I’ve been working with Andrew Kuchling at the official planet.python.org… We have worked to merge our two configuration files and he has setup an email alias at planet python.org for people to send planet updates to. I will enable the domain changes within the next couple days. Users of planetpython.org should not have to do anything if their RSS readers support redirects.

It is hard to believe I started this website nearly five years ago. I look forward to the migration being complete. Here is to looking forward to another 5 years of great Python blogging.

Tonight I was reading an article in The Week magazine (April 3, 2009, Volume 9 Issue 406) entitled “Forgotten baby syndrome.” The article excerpts a story from the Washington Post Magazine regarding people’s experiences in leaving their children in the car accidentally. As a new father I can’t even imagine the anguish these people must feel.

I am an engineer and this is my solution (License: Creative Commons Share-Alike). Every car has a driver’s seat belt alarm. This alarm could be sounded with a unique pattern for a child in the back seat. How does the computer know there is a child is in the back seat? From the car’s computer there is a lead (or possibly more if more than one car seat is present) which is routed through the other wires leading to the back seat to right behind the car seat. Typically in newer cars there is a metal bar in the seat crack in which the seat gets latched into. In this area the wire from the computer is routed, so it can plug into the car seat The car seat contains a simple circuit within the buckle. Most buckles I have seen have the buckle from the seat bottom connecting to two prongs from the child’s torso area. These two prongs and the buckle complete the simple circuit.

The red line is the circuit coming from the car, going into the child seat, and completing back into the car. When the drivers starts the car they will hear a double chime telling them the safety system is working. The driver’s seat belt warning alarm is triggered when the car is turned off and the child safety circuit is complete (ie: a child strapped into the car seat).

This solution doesn’t seem like it would be all that expensive.

The Mozilla Foundation in late 2008 created an experiment called Ubiquity for Firefox, which enables users to hit commands on their keyboards to do common tasks quickly and easily.

I should have wrote this plugin a long time ago, but today I got around to adding a BSD Man Pages plugin. Enjoy…

BSD Man Pages Ubiquity Plugin

Sebastion,
originally uploaded by trolocsis.

Sebastion ended up being an amazing friend. The first time I saw him and knelt down to see him, he gave me a head-butt. From that day forward, everyday he would scamper over for a head-butt to tell me he loved me. This Lion’s cut Kristine got for him didn’t go over well by his standards… But it sure looked good on him.

Love, Ryan, Kristine, and Colin.

1. apt-get install build-essential xinetd
2. edit /etc/xinetd.d/kdumpd

service macosxkdump
{
    disable     = no 
    type        = UNLISTED
    socket_type = dgram
    protocol    = udp
    port        = 1069
    user        = nobody
    groups      = yes
    server      = /usr/local/sbin/kdumpd
    server_args = /tmp
    wait        = yes
}

3. Download network_cmds package from Apple: http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/10.5.5/
4. cd network_cmds-306/kdumpd.tproj && gcc -o kdumpd *.c
5. mv kdumpd /usr/local/sbin/kdumpd
6. kill -HUP [xinetd pid]
7. OSX kernel dumps will be stored in /tmp with my example

Colin Zachary Phillips,
originally uploaded by trolocsis.

Love isn’t as high as the sky or as deep as the ocean; it’s more.

I am a new subscriber to Linux Weekly News. For a long time, I’ve been a subscriber to the Linux Journal magazine; however, the best article that I find interesting is the kernel update article diff-u by Zack Brown. Anyways, the content in LWN is tantalizing my taste buds every week on kernel and other Linux news.

I purchased an Amazon Kindle a couple weeks ago and wanted to receive my LWN automatically over Whispernet. Thus is born send-lwn-to-kindle.sh. Amazon has a free service which will convert attachments to Amazon’s AZW format and email you back the converted file. Alternatively, use the [kindlename]@kindle.com to have the script mail the LWN (sans pictures so far) to your Kindle over the wireless connection for a fee of 10 cents.

The script is triggered from maildrop when my email account receives the LWN announcement email. Enjoy and please send me any improvements.