LXC on Ubuntu 11.04 Server

For a while I’ve been interested in Linux Containers (LXC), new way of providing Linux virtual machines on Linux hosts. Unlike machine virtualization systems like Xen, VMWare, KVM and VirtualBox, LXC is an OS-level virtualization system. Instead of booting a complete disk image Linux Containers share the same kernel as the host and typically use …

We already have information, why do we need more data?

I love gadgets and metrics and pretty graphs. I’ve been using Endomondo to track my cycling, primarily my commute. I know it’s about 6.5km an I ride it in between 22 and 26 minutes. I can even share or embed my workout here. I love that shit. When I get to work in 21 minutes …

The full Bradley Manning / Adrian Lamo logs

(06:08:53 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: What’s your greatest fear? (06:09:24 PM) bradass87: dying without ever truly living via Manning-Lamo Chat Logs Revealed | Threat Level | Wired.com. Everyone should read (apparently) this full chat log. In it Manning, a 22 year old depressed man, questioning his gender reached out to Lamo for someone to talk to. While …

Emissions taxing and trading in Australia

After many years of proposals, counter-proposals, coups and general disappointment the Australian Government has announced its scheme to allow the economic impact of carbon pollution to be managed by the free market. I’m really really proud that as a country we’ve reached the point where there’s a plan in place. It’s taken longer than it should have. …

Python’s collections.defaultdict

Today I again came across code that I was able to make simpler, clearer and safer using collections.defaultdict. I keep coming across experienced Python programmers that don’t know about it. Perhaps it’s time to spread the good word. The defaultdict type is a dict subclass that takes a factory function to supply default values for …

Updating software on your Mac in ten easy steps…

Launch your application, oh look, an update! Clicking “Update” takes you to the Mac App Store web site. Click “View in Mac App Store” since apparently I’m not doing that yet, but wait! Tell my browser that it’s okay to do what I just told it to do. We’re launched into the Mac App Store …