Author Archives: jik

Tampermonkey script to un-Gmail Google Contacts

When you click on a contact’s email address in the Google Contacts web app, instead of opening a new draft in your default email app with the “To” field populated with that email address, which is what it should do, Google Contacts opens a Gmail compose window. I hate this behavior. While I do have… Read More »

Lessons learned from setting up a Linux desktop VM on a Windows 11 Home host

VirtualBox is more functional than Hyper-V Manager but much slower. There are a lot of tricks for getting this right. If you turn off Secure Boot you might permanently lock yourself out of Windows.

New Thunderbird extension: Addy.io / AnonAddy for Thunderbird

Now you can route your outbound emails through Addy.io and even generate new Addy.io aliases for that purpose without ever leaving Thunderbird.

Cutting ties with Google Ads

Ads from Google are too scammy and too intrusive. I should have turned them off long ago. Now I have. If you appreciate that, please consider kicking in a few bucks to make up for the lost revenue.

How to send a letter to Vanguard

You can send correspondence to Vanguard at P.O. Box 982901, El Paso, TX 79998-2901. Vanguard makes it hard on purpose to find this address.

My perfect potato latkes

I’m the potato latke maker in my family. I long ago stopped making them from a recipe; I just kind of wing it every time. However, given that we pretty much only make them on Chanukah, a year goes by between batches, and hard-earned lessons are forgotten. This blog posting is my attempt to capture… Read More »

FOSS of the day: Ansible module for editing CUPS configuration files

I recently got a new printer, and as I’ve tweaked the integration between my printer and the numerous Linux desktops and laptops in my house, I became frustrated by how time-consuming and error-prone it was to have to use the Printers section of the GNOME Settings app, or the Printer Settings app (a.k.a. system-config-printer) to… Read More »

Using Google Calendar to make it easy and free for people to schedule time with you outside your job

If you need people to be able to schedule meetings with you that don’t show up on your work calendar, this post’s for you.

Yet another night debugging email delivery problems

I’ve run my own mail server for 30+ years. It’s a pain sometimes, but I’m a stubborn old cuss and I think it’s worth it both because I value my privacy and don’t want my emails being stored on somebody else’s servers, and because I’m a sysadmin at heart and I love a good sysadmin… Read More »