A blog of rants, screeds, and other nonsense

I have to blog this so that when people say “that can’t be true” I can point to this blog post.

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I got sick and tired video conferences being delayed by audio problems. I know that a lot of times it is a problem on my end, but I think everyone has had audio problems. How did I fix it? I got rid of any feature that caused me trouble until I had a trouble-free headset experience. Spoiler alert: I had to eliminate nearly all features. The purpose of this blog post is to provide links so that people can purchase the same equipment I now use.

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Senator Cory Booker just did something awesome.

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That’s Numberwang!

I’m not going to try to explain.

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VMware’s WorkspaceOne has an annoying feature on macOS where every time it does an update you get a notification. This steals my cursor, interrupts my work, and breaks my concentration.

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I keep hearing people misuse metaphors, or say them incorrectly. Here’s a list of them.

I’m considering building a website that lists metaphors and their correct use. In the meanwhile, this blog post will have to do.

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What does “n.n.n.n.” do in Vim?

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You’ve probably read about HBO’s ‘Integration Test’ Email. Just what is an “Integration test”?

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Years ago a co-worker noticed something about our company’s disability policy.

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I’m considering switching to Todoist. Here are my notes as I try to use the techniques in Time Management for System Administrators which are collectively called The Cycle.

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I no longer fill out customer support surveys.

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Do you WANT to get paid?

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Looking for SRE’s with experience in the Microsoft stack!

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This is my webpage for tracking teleco executives trying to ruin the internet.

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Thanks to my MIL’s exhaustive genealogy research, I can now say with certainty that my house was built by Alexander Hamilton’s wife’s third cousin twice removed.

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Dear Senator Joe Manchin,

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Here’s my thinking…

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To the person on Redit who called the Brexit plan obviously poorly concocted.

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What is yak shaving?

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An attempt to add a “January Exception” to the U.S. constitution failed yesterday as GOP leaders could not muster enough votes to pass their bill. The 44-to-56 vote was a major victory for constitutional originalism, law and order, and other concepts that the GOP used to believe in. “I’m disappointed in the result.” said Joe Embez, “How could I be convicted of stealing from my employer when I don’t work there any more? read more

The other day a vendor added $6k of “training” to my quote. Here’s how insulting that is.

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Politics in the U.S. is bimodal.

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Copied from Facebook. Not written by me. I’ll have commentary later this week.

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Dear friends of mine who support Trump:

Your “it was Antifa” claims have all been disproven, but it did buy you an additional 12-24 hours to come up with some other cover.

Good job! Your strategy worked! …but not for long!

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I think I’ve identified the bug in PowerShell’s handling of NAPTR records.

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I can’t figure out how to Add- or Remove- an NAPTR record using PowerShell’s DnsServer module. Can you?

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Configuring my new Canon printer to scan to gmail was a bit tricky.

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Why don’t (most) public schools teach statistics?

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[NOTE: This is a rough draft of a rant.]

Is “Die Hard” a Christmas film? Who cares!

Die Hard is anti-American propaganda. It is full of lies that give people the impression that the U.S. government can’t do anything right. Anyone raised seeing that movie will grow up with misconceptions about the government that are harmful to our society.

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When I read this acting advice by Lauren Gunderson it dawned on me how powerful it would be if every tech conference speaker applied it to their talks. Change her word “scene” to “slide” (or section) and it mostly fits.

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