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time - 2018 Jul 01
I could not find code that I liked for timing how long we hold a button attached to a pi. I rolled my own. Probably not the fastest, or most elegant, but hopefully simple and useful.
I use this for a single button that will reboot or shutdown a pi depending on how long I hold the button. My first python script for some years but it works as intended.
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red sector a - 2018 Mar 03
I found this annoying message in my Raspberry Pi
/var/log/messages:Mar 3 06:10:01 raspberrypi3b rsyslogd-2007: action 'action 17' suspended, next retry is Sat Mar 3 06:11:31 2018 [try http://www.rsyslog.com/e/2007 ]More than one way to fix this and we can start here..
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don't walk away - 2018 Mar 02
I run a Raspberry Pi VPN router. I want it to reboot automatically when it looses the WAN connection, as it does from time to time.
There are a few ways to do this - this is a simple way. Thank you We Work We Play.
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constant motion - 2018 Feb 27
The itch: better formatted METAR and TAF in my phone browser. The scratch: a script to get weathers and format a web page that displays acceptably in my phone browser.
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the song remains the same - 2017 Jun 25
I used to custom build my own desktop computers. I built the last one in 2003. Recently I started to use the Raspberry Pi as a WiFi router and that got me thinking about building another desktop computer. I built a mediocre machine to get up to speed with the current technology and to keep the cost down.
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rolling the dice - 2017 Jun 06
I found Diceware a few months ago: I am a late starter!
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what becomes of the broken hearted - 2017 Apr 18
I have switched to using the DirectAdmin Web Hosting Control Panel on my server. I could understand it. I found WHM too expensive, VirtualMin too confusing, and the others too unmaintained (or not).
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Long Time Coming - 2016 Jun 22
Recently, I have been busy with things other than website and computing issues. I now have a little time to catch up with documenting what I did get round to doing.
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rawhide - xampp in mavericks - 2014 Apr 29
I have replaced my main computer - a late 2010 Air - with a late 2013 Mac Book Pro (recondition/return from an Apple Store). The Air SSD was now too small and I did not need the portability as much as I did. I updated the Mac Book Pro to Mavericks before I started loading on Applications and data.
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out and about - 2014 Feb 05
I had some time while on leave so I decided to update my web site so that it displays better on mobile devices.
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little texas shaker - 2013 Nov 17
I have finished my trip to Texas. After the FIRC I completed my renters checkouts on the Citabria at Anson Air. I then visited a number of familiar local airports to revise my light aircraft flying skills: with lunch at Brenham on one day.
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austin - 2013 Nov 09
I am in Austin, Texas at an AOPA Flight Instructor Refresher Clinic (FIRC). This time I drove rather than flew from the Houston area. The content is varied, interesting and well presented.
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mynt julep - 2013 Nov 08
So I decided to make some blog posts after a long while of no posts. mynt was was however exiting with an error:
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nanoc nanoc - 2012 Sep 15
After discovering mynt for blogging I continued looking for a site solution and decided that nanoc may be useful.
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fresh cream - 2012 Sep 14
So this is how I make my Creme Fraiche:
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mynt sauce - 2012 Sep 12
I am learning what I can do with mynt through the usual process of scratching itches. So far: theme, first page number of posts, date format, an all tags page.
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it's about time - 2012 Sep 11
I am now JAA/EASA Commercial, Multi-engine, Instrument, MCC, licensed and rated. I have a little free time so I have worked on my blog and will fix up the website a bit. I am using mynt to build this now static blog. The idea of a static blog became attractive and mynt proved to be a quick and easy solution.
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texas flyer - 2010 May 29
I am on Southwest 461, Houston Hobby to LAX. Later I will board EVA Air BR015 to Taipei, and later again on to Hong Kong. I completed my Seminole Multi-Engine Review Checkout last Monday at Anson Air, Sugarland (KSGR).
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flying high again - 2010 May 21
I’m on Southwest 368, San Diego to Houston, Hobby. It is 17:45 (California Time), and out of the window on my Left I can see Gillespie Field, KSEE; my base for the last week.
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pastime paradise - 2010 May 06
I tested xdmshutdown with Debian 5.0.4 today and it works as expected. I have updated the xdmshutdown page to show an example
/etc/X11/xdm/Xstartupfile. My minimal Debian install now includes Tk/TCL after anapt-get -u install tk. -
who needs information - 2010 May 04
With a few days spare and bored with killing Greeks and Macedonians in RTW Gold I have been experimenting more with programs that organize information. Thailand is more or less shut, my Philippine validations lapsed, so nowhere to fly.
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going to california - 2010 May 04
So it has been a while since I posted, but as usual, I have been busy. I’ll try and catch up.
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i'm going slightly mad - 2010 Feb 28
I am back from a flying trip to Thailand; and preparing for another one.
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signs of life - 2010 Feb 16
I noticed this article on the BBC News site.
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long way from home - 2010 Feb 15
Interesting few days. I watched Avatar again. I read The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice and Sustainability by Lierre Keith. I read Coming Home To The Pleistocene by Paul Shepard. I worked on getting my paperwork in order for adding a type rating to my FAA Commercial Pilot Certificate. My MacBookPro died!
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welcome to the machine - 2010 Feb 03
I was very aware two nights ago, riding between the ATC complex and our drop-off point, of being in a vast machine. Nothing I could see was natural. The artificial surface of an artificial island. The foundation for buildings and facilities to smooth the passage of some of the most complex machines ever built. My part: to lubricate and regulate the flow of people through this economic engine. This is so much at odds with how I think things should be.
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too tired - 2010 Feb 01
I am in Pattaya, Thailand having a relaxing day.
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wheels of confusion - 2009 Sep 27
I can boot and run my windows partition again. I have windows booting and running in VMware Fusion. I lost a whole day getting there and I could not have done it without Winclone. I take back up images of my Boot Camp partition from time to time. I had one from just before I tried to upgrade Parallels from 3 to 4. I thought that version 4 was now stable but I was so wrong.
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cursed - parallels 4 - 2009 Sep 26
I upgraded Parallels 3 to the accursed Parallels 4 today. I am obviously short on brains and long on action.
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angel eyes - 2009 Sep 24
I am back from another trip to Angeles City. This time for one day of flying instead of two: cut short because of the weather and an extra day of work.
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a trip to buri ram - 2009 Sep 15
This trip progressed a little differently than normal. We only flew on one day rather than two. On the first day we went to Buri Ram (VTUO) in HSAWS: my first trip there.
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xanadu - 2009 Sep 07
I’m busy dragging my boats on shore and setting fire to them: a natural reaction.
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starship trooper - 2009 Aug 29
Starship Trooper is a brilliant song by Yes. Starship Troopers is a very good and thought provoking Science Fiction book by Robert A Heinlein.
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life in the fast lane - 2009 Aug 29
Dave and I flew HSAWS up to Chaing Mai from Bang Phra earlier this week. This was my first flight without Tony in the right-hand seat. The Thailand DCA issued an amendment to the 5 year permit for HSAWS allowing either Dave or I to fly solo PIC.
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alone again (naturally) - 2009 Aug 29
Wednesday was not a good day: ‘nuff said!
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thailand 2009-08-24 - 2009 Aug 24
I am back in Pattaya preparing to break the fast and then drive to Bang Phra.
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the city of angeles - 2009 Aug 15
I am in Angeles City to do some flying out of Clark Omni in a Piper Seneca I. My first and only flight yesterday lasted as long as it took to confirm the malfunction, run the emergency checklist, decide how to proceed, and land. All of that still took an thirty minutes. I deliberately took my time so as not to rush things. The gear would not retract. I had three greens, red gear unsafe light, gear warning horn, one in the mirror on each of five attempts to retract the undercarriage.
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back in hong kong - 2009 Aug 14
I returned to Hong Kong and and work about two weeks ago.
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neil in the land of smiles - 2009 Jul 24
I am back in Thailand, this time with my son. The weather looks good and we have a C172 booked for most of Saturday and Sunday. Hope to fly.
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virtualbox and dns - 2009 Jul 22
I think that my problems with virtualbox networking have to do with both OS X and the way that VirtualBox handles NAT in the virtual machine. I seems that if the DNS entries on the host change then the DNS settings in the guest do not change. I often rotate through four different network connections during the day: home, 3G usb modem, cafe, work. Each will have different DNS settings.
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virtual world - 2009 Jul 17
I’ve been playing with virtual machines in OS X and my experiences have not been at all good.
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twelve years on - 2009 Jul 05
It has been a long time since my last post: and I have been busy. I still work as an Air Traffic Controller at Hong Kong. It has been twelve years since I arrived in Hong Kong on 4 July, 1997.
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the cat who walks through walls - 2009 Feb 25
I love reading this book, funny, intriguing, and full of quotes. I cannot remember reading it before; and I can’t think of any good reason for leaving it until now.
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dance on a volcano - 2008 Dec 18
Last week I went to the Philippines for the first time. I stayed in Angeles City and visited Omni Aviation next to Clarke International (RPLL). Circumstances have worked against me recently but despite license delays and civil unrest in Thailand I piloted an aircraft again. I logged 2.2 hours in a C172M:
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smooth operator - 2008 Nov 10
My Coconut smoothie recipe:
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good calories, bad calories - 2008 Nov 10
If you only read one book in your lifetime, read Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease, by Gary Taubes. This meticulously researched book takes the prevailing low fat diet recommendations apart bit by bit. Rather than present a full review of this book I am simply going to recommend it.
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time to see - 2008 Oct 22
When I fly a non precision approach and use time to determine the Missed Approach Point I can get or interpolate the time from the FAF(Final Approach Fix) to MAP(Missed Approach Point) from an Approach Chart. Many charts do not however give me any information about the time from the FAF (Final Approach Fix) to my VDP (Visual Descent Point) (or time to see). The time to the MAP (Missed Approach Point) along with the MDA (Minimum Descent Altitude) protect me from obstacles for that portion of the approach.
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more unix filters - 2008 Oct 16
I’ve built some more unix filters for Text Wrangler, each quite simple but useful.
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time to fly - 2008 Oct 15
My updated Canadian CPL arrived a couple of days ago. The license now includes my multi-engine and Class 1 instrument ratings. I’ll try to get back to Canada (Pro IFR at Boundary Bay) sometime in the next two months to do some multi-IR hours building. I do need to keep my multi IR skills current.
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traveling in style - 2008 Oct 06
When I write I try to check the readability of my work. I use GNU style for this task. Style analyses a document, including sentence length and other readability measures. It comes with the program diction that identifies wordy and commonly misused phrases.
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chyrp modules work after all - 2008 Oct 05
I asked a question about my chyrp module problem on the chyrp community forum and got some prompt and helpful replies.
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any colour you like - 2008 Oct 05
I wanted different colors and fonts for the stardust theme in chyrp.
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many rivers to cross - 2008 Oct 04
I might have titled this the long and winding road: to this weblog and the first revision to my website for some years.