Mitch Fournier

A simple jQuery Mobile page for organizing weekly workouts

admin — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 06:05:51 +0000

My weekly fitness regimen is pretty simple. I do a little bit of resistance training every day with a couple days of high intensity interval training (HIIT) thrown in.

To complement my training, I fast (Leangains-style) five days a week from 9 pm to 1 pm the next day and I fast (Eat-Stop-Eat-style) from 9 pm to 9 pm on the other two. I’m a huge fan of intermittent fasting for both its health benefits and for long-term weight management.

Although mine is a dead simple program, I still need reminders of which exercise to do, with which weights and on which days. I always have my iPhone with me, so I chose to use the excellent jQuery Mobile framework to create a simple touch-enabled mobile page to act as my personal fitness reference.

My jQuery Mobile site (Try it, it works)

My jQuery Mobile HTML code




Daily Exercises














Daily Exercise



Monday(HIIT & Legs)
Tuesday(Chest & Triceps)
Wednesday(Back & Biceps)
Thursday(HIIT & Legs)
Friday(Chest, Back & Core)
Saturday(Shoulders & Biceps)
Sunday(Chest, Back & Core)




Rules & Goals







HIIT & Legs
Back



HIIT
Treadmill
Outside
Legs
100 Squats(100x - Body)
-or-
Split Squats(25x - 5 lbs)
Switch Squats(25x - Body)
Deadlift Squats(25x - Body)
Wall Squats(60s - 5 lbs)







Chest & Triceps
Back



Set 1
Decline Push-Ups(20x, Body)
Table Dips(20x, Body)
Set 2
Military Push-Ups(20x, Body)
Tricep Extend(15x, Burg)
Set 3
Alt Push-Ups(20x, Body)
Stool Dips(15x, Body)
Set 4
Wide Push-Ups(20x, Body)
Sphinx Push-Ups(15x, Burg)
Set 5
Push-Ups(Max, Body)
Kick Backs(25x, Burg)







Back & Biceps
Back



Set 1
Narrow Pull-Ups(10x, Body)
Out Curls(15x, 25 lbs)
Set 2
Heavy Pants(15x, 3-Band)
7-7-7 Curls(15x, 25 lbs)
Set 3
Wide Pull-Ups(10x, Body)
Static Curls(8x, 25 lbs)
Set 4
Lawnmowers(15x, 3-Band)
Normal Curls(15x, 25 lbs)
Set 5
Chin-Ups(Max, Body)
Hammer Curls(15x, 25 lbs)







HIIT & Legs
Back



HIIT
Treadmill
Outside
Legs
100 Squats(100x - Body)
-or-
80/20 Speed Squats(25x - Body)
Step-Back Lunges(25x - 5 lbs)
Deadlift Squats(25x - Body)
Wall Squats(60s - 5 lbs)







Chest, Back & Core
Back



Chest
Max Push-Ups(max x 2)
Back
Max Pull-Ups(max x 2)
Core
Ab Ripper
Superman(10s x 5)







Shoulder & Biceps
Back



Set 1
Military Press(15x, Burg)
Out Curls(15x, 25 lbs)
Set 2
Scarecrow + Y(15x, Red)
7-7-7 Curls(15x, 25 lbs)
Set 3
Pike Press(20x, Body)
Static Curls(8x, 25 lbs)
Set 4
In & Out(15x, Red)
Normal Curls(15x, 25 lbs)
Set 5
Row + Y(15x, Red)
Hammer Curls(15x, 25 lbs)







HIIT Treadmill
Back



Warmup
Fast Walk3 mph - 8%
Fast Walk3 mph - 12%
Intervals (x6)
Sprint8 mph - 12%
Fast Walk3 mph - 12%
Fast Walk3 mph - 12%
Cooldown
Fast Walk3 mph - 12%
Fast Walk3 mph - 8%







HIIT - Outside
Back



Warmup
Light Jog5 min
Light Run2 min
Intervals (x6)
Sprint30 sec
Walk60 sec
Cooldown
Walk Home? min







RULES & GOALS
Back



Rules
5 x Fast 16/89pm-1pm, 1,800
2 x Fast 24/09pm-9pm, 500
Train Fasted12pm or 8pm
During: BCAAs10g
During: Creatine5g
After: High Protein120g/day
After: Largest Meal750 cals
Goals
150 lbs Lean170 lbs total
Food Discipline
Weight Maintained







Ab Ripper
Back



Crunches(x20)
Leg Lifts(x20)
Bicycles(x20)
In & Out (V)(x20)
L/R Crunches(2x20)
Hip Rock & Raise(x20)
V-Up Roll-Up(x20)
L/R Oblique V-Up(2x20)
Crunchy Frog(x20)
Mason Twist(x50)

Right now the entire site is a single, static HTML page. In the future, I will split it up into separate pages and make them dynamic, probably powered by my favorite framework, Django. Please feel free to copy and modify this code for your own use.

Edit your remote HTML files directly with WinSCP

admin — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 03:33:47 +0000

I have a handful of small, mostly-static, mostly for me, utility websites running on a Dreamhost shared server. There is no application framework or complex server environment to mess with, little user traffic besides what I send and no need for a heavy deploy process.

For these sites, I often want to edit HTML, JS and CSS files directly on the server instead of editing them locally and pushing them live. One step is better than two, I say.

Sure, I could SSH in and edit my files directly with vi, and I often do that. Call me crazy, but sometimes I like using a mouse and GUI to edit my files. For those times, I use a program called WinSCP.

WinSCP is an “open source free SFTP client, SCP client, FTPS client and FTP client for Windows. Its main function is file transfer between a local and a remote computer. Beyond this, WinSCP offers scripting and basic file manager functionality.”

To use WinSCP:

Download and install WinSCP
Open the app, create a “New” connection to your server, and login
In the right-hand panel, double-click the file to edit
Make you changes and save
Watch the WinSCP window and you’ll see your local cached copy replace your remote one

Out of the box, WinSCP will use its default, built-in editor for all file editing.

To use your own apps for editing:

In WinSCP: select “Options” > “Preferences…” > “Editors”
Click “Add …”
Select “External editor:” (e.g. “Notepad++”)
Set the extensions for this app to open (e.g. “*.html,*.txt”)
Click “OK”

Now when you right-click a file in the right window and select “Open” it will open in the application that you selected. Note: for some reason double-clicking still opens it in the internal editor.

When you edit your file in your external editor and hit save, it will be automatically changed on the remote server. Very hand for a quick set of changes to a static HTML page.

Install a command-line Spotify client on a headless Raspberry Pi

admin — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 02:18:52 +0000

My Raspberry Pi Model B Revision 2.0 (512MB) came this week, and like many people I opened it up, plugged it in, got it networked, configured it, got to a command prompt and said “hmmmm, now what?”

I love music and decided that getting Spotify running on my headless RasPi would be a fun first project. There are decent nuggets of information out there, but below is a simple, aggregated step-by-step guide to getting Spotify running on your headless Raspberry Pi’s command line.

NB: I believe that you will need to be a Premium Spotify subscriber for this to work. Just get it, it’s so worth it.

Part One: Install Despotify

Spotify has an unofficial “Spotify for Linux” release, but it is GUI-based and I am running my RPi headless and connecting exclusively via SSH, so that doesn’t work for me. Plus, I couldn’t get it to install on the ARM-based Pi.

After a little searching, I found a popular open source, command-line Spotify client called Despotify. Installing it was surprisingly easy:

sudo apt-get install libao-dev libtool git libssl-dev libmpg123-dev libvorbis-dev libncursesw5-dev subversion
svn co https://despotify.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/despotify despotify
cd despotify/src/
make
sudo make install

Part Two: Control Spotify from the Command Line

After installing, there are three ways to use Despotify:

“despotify-simple”: a simple command-line client
“despotify”: a pine/vi looking interface
“despotify-gateway”: a backend HTTP REST API which can respond to frontend HTTP requests

Using despotify-simple

Plug a speaker into the audio out of your RPi
run: despotify-simple (protip: lead with a space to keep this command and you password out of your history and process list)
type: search tonight the streets richard hawley
type: play 1

Part Three: How to set your Raspberry Pi’s Volume Levels

The program amixer is a command-line mixer for the ALSA soundcard driver which will allow you to control the volume level of the speaker connected to your Raspberry Pi.

For one-off volume setting, type:
amixer cset numid=1 -- 60% (H/T Linus)

Change the volume by changing the last number. I’ve found that, for my RPi and mini speaker, 50% is effectively equal to a volume of 0 and 100% is 10. I made a simple little bash script to help me quickly set the volume levels (H/T to jerryjvl for his StackOverflow answer detailing a usable conversion algorithm).

The bash script:

#!/bin/bash
#
# Set the volume of the connected speaker using a program
# called "amixer". Standard usage: amixer cset numid=1 -- 60%
# Ranges between 50% and 100% correspond to abstracted
# volume levels 0 and 10. This script does that conversion
# and hides the amixer implementation.
#
# Usage: vol 5

MyMax=10
MyMin=0
RealMax=100
RealMin=50
let MyRange=${MyMax}-${MyMin}
let RealRange=${RealMax}-${RealMin}

MyVol=$1
# MARTY: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten
#        be the top number and make that a little louder?
# NIGEL: [pause] These go to eleven.
if [ ${MyVol} -gt 11 ]
then
MyVol=11
fi

# This is what I want, but bash no likey parens:
# RealVol=(((${MyVol}-${MyMin})*${RealRange})/${MyRange})+${RealMin}
let a=${MyVol}-${MyMin}
let b=${a}*${RealRange}
let c=${b}/${MyRange}
let d=${c}+${RealMin}

echo "vol ${1} is ${d}% to amixer..."
amixer -q cset numid=1 -- ${d}%

A little helper function to tuck in .bash_aliases

function vol() {
~/SCRIPTS/set_volume.sh "$@";
}

The bash script and helper function allow you to set your speaker volume in a more intuitive way by typing commands like vol 2 or vol 10 at the command line. That’s all there is, now you can use your Raspberry Pi as an interface to your home entertainment or in-house speaker systems. Pretty nice.

Have an interesting first Raspberry Pi project you want to share?

Send me a link or leave it in the comments and I will link to it from this post. Happy hacking!

22 foods to prevent Alzheimer’s: The good, the bad and the ugly

admin — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 02:46:05 +0000

I’ve recently had to do a lot of research for a close friend to help pinpoint what foods promote overall brain health. Specifically, I’ve been searching for foods which prevent, slow or even reverse the progress of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Of the “brain-healthy” foods that experts have agreed upon, there is a common characteristic: each food is typically either high in omega-3 fatty acids, choline, flavanoids or other powerful antioxidants which help reduce inflammation. Each of these characteristics support brain health as well as having many other health benefits.

Systemic inflammation is very bad for your health and is believed to be one of the leading causes of Alzheimer’s. We should generally make food choices which, on balance, promote an anti-inflammatory response.

After scouring the Internet and my favorite food book, below is my compiled list of foods that are believed to have the greatest brain benefit. If there is a page numbers in parenthesis next to the food, it is a reference to the page in “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth”, a book which I frequently reference when assessing the quality of a particular food.

At the end of this post is a fold-up, credit-card sized image which I made and which can be printed and carried as a reference.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and I don’t even play one on TV. I do not recommend that you change your diet without first discussing it in detail with your own doctor. That being said, I encourage you to have that conversation and take full control of your food choices.

Foods which help prevent, slow or reverse Alzheimer’s and Dementia

Green Tea (p267) – Good source of the flavanol catechins, antioxidants which lower inflammation, and polyphenols like EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) which may help with diseases like Alzheimer’s. (available in bulk on Amazon)
Blueberries (p101, p164) – A powerful, natural antioxidant. Helps brain neurons communicate better. “The best brain food! Just 1/2 cup per day will keep your brain young — they have been shown to actually reverse some brain deterioration.”
Organic Raisins (p136) – Contain the flavonoid myricetin, an antioxidant. May inhibit beta-amyloid fibril formation, a key problem with Alzheimer’s disease. (available in bulk on Amazon)
Dark Chocolate or Pure Cocoa Powder (The Conscious Life) – Contains flavonols (a type of flavanoid) an antioxidant which protects your body from daily oxidative stress, increases cerebral blood flow, lowers blood pressure and prevent damage from strokes. Milk chocolate doesn’t cut it, it must be dark chocolate with a cocoa percentage above 70% (available in bulk on Amazon)
Cherries (The Conscious Life) – Contains the antioxidant anthocyanins which is anti-inflammatory.
Apples (The Conscious Life) – The apple skin contains quercetin which may protect the brain from Alzheimer’s.
Whole Eggs (p192) – One of the best sources of choline which is essential for brain function. Choline helps synthesize acetylcholine which is critical for memory and thought.
Wild Salmon – One of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA). Critical: must be wild-caught and not farm-raised. (available canned and in bulk on Amazon)
Sardines (p211) – High concentration of omega-3 fatty acids. Because they are low on the food chain there is less risk of mercury contamination. (available canned and in bulk on Amazon)
Seafood (p204) – Provides omega-3 fatty acids, choline, iron and iodine which are important for brain health.
Fish Oil (WebMD) – Eating fish like salmon is better, but short of that take fish oil. Good source of anti-inflamatory omega-3 fatty acids (available on Amazon)
Walnuts (p162) – Nutrient dense and the highest nut source of omega-3 fatty acids (ALA). Also have polyphenols, protein, fiber, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and manganese. (available in bulk on Amazon)
Flaxseed (p72, p274) – A great plant-based source of the omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) (available in bulk on Amazon)
Rosemary (p289) – Prevents breakdown of acetylcholine, an important chemical in the brain needed for memory and healthy brain function. Similar to the Alzheimer’s drug Aricept. (available on Amazon)
Turmeric (The Conscious Life) – Is anti-inflammatory and contains curcumin which may be able to remove the Alzheimer’s plaque from the brain (available on Amazon)
Fresh Vegetable Juice (p255) – Antioxidants and anti-inflammatories which may prevent dementia, brain aging and Alzheimer’s
Fresh Vegetables (p255) – Antioxidants, anti-inflammatories which may prevent dementia, brain aging and Alzheimer’s. Also have fiber and many important vitamins like A, C and E.
Asparagus (The Conscious Life) - A great source of folate. A recent study found that people who were folate deficient were 3.5 times more likely to develop dementia.
Pomegranates (p246) – High in antioxidants and helps prevent fatty deposits from forming.
Coconut Oil (Mercola) – Provides ketone bodies as an alternative fuel for the glucose-starved brain.
Red Wine (The Conscious Life) – Contains flavanoids and resveratrol which increase cerebral blood flow. No more than a glass a day.
Grape Juice (Medical News Today) – Similar benefits as red wine. 100% natural grape juice may lower or delay onset of dementia.

Foods that promote bad health

Trans Fats – Found in packed baked and frozen goods, margarine, vegetable shortening, donuts, fried foods, chips, candy, pie crusts, muffins, pre-mixed cake and pancake mix, chicken nuggets.
Partially Hydrogenated Oils – That’s just another name for “trans fat“
Saturated Fats – Some in meat is OK, if in packaged product it is not OK
Red Meat – This is a bit controversial. Many would say lean read meats are healthy, whereas others would point to studies that show a strong correlation between red meat consumption and numerous diseases. I think the prudent choice is to limit red meat and opt for salmon or chicken when you can.
Sugar – Sugar may be the most loved and over-consumed ”toxin” on the planet.
White Flour and Enriched Pasta - Highly processed and refined, most white carbs have had their fiber and nutrient-rich outer layer stripped away and have to have vitamins and minerals added back in to “enrich” the product. Most refined carbs are absorbed too quickly by the body, which quickly increases blood sugar and triggers insulin release. You are better off keeping the natural fiber and nutrients with the “whole grain” and eating brown rice and whole wheat flours and pastas. (Read more at WebMD: “The Truth About White Foods“)
White Rice – “White rice is a whole rice grain that has been polished until just the endosperm — essentially an easily digestible starch bomb — is left. Not surprisingly, recent studies have shown that eating white rice can raise blood glucose significantly, especially if eaten often or in large quantities. One study showed an 11% increase in diabetes risk with each daily serving of white rice. If you love rice with your stir-fries, switch to brown rice. Your blood sugar will thank you.” (From RealAge: “10 Worst Foods for Your Blood Sugar“)

In general, you can avoid many of the “bad foods” above by avoiding fast food, fried foods, packaged foods and processed food.

My specific “brain saving” rules for preventing Alzheimer’s

I took these from an email I recently sent to a friend.

Only eat between noon and 8 pm. Every day, stop eating at 8 pm, don’t start again until noon the next day. Coffee and tea are OK anytime. Don’t overcompensate during your eating window, just eat normally. The longer you can go without eating, the better. There is a lot of research which says that Intermittent fasting protects the brain from disease and allows the body time for autophagy or self-repair. (See samples of the research here, here, here, here)
Every day at lunch have one of these (or similar):
- LUNCH OPTION 1: Rosemary or turmeric spiced salmon sandwich with spinach on whole wheat toast (you can buy salmon in a can like tuna-fish mix with some rosemary or turmeric and spread on bread with some spinach leaves).
- LUNCH OPTION 2: Rosemary or turmeric spiced egg omelet with flaxseed, red onions, peppers, mushrooms a little cheese and any other veggies you want to throw in.
- LUNCH OPTION 3: A green salad with apples or blueberries, veggies, shrimp, chicken or salmon, flaxseed and a vinagrette dressing. Go easy on the croutons and cheese, but you can put a little on for interest. Skip the bacon bits.
- DRINK: green tea, grape or vegetable juice
Every day have a snack box of raisins
Every day have at least one cup of blueberries, the more the better
Every day have one small handful of walnuts
Every day take a multivitamin, two fish oil tablets and 2000 IU of vitamin D3
Mix ground flaxseed in everything you can tolerate
For every appropriate dish (stews, chili, beans, even hamburgers) sprinkle on some turmeric
Do the same with rosemary, but favor the super-spice turmeric
Every day have one 1-ounce square of dark chocolate (60% cocoa or higher…the higher the better)
Try for one item of seafood per day (salmon, sardines, anchovies, shrimp, clams)
Avoid the whites (white bread, white rice, white sugar, white pasta)

Alzheimer prevention: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

This is a printable cheat-sheet I made for my friend to carry around. It is specifically targeted towards foods and activities which help prevent or slow the progress of Alzheimer’s.

Printable cards of good, bad and ugly foods to prevent Alzheimer’s

When in doubt, just remember this:

If it IS a plant: EAT IT
If it was MADE IN a plant: DON’T

In London? See some Banksy for £7.20.

admin — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 06:19:37 +0000

I recently visited London for a one week vacation with my wife. The first couple of days we did the typical tourist sites: The Tower of London, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, the excellent Churchill Museum and War Rooms, and the wonderfully eclectic Victoria and Albert Museum.

Having seen Banksy’s fascinating movie “Exit Through The Gift Shop“, I made it a priority to hunt down some of his street art. Sitting in my hotel room with a laptop on my knees, I hatched a plan to see the pieces detailed below.

Many of his works have been removed or destroyed, but there are still a handful that remain, mostly protected by perspex (a.k.a. plexiglass).

This site of top current Banksy locations was invaluable to me as I planned my day:

View London Banksy locations in a larger map

1. Banksy: “Choose Your Weapon”

Nearest tube: Borough on the Bank branch of the Northern line (0.9 miles west of site)
Art location: Corner of The Grange and Grange Road

“Choose Your Weapon” was the first Banksy image I targeted. As I walked about, I wasn’t sure exactly where on The Grange it was located and in what condition it would be in if I found it. Having never seen a live Banksy, I didn’t know if it would be on the back wall or inaccessible place of one of the apartment complexes I passed.

Of course, I approached on the wrong end of The Grange and had to suffer the full distance before finally discovering it. Probably because of my uncertainty and confusion, it was truly stunning to run across on the street. In fact, of the four Banksy’s I saw, I enjoyed it the most.

I love the contrast between the flat, abstract dog and the beautifully rendered man and chain. I find it remarkable that the man’s hoodie can have so much volume and detail, all via a stencil and a spray can. Amazing.

Full Image:

Detail 1:

Look how beautifully that chain is rendered (click image for a larger view). Hard to believe it is done with stencil and spray paint.

Detail 2:

Full Site:

Walking Map from Nearest Tube:

View Larger Map

2. Banksy: “If Graffiti Changed Anything”

Nearest tube: Great Portland Street on the Hammersmith & City, Circle and Metropolitan lines (0.3 miles north of site)
Art location: Corner of Clipstone Street and Cleveland Street

Once again, I approached this piece from the wrong end of the street, and once again, I wasn’t sure if I would even find it or if it was still there. However, as with “Choose Your Weapon” I was hit with a bit of joy when I finally spotted it on the wall across the street. It was nice to see my first Banksy rat.

Like “Choose Your Weapon” this one is protected by perspex.

Full Image:

Detail:

Have you ever looked at a rat and said, “beautiful”?

Full Site:

Walking Map from Nearest Tube:

View Larger Map

3. Banksy: “Falling Shopper”

Nearest tube: Oxford Circus on the Central, Victoria and Bakerloo lines (0.4 miles north of site)
Art location: On the Bruton Street side of Bruton Lane, about 20 feet up

“Falling Shopper” was the only Banksy I saw which wasn’t protected by perspex. That’s because it was painted about 20 feet above street level on the side of a building. It is located in a part of London with a high density of upscale shops, certainly on purpose.

Full Image:

I love the soft, subtle shadow under the girl and shopping cart which pops it off the wall.

Full Site:

Walking Map from Nearest Tube:

View Larger Map

4. Banksy: “Graffiti Painter”

Nearest tube: Ladbroke Grove on the City and Hammersmith & City lines (0.2 miles west of site)
Art location: Corner of Cambridge Gardens and Portobello Road

“Graffiti Painter” was the last Banksy image I found and was my second favorite of the bunch. I love the contrast of the traditional graffiti tag with the classic Banksy stencil-rendered man carefully painting that tag: clever and beautiful.

This one had the added drama of the “Robbo” over-tag. See the abbreviated story of Banksy and Robbo on Banksy’s site here and a Robbo-centric side of the story in the TV documentary, “Graffiti Wars“.

While you are in the Notting Hill area, check out the close-by and fun Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising. It will put you in the proper mood to receive the advert-hating Banksy.

Full Image:

Detail 1:

Detail 2:

Full Site:

A Little Team Robbo (seen on my walk to “Graffiti Painter”):

Walking Map from Nearest Tube:

View Larger Map

My Banksy-day was a small but enjoyable introduction to the London street art scene for the low, low price of a £7.20 all-day tube pass. Whether you love Banksy or hate him, you’ve got to respect the man’s mastery of cardboard, an x-acto blade and a spray can.

I came to London a fan of Banksy and his work. I left an even bigger one.

P.S. If you are on Instagram, follow @ST_ART_LDN for a wider look at the London street art scene. Some more of my pix are there at my account: @mitchf

How to download the jQuery Mobile documentation for offline viewing

admin — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:14:45 +0000

Download the jQuery Mobile documentation for offline use.

Recently I was heading off on a long airplane trip and, because SeatGuru said I would have power at my seat, I was planning to do some tinkering with jQuery Mobile.

Having power at your seat is one thing, but having a WiFi connection is another. In anticipation of having no connectivity, I sought ways to download the full jQuery Mobile documentation.

In the past, I’ve successfully used a Windows program called HTTrack for spidering and downloading any webpage. Not finding or liking any of the Mac alternatives, I Googled further and found this simple solution.

For stable releases of jQuery Mobile, the zipped documentation archive will be at: http://code.jquery.com/mobile/VERSION/jquery.mobile-VERSION.docs.zip

In my case, this is the link I needed: http://code.jquery.com/mobile/1.3.0/jquery.mobile-1.3.0.docs.zip

It was a beautiful thing to type the above URL into my location bar and see the download start. If you plan to do some offline work yourself, make sure and grab the zipped docs as well as the required jQuery and jQuery Mobile libraries and CSS files. For me, they are located here:

If you have trouble viewing the docs in your Chrome browser (e.g. linking between pages doesn’t work), you can run a dead-simple Python web server on your laptop to serve them up. It’s a two-step process which will take you upwards of 30 seconds:

Open a terminal window and browse to the root of your downloaded and uncompressed jQuery docs
Run this command: python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8080

Go to http://localhost:8080 to see the docs.

H/T to eddiemonge over at this github thread for pointing out the docs download trick and to Andy Davies for the simple Python webserver tip.

A Bash Script for Quick Whois Queries

admin — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 14:03:36 +0000

How many whois searches do you do in a year? A dozen? A dozen dozen? More? For me, it’s probably in the neighborhood of a few dozen dozen.

It seems like there is always a fun new project to work on and, sadly, it’s becoming nearly impossible to find good domain names.

Recently I was looking for a suitable LLC name for a company to hold all my projects. As my wife shouted out name candidates, I found myself repeating paired whois plural/singular queries like:

whois hilltoplab.com
whois hilltoplabs.com
whois hilltopstudio.com
whois hilltopstudios.com

Etc for .org, .biz (haha, not really) and .net…

As a lazy programmer-type, I decided to do a quick Google search to see if someone had a handy bash script available. Lucky for me, D’s Blog did.

For me, the only whois output I am interested in is whether the domain is registered and, if it is not, when it was created (I like playing an annoying little game of “p’shaw…that was registered in 1999′” when I’m offered obviously taken suggestions).

I stripped out a lot of D’s functionality and ended with the following script:

#!/bin/bash

echo ""
echo "######## WHOIS: "$1

# Whois using the input variable
whois $1 |\

# Remove EOL characters
tr -d '\015\032' |\

# Remove leading spaces
sed 's/^ *//' |\

# Remove common unnecessary words from output
grep -v -e "@" -e "http://" -e "WHOIS" > wtmp1.txt

# Display all of the date lines
egrep -i "ate: " wtmp1.txt

# Remove the tmp file
rm -rf wtmp1.txt

echo "######## DONE!"
echo ""

(Don’t forget to chmod 774 your script after you create it).

I also have a little function I tuck in my .bash_aliases
that lumps the singular/plural lookups I want to do.

It looks like this:

function wi() {
~/my_whois.sh "$@"lab.com;
~/my_whois.sh "$@"labs.com;
~/my_whois.sh "$@"studio.com;
~/my_whois.sh "$@"studios.com;
}

So when I type this:

wi hilltop

I get output like this:


######## WHOIS: hilltoplab.com
######## DONE!

######## WHOIS: hilltoplabs.com
Updated Date: 18-jun-2009
Creation Date: 28-aug-2000
Expiration Date: 28-aug-2018
######## DONE!

######## WHOIS: hilltopstudio.com
Updated Date: 08-jan-2008
Creation Date: 10-oct-1999
Expiration Date: 10-oct-2013
######## DONE!

######## WHOIS: hilltopstudios.com
Updated Date: 07-aug-2012
Creation Date: 22-aug-2000
Expiration Date: 22-aug-2013
######## DONE!

Cleanly indicating that, as of this writing, hilltoplab.com is available, but the other variations are not.

Aaahhhhhh……

Error saving an HTML file in Windows 7 with Notepad++?

admin — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 23:33:47 +0000

Recently, I was editing an HTML file for a little site I put together called school photo frames. I was using Notepad++ and kept receiving an error when trying to save it.

The file was reported as being in use by another program or process. I search all over and found many posts about tweaking folder permissions, messing with DLL settings and running things as administrator.

None of that worked, of course, but what did work was even easier. You see, as I was opening the file via Windows explorer, it was opening up a file preview in the right pane of my window. As long as this preview is shown, the file is locked for editing. If you click off the filename, the preview goes away, and the file is editable again.

Thanks for that fun little curveball, Microsoft.

These are the actual errors you get when explorer has a lock on the file

WordPad:
“The document [PATH\FILENAME] is in use by another application and cannot be accessed.”

Notepad++:
“Save failed: Please check whether if this file is opened in another program”

Notepad:
“The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.”

Microsoft Word:
“This file is read-only. ([PATH\FILENAME])”

The Seven Piece Lego iPhone Stand

admin — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 16:41:02 +0000

On top of all the other tasks my iPhone shoulders, one of its most reliable functions is as a daily reminder system and nightly alarm clock.

On the road or at home, I always know how to program it quickly, can count on its reliability and can access all of my stored alarms for my different daily commitments.

Up until today, I have simply set my phone down on my bedside table or propped it up against a lamp. No more: with seven standard lego bricks and 15 seconds of time (not counting the hour of digging through our lego bin to find the seven pieces) I now have a simple, functional, portable iPhone stand.

The Seven Lego Pieces:

My iPhone in the Lego Stand:

Think you have a better lego-based design? Send me a picture and I’ll add it to the post and put it to a vote…

iPhone Home Button Not Working? Try This Fix (requires Jailbreak and Activator app)

admin — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 16:03:46 +0000

Like most owners, I love my iPhone like a favorite child. It’s my portable connection to the web, my newspaper, my camera, my preferred gaming device, my grocery list, my alarm clock, my calculator…and once in a while, my phone.

A couple of months ago I lost my iPhone while on the Manta roller coaster at Seaworld in Orlando, Florida. When I realized it was gone, I was crushed. I felt lonely and confused.

In a still-unbelievable stroke of luck, a fellow park visitor happened to see it fly out of my pocket on the first loop, watched it fall 50 feet into the brush (miraculously missing all of the buildings, rocks, pools, pavement and people it could have hit) and retrieved it. As we left the ride, my daughter happened to walk by her and notice the decal on the back of my phone, which is how my precious returned to me, with nary a scratch or a scuff.

Anyhow, because I use my iPhone all day long every day, my home button has gradually become more and more unresponsive. For over a year I have had to push a little extra hard or press on certain areas of the button to get it to register. It didn’t really strike my how bad it had become until I started using our new iPad.

I took my phone to the genius bar at my local Apple Store and they cleaned out the button and docking port, did a software recalibration and a full OS restore. It didn’t work.

They showed me the built-in iOS accessibility option which places a software home button on the screen, but it always seemed to be in the way and I didn’t like that it took two steps to register a home click.

The next day I jailbroke my phone and started messing with the “Activator” app to find a better solution. After a few days of tweaking, I have a highly effective solution.

My Activator Configuration

I have setup the following actions in Activator:

Anywhere > Status Bar: Double Tap > Activate Switcher
Anywhere > Status Bar: Swipe Left > Home Button
At Home Screen > Status Bar: Single Tap > Home Button

Now double-tapping on the status bar is the same as double-pressing my balky home button and swiping left in the status bar is equivalent to a home click (swiping right brings up the excellent “SBSettings” app).

I didn’t set an “anywhere” single status bar click because many apps register that as a “scroll to top” event, which I wanted to keep. I did enable the “single tap” action in SpringBoard, though, since there is no need to scroll to top in that icon view.

This new configuration has been a phone saver for me.

Step-By-Step Example

Launch Activator and click “Anywhere”:

Select “Double Tap” in the “Status Bar” section:

Select “Activate Switcher” in the “System Actions” section:

Done. After a day you’ll be so used to your software-based home button clicks that the physical click will feel crude and primitive.