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2015-05-26 University in the Butt

In one of my previous posts (2014-09-27 Sand in the Butt) I mentioned my urge to do at least one commit every day. This lasted for quite some time, until the lack of resources actually made me skip one day. And then another one. And then a whole week… Well, take a look yourself:

File:2015-05-26-222442 737x292 scrot.png

I am not sure if I liked this experience of committing something every day. Yes, I was very productive during this period, but let's see if anything changes once I stop following this rule.

Somehow I feel that the current education system does more harm than good. I have not checked my sleep graph yet, but I will not be surprised if it was the worst time during the last two years.

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2015-04-14 Switch Today, Switch Tomorrow

This page is being updated continuously.

Note: there is a high chance that you already know some of that stuff. In that case just skip to the next point, sorry for spending two seconds of your life.

Things you should start using today:

  • Use Matrix/Riot instead of Skype, Facebook, etc.
  • Look down. Do you know the meaning of every key on your keyboard? Home, End, Alt Gr? Ctrl+Arrows/Backspace/Delete, Shift+Arrows? If not, please educate yourself! You're using the keyboard every day, how come you don't know half of the functionality?
  • Look forward. Do you know why some letters on your screen are underlined? Hit Alt if you can't see it. Also, did you know that there is the same thing for web pages?
  • Look down again. Do you know why the letters on your keyboard are arranged in this order? If not, learn about the history of Qwerty layout and search for alternatives (Dvorak keyboard layout is a sane choice).
  • Have you ever caught yourself on repeating the same text editing action over and over? No more! Learn about advanced text editors (Emacs is a sane choice, but you may also try Vim).
  • Internet ads are annoying, especially on youtube. Install an ad blocker! (Adblock Edge is a sane choice, but it will be discontinued in favor of uBlock)
  • Are you still using !WinRar? Come on, we are over it for so many years (7-zip is a sane choice).
  • Do not send .rar files to others, please. Seriously. It is a pain to use.
  • Speaking of Win-things, there are enough better operating systems than Microsoft Windows. Learn about other operating systems and start using one (GNU/Linux is a sane choice, Debian in particular).
  • Haivng spell cheking tunred on makes your text look way better .You may also find out that you were writing smoething wrong for the whole life!
  • 360° is one turn, right? But where does the number 360 come from? Learn about gradians (400ᵍ is one turn) or use radians (2π is one turn).
  • Hold on, 2π? Why two? This does not sound right. Learn about Tau.
  • Have you ever thought about inefficiency of language varieties in our globalized world? It is pretty obvious that in the end there will be only one or two languages. Start using a popular language for your public works (research papers, blogs, documentation), even if you can't speak it flawlessly. Choosing one is not hard as well (English is a sane choice).
  • In some countries they will bring groceries right into your house for little or no price overhead. Start using it today and support it by all means, this is the future.
  • In most window managers Alt+Tab is very useful because it allows you to go to the previous window. This, however, does not work in browsers. Set browser.ctrlTab.previews to true in Firefox to get the same behavior on Ctrl+Tab. [1]

Some things are not ready today, but they will be ready eventually. You should keep an eye on these things:

  • Open up a calendar, can you explain why the months are arranged like that? 31 28(29) 31 30 31 30 31 31 30 31 30 31? Hint: there is no reason. Learn about other alternatives (International Fixed Calendar is a sane choice. Also, there is an episode of 99% Invisible about this).
  • Look at the clock. Can you spot a problem that is similar to 360°? Right. Additionally, one day is 24 hours. Learn why and search for alternatives (Decimal time is a sane choice).
  • A lot of websites are using HTTPS now. Learn why. However, paying for the certificate does not sound like a right choice. Keep an eye on https://letsencrypt.org/.
  • Gmail -- doesn't provide even a slightest bit of security. Encrypt everything today (unfortunately it is hard to setup)

And don't forget to be conscious. The problem with degrees, time and calendar could have been solved hundreds of years ago.

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