jra's thoughts

Author: jra

  • How to get started blogging

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    The first step is to think of a really good name. Like Apertura! Then have your hubbie set up your blog. Then write stuff!

  • Taking an MQTT server out for a few holes on the code golf course

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    A while ago at work, I needed to learn a little about MQTT. After reading the spec and finding

  • Qz for Mobile Phones

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    I love Quartz. however, I find that the best time/place for me to read it is on the train during my commute. And Quartz’s overly clever and overly dynamic website hates my phone’s browser. So I made Mobile Quartz to help me read it. The front page has the current top articles from Quartz. Click…

  • Making a time-lapse in Debian

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    Make a script like this called “save”. Make it executable. #!/bin/sh ct=0 if [ -f “ct” ]; then ct=`cat ct` fi ct=`expr $ct + 1` mv snap.jpg snap-$ct.jpg echo $ct > ct Run “uvccapture -x648 -y480 -c./save -t20” to take a photo every 20 seconds. Then you can use a script like this to continually…

  • The best safecracking scene EVAR

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    The Best Safecracking Scene, EVAR. ‘Nuff said.

  • What I want: a Chrome plugin to report spelling errors

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    Here’s what I want to do: See an error on a web page Select it and right click In the popup, choose “report a spelling error”. Have a box come up with three fields and a pair of ok/cancel buttons. The three fields are “change from”, “change to”, and Twitter id. The “change from” and…

  • Double take

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    The nicest thing happened to me on the way home from work… I got one of those movie-perfect double takes from a guy I passed. Of course, it was probably due to the pretty rainbow umbrella I was carrying, while cruising along on my unicycle. Years ago I realized that if it’s a grey rainy…

  • Typically Swiss

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    We love local products, so we love TerraSuisse. And we love their new advertisements:

  • A Dinosaur Story

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    Once upon a time, long ago, long long ago… no… long long long ago, lived two dinosaurs. They had a wonderful life to themselves, since they came after the plants but before the humans. They had a land full of plants with no humans to bug them. They had clouds and rainbows and rivers and…

  • Sugru

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    I had a great first Sugru experience! I scratched my finger on the way to work on my unicycle. I thought, dammit, I’m gonna fix that! So I bought some from my phone on the train. Cool! A few days later, it arrived in the post. I was having a hard time explaining why I…