Author: Steve Morton

Hey-Siri.io is a terrific website by Sandro Roth listing almost 500 commands that you can use with Siri.

Macworld has a good article about the basics of Pokemon Go.

Magician Michael Close performs, talks Society of American Magicians convention
http://wishtv.com/2016/07/16/magician-performs-talks-society-of-american-magicians-convention

Magicians gather for convention in Indianapolis
http://wishtv.com/2016/07/12/magicians-gather-for-convention-in-indianapolis/

While I’ve intermittently listened to Myke Hurley’s podcasts since he still worked in banking, I had never listened to InquisitiveDavid Sparks talking about Jazz and Kind of Blue. In the last few years I have learned to enjoy Jazz, and it is all David’s fault.

Second was Guy English and Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska. It was a great discussion and I was surprised to learn how similar parts of my life were to Guy’s.

The most astonishing part was when Guy explained the reason I have to know a song’s lyrics.

My wife is someone who enjoys the beat, rhythm, and feeling of music. I appreciate those as well, but I focus on the lyrics.

I remember when Reagan’s campaign used “Born in the USA” without permission. Back then, Bruce wasn’t as open with his presidential endorsements. Over the years, Bruce made a point of explaining the anthemic sonic assault was completely opposite the lyric’s sentiment.

That Reagan and othe politicians use the song to promote their campaigns proves how well the music “hides” the lyrics. As a kid, this rocked my world. Ever since, I made a point of reading the lyrics and liner notes when listening to a new album.

To this day, I don’t play any music for someone else unless I know damn well what it’s about.

Over the many years I’ve helped people with their technology, losing control of their domain name has been one of the biggest hassles for businesses. This article from Hover has pretty good advice on managing your domain name.

This article from the Guardian about Francis Ford Coppola shows why a multi-layer backup plan is critical.

In 2007, Coppola’s office was broken into and his computer stolen. He had a backup, but it was sitting next to his computer and also taken by the thieves. Coppola was robbed of 15 years of computer.

Having a local backup is a great idea. If your computer dies, recovering large amounts of data with a local drive than trying to download it from the Internet.

An online backup service is an additional layer of protection. If my home was broken into or destroyed by fire, my family pictures and other documents would still be available through my online backups.

There are several online backup services. My favorite is Backblaze, for several reasons.

• All the files in your computer are backed up by default
• USB drives plugged into your computer can also be backed up
• Their pricing is affordable and easy to understand
• The software is a native client on all platforms and does not require Java

Start a free 30-day trial by going to the Backblaze website and installing the software.

In last year’s release of OS X, El Capitan (version 10.11), Apple replaced the useful Disk Utility app with a nearly useless “improvement”.

In Terminal, users can type the following command to burn an .ISO or .DMG file:

hdiutil burn ~/Path/To/DiskImageFile.iso

Full instructions are available here.

While putting away the tree, I wondered how to store the new LED lights we bought last year. A quick search turned up this terrific method. I wrapped the cables as instructed and they are very securely stowed away.

So, Magic Moms is a thing.
My son is in the Society of Young Magicians and one of the assembly leaders passed along this article.