Grid System is a system that uses common, thought-through measurements to dimension and position elements on a web page. For more info, please see the official 960 Grid System here. Read it, play with it, and then thank me for telling you about it.
The Golden Ratio is a bit more complicated. The ancient Greeks thought of it years ago and it has been in use ever since. The quickest way of using the golden ratio is to just size objects at a ratio of 1.6 to 1. For more indepth detail, read the Pearsonified description here. For even more in depth details, then go with the WikiPedia description.
10
Jan 12
I’m making my web app be a greedy psychopath with perfect memory and strong math skills
I was working out some marketing personas and wound up defining the sort of person I would want my web application, Profit Awareness, to be. If the app were a person, it would
- Be obsessed with money
- Have a perfect memory
- Have no soft spots for anyone, or anything
- Be harshly judgmental
- Be great at math
- Be profit obsessed
In short, I want it to be a greedy psychopath of an adviser who does not have my many cognitive biases and weaknesses as they relate to clients. In short, I want someone to be Cardinal Richelieu to my Louis the XIII. I bet you want one of those too.
My weak points
Far too often I will
- Come up with a price for a project without looking at what similar projects cost in the past
- Conveniently “forget” about a history of unprofitable projects simply because I like the client
- Convince myself that “this time, it’s different”
- Put off invoicing a client (boring) while I create some new program (fun)
- Same with collections, accounting, etc.
In short, I’m susceptible to all of the cognitive biases that everyone else has. I’ve gotten better over the years, but there are still many, many area of improvement that are unlikely improve by themselves.
Handy Traits To Have
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone else could keep track of all that and (as they said about Joseph Kennedy),
“possessed a passion for facts, a complete lack of sentiment and a marvelous sense of timing”
so you wouldn’t make the same mistakes twice?
I couldn’t find such an adviser, so I made one. ProfitAwareness.com keeps track of the true cost of your working life. It keeps track of all of your projects, clients, and who owes you money and put it right in your face.
- Are you losing money on a project?
- Have you finished a project but not sent an invoice for it yet?
- Who pays the fastest?
- Who pays the slowest?
- Who has the highest real hourly rate?
- Who has the lowest?
We keep track of of all of that, simplify it, and shove it right in your face. Profit Awareness doesn’t make you do anything, but you will know the price of being nice, as well as how much certain clients are costing you, and how all of your clients rank. Just think of how much doing things “just this once” or thinking “this time it’s different” has cost you over the years. In your head you knew it was foolish, but in your heart you knew it was right. Your heart was wrong, and will continue to be wrong. Wouldn’t it be nice to have that money back?
photo credit: .FuturePresent.
10
Jan 12
59 Seconds Think a Little Change a Lot by Richard Wiseman
I am a huge fan of the pop cognitive psychology genre and mind harcking. I was interested when I first saw 59 Seconds Think a Little Change a Lot by Richard Wiseman
I then read this book review on CodingHorror.com, changed my mind and got the book. It’s is a survey of the current findings on productivity is and largely forgettable. I found the writing to be a bit limp and grating. It’s not a bad book per se, but Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long
08
Jan 12
Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
- Interesting: 7/10
- Useful: 7/10
- Readable: 9/10