One of the many pleasures of living in Cape Town is the abundance of walks. I’ve lived here all my life, and would like to think I’ve explored all of the possible walks in the vicinity, but I know that’s not nearly the case, and I always enjoy new discoveries. Today I explored a new… Continue reading Untitled
Password protected PDF’s on Linux
I’m feeling absolutely exhausted today, after a night of looking after Dorje. It’s not that he stays up all night screaming, rather that I sleep very lightly when I’m looking after him, and don’t go to sleep easily once I am awake. Normally I sleep very deeply, but when I’m awake I’m awake. With Dorje… Continue reading Password protected PDF’s on Linux
b2evolution exploited
After the excitement of my first comment spam back in December, today has been even more exciting! My blog was exploited, the skin wiped out, and posts redirected to a gay porn site. Looks like it’s a new exploit, as the b2evolution site itself has lost its skin, though I didn’t see anything redirecting to… Continue reading b2evolution exploited
My first familiar?
Had an interesting encounter with a red-winged starling today. While on the back deck, doing some tai chi, a starling whizzed past my hair, and landed about a metre from me, watching me. I tried to continue but the cat went for it. After tai chi’ing the cat off the deck, the bird was still… Continue reading My first familiar?
The startup guy
I found a post on Jeremy Zawodny’s blog the other day particularly interesting. Jeremy hardly ever writes about MySQL these days, much like me, but I still tend to read him out of habit. Perhaps, like the Sims, it’s because the mundane (such as fixing a leak) can still be amazingly interesting. An applicant for… Continue reading The startup guy
Wedding bells
No, not mine 🙂 I attended a friend’s wedding on Saturday. I’ve known the friend since school (which I left not long enough ago to purge the accursed experience from my memory, in 1988), but we have quite different (putting it mildly) religious viewpoints. The wedding was fun, as far as wedding’s go, what with… Continue reading Wedding bells
The Perfect Storm
Cape Town has been bone dry recently. I have about as waterwise a garden as you can get, the back garden being a fynbos-covered hill. However, with last year’s dry winter, and the hot summer, even established plants have been dying (if I could find the cable for my digital camera I’d show you lots… Continue reading The Perfect Storm
Richard Heinberg talk on Peak Oil
Richard Heinberg will be in Cape Town, talking about ‘Peak Oil’. He’s been invited by SANE, and will be talking in Rondebosch on May 7. Full press release below. Richard Heinberg will speak on Oil, the Environment, the Economy, and Avoiding Catastrophe The South African New Economics Network (SANE) has taken the initiative of inviting… Continue reading Richard Heinberg talk on Peak Oil
Linux now more popular than Windows 95!
I’ve said for a while that Linux cannot possibly claim to have made it (whatever that means) as a desktop OS until more people are using it than Windows 95. Looking at IOL’s technical user statistics as broadly representative of the South African market, December saw 0.7% of our readers using Windows 95 against 0.54%… Continue reading Linux now more popular than Windows 95!
Oil highs and the demise of the suburbs
The oil price, in dollar terms, has hit a record high. The main driving force behind the rise seems to be supply shortages. It’s inevitable that shortages will continue to worsen, as oil is a commodity in short supply, and the remaining supplies are more and more difficult to extract. Rapidly increasing demand from China… Continue reading Oil highs and the demise of the suburbs