How do you check your vote? It’s a simple question with a simple disturbing answer. You cannot check your vote! And when I say “you” I mean you. I don’t mean the system, the authorities, electoral officials, foreign auditors, or any third party. I mean you - just you. There isn’t an electoral system on … Continue reading How Do You Check Your Vote?
Author: John Baker
Professional curmudgeon and relentless skeptic. "Belief" is a bullshit word. You know or you don't know!
GitHub’s Silly Master Plan
The kids at GitHub have tested positive for Mad Woke Disease (MWD) - again! The last outbreak was over codes of conduct this time it’s about naming Git repository master branches! If you’re wondering what’s a Git master branch and why infantile wokesters are acting out I envy you. Perhaps you should stop reading now. … Continue reading GitHub’s Silly Master Plan
Better Blogging with Jupyter Notebooks on WordPress.com
When I discovered Jupyter notebooks a few years ago I instantly recognized their potential as a technical blogging tool. Jupyter notebooks support mixtures of text, mathematics, program code, and graphics in a completely interactive environment. It's easy to convert notebook JSON .ipynb files to markdown, $latex \LaTeX$, and HTML so it's not a big leap … Continue reading Better Blogging with Jupyter Notebooks on WordPress.com
Using jodliterate
The JODSOURCE addon, (a part of the JOD system), contains a handy literate programming tool that enables the generation of beautiful J source code documents. The Bible, Koran, and Bhagavad Gita of Literate Programming is Donald Knuth's masterful tome of the same name. Knuth applied Literate Programming to his $latex \TeX$ systems and produced what … Continue reading Using jodliterate
More J Pandoc Syntax HighLighting
Syntax highlighting is essential for blogging program code. Many blog hosts recognize this and provide tools for highlighting programming languages. WordPress.com (this host) has a nifty highlighting tool that handles dozens of mainstream programming languages. Unfortunately, one of my favorite programming languages, J, (yes it’s a single letter name), is way out of the mainstream … Continue reading More J Pandoc Syntax HighLighting
Extracting SQL code from SSIS dtsx packages with Python lxml
Lately, I've been refactoring a sprawling SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) package that ineffectually wrestles with large XML files. In this programmer's opinion using SSIS for heavy-duty XML parsing is geeky self-abuse so I've opted to replace an eye-ball straining1 SSIS package with half a dozen, "as simple as possible but no simpler", Python scripts. … Continue reading Extracting SQL code from SSIS dtsx packages with Python lxml
Sudden Genocide
If genocide is sudden, painless, unexpected, complete and absolute, if a people simply vanish without screams, without fear, without anticipation, if one nanosecond they are and the next nanosecond they are not, and if somehow you are responsible, are you a war criminal or a savior? Ultimately we all vanish, usually with screams, usually with … Continue reading Sudden Genocide
Who Thought Blinking Windfarms was a Good Idea?
One night, a few weeks ago, I was driving west on I86 near American Falls when I spotted a long string of blinking red lights. The lights stretched over a large arc of the horizon. My first thought was “Jesus H. Christ now what?” As an amateur astronomer, I have climbed mountains to get away … Continue reading Who Thought Blinking Windfarms was a Good Idea?
Trey and Kate: Review
This will be a completely biased review. I have a close relationship with the author so everything I say must be verified. Please buy Trey and Kate, read it, and make up your mind. With that caveat out of the way let's get started. Trey and Kate is a tale about an on and off … Continue reading Trey and Kate: Review
The Return of the Prodigal Blogger
It's been ages since my last blog post. Yes, I've been a very, very bad blogger. Lesser men would throw themselves on the metaphorical feet of their readers and beg for forgiveness but if you're expecting apologies you don't know me! I write for myself; if you choose to read my ramblings, well that's on you. … Continue reading The Return of the Prodigal Blogger
