12 Strong Movie Review

This was a heart wrenching high action movie about 12 men who went into Afghanistan to try to end terrorism on the United States. It showed men fighting on horses in a war that seemed out of place. Men who became unlikely allies. If you watch this movie, you will likely be surprised at the tone, because it's not overly dramatic or sad.

I recommend this movie and give it a solid 5 stars. I loved it and left with a newfound respect for those men and love for our soldiers. It is sad to know what is going on around the world right now, the courage and compassion that these men show. Plus Chris Hemsworth plays the lead role.

Feedback/Ideas for Audible.com and Audible Applications

Recommendations for Audible

I wish that I could provide feedback directly from the iPhone or Android app. I wish that if the application crashed it would save which items have been read or marked as finished.

In the list of books it would be nice to see how many stars each book has been rated and to be able to sort them by rating (IN APP).

I would like to be able to login to the app with biometrics (thumbprint). The android app integrates the store better than the iphone app.

When rating books, there are too many clicks required. Seems like the multiple stars could all just be on the initial screen (with the list of recommended books) rather than clicking overall stars, being redirected, then submitting and going back. When doing this to multiple books it becomes very tedious.

It would be nice to integrate the Listener page better with other book lover's social media like Shelfari and GoodReads or even blogs so that feedback can be auto posted to Amazon, Shelfari, GoodReads, and Blogs.

Why haven't improvements been made to the gamification of the Audible application? I earned most of the badges a few years ago, but no new badges ever appear or rewards for earning them, or the ability to compete with friends. Most of the application seems to just revolve around the antiquated "share feature" which in its default form is annoying and spammy. I read a lot of books and if I shared every book, every badge, and every other thing from the application with the default verbiage... it would annoy my friends. There seems to be little motivation to this, but if people could earn points or rewards for commenting, inviting friends, sharing books, and writing reviews - more people might be involved. It could track the number of people invited, make a competition out of books read, or for every 100 books offer 1 free credit.

The tracking for the number of titles in my library seems to always be off. It would be awesome if books returned would show up somewhere. I'm not sure if I would accidentally repurchase a book I didn't like, but at least I could see the books I rated poorly and the "similar" books recommended.

Mob Mentality Shames Average People into Infamy

I stumbled onto a series of stories. They are about people whose lives have been altered or ruined by Internet attention. The catalyst for each story's popularity is different. Some of the stories may resonate and seem deeply offensive, others may not resonate. The common denominator (seems to be) that an ordinary (not famous) person/people became infamous for an action that triggered hundreds of thousands of people. Basically lots of people shared stories because they agreed/disliked or felt something after seeing an interpretation of a situation.

Author: Marissa Meyer

About the Author

Marissa Meyer was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington, home of Almond Roca and Stadium High School, which was made famous when Heath Ledger danced down the stadium steps in 10 Things I Hate About You. Marissa didn't actually go to Stadium High School, but she did attend Pacific Lutheran University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in Creative Writing. She still lives in Tacoma, now with her husband. Cinder is her YA debut.

Rebecca Soler is a film and voiceover actress who won a 2009 AudioFile Earphones Award for her narration of After by Amy Efaw. Her audiobook credits include work by authors such as Judy Blume, James Patterson and Sarah Dessen. Soler has also narrated the popular young adult series The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. Her voice over credits include various video games, like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Red Dead Redemption and television shows such as Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She lives in New York City. 

Marissa Meyer on Cinder, writing, and leading men

Which of your characters is most like you?

FEDEX Customer Compliant

Dear Fedex,

I went into a Fedex office this afternoon to make a shipment and prepay for a return envelope. I was told it would cost $8 to ship the envelope one way, but HAD to create an account if I wanted to prepay for it to be returned to me.

So I setup an account. After the account was setup the cost to ship the envelope was $18 and to return it to me was going to be $22-32. I chose to just ship the envelope without paying to have it returned and almost left to go to the post office or UPS instead. This process is illogical. I signed up, for convenience, which *should* make me want to use your service more often. I get, that over time the idea is that eventually I am suppose to save money. However, you should realize that you immediately just lost business from me.

I opted not to purchase that one envelope and nearly left altogether. Then, I asked if - in the future - I showed up to ship a package if someone would be asked to show their ID before using me account. The customer service representative reassured me, that NO ID would be needed. I was not assured. So I asked if he could add a note to my account to make an ID be checked, he said he could not and no password was needed. WHAT?! How is this a useful service?

So I asked if he could just CANCEL the account, he said no but it's okay because when my card expires the account would no longer work. WELL GREAT you just added a card I got this week. It's good for YEARS from now. I'm writing this message, not to file a complaint against the branch but to corporate.

Your processes are corrupt and you need to hire a user experience professional to professionally evaluate this workflow. How did anyone think this was a good idea or a good way to attract customers?

I eagerly await your response to determine if I should just take my business elsewhere permanently.

-- Confused and unsatisfied customer

Changing Permalinks in WordPress for WAMP Users

WAMP Tip

Users of WAMP (Windows): Some versions of WAMP (all versions?) do not enable mod_rewrite or permit following SymLinks by default.

Free Flowers, Delivered - Bouqs

Send 1 Bouquet Get 1 Free

Bouqs

Get your free flowers

Disclosure: If you click on the link to get free flowers, I might get free flowers too.

Review: Hello Fresh Meal Steak Tagliata by desaraev

Meal Delivery Service

Steak Tagliata

Healthy Recipes and all the Ingredients Delivered Weekly

My Rating: 5 Stars of Hello Fresh

Product Review: St. Ives, Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub

St. Ives, Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub, 6oz

Overall

My little brother first introduced me to St. Ives' scrubs. He has been overseas for a number of years in areas that are not kind to on skin. So, he started using scrubs and face masks to maintain healthy skin and moisturize. One time, when he was home to visit we did face masks and he introduced me to St. Ives. 

Actually, long before the face mask story he had asked my father and I to mail him some of this stuff. Anyway one way or another, my brother introduced me to this product.

I've always enjoyed using clean and clear products to prevent acne and clear out any unwanted goop from inside my pours. I still use it, but every few days or so I also use St. Ives. I highly recommend the product as a nice scrub to remove dead skin and to clean up. I do not recommend it as a daily scrub or stand alone product, however, my brother might say differently.

I buy most of my household goods on Amazon, because I hate shopping. I have this on auto subscribe. If you are interested, you can purchase St. Ives for around $5-8 on Amazon.

Please note: At the time of this review St. Ives has never sent me free products, paid me to write a review, or given me discount codes. If I'm sent freebies or money I will disclose it in my reviews. I do however receive a few pennies if you click on the images or links provided to help you find this product and purchase it on Amazon. I only get that money if you click the links and then make a purchase. It's not a lot of money and if you like this blog, I hope that doesn't put you off simply because it helps support this bloggers writing habits.

Happy online shopping and enjoy your clean, fresh, scrubbed skin!

Graphic Designer Tools from Color Theory to a Preview of the New Photoshop

Design Tool Recommendations

I just couldn’t help but share this with you. As a designer, color can make all the difference in the world. It effects readability, feeling and can compliment spaces. Think of how blue in all its coolness and depth makes you feel, light, calm, connected. While red is known to make you hungry, angry, in movies it’s used to relate to death coming up in a scene, and is used in presidential ties to show strength and power. The image below is from the Floating Frog. Even if you’re not a designer, this will catch you up on color theory. If you’ve ever seen a color wheel, you know it’s like a designer’s cheat sheet to selecting colors. Another great tool is Kuler.