/ Recent content on Mac's Thoughts Hugo -- gohugo.io Mon, 29 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /2021/11/creating-boundaries-as-an-eng/ Mon, 29 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /2021/11/creating-boundaries-as-an-eng/ In many large software companies, code freeze season starts around late November. If you’re not familiar with code freezes, they are a period of time when newly committed code will not be released on a regular deployment schedule. So if you work on a mobile app that is updated weekly, no new updates will be deployed for those 4 weeks. New server versions will not be deployed on the backend, etc. /2020/12/the-obesity-epidemic/ Fri, 18 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /2020/12/the-obesity-epidemic/ There are many worthy problems in the world, global warming, the rise of potentially viable long term dictatorships and oligarchies, socioeconomic inequality, not just within nations, but between them and more. But a man is just one person, and you can only do so much. The obesity epidemic is something I do care about, and I do think I have the skill and capability to do something about it too. /2020/12/the-privacy-company/ Fri, 18 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /2020/12/the-privacy-company/ There are many worthy problems in the world, global warming, the rise of potentially viable long term dictatorships and oligarchies, socio-economic inequality, not just within nations, but between them and more. But a man is just one person, and you can only do so much. The privacy issue is something I do care about, and I do think I have the skill and capability to do something about it too. /2020/12/why-is-macos-slow/ Wed, 16 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /2020/12/why-is-macos-slow/ Note: This was an internal support article I wrote at work a few years ago. People have found it useful and to this day I still see people running into these problems publicly. I hope you find it useful! Thanks to my work for letting me publish it here. Other problems this article might improve upon: Why is kernel_task consuming a lot of CPU on my machine? Why is macOS so unresponsive at times? /2020/12/app-ideas/ Tue, 15 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /2020/12/app-ideas/ A better vitamin D tracker Currently dminder is a bit slow to use, requiring 4 or 5 taps to do basic things such as track taking a 5000 IU vitamin D pill. It should be 2 (open app, tap 5000 IU) dminder’s UI isn’t as useful as it could be. It devotes a lot of the front page UI to just what is the current sun phase what is your current estimated vitamin d level. /2020/11/improve-zoom-calls/ Sun, 22 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /2020/11/improve-zoom-calls/ To improve your video calls, you essentially want to do 3 things: Avoid echos and noise Avoid delays and dropped data Have good lighting This is how you do all of that cheaply: Avoid Echos and Noise Wear Headphones When 2 or more people are not wearing headphones in any call, echo cancellation techniques are required to prevent endless echos whenever they are talking. Most software does this by muting the audio of one side when the other side is talking, which means when people speak simultaneously, one of them is automatically muted. /2020/11/printing-with-cheap-ink/ Sun, 22 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /2020/11/printing-with-cheap-ink/ TLDR: If you want to print photos cheaply, get an Epson EcoTank ET-7700 or ET-7750 or equivalent if new models have replaced them. If you don’t care about photos and just want to print a lot of documents, get any Epson EcoTank printer that has a replaceable maintenance box, or this will happen to you. If you won’t print that often and don’t want to worry about inkjet print heads drying out, then just get a laser printer, since they never dry out and are cheaper than non-supertank inkjets. /page/about/ Tue, 03 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /page/about/ About I’m a software professional, and this is my personal blog to write whatever random thought that comes to mind at time, like many other software professionals. If you want to contact me, feel free to email me at blag at this domain name. /page/contact/ Tue, 03 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /page/contact/ Contact Send an email to blag at whatever this domain name is. /2020/11/migratiing-from-publii-to-hugo/ Tue, 03 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /2020/11/migratiing-from-publii-to-hugo/ This guide will also be mostly useful for you if you want to figure out how to migrated generic formatted text into a bunch of markdown files good enough for hugo. Why I Migrated from Publii There isn’t a good multi-computer, one-site management system for Publii. Your pretty much stuck to one computer with Publii with it’s sql-lite design and it’s annoying to sync beyond a plain old backup. Publii hasn’t been improving much for years at this point. /2020/05/e2ee-note-taking-app-research/ Mon, 25 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /2020/05/e2ee-note-taking-app-research/ Surprisingly, it’s hard to find note management apps with End to End Encryption (E2EE), and the majority of them are reactive native electron apps with a bunch of annoying rough edges. A few other note apps (Ex: Bear) have something I call ‘annoying encryption’, which involve individually encrypting notes with separate passwords and add a lot of friction points by not making it the default flow. This list is iOS / macOS orientated, so if an app doesn’t have an iOS app then it’s not an app that has a mobile app for me. /2020/05/my-e2ee-apps/ Sat, 23 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /2020/05/my-e2ee-apps/ Apps I Use Notes: Standard Notes Used for: 2+ years Review: The app isn’t that good, and it hasn’t been improving that much either, it lacks polish in annoying fundamental ways, like a cursor that disappeared for months, or how it’s just a pain to do a bunch of operations. But it’s the only thing that is practically E2EE and Open Source.  Replacement Hopes: I was hoping that Bear would have seamless E2E but they made it a pain in the ass, where you have to individually lock each note one by one, in a multi step UI. /2019/11/doing-my-compsci-degree-again/ Sat, 30 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /2019/11/doing-my-compsci-degree-again/ This is a letter to my old self about what I would of changed in how I did my Computer Science degree. The main reason why I didn’t do well was because I wanted to just start working as a programmer and I was driving with the parking brake on as result. If I grew up in California instead of Canada, I might of taken that path. Hopefully if you are in a similar position, you will find this useful. /2019/11/the-pieces-of-arithmetic/ Sat, 30 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /2019/11/the-pieces-of-arithmetic/ You might have some gaps in your understanding of arithmetic operators. In case you didn’t know: Operations The Foundation: Addition is a form of counting up. 2 + 3 = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Subtraction is a form of counting down. 3 - 2 = 3 , 2 , 1 Addition & Subtraction are the inverse of each other, they cancel each other out. So 5 - 3 = 2, 2 + 3 = 5 The Next Level, Multiplication & Division: Multiplication is a form of repeated addition: 3 * 5 = (5 + 5 + 5) or (3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3) Division is a form of repeated subtraction where you count the operation counts until you go negative or get to zero: 6 / 2 = 6 - 2 - 2 - 2 = 3 operations Like addition and subtraction, they are both the inverse of each other and cancel each other out The 3rd Level, Exponents & Logarithms Exponents (or powers) is a form of repeated multiplication. /2019/11/what-i-wished-i-knew-about-math-and-infinity/ Sat, 30 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /2019/11/what-i-wished-i-knew-about-math-and-infinity/ I. Math Is Not Reality Math is an abstract logical system that does not necessarily have anything to do with reality. Although you can use math as a very accurate model of reality, and use it to predict things like the path of a model rocket as is launches into the sky accurately, it is still a model. It can have principles that makes its logical system internally consistent, but doesn’t necessarily have to correspond with reality at all. /2019/11/my-favorite-objects/ Mon, 25 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /2019/11/my-favorite-objects/ There is a collection of objects that I use frequently that I like quite a bit when I travel and when I’m at home. When it’s something I will use a lot, I obsessively try out many models until I find the one I like. Also I look at r/onebag too much and wanted to make my own partial list. Some other gear lists I like: Tynan’s  Jeffrey Paul’s Jeremy Maluf’s Table of Contents Containers Camera Audio Clothing Tech Home Stuff Foods Other Dissapointing Objects Wished For Objects Containers Backpack: A 28L Patagonia Refugio. /2019/10/why-mylio/ Tue, 08 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /2019/10/why-mylio/ 2 years later: Overall Mylio is part of my life. I don’t use it as much because it’s more archival software, and I don’t see people in person as much anymore, so there is less opportunities to whip it out. But whenever I have photos, I open Mylio to add them to my catalog. I have run into some new bugs here and there from time to time, which has decreased my delight with the software. /2018/06/bigcorp-vs-smallcorp/ Tue, 19 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /2018/06/bigcorp-vs-smallcorp/ On HN, people have been asking why is small software corp faster than big software corp in writing code? From my experience in working in a smaller org to a bigger org, most of it is from the testing, design and review culture. Landing a commit in Small Corp In small corp code review, I just grabbed a person to look over my code for 5 minutes, put their name in the commit as the reviewer, and then pushed after manually running some tests on my end. /2018/05/losing-weight-the-lazy-way/ Mon, 28 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /2018/05/losing-weight-the-lazy-way/ Nov 2019 Update: This is a so so way to lose weight, further reading for me makes me think that https://burnfatnotsugar.com/ is the better way to do it. I’ve lost weight multiple times in a row. I’ve tried many methods. Ketogenic diets, low glycemic index diets, intermittent fasting diets, bodybuilder-style cutting diets, intermittent fasting, being vegan and other kinds that I cannot remember. I have the Fitbit wifi weight scale, the fitness tracker and everything. /2016/11/employee-friendly-equity/ Tue, 01 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000 /2016/11/employee-friendly-equity/ Before Funding & Valuation: Low strike price with pre-exercise. Exercising your stock grant should cost under %1 of salary. After Funding & Valuation: Company should pay the tax to give equity directly to employees with an X-year vesting schedule. Once it starts becomming too expensive for the company: Too expensive being $10-30k in taxes? You do X-year vesting liquidity-trigger RSUs, long lasting stock options or some combo of the two.