Logiciel Libre

Keeping Bees in Seattle

adam — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:25:02 +0000

Thanks to Doree for posting my question about keeping Mason Bees in city limits. Turns out the bees are harmless to humans and pets, and do some seriously helpful pollinating!

Are Tic Tac candies fatter in the USA?

adam — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:25:18 +0000

Here’s one Google couldn’t help me with.

When I was a kid, I swear Tic Tac candies/mints/whatever were skinnier.

Anyone know the real story here?

I also mentioned this on Twitter. The Wikipedia page doesn’t currently state a difference in size, although there is a comment on the discussion page that claims they are 30% bigger in the USA.

Twitter Weekly Updates

adam — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:50:00 +0000

Java question: anyone ever run into a case where they had to use File.separatorChar ? In Java 6, I can use forward slashes on Win or Linux. #

Twitter Weekly Updates

adam — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:50:00 +0000

@vorburger great work! Thank you. Our new issue tracker rocks! in reply to vorburger #
chordii is now GPL thanks to Johan Vromans! http://tinyurl.com/yjlsfou #

Power adapters

adam — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:16:31 +0000

When you charge an iPhone, you can use a small white cube to convert 110V AC to whatever it is the iPhone needs. When you charge a laptop, you need a “power supply”–generally a much larger brick–to do something similar. Why?

Twitter Weekly Updates

adam — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:50:00 +0000

just discovered zipgrep #

Twitter Weekly Updates

adam — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:50:00 +0000

@charrett indeed! Are you volunteering with the Grameen Foundation? in reply to charrett #
@charrett sorry for the slow response time, we're in the middle of releasing version 1.4.0. We will reply to you soon. in reply to charrett #
@charrett ah, ok! Would you mind introducing yourself on the Mifos users mailing list and/or stopping by our IRC channel? in reply to charrett #
@charrett we could use help testing the Mifos v1.4.0 RC ( http://tinyurl.com/ycjtfmw ) #
@charrett sure! The Mifos v1.4.0 RC is now available for download at http://sf.net/projects/mifos in reply to charrett #
@tenderlove happy birthday, AP! It's good to hear noone took your birthday away. in reply to tenderlove #

Some plugins cause strange characters in WordPress posts

adam — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:26:00 +0000

This issue (characters like Â in posts) affected one of my WordPress blogs for about a year and a half. Converting the database entirely to UTF-8 didn’t help. Changing settings, collations, and waving chicken legs over my keyboard didn’t help. Turns out a plugin was the culprit: Textile 2 (Improved), version 2.1.

Once I disabled this plugin, the strange characters disappeared.

Twitter Weekly Updates

adam — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:50:00 +0000

FDA delays Mac shipment. FDA. Really? http://tinyurl.com/yg3oqn5 #
@charrett testing Mifos? Thank you!! in reply to charrett #
@charrett interesting. How so? in reply to charrett #

Googleplex at a Glance

adam — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:07:26 +0000

I’m having a great time at the Google Summer of Code 2009 mentor summit. The people are cool. The un-conference talks are fantastic: community building, mentoring, project hosting, etc. But this post isn’t about all that, this is about the Googleplex itself. Notables:

“microkitchens”: snacks, coffee, drinks, and a vending machine with prices based on nutritional value (corn nuts: 15 cents, candy bar 4 dollars)
volleyball, pool, massage chair, books, games
Toto washlet toilets
“refer a friend” promos every 20 feet
coding case studies in the toilet stalls