Category Archives: Sharing

# 21 of 21: We made it

Day 21: Thanks for being a part of this simple journey. Note: you can access all these tips and points any time, now or in the future, at this link: http://granthuhn.wordpress.com/category/sharing/

Let’s look at the ground we covered:

Day 20: You and I progress according to our understanding. All progress moves in one direction. This is not, however, the horror of conformity of behavior; it is the result of understanding what someone else understands; our understanding affects our behavior. Crudely stated: If you don’t appreciate certain products or ideas, it is only because you don’t understand. And while that sounds elitist and condescending, it is true and is tempered by the equal truth: It’s OK that I don’t understand. My life loses none of its value if I never appreciate wine or Maybach or Apple. However, increased understanding moves us toward appreciating those things, never away; we may never own them, indeed, increased understanding may move us away from desiring objects, but we will appreciate those products and ideas. Plus, there are links to some cool readings and products.

Day 19: It’s time for TED. You must watch these videos. No question. Not taking time to watch these (especially if you take time to watch other videos or play games) or resisting the suggestion out of misdirected defiance (“Nobody tells me what to do”) is doing a great disservice to yourself.

Day 18: One email to rule them all. You can send (almost) all your email accounts to your iPhone. Cool. But you can also merge (almost) all you accounts into your MobileMe account. Kinda like we’re livin’ in the 21st century(!). Also, you can send all your calendars to the iPhone calendar. All your email in one app AND all your calendars in one app. How very 21st century. (BONUS: google reader)

Day 17: Eight more apps you need.

Day 16: Twelve free, dynamite iPhone apps. Make your life better. For free.

Day 15: Two iPhone cases shown and reviewed. Plus, my free, homemade, uber-cool iPhone stand. (video)

Day 14: Three typing tricks (on the iPhone) (video)

Day 13: How to take a screen-shot on your iPhone (video)

Day 12: Our journey so far…

Day 11: Subordination and Coordination. You do not need to know or remember the grammatical terms… you do need to remember “FANBOYS”, remember to use a comma and a FANBOYS between two independent clauses in a sentence, and remember to put a comma after a dependent clause at the beginning of a sentence.

Day 10: Freewriting. The single best writing exercise. Certainly, you and I will need to do other kinds of writing at times, but nothing improves our writing like freewriting.

Day 9: Dynamic Dialog: Sharpen the dialog you write. For graduate-level study of this, turn to: “The Art of Dramatic Writing” by Lajos Egri.

Day 8: Growing Sentences: You do not need to know or remember the grammatical terms here (like: “interrupting modifier” or “absolute construction”), just write, baby. And share what you wrote.

Day 7: Show, Don’t Tell: Keep this in mind when you write. You will get this fairly quickly.

Day 6: Active vs Passive: It takes a couple of times studying this or practicing this before you get it and can wield it well.

Day 5: Chiasmus, baby, chiasmus.

Day 4: Avoid Negative Info: Tell your reader what happened, not what didn’t happen or what almost happened. Also, avoid “not”; use “no” or “never” or change it to a positive statement.

Day 3: Parallel Structure: Foundational. This must be done.

Day 2: The Books on My Path to Enlightenment: Read this list and the comments. Read the books. What are your thoughts?

Day 1: Books I Couldn’t Put Down. Great comments. Chime in. What do you think?

Posted in Sharing

#20 of 21: Why you only move one direction.

Aug 30

Posted by granthuhn

We move in only one direction. We need not move (though you will see there is good reason to desire the movement I discuss). And we move by understanding.

With all thy getting, get understanding. – Solomon

Increasing our understanding in any way or area causes us to move… in the same direction as everyone who has gained that understanding.

An obvious example of this is taste (style, preference). Taste, if it moves, only moves this direction:

From Subaru Imprezza WRX (which is a good car) to BMW M6 to Maybach
From energy drinks <shudder> to proper coffee or single-cask, single-malt scotch
From hip-hop music to KINK 101.9 or classical music
From Hot Topic to bespoke shoes and Charles Tyrwhitt or tailored shirts of Egyptian extra-long staple, 2-ply, 170-point cotton (not in one step, of course!)
From Amana or whatever is cheapest to Miele
And yes, from any Windows PC (which gets the job done) to Apple

The movement is always gradual (as growth is), and any movement in the other direction is evidence of conformity or atrophy of will (which are the same). Any movement the other way is desperate or atrophic.

You must understand that I am talking about movement caused by new or increased understanding, which is worlds away from movement caused by conformity–which is entirely thought-less, for example: someone getting “into” wine because they want to fit in, or someone buying expensive clothes/cars/appliances out of an ego deficiency. That is different than someone learning, over time, about the vision and engineering that goes into a BMW–the 50/50 weight distribution, rear-wheel drive, independent suspension at all tires, cambered rear tires, the simplicity and precision of the controls, the design language of the brand, the finer materials, the engineering and expense required to get that much power and fuel efficiency out of same size engine found in other brands.

Sophisticated, expensive products cost more for good reasons. Certainly some premium brands are expensive for the name alone, especially in the clothing industry where little-to-no engineering or special manufacturing is required. But most of the time things cost more because they cost more (to produce). We are all familiar with the saying, “You get what you pay for.” Some may also be familiar with the phrase, “Poor people pay twice”, which implies that financial responsibility means buying quality.

Or stated another way: taste only moves with understanding, and it only moves in one direction.

The movement is entirely caused by knowledge. Once you understand why Miele applicances are better, you like them. Your taste has changed. You still cannot afford a Miele washer, but you no longer get indignant about how much more Miele costs than Amana. Understanding brings sophistication.

A supreme example is Apple. Even a cursory look changes our perspective (or taste). The clarity and discipline of their vision, design, engineering, and even financials is unmatched.

But this is not a treatise on taste.

This principle applies to everything; not only mere objects but priorities and topics of conversation as well, which function the same way: if understanding is increased, our priorities and conversations change, and in the same way as everyone who has increased understanding.

Certainly there are some who don’t change and many who don’t change much. That is fine. We do not change in the areas where we never add to our understanding. That is good and acceptable as well.

You must, however, understand that this happens and how it happens. And even that understanding will move you.

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#16 of 21: iPhone: You Need These Apps (oh yeah, they’re free)

Aug 27

Posted by granthuhn

The Necessary, Free Apps:

1. ReQall (free)

Here’s a good intro to ReQall
Here’s the app.
Here’s the website

I used to use google tasks with the URL added to the Home Screen. That set-up works/ed great. It’s just that ReQall is better than great.

2. Evernote (free)

Easy, powerful, useful. How often do we get all three? Get Evernote. Capture everything. Search what you’ve captured. Check out the introduction at their website and the videos.

Here’s the official intro to Evernote
Here’s the app.
Here’s the website

3. PageOnce Personal Assistant (free)

Very useful. Check all your accounts (utilities, travel, financial, etc) in one app… at a glance.

Here’s an intro with video (at bottom)
Here’s the app.
Here’s their website

4. Now Playing (free)

Not as well-known as Flixster , but Now Playing does everything Flixster does (the iPhone app–Flixster the website does the share-your-reviews thing)… plus allows you to manage your NetFlix account and queue(!)

Read reviews, locate theaters and show times, even purchase tickets, manage your NetFlix account and queue.

The developer’s site (on Google Code)
Get the app

5. google app (free)

Use voice recognition (or text, the voice recognition is slick, though) to search the web, local, or your contacts. Simply speak into the iPhone, and Google does the rest. Plus access all your google apps–very useful for me; I use: google docs, gmail, notebook, reader (which is the best RSS reader for the iPhone I’ve found), calendar, tasks, GOOG-411,

Get it here

6. Facebook (free)

This app is bad. So is Facebook’s mobile site. But you gotta use ‘em, so whaddya gonna do?

Get the app… but you’ll miss the full website

- You can’t reply to certain posts (I haven’t been able to figure out the limiting factors)
- you can’t even see Notes
- the mobile site is buggy and s-l-o-w.
+ VERY easy to upload photos from your iPhone

7. ezLoan (free, for now)

Calculate mortgage payments. No, not everyone needs this, but it works great, looks great… and does side-by-side comparisons!

Here it is

8. WordPress (free)

If you’ve got a WordPress.com blog, you need this. Very easy to use. Doesn’t do formatting or lists.

9. DrinkSpiration (free)

I don’t drink much (twice a year), but this app is beautiful. The UI is clever, intuitive, and enjoyable. You can look up drinks a million different ways.

10. iDisk (free)

It’s finally here. And it works. Obviously, this is only of use to folks with MobileMe accounts. (Apple sells ‘em for $99, amazon for $68, and you can get ‘em on eBay for around $65) For $6 / month, this is a nice addition to your digital lifestyle.

11. gNotes (free)

Only for people who already use google Notebook (as google no longer allows new accounts). Excellent implementation. Replaces Notes (native app), WriteRoom, and all other note apps.

12. Animoto (free)

I use Animoto. For myself and for video clients. A polished app. I love this company and enjoy supporting them.

Posted in Sharing, Tech

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#11 of 21: Writing: Subordination and Coordination

Aug 22

Posted by granthuhn

-or- Master the Comma and Master Writing

SUBORDINATION means just what you think it means: something is subordinate, or dependent, on something else.

You subordinate one sentence to another when you join two of them together to emphasize the ideas in one sentence or when you want to show a connection between two sentences. Whenever there is a relationship between two sentences that can be expressed with a subordinator, it is usually best to do it. Instead of talking about two sentences joined together, it is more customary to refer to one sentence consisting of two clauses.

Here is a list of common subordinating conjunctions (“subordinators”):

Time: when, whenever, after, as, before, once, since, till, until, now, that, while, as long as, as soon as.
Concession: though, although, even though, if, while.
Contingency: if, once
Condition: if, in case, as long as, unless provided that.
Reason: because, since, as long as.
Result: so, so that.
Comparison: as, just as, as if.
Contrast: while, whereas.

Subordinate clauses at the beginnings of the sentences are always set off by commas. When the subordinate clause is second, the meaning of the sentence determines whether commas are used. If the idea in the main clause depends on the idea in the subordinate clause, there is no comma (the default situation); otherwise, there is. Generally, there is a comma in front of even though and although, but not in front of because and if.

Example:

These shoes don’t fit. (A complete sentence; it can stand on its own. An independent clause.)
I won’t buy them. (Another complete sentence.)

Written as separate sentences, they sound a bit simple and choppy*; we should show the relationship between these two thoughts. Here’s one way:

Because these shoes don’t fit, I won’t buy them.

* Sometimes we may want choppy–for effect or if it is dialog that reflects a character or moment.

COORDINATION:
You can join two independent clauses (complete thoughts) five different ways:

with a comma and a conjunction
a semicolon
a semicolon and a conjunctive adverb (adverbial conjunction)
a colon
a correlative conjunction.

We’ll look at the first way:

1. Comma and conjunction
Use a FANBOYS!… which is an acronym for the coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. If you have two independent clauses, use a comma and a FANBOYS to join them:

Our family has a cat, and we also have two dogs.
Sophie is a German Shepherd, but Grice is a mixed-breed.
Sophie is not much of a lady, nor is Grice a gentleman.

* Notice that the subject and verb are inverted after nor; this word requires a negative in the first clause.

NOTE: FANBOYS are also used between independent and dependent clauses… you just don’t use the comma:

Our family has a cat and two dogs.
Sophie is a German Shepherd but fetches like a Retriever.
Sophie is not much of a lady nor much of a guard dog.

As soon as you get subordination and coordination, you will begin to control the rhythm of your writing.

So… do a google search and a little study; then create some exercises for yourself.

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Category Archives: Sharing

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