the iMentor

Hints & rants

This weB-LOG contains helpful hints and rants about your Macintosh, Apple products and your electronic life.

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August 2, 2022 Uncategorized 3 Comments
Episode #705 August 6, 2022 “Technically Human” by Ricki T Thues (the iMentor) is now available in paperback book on Amazon.   “Technically Human” is a compilation of selected episodes from the iMentor Hints and Rants web log (bLog). These stories speak to the human condition as seen through the eyes of a technical consultant. Ensconced in “Technically Human” are catagorized episodes from the “iMentor Hints and Rants” bLog.  The bLog (theimentor.com) began as a technical advice column by Ricki T Thues (the iMentor), private Apple computer consultant. Over the past 14 years these writings have evolved from Hints and...
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Do Nothing

July 29, 2022 Uncategorized 3 Comments
Episode #704 July 30, 2022 Most of what we can do include multiple options. A choice is necessary before we can act.   But there is another choice that is available to us. It is not to act. Do nothing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uhHRmJ6g_k When deciding which course of action, inaction is a choice which can sometimes carry as much consequence as all the rest. Is your choice guided by the least effect? Are you going for the most benefit? Is the goal not to harm or is it to harm? If you do nothing, what are the results? Will inaction improve the...
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Bucket List

July 21, 2022 Uncategorized 6 Comments
Episode #703 July 23, 2022 A Bucket List is a list of things you want to do before you “kick the bucket.”     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMalroN-wzY What adventures, accomplishments, aspirations or dreams do you have? Put them on your bucket list. A Bucket list is not definitive. It is dynamic and will change over time. Some items on the list will be introductions to future bucket list items. 35 years ago my wife, Paula, put a parachute jump on her bucket list. Once we became skydivers our lists became populated with things like larger freefall formations, world records and travel. That...
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Mistake Loop

July 14, 2022 Uncategorized 2 Comments
Episode #702 July 16, 2022 There is a loop which visits and revisits mistake. It is how we learn.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0AxrOUJ62E Learn Mistake Action Decision Analysis Data collection Observation Query Imagination Wonder Mistake Learn   Our mistakes are how we learn. Mistakes are actions gone wrong. When action goes wrong we learn… Don’t make that mistake again. Actions are implements of decision. Decisions are born of thought. Data analyzed from observed data collected generates decisions. Observation answers our queries. Queries spring from imagination. The background brain buzz is imagination. It is the sound of thought. Imagination is fed by...
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Retirement

July 4, 2022 Uncategorized 6 Comments
Episode #701 July 9, 2022 Dr. Riley Moynes outlined the four phases of retirement in a TEDx Surrey speech.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM7-PYtXtJM The four phases are: 1. Vacation phase 2. Feeling loss and lost 3. Trial and error - how to make life meaningful? 4. Your purpose and your mission i have been retired for a few years now. My progress through the phases has followed Dr. Moynes’ outline. When i first retired it was absolutely a vacation. There was no morning alarm. i did what i wanted or nothing at all. i told my friend who was just retired: “I...
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Rhythm

June 28, 2022 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Episode #700 July 2, 2022 For all things, listen to the music. There is a rhythm to everything.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmF_bG5IVnM Listen to the cadence of using a tool. If you do not hear it, apply it. There should be a regularity in a hammer stroke. There is a whine of an electric tool that strikes a certain note. Shoveling should be like keeping time on a drum. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5POReSB4Os Bicyclists know about rhythm. Their legs reciprocate at the same frequency no matter what the terrain. All the work is done by the gears. Poetry gives voice to the music of language....
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