dannyman.toldme.com


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


Relationship Advice, Sundry, Technology, Testimonials

Cultivate Childhood Creativity

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/06/27/ken-robinson-ted-talk/

Trying to get your week going? Can’t quite find your groove? Try and spend 20 minutes with Ken Robinson.

Lots of good humor to deliver a simple and important message. We face an important problem in that we designed our primary education systems to build conformist factory workers. As we rocket ever faster in to our collective future, what we’ll need more than ever is the capacity to formulate creative solutions to our new problems. Kids start out creative, then we educate the creativity out of them. We need to do what we can to help our kids grow with access to the various disciplines which move them, so that they can realize their potential as 21st century human beings.

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Photo-a-Day, Sundry

Tire Failure

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/06/20/tire-failure/

You don't see a bike tire do that very often.

For some time I had noticed and been avoiding the weird bulge in my rear bicycle tire. Finally it gave way on my commute. The threads inside the tire appear to have been separating, and I guess I hit something sharp at a weak spot.

I put on my spare tube and made it home. I have since replaced this tire with a knobby road tire, paired with a puncture-resistant inner tube and a puncture-resistant liner. If I never have to change a bicycle tire again it will be too soon!

2 Comments


Photo-a-Day, Sundry

Pie!

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/06/19/pie/

Mei's folks were in town for Father's Day, so she made him an Apple Pie, and a pork roast, and other delicious things for dinner.

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About Me, Photo-a-Day, Sundry

Kona Ka`u Peaberry

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/31/kona-kau-peaberry/

Would you like a nice Hawaiian . . . coffee?

Normally I brew my own coffee at work, but if I get in early and I find the pot has not yet been contaminated, I’ll clean the machine off and brew a pot for my colleagues. This was some peaberry (smaller beans) from the K`au region of Kona, on Hawaii’s Big Island. My final souvenir from the airport in Hilo.

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About Me, Biography, Photo-a-Day, Sundry

Goin’ to Get Married

Link: https://dannyman.toldme.com/2011/05/14/going-to-get-married/

Danny walks with the Chaplain into the wedding ceremony.

There are of course way better photos of our wedding day, but this one was taken with my camera, by my Uncle John, who even as a groomsman can not resist the urge to snap some photos.

Also, I don’t have to persuade the wife to post any photos of her that are less than perfect to her eye.

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