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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Category: Uncategorized

Efficiency

February 28, 2021 Uncategorized No Comments
Episode #631 March 6, 2021 We like things to be efficient and to do things with efficiency. Efficiency saves energy, time, money and effort. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbxqtbqyoRk Efficiency is a tool used to enhance a process. It is not an end result or a goal. When doing repetitive operations in a project i have used different approaches. SUBSYSTEM APPROACH: When building a composite graphic: Find the clip art. Edit the art. Store the modified image. Repeat for all clip art elements. Assemble the elements. Refine the final graphic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjAZGUcjrP8 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT APPROACH: When building a composite graphic: Find the clip art. Edit...
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Entropy

February 22, 2021 Uncategorized 1 Comment
  Episode #630 February 27, 2021 Entropy is a randomness that is opposite of all we know and love. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2w6Oxx0kQ EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE IS CONSTANT: The total energy of an isolated system is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but can be neither created nor destroyed. — First law of thermodynamics DISORDER IS THE GOAL OF MAXIMUM RANDOMNESS: Entropy (the degree of randomness) always increases with time. — Second law of thermodynamics ALL THINGS SEEK EQUILIBRIUM: A system's entropy approaches a constant value as its temperature approaches absolute zero. — Third law of thermodynamics:  ...
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A Book?

February 17, 2021 Uncategorized 6 Comments
Episode #629 February 20.2021   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOuxVDgV6CY i was pleased when an old high school classmate contacted me about forming a writer’s support group. We are a diverse group of human beings. Among us is a fiction writer, philosopher, documentarian, historian, poet, playwright and technical writer. The format of the meetings is Zoom, a video conferencing platform. Since the COVID-19 pandemic Zoom has become a social meeting place pulling together people from distant locations. This pandemic's silver lining is Zoom (in the Cloud) bringing disparate people together... a cloud with a silver lining. The timing of the support group is good...
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Circular

February 9, 2021 Uncategorized 5 Comments
Episode #628 February 13, 2021 A circle is a line which begins nowhere and never ends.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxGEVIvSFeY Before quantum physics i was taught that an atom was a particle with electrons circling around it. A moons orbit around a planet. A sun has planets in its orbit. Solar systems circle black holes in the center of galaxies. Galaxies rotate around something in the center of the universe. So much of what we are is circular. Our routines are circular. They repeat in an unending loop. In a good argument we circle around to the premise with which we started. In...
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Ombudsman

February 2, 2021 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Episode #627 February 6, 2021 Many years ago, when i had a question that needed answering, i called the Ombudsman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJcZqGpE5yc The Orange County Register newspaper made an ombudsman available to anyone who called in. The OC Register ombudsman was typically a newsroom reporter. i could ask any question that i could imagine and the ombudsman probably knew the answer. If he did not know the answer, there was someone else in the newsroom that did.  The Ombudsman was better than my Encyclopedia Brittanica because he was well informed with current events. i would have liked calling the ombudsman even...
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Routine

January 25, 2021 Uncategorized 6 Comments
Episode #626 January 30, 2021 We all have routines. Some are natural, some voluntary, some necessary and others imposed.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmdiKePVUy8 Whichever type of routine you have, it is helpful to be reminded. Natural routines, such as heart beating, breathing, hunger and sensing, are automatic. Systems in our bodies remind and compel us to stay on routine. Daily routines are easy to perform because of repetition memory. i choose to do my daily grooming in the same order so i don’t forget something. Exercise, shower, brush hair, take vitamins, floss, brush teeth, mouth wash, lotion and dress. Repeat daily. A...
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