Linux

PostgreSQL for Newbs

So you’ve decided to use PostgreSQL as the database for your sparkly new website running some variant of a LAMP stack. Or maybe you just got a new job and must now administer a PostgreSQL install so you excitedly did your research. You’ve read the install docs, tinkered on a VM, and you think you’ve got everything ready. You’re wrong. You’re going to run out of disk space, your website will be slow, and you’ll go running to the PostgreSQL mailing lists in abject terror because you have no clue what is wrong.

Thwarting Friends and Foes with Colemak

My apparently undiagnosed masochism has inspired me to switch keyboard layouts. Aiming for pure obscurity, I’ve been typing using Colemak for the past several months. It’s no Dvorak in the popularity arena, having only an estimated userbase of 3000 as of January 2009. According to a computer aided layout optimizer, it’s also more efficient than the venerable Dvorak, ranking highly across all alternatives. Note that all statistics for Qwerty are hideous by comparison.

The State of Linux in 2009

Over the fourth of long Fourth of July weekend, I decided to experiment with some of the other Linux distributions floating around out there. I made only stipulation: I use a netbook, therefore the distribution must install from a USB flash drive. I have an old 1GB Sony, and a newer 2GB Sandisk, so there’s no reason this should be a difficult task. I told myself, “Self, 2009 is halfway over.

Scrollkeep This!

What the fuck is Scrollkeeper? No, wait… I don’t care. I’m not even going to look it up. You know what, scrollkeeper? Fuck you! I shouldn’t have to nice down a background utility that suddenly decides it’s the most important program executing on my laptop the millisecond it boots. 90% or more of my CPU to do… what exactly? I don’t even know what this fucking program does, and it can’t idle in the background until it’s done?