Burton Kent

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I’m very impressed with Jason Schuller’s Revolution Office Theme. See the demo. But since my clients aren’t that technical, I found it’s not quite ready for prime time.

(Note that I don’t think my clients are idiots - they’re actually unbelievably brilliant.  They chose me, didn’t they? By Idiot-Proofed, I’m referring to the “Wordpress for Idiots” type idiot, not stupid idiot, thank-you-very-much!)

Anyway, to make Revolution Office just a bit easier to use, I changed a few things in the backend.

First, I changed the small front page blurbs to use pages instead of posts. Most people using a CMS want to use pages for pages, posts are for blogs.

Second, I added some code to allow the pages to show “Read more…” just like a wordpress post. This allows the user to add small starter blurbs on the front page, then if the reader is interested, they can click for more. Note that this works ONLY for the front page. Inserting the Wordpress “more” tag in a page will do nothing if it’s not the front page.

The above two changes will help the theme perform better as a CMS theme.  Pages are best used for websites/CMS, posts make the most sense when used solely for blogs.

Third, I added code to list the actual pages/categories, instead of having the user find them using the Reveal IDs plugin.  This lets you skip a couple steps and avoids mistakes.  No need to go looking for anything - the pages/categories are listed right there in the options page.

Almost all of the needed changes are to function.php.  Download the update here and rename it to functions.php. Also, you must change all “p=” query_post entries to “page_id=”.

If you find any problems, please leave a comment.

Anyway, thanks, Jason. Hope you find the code helpful enough to include in future updates.

This is a sample image to see how lightbox 2 works. Hope it's great.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all
ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this: The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. ‘Since you are all such good customers,’ he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. ‘Drinks for the ten now cost just $80. The group still
wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers?

How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’ They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings) .

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings) .

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings) .

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. ‘I only got a dollar out of the $20,’ declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,’ but he got $10! ”Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only
saved a dollar, too.. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I! ”That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man. ‘Why should he get $10 back when I got only two?

The wealthy get all the breaks! ”Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison. ‘We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!

‘The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they

discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists, and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics University of Georgia

When I was 16 I read an article in the Chicago Tribune about a poker club in Oakbrook.  This was before the riverboats and all the gambling - at the time, the only place to play poker was in Vegas.  For some reason, I wanted to check it out.  So I drove out to the next meeting.

And promptly got busted out. I think it took me only 4-5 hands. Bummer!

They played pot limit poker, which is only a little bit “safer” than no-limit.  Just like no-limit, you can lose all your chips on one hand. You just can’t go all-in as soon as the cards are dealt.  On the way out, I talked to the president of the club, Andy Stebnicki.  Andy told me if I came back the next month, he’d lend me a poker book.

It turned out to be Doyle Brunson’s Super System - awesome book. One of the thickest books I had ever read.  And yes, I did get busted out again.  The other players were intimidating, 2/3rds were about 60 or older. They all had poker faces, and the next youngest guy was 22! Andy told me that some of the players went to Vegas and paid for their trips out of their winnings. Sounds good to me.

After reading the book, I came back for the third month. And I won 22 and 1/2 times my buy-in. I was hooked, but there wasn’t really anyplace for me to play. I didn’t have the money to hit Vegas.

Fast forward a few years, and you have Internet poker. I used to play on Party Poker and other sites, usually in one-table tournaments, called Sit-n-Gos. You’d put up 30, 30, 50 or $100 buy in, usually with a 10% entry fee. The winner would get 5x their buy-in back, 2nd would get 3x, and 3rd would double their money.

I accidentally stumbled on a winning very aggressive approach. Most people are too loose near the beginning of the tournament, and play too tight towards the end. I played limit, because if I made a mistake, I still wouldn’t go broke in just one hand. It’s too easy to get trapped in no-limit.

I didn’t play all the time, but I had months where I cashed out thousands of dollars after starting with just $50. I’d normally play for a month or two, then bust out (I had cashed out many times my buy-in in the meantime. I just wouldn’t bother putting in more cash for awhile.

I could have made a living at it, but I just like it as a hobby. It’s a meaningless way to make a living.

Then poker was made illegal. I can still play online, but the limit tournaments are very small. No more than $20-$30 when before I’d play in $30 - $100 tournaments. It’s barely worth it. I’ll have to learn no-limit instead. Have been winning, just not as consistently.

By the way, I looked up Andy, the poker club organizer. Great guy. Turns out he has macular degeneration, which gives him central blindness. It’s too bad - now that he’s retired and can play all the time, he has trouble doing it.

Once you’ve got all the basics, I recommend getting NY Salsa intermediate video with Juan Calderon. More than half the stuff I do can be found on that video. You can also go to YouTube - I recommend videos by Addicted2Salsa (Anthony Persaud), also available on his website. The guy puts together SHORT videos, great for watching before you head out.

I almost always watch a few clips from DVDs or YouTube before going out. This way I add to my repertoire of moves little by little.

I used to be in a small performing group, and did a solo with a girl. She drove me nuts because her face kept looking EXACTLY I was stepping on her toes. Whenever she wasn’t sure of what to do next, “oooh”. It was so frigging distracting!

Then I tried something and the next time we danced, her toes were fine. No weird facial expressions. Sweet, smooth dance.

What did I do to fix things?

I danced with boys. (Shut up. No, I’m not gay, and I’m not homophobic either.)

What happened was I was in a class with 3 guys, one girl, and the instructor. I’m not waiting around for any woman, so I told one guy, “K, I’m the girl. Lead me.”

We swapped off and got in touch with our feminine sides. (Mine is a sexy bitch, whoo-hoo!) The result was pretty cool. Before, whenever we made mistakes, we had NO clue what happened. If you don’t know how you blew it, or even WHO blew it, how can you POSSIBLY get better?

After, we knew exactly what went wrong, and exactly how to fix it. I learned more tango in that one class than two months of regular classes. ‘Course, I wanted to see if it worked with Salsa too.

It did. There’s FAR more variation in how men lead then how women follow. Experiencing everything from wimpy leads to being muscled through the moves was an eye-opener. It let me decide what kind of lead I wanted to be, and showed me how it felt when the lead was sloppy or not clear. (For awhile I made it cool to dance with guys at that studio.)

If you want to get really good at being a man, you’ve gotta dance with men. It’s too bad guys are so damn homophobic. We’d be MUCH better dancers otherwise.

And if you’re a guy, feel free to ask me to dance. Don’t worry, you won’t turn into a “homo”, and the girls love it. One told me, “Real men aren’t afraid of other men.”

I went to Colorado a couple months ago and met up with Arman and Jeff. Cool guys, but they were just learning. I don’t like interrupting guys in the club, so I’m writing this instead. I’ve been dancing long enough so that I’ve seen the most common problems for people learning to Salsa dance.  This is for people who have taken at least the basic lesson.

Bottom line - Just because you’re dancing doesn’t mean you stop walking. The basic salsa step is just walking!

• There’s no up and down or bouncing when you walk. Just walk a little bit more smoothly than normal. Don’t turn it into a jig or something complicated.
• Don’t do excessive hip or shoulder rolls, move your hands/arms like you’re juggling, or otherwise complicate the dance.
• Do complete weight shifts. When you walk, you don’t just put your foot out in front of you like you’re tiptoeing. You step out on it. A lot of beginning dancers dance like they’re tentatively approaching a cliff edge, (or they’re trying to stay in one place). Don’t dance like you’re scared – step out far enough to look down the edge of the cliff.
• Similar to above, don’t step forward and down, and back and down. You stay level. Keep it smooth.
• Look up, no watching the feet. You know where they are, same place you’ll find them when you’re walking. Watching the feet also engages your visual sense. Dancing is all about the feel - you can’t watch yourself dance. You should be able to dance with your eyes closed, except when taking your partner’s hand.

• Keep your knees together. Think of a little kid that has to pee really bad, just without holding onto their privates. They walk with their knees locked together.

  Bellydancers do this. I’ve taken bellydance lessons before, and used to date a bellydancer. We talked about this, and she agrees - if you want sexy hip movement, it starts from the knees, not the hips. Except in certain moves, all bellydancers keep their knees very close together.
  This is what produces most, but not all, of the sexy hip movement.

  If you’re a guy, you don’t have the hips needed to become a sexy freakshow. So get over yourself and do it right. Knees together.

• Take lessons as soon as possible, to eliminate bad habits. “The chains of habit are too light to be felt, until they’re too strong to be broken.”
• Get out in the clubs and dance with everyone who will tolerate you. I sucked for the first 2-3 years because I didn’t club enough. I think it’s possible to get really good in just a few months.
• Master the cross-body lead, and cross-body lead with a turn. These are the CORE of the dance. A lot of moves are disguised cross-body leads - the only difference is the way you use your hands/arms.

Most of the problems in salsa are in our own heads. Just because you are dancing doesn’t mean you suddenly forget how to walk.

A friend of mine asked me a question about investing. Here’s my answer.

Hey buddy,

You were asking me about “Your rate of return of investment in the foreign currency trade” and “How should I start?”

I’ll tell you what I think about investing in today’s market, and you can do what you want about it. Right now we’re at the edge of a cliff. There are derivatives totaling hundreds of trillions of dollars. They seem to be a form of insurance against market volatility. One party lowers their risk in exchange for the potential of higher returns. I don’t really know enough to say. But I do know that it’s going to have a domino effect. Some corporations buy one derivative and sell another to offset that risk. Bankruptcies mean that the risk they thought they had insurance for is still there - and when they find out they’re not insured after all, they’ll go into bankruptcy too.

Plus we have many other problems like the housing market meltdown, the national debt, the national deficit, the possibility that countries that have huge foreign exchange reserves in dollars may try to cash it in. If this doesn’t lead to an outright crash in the market, it will lead to hyperinflation as the central banks try to flood the markets with more money (credit) so that the economy can spend its way out of the problem.

So the bottom line is, there’s a very big chance that the markets will crash. [Read more →]

I’ve ordered stuff for years and years online. It’s all too easy to forget what you ordered. This means if it doesn’t show at all, you don’t remember until it’s too late. So here’s my simple system for remembering.

I’ve got three folders:

• Ordered
• Received
• Registration

Here’s how it works:

Ordered: Stuff that gets ordered goes in the Ordered folder unless it’s instantly downloaded. Even then, if I think it might be crap, I’ll put it in Ordered. Once a month I go through the Ordered folder and see what I’ve actually received.

Received: Once a month the Ordered stuff goes in Received, if I want to keep a receipt. Otherwise I’ll delete it entirely. If I don’t have it and should have, I just move the email from Ordered to my inbox, and send a follow up message.

Registration: Stuff that’s registered goes in Registration. This is usually memberships, web hosting information (with passwords, setup info and such), or links.

One last note:

Sometimes if I need to follow up with someone in a month, I’ll also put the email in Ordered. That way I’ll remember to follow up. Nothing to it.

The system works great and keeps my inbox squeaky clean.

A couple weeks ago I read Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez.  Amazing book about how he put together an award winning film, El Marachi, for just $7,000.  People in the film business thought his trailer (advertisement for his movie) must have cost him more than he paid to have the whole film made.  (BTW, the trailer kept him motivated to keep editing his movie.)

 It’s an amazing story about how he challenged assumptions to make his movie quickly and on the cheap.   People complicate things - Robert made it simple.  He couldn’t afford for it to be complex.   In fact, his equipment was horrible - the camera was LOUD so he had to shoot the scene first, then later dub the audios.  Since the audios tended to drop out of synch, he would have to cut away to a different shot to avoid the rubber lip problem common to dubbed videos.

 There’s at least one lesson to be learned here.

 I saw El Marachi long ago, and his movie Desperado (with Antonio Banderas) has the best, most fun gunfight scene ever.  I’m looking forward to seeing what else he’s done.

Just talked to a friend of mine who is poor because she joined a “vacation club”.  Basically it’s a timeshare where you get points and can “buy” or trade weeks of vacation all over the world.

I sat through one of the presentations in Cancun once.  The math was complete and total BS.  Everything sounds good, except for basic finance.  They add up the total value you’ll get over the years, which sounds pretty sweet.  But would you pay $720 today for a week’s vacation in 10 years?  Even if it’s a beachfront hotel on the shimmering sands of Cancun?  I don’t think so.   That’s why their “grand total” ain’t so grand.

That’s called the time value of money.  Money now is worth far more than the same money in the future.  There’s a reason we earn interest.  There’s also a reason you can buy these things for about $1 on ebay, with closing fees of about $300.