Social Networking for Sneakers

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I wouldn’t call myself a true sneaker head as I don’t really go out of my way to buy a lot of rare, sought-after, sneakers like the $20,000 Nike Mags or any other “grail” as the kids say.

You Could Get a Pair of Nike Mags for $10 | Cool Material
Nike Mags – what Marty McFly wore when he went back to the future….of 2015

I’m more of a “hey that new release is cool, maybe I’ll pick it up” type of sneaker connoisseur. I often go for what’s most aesthetically pleasing or weird, like my Adidas N3XT L3V3L laceless basketball shoes (try Googling those easily!). While I’m curious about the history and legacy behind some of the iconic sneaker designs (e.g. Tinker Hatfield’s Jordans throughout the decades) I don’t fully share in that same nostalgia as I’m not a huge basketball fan. It’s like someone collecting the cool figures and ships from Star Wars while not caring about the canon. 🙂

adidas N3XT L3V3L "Core Black" Release Date | HYPEBEAST
Adidas N3XT L3V3L – not super popular or hyped but pretty cool and comfortable

But for the majority of sneaker heads who end up “taking Ls” vs successfully “copping” some kicks there is a serious and growing frustration in purchasing new releases primarily due to bots and resellers hoarding the entire supply of each shoe 1 minute after they’re released every week.

So to meet that unmet need in the market some techie sneaker heads from our friendly “neighbor to the North” created a #noresale community in the form of Sole Savy.

Strictly sticking to the mantra of “No Resellers” and being fully dedicated to serving the community of its members Sole Savy has created something really cool – a way to get notified of the best places to get the latest releases right before they’re open to the public. People can not only source the new releases but also discuss in a Slack workspace a multitude of topics geared towards Ws instead of Ls. There are various channels with links to plop a shoe directly into a shopping cart (one of the cooler features!) and discussions on techniques, who got what, and places to trade or assist other members so they can get the sneakers they’ve been after.

Sole Savy is a nice combination of web site, mobile app, and Slack workspace where you can always be notified of the latest releases. Membership, while not mandatory, really gets you access to the Slack community and other premium resources like the Sole Savy member store and the release notices.

And, the “no reseller” policy is actually enforced. I just saw the banishment of one member for running a reseller Instagram account while scoring shoes he was supposed to be getting for himself … as a collector.

To learn more about this fascinating community and how the technology of shoe retailers work check out DP’s interview with Chris from WearTesters

Alex Trebek – In Memoriam

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Who is … everyone’s favorite game show host and Canadian-American?

As our nation reels from the most tumultuous and divisive election in recent history we are constantly reminded that this entire year has been fraught with relentless tragedy – from the COVID pandemic which has increased its bodycount to 240K Americans-and-rising to the children ripped from their parents and then had those same parents lost through our detention process. Throughout this ordeal we have lost several great (celebrity) souls including Chadwick Boseman to, ironically in the same week, Sean Connery and Alex Trebek – both of whom were my favorite nemeses of the satirical, irreverent, and always hysterical Celebrity Jeopardy skits on Saturday Night Live.

Trebek passed Sunday from a long bout with pancreatic cancer. This wasn’t a complete shock as we’ve heard him discuss his illness for the past year but the hit to our souls is no less powerful.

For many who, quite literally, grew up watching Jeopardy Alex Trebek has been an integral component in my life. I fondly remember watching home town heroes such as Frank Spangenberg on a tiny black and white tv sitting at my kitchen table in Queens NYC doing my high school homework after dinner. The Jeopardy time slot – every weekday at 7PM will forever be etched in my psyche as a sacred time … a time for exercising my mind through a myriad of topics.

Jeopardy was an intellectual focal point for all the rote memorization and countless books I read when young. The reason I studied in school wasn’t so much to “pass the next exam” or “lead up to a major” in school – it was “so I can kick ass in Jeopardy when playing alongside friends and family.

My love of Jeopardy continued through college when I recall stopping on my way home after classes at Top Dog on the south side of Berkeley. They always had it playing so people could enjoy a great bite to eat while challenging each other. Even when my emotional state rollercoastered due to emotional, familial, and academic challenges (aka: “the typical college experience at Cal”) Jeopardy kept me centered and fostered my love of learning. Alex Trebek was my lifelong guide through over 35 years worth of learning, watching, answering (more specifically – questioning), and feeling glee that I was able to remember basically a handful of facts about anything important on our small rock in the solar system.

But let’s not heap too much credit on Jeopardy as it was just a “simple’ game show. The real magic formula for this popular show was the man…Alex Trebek. Trebek was as quintessentially Canadian as they come – ever so gracious, polite, kind, and fair to those lucky few who had the chance to recite their dull anecdotes on stage during competition. He made people strive to be smarter, more diligent, and more competitive while also behaving themselves as he set a high bar for class and dry wit.

My dreams of finally meeting Alex Trebek would, sadly, end on the day of his passing. I had gotten farther this year than in others while trying out for Jeopardy – passing two online exams, an interview, and a mock game with other contestants but this year would prove ever so challenging to many dreams. We will always have 37 years worth of classic reruns!

Alex Trebek, as Melissa Chen tweeted, was “the last person to be universally-loved” in 2020

“What is Jeopardy?” – the question with the answer, “the reason we consume knowledge throughout our lifetimes.”

Airline Boarding Methods (CGP Grey)

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I’ve been a fan of many of CGP Grey‘s Youtube channel that explain a wide variety of different things that many people don’t really think too hard about (like ending sentences on prepositions).

CGP Grey’s latest video illustrates a “better boarding method” that airlines refuse to use and how they have direct links to “class structure” and inequality 😀

Which method looks best to you?

How to Make a Bootable MacOS Mojave Thumb Drive

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Thanks to OSXDaily for the detailed write-up.

Download MacOS Mojave from the Mac App Store

Mojave is the latest OSX/macOS to be released from Apple and it has the somewhat minor but much-anticipated Dark Mode along with other substantial features – which I will not delve into but you can read about them on the Apple Mojave page

Items Needed for Install:

  1. USB Drive (16GB or larger)
  2. MacOS Mojave Installer

It’s pretty straightforward but if you happen to be on an unsupported Mac and need to obtain the Mojave installer then there’s a slight challenge – as Mojave will only download from the App Store on compatible devices.

For unsupported Macs go to dosdude’s Mojave page and download his macOS Mojave Patcher – this will let you download the Mojave installer directly to your system.

Run the .dmg file (you may have to tweak your Security settings to allow the app to run) and tell it where to save the installer file.  You can then use the patcher tool to create your Mojave Boot Drive.

mojavepatcher.png

 

 

 

2019.02.04 Update

  • Just got this working very well on a late-2009 iMac 27″ (Mac 10,1) which was running High Sierra until the other night. At first I got a bunch of failed boots when the Mac didn’t see any kind of boot device available. Once I ran the (included) Post-Install Utility (duh!) to patch all the leftover tidbits the Mac boots up fine! I’m now running a dark-mode Mojave iMac! woot woot!

Honey: The Browser Plugin That Saves You Money!

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One of the better Chrome extensions I’ve used in the past year is Honey.

Honey lets shoppers both access and contribute to a database of crowdsourced coupon codes.

When you’ve populated your shopping cart and are ready to check out Honey will inject any of a number of current coupon codes into the cart to get you a discount.

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Other benefits include gamification – Honey will let you refer friends and earn points to attain Honey Gold status.  With this you can earn cash back when you shop.  It’s truly the easiest way to apply coupon codes without searching on sketchy deals sites.

Recently added is the ability to search for the best priced seller on the Amazon marketplace – a site, like eBay which doesn’t really put out coupon codes.

Join Honey

 

Clean Install macOS 10.13 High Sierra

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install-macos-high-sierra-app-1-300x300

Summary

  1. Download the 5GB macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) Installer
  2. Prepare a USB Drive using Install Disk Creator
  3. Boot holding Option key and install High Sierra from the USB Drive

Overview

If you want to try the newest macOS 10.13, aka: High Sierra you can perform a clean install to get the best overall user experience.  If you have existing data always back it up or, going forward keep it always synced to some cloud drive – such as Apple’s iCloud service which is already included in macOS since Sierra released.  It’s a convenient way to keep your Desktop and Documents folders primarily in the cloud…then synced to your local hard drive.  If you have multiple Macs it also allows you to carry those files to each of your systems.

Full Procedures can be found here:

http://osxdaily.com/2017/10/02/clean-install-macos-high-sierra/

How Did Bluetooth Get Its Name? It’s Royal Nordic Roots

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Everyone, by now, is fully aware of Bluetooth technology which is pretty much ubiquitous in many areas – smart phones, entertainment centers, laptops, etc

It’s one of the greatest inventions of recent times – allowing quick and easy wireless connections between electronic devices.  While earlier revisions were super painful at times

The story of how Bluetooth came about – from the pile of competing standards, to the exact name, and its logo itself is quite interesting.

In this Jaba Article all is explained!

 

Dividends – Great Way to Earn Some Extra Gains

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Everyone knows about dividends but do they know which stocks pay out the most or what to do with dividend returns once they’re paid?

Basic Dividend Tips for Novice Investors

  • Dividends are basically small cash payouts distributed to shareholders quarterly – by specific companies (see lists below).  Usually measured in $/share they’re paid out from a company’s earnings so obviously if a company does well they have more choices in how they spend their profits – either reinvest them internally or distribute them to shareholders as cash dividends.
  • Dividends allow shareholders to profit while not impacting their equity stake in a company.  Traditionally shareholders profit/lose via trades of a company’s stock through buying/selling that stock. So investors can continue to own the exact same % of a company while bringing in small gains.
  • Dividends are usually seen as a strong indicator that a company is doing well in the market as they can more easily just turn their profits inwards with internal reinvestments.
  • Investors can choose to take the dividends as a cash distribution – deposited in the cash section of their brokerage account or they can enroll in a DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Program) which takes the cash and immediately and automatically purchases additional shares of that dividend-paying stock to continue the growth of equity in that company.  It’s a convenient way to automate your investment.   Taxes are calculated later on when the stock is actually sold.
  • Note that dividends are seen as capital gains as they are cash earnings – even if they’re reinvested via DRIP (they’re just deferred until the stock is sold)
  • When looking for dividend stocks pay attention to their % Yields not so much their $ yields as favorites like Apple (AAPL) pay good $ amounts but their % Yield is pretty weak (considering the company has cash reserves greater than that of most countries … Apple acts quite stingy on their dividend payouts).  This makes sense when you see some stocks with low share prices…you need to take into consideration the % paid per share.

I’m not a sophisticated investor (my opinion as I do not venture into Options Trading….my own artificially created delineator) but have realized that it’s good to have a diversified mix of high-growth (and by definition…high risk) equities as well as some stable “cash cows” which bring in regular, predictable income.

Equities Trading via a Real Estate Analogy

  • Think of the volatile tech stocks as properties in hot areas which you want to flip in < 5 years while dividend-paying stocks as solid rental properties which will appreciate in the long term but pay a nice, regular stream of income in the short term.  Think SF Bay Area + Anywhere Else …

References

Nasdaq’s Highest Yield Dividend Stocks

Warren Buffet’s Top 4 Dividend Stocks: AAPL, KO, IBM, GS

Reboot Your XFINITY Router from Your Mobile Device

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How many times have you needed to leverage your decades of IT experience in network troubleshooting only to have the end result be, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

I just had an experience where my parents’ internet stopped working, as it occasionally does when things get stale on the router (technical term I just created) and it needs to renegotiate with the ISP. Think of it as an “ipconfig /release and /renew”.

So not wanting to schlep over to their house I quickly Googled whether or not I could power cycle their router remotely in the off chance this was possible it’d really make things very efficient if they ever had internet issues.

Woah and behold – you can now do this with the XFINITY My Account mobile app for Android or iOS.

If you know your login credentials for Comcast (which I never do so I use LastPass on all my devices) you can log into your XFINITY account and manage your account, profile, customer service calls, WiFi settings, and even your router.

To reboot your router you can go to Internet Device > Restart this device and the app will send a reboot command through the internet directly to your router.  In a few minutes your router will complete its power cycle.

Of course, first you may want to disconnect your mobile device from the actual WiFi network/router which you are trying to reboot.

If you support friends/family then you’ll want their login info so you can remotely support them (I wouldn’t endorse having other people’s security info in most scenarios but if you have parents who yell at you about “the emails are broken” then this is a great tool.