Categories

apple (1) applescript (1) blogging (2) book-review (7) books (1) cheatsheet (6) command-line (11) computers (1) conferences (1) consumer-software (7) containers (1) cooking (1) databases (2) design-patterns (4) dumbass (1) exiftool (1) github (1) graduate-school (4) json (1) macos (13) numeracy (10) nyc-mesh (4) object-orientation (13) open-source (2) opinion (30) perl (66) personal-history (5) productivity (1) programming (102) publishing (1) raku (1) reading-list (1) rescued-content (23) ruby (1) running (1) science (4) smalltalk (1) social-media (2) society (1) sports (1) system-administration (16) teaching (5) technology (10) timeline (1) unicode (1) web-administration (1) writing (3)

apple

Remove album ratings from Apple Music – June 6, 2025

applescript

Remove album ratings from Apple Music – June 6, 2025

blogging

Backing up my WordPress blogs – January 1, 2020
Get this blog – December 31, 2019

book-review

Notes on Kill It With Fire – October 17, 2021
What's the pull of that planet? – November 17, 2020
These champions ruined it for almost nobody – March 5, 2013
Review of Taft 2012: A Novel – January 3, 2012
Review of Style: An Anti-Textbook – November 1, 2011
Review of Revising Prose – August 4, 2011
Review of Glitch: The Hidden Impact of Faulty Software – February 12, 2011

books

Everything is not miscellaneous – March 1, 2025

cheatsheet

exiftool cheatsheet – July 7, 2023
jq cheatsheet – June 21, 2022
systemd cheatsheet – July 16, 2021
Compendium of macOS Command-Line Tools – January 19, 2020
Git cheatsheet – November 11, 2018
ffmpeg cheatsheet – December 14, 2017

command-line

jq cheatsheet – June 21, 2022
Reminding myself about new tools – May 9, 2021
JPEG comments – November 3, 2020
Format command output instead of parsing it – April 9, 2020
Speedtests – January 19, 2020
One-liners for Farhenheit to Celcius – January 1, 2020
Backing up my WordPress blogs – January 1, 2020
My bash prompt is now two lines – October 31, 2019
IPv4 conversion aliases – September 15, 2019
More number base conversions on the command line – August 18, 2019
Number base conversions on the command line – August 17, 2019

computers

tmux cheatsheet – January 27, 2026

conferences

OSCON 2007 wrap-up – August 3, 2007

consumer-software

Skipping profile parts while running through BBEdit – March 21, 2021
iTunes on Ubuntu – September 24, 2020
BBEdit Text Filters – June 15, 2020
The software I live in – March 22, 2020
Gitifying BBEdit Backups – January 21, 2020
Dealing with the information firehose – October 5, 2019
Goodbye Adobe – May 13, 2019

containers

Compiling Perl v5.8 on Debian Slim – November 29, 2025

cooking

Claire's Sourdough – March 27, 2020

databases

Importing array values into Postgres from CSV – September 1, 2020
Postgres can't find llvmjit.so – May 8, 2020

design-patterns

Monads, Promises, and Fluent Programming – September 16, 2020
The Iterator Design Pattern – September 1, 2002
The Façade Design Pattern – July 1, 2002
The Singleton Design Pattern – March 1, 2002

dumbass

Changing the problem – March 19, 2020

exiftool

exiftool cheatsheet – July 7, 2023

github

Encrypting secrets for GitHub's API with Perl and libsodium – April 5, 2023

graduate-school

Don't finish too soon – October 3, 2026
Running all the Simulations – March 14, 2016
Murder by Cholesterol – August 1, 2005
Check all you want, but the data are useless – July 15, 2005

json

jq cheatsheet – June 21, 2022

macos

Speeding up my secrets – December 16, 2022
Key bindings for macOS tags – June 23, 2022
Adjusting XCode command-line tools for Monterey – February 25, 2022
Visual Studio is going crazy – February 17, 2022
Another sign of the coming Dark Ages – June 30, 2021
Perl versions included in Mac releases – April 24, 2021
Skipping profile parts while running through BBEdit – March 21, 2021
iTunes on Ubuntu – September 24, 2020
BBEdit Text Filters – June 15, 2020
macOS's System Integrity Protection sanitizes your environment – April 29, 2020
The software I live in – March 22, 2020
Adding Apple mobile icons – March 15, 2020
Gitifying BBEdit Backups – January 21, 2020

numeracy

The median doesn't tell you anything – March 1, 2022
How much rice is that? – November 16, 2021
Don't compare COVID to deaths from war – October 16, 2021
What's the pull of that planet? – November 17, 2020
How far is the cloud? – November 16, 2020
I was almost a Pro Quarterback – February 17, 2017
The library assignment – November 7, 2014
Accidental Numeracy – July 14, 2013
Don't compare percentages – June 5, 2006
Lying with percentages – June 3, 2006

nyc-mesh

Better router, better speed – February 3, 2020
The AV2000 passthrough powerline extender – January 27, 2020
Speedtests – January 19, 2020
Screw Spectrum, hello NYC Mesh – January 19, 2020

object-orientation

Your OO Accessors Are Destroying Everything – March 26, 2021
Uncle Bob, Lesson 6 – March 10, 2021
Uncle Bob, Lesson 5 – March 10, 2021
Uncle Bob, Lesson 4 – March 10, 2021
Uncle Bob, Lesson 3 – March 10, 2021
Uncle Bob, Lesson 2 – March 9, 2021
Uncle Bob, Lesson 1 – March 9, 2021
Why you have problems with object orientation – July 27, 2020
Are you 21? – March 24, 2018
The Rectangle Class is Wrong – December 30, 2017
No ifs, ands, or buts – June 7, 2017
The Null Mull – November 28, 2004
The Singleton Design Pattern – March 1, 2002

open-source

Open source is not about money, or you – November 4, 2020
Simon Phipps on Floss Weekly – August 30, 2008

opinion

Make baseball great again – March 10, 2022
Which module's interface is that? – February 28, 2022
Your OO Accessors Are Destroying Everything – March 26, 2021
Registries are meant to exclude, not include, people – February 11, 2021
Stack Exchange clickbait "editor war" – November 12, 2020
Open source is not about money, or you – November 4, 2020
What is Legacy Code? – June 25, 2020
People's complaints are really opportunities – January 21, 2020
Who wants to be popular? – January 9, 2020
Dealing with the information firehose – October 5, 2019
Third-party libraries undermine your control – February 28, 2018
The Perl Bus Factor – November 6, 2017
Anything new will help – January 5, 2017
My Perl recruitment thoughts – December 15, 2014
Perl's Problems – October 2, 2014
CPAN's Social Continuity of Code – February 21, 2014
Perl, people, society, & mobs – February 16, 2013
Should my Perl release process be yours? – August 9, 2012
Should I buy that Perl book? – March 19, 2012
If software were houses – July 24, 2011
The coming schism in Perl – July 8, 2011
What are five things you hate about your favorite language? – November 11, 2008
Simon Phipps on Floss Weekly – August 30, 2008
Chuck Norris-ing code – August 4, 2008
On Open Source Risk – November 9, 2007
brian's guide to answering questions – February 28, 2007
On Readability – February 1, 2007
Winning people over to better development practices – November 13, 2006
brian's Laws of Programming – November 29, 2004
How not to code – October 21, 2004

perl

Skip the first line by using the flip-flop operator – January 17, 2026
What version of Unicode is your Perl using? – December 25, 2025
Is that Perl module still alive? – December 17, 2025
Compiling Perl v5.8 on Debian Slim – November 29, 2025
A tiny Mojolicious server in a test program – August 12, 2025
Counting IPv4 addresses with a bitmap – April 13, 2025
Data::Dumper's surprising side effect with Useqq – January 28, 2025
How do I encode HTTP GET query strings in Perl? – November 14, 2024
Perl v5.36 broke the -X switch – November 6, 2023
Encrypting secrets for GitHub's API with Perl and libsodium – April 5, 2023
The new Perl community on Twitter – January 20, 2023
A format for RPSL – January 18, 2023
Another reduction example – June 29, 2022
A CPAN distroprefs example – June 29, 2022
Perl's undefined behaviors – May 26, 2022
Which module's interface is that? – February 28, 2022
The history of Learning Perl covers – January 1, 2022
Perl versions included in Mac releases – April 24, 2021
Why is that even there? – February 15, 2021
Monads, Promises, and Fluent Programming – September 16, 2020
Why you have problems with object orientation – July 27, 2020
Autoredialing and walking phone menus – July 23, 2020
BBEdit Text Filters – June 15, 2020
The New Sadism – April 19, 2020
Format command output instead of parsing it – April 9, 2020
Format Your LeanPub Table of Contents – January 24, 2020
People's complaints are really opportunities – January 21, 2020
Reduce the Special Case – January 18, 2020
Who wants to be popular? – January 9, 2020
One-liners for Farhenheit to Celcius – January 1, 2020
IPv4 conversion aliases – September 15, 2019
More number base conversions on the command line – August 18, 2019
Number base conversions on the command line – August 17, 2019
Pausing Cloudflare with Mojo::UserAgent – June 28, 2019
US National Park Passport Stickers, by Year and Region – June 6, 2019
Are you 21? – March 24, 2018
Third-party libraries undermine your control – February 28, 2018
It's log all the way down – February 10, 2018
The Perl Bus Factor – November 6, 2017
No ifs, ands, or buts – June 7, 2017
Do I want to process this file? – March 18, 2017
My Perl recruitment thoughts – December 15, 2014
Perl's Problems – October 2, 2014
CPAN's Social Continuity of Code – February 21, 2014
Why I didnt submit that patch – January 8, 2014
Perl, people, society, & mobs – February 16, 2013
Should my Perl release process be yours? – August 9, 2012
Should I buy that Perl book? – March 19, 2012
The coming schism in Perl – July 8, 2011
types in perl – November 13, 2010
When should I use the & to call a Perl subroutine? – August 28, 2009
How can I speed up my Perl program? – October 7, 2008
On Open Source Risk – November 9, 2007
How do you master Perl? – May 11, 2005
A curses-based japh – December 8, 2004
The Null Mull – November 28, 2004
How a script becomes a module – October 5, 2004
Wasting Time Thinking About Wasted Time – September 22, 2004
How I learned perl – August 23, 2004
Separating Code, Presentation, and Configuration – January 1, 2003
Simple RSS with Perl – November 1, 2002
The Iterator Design Pattern – September 1, 2002
The Façade Design Pattern – July 1, 2002
Finding Perl Modules – May 1, 2002
The Singleton Design Pattern – March 1, 2002
Benchmarking Perl – February 1, 2002

personal-history

Running all the Simulations – March 14, 2016
The library assignment – November 7, 2014
Murder by Cholesterol – August 1, 2005
Check all you want, but the data are useless – July 15, 2005
How I learned perl – August 23, 2004

productivity

Dealing with the information firehose – October 5, 2019

programming

Don't finish too soon – October 3, 2026
The Day [Randal] Decided Never to Learn Python – June 2, 2026
Skip the first line by using the flip-flop operator – January 17, 2026
What version of Unicode is your Perl using? – December 25, 2025
A tiny Mojolicious server in a test program – August 12, 2025
Remove album ratings from Apple Music – June 6, 2025
Counting IPv4 addresses with a bitmap – April 13, 2025
How do I encode HTTP GET query strings in Perl? – November 14, 2024
Encrypting secrets for GitHub's API with Perl and libsodium – April 5, 2023
A format for RPSL – January 18, 2023
Another reduction example – June 29, 2022
A CPAN distroprefs example – June 29, 2022
Perl's undefined behaviors – May 26, 2022
Which module's interface is that? – February 28, 2022
Visual Studio is going crazy – February 17, 2022
What do you really get from IDE-driven development? – February 17, 2022
Notes on Kill It With Fire – October 17, 2021
Reminding myself about new tools – May 9, 2021
Perl versions included in Mac releases – April 24, 2021
Your OO Accessors Are Destroying Everything – March 26, 2021
Skipping profile parts while running through BBEdit – March 21, 2021
Uncle Bob, Lesson 6 – March 10, 2021
Uncle Bob, Lesson 5 – March 10, 2021
Uncle Bob, Lesson 4 – March 10, 2021
Uncle Bob, Lesson 3 – March 10, 2021
On the decomposition of problems – March 10, 2021
Uncle Bob, Lesson 2 – March 9, 2021
Uncle Bob, Lesson 1 – March 9, 2021
Putting environment values in the keychain – February 16, 2021
Why is that even there? – February 15, 2021
Registries are meant to exclude, not include, people – February 11, 2021
Turning off Travis CI – January 7, 2021
Stack Exchange clickbait "editor war" – November 12, 2020
Monads, Promises, and Fluent Programming – September 16, 2020
Why you have problems with object orientation – July 27, 2020
Autoredialing and walking phone menus – July 23, 2020
What is Legacy Code? – June 25, 2020
Quake's Fast Inverse Square Algorithm – June 23, 2020
BBEdit Text Filters – June 15, 2020
macOS's System Integrity Protection sanitizes your environment – April 29, 2020
The New Sadism – April 19, 2020
Format command output instead of parsing it – April 9, 2020
LeanPub Monthly Sales – April 2, 2020
X is not my favorite language – February 4, 2020
Format Your LeanPub Table of Contents – January 24, 2020
People's complaints are really opportunities – January 21, 2020
Reduce the Special Case – January 18, 2020
Who wants to be popular? – January 9, 2020
Converting YAML to JSON – January 5, 2020
My bash prompt is now two lines – October 31, 2019
IPv4 conversion aliases – September 15, 2019
More number base conversions on the command line – August 18, 2019
Number base conversions on the command line – August 17, 2019
Pausing Cloudflare with Mojo::UserAgent – June 28, 2019
US National Park Passport Stickers, by Year and Region – June 6, 2019
A Makefile help target – April 5, 2019
Are you 21? – March 24, 2018
Third-party libraries undermine your control – February 28, 2018
It's log all the way down – February 10, 2018
The Rectangle Class is Wrong – December 30, 2017
The Perl Bus Factor – November 6, 2017
No ifs, ands, or buts – June 7, 2017
Do I want to process this file? – March 18, 2017
Anything new will help – January 5, 2017
Running all the Simulations – March 14, 2016
Perl's Problems – October 2, 2014
CPAN's Social Continuity of Code – February 21, 2014
Why I didnt submit that patch – January 8, 2014
Should my Perl release process be yours? – August 9, 2012
Should I buy that Perl book? – March 19, 2012
If software were houses – July 24, 2011
The coming schism in Perl – July 8, 2011
Review of Glitch: The Hidden Impact of Faulty Software – February 12, 2011
types in perl – November 13, 2010
When should I use the & to call a Perl subroutine? – August 28, 2009
What are five things you hate about your favorite language? – November 11, 2008
How can I speed up my Perl program? – October 7, 2008
Simon Phipps on Floss Weekly – August 30, 2008
Chuck Norris-ing code – August 4, 2008
My Perl 6 Talking Points – December 28, 2007
On Open Source Risk – November 9, 2007
OSCON 2007 wrap-up – August 3, 2007
brian's guide to answering questions – February 28, 2007
On Readability – February 1, 2007
Winning people over to better development practices – November 13, 2006
Check all you want, but the data are useless – July 15, 2005
How do you master Perl? – May 11, 2005
A curses-based japh – December 8, 2004
brian's Laws of Programming – November 29, 2004
The Null Mull – November 28, 2004
How not to code – October 21, 2004
How a script becomes a module – October 5, 2004
Wasting Time Thinking About Wasted Time – September 22, 2004
How I learned perl – August 23, 2004
brian's Guide To Solving Any Perl Problem – July 20, 2004
Separating Code, Presentation, and Configuration – January 1, 2003
Simple RSS with Perl – November 1, 2002
The Iterator Design Pattern – September 1, 2002
The Façade Design Pattern – July 1, 2002
Finding Perl Modules – May 1, 2002
The Singleton Design Pattern – March 1, 2002
Benchmarking Perl – February 1, 2002

publishing

LeanPub Monthly Sales – April 2, 2020

raku

My Perl 6 Talking Points – December 28, 2007

reading-list

Things I've read and want to remember – September 16, 2020

rescued-content

People's complaints are really opportunities – January 21, 2020
Who wants to be popular? – January 9, 2020
My Perl recruitment thoughts – December 15, 2014
These champions ruined it for almost nobody – March 5, 2013
Perl, people, society, & mobs – February 16, 2013
Should my Perl release process be yours? – August 9, 2012
Should I buy that Perl book? – March 19, 2012
Review of Taft 2012: A Novel – January 3, 2012
Review of Style: An Anti-Textbook – November 1, 2011
Review of Revising Prose – August 4, 2011
Simon Phipps on Floss Weekly – August 30, 2008
Chuck Norris-ing code – August 4, 2008
My Perl 6 Talking Points – December 28, 2007
Five Ways to Improve Your Perl Programming – April 12, 2007
brian's guide to answering questions – February 28, 2007
Winning people over to better development practices – November 13, 2006
Don't compare percentages – June 5, 2006
BBEdit 8.0—A Developer's Viewpoint – December 21, 2004
The Iterator Design Pattern – September 1, 2002
The Façade Design Pattern – July 1, 2002
Finding Perl Modules – May 1, 2002
The Singleton Design Pattern – March 1, 2002
Benchmarking Perl – February 1, 2002

ruby

No ifs, ands, or buts – June 7, 2017

running

These champions ruined it for almost nobody – March 5, 2013

science

Let's talk about beavers, but we can't ever look at one – May 17, 2025
Indirect measures and bad conclusions – December 21, 2024
Neil deGrasse Tyson obscures the truth, again – April 3, 2021
Neil deGrasse Tyson fails at science – November 28, 2020

smalltalk

No ifs, ands, or buts – June 7, 2017

The new Perl community on Twitter – January 20, 2023
Amazon's Sensitivity Filters – April 4, 2020

society

Satanic Panic – April 4, 2020

sports

Make baseball great again – March 10, 2022

system-administration

Simple mail processing – January 7, 2021
Postgres can't find llvmjit.so – May 8, 2020
Battling AhrefsBot – January 30, 2020
Speedtests – January 19, 2020
Screw Spectrum, hello NYC Mesh – January 19, 2020
Backing up my WordPress blogs – January 1, 2020
Advertising SSH on Ubuntu – November 15, 2019
Why are you rebooting? – November 14, 2019
Pine is forever – October 3, 2019
Rescuing my MacBook Air by Installing Ubuntu – July 29, 2019
Pausing all Cloudflare domains – July 21, 2019
Finding domains to block – June 22, 2019
Watching web redirects – March 30, 2019
Use several git services at once – February 8, 2019
QR-encoded Access Points – December 18, 2018
Switching From FreeBSD to Linux – June 10, 2016

teaching

A good teacher knows what people don't know – April 29, 2020
Lectures are bullshit – March 26, 2020
Pendants versus Masters – June 19, 2018
Not remembering how to convert F to C – December 11, 2010
How do you master Perl? – May 11, 2005

technology

I hold my pen differently – November 3, 2022
Calibrating my oven – August 22, 2022
I dumped GMail – June 2, 2022
What do you really get from IDE-driven development? – February 17, 2022
Another sign of the coming Dark Ages – June 30, 2021
Simpler is Better – December 16, 2020
Rescuing Future Folk from my iPhone – November 10, 2020
Can Machines Think? – August 13, 2020
So long, HP-48, my good friend – January 18, 2019
My Smartphone is Stupid – July 5, 2018

timeline

Satanic Panic – April 4, 2020

unicode

Force feeding Unicode to LaTeX's listing package – February 12, 2020

web-administration

Adding Apple mobile icons – March 15, 2020

writing

Books I want to write – March 20, 2020
Review of Style: An Anti-Textbook – November 1, 2011
Review of Revising Prose – August 4, 2011