Here's a way to create a VPN exception for local network devices using NordVPN.Failure to contactI was having trouble mounting my network drive. Symptoms:Pinging the network drive IP fails with no packets delivered:ping 192.168.1.200 PING 192.168.1.200 (192.168.1.200) 56(84) bytes of data. ^C --- 19...

Here's a way to switch audio output to a bluetooth speaker using terminal tools.On Pop_OS, I have a utility called bluetoothctl that facilitates communication with bluetooth devices.This utility opens its own repl when typing bluetoothctl:❯ bluetoothctl Agent registeredFrom inside this repl, we can ...

Here's how to show the git log for a file, including history before rename.Git LogFirst, the basics:git log shows the history of changes in the repo.git log -- ./my-file.clj shows the history of changes to that one file.git log --pretty='%h - %s - %an' will show a custom-formatted history with the l...

mpv is a great tool to play all sorts of media in the terminal. Let's play an audio CD and groove to our latest mix.Just worksGet mpv:sudo apt install mpvThis may just work for you (hopefully). Insert your CD, and run:mpv cdda://If this works, great. Party on!Btw, the cdda:// is kind of like a proto...

Here's how to specify a timezone on the client, regardless of their browser location.Why?Why would I want to do this? In my case, I am writing a tool where a user enters time and date for when the business should do certain things. The business operates in Mountain Timezone, so all its times and dat...

Here's how to define an enum type in Ash that's exposed in Graphql.Adhoc enumAdhoc enums are great, because they're easy and quick to define, and the constraints are enforced. Here's what that definition looks like:defmodule MyLibrary.Shelves.BookReview do use Ash.Resource, domain: MyLibrary.Shelves...

Here's how to query using time filters with Ash.Query.As the docs indicate, you can use various datetime functions in ash queries.Here's an example of querying for books that were last checked out less than 14 days ago:MyLibrary.Shelves.Book |> Ash.Query.filter(Ash.Expr.expr(last_checked_out Ash.rea...

Here's how to define, write and query union types in the Ash framework.The docs explain this well. I will give an end to end example, defining, writing and reading unioned data, focused on embedded types in jsonb.Define embedded union typeJsonb is nicely flexible. But once you define an embedded typ...

Remember the awe of wondering how someone accomplished a thing?AweI watched movie special effects progress through the 1990s. Production teams used computer graphics to create effects. The technology was primitive at first. Still neat. Then there were moments that were incredible. "Did they really b...

Here's how to query fields in embedded jsonb in the Ash framework.Jsonb is coolJsonb columns in Postgres are so cool. Dump your semi-structured data there as json. Query it from sql:select json->>'jsonField' from my_table;Flexible!Ash Resources with jsonbYou can specify a jsonb attribute on an Ash r...

Here are some ways to proxy requests to a different service using a proxy endpoint in a Next.js app.Next Config RewritesNext.js has a configuration that allows you to modify requests to its Node server and rewrite them as a request to a different host. Modify your next.config.mjs to include:export d...

Here's a way to instrument async calls with performance stats.I've written previously about how I like to handle operations that may fail in result types. Often, these are async tasks, like network requests. If we're broadly using a Result type as a return value, we are very close to being able to n...

Policies are unexpectedly tricky to get right.Here are some of the Ash policies issues that I've had to work my way through.Fall through if not forbiddenA forbid_if will only forbid the whole policy if the check is true. If that check is not false, but you still want those actors to be able to execu...

We may find ourselves celebrating liability.Yes, I wouldIs code a liability?Yes. We own it after it's made.Will programmers celebrate code?Yes. We are easily impressed by cool software.But would we celebrate liability?Yes, but of course, stated this way, we know we shouldn't. To avoid this, we must ...

Here's how to get image dimensions from the terminal.It doesn't take a lot. You have a few tools to choose from. Here's the command plus the output of 3:exiftoolexiftool resources/public/heroes/balloons.webp ExifTool Version Number : 12.40 File Name : balloons.webp Directory : resources/public/heroe...

Here's how to convert a Google.Protobuf.Timestamp to DateTime in Elixir.Convert your DateTime to seconds using DateTime.to_unix, then set that as the seconds field on the Timestamp struct.Utility and a light dinner to follow:defmodule MyApp.Common.DateTime do def google_timestamp(datetime) do if dat...

Here's how to return a related resource using a calculation in the Ash framework.As with most of the things I've learned in Ash, this was hard won knowledge.ScenarioI have a review. It has votes. One of those votes is the "final" vote. I want the review to have a field on it for final_vote. This wil...

Here's a way to test a validation module in Ash framework.The resourceLet's say that we have an Ash.Resource defined. Here are the bits that matter. There's a resource with an attribute, genre_id, that's defined as a relationship. There is an action for :create. It has a validate macro in its body. ...

Here's how to unstage files before the first commit.You've created a new repo. It's clean and fresh, then you go for the first commit. You add your current directory, then look at your status... A deflated sigh. So soon, too soon, you have sullied your pristine repo by preparing to commit a bunch of...

Here's a way to read text to speech in terminal.Install toolThere's a small, OSS speech synthesizer, CMU Flite, which you can get for free:sudo apt install fliteGive it textNow you can give it some speech to read:flite -t "Hi"Or something more substantial in a file:flite And you can change the voice...

That feeling of encountering a ton of code all at once.A new projectThink back on the days when humans wrote code. Did you ever get hired onto a new team or moved onto a new project that was already under way? When you showed up, there was already a corpus of code to read, digest, understand and lea...

Here's how to search all project files using Telescope's Live Grep.First, install telescope.nvim. With lazy.nvim, the parts of the configuration that we need for this particular effort could look like this:return { "nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim", dependencies = { { "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim" }, }, key...

Here's how to find and replace a pattern over many files in nvim via telescope.Install telescopeVia lazy.nvim:{ "nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim", dependencies = { "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim", "BurntSushi/ripgrep", }, cmd = "Telescope", lazy = true, config = function() require("telescope").setup() end, },...

Here's how to run Docker on Linux without Docker Desktop.This essentially follows the official docker docs guide.Docker Desktop is an easy way to run docker for your dev machine. It comes bundled with Docker Engine. That's the thing that you really need. So, if you don't want that gui hanging around...

If you can't just use an HTML form, here's how you can get closer and clean up your React form with the React.useActionState hook.Handling form state in React can get hairy. There are additional libraries on top of React to try to deal with this.In React 19, we have a new hook inside of React itself...

It sounds a lot like the California gold rush to me.Recently I walked through the room while my wife and kids were reading about the California gold rush of the 19th century. I had just gotten up from my desk, where invariably something about AI was happening. (When is AI not happening these days?) ...

Here's how to change an SVG favicon.svg based on the user's color scheme preference.Set the faviconFirst, create an SVG favicon, then set it in the document's head: A common path is the root. Just put it wherever you want to serve your static assets from and adjust the href accordingly.Adjust the sv...

Owners of code care and know the most and will thus do the best job.Programmers are not fungibleManagers try to load balance programmers across projects like stateless computer systems that can run anywhere just as well.But that's not the case. Programmers work best in code that they know, with the ...

Here's how to type React.useReducer in TypeScript.import React from 'react' /* 1. Create a union type for the actions that you have */ type Action = SearchAction | ToggleUserAction interface User { id: string } /* 2. You can differentiate actions based on type string */ interface SearchAction { type...

Life is full when we are engaged, even as some opt themselves out in their use of AI. Let's keep as many of us as possible engaged in life.We were created to act, not to be acted upon. We humans are real agents upon the earth.We have a creative spark in us that needs nourished. It's a part of what i...