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version seven. http://demongin.org |
Archive View for 2010:
| January | ||
| 4 | No More Heroes | **** (Videogame, 2008) |
| 4 | New Years | Ezra Pound's "I Gather the Limbs of Osiris" is explained and discussed; two lessons are synthesized. |
| 5 | Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth | **** (Videogame, 2009) |
| 6 | More Resilient and Scalable Selenium Tests in Python with Keyboard Shortcuts | A short post on writing better test scripts in python for use with your Selenium RC server. |
| 8 | When Pop Science Attacks | Generally speaking, trashy pseudo-scientific trivia-pr0n like you might find in your local rag's Science section, a TLC special or on NOVA tends to say in those less-trafficked, generally irrelevant parts of the media-sphere. But what happens when pop science sends a man over the wall? |
| 11 | Ridley Scott Owes Me a Movie | In which I outline the movie that I believe Ridley Scott ought to be making about the middle ages. |
| 11 | Using xpaths to Write Better Selenium Test Scripts in Python | Two example of how to use xpaths in test scripts written in python: first, how to count input boxes in a fieldset; second, how to find the text value for a th tag. |
| 13 | String Replacement in BASH | A short how-to about string replacement in BASH scripts; examples include string replacement in a SQL command and using awk to modify a variable on the fly. |
| 16 | Error Log | Three mistakes I made today and how I corrected them; posted for posterity. |
| 18 | Python Decorators: Wrapping Test Functions Without Losing Methods | A kind of insane-sounding how-to describing a Selenium object created by a unittest function that gets wrapped by a decorator that calls a method from the Selenium class: the result is a Selenium test that can kill its browser if the test raises an Exception. Not for the faint of heart. |
| 20 | Automatically Save Current User in Django Admin | A short how-to in which I describe how to automatically save the user object of the user currently logged-in to the Django admin interface. |
| 25 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season Four | *** (Television Serial, 2000) |
| 29 | Bit.ly, Twitter and Django: How to Automatically Tweet Blog Posts the Python Way | A how-to with commented code samples: a post-mortem on a scheme I recently used to implement automatic Twitter posts on a Django site. |
| February | ||
| 2 | Selenium and BeautifulSoup: Dealing with Python Encoding Errors | An encoding problem encountered during an HTML scrape reveals a weird sys bug/feature. |
| 3 | Django: Use Template Tags to Swap HTML Tags | A short how-to that describes writing a custom template filter in Django to replace one HTML tag with another. |
| 6 | Wordpress Upgrade Error on Debian/Ubuntu | A quick guide to responding to a fairly obscure WP error encountered during an upgrade/migration. |
| 18 | Apache mod_rewrite: Avoid Redirects by Automatically Swapping TLDs | Using a real-life example, I explain how to avoid using redirects (which mess with Google) by rewriting URL's to intelligently swap .net for .com. |
| 18 | Here's What's Really Wrong with Google Buzz | Or, alternately, "HI BUZZ LOL". |
| 22 | Dracula cerca sangue di vergine... e morì di sete!!! | * (Film, 1974) |
| 23 | There Will Be Blood | *** (Film, 2008) |
| March | ||
| 5 | Blood: The Last Vampire | ** (Film, 2009) |
| 12 | Use Python's httplib to Retrieve Data via HTTPS | Another short python how-to; a half-assed attempt to make up for my recent hiatus. |
| 15 | Muramasa: The Demon Blade | **** (Videogame, 2009) |
| 23 | No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle | ** (Videogame, 2010) |
| 23 | New Super Mario Bros. Wii | **** (Videogame, 2009) |
| 25 | Pulse | * (Film, 2006) |
| 25 | Penance Soiree | *** (Album, 2004) |
| 27 | Turning on the Wireless NIC on a Lenovo Thinkpad X61 | A brief "public service announcement" type post where I explain how to find the "on/off" button for Lenovo X61 wifi cards. |
| 28 | Install Ruby Enterprise, Phusion Passenger and El Dorado on Debian Lenny | A short "how to" about configuring a Debian server to run Trevor Turk's full-stack community app for ruby, El Dorado |
| 28 | Samba: Change a Windows User's Hashed Password. And then Change it Back. | How to use Linux tools and Samba to change a user's password, log in as him, do whatever, and then change his password back without his knowledge. |
| 28 | Stupid Linux Tricks: cron Task @reboot | A blurb about using the arrobe to write special cron tasks |
| 28 | Stupid Linux Tricks: gpg Plugin for vim | How to automatically decrypt/encrypt files with the text editor vim. |
| 28 | Stupid Linux Tricks: Debug Your Website Like a Sysadmin | A few "tricks" used by sysadmins to quickly troubleshoot web development/deployment issues: use wget to view HTTP headers and telnet to view source. |
| 28 | PostgreSQL Backup Tips for n00bz | A crash course in the basics of automating PostgreSQL backups using basic bash, simple SQL and some intermediate-level python. |
| 28 | Stupid Linux Tricks: the Basics of pkill and pgrep | A tiny tutorial on basic, sysadmin-style use of pgrep and pkill |
| 28 | Stupid Linux Tricks: Avoid Unnecessary System Calls with /proc/net/arp | How to use new-style arp tables to ping better. |
| 28 | TLS_PROTOCOL, "SSL3_GET_RECORD:wrong version number" | How to troubleshoot a borked Courier IMAP SSL setup. |
| 28 | YUM for Weekend Warriors | A collection of the things I routinely forget when I'm setting up a new Red Hat/Fedora system. |
| 28 | Do This: Spamassassin (Debian, Postfix) | Integrating spamassassin into your postfix stack in five minutes or fewer. |
| 28 | Audit My Server | A beginner's guide to performing a quick and thorough security audit on your web-facing server. |
| 28 | Stupid Linux Tricks: Basic Server Hardening (Debian Lenny) | A list of basic security precautions for web-facing Debian Linux servers |
| 28 | Windows XP Unattended | Some basic pointers on customizing your unattended Windows XP installation. |
| 28 | Not Exactly "Effortless" | A short explanation of today's sudden, rapid-fire posting. |
| April | ||
| 1 | Serving Mercurial Repositories with Ubuntu is Hell of Easy | Seriously: setting this up is easier than falling down the stairs, especially if you're already serving other code repositories via HTTPS |
| 4 | Pygmentize 2: a More Resilient Syntax Highlighter for Django | In which I revise my old pygmentize.py script, making it less likely to die badly. |
| 8 | Poodles: Lightweights Littermates | ** (Novel, 2007) |
| 15 | Confessions of a Dangerous Mind | ** (Film, 2003) |
| 16 | Alice in Wonderland | * (Film, 2010) |
| May | ||
| 9 | Good Night, and Good Luck | *** (Film, 2005) |
| 9 | Mask of the Phantasm | **** (Film, 1993) |
| 10 | Rebellion | No peace talks. |
| June | ||
| 1 | Dead Snow | * (Film, 2009) |
| 19 | What is the What | ** (Novel, 2006) |
| 20 | The Black Dahlia | *** (Film, 2006) |
| July | ||
| 1 | The Yakuza | Film (1975) |
| 13 | Shōgun | Novel (1975) |
| August | ||
| 2 | The Silence of the Lambs | **** (Novel, 1988) |
| 15 | The Bourne Trilogy | * (Film, 2007) |
| 17 | Monster Hunter Tri | *** (Videogame, 2010) |
| 29 | Restoring Hecklers | Hecklers at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally provide new insight into the Tea Party movement. |
| September | ||
| 7 | How To Install csvtool on OSX 10.6.4 | You'll have to compile some things from source, but trust me: it'll be worth it. |
| 10 | Zero History | **** (Novel, 2010) |
| 11 | G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | ** (Film, 2009) |
| 11 | Zombieland | **** (Film, 2009) |
| 19 | Paycheck | * (Film, 2003) |
| 19 | Tyson | Film (2008) |
| 20 | Machete | Film (2010) |
| 20 | How to Stay in the Black | An interminable, stentorian harangue on the paradoxical relationship between habituation and adaptation. |
| 25 | Day of the Dead | ** (Film, 2008) |
| 25 | Carriers | *** (Film, 2009) |
| October | ||
| 4 | My Bloody Valentine | ** (Film, 1981) |
| 5 | All Tomorrow's Tea Parties | On Matt Taibbi's new report on the Tea Party and learning pathos for the loathsome. |
| 11 | Defiance | Film (2009) |
| 23 | Paranormal Activity | *** (Film, 2007) |
| 23 | House of the Devil | Film (2009) |
| 23 | Give Us Our Trespasses | An essay on transgressive behavior. |
| November | ||
| 1 | Silicon Snake Oil | Novel (1995) |
| 4 | Street Lethal | Security Theatre comes to Metro |
| 6 | nginx + PHP on Ubuntu | How to serve PHP content with nginx by proxying PHP requests to fastcgi. |
| 6 | Python init Script for Starting multiple Django FastCGI Sites with manage.py | A simple init script that will you allow to start multiple Django sites using fastcgi. |
| 14 | Griftopia | **** (Novel, 2010) |
| 30 | A Bow Shot Bringing War | Or, "How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Net Neutrality and Love the Com...cast." |
| December | ||
| 4 | All Day, Permanent Red | In which I express my deep revulsion at the recent coverage of WikiLeaks. |
