Posts

I made an effort today to do my weekly routine from the Chrome Browser on my Linux Laptop. I had to install it and sign-in and set up some extensions, but now it looks and acts pretty much just like my Chromebook. It was more of an experiment to prove that I can interact with my note system from anywhere. Given access to Google Chrome, it’s even more seamless. On one hand, I revel in the familiarity of a common system that gets the tool out of the way and lets me do the work I want to do. On the other, I worry about lock-in and the ability to convert this information to other formats or access it from other entry points. ...

How often have you seen something like this? The authenticity of host '111.222.333.444 (111.222.333.444)' can't be established. RSA key fingerprint is f3:cf:58:ae:71:0b:c8:04:6f:34:a3:b2:e4:1e:0c:8b. Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? The temptation to quickly type yes and hit the enter key is great. But do you know why you are seeing this message? You should only get this the first time you connect to a new host. After you respond yes the host gets stored in ~/.ssh/known_hosts, and you won’t get prompted the next time you connect. ...

I regularly have directories of files I want to back up in case of disaster. Usually these are files that change often, and I only want to keep recent versions in case I want to revert or recover changes. (Git? Git, who?) I have used this script over and over as a simple way to archive a directory to a location with a date-stamped filename. It also cleans up after itself by deleting files older than X days. I stick it in CRON and let it run on a schedule and I always have an archive of the last X days of the files in my directory. ...

I don’t buy this theory that simply writing things down somehow reduces stress. All it means is that those things are now on a piece of paper or some kind of digital list, usually in our pocket at all hours of the day, mocking us for not being able to finish them. Maybe instead of optimizing our means of capturing ideas, we need to optimize our brain’s spam filter. Good ideas and important reminders will rise to the top, and if we think about them once we’ll think about them again. Matt Wood - The Important Stuff Will Come Back ...

“It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you/there’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do” Africa - by Toto So why is the singer not with her now? This is my theory of Toto’s “Africa” In Toto’s “Africa,” why is the speaker in Africa in the first place? Answer: he is “hoping to find some long-forgotten words or ancient melodies.” He is a student of the occult. ...

My (first) diagnosis with bladder cancer

Q: Ubuntu phased updates Recently, during the normal software upgrade process (i.e., apt upgrade or apt dist-upgrade) I started getting messages like this: [...] The following packages have been kept back: [...] 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and [...] not upgraded. What are my options? A: Phased Updates are a safety feature Some users get the upgraded packages first, and have the ability to report broken package, instead of everybody getting a broken package at once and millions of users scratching their heads. It’s there for your protection. Don’t try to outsmart it. ...

Summary LanguageTool is a free online proofreading service for English, Spanish, and 20 other languages. Instantly check your text for grammar and style mistakes. It’s a free alternative to similar sites/services like Grammarly. While I’m not sure that Grammarly is a Privacy Nightmare, I don’t like the idea of sending everything I write to a third party service for inspection. The free version of LanguageTool has a much better reputation, although that may be because it’s less well-known. It’s also nice that it’s an open-source project that publishes the code. ...

my config file for beets.io