When Cron Jobs Disappear: MacOS Sleep
I had Claude develop a build service that handles incoming webhooks from GitHub and then triggers pipelines on my Mac.
Joseph Spurrier
Notes by a technologist who specializes in web technologies and automation. Frequently looking for productivity improvements. Writings in the blog.
Latest posts
Hiring Software Developers in the Age of AI: New Challenges
I’ve interviewed hundreds of engineers over the years through technical screens, system design rounds, take-home projects, and pair programming sessions.
Deploying Go Apps to Google Cloud Run
A few of my projects use the same Makefile and Dockerfile to handle deployment to Google Cloud Run.
Generative AI and the Changing Role of Software Engineers
Generative AI is still fresh.
How to Embed Assets in Go 1.16
In Go 1.16, there is a way to natively embed files and templates ( https://golang.org/pkg/embed/ ) which allows us to perform single binary deployments easily.
Polar Bear Blog: Bear Blog, Go, and Google Cloud Run
The Polar Bear Blog is available on GitHub: https://github.com/josephspurrier/polarbearblog.
News via RSS
For the last four years, I’ve read articles through a feed reader app and it’s a wonderful experience.
Top-Down and Bottom-Up Learning
Which should you choose: top-down or bottom-up learning? Spoiler: it’s really up to you to determine which will be more motivating.
Organizing Email
Early in my career when I finished with an email, I filed it away in one of my organized folders so I could easily find it again if I needed it.
Taking Notes
I much prefer a computer to a notepad.
Todo List
Until last year, I kept my todo list in my notes ( /taking-notes ).
Monolithic Repository vs Multiple Repositories for a Go Application
This article will use Go as the primary programming language, but many of these concepts are applicable to other languages as well.
Microsoft Buys GitHub: Good or Bad?
Microsoft just bought GitHub for $7.5 billion.
Go in the Workplace
Before we started working on the web portal at work, we discussed which languages to use.
Fix Error Message: Authentication failed because the remote party has closed the transport stream
After hardening our web servers and only allowing secure ciphers, one of the .NET applications we built no longer connected to the Apache web server.
Go Web App Example - Views, Request Workflow, and View Plugins
This is a continuation to my previous post, Go Web App Example - Entry Point, File Structure, Models, and Routes ( /go-web-app-example/ ).
How to Charge an iPhone Quicker
If you have the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus or newer, you could be charging it quicker.
OneDrive "Syncing files, 1 remaining" Fix
This was a fun one! We use the OneDrive for Business client to sync files between our computers and Office 365.
Prevent Escaping exec.Command Arguments in Go
In Go, I was trying to add the ability to run administrative installations in my project on GitHub: Portable App Creator ( https://github.com/josephspurrier/goappmation ).
Cancel an Extended Warranty for a Refund
I know there are a lot of people out there that don’t believe in extended warranties.
How to Use Template Blocks in Go 1.6
In Go 1.6, there will be a new action ( https://golang.org/pkg/text/template/#hdr-Actions ) in the template package called *block*.
Set Up WordPress on Windows
A few years ago, I contracted for two companies that built websites.
Free Stock Trades with Robinhood
I used eTrade for a few years when I received stock options from the first company I worked with.
How to Sync a Static Website to Amazon S3 with Rclone
After using WordPress for years, I decided to change this website to a static one so it’s cheaper, safer, and easier to manage.
Go Web App Example - Entry Point, File Structure, Models, and Routes
There are a few frameworks for Go that make it easier to build a web Application.
The 4-Hour Workweek Bullet Points
A friend of mine who runs a successful watch strap business ( http://www.clockworksynergy.com/ ) recommended I read The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss.
Cost of iPhone Upgrade Program vs Two Year Contract
I received an email from Apple that advertised their *iPhone Upgrade Program*.
How to Use GO15VENDOREXPERIMENT
Go 1.5 supports an experimental feature which allows you to store the external packages you use in a folder called *vendor*.
Go Asterisk and Ampersand Cheatsheet
In the Go programming language (Golang), there are two symbols you need to understand when dealing with pointers: the asterisk and ampersand.
Tips for Buying a Windows Laptop
If you are buying a Windows laptop, do your research because you’ll be using it for the next 4 years.
File Locking in PHP using Flock
A nice feature MySQL is the automatic locking.
Fix SugarCRM Job Hung in Running State
If you use SugarCRM and you find a scheduled job that has been stuck in the running state for more than an hour, the job may be hung.
Set up a WordPress Website on AWS
This end-to-end procedure is intended for anyone that is setting up a WordPress website on Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Quick View of the Laravel 4.1 Workflow
Here is a quick view of the Laravel ( http://laravel.com/ ) 4.1 workflow when a request is made.
Apache and Nginx Configurations
These are the configurations I recommend for the The Trailing Slash Solution ( /trailing-slash-solution/ ).
The Trailing Slash Solution
After much deliberation, I’ve come up a logical way to handle the trailing slash in website URLs.
Strong, Weak, Dynamic, and Static Typed Programming Languages Explained
After doing a little searching, I’ve found it’s a little difficult to understand the differences between strongly typed, weakly typed, dynamically typed, and statically typed programming languages.
Parse CSV with PHP
A comma-separate values (CSV) file is a common file that contains data from a database or spreadsheet and separates out the data using commas.
Getting Started with SurfStack WAMP
SurfStack WAMP is an open source web stack that includes the follow applications: Apache, Nginx, MySQL, MongoDB, and PHP.
CSS Style Selectors, Inheritance, and Specificity
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a markup language used to format languages like HTML (thanks Wiki ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets ) ).
Public-Key Encryption with PHP
Public-key encryption is a type of asymmetric cryptology ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography ) where the encryption and decryption processes require different keys.
Why is System process listening on Port 80?
This one was bugging me.
How can I create a list of all my music?
I’ve got all my music organized into folders by artist or band name.
iPhone 5 vs HTC DNA
My brother suggested I post a review since I’ve got both of the phones in hand.
Run Apache HTTP on Windows without Installing
I’m a minimalist.
Execute Batch Scripts from C# Memory
*Problem:* I have a batch script that runs some awesome commands, but it contains sensitive information like username and passwords.
Set up Nginx, MySQL, PHP, PEAR, PHPUnit on Windows Quickly and Easily with FusionLeaf Stack
If you’ve ever tried to set up a web stack on your Windows computer, you’ll know how much time, work, and troubleshooting is required to get each of the pieces to work together correctly.
Unknown Publisher requires Elevation on Windows 7 – Self Created EXE
This has been bugging me for the past two days.
Disable Windows Startup Programs: Registry and Start Menu
Almost every time you install a piece of software, a start up entry is created in either the Registry or the Start Menu.
Domain Transfer: GoDaddy to NameCheap
After a bit of research, I’ve decided to move all my domain names from GoDaddy to NameCheap to save money.