I recently set up an Armcrest Pro-HD IP Camera to work with my Linux based home monitoring system. I'm currently using MotionEye, but may switch to another monitoring system in the future. I wanted an IP camera that would work with my setup, be cheap, and easy to set up …
When you're new to sys-adminry, a lot of it can be overwhelming, from the abundance of choices, to the specialized vocabulary. I'm writing a few posts about various aspects of sys-adminry/operations/devops/SRE to take some of the mystery out of it. This post is on the topic of …
I tried to solve a common web problem using a commodity technology. What happened was nearly two years of headache. Let me help you possibly avoid the same mistake. This is a somewhat technical article, though I've done my best to write it in a casual style. Introduction In 2022 …
I have a lot of productivity processes and tools. I have a tool for second brain, a tool for tracking my todo, a system for tracking files, a system for handling email, a tool for managing projects. More than that, I'm always tweaking the tools I have, looking to squeeze …
I've had laptops for about 25 years, from a variety of companies. My newest laptop is the one I'm using now, the Framework Laptop . This laptop is one of two laptops I purchased recently that aim to be user serviceable, the other, the MNT Reform is a very different animal …
For the last few weeks, I've been running CalyxOS . It is the latest in Free/Open Source mobile phone operating systems that I've used. This post is a summary of my experience using FLOSS mobile OSes and what my experience can tell us not only about phones, but Free/Open …
Hello everyone. My name is Serge, and I am a recovering Howard Stern fan. I feel like I'm at an AA meeting when I say it, but it feels oddly good to get it off my chest. Howard Stern has been a significant figure for roughly half of my life …
In 2004, I was sitting in my living room watching one of my favorite programs- Frontline - a PBS show doing investigative journalism on a variety of topics. This particular episode, "The Persuaders" was about advertising was not only changing the way we buy but the way we think. As part …
Listening to the news about the Democratic party can be disheartening at best. This week a story in the New York Times came out discussing how DNC leadership is willing to disenfranchise up to half the party in order to prevent Bernie Sanders from getting the nomination. They claim that …
Datashards currently uses Canonical S-Expressions as a data format and after using it for a few months, I have some thoughts. First things first: If you aren't familiar with the format, let me give you a quick rundown. Canonical S-Expressions are a bit like regular S-Expressions, with a twist. If …
Introduction Just over a year ago, Chris Webber gave a talk at CopyleftConf about how the AGPL is incompatible with a style of computing. If you want to read the slides, they're at: https://dustycloud.org/misc/boundaries-on-network-copyleft.pdf Sadly there hasn't been much discussion about it since, so I'm …
I have been a long time supporter of the Free Software movement and the Free Software Foundation. I care deeply about Free Software, and it's the ideals of the movement that have been at the cornernerstone of much of what I've spent the last 20 years of my life using …
Jitsi Meet is a Free Software audio and video conferencing platform that allows for people around the world to participate in a video conference without proprietary software like Zoom or Google Meet. Jitsi has an add-on program called Jigasi that allows for call-ins (and even call-outs). Unfortunately, while Jitsi Meet …
I was a contributor for OpenStreetMap for a long time, and I advocated for OpenStreetMap for a long time, but the project has stalled while the proprietary mapping world has continued to improve in data quality. For those of us who care about Free and Open data, this is a …
This last year has been a very difficult one for civil liberties and personal freedoms. Donald Trump, the president-elect of the United States, has promised to round up and deport illegal immigrants as well as removing legal immigrants from the US. In addition, and more importantly, he's discussed creating a …
I don't write about politics much on this blog (in fact I haven't written anything in quite a while), but Free Software is something I care a great deal about, and so when I see something fishy and scandalous, I take interest, and that's exactly what's going on with the …
If you care about Free and Open Source Software, you probably think about ways to support the people who write the programs that you rely on. In this post, I'm going to tell you what I do, and what I hope others will do too. I call it the The …
A community mapping project in New York is showing how OpenStreetMap can not only show how mapping can help people navigate, it can shape how people perceive their city. New York City contains hundreds of community gardens . These gardens represent the the hard work of thousands of New Yorkers coming …
Some feedback about my previous import post was regarding my contention that imported data is harder to maintain. This conclusion is based on years of observation. In this post, I'll explain why I believe imported data is not the same as manually mapped data in terms of maintenance. The standard …
I'm into my fourth week of Esperanto and I thought I'd write some reflections on the process, the struggles and successes. The Methods My main method of learning Esperanto is the site lernu.net and its "Bildoj kaj demandoj" (Pictures and Questions) course. In addition, I've gotten some help from …
OpenStreetMap's goal is to map the entire world, so one might assume that anything that would help give the project a leg up would be welcome, but what many potential importers find is that the OSM community, in particular the more senior members, are hostile to imports. Understanding their strong …
This post is about why I fear French, and what my attempt at taking this problem on has taught me. This is one of the most personal blog posts I've made in several years, but in it are lessons for nearly everyone, especially if you are considering learning a second …
Reading the feedback from my Why The World Needs OSM post has been enlightening. One criticism of OSM that has come up multiple times is the concern about edit wars like those seen in Wikipedia. It's a topic that I know something about, both as a long time OSM contributor …
I'm in the process of reading In The Land of Invented Languages - an excellent book I will write more about. For this post, I want to focus on how Esperanto's community is like our Free Software/Free Culture community and the role of the fringe element. Reading about Esperanto and …
It's time to take a break from the high minded to the mundane. Today I'm doing a review of cat litter! I have two wonderful cats, one male and one female, both about one year old, both about 7lbs, and both adopted from the ASPCA .Since I've owned cats as …
I had a recent experience with Sirius/XM that I think is a great lesson in how not to handle your customers. Let's face it, Sirius/XM has an uphill battle in terms of entertainment. They have dozens of music channels, but a subscription to Pandora or Spotify will take …
GPS is virtually synonymous with navigation, but GPS exists at the whim of the US government, so shouldn't I be concerned? The answer is that I am somewhat concerned, but that I also do my part in trying to reduce our dependence on that system. I'll venture to bet that …
[ UPDATE ] I will stop updating this, but after four translations, syndication by The Guardian, and a video interview on Slashdot... I'm speechless. Wow, what a response! My last post , received over 120,000 unique visitors, over 500 tweets , was #1 on Hacker News , was #2 on /r/technology on Reddit …
Every time I tell someone about OpenStreetMap, they inevitably ask "Why not use Google Maps?". From a practical standpoint, it's a reasonable question, but ultimately this is not just a matter of practicality, but of what kind of society we want to live in. I discussed this topic in a …
Writing the previous post got me thinking about the nature of how programmers use programs and how it relates to teaching in general. A couple of years ago, I wrote a little prototype address book that accounted for my misspellings. The idea was that if someone had a name like …
My girlfriend has always wanted to program. She even took C++ in high school and college, but never quite "Got it", leaving her with a bad taste for computers and programming. Still, when I lent her my copy of The Little Schemer , she took to it pretty easily, so I …
Wow, I must have really touched on something in my last post ( Observations at a Python workshop ), it's received over 20k unique visitors in the last twenty four hours, which is a lot from a blog which until yesterday, didn't exist. For those people who don't know me, I thought …
I heard about a Python tutorial that was going on this weekend, and with well over a decade of Python experience, I decided to volunteer to help students. I hadn't realized it was a women's workshop put on by PyLadies , but I'm glad I went because I came out of …