Sometimes people ask me why I'm no longer vegan. It's because I didn't like the culture. If they ask for further clarification, I am going to link them to this story from now on:
http://notalwayslearning.com/putting-the-egg-in-v-egg-ie/30651
Mango has always wanted to make it as easy as possible for users to make backups. If you're a cPanel administrator, consider this script as part of your disaster recovery plan. It will rsync a full backup anywhere the user likes, and allows the user to configure the location of the backup and how many backups will be retained. Since its authorization is by RSA key, it does not require passwords to be stored in the configuration file.
Suggested use for users: By default, full backups are large and take a lot of server resources to create. Why not exclude your home directory by placing a single * in cpbackup-exclude.conf, and rsync the full backup to your home directory? Then rsync your home directory to your NAS device a few times per week. Using rsync requires much less resources because it only copies files that have changed since the last rsync.
Here's the script:
http://www.toao.net/pub/cpbackup-mango.php
We needed to be able to access a directory on a Linux file server via a Windows drive letter and evaluated a few options. Samba works well if the file server and client are on the same LAN, but we discovered it painfully slow when used via an SSH tunnel over the internet. We settled on two techniques that we use in different situations. The first technique is SSHFS and Samba - SSHFS for the internet portion and Samba for the LAN portion. This works relatively well with only a moderate performance decrease.
For better performance, the other option we use is Unison which syncs two directories, and allows changes to be made to either directory.
If it's more important that updates are instant, use SSHFS and Samba; if speed is more important and you can tolerate the two directories being out of sync for a few minutes until your cron job fires, use Unison.
This article describes our technique for setting up SSHFS and Samba on a Western Digital My Book Live NAS device.
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If you need to access network resources behind a firewall, you could set up lots of port forwards. But it can be cumbersome to manage a large volume of these, and depending on the protocol, this practice may be insecure. Instead, why not use an SSH tunnel? An SSH tunnel is an excellent method for handling encryption and authentication.
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Mango evaluated Sage 50 accounting software and was underwhelmed.
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Everyone seems to have their list of free Windows applications they can't do without, and here's ours. All of these are free for the download and their authors deserve a serious hat tip for all of their excellent work. We list them in alphabetical order:
AutoHotkey
AutoHotkey is the quintessential automator that you really must try to see just how powerful it is. You can automate almost any program by sending it keystrokes and mouse clicks. You can remap keys on your keyboard or mouse. One of our favourite features is that you may compile your finished script into a single EXE that may be run on any Windows computer.
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Mango accidentally deleted some music he'd downloaded from iTunes. Fortunately, iTunes will allow you to download previously downloaded music, though it required some hoop jumping.
1) From the Store menu in iTunes, be sure your computer is authorized.
2) Navigate to the iTunes store and click the link for Purchased. You may be able to download the files by clicking the Cloud icon. If not,
3) Shut down iTunes, rename your
iTunes Library folder, and restart iTunes. Only after doing this, we were permitted to download the files.
4) If you had to follow Step 3, shut down iTunes again, restore the original iTunes Library folder, restart iTunes, locate the songs you just downloaded, and add them to your library.
On a slightly related note, in doing this we discovered that iTunes now sells DRM-free music in *.m4a format, not *.m4p. Though this is old news, we were glad to read it.
I recently took my car to an oil change shop that really wanted to upsell me on expensive oil for my car. I told them to put in whatever the dealer would use and they put in semi-synthetic. This was a somewhat unfortunate illustration that working with a professional is no substitute for knowing what you're doing. Though the semi-synthetic won't harm my car, the extra $20 won't offer any benefits, based on the car I drive, what I use it for, and the time of year. Should you use conventional or synthetic oil in your vehicle? Keep reading.
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Firefox's AutoFill feature, which appears in new versions of Firefox, makes it more difficult to type a URL such as 192.168.10.1, if 192.168.10.100 is in your history.
To disable this, enter about:config and set browser.urlbar.autoFill to False.
So the other night I had this dream.
The company I worked for was doing well.
Really well. So well, in fact, that we ended up leasing the old Ikea warehouse in Richmond. THAT'S how much space we needed for our operations. (On a recent visit back to British Columbia, I discovered the warehouse in question torn down. My subconscious was, ostensibly, not aware of this fact.)
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A user recently stated that they wanted all outbound calls to be passed directly to their POTS line, with no interaction from the OBi110. Here is one way you can configure an OBi110 to present the user with a POTS dial tone:
Physical Interfaces >> PHONE Port:
DigitMap: (<:>)
OutboundCallRoute: {li}
We're not even kidding.
We wanted to have cruise control installed on a 2010 Toyota Yaris. We were dismayed when a dealer quoted $500 for an aftermarket system, even more dismayed when we read
bad reviews about Rostra products, and finally, even further dismayed when we discovered this
Rostra recall.
Then we discovered cruise control functionality is already built into 2006 and later model Yaris that were sold in North America. There's no need for an aftermarket kit. All that's really necessary is simply ordering a few parts and plugging them in. Here's one place to
order a Toyota Yaris cruise control kit and a
Yaris cruise control FAQ with detailed installations and photos.
There are a few things about the instructions we would like to elaborate on. The stalk can be very easily scratched, so we recommend you leave the plastic coating on until the installation is complete. If you do accidentally scratch it, a little PlastX will have the scratch buffed out in no time. Also, when they say the Torx T30 screws are tight...they're not just joking. Be sure to use a T30 driver that you can put a great deal of force on - a Multi Tool or an L Key won't work as you're sure to break either the tool or your skin.
Thanks to CTScott and everyone who made this excellent DIY possible!
Many users of the OBi110 route local calls via POTS, and use VoIP for long distance. But what if your internet service is not working, or your VoIP provider's equipment is down? Fortunately, the OBi110's Trunk Groups feature will allow you to configure the OBi110 to try different routes in a priority fashion. For this example, let's assume our VoIP provider is configured on sp1. This technique may be used with any combination of service providers or the LINE Port.
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If you need an FXO card for your IP PBX, expect to pay hundreds of dollars for a good one. But what if your PBX doesn't have expansion slots, or is in a different location from your POTS line, or your project is for home/small office use and you require a device that works just as well for a fraction of the price? You're sure to be delighted with an OBi110. If you wish to add Google Voice to your call routing, any OBi ATA will be more than up to the challenge.
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No one likes telemarketers, but if you have an OBi ATA, you can easily blacklist them based on their Caller ID. For this we'll use the ATA's excellent User Defined Digit Maps feature.
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A few months ago, cPanel released an "upgrape" that caused SpamAssassin Spam/Ham reports to include blank lines. This is a problem because folding continuation lines cannot contain only white space, so the header is invalid. The result is that the report or other headers may appear in the body of the email if you use an email client such as Outlook, or AVG's email scanner. Also, the subject may not appear.
Since the two cPanel techs we dealt with, as well as a tech from our datacentre, did not know how to solve the problem, we post the workaround that we wrote here.
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Those of you who mix VoIP and POTS may find it useful to use VoIP-based voicemail when you're unable to answer your POTS calls. There are a few reasons you might want to do this. VoIP voicemail is typically free, but POTS providers often charge for it. VoIP voicemail often has more/better features, such as email or SMS notification, or even multiple voicemail boxes for different people. Also, it might be convenient to have one single mailbox to check instead of having to check both a POTS mailbox and a VoIP mailbox.
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We used Linksys ATAs for many years but recently switched to Obihai when we needed a device with an FXO port. Obihai has outdone themselves and created some devices that are even more configurable than the PAP2T, SPA2102, and SPA3102 that preceeded them. Though Obihai is a new company, its staff is not new to the VoIP industry. They're the same people that were behind Komodo. You've never heard of them? They invented the ATA. They're also the same people that were behind Sipura, makers of (among others) the PAP2T, SPA2102, and SPA3102. (Komodo and Sipura were both bought by Cisco.) With a reputation for building devices that became industry standards, we had high expectations for Obihai, and we were not disappointed.
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Have you ever needed to recursively run a script in a loop on every single column in your MySQL database? This PHP code can help.
// Start by getting the list of tables.
$tables_result = mysql_query("SHOW TABLES FROM `$database`") or exit("Error " . mysql_errno() . ": " . mysql_error());
while ($tables_row = mysql_fetch_row($tables_result)) {
// Loop through the tables. Get the list of columns from each table.
$table = $tables_row[0];
$columns_result = mysql_query("SHOW COLUMNS FROM `$table`") or exit("Error " . mysql_errno() . ": " . mysql_error());
while ($columns_row = mysql_fetch_row($columns_result)) {
// Loop through the columns in the table.
$column = $columns_row[0];
/* --------- Anything you want happens between here... --------- */
echo "$table $column\n";
/* ---------------------- ...and, here =) ---------------------- */
}
}
Recently when cloning a hard drive with Windows 7 installed on it, we ran into some problems.
We first attempted to use Windows' backup tools; this was unsuccessful as Windows refused to restore the image to the new drive.
We then attempted to use Ghost 11.5 (we didn't have the latest version handy). Though it appeared to be successful, the computer would not boot afterward and simply displayed a black screen after POST.
We attempted to use CloneZilla which was not successful because the destination drive was slightly smaller than the source drive. When we attempted to shrink the partition, Windows informed us we could not do this because there were several unmoveable files near the end of the drive.
What finally worked was a clean install of Windows 7 on the destination hard drive, then Ghosting the data partition from the source drive to the destination drive.
Dice
½ red bell pepper and slice
½ a medium zucchini, or other in-season vegetables. Steam until tender and brightly-coloured, but not wilted. Lightly saute
one diced onion in
one tablespoon butter or olive oil. Arrange the vegetables in a
9" pastry shell and sprinkle
½ cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese on top. Beat together
5 eggs,
1/2 cup milk,
1/4 teaspoon curry powder,
1 teaspoon salt, and
fresh ground pepper to taste. Pour over the vegetables.
Bake for 45 minutes at 350F. Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Our merchant services provider, Global Payments, sent us a letter stating that we must be PCI Compliant, or face consequences such as fines, termination of our merchant account, and general woe and spiders. We already follow the prescribed standards. So, no problem? No, problem: they want us to pay $90 to fill in a self-assessment questionnaire.
HA! HA HA HA! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! HA HA HA HA HA! HA HA! HA!
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The federal government has announced that Canada will withdraw the penny from circulation in 2012. This means if someone offers a penny for your thoughts, they will have to pay by cheque.
I think they have not fully considered the ramifications of their decision. For example, anyone selling something that costs a pretty penny will now need to sell a five pack if anyone wants to pay by cash.
If someone usually has to think for a minute before the penny drops, they will be in trouble.
Finally, people who are used to putting their two cents in will need to have opinions that are 2.5 times better.
One can never start saving too early for their child's education. An RESP can even be opened for a newborn, as long as he or she has a Social Insurance Number. Once you've opened an RESP, you'll be eligible for many government grants, such as the Canada Education Savings Grant (20% of your contributions up to $500 per year and a lifetime maximum of $7200), the Canada Learning Bond ($500 first year plus $100 subsequent years, if you qualify for NCB supplement), and several provincial grants.
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If you like to do most of your banking online, there's no reason to pay fees for everyday banking, maintain minimum balances, or be limited to a certain number of transactions per month. Here's a comparison of three selected Canadian financial institutions offering bank accounts with no monthly fee and no fee for typical banking transactions, and requiring no minimum balance:
|  |  |  |
| Cheques | First book of 50 free, then $0.25 each. | First book of 25 free, then $0.20 each. | Free |
| Canadian ATMs | >2300 | >2500 | >3400 |
| Savings Account | Yes | No | No |
| Chequing account pays interest | Yes | No | Yes |
| Branches | Five cafés across Canada, no teller-assisted transactions. | Teller-assisted deposits at over 900 branches free; other transactions $1.00 each. | >200 Pavilions across Canada, no teller-assisted transactions. |
| Free email money transfer | Yes | No | No |
| Link your other bank accounts and transfer funds back and forth | Yes | No | Yes |
| Overdrafts | Free, up to $250 for 30 days. | $2.50 per month plus interest or minimum $5 per transaction for a transfer from another account. | $4.97 per month in which it is used, plus interest.
|
| J.D. Power rating | Five stars | Three stars | Four stars |
Notes:
- BMO IGA/Sobeys does offer a savings account. However, a fee is charged for withdrawls and the minimum balance is $5000. Since this is the No-Fee, No-Minimum Bank Account Comparison, it is not considered in the above table.
- PC Financial offers a savings account; a minimum balance of $1000 is required to earn interest.
- In the event of a discrepancy between this comparison and the official terms of service of the financial institution in question, the later shall prevail. (Please notify us if this is the case!)
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