Author Archives: Patrick

Customize Firebug shortcut keys

By Patrick | Published: December 11, 2008

For a web developer, Firebug is indispensable for debugging javascript and CSS. Like any good debugger, it supports shortcut keys to control the execution (step in, step over, step out, and resume). Firebug's keys (by default) are as follows:

  • F8 - Resume
  • F10 - Step Over
  • F11 - Step In
  • Shift-F11 - Step Out

However, these keys are not configurable. They may conflict with other shortcut keys in your system. They may not be the same as other keys you have already learned (eg, the keys in Eclipse). In my case, I found myself reaching for F5 - F8, which are the shortcut keys for Eclipse. Also, the Firebug keys conflict with the default Exposé keys in OS X. (Yes, I know I could change those shortcuts, but I've grown accustomed to their defaults.)

Posted in computers | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Module Test CGI script for Perl

By Patrick | Published: November 15, 2008

It can sometimes be difficult to track down problems due to missing dependencies when deploying a CGI application to a shared host, especially when they don't give you shell access or let you view the web server error logs.

So, I wrote this small CGI script to check for dependencies and let you know when certain modules are not present or are out of date. I bundle this will all of my Perl CGI apps, so I can tell right away if something is missing. I will develop the application locally, of course, but I will check the output of this script whenever I deploy to a new environment, whether it is a test server or production.

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Bar Stool Economics

By Patrick | Published: October 21, 2008

I got this story in a chain email today. I don't usually give much thought to these types of messages, but this one is pretty good.

With everyone speculating about the economy these days, everyone seems to have a different idea on how to fix it. The problem is, these 'armchair economists' don't seem to understand how the economy really works. Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't understand how it works. I've even heard people with graduate degrees in economics say that they don't understand how it works enough to confidently suggest solutions to the issues we are facing.

My speculation on this speculation (meta-speculation, if you will) is that no one understands the entire system. Most people don't understand even one part of the system in any depth. Some people do understand certain parts of the system. There exists someone who understands, in depth, each part of the system. But no one person understands every part of the system.

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That Man Loves Freedom

By Patrick | Published: October 18, 2008
That man loves his freedom

That man loves freedom. Some friends and I have this meme, where when we see someone doing something awesome, we say, "That man (or woman) loves his freedom!" Clearly, this applies to guys with bad-ass mustaches, but also to basically anyone who goes against the grain.

When you see a guy in a beat-up pickup truck cut off a guy in a BMW, that guy loves his freedom. That's why freedom is this elusive thing.

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New England Apple Ale Recipe

By Patrick | Published: August 26, 2008

In the next installment of my recipe series, here is my apple ale recipe, which I am calling New England Apple Ale. I wanted to make a full-bodied beer, that made you think of apples (and cider, and apple pie). I wanted this to hold its own as a beer first, rather than a beer-cider hybrid, or a sickly-sweet fruity beer. I think I pulled this off.

The apple notes are strong, but they are balanced by the toasty notes from the roasted barley. The cinnamon and nutmeg in this recipe are dialed down from the last iteration of this beer I brewed, and I think that helps a lot. It still reminds you of apple pie, without completely being one.

This recipe took 3rd place in the 2008 Sam Adams Tour Center homebrew contest.

Read on for the full all-grain recipe.

Posted in homebrewing/beer | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Outlook trick for picking a conference room for a meeting

By Patrick | Published: August 21, 2008

If you're like me, when creating a meeting, you hate trying to remember each conference room's name, selelcting it in Outlook, and then trying to figure out a time and room for the meeting. Most of the time, I'm sure I'm forgetting a room. Of course, if the names of the rooms all started the same (eg, Conference Room - Manhattan), it would be easier.

Outlook trick for picking a conference room for a meetingSo, I created a distribution list for conference rooms in my local contacts list. Just click on New->Distribution list, and then add each conference room to the list. This will be the only time that you have to remember and find each conference room's name. From here on out, you can just use the list.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Better support for international addresses

By Patrick | Published: August 11, 2008

From reading the logs for my mapping site, I noticed that the application was blowing for many addresses outside the United States. I did a little more research, and discovered that the bug was in handling some special characters, like "ø, á, í, é, È, ž, ù, ý".

As a test case, I created a map of points from around the world that I found in the logs. Each of these queries caused an error.

Posted in gmaps.kaeding.name | Tagged , | 17 Comments