Rubenerd

My university emailed me with a feedback survey thing. These were my responses.

Subjects and class offerings

• Greater flexibility for class offerings would be a plus. Having to be at uni for an extra semester because a prerequisite course is only offered at certain times of year is a bummer.

• A broader range of Asia-Pacific countries for international studies would also be great; aka Singapore or Malaysia. Having grown up there, I know there are loads of opportunities for UTS students.

• My Subject Activities could be improved with mobile access being enabled, ESPECIALLY for the first week of each semester when we can’t remember our rooms and are trying to read and zoom into the tiny desktop UI font.

On fees

• A calendar or some other UI to show planned and expected projected fees would make budging far easier.

• I suppose “lower fees” would be beyond the scope of this?

• Being fined $250 for late enrolment is particularly steep, especially given a number of us were forced to for legitimate reasons, including ones the university was responsible for.

On exams

• Just like to say, I had a broken ankle during my last exams and was on crutches. The exam staff were extraordinarily wonderful and went out of their way to help me get to a table and reserve one close to the door for me. Couldn’t have asked for more.

• The exam timetable does seem a tad unfair. I understand it would be impossible to schedule everyone with enough space between exams, but regularly having two or three exams for roughly related subjects within a day of each other seemed excessive.

• Memory tests exams are an ineffective and outdated mode of testing knowledge, particularly in an IT field, though that’s probably also beyond the scope of this feedback survey.

On UTS Online services

• Blackboard Learn is horrible for UTS Online and needs to be replaced. Dr. Gordon Lingard and others used their own systems separate from Blackboard, and the result was subject information that’s easier to access and use.

• I figure the talent pool at UTS would be more than sufficient to develop a far better system.

With a sudden influx of uni work, my search for the ultimate second computer keyboard had taken a back seat. A most regrettable situation, given that very keyboard could have been used to do the aforementioned work!

Last week, the lovely proprietor of The Geekorium pointed me to this CoolerMaster keyboard, the QuickFire Cherry Blue Mech:

QuickFire TK takes the QuickFire Rapid and put it on steroids! Cherry Blue keys with blue LED illumination. Each keycap is UV coated to make it durable. There’s full LED backlighting with 3 modes and 5 brightness levels. NKRO over USB means every single keystroke will be registered. An embedded steel plate give you maximum stability and durability. 7 easy-access multimedia shortcut keys save time. A complete numpad lets you get work done while not gaming. The slim and lightweight size gives you plenty of room for your mouse. Great for LAN parties.

In a unique twist that I haven’t seen in a keyboard before, they incorporated the PigUp/PigDown and cursor keys into the numeric keypad. I’d mentioned previously I didn’t really need the latter keys, but its an interesting compromise.

Another feature I like is the slim chassis; really we don’t need anything more than this to cramp our desks. Well okay, I’d love to have a giant, hulking Unicomp Classic, but I’m also working with far less space.

The switches are Cherry MX Blues which I’ve heard good things about. Given I want to use this for the times of day where my buckling spring would be too loud though, I’m still on the lookout for either Browns or those elusive Clears. Their tactile bumps are supposed to offer similar feedback with less noise.

Overall an interesting keyboard, and may be right up your alley if you want those baby blues. Otherwise, the search continues!

Other posts in this series

• Topre Realforce
• WASD keyboard design fun
• The CODE keyboard
• My second workstation: Unicomp keyboards
• My Unicomp keyboard

We’re not religious, but Christmas and Easter were always times for big roast dinners with family. Mummy would go out of her way to set the table with ornate placemats, the best china, and enough candles to launch a hot air balloon.

This year, we celebrated with my dad, my sister Elke, her boyfriend, my girlfriend Clara and I. Good food, lots of smiles and silly banter.

This, this is what Elke and I missed. Happy long weekend everyone :”).

(Since June 2014 I’ve been a D-D-Debian guy, for the same reasons I’ve mentioned here).

There was a time when I ran the latest and greatest Linux distributions, such as Fedora. Most of the time, they worked. When they didn’t, they’d choose the most inopportune times to update my boot loader to something incompatible with my hardware, or mess with my desktop, or change settings without warning.

With less time to spend on such things today, I say goodbye to the bleeding edge and settle into the comfortable, reliable, dependable world of CentOS as my Linux desktop of choice. Given I deploy and maintain the OS (and RHEL) in VPSs and other installations, it also means one fewer OS I have to track. Red Hat now gives it their seal of approval. It ticks all the boxes.

For those playing at home, the title is a homage to the SimCity 3000 news ticker.

Recently, I’ve been helping an Adelaide friend move his blog content. Turns out, my idea of merging my disparate blogs into one wasn’t as silly an idea as he once thought. The novelty of being right for once still feels rather good, I’ll admit.

In a nutshell, we’d been trying various different options and came to some surprising conclusions.

Most notably, the blogging software (sorry, “platforms”) available has evolved quite substantially since the last time I looked at it seriously. I’ve been building my own site with Jekyll since moving off WordPress, but there are lots of other tools, and some familiar ones, that have changed. Or been improved. Or in some cases, regressed.

(For example, I had no idea the closed source then open source Movable Type is now closed source again. I’m willing to pay for quality software, but the three–figure prices are crazy).

Of the platforms that has improved, despite the Yahoo! factor, is Tumblr. Of all the publishing “platforms” one can use, its really become a powerful piece of kit and is arguably one of the easiest to use. Posts are simple to author, the themes are dead simple to write, and the results can be made to look just like a “real” blog.

I’m using a lot of “air quotes” here. Hey wait, do they count as “air quotes” if they’re actual quotes?

The primary concerns with Tumblr are its recent acquisition, and the fact there aren’t any “official” ways to import content to it. He’ll be attempting various tools, which he’ll have to report back to us on to see how he went.

I wrote in 2009 that I was giving up Tumblr because it had been:

[..] co-opted by a bunch of pretentious, nagging suburbanites posting, reposting, rereposting and rerereposing the same tired clichés about how their privileged lives are so hard, and how fabulous it is to preach non-conformance and independence from the mainstream… by advocating strict conformance to a disappointingly narrow subset of so-called “alternative” media.

Now, I have to admit, it looks rather enticing again. As a “platform”, mind. If I were starting a blog today, I’d seriously consider it.

Tumbleweed photo by Jez Arnold on Wikimedia Commons. Or specifically, “Tumbleweed Kali tragus (Syn. Salsola tragus)”

I’m not yet ready to move on from Firefox, but these are some useful extensions for my reliable backup browser of choice:

AdBlock

Does what you think. Also allows whitelisting of domains for sites with unobtrusive ads you want to support.

Disconnect

As I blogged about recently. Allows you to control, block and monitor various methods of tracking. Or you can just install and forget, and let it do its thing.

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CookieStumbler Basic

Allows for easy, fine grain control of tracking cookies. There’s also a paid version I’m seriously considering.

Add To Amazon Wish List

Why would I need advertising on this site when all you lovely people are more generous with your cups of coffee and wish list items than Google or any other advertising company ever was? :). This extension allows you add items on any page to your wishlist.

Other mentions

Open in Internet Explorer by Parallels

Useful for testing how badly IE breaks on sites you’re developing if you have your Parallels Windows VM open, though I wish Parallels would ask before installing it.

Of all the software and systems development methodologies I’ve been exposed to, I’m perhaps the biggest proponent of defensive programming. This includes exhaustive testing (I heard you like assertions), but in this context I’m referring specifically to code and system resiliency.

(I started writing this post taking about programming, but it applies just as much to systems design).

Is that a term? If its not, I mean allowing your code to survive even if used incorrectly. That’s the problem with software methodologies; they refer to concepts nerds use and finding a single, all–encompassing definition we can all agree on is like herding cats.

Is this what people tune in for?

I’ve heard the argument that you should allow your code to fail if used incorrectly, or inappropriately. If people use your class (or function, or whatever) in the wrong context with one wrong assumption, and you allow it to work, you’re setting up code further up the chain for a far larger explosion in the future.

While I appreciate where this is coming from, I think writing robust code that survives in the real world is something to aspire to. This doesn’t mean you can’t spam standard out, the console or warning logs for people to check out later; in fact I think that’s a given. And pragmatically, if people using your code are the kind that use functions inappropriately, they’ve got far bigger issues.

There are plenty more arguments in support of defensive programming. You’re not in control of the deployment environment, and it may be living on long after you’ve left. It encompasses good programming practice, which you should be doing anyway. It has a cool name. Do it.

I’ve included it in a few lists before, but I’ve never specifically discussed Disconnect. TL;DR it’s a wonderful extension for all the major browsers that lets you control and block some of the nefarious tracking that sites attempt to hoist onto you.

Started by a former DoubleClick engineer, Disconnect whitelists (or blacklists) sites you don’t want tracking you, either explicitely with cookies or analytics tools, or indirectly through social sharing buttons and advertising. The plugin installs a toolbar button which allows you to view the sources of blocked material at a glance.

Aside from remote tracking, Disconnect also provides a WiFi protection service which claims to route your traffic to prevent snooping. I haven’t had a chance to look into this further; specifically whether it prevents Firesheep style attacks on poorly designed sites some of us still have to log into. Additionally, I’d assume Disconnect would then be able to track you instead, much like any VPN provider. Still, if you trust Disconnect more than your free hotspot, it would make sense.

Perhaps its best feature is set and forget. I use NoScript on SeaMonkey and Firefox, so many of the tracking scripts Disconnect blocks are simply never loaded. If those extensions are too much work for you to maintain and use though, Disconnect may be the next best thing to protect yourself, and without any extra work on your part.

I’ve installed it on all my family’s computers, and have an urge to break into your house and install it on all yours as well. I suppose that introduces further privacy and security concerns though.

When I grew up in Singapore, I knew two things. That if I wanted some affordable computer hardware and software, I’d head to Funan Centre (then “Funan the IT Mall”, then “Funan DigitaLife Mall”). If I wanted really cheap computer components, I’d go to Sim Lim Square, and maybe Sim Lim Tower. Those places were full of tiny shops with more stock individually than an Australian Tandy would have. I spent more of my formative years surrounded by their walls than I care to admit.

Moving back to Sydney, I learned to live with high computer component prices. eBay and Gumtree didn’t have the instant gratification that buying parts at low prices from overcrowded, bustling marketplaces had, but they were acceptable.

On a whim, I needed a replacement Sandisk Extreme USB3 key, so I hit up StaticIce; that depressing site that reminds you just how overpriced stuff is in Australia. Among the retailers though were MSY, which Clara instantly recognised and demanded we pay a visit to in person. Sure enough, they have brick and mortar stores all around Australia, including a branch tucked away just behind UTS.

Walking in was like taking a step back home. Isles and isles and isles (and isles) of tall shelves with components. Display cases with routers and keyboards. That tiled carpet stuff with discarded packaging. A hardware nerd with an accumulating stack of boxes for PSUs, graphics card, storage, memory and cases. Aside from the long desk that separated customers from the shelves of goodness, you could have been transported into a more spacious Sim Lim Square store.

The staff were knowledgable and friendly, and their prices were very competitive. I won’t mention the well known chain of electronic stores, but suffice to say I got this memory key for almost a third less. And without the waiting time and shipping costs associated with eBay, it was even cheaper.

I get the feeling we’ll be making the pilgrimage back here many more times !

Happy Sunday. It’s been an incredibly busy few days, with plenty of fish to fry. Though given the choice, I’d rather bake.

In lieu of my own writing, I’ll be indulging briefly in the Simpsons-Clip-Show style of blogging so popular today. Have a lovely evening.

Heartbleed.com

I’ll be talking about this in the coming week, but for now this is a pretty solid review of the OpenSSL exploit all us sysadmins in the world are dealing with right now. Spare a thought!

Tony Abbott to consider ABC funding cuts

This despite his 2013 election promise of “no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS. In his defence, he did say he would be a no surprises prime minister.

David Pope on Malcolm Turnbull’s Technology Mix

Delicious depiction of Malcolm Turnbull’s alternative to the National Broadband Network in Australia. I’ve always said if a current government built the Sydney Harbour Bridge today, it would be two lanes wide and built as a “public-private partnership”.

「Forever」/「Y-K」のイラスト [pixiv]

The image at the top of this post. An apt title by this artist; I’ve been staring at it all evening.