weird

A collection of 33 posts

git

Git Rebase Struggles Conceptualized With Pikmin

If you haven’t already, take a look at my first git rebase / Pikmin blog post about how to learn and use git rebase.  That post covers the basics, while this one will conceptualize how to use git rebase when things go bad: conflicts, force pushing, and working with a

git

Git Rebase Is The Pikmin Of Source Control

git isn’t easy to learn, and once you do, the git rebase command seems to invoke fear and confusion in many people.  But once you learn how to use it effectively, you’ll wish you had learned it sooner–both for your solo projects and while working on a

star trek

Celebrate 50 Years Of Star Trek With These Nerdy Computer Tricks

I’m a huge fan of Star Trek.  So much so that many of my blog posts are about doing nerdy Star Trek-related things with your computer.  Here are a few of my favorites. Turn Your Mac’s Wallpaper Into An LCARS Terminal (Complete With Sound Effects)Download this System47

weird

FAA GPS Outages Are Actually A Conspiracy To Make An App Store Logo On The Ground

The featured image of this article is an aerial view of the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake (Wikipedia) with and overlay of the logo of the app store to prove this crazy theory. Apparently, the US military will be testing a device or devices that will potentially jam GPS

hacks

Use Wired Ethernet On Your iPad or iPhone

iPads and iPhones do not have an Ethernet port, but there are cases where you might want to use a hardwired connection.  You can actually run your iOS device over Ethernet with some adapters.  This is useful for quickly downloading large iOS updates or if your wireless is slow or

dropbox

Customize The Dropbox Syncing Icon To Whatever You Want

You can create your own icons to replace the Dropbox badges that appear that the bottom-right of folders in your Dropbox.  All you need is an image editor and an app to convert images to icons. Creating A Custom Dropbox Syncing BadgeIn the image above, I changed the “sync complete”

hacks

Give Your Work Phone A Custom Ringtone

This may work for other devices, but the one I used was a NEC DT700 (original PDF instructions).  I have seen these models in several different workplaces.  The process can probably be adapted for other phones, too. Download Or Create/Convert A .wav Ringtone FileDownloadYou can find some pre-formatted tones

netcat

Create A Website On Your Mac Without A Webserver

Do you need a Website set up right meow?  Using netcat (nc), you can use your Mac to instantly set up a Webpage without configuring a Web server.  This could be used to quickly share files via a Web browser (by creating a hyperlink with file:///some/filepath/), or it

cantenna

Get Lakeside Wi-Fi At Your Cabin By Making A Cantenna For ~$23

If you want Wi-Fi by the campfire or down at the dock this weekend, you can make a cantenna for as low as $23 (it will be more if you need some of the tools or common supplies).  You can either connect the canntena to your computer or your router.

tips

Format An Unformattable Flash Drive In OS X

It’s always satisfying to fix something that seems impossibly broken.  I recently fixed a broken flash drive that could not be reformatted.  I first tried to repair the disk using Disk Utility, but that option was completely greyed out (same thing in the Recovery HD).  So then I tried

hacks

Let GLaDOS Throw Your Files Into The Incinerator By Changing A System Sound

If the default sound OS X makes when you put a file in the trash doesn’t do it for you, you might enjoy having GLaDOS tell you “file deleted.”  This is a relatively simple trick to do, and will work with other system sound effects as well.  You simply

weird

Hyrule In HTML5 Glory

http://jadsdsengine.com/zeldalivemap.htm

shell-scripts

Twin Cities Mac Admins » Meetup notes – April 23, 2015

Featured Presentation Jacob Salmela with Hopkins High School provided our feature presentation Under Cover Of Shell (Scripting). Take a look at Jabob’s website and his GitHub repository. You’ll find he’s solved plenty of issues with scripting. He introduced us to GeekTool, a desktop information display, which he

shell-scripts

Shell Scripting Presentation at JAMF HQ [MSP Mac Admins]

I will be presenting Under Cover Of Shell (Scripting) at JAMF HQ at 5:00 on April 23rd.  There is still time to register if you are interested in attending; it’s free! You can find links to all the resources from my presentation here.   You can also download the

tips

Octal Dump (od) Shows You Hidden Characters And ASCII Values

Octal Dump (od ), lets you see ASCII character values as well had hidden ones (an ASCII dump).  It’s pretty rare that you would ever need to do this, but it is very useful when you do, even though it sounds like something that should be relegated to a

star trek

Microsoft Windows Infects The Borg

Originally found here (credit: unknown) Mr. LaForge, have you had any success with your attempts at finding a weakness in the Borg? And Mr. Data, have you been able to access their command pathways?Yes, Captain. In fact, we found the answer by searching through our archives on late Twentieth-century

hacks

17 Unique Pranks For OS X: April Fool's Day 2015

Here are some fun things you can do on your Mac for April Fool’s day 2015. Make Siri Endlessly Speak Nonsensical Sentencescurl -s horseebooksipsum.com/api/v1/ | say -v "Samantha" Make The Mouse Move To (Or Click) Random Areas Throughout The DayRun this script (as a background job) on

weird

De Java Vu: Java 8 Update 40--again!

Java has been messing with MN’s testing software TestNav 7.5 by Pearson, which I have written about in detail.  Oracle’s latest update makes things more challenging.  There is also other states having issues with Pearson. Der Flounder: Oracle’s Java 8 Update 40 Has

tips

Find Out What Sites Paid To Be Whitelisted From AdBlock Plus

AdBlock Plus has a public whitelist, which is considered to be “non-intrusive” or “acceptable” advertising.  However, it seems there is also a private list of Websites that pay to be whitelisted. I cannot verify those posts and I am definitely not an expert in the subject, but there are clues

weird

I Really Felt Like Myself (127.0.0.1) Today

I pulled into work today and really felt like myself for some strange reason…

hacks

Customize The OS X Yosemite Login Screen

Give the OS X Yosemite login window a personalized look using your own image.  This is a simple trick to do.  Just save your desired image as: /Library/Caches/com.apple.desktop.admin.pngThen, just log out to apply the change.  You should immediately see your new image.  If you

shell-scripts

Fix (Error code -36) on OS X with dot_clean

The error stems from the way OS X stores files.  If you have ever seen Apple files on a PC, you may have seen files beginning with a ._ (dot-underscore).  While this problem was seen on Snow Leopard, I recently saw this issue after trying to use Migration Assistant to transfer

shell-scripts

Use TextExpander To Run Shell Scripts

TextExpander is great for saving time writing repetitive text.  However, I recently discovered that you can also run scripts via a TextExpander keystroke.  To do this, create a new snippet and choose Shell Script as the Content type.  Then type your script in. In the example below, I create a

hacks

Freak Out Your Friends By Changing The "Ready" Message On HP Printers

How The Trick WorksYou create a file or enter some Terminal commands, which get sent to the printer.  Instead of printing out what you typed, the printer recognizes that the text is actually a set of instructions, known as the Printer Job Language (PJL), which are then carried out by

star trek

Give Your Office Door A Star Trek "Swoosh" Sound Effect

Feel like you are entering the bridge every time you come into your office by reproducing the Star Trek “swooshing” door sound.  This trick uses a Webcam that sense motion, which triggers a script that plays the sound file.  If you want something more professional looking, check out the Star