dannyman.toldme.com


Photo-a-Day, Sundry

@Tenagra

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/09/27/tenagra/

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A note board in an abandoned cubicle records a last message.  Some time back I added a note regarding Darmak’s location.  Today I noticed that someone caught on to my note and put in an annotation for Jilad.

Sweeet!

2 Comments


Photo-a-Day, Sundry, Technology

Clint Eastwood x 2

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/09/23/high-plains-couch-potato/

Watching "High Plains Drifter" via Amazon.com on the Roku, and on the laptop. On the one hand, the laptop can do high definition. On the other hand, it has to sit on my belly.

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Photo-a-Day, Sundry, USA

Chicago Architecture

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/09/21/chicago-architecture/

We were in Chicago this past Labor Day. Here are a few photos taken with my G2 Android phone . . .

Trump's Tower in Chicago

Marina City, a distinctive pair of residential towers built in the sixties.

The Merchandise Mart, once the largest building in the world, as seen looking South down Wells St, on the Chicago Architecture Foundation's model of downtown.

Under construction . . .

Shimmering Alleyway

Chicago Remembers: with its own Vietnam War Memorial

The profile of stairs leading down to the Vietnam War Memorial on the Chicago River are mirrored in the skyline.

The Old republic Building smiles at the sun.

Mei photographs the Bean, as all visitors to Millennium Park are obliged to do.

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Letters to The Man, Movies, News and Reaction, Sundry, Technology, Testimonials

Dear Netflix . . .

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/09/19/gag-me-quickster/

Left a comment on the Official Netflix blog:

What I have always liked about Netflix is that it was a one-stop shop that knew what kind of movies I like to watch, and could make smart suggestions. Netflix had a huge selection and could send me just about any movie I could want. The streaming was a nice addition, but you lose a lot of control that you have on the DVDs like selecting aspect ratios or subtitles. Sometimes the instant gratification is nice but what was important wasn’t a red envelope versus a streaming video, it was that one way or another, Netflix would get me movies I wanted to see.

Then you decided that what I really wanted had little to do with movies or brand loyalty and everything to do with having a medium preference shoved down my throat.

If the streaming is such a fundamentally new business model start a new business and be done with it. Call it Streamstr. Partner with old-fogey Netflix and their stupid red envelopes so their retarded users can stream a few videos. Better yet, be the Netflix I knew and loved so many years: deliver movies I want to me. If I have to pay more for postage or more for some streaming movie that is really “hot” that is totally cool.

But what you are doing right now is some sort of bizarre unsettling brand seppuku. Why is such a great company working so hard to come up with new and innovative ways to scare away its loyal customers?

Netflix used to be about people watching movies. End of story. Movies. Movies. Movies. Its not about picking the winner between VHS and Beta, its about your customers and their love of movies and about your love of getting the movies to your customers. No nonsense, no bull, no false choices. And now? You’re tossing that advantage aside, and I am just as well served by your competitors.

Making the experience more complex for your customers is just plain dumb. =(

Good luck with your brave new spin-off model. It was a nice ride while it lasted.

-danny

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Photo-a-Day, Sundry

Squirrel Cat

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/09/11/squirrel-cat/

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I heard a squirrel clomping up a tree.  I looked and looked and couldn’t find him.  But then I saw Maxwell was climbing higher than I had ever seen him climb.  He climbed as high as the second floor, hoping to sneak up on the Mourning Doves.  The doves were wise to his approach, but he ascended and descended safely.

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News and Reaction, Photo-a-Day, Sundry, Testimonials

9/11 Ceremony Mountain View, CA

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/09/11/911-ceremony-mountain-view-ca/

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Tenth anniversary of the attacks.  A bit difficult to recite the Pledge of Allegiance with that knot that still forms in the back of the throat.

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Free Style, Photo-a-Day, Sundry

Weekend Inspiration

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/09/01/weekend-inspiration/

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Weekends when the wife is not around I enjoy a visit to my favorite coffee shop.  On this occasion while one patron was transcribing musical notation another regular started to work on the math of an idea about solar power generation.

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Photo-a-Day, Sundry

All Roads Lead to San Jose

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/08/31/all-roads-lead-to-san-jose/

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Monday afternoon I biked down the Guadalupe trail past the airport to San Jose Diridon Caltrain and rode a comfy baby bullet home to Mountain View.

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Photo-a-Day, Sundry

Cuddly Maxwell

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/07/14/cuddly-maxwell/

Maxwell cuddles up on the couch for a belly rub.

Usually he avoids me but Mei is out of town.

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Photo-a-Day, Sundry

Google+ Hangout

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/07/12/google-hangout/

Mei says hello to Sean, in London.

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Photo-a-Day, Sundry

VTA Cup Holder

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/07/06/vta-cup-holder/

A hand hold on VTA's light rail makes a convenient place to hook a travel mug

I usually have my coffee at work, but on this morning I brewed at home and took it with.

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Linux, Sundry, Technical, Technology, Testimonials, WordPress

Updating WordPress: Upgrading php53 on CentOS

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/07/05/wordpress-upgrade-php53-centos/

If you have a self-hosted WordPress blog, you really ought to keep it up to date. Popular software is a popular security target, and as new exploits are discovered, new patches are deployed. Fortunately, WordPress makes this super-easy. Just go to Dashboard > Updates and you can update with one click. I basically get a free update any time I get it in my head to write something.

Except this morning, when I was told that an update was available, but:

"You cannot update because WordPress 3.2 requires PHP version 5.2.4 or higher. You are running version 5.1.6."

On my CentOS VM, this was addressed by:


sudo yum update
sudo service httpd restart

Actually, it was a little difficult, because we’re replacing php with php53:

0-13:11 djh@www0 ~$ cat /etc/redhat-release
CentOS release 5.6 (Final)
0-13:11 djh@www0 ~$ rpm -q php
php-5.1.6-27.el5_5.3
0-13:11 djh@www0 ~$ yum list installed | grep ^php
php.x86_64                               5.1.6-27.el5_5.3              installed
php-cli.x86_64                           5.1.6-27.el5_5.3              installed
php-common.x86_64                        5.1.6-27.el5_5.3              installed
php-gd.x86_64                            5.1.6-27.el5_5.3              installed
php-mysql.x86_64                         5.1.6-27.el5_5.3              installed
php-pdo.x86_64                           5.1.6-27.el5_5.3              installed
1-13:11 djh@www0 ~$ sudo service httpd stop
Stopping httpd:                                            [  OK  ]
0-13:11 djh@www0 ~$ yum list installed | grep ^php | awk '{print $1}' 
php.x86_64
php-cli.x86_64
php-common.x86_64
php-gd.x86_64
php-mysql.x86_64
php-pdo.x86_64
0-13:12 djh@www0 ~$ sudo yum remove `!!`
sudo yum remove `yum list installed | grep ^php | awk '{print $1}'`
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Setting up Remove Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package php.x86_64 0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3 set to be erased
---> Package php-cli.x86_64 0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3 set to be erased
---> Package php-common.x86_64 0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3 set to be erased
---> Package php-gd.x86_64 0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3 set to be erased
---> Package php-mysql.x86_64 0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3 set to be erased
---> Package php-pdo.x86_64 0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3 set to be erased
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

================================================================================
 Package           Arch          Version                 Repository        Size
================================================================================
Removing:
 php               x86_64        5.1.6-27.el5_5.3        installed        6.2 M
 php-cli           x86_64        5.1.6-27.el5_5.3        installed        5.3 M
 php-common        x86_64        5.1.6-27.el5_5.3        installed        397 k
 php-gd            x86_64        5.1.6-27.el5_5.3        installed        333 k
 php-mysql         x86_64        5.1.6-27.el5_5.3        installed        196 k
 php-pdo           x86_64        5.1.6-27.el5_5.3        installed        114 k

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Remove        6 Package(s)
Reinstall     0 Package(s)
Downgrade     0 Package(s)

Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Erasing        : php-gd                                                   1/6 
  Erasing        : php                                                      2/6 
  Erasing        : php-mysql                                                3/6 
  Erasing        : php-cli                                                  4/6 
  Erasing        : php-common                                               5/6 
warning: /etc/php.ini saved as /etc/php.ini.rpmsave
  Erasing        : php-pdo                                                  6/6 

Removed:
  php.x86_64 0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3            php-cli.x86_64 0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3    
  php-common.x86_64 0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3     php-gd.x86_64 0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3     
  php-mysql.x86_64 0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3      php-pdo.x86_64 0:5.1.6-27.el5_5.3    

Complete!

0-13:13 djh@www0 ~$ sudo yum install php53 php53-mysql php53-gd
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: yum.singlehop.com
 * epel: mirror.steadfast.net
 * extras: mirror.fdcservers.net
 * updates: mirror.sanctuaryhost.com
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package php53.x86_64 0:5.3.3-1.el5_6.1 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: php53-cli = 5.3.3-1.el5_6.1 for package: php53
--> Processing Dependency: php53-common = 5.3.3-1.el5_6.1 for package: php53
---> Package php53-gd.x86_64 0:5.3.3-1.el5_6.1 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: libXpm.so.4()(64bit) for package: php53-gd
---> Package php53-mysql.x86_64 0:5.3.3-1.el5_6.1 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: php53-pdo for package: php53-mysql
--> Running transaction check
---> Package libXpm.x86_64 0:3.5.5-3 set to be updated
---> Package php53-cli.x86_64 0:5.3.3-1.el5_6.1 set to be updated
---> Package php53-common.x86_64 0:5.3.3-1.el5_6.1 set to be updated
---> Package php53-pdo.x86_64 0:5.3.3-1.el5_6.1 set to be updated
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

================================================================================
 Package             Arch          Version                 Repository      Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 php53               x86_64        5.3.3-1.el5_6.1         updates        1.3 M
 php53-gd            x86_64        5.3.3-1.el5_6.1         updates        109 k
 php53-mysql         x86_64        5.3.3-1.el5_6.1         updates         92 k
Installing for dependencies:
 libXpm              x86_64        3.5.5-3                 base            44 k
 php53-cli           x86_64        5.3.3-1.el5_6.1         updates        2.4 M
 php53-common        x86_64        5.3.3-1.el5_6.1         updates        605 k
 php53-pdo           x86_64        5.3.3-1.el5_6.1         updates         67 k

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install       7 Package(s)
Upgrade       0 Package(s)

Total download size: 4.6 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
(1/7): libXpm-3.5.5-3.x86_64.rpm                         |  44 kB     00:00     
(2/7): php53-pdo-5.3.3-1.el5_6.1.x86_64.rpm              |  67 kB     00:00     
(3/7): php53-mysql-5.3.3-1.el5_6.1.x86_64.rpm            |  92 kB     00:00     
(4/7): php53-gd-5.3.3-1.el5_6.1.x86_64.rpm               | 109 kB     00:00     
(5/7): php53-common-5.3.3-1.el5_6.1.x86_64.rpm           | 605 kB     00:00     
(6/7): php53-5.3.3-1.el5_6.1.x86_64.rpm                  | 1.3 MB     00:00     
(7/7): php53-cli-5.3.3-1.el5_6.1.x86_64.rpm              | 2.4 MB     00:00     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                            12 MB/s | 4.6 MB     00:00     
Running rpm_check_debug
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
  Installing     : php53-common                                             1/7 
  Installing     : php53-pdo                                                2/7 
  Installing     : php53-cli                                                3/7 
  Installing     : libXpm                                                   4/7 
  Installing     : php53                                                    5/7 
  Installing     : php53-mysql                                              6/7 
  Installing     : php53-gd                                                 7/7 

Installed:
  php53.x86_64 0:5.3.3-1.el5_6.1           php53-gd.x86_64 0:5.3.3-1.el5_6.1    
  php53-mysql.x86_64 0:5.3.3-1.el5_6.1    

Dependency Installed:
  libXpm.x86_64 0:3.5.5-3                  php53-cli.x86_64 0:5.3.3-1.el5_6.1   
  php53-common.x86_64 0:5.3.3-1.el5_6.1    php53-pdo.x86_64 0:5.3.3-1.el5_6.1   

Complete!
0-13:14 djh@www0 ~$ sudo service httpd start
Starting httpd:                                            [  OK  ]

And now I have successfully upgraded via the web UI.

Most days, I am not a CentOS admin, so if there is a better way to have done this, I am keen to hear.

8 Comments


Photo-a-Day, Sundry

Book Donations

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/07/05/book-donations/

PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE BOOKS OUTSIDE ON GROUND OR DRIVEWAY

We eased this situation by providing foster homes for some of the books left on the ground.

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Photo-a-Day, Sundry

Breakfast Party

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/07/03/breakfast-party/

Florentine, waffles and fruits! Oh my!

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Sundry, Testimonials

Pricing Truck Rentals: Budget vs Penske

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/06/29/pricing-truck-rentals-budget-vs-penske/

[Notes from my move from Brooklyn to Mountain View, CA in July 2010. We rented a truck and towed a car. We drove via I-80/I-70. We stayed at Motel 6 when we could, and I asked my Android GPS to avoid tolls, especially East of the Mississippi.]

When I moved from California to New York I went with Budget Truck rental, based on price. It went well enough. This time I’m going with Penske, based on my sweetheart’s AAA discount. Penske’s web site is more polished, especially the “enter make and model of car to be towed” interaction. Today I received a 20% discount coupon for Budget. I made my reservation and was pleased that the price came out lower, until I reviewed my Penske reservation and saw they had included tax in their total. Budget did not. It also looks like Penske applies the AAA discount per-item, where Budget’s discount was only on the truck itself.

Item Budget Penske
Discount 20% coupon 12% AAA + web discount
10-day one-way 16′ truck rental $1,291.20 $1,250.06
Tow Dolly $185.00 $264.00
Hand Truck $35.00 $17.60
2-dozen furniture pads $54.00 $26.40
“Cost recovery fee” $33.00
Total $1,598.20 $1,558.06

Notes:

4 Comments

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