Deano’s answer to: “Why is iTunes Match for Vista and Windows 7 but not Snow Leopard?”

The reason is simple:

The latest version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, may (or may not) lack some feature of OS X Lion required to run iTunes Match. Given that Snow Leopard runs both iTunes and the Mac App Store just fine, I'm not sure what such features would be, and it seems unlikely it will be a Lion-only feature on release (at least parts of iCloud, including the iTunes re-download support, certainly aren't).

The latest version of Windows – Windows 7 – is basically the same as Windows Vista, and both OS versions run all the same third party apps, including Apple's iTunes Match. If someone has a convenient and thought-provoking list of apps (not DRIVERS) that are Windows 7-exclusive (and not made by Microsoft), please let me know…

Long story short, it's not that Windows has a feature Mac OS X lacks, but rather that currently writing Vista and Windows 7 apps aren't two separate processes for developers… It's exaggeration to say Windows 7 is just a patch for Vista, but in terms of large-scale under the hood changes, there just aren't many.

Why is iTunes Match for Vista and Windows 7 but not Snow Leopard?

Deano’s answer to: “What is the average number of posts needed before a blog becomes popular/profitable?”

If you write five posts the first day, write five every day. Blogs are all about consistency, and the rate of posting, not an "X value" for total posts – at least, if your primary concern is profit.

If you're happy to game the search engines and play at black and grey hat SEO tactics, you could easily become profitable in short order… say 1 post every 2-3 days for 3 months, dominance in some profitable adwords keywords, and then the inevitable "domain flip", where you cash in on your traffic and commissions papertrail by getting some sucker looking for a shortcut to buy you out.

If you want to write genuinely from your heart on a topic of interest… Well, that's a lot harder. You need to be just as disciplined as the SEO, but also remain focused and push that content out to schedule. It's rough! But, if you can do it, and enough people like what you write, you may find yourself a few retweets away from a substantial amount of regular traffic, and adwords checks rolling in to the tune of $25-100 a month inside a year for that same post-every-other-day style blog. You want to scale up the dollars, scale up your output, and keep your niche(s) focused, just work on more of them. For me, it might be IT management issues, parenting, japanese manga, cooking, and hoopdancing for men.

Even then, if I can nail a post a day across each of those, we're talking maybe breaking 10K a year. Still, just for writing? Not too bad… And if I start a "Daddy Fitness and Cooking Bootcamp", maybe that doubles again. Maybe I get on TV. Maybe there's eventually enough content (and publisher name recognition) for a book deal. And so on, and so on.

Anyway, the point is simple: start writing, keep writing. That's the only thing. You'll be surprised at how quickly you hit 100 posts, and then 500 (heck, I'm over 500 answers on Quora, and it seems like I just crested 100 not too long ago…).

If you have perseverance, you won't need much luck – but I wish you the best of both all the same.

What is the average number of posts needed before a blog becomes popular/profitable?

Deano’s answer to: “The White House Chief of Staff is often regarded as “The Second-Most Powerful Person in Washington.” To what extent is this statement true?”

If the President is the one you want to marry, then the Chief of Staff is the President's online dating site… Mess up your profile, don't pay your dues, or fail to meet enough matching criteria, and that crucial first date never happens.

Of course, that's a very narrow type of power, and nowhere near as broad-ranging as what the Commander in Chief wields… But in a world increasingly run by meetings, leveraged face time in the media, and closed-door handshake deals among social elites, you really need to make sure your winks are at least getting through.

Put another way – if the President can do just about anything with his or her power, the Chief of Staff keeps the menu of options at any given moment as limited, predictable, and in line with greater administration and party objectives as possible.

And while most people think of this as being mostly outwardly-directed, this includes very much how the rest of the President's staff, including cabinet members, get time with the big boss… At times, this process/system even works against the President – while someone like Obama might want team members to challenge his or her positions, the Chief generally wants to drive consensus to a quick resolution and keep the agenda moving.

The White House Chief of Staff is often regarded as "The Second-Most Powerful Person in Washington." To what extent is this statement true?

Deano’s answer to: “Where can I find the English script or subtitle of the Pirates of the Caribbean 4?”

While it may be exceedingly hard to find an authentic Pirates 4 script until a bit after the Blu-ray/DVD release of same, you might be able to find something kicking around eBay in another month or two.

Various "screen cams" of the movie, shot in theaters around the world should start appearing in the next few weeks online. While the quality would be horrible if you wanted to re-watch the whole film, you might be able to suss out what is being said.

Illegal rips of review DVDs, which often include subtitle tracks, may appear soon, or just a week or two before the authentic DVD release.

If all you're after is the last few lines of dialogue, you'd be better off searching Quora or the web in general for "what does Captain Jack Sparrow say at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides?", and using the keen ears of a million fellow moviegoers to translate Johnny Depp's swashbuckled mumblings.

Where can I find the English script or subtitle of the Pirates of the Caribbean 4?

Deano’s answer to: “What are some good book pairings?”

I realize you're looking more book-to-book here, but for me, reading two books at once tends to take away from both, regardless of the pairing.

Instead, I'm more in the camp of Natalie Maclean, who has a decent list of wine-book pairings listed here[*]: http://www.abebooks.com/docs/aut… – Which reminds me: a good guideline for a great book is one you finish in a single bottle of wine – not because it's a short read, but such a good one you repeatedly forget to refill your glass.

[* Honestly, I found her Memoirs of a Geisha + "sake" a little too racist/generalized to carry weight (though there are doubtlessly specific sakes that would fit the tome), but for all the books I've read on her list, the wine matches pretty beautifully.

What are some good book pairings?