Grumble Grumble: The things that piss me off.

What does a POSIX signal handler and an SQL transaction have in common?

17 September, 2016

Since I expect this to be a long post, I’ll give you the answer at the top: both are in-effect critical sections, you should avoid performing unnecessary operations there at all cost. Or else it will cost you and other people days, months, years of wasted time. POSIX Signals I’ll start with a story about …

Everyone disables SELinux, it’s annoying!

7 September, 2016

Everyone disables SELinux, it’s annoying! Hah! I’ve been saying that for years and years, but the quote above isn’t mine, it’s from Scott McCarty‘s security talk at LinuxCon 2016. The room was full of other Linux Pros and the statement was followed by way more nods than grimaces :) SELinux zealotry reminds me of the …

Awesome Student Checklist

14 July, 2016

I vaguely remember there was a time when I had a one-page resume. I also remember that time didn’t last long. I’m baffled when I get resumes how many of them are two bullets long, especially in our industry (software). Lots has been said and written about how it helps your professional career to work …

Test/Exam clock

23 May, 2016

Sometimes I don’t understand the world. One of the things I couldn’t understand is why it is so difficult to find an online clock that is simple and can be resized. For years I would google “clock” and variations of that, and all I would get back was crappy small digital clocks on pages 80%-full …

WTFPL

3 February, 2016

Hah! I didn’t even make that one up: Do What the Fuck You Want to Public License. It should have been “whatever” not “what”, which kind of sucks, makes it look like an illiterate 15-year-old american came up with it. I found it because uMap (an awesome piece of software I’m sure I‘ll write about …

Beaumark 2300, 3100, and 3300 sewing machine manual

24 January, 2016

This sewing machine came with the house I bought, and it came with a manual. But it’s missing the bobbin case. I couldn’t find any information about it, not who made it, not where to get parts, nothing. But I found someone who really wanted the manual, cause they had the machine with no manual. …

You try to give Microsoft a break but no…

16 January, 2016

I feel like Microsoft hates me. It’s not just that it doesn’t care – it is going out of its way to keep me off its operating system, its ecosystem, everything it owns or controls. A few weeks ago I decided to accept the inevitable and “upgrade” from Windows 7 to Windows 10. I know …

Awesome troubleshooting guide from a past age

19 December, 2015

I don’t think I need add anything to this comedic manual page from my sewing machine: Too bad it doesn’t have an entry for the actual problem – missing bobbin case.. but maybe I can guess.. replace bobbin case? :)

Exam/test clock and timer

16 December, 2015

Why is it so difficult to find a simple clock that will show the time on the screen? Honestly you would think building one is rocket science, that’s how hard it is to find one online. I can never find one to show on the projector while my students are taking a test or exam, …

Towards a Functional Licence for Open Hardware

15 December, 2015

I’ve always been interested in hardware but I’ve never learned much about it past simple analogue PCBs I made back in when I was in highschool. I am a software guy though, and specifically an open source software guy. So the name of this paper got my attention: “Towards a Functional Licence for Open Hardware”. …