Dan J’s Website

Someday. Yes, someday. Someday I'm going to spend a lot of money on a mechanical keyboard. ...Probably this one. This guide is a good quick-reference that summarizes some of the many, many, ridiculous number of options available. 😂

It's obnoxious that this is even required—and who knows how effective it is to opt out of any of these companies. Are they trustworthy?—But it's worth taking a look, for the sake of your online hygiene.

I like Curtis's post about finding open alternatives to even excellent apps like Ulysses: in the longish run, I'd like to do the same. Bookmarking this for reference (and props).

I've had a tab for this 2014 Ars Technica article open for ages, let me collect the series here:

1. How to run your own e-mail server with your own domain, part 1
2. Taking e-mail back, part 2: Arming your server with Postfix and Dovecot
3. Taking e-mail back, part 3: Fortifying …

This is one of those things I find myself needing to do to keep my place tidy, and it's easy to let it slide if you don't know the process, and then the next thing you know you've had this stupid blue plastic bag lying in the corner of your entryway for months, and you don't realize it but it's slowly driving you mad.

So, better to just fold 'em up, put an elastic band around them, and put them in the closet:

1. Push the bottom in, like an "inverted taco"
2. Flatten the sides outward, so the bag, lying flat on its side, has a sort of "boat" shape
3. Fold the handles down onto the bag
4. Fold the sides of the bag over top of the handles, so the outline is now a rectangle
5. Fold one side over top the other, basically folding the rectangle in half
6. Now fold the handles at the top downwards, and then fold again, so you've folded it vertically in thirds
7. Now you've got the bag into a small rectangular shape; Put an elastic band around to keep it like that

(via youtube search)

I got back into running recently, and am following this training guide, which basically starts you out mixing a little jogging with your walking, but steadily works its way up to running for one hour non-stop (after 13 weeks).

Slow and steady avoids injury, and all that. I need to combine it with plenty of stretching, though...

Also, in a depressing example of how fragile the web is, the link in that article to running form guidelines goes to a domain that no longer exists. 😒

Here's the Wayback Machine link: Benson's EPS - Basic Movements in Running

I use, but don't really like, CloudApp to share files (mostly images). The desired solution is:

1. Drag a file to an icon or something
2. The file is uploaded somewhere that it can be linked to via URL (ideally at a domain I control)
3. The URL goes on my clipboard and I can easily share it

If you pay for CloudApp, it does work with your own domain... but I kind of dislike having a third-party service for this at all.

The link above is to an old article from 2012, so there are almost certainly better solutions for self-hosting a file-linking thingamabob, but I'm bookmarking this as a start.

This thread links to a bunch of people's work on communicating with the ErgoDox (or, more generally, QMK) from code. ErgoDox tweeted this in response to me asking if there was some way to integrate the keyboard's LEDs with e.g. HomeKit... ultimately, I want to control the keyboard lighting the same way I control the Philips Hue lamp on my desk.

Something to hack on someday.

(via @ErgoDoxEZ on twitter)

My man Antony Johnston's take on organizational techniques that work for him. I want to get more organized, seems a good time to read this old article again.

This is basically my go-to site for learning F#. Full of good explanations of concepts, and worked examples.

I can't remember if I'd come across the Markdown Guide before—useful reference for the less-common bits of Markdown, like tables.

In fact, I found the site when searching for evidence that Jekyll supports Markdown tables (it does). The list of tools and what features they support is handy. 👍🏼

I'd been looking for a quick reference for the smoke points of various cooking oils. I tend to use EVOO for everything, or Avocado Oil for higher-temp frying, or as an alternative to Coconut Oil (which is high in saturated fat).

In fact, in addition to containing the useful table below, this article points out that, as a rule of thumb, oils which are solid at room temperature (coconut oil, and, oh, I don't know, butter) tend to be higher in sat fat, and should therefore be used sparingly.

I mean, butter also has a super-low smoke point, but it's pretty much irreplaceable in the dishes that call for it (most baking, for example). At least in this amateur cook's opinion.