BlogDB

What does the scanner see?

On Out of Office emails

This summer, I found myself multiple times reading out-of-office emails. Actually, this is not a new phenomenon: it has happened every summer since I started working. Obviously, it also happens out...

27x faster phone number match in SQL Server with "unindexable" query

A tricky query to optimize is partial match of phone numbers, this post will walk through some options. Intro We hit 100% DTU on user DB again yesterday, so we need to come up with a new solution f...

Encrypt Ansible variables with SOPS

SOPS (Secret OPerationS) is a useful tool for encrypting sensitive data, but it doesn’t get enough praise. It supports full file encryption, and value encryption in structured data formats such as ...

Physical Media and Markdown Table Renderer

I’m a big fan of Obsidian, paying for premium and using it to store notes and lists. I was enjoying myself rather thoroughly this weekend while browsing a thrift store in sunny Montana, a couple st...

Millenial Nostalgia

Others wrote about their share of the “Millennial nostalgia”, and I enjoyed reading about their memories very much: My Millennial Memories Millennial Energy The following is a list of some of the t...

There is only one reason why Microsoft Windows is the dominating operating system on the PC desktop

The Internet is filled with blog posts, articles on tech media, and videos on YouTube about why Linux is not the main operating system on the PC desktop. "5 reasons why", "10 reasons why", bla, bla...

ZLister Announcement

ZLister, a to-do list management application, is now available. ZLister allows you to create lists with entries and entries can be marked complete or incomplete (“to do”). ZLister’s user interface ...

Is it “/.well-known/”?

Ironically, according to my experience, the .well-known directory doesn’t do justice to its name. Even in use cases that would fit nicely in its original purpose.  But I’m getting a bit ahead of my...

How to install Signal Desktop on FreeBSD using the Linux Binary Compatibility

FreeBSD provides optional binary compatibility with Linux, commonly referred to as Linuxulator, allowing users to install and run unmodified Linux binaries without the need for virtualization or em...

I passionately hate hype, especially the AI hype

I truly and passionately hate hype. From the fakeness of it to the sheer stupidity it represents, but perhaps most of all, because of the devastating consequence it often results in.

Migrating Mess With DNS to use PowerDNS

About 3 years ago, I announced Mess With DNS in this blog post, a playground where you can learn how DNS works by messing around and creating records. I wasn’t very careful with the DNS implementat...

Madeira Submarine Cables

I recently visited the Island of Madeira on vacation and was impressed with their internet speed. For an island in a remote part of the Atlantic it was not something I expected. After looking furth...

Web push notifications: issues and limitations

Some technical problems and constraints with the web Push and Notifications APIs.

I Have Two Friends an Introverts Guide to Not Chasing Friendships

This excellent essay from Karolina was the best I’ve read this year. I can related with many of her point on why friendship muscle looks different for every person. Abroad, I meet local people who ...

Scaling Deep Learning with Distributed Training: Data Parallelism to Ring AllReduce

In this post, we’ll explore the crucial role of distributed training in scaling Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) to handle large datasets and complex models. We’ll take an in-depth look at data parallel...

Using the Sunset header with GraphQL

Try as we might to design APIs that last, it is very difficult to completely avoid the need for breaking changes. The Sunset HTTP header offers a standardized way to inform clients about the deprec...

Misusing Linux policy based routing for firewalling

Experimenting with Linux policy based routing, i.e. `man ip-rule(8)`, as a stateless firewall substitute.

Server Rendering Lit Web Components with Drupal

Server-rendered web components require no javascript up front. Declarative Shadow DOM let's you render your components' shadow roots before the page finishes loading. While the Lit framework's util...

A New Luxury