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What happened to K.I.S.S?
2008-06-07 00:00:00
I was just sitting here, looking at some code that I had previously stared at for hours trying to dig out a solution from a nasty mess. It’s relatively old code (> 2 years) that I’ve not dove into for some time, but I felt it necessary to hunt this bug. As I’m pulling my hair out and repeatedly yelling “Had I wrote this..” in my head, I drifted away for a moment and remembered an old saying I used to tell myself when going off on a wild idea. K.I.S.S.- Keep It Simple Stupid!. This also applies to system architecture! Why complicate things! There is usually a linear, yet secure, scalable and robust way to do something, hunt it out! Never, never, never setting on your first idea, and never, never, never settle on anything without some sort of peer review. If you work in an environment with smart people, use them! Ok, done ranting :D Thanks for listening!

PyOhio Call for Proposals deadline extended to June 15!
2008-06-07 00:00:00
The PyOhio organizers have extended the Call for Proposals deadline to June 15! Several potential speakers have requested extra time to prepare submissions, and now you can too. http://wiki.python.org/moin/PyOhio/CallFo rProposals Don’t be shy… speaking at an event like PyOhio helps you share your knowledge, deepen your expertise, broaden your horizons, meet people, practice for bigger events like PyCon, and have fun. See you at PyOhio!
More About: Deadline , Extended

Amazon outage.
2008-06-07 00:00:00
I’ve been following the amazon outage via google news and google blog search.. Anyone else cackling an evil laugh about this? If you work for a larg(ish) web site, you know how funny this is and how much it sucks for everyone (at amazon) involved. I am just relieved that it’s not us.
More About: Amazon , Outage

Byteflow usability quick change.
2008-06-07 00:00:00
Submitted this to the byteflow hackers, figured some might be able to use it as well. Code blocks don’t wrap lines (<pre>), probably want to have control of how it overflows. Here’s the patch: # HG changeset patch # User bsmith@linode.just-another.net # Date 1212606740 14400 # Node ID 9337a362eeacbe88db2da11d38e238db2644e31b # Parent 93c1106436dd09dde52ec1dd25cfbbeca7cec00b Add scroll if lines don't wrap in code blocks. diff -r 93c1106436dd -r 9337a362eeac static/css/highlight.css --- a/static/css/highlight.css Wed Jun 04 09:47:44 2008 +0300 +++ b/static/css/highlight.css Wed Jun 04 15:12:20 2008 -0400 @@ -1,6 +1,7 @@ pre code { pre code { display: block; background: #F0F0F0; + overflow:auto; } pre code,
More About: Change , Usability , Quick

Yay! Just moved hosting providers
2008-06-05 00:00:00
I just made the move to Linode for my hosting needs. After some initial ab tests, I’ve seen improved results out of my current setup. Previously I had hosted my site at home on an older Linux box I had laying around, and before that I had hosted on my friends colo via a business cable line. Now I’m on a true hosting environment that fits my needs nicely.
More About: Hosting

Yay for contribution!
2008-06-05 00:00:00
I was having troubles with the way my rss item categories (tags) were displaying on technorati and other feed readers, so I decided to fix it. This is why I love F/OSS! Since I’ve been using this software I’ve contributed a whopping 2 patches (heh, heh). It might not be a lot, but it matters! I didn’t post my last patch, but I will from now on. Here’s the most recent one: # HG changeset patch # User bsmith@linode.just-another.net # Date 1212450093 14400 # Node ID 2c4fb2b21cc5c7b9cfbf7a1692af6e34a9bb5391 # Parent fb8d51dd50e13eb7d2b63c646a9f2bb5cf21ec3c Atom class wants a dict for item categories, django does not. diff -r fb8d51dd50e1 -r 2c4fb2b21cc5 apps/feed/blog_feeds.py --- a/apps/feed/blog_feeds.py Fri May 30 11:13:58 2008 +0300 +++ b/apps/feed/blog_feeds.py Mon Jun 02 19:41:33 2008 -0400 @@ -59,7 +59,10 @@ def _BlogEntries(Feed, type='atom'): return {'type': 'html'}, html def item_categories(self, item): &mda...
More About: Contribution

Byteflow preview blog post
2008-06-05 00:00:00
Byteflow has a feature when authoring blogs that allows you to save your post as a draft. I use it constantly, but someone requested via a ticket to have a “Preview ” option, allowing you to see your blog post (logically the same as saving it as a draft) before you post it. If anyone is interested in utilizing a “Preview” option, see the patch below. Basically all it does is utilize the draft option, but takes you to the generated draft to “Preview” it before you make it public. I don’t think it will be committed into the code base, but if anyone is looking to have this functionality now, see below code. # HG changeset patch # User bsmith@linode.just-another.net # Date 1212543690 14400 # Node ID 4282e3429846d5193a798bdd14807f6c3ef579ac # Parent 2c4fb2b21cc5c7b9cfbf7a1692af6e34a9bb5391 Preview post (and draft it). diff -r 2c4fb2b21cc5 -r 4282e3429846 apps/blog/models.py --- a/apps/blog/models.py Mon Jun 02 19:41:33 2008 -0400...
More About: Post , Blog

NYT Talks about xkcd, python gets a plug.
2008-05-28 00:00:00
Great article about xkcd. Python gets a plug in the article as well. This kind of reading on a popular news site warms my heart. Take a look
More About: Plug

Anyone heard of or used this software? - Bcfg2
2008-05-26 00:00:00
I just stumbled onto this promising looking software. We use an awesome distributed configuration engine at the office with similar ideals. Outside of cfengine I really didn’t know anything else existed, and this one is written in python! Let me know if you’ve worked with it, I would love to hear some opinions. Thanks!
More About: Software

Ouch thats smarts
2008-05-26 00:00:00
So I had a dialog with my buddy via text message last night in which I learned that he was visiting a bar that is notorious for frat-boy like rowdiness, cheap beer and loose women. I proceeded to send him a message that just read “FAIL” to show my disappointment in his choice. This morning I finally get a response that reads “You have no idea how much I fail. I’ll be by in a bit to show you.” So he shows up and I am greeted with this: I found out that he didn’t get into a fight, or anything of the sort. He just had an off night. Moral of the story? Don’t get drunk and fall into a wall.
More About: Ouch , Smarts

PyOhio Call For Proposals
2008-05-20 00:00:00
PyOhio, the first annual Python programming mini-conference for Ohio and surrounding areas will take place Saturday, July 26, in Columbus, Ohio. The conference is free of change and will include scheduled presentations, Lighting Talks and unconference-style Open Spaces. You can read more about the conference at http://www.pyohio.org PyOhio invites all interested people to present scheduled talks. All presentations are expected to last 40 minutes with a 10 minute question-and-answer period. PyOhio will accept abstracts covering any area of Python programming. A classroom area with computers will also be available for possible hands-on sessions. All presentations proposals should submit abstracts no longer than 500 words in length. Abstracts must include the title, summary of the presentation, the expertise level targeted, and a brief description of the area of Python programming it relates to. All proposals should be emailed to cfp@pyoh ;i...
More About: Call

Wow this software rocks.
2008-05-20 00:00:00
I just converted all my tags and posts to run on this byteflow system. I’m impressed. It is by far the most full featured django blogging app I’ve seen. I was also able to get it jamming with lighttpd. Right now I’m running this from my development area until I can get comments imported. I couldn’t be happier with the results thus far! At some point today, once I’m done polishing things, I’ll post my configs and a little how-to.
More About: Software , Rocks

I'm spent...and an apology
2008-05-20 00:00:00
I just spent the last few hours polishing up my site for maximum awesomeness. It doesn’t look much different, you say, but under the hood is a completely different beast. As I mentioned in a previous post, I spent last night converting the backend of this site to byteflow, which is built on django (python based) and running on top of lighttpd. Previously (read; years ago) I had built a blogging system based on a LAMP stack, specifically Apache 2.0, MySQL and PHP. Slowly, over time I added to and ‘improved’ the software. Time and time again it felt like an exercise in futility. It seemed to be a never ending battle to keep up with the times and stay exposed. Since I started working for ag interactive I’ve fallen in love with Python. Quickly thereafter I started searching for a good, ”developing” blog package written in python. I longed for something I could extend and something that is portable. I long no longer…(?) The django pro...
More About: Apology

Performance Testing: Apache vs. Lighttpd - Preface
2008-05-20 00:00:00
So, I became curious about the performance of my site. This happened mainly because I hadn’t see the nice increase in performance from lighty I had hoped for. So I whipped up a matching apache config did a couple of quick ab tests. You can see the results here: Apache Lighttpd I know ab tests are not the end-all be-all of performance benchmarking, but I’m kinda disappointed.. I’ll go into more detail when it’s not one in the morning and I have to work. At that time I’ll also pose some alternative configurations. I’d like to see what I can get out of lighty because I was considering making a case for it at work… Till then…
More About: Performance , Testing

Taco Bell is like a drug and I got my GAE account!
2008-05-20 00:00:00
This weekend was great! Saturday we had a big party for our son Daniel, he just turned 10. Six more years till I have my own personal errand runner, woo! He had all of his friends and all of our friends over for a big bash. I don’t think I’ve ever grilled that many hotdogs and hamburgers. Dan got tons of cool presents but the coolest, of course, was from me. I took him to west side skate shop and told him to pick all his parts. He ended up with a sweet deck. Here’s the specs: Darkstar Armor Light deck Destructo Trucks Spitfire Wheels I, am the coolest dad evar. You can’t deny this. So after the children all left, we started a fire in my brand spanking new outdoor fireplace that I installed earlier in the day. We chilled out, had some drinks around the fire while some geeked out to super smash brothers brawl. Phenomenal. We lounged around Sunday morning, and then repeated the fireplace goodness in the evening. This gets ...
More About: Bell , Drug , Account , Taco Bell

PyOhio Call For Proposals
2008-05-10 00:00:00
PyOhio, the first annual Python programming mini-conference for Ohio and surrounding areas will take place Saturday, July 26, in Columbus, Ohio. The conference is free of change and will include scheduled presentations, Lighting Talks and unconference-style Open Spaces. You can read more about the conference at http://www.pyohio.org PyOhio invites all interested people to present scheduled talks. All presentations are expected to last 40 minutes with a 10 minute question-and-answer period. PyOhio will accept abstracts covering any area of Python programming. A classroom area with computers will also be available for possible hands-on sessions. All presentations proposals should submit abstracts no longer than 500 words in length. Abstracts must include the title, summary of the presentation, the expertise level targeted, and a brief description of the area of Python programming it relates to. All proposals should be emailed to cfp@pyoh ;i...
More About: Call

Linux at Work: Day 2
2008-04-17 00:00:00
Yesterday was my second day running Linux exclusively at the office. Everything is going smooth, I just wish that Evolution was a bit more stable. Jumped a couple hurdles yesterday as well. I finally figured out the Global Catalog server so I can have our Global Address List via Evolution. I also tweaked OO.org so it would perform better. Follow instructions found here to speed it up! So far today, no issues.
More About: Work

Linux at Work.
2008-04-16 00:00:00
I've decided to run Linux via Wubi on my work Laptop for one week to try and work out any bugs/issues that might come about. So far I've had great success! I'm also building a case to present to our management requesting that whoever wants, should be allowed to run Linux. We won't request software support from Internal IT, only hardware. Give us hardware, we do the rest. We would be in charge of our own desktop support. We're smart guys here that have many years of Linux experience, I'm sure we can handle it :). I have a page setup on our internal wiki documenting my progress and counter-arguments for reasons they might say no. Wish me luck! Here is my progress thus far in no order: Got evolution working with exchange. Need to get GAL server name for address book. Ssh agent forwarding from desktop. Pidgin works fine with our local Jabber server. OO.org seems to be handling normal office tasks, but it feels so clunky, will research a way to speed up. Allowin...
More About: Work

History meme, in Perl!
2008-04-12 00:00:00
So I submitted a post to perlmonks RE: all the 'history meme' brouhaha. I provided two one liners in Perl (Below) and asked for people to improve/shorten/spice up the 'history meme' via Perl. We'll see how that goes :). So, here's what I gave them to start with: history | perl -le 'while($l = ) {$n=${[split(/s+/,$l)]}[2];$h{$n}++;} $i=0;foreach $k (reverse sort {$h{$a}$h{$b}} keys %h) {last if $i > 9; print "$h{$k} $k"; $i++;}' history | perl -le 'while($l = ) ; {$n=${[split(/s+/,$l)]}[2];$h{$n}++;} $i=0;@a=reverse sort {$h{$a}$h{$b}} keys %h; print "$h{$a[$_]} $a[$_]" for (0..9)'
More About: Meme , History

Let's keep it going for the fun of it.
2008-04-11 00:00:00
Matt showed up in my reader with this which I discovered is quite noisey on the intertubes right now. Here's my top ten.. Explanation below. bsmith@ops654 [02:04:47 (0.00)] ~ -> history|awk '{a[$2]++ } END{for(i in a){print a[i] " " i}}'|sort -rn|head 225 winto 82 ls 70 ssh 66 vi 65 checkuus 64 mssh 54 dig 53 cd 50 ping 41 cat winto is a wrapper for screen that does this: screen -t $1 ssh $1. I have to know what I'm looking at. I'm a sysadmin, I'm all over the place. Sysadmins write code and manage config files too. A script that checks pool of servers that can cause some problems in our enviroment. "mass ssh" do cool stuff on bunches of servers (must have in my world) "What the hell is this ip?!" Moving around.. "Is that server alive?!" /dev/urandom ?

Again with the site cleanup..
2008-04-11 00:00:00
So I got bored again, go figure. I wrote some code that converts my titles into 'slugs' much like wordpress. I then altered my blog table to include it as an index, wrote a quick script to parse my titles and insert them and changed my templates to link via them. Throw in some rewrite magic and wala; hot sauce. I'm glad I wrote this code base to be simple to manage and extend :). I'm kinda curious how it would fair from a security standpoint, however. Maybe I should just write it off and go ahead with something already baked; but it's fun to muck around like this. Also, I'd like to appologize for anyone subscribing via a reader. It'll mark all my posts as unread due to the changes. Sorry!
More About: Site , The Site , Cleanup

import sexy
2008-04-11 00:00:00
So I was looking at some of the python source for Compiz Fusions' CCM and was quite amused to find this near the tip top of the code: try: import sexy has_sexy = True except Import Error: print "Info: No sexy-python package found, don't worry it's optional." has_sexy = False Now, I know about libsexy, but it just cracked me up to see that in code after having a few high ABV beers.
More About: Sexy

PyOhio
2008-04-11 00:00:00
We have a venue! Still coordinating other aspects of the conference. See more details here: PyOhio Wiki PyOhio Regional Python programming miniconference July 26th, 2008 Columbus Metropolitan Library 96 S. Grant Ave. Columbus, OH 43215 USA Tags: python open-source programming conference ohio

SEOness? Getting there..
2008-04-11 00:00:00
So after having a conversation with Dave yesterday about search engines, I decided to fix up the urls on my site to be more search engine friendly. I had some really ugly linkage and I'm glad I spent some time cleaning that up. Yay. Me.

Wubi Wocks!
2008-04-11 00:00:00
So I installed ubuntu on my windows partition tonight. I did this with the help of wubi. It was super simple, with one problem. Trying to install it from the CD with wubi failed after copying the cd image was 100% complete. I got a message that stated "Could Not Access The CD, please make sure other applications are not using it and try again" Seemed bad, and I almost gave up. On a whim, I went ahead and copied the wubi installer to my desktop, where the iso also resides. I then ran the wubi installer from my dekstop and viola! It worked fine. Hopefully this will help anyone else with the same error I was experiencing.
More About: Wubi

Archive & Feed Updates.
2008-04-11 00:00:00
Yay! I threw together a quick archive of all my posts here Per Mike's suggestion, I made the entire body of a blog post available via RSS. While I was refactoring all of the RSS code, I also went ahead and added the ability to subscribe to an single post, comments and all. Why the hefty updates of my site? Well, I failed to get the Oxygen Sensor off my car today and wanted to feel like I accomplished something. That's all, folks
More About: Archive , Updates , Feed

pyglet and py2exe.
2008-04-11 00:00:00
So I've been playing with pyglet a lot. Being that my work laptop is windows, and I don't think they'd appreciate me partitioning it with Linux, I decided to play with it on windows, which will also help hone my Win32 python development experience. I'd like to point out that I love the pyglet API, it's clean and simple! For fun, I built a test application in pyglet and wanted to send it to a friend (it was kind of a joke). Rather than sending him the code and instructing him on how to run it (he's a non-technical type), I chose to package it as an windows executable. py2exe is easy! Install the package, build you're setup.py and run it. Couldn't be much more simple. When compiling my code, however, I ran into a problem. It started throwing an traceback related to Audio drivers. After a quick google session, I found this google group thread, which pointed me exactly where I needed to be. When running you're code through py2exe, you need to tell it what a...

PyCon2008 Pictures.
2008-04-11 00:00:00
Take a look at my Flicker for some fun pictures of my time at pycon 2008 in Chicago. Good times!
More About: Pictures

Wubi Wocks!
2008-04-10 00:00:00
So I installed ubuntu on my windows partition tonight. I did this with the help of wubi. It was super simple, with one problem. Trying to install it from the CD with wubi failed after copying the cd image was 100% complete. I got a message that stated "Could Not Access The CD, please make sure other applications are not using it and try again" Seemed bad, and I almost gave up. On a whim, I went ahead and copied the wubi installer to my desktop, where the iso also resides. I then ran the wubi installer from my dekstop and viola! It worked fine. Hopefully this will help anyone else with the same error I was experiencing.
More About: Wubi

Archive & Feed Updates.
2008-04-10 00:00:00
Yay! I threw together a quick archive of all my posts here Per Mike's suggestion, I made the entire body of a blog post available via RSS. While I was refactoring all of the RSS code, I also went ahead and added the ability to subscribe to an single post, comments and all. Why the hefty updates of my site? Well, I failed to get the Oxygen Sensor off my car today and wanted to feel like I accomplished something. That's all, folks
More About: Archive , Updates , Feed