UPDATED 9/4/2012: I accidentally had a hard-coded AWS_VOLUME_IDS setting in the script, which I inserted while debugging my own copy of the script and forgot to remove before posting the script here. I’ve removed it. D’oh! UPDATED 8/19/2012: The logic in my original script for determining which backups to preserve was incorrect. It is updated… Read More: My entry in the “nightly snapshot backups of EBS volumes”… »
At my current gig, we’re hosting our blog on Amazon EC2, at least until we have become so wildly successful that a single EC2 instance can’t keep up with our blog traffic. We wanted to make sure we wouldn’t lose our blog in case of an EC2 failure, so we configured our (Linux) blog instance… Read More: Yes, you CAN use attach a Linux EBS root volume… »
In 2008, I wrote about the Macular Degeneration Association (MDA), a questionable charity whose actual mission seemed to be more about lining the pockets of its founder and his cronies than about supporting macular degeneration research or people suffering with the disease. The charity doesn’t look any better now than it did then. Here’s an… Read More: What’s the Macular Degeneration Association up to nowadays? »
UPDATE [2013/01/08]: As of the recent Galaxy S III update to Jelly Bean (Android 4.1), most of the text below is obsolete. The connect-within-3-seconds limitation appears to no longer exist, and you can connect to and disconnect from the phone multiple times without unplugging and replugging it. I’ve tested mtpfs, go-mtpfs, and simple-mtpfs with my… Read More: Using the Samsung Galaxy S III with Linux »
I pre-ordered a Samsung Galaxy S III from Verizon Wireless a couple weeks before they started shipping. Between when I placed the pre-order and when they started shipping, I had to change my credit-card number, so the number that Verizon had was no longer valid. I didn’t realize that they hadn’t actually charged my card… Read More: Verizon Wireless left computer doesn’t know what the right computer… »
I bought a ThinkPad laptop from Lenovo recently. The actual laptop hardware is quite good… it feels solid and it has a nice screen, nice keyboard, good weight to performance ratio, good price to performance ratio, and great battery life. Alas, things were not so smooth after the laptop arrived. In fact, my post-purchase experience… Read More: Lenovo: ThinkPad laptops good, everything else awful »
Ken at Popehat reports on Pittsfield judge Bethzaida Sanabria-Vega ordering a local blogger not only to stop writing about the daughter of a local public official who was the perpetrator of a hit-and-run accident which nearly killed someone and got off virtually scott-free after the courts “lost” some of the paperwork related to her case,… Read More: Pittsfield judge orders local blogger to stop writing about the… »
UPDATE [2013-02-13]: According to this article on Craigslist, as of February 10, 2013, they have implemented and are testing the idea I described below for fixing the problem described in this posting. I recently placed a for-sale ad on Craigslist. I anonymized my email address in the ad, which means that the published email address… Read More: Craigslist email-reply scam and what Craigslist could do to fix… »
I recently sent a complaint to a compact fluorescent light bulb manufacturer about a bulb that was rated for 12,000 hours but lasted less than three years. Their response included this: “…remember that there are situations that can shorten the life of a CFL, such as using the bulb in a receptacle that is turned… Read More: Another reason why CFL bulbs should die a quick death »
Our house was built around 1886. It has never had a gut remodel, which means that much of what’s in the house is original, including most of the interior doors, doorknobs, and hardware. Unfortunately, this means that a lot of the knobs no longer turn, or they turn but the latches don’t move, or the… Read More: Fixing an antique doorknob and mortise latch set »