Learn Git
I haven't posted since I started a new job in February. Among the varied and wonderful things I've done since, I enjoyed using this web app to learn git branching.
My hatred of web apps notwithstanding1, I had a fun time. Although I've used git as my versioning system …
Prune Fingers
This was a nice article about why we get prune fingers
The wrinkles channel water off of our fingers, so we get better traction on things we want to hold.
I always assumed the skin wrinkled because it was soggy; in fact, it might be evolution at work.
Cloud Backups Using Arq
I have long considered the cloud better suited to data than apps. I can't explain my aversion to web apps, the cloud just seems better suited to serving data than CPU time.
We access the data on our computers via a hierarchical caching structure that grows successively larger and slower …
Coding with Style
I described the genesis of my source code library in a recent post. While poring over old code, I noticed that my formatting had been inconsistent across projects, and so I decided to adopt a unified coding style for future projects. I found a palatable style guide from the Software …
The Case for Creativity in a Vacuum
Mankind's greatest challenges demand the combined effort of many, but collaboration thrives on trust. As such, teams often falsely bolster positivity through the acceptance of unfit ideas, dismissing critical people as pessimistic or pedantic. Valuable insights are therefore tempered, with group harmony taking precedence over excellence.
I recently met a …
Becoming a Mac User
In early 2009, the hard drive of my laptop failed. Replacing a hard drive is trivial, but I had been saving for a while and decided it was time to buy a new machine. In the beginning, I had no intention of switching to a Mac — I hated Apple, and …
Using Apple Routers with ADSL
I've been using a faithful DG834GT router for as long as I've had an ADSL connection, but it is now showing its age. I recently bought a Time Capsule with an inbuilt 802.11n router. Unfortunately, it caused my internet to drop out sporadically, especially under heavy loads. I suspected …
Push Mail
Most OS X hints are cumbersome and inelegant, but this one rocked my world: Push email in Mail.app
A great way to keep your mailboxes up-to-the-second current without having Mail.app hog the bandwidth
Yes, I hate email as much as anyone else. Nope, this doesn't make sense to …
Streamlining Static Websites
I witnessed a dramatic boost in the performance of my website after switching to a Sydney-based server. In hindsight this is hardly surprising, but it illustrates how the performance of a website is dictated by more than pure bandwidth. My website is made with static HTML, which mitigates server-side lag …
Amazon S3 TurboBoost
Amazon doesn't have much of a presence here in Australia, but the limited set of services they do offer are excellent and affordable. I use Amazon Web Services to host this site, which is both extremely cheap (~1c per month) and extremely reliable. Unfortunately, until recently their closest server was …