Keep Your Eyes on Your Keyboard

I recently read Accidental Genius by Mark Levy. I did so begrudgingly; I usually don’t go for books that promise to unlock the power of my mind through special techniques. I’m glad that I could put aside my stubbornness because the book contained a wealth of advice on tapping into ideas that you may not [...]

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Coffee Roasting: Build or Buy?

For the last five years I’ve been roasting coffee in this: My Frankenstein Turbo Crazy. But alas, after five years of operating “outside of normal temperature ranges”, this happened: It seems that convection ovens weren’t meant to have their temperature limiters removed and run for hours on end. The handle, which controls the reed switch [...]

Seven Languages in Seven Weeks

Think about the way you think. Think about that thought, and this one. Did you think using words? Did you see the words? Sound them out mentally? If someone asked you describe yourself, you would probably think of a series of adjectives (at least if you’re an English speaker). We think via language, spoken or [...]

Be Careful With your Redis BitSets and Java

Fast, easy, realtime metrics using Redis Bitmaps A while back a popular article hit Hacker News. Written by the guys over at Spool, it contained a slick methodology for storing metrics such as user logins per day, song plays by user, etc using using Redis BitSets. How about a basic example. When a user logs [...]

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A Big Day In Banos

We met Franco El Blanco in the lobby at 4:30 AM. After a few checks to make sure we had everything we needed Frank introduced us to our ride. It seemed that Cary and I couldn’t escape from Ecudar’s two primary modes of transportation: buses and single cab trucks. Cary rode up front, three across [...]