Diary of an Emacs tragic

Author: Jason

  • modifying and building a debian package from source

    I can’t work out where to document this so I’ll document it here – maybe it will help someone oneday.
    If you want to modify a debian package and then build it…
    apt-get source . Then cd –
    make whatever changes you need to make. debian/rules and debian/control.in are interesting.
    then do a ‘dch -n’ to change the version number of the package to a user version.
    and finaly:
    dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b -uc -us
    stick -nc on the end if you don’t want a make clean to be done

  • Fairtrade Certified Cafes on google maps.

    I have created a map on google maps to mark the locations of cafes that serve Fairtrade Certified coffee. Please feel free to add cafes too it but make sure they serve Fairtrade Certified coffee before adding them.

  • washing machine with washing powder dispenser

    Today’s idea.
    Why don’t washing machines have big resevoirs for washing liquid or powder, fabric softner and whitner/bleach?
    You would fill it up and then the washing machine would automatically dispense the various washing liquids or powders into the wash. no more messing around with all those cartons of washing powder, bottles of softner and tubs of nappysan. It would alert you when it runs out (perhaps via email so you can pick some up on your way home).

  • Doctor’s Surgery appointment app link to google calendar

    Wouldn’t it be cool if, when you sign up at your doctor’s surgery, they would ask you for your google calendar info. That way, when you make an appointment with the doc, their appointment software would automatically add the appointment to your calendar.

  • Fairtrade Chocolate – A Deliciously Rewarding Experience! | Soul Economy

    Soul Economy have tried Cocolo and like it.

  • Dark Chocolate: Are You Eating Child Slavery?

    Nourished magazine have a
    nice piece entitled “Are You Eating Child Slavery” which mentions Cocolo.

  • HSBC annoyances

    A while ago I moved my banking to HSBC. This move has been pretty ok except there are a few annoyances with their online banking. the biggest of which is that you cannot get an electronic copy of a statement at all. In fact, the only way to get a copy of a statement is to have them post it to you and they charge you $7.00 a pop for it! What a rip off.
    When are banks going to get with the program and start emailing statements to you in PDF format so you can archive them yourself?

  • DC Make Trade Fair!: Consuming with Conscience

    Fair!: DC Make Trade Consuming with Conscience has a little post about Fair Trade chocolate and mentions Cocolo and where you can buy it.

  • ping with timestamp

    I couldn’t work out a way to get ping to print a timestamp of when the ping took place. For some reason it seems as though this isn’t a sought after feature.
    Luckily you can achieve the same thing using fping:

    while [ 1 ] ; do echo $(date '+%F %T') $(fping -e google.com); sleep 1; done

    Gives the following output:
    2008-03-18 11:06:54 google.com is alive (250 ms)
    2008-03-18 11:06:56 google.com is alive (248 ms)
    2008-03-18 11:06:57 google.com is alive (268 ms)
    2008-03-18 11:06:58 google.com is alive (250 ms)
    2008-03-18 11:07:00 google.com is alive (250 ms)

  • World Vision Australia – Evoke Faith in Action newsletter

    World Vision recommend you buy Cocolo