dannyman.toldme.com

This page features every post I write, and is dedicated to Andrew Ho.

December 7, 2011
Linux, Technical

Notes: Make Ubuntu GUI Less Annoying

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/12/07/ccsm-ubuntu-gui-tweaks/

First, install ccsm.

Terminal windows resize themselves stupidly when changing font size. I don’t know how to fix that, but in the CompizConfig Settings Manager, I can enable Resize Info to overlay the dimensions of any window as I resize it.

Often, when dragging a window around, it tries to go full-screen on me. This is obnoxious! Just disable Grid in CCSM.

If anyone knows how to reconcile Focus Follows Mouse with “menu bar at the top of the screen” I would love to hear it! Or if you know how to configure the pager to something besides 2×2 …

1 Comment

December 1, 2011
JIRA

JIRA: Require User Time Tracking

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/12/01/jira-jython-validator-enforce-time-spent/

Time tracking in JIRA is a nice feature, but we have to get people to do it. My initial attempts to enforce time tracking ran into trouble, but I was able to develop a Jython Validator to hook on to transitions to the Resolved state. Now it is mandatory for our users to log time worked before they can resolve an issue:

# -*- coding: UTF-8 -*-
import com.atlassian.jira.issue.worklog.Worklog
from com.atlassian.jira import ComponentManager
 
# Time Already Logged
timespent = issue.getTimeSpent()
# Time Logged via current screen
try:
    timelogged = dict(issue.getModifiedFields())['worklog']
except:
    timelogged = False
 
# Duplicate Issue?  It is as good as logged!
resolution = issue.getResolution()
if resolution['name'] == "Duplicate":
    timelogged = True
if resolution['name'] == "Self Corrected":
    timelogged = True
 
# Nagios likes to close tickets, but doesn't get paid
user = ComponentManager.getInstance().getJiraAuthenticationContext().getUser()
if user.getName() == "nagios":
    timelogged = True
 
if timespent < = 0 and timelogged == False:
    result = False
    description = "Please log the time you spent on this ticket."

2012-01-24 Update: the script now contains additional logic, which exempts the nagios user from enforcement and allows resolution of duplicated or self-correcting issues which may not require time tracking. Hopefully this example is useful to somebody.

4 Comments

November 28, 2011
Photo-a-Day, Sundry

Belted In for Take Off

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/11/28/seatbeltbear/

Stuffed Polar Bear demonstrates proper airplane safety procedure.

This is the passenger who had the middle seat on my flight back from Chicago yesterday.

Feedback Welcome

November 26, 2011
Photo-a-Day

PJ the Cat

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/11/26/pj-the-cat/

image

What up, yo?

PJ reminds me of drawings of Lucy Knisley’s cat.

Feedback Welcome

November 23, 2011
Sundry, Technical, Technology, Testimonials, WordPress

Is CloudFlare Saving Me Money?

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/11/23/is-cloudflare-saving-me-money/

I was poking around my CloudFlare Control Panel, and pulled up stats for the past month, from Oct 11 to Nov 11. It says it had blocked a bunch of attacks on my site, and consequently saved me over 5GB in bandwidth.

5.1GB saved!?

I said to myself, "I pay for bandwidth! Maybe this free service is saving me money?!"

“Really,” I said, “I pay for bandwidth, so if CloudFlare is saving me bandwidth, it is saving me money!”

But 5GB seemed kind of high. So, I checked my invoices from RackSpace. Here is the outbound bandwidth I have been charged for this year:

Invoice Date   Bandwidth Out
11/11          4.660 GB
10/11          4.972 GB
09/11          7.534 GB
08/11          5.467 GB
07/11          6.402 GB
06/11          5.978 GB
05/11          4.694 GB
04/11          6.294 GB
03/11          6.254 GB
02/11          9.652 GB
01/11          7.117 GB

RackSpace charges me on the 11th of the month, and, conveniently enough, I started using CloudFlare around October 11th. The highlighted line above is my first month on CloudFlare. It is my lowest number of the year, and it is conceivable that I could have totaled 9.5 GB in October since I pushed more than that in February. I’m skeptical that they are saving me as much as they claim to be, but for a free service to speed up my web site and save me even a little money . . . that is a good deal in my book!

Feedback Welcome

November 23, 2011
About Me, Relationship Advice, Testimonials

Patient Friends

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/11/23/patient-friends/

There will be friends you haven’t exchanged a word with in years, and one day you’ll meet and it is as if no time has passed, except that you are a little older, a little wiser, a little more foolish, and you have a bunch of gossip to catch up on.

There were friends before there were text messages, or email, or telephones, or letters, or even an alphabet or a language.

Which is just a long-winded way of suggesting you don’t need to worry too much who is texting you back. Years from now you’ll know who some of these best friends from today are, and it won’t have much to do with who texted you back this week.

(From some unsolicited advice posted to a nephew on Facebook.)

Feedback Welcome

November 19, 2011
Photo-a-Day

Waiting Room

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/11/19/waiting-room-2/

image

A friend is in surgery.  His folks should be in from the East Coast before long.

Feedback Welcome

November 19, 2011
About Me, News and Reaction, Politics

Now I am Angry Too

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/11/19/now-i-am-angry-too/

Or, if that video isn’t available, just Google “UC Davis Pepper Spray”

You want to know why your fellow Americans are in the streets? You want to know what their message is? The message is that the power and the money are in the hands of fewer people, and that these folks at the top feel entitled to grab more and more and stomp on anyone who gets in their way. Getting angry over numbers is a little difficult, so this cop decided to illustrate the core problem by simply spraying peaceably assembled young people in the head.

The Occupy movement is giving voice to our collective anger. It is an anger we too often stifle for the sake of getting along in our own lives, but most of us know that things have gotten out of whack and this country needs to correct the way it manages things. Oh, but you say you want a fully-formed political agenda? I don’t have one. Nobody does and nobody should. Its called Democracy. But here are a few things, off the top of my head, that we could do:

I’m sure you have got an idea or two that may be worth talking about as well. Let us talk about these ideas. Let us promote these ideas. Heck, maybe we could even pass some of these ideas in to law. And let us give thanks to the radicals out there who by provoking Power provoke the anger within each of us.

UPDATE: studentactivism.net has an excellent summary of the events and their aftermath, and excrementalvirtue.com has good commentary regarding the above video, which if you can stand to watch through the first six minutes, you then see the angry student protesters calmly invite the cops to leave: “You can go! You can go!” Although one guy is waving tear gas canisters in the air, the cops huddle and back-step away. (Some of the cops have very clear body language that they do not want to be there.) “Whose quad? Our quad,” the students cheer upon the retreat of the police force. The eight-minute video is a beautiful illustration that starts with an abuse of false authority which rapidly gives way to a retreat by the abusers as the people proudly and non-violently secure their right of peaceful assembly.

These Davis students deserve an A for demonstrating how non-violent resistance can overcome oppression.

Feedback Welcome

November 10, 2011
Photo-a-Day

Catmouflage!

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/11/10/catmoflage/

image

Ninja Cat blends invisibly into his surroundings.  Stealth is his greatest weapon!

Feedback Welcome

November 9, 2011
Photo-a-Day

Kitchen Appliances

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/11/09/kitchen-appliances/

image

The middle unit has an alarm clock function, pest control feature, and can perform basic cleanup of anything that tastes like meat, but “not too spicy please!”

Feedback Welcome

November 7, 2011
Photo-a-Day, Sundry

Duck Pond

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/11/07/duck-pond/

image

Sneaking through an apartment complex I came upon this wall of water and a dozen or more ducks enjoying the pond.

Feedback Welcome

November 6, 2011
Free Style, Photo-a-Day

The Sad Sunflower

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/11/06/the-sad-sunflower/

image

Tossed to the curb at Cal Ave Farmers Market.

Feedback Welcome

« Newer Stuff . . . Older Stuff »
Site Archive