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There’s a stalagmite growing under a fish tank

Sep 28

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They used to say there are only two things guaranteed in this world, death and taxes.

I have disagreed with that for years.

There is only one thing guaranteed.

Things will change.

Nothing stays the same, ever.

Not even rocks or mountains.

The rate of change may not be visible, but it always changes.

I was at a trout farm and noticed something strange.

At the corner of a display tank there was a stalagmite growing.

You know, those things in caves that they claim are hundreds or millions of years old.

This farm had been in operation for less than ten years, and the stalagmite was about 45 cm (18 inches) tall.

The tank had a leak in that corner, that’s what created the stalagmite.

All growth is like that.

More stimulation equals more growth, but only if what’s flowing through is actually doing something.

Water full of dissolved rock builds a cave formation.

Plain water just drips and dries.

I’m not planning to take even a hundred years to grow my business.

Are you?

The tool matters as much as the effort.

This is the one currently doing the work for me.

https://link.ckv.to/prompt-guide

How fast do you want to grow?

Regards,
Brent.

September 25, 2026September 26, 2026

He was positively ignorant

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He was positively ignorant

Sep 26

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I watched Gary North on some late-90s TV interview once.

He was dead serious, staring into the camera: “Set your computer’s clock to January 1st, 2000. I dare you. It’ll stop working.”

I remember thinking: that’s not how any of this works.

Change the date and reboot, worst case you get a Y2K bug in whatever software reads it wrong, and from my testing there were only two on a PC that had an error.

One of those was Excel where the programmers were lazy.

The used decimal for the date instead of binary coded decimal.

The computer itself doesn’t care.

It just tracks and displays the time.

North didn’t know that.

And he was the guy millions of people were paying to tell them how to survive the collapse of civilisation.

He wasn’t a crank on the internet fringe.

He ran a newsletter for over two decades.

He called Y2K “the biggest problem the modern world has ever faced.”

He moved his family to rural Arkansas.

He told people to stock food, gold, guns.

He was the loudest voice in a very crowded room of people convinced January 1, 2000 was the end of the modern world.

It wasn’t.

Nothing happened.

Planes didn’t fall.

Banks didn’t collapse.

The lights stayed on.

Here’s the part that’s actually interesting, though.

Bill Bonner made an argument at the time that I think about a lot: the reason nothing happened might be because of guys like North.

Companies spent something like $300 billion worldwide fixing the two-digit-year bug before the deadline hit.

All that panic, all that fear-mongering, might have been the thing that prevented the disaster it was warning about.

So which was it?

Was North a fraud who got lucky, or an alarmist who accidentally saved everyone by being loud about a real (if wildly overstated) problem?

I don’t think it’s either.

I think he was a guy who didn’t understand the technology, selling total confidence about it anyway.

That’s the part that stuck with me watching that clip, not that he was wrong, but that he was so sure, about something he plainly hadn’t looked into past the headline.

I see the same move constantly right now.

People with zero hands-on time in a tool selling total certainty about what it can and can’t do.

Confidence isn’t the same thing as knowing.

If you want the version of this that’s actually useful, prompts built from real use, not confident guessing, that’s what the AI Prompt Guide is for: https://link.ckv.to/prompt-guide

Regards,
Brent.

September 24, 2026September 25, 2026

Only for people who read this email

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Only for people who read this email

Sep 25

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There’s a gift available for a select few.

If you’re reading this, that’s you.

I’m thinking about filtering out people who don’t read my emails because they’re clearly not interested.

That’s fine.

I don’t want to stuff your inbox with unread emails.

I would like to stuff your inbox with valuable emails that you want to read.

The gift is the PDF instructions so you can quickly build the Media Archiver tool that I’ve been using to clean up my hard drive.

All of us accumulate files and folders in the download folder and the documents folder.

Much of it is valuable, later.

And that’s the problem, we can collect so much information that we’re swamped with it.

On the computer hard drive that means we run out of room.

That’s what this tool is for.

It finds everything, lets you sort through it, move stuff to an external drive, or leave it where it is

You can go through all the zip files and save, move, or delete them.

Sorting your hard drive has never been easier or more fun.

There’s no sales page for this so if you would like a copy of the PDF this is what you do.

Reply to this email and tell me what part of your business is giving you the most grief.

I’ll reply with the PDF as an attachment.

That’s it.

Simples.

Regards,
Brent.

September 23, 2026September 24, 2026

That’s one sneaky 3-year-old

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That’s one sneaky 3-year-old

Sep 24

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Our youngest son’s daughter turned 3 a few months ago.

He has a co-parenting arrangement with her mother.

While with him this week he marked her height on his door, as you do.

He left the Sharpie within reach – whoops.

When he got back to where she was there was a magnificent mural on the door.

Partially cleaned off.

Apparently she had also enlisted the help of a tradie who was working in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, Sharpies are indelible and don’t clean off easily.

I’m impressed though.

She knew she’d done the wrong thing and tried to clean up before Dad saw.

That didn’t work well so she persuaded another adult to help.

What’s she going to be like at 13?

This is going to be fun because I don’t have to deal with her daily.

Regards,
Brent.

P.S. The PDF download I’ve been telling you about.

The one that serves any file you like from your Amazon S3 account, from the desktop tool you build from the PDF.

It expires Wed 23 Sep 2026, 11:30 PM (ACST).

Except, the download timer is keyed to my time zone, and it might have expired by the time you read this email.

Time zones are funny things, so, if you still have a live link, grab it before it expires.

Check the link here.

https://link.ckv.to/s3-file-manager

However, if it has expired for you I’m giving you another chance at it.

All you have to do is email me and ask.

I’ll give you a personalised link that will be good for 24 hours.

September 22, 2026September 23, 2026

Cancelled for selling, nope

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Cancelled for selling, nope

Sep 23

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Not today anyway.

In the early days of the Internet it really did happen.

As I discovered.

It was a lot like the way crows behave.

In an experiment one crow was captured and caged by a person wearing a costume.

Fortunately they were wearing a mask as you’ll soon see.

The crow was released unharmed and it wasn’t tormented even a little.

But, from then on every time the experimenter went outside wearing that costume they were mobbed by crows.

For over a decade.

The crows didn’t just remember, they shared the news and passed it onto their young.

Luckily the costume included a mask because crows recognise faces.

That’s what flaming was like in the early days online if you dared to offer something for sale.

I had to put on a mask and a costume to be able to avoid the flaming, even from people who hadn’t seen my sales page.

Tossers.

These days, selling online is normal enough that it’s easier and safer.

Delivering products can be an issue.

There are many products that can help with delivery, some have security built in, some don’t.

Most of these cost you money and time.

The most robust platform I have found for product delivery is Amazon S3, but it’s a convoluted process to manage the permissions, and it defaults to private, so if you do want to deliver to others you have to change permissions.

I can do this pretty easily now, but I do still get tired of the messing around.

So, I built a tool to act as the interface to Amazon S3 that runs on my desktop.

You do still have to do some set up inside the Amazon ecosystem, but you only have to do that once.

Then you use your desktop tool to manage everything as if S3 was a folder on your computer.

I’m not selling this at the moment, and I’m never going to make a desktop app for you.

I think this is better.

You build the app yourself on your computer using Claude.

The prompts might work with other AI tools, I don’t know because I haven’t tested.

Building it yourself though allows you to customise it to suit your needs.

You’ll download the PDF here.

https://link.ckv.to/s3-file-manager

You can have this running in less than an hour.

By the way, that link was built with the desktop tool.

The link is a temporary one and expires.

Wed 23 Sep 2026, 11:30 PM (ACST).

Regards,
Brent.

September 21, 2026September 22, 2026

Amazon S3 is good and bad

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Amazon S3 is good and bad

Sep 22

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I use S3 all the time.

It works great and is super inexpensive.

But, it has a dark side.

It’s a right PITA to set up.

Mostly because of the permissions on the files.

They are good because that’s what stops people sharing your links for free.

They are bad because it’s not simple to turn them on or off easily.

I kept looking for a way to have a simpler interface to the buckets.

Everything I found had issues that I didn’t like.

So, I built one.

Then I built in deadline protection that works.

The link below is to the PDF instructions on how to build your own.

The link is a temporary one and expires.

Wed 23 Sep 2026, 11:30 PM (ACST)

zjmdlhezqewd3tz26d727eauyi0fwqvw.lambda-url.us-east-1.on.aws/

But you will see the expiry time in your timezone.

Yes, that is an ugly raw link because that’s how Amazon creates them, I haven’t had time to check if a shortened link works.

That PDF will also tell you how to create an expiring link that expires at some period after the user clicks the link.

That’s more useful for a lead magnet, but I’m sure you can think up different ways to use this tool.

It’s a direct download until the deadline expires.

Have fun.

Regards,
Brent.

September 20, 2026September 21, 2026

Keep pushing the button

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Keep pushing the button

Sep 21

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You’ve all seen them.

You might do it too.

Pushing the walk button many times.

It doesn’t make the lights change any faster.

It doesn’t even matter how fast or slowly you push the button.

They still do it, every time.

It’s as much a habit as it is compulsive behaviour.

You’ll also see them push that button after they’ve seen someone else push it.

That button won’t change your life, but this one might.

This one is the left button on your mouse that publishes what you just wrote.

This one you do have to push many times.

Just not repeatedly to publish.

Once for that is usually enough.

The many times is for consecutive days.

And it might take many times before you get a green light.

That’s when you cross from being a creator to a paid creator.

It’s not hard.

You just have to keep pressing that left button to publish.

Pick one platform.

Pick one micro-niche.

Find the right keywords.

Write, or get AI to draft it for you, and publish.

Picking the platform is easy, use the one you have.

Do not start a new one.

Picking a micro-niche is easy, you’ve already got one.

Use it.

Writing is easy when you get AI to help with the draft.

Finding the right keywords for your micro-niche is easy when you use this https://link.ckv.to/traffic-x-ray

How many do you think you might need?

All my websites get some traffic.

Most of them I haven’t been near in years.

They still get traffic.

Have you got any like that?

Perhaps 20 good articles with good keywords could turn that trickle into a flood.

Remember, Google ranks pages, not websites.

Yes, a domain with authority does help pages rank, but most pages rank on their own merits.

If you’re getting some traffic the GoogleBot is visiting, so new pages will get noticed fairly fast.

Keep pressing that button.

Regards,
Brent.

September 18, 2026September 19, 2026

Authenticity cannot be faked

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Authenticity cannot be faked

Sep 19

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It certainly is in politics, and some salespeople, but in general, no.

The adage – Be yourself, everyone else has already been taken – is true.

It’s also so much easier to be yourself.

You don’t even have to think about it.

I’ve been using a persona or nom de plume online for years, but using another name doesn’t change who you are.

I still wrote the same way, had the same interests, etc.

These emails are not written in that persona, this is me using my name.

The question on your lips is why?

The answer is simple.

When I first came online the netizens were still attempting to stop anyone making money online.

It was all about “information wants to be free”.

When all the time they were buying books, music, Internet access, computers etc.

So, you could make money from the Internet, but not on it.

I tried to change that attitude, but I got flamed so hard that I couldn’t log in anywhere without getting hit.

I shut down for a few months, then came back with a different name.

That stopped the flaming.

The new name became a habit for a long time.

I gradually began using both names.

The flames have stopped these days.

Now, of course, people are making massive incomes online.

Not always honestly.

Not always authentically.

That’s not my problem other than I am a bit cynical.

So tell me, were you online then?

A simple yes or no will suffice.

Regards,
Brent.

September 17, 2026September 18, 2026

Is the Internet Dead?

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Is the Internet Dead?

Sep 18

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I’ve seen a few emails and videos about this recently.

But people have been claiming that email is dead for years.

If email is dead it must be a zombie because it’s still wandering around.

I suspect that this Dead Internet is another of those unprovable claims.

Sure, there are about 50% bots following links.

And sometimes it does look like it’s on life-support.

It’s definitely harder to find humans amongst the traffic which is the best reason I know to build an email list.

An engaged email list is humans who have put their hands up, or at least volunteered their email address, to read what you write.

Bots can, and will, fill in forms to get your content.

I’m pretty sure that some of the AI bots are doing that, but they don’t buy anything… yet.

The stories about the AI Agents going rogue are interesting, but again, I’m not convinced that they’re anything more than nuisance toddlers.

When they get to be teenagers we might have a problem.

None of that means the internet is dead, or even on permanent life-support.

I expect it to recover to lead a normal, productive life.

Do you think the internet is dead?

Reply with a yes or no.

Regards,
Brent.

P.S. Looping back to the death of emails, all the social media companies email me regularly.

Hmmm…

All the AI platforms want my email address to login, and send me emails regularly.

Hmmm…

If you don’t have an email list that you contact regularly then you might consider this.

https://go.wm-tips.com/sr-list

September 14, 2026September 14, 2026

People misunderstand ‘money loves speed’

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People misunderstand ‘money loves speed’

Sep 15

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You want an instant result

That’s unrealistic.

Good things come slowly.

Things that come fast usually leave the same way.

The often stated phrase ‘money loves speed’ does not mean that you have to do everything fast.

What it means is that you have to get things done without delay.

The phrase is about not procrastinating, or being perfect.

Done and available beats perfecting for years, as I have done.

Once it’s done and available you have to promote it.

This is what takes time, or money.

Sometimes both.

Something else that I’ve not been great at.

That’s changing.

That’s why I keep building tools and automations to help.

Help with procrastination.

Help with creation, and targeting the right keywords.

Especially help with generating traffic.

That’s why I built this tool.

https://link.ckv.to/free-traffic-guide

How fast you create content means nothing if it’s not going to attract the right people.

Use the guide to choose the right platform for your target market.

Then follow the steps to create content for that platform.

It takes 10 minutes.

Then do it again tomorrow.

Regards,
Brent.

Sugar Puff

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