Do you log out of sites?

Here’s a mental exercise. When was the last time you logged out of a site? Not closed the tab, or put your laptop to sleep, or waited for a timeout; but pressed a log off button to end a website session? If your answered recently, do you think any of your colleagues, classmates, … | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

The sham referendums in Ukraine

The news as reported by the Kyiv Independent, which you can support here: The announcement [of annexation] comes after Russia’s proxies held sham referendums in the occupied parts of these regions and, on Sept. 27, declared nearly 100% of people living in the occupied territories … | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Blander logos are good, via @NeilIreland

Last year I wrote about MediaWiki’s new logo, and talked of the general trend among logo designers towards bland, dull, uninteresting, unoriginal, and largely interchangeable marks. Neil of the imitable Matchstick Cats and the late great IntoYourHead podcast (I miss joining him a … | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Do I need line numbers? Yes

I’ve been having fun lately challenging assumptions about my operating environment. I’ve got into the habit of blindly enabling settings without stopping to think if I need them, or for what reason. I’ve been surprised how much stuff was either built on sand, or that have been he … | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Archive it if you care about it

Bad news about a YouTube franchise reminded me about the golden rule of the Internet: If it’s not archived, it won’t exist. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Weird Al had 100 gigs of RAM

So many lines in that song have been surpassed, but RAM sticks out as something that hasn’t. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Yahoo Mail Looks Good

I logged in after a few years, and the UI is way better than the likes of Gmail. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Features every microwave should have

Microwaves are brilliant inventions of brilliance. They could be even better. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Calling Git a blockchain to rebrand bad tech

It’s such a ridiculous claim | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

I tend to avoid reading social news comments

Grow up! But not too much. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

My New Sony NW-A55 Walkman

A fun, small, affordable, and beautifully-crafted media player that’s easy to transfer files to, and sounds excellent. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Social media trains us to think in black/white

Claiming one thing is important doesn't invalidate something else. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Teaching Financial Literacy (2021)

An article about a new curriculum gives me hope, but schools still don’t prepare people enough for the real world. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

My lazy approach to FreeBSD dual-booting

Use the BIOS! | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

End of year thoughts on consolidating stuff (2021)

Homelabs, kitchens, storage pools, web accounts, and consoles! | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

My essential Firefox fixes in 2022

Despite Mozilla’s best efforts, I’m still using their browser nearly 20 years on. Here are my tips. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

The iPhone 8 (and SE) are still better iPhones

They don’t use OLEDs, they’re light and small, and cost less than a kidney. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

A numbered list of encountered tech

One-time password, two's compliment, triple DES...! | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Alan Baxter on Writing

What if I told you the ONLY writing rule is this: You must write. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Losslessly Optimising Images

pngcrush, jpegoptim, gifsicle, and scour for SVGs | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

The Nintendo Switch Lite is my new 2DS

Thank you Clara! | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Genetics behind black coffee drinkers

A study published by Nature asks whether people are predisposed to it, and what learned behaviors result from drinking black coffee. Interesting! | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

The Raspberry Pi 400 as a couch game machine

Was I the last person to learn of the existence of this machine!? | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 2 years ago

Wordpress.com’s Password Advice

Needs updating. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

Brevity Is Often Important

But those who advocate for it are themselves rarely brief. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

Driving to West Berlin during the DDR days

Someone uploaded the video the British RMP would have you watch before making the trip in your car. Talk about ominous! | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

What Apple mouses and Braun shavers share

Grr, why can’t I use this shaver while charging? | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

Decluttering Fandom.com with uBlock Origin

Their new site design is the modern web writ large, but it’s easy enough to hide all the new junk. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

The Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard 2019

Putting my mechanical boards aside to help my tired wrists. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

Acer’s Antimicrobial Laptop

Of course it's plagued with PC Screen Syndrome, but the other selling point is compelling. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

Even Nintendo is shipping OLEDs now

Sucks to be among the people who can’t use them. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

The Home Storage Crisis

What are home users to do with camera phones that shoot 4K? | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

A Report on Exercise and Sleep

News outlets broadly got the message right, but not sure about some of the numbers. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

Revisiting Webcam Covers

They saved me from an over-zealous video conference call application today. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

The davewiner does a bank experiment

IT is still the Wild West by comparison. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

Explaining Geometry with Pizza

An excerpt from an interview with Jordan Ellenberg | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

When Ubuntu is off topic for Ask Ubuntu

How many other forums limit discussions to supported releases? | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

Using NetBSD’s pkgsrc everywhere I can

And why you should too! | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

Troubleshooting my Commodore 128’s 80-column mode, part one

By Ruben Schade in s/ Singapore/ Sydney/ since 2004-ish. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

The world’s chunkiest card reader

An old Iomega combo USB optical drive and card reader now graces my FreeBSD tower for no good reason! | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 3 years ago

Why aren’t you more serious?

Feedback about random posts and sporadic seriousness. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 4 years ago

We need physical audio kill switches

PARDON!? | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 4 years ago

Tutorial sites treating FreeBSD like a Linux distro

This used to grate, but I think they need to be reframed. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 4 years ago

Encrypted ZFS on NetBSD 9.0, for a FreeBSD guy

Trying out ZFS and cgd on NetBSD for the first time. | Continue reading


@rubenerd.com | 4 years ago