Author Archives: Patrick

Beer and Homebrewing Podcasts

Podcasts are great for commuting. You get fresh content regularly, on almost any topic out there. I hardly ever listen to music on my iPod, since the only time I really ever listen to music is when I'm at work, and that is really just to help drown out distractions around me.

So, about half of the podcasts I subscribe to are beer-related, and half of those are homebrewing specific. Here is a listing of what I subscribe to. If you know of any other good ones, please let me know.

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Big Brother on the Orange Line

Big Brother on the Orange Line

I got on the Orange Line (one of Boston's subway lines) yesterday, and noticed this little guy watching me. There was one watching the inside of each door, and one looking either direction down the car from the center (there are three doors on each side of the car, so 8 cameras total, per car). Not all cars have these cameras, so I imagine they are testing them in some cars, or slowly rolling them out. I noticed them in cars numbered 01214 and 01248.

I wonder what prompted this, or is it just part of the general trend to watch everyone, at all times? Does anyone watch this live? Is it even recorded? Is it just for Panopticon effect?

At a time when the MBTA is massively in debt, this kind of surveillance is not cheap, especially with 8 cameras per car. I don't see this helping catch fare evaders. Are violent crimes on the subway very common? I've never seen or heard of any (though I have certainly heard of shootings on the busses). I doubt the transit police would bother even reviewing the tapes (let alone, install the system) for non-violent crimes, like pick-pockets.

Is this meant to catch those people that molest women in crowded subways? How would the camera see what was happening if it was that crowded?

Or is this all just more money spent to give us the illusion of security and safety?

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Customize Firebug shortcut keys

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.)

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Module Test CGI script for Perl

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

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

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

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.

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