Find files of a particular type in a web search
Snippet kitt decided around 08:18 on 30 November 2018 to publish this:Works on the googs, and duckduckgo, use the option filetype:<type>
in the search box to filter results to only that file type.
Useful when you need documents for testing, and don't particularly care about the content, but you do care about the format.
Example: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=filetype%3Adoc+beagle&t=h_&ia=web
filetype:doc beagle
View Git Stash Contents Without Applying to Codebase
Snippet kitt decided around 06:14 on 30 November 2018 to publish this:Use git stash list
to view all stashes
Use git stash show
with options to view a stash without applying it to the codebase.
# see a "git diff" of what's in the first stash git stash show -p stash@{0}
And, a shell script to view these. Save this into a file, chmod +x the file, and run in the terminal.
#!/bin/bash readonly STASH="$1" if [[ "xx${STASH}" != "xx" ]]; then git stash show -p stash@{${STASH}} else git stash list fi
Local Mail Server During Development
Snippet Posted by kitt at 05:09 on 30 November 2018Sometimes, you need to send email during software development, and you need to be able to receive the email, even if the addresses are fake (say, to @example.org) and what have you.
The node package, fake-smtp-server
is a handy tool for providing a server to receive the mail, and an interface for viewing the email that was sent.
https://www.npmjs.com/package/fake-smtp-server
Install globally on a system with:
npm install -g fake-smtp-server
Start it up:
fake-smtp-server
If you want to have it on port 25 as most mail servers expect, run as root:
sudo fake-smtp-server -s 25
View the emails received (by default) at
You can change that port, too:
sudo fake-smtp-server -h 8888
A few other configurations, and an API. Great little tool.
Usage: fake-smtp-server [OPTIONS] [ARGS] Options: -s, --smtp-port [NUMBER] SMTP port to listen on (Default is 1025) --smtp-ip [IP] IP Address to bind SMTP service to (Default is 0.0.0.0) -h, --http-port [NUMBER] HTTP port to listen on (Default is 1080) --http-ip [IP] IP Address to bind HTTP service to (Default is 0.0.0.0) -w, --whitelist STRING Only accept e-mails from these adresses. Accepts multiple e-mails comma-separated -m, --max [NUMBER] Max number of e-mails to keep (Default is 100) -a, --auth STRING Enable Authentication --headers Enable headers in responses -k, --no-color Omit color from output --debug Show debug information
The Big Sleep
Book Notes kitt decided around 18:18 on 29 November 2018 to publish this:I added this book to my reading list some time after reading a ranking of Chandler's Marlowe books in order of "good," and this one wasn't first, but it is the first book of the series.
After checking this book out from the library, I found a nicely bound hardcover in a bookstore. Instead of reading the library version, I've been reading the paper version. Turns out, I've seen the movie, and recall much of it. The first 25% of the book matches the film well. We'll see if it stays that way, I'll be watching the movie again shortly.
I really enjoyed this book. Helps that I've lived in Los Angeles. While my residency was not in the late thirties, the world that Chandler describes is vivid enough, and based on real enough places, that I could visualize the story very well.
Unsurprisingly, most of the supporting characters are one-dimensional, Silver-Wig loves her man, until she realizes he's a killer, for example. Mars is a tough guy, willing to do most things for a dollar, and smart enough to have someone else do those things.
Marlowe, however, has more character. He's the hero of the story, we follow him around, we see more of his motivations, so unsurprisingly we understand him better. Seems reasonable that someone who wants to solve puzzles and understands a bit about human character would become a private investigator.
Unrelated, there is a lot of "kissing people you just met" in this book, but no actual sex. I didn't realize that people kissed so much in Los Angeles. I clearly did L.A. wrong.
I enjoyed the book. I enjoyed all the one-line and otherwise short zingers, and the snappy dialog. I'll likely continue reading the series.
"If I sound a little sinister as a parent, Mr. Marlowe, it is because my hold on life is too slight to include any Victorian hypocrisy."
Page 13
“I need not add that a man who indulges in parenthood for the first time at the age of fifty-four deserves all he gets.”
Page 13
Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.
Page 42
"Sure you can’t help me on this?"
I liked his putting it that way. It let me say no without actually lying.
Page 62
Not being bullet proof is an idea I had had to get used to.
Page 73
He was afraid of the police, of course, being what he is, and he probably thought it a good idea to have the body hidden until he had removed his effects from the house.
Page 110
"Being what he is," which would be gay. I appreciate the progress we have made as a culture, in many ways. We have further to go.
Cops get very large and emphatic when an outsider tries to hide anything, but they do the same things themselves every other day, to oblige their friends or anybody with a little pull.
Page 114
"You’ll hear from him."
"Too late will be too soon," I said,
Page 116
I read all three of the morning papers over my eggs and bacon the next morning. Their accounts of the affair came as close to the truth as newspaper stories usually come—as close as Mars is to Saturn.
Page 118
“What makes you think I’m doing anything for him?”
I didn’t answer that.
Page 120
Then my eyes adjusted themselves more to the darkness and I saw there was something across the floor in front of me that shouldn’t have been there. I backed, reached the wall switch with my thumb and flicked the light on.
The bed was down.
Page 153
HUH. Marlowe has a Murphy bed, too!
I’m your friend. I won’t let you down—in spite of yourself.
Page 155
I threw my cigarette on the floor and stamped on it.
Page 156
A significantly different world. There are many references to cigar and cigarette ash being allowed to fall into the rug.
It seemed a little too pat. It had the austere simplicity of fiction rather than the tangled woof of fact.
Page 169
There was a tarnished and well-missed spittoon on a gnawed rubber mat.
Page 170
Again, different world.
“It’s very funny,” she said breathlessly. “Very funny, because, you see—I still love him. Women—” She began to laugh again.
Page 196
One dimensional.
What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell.
Page 230
Overheard
Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 12:35 on 28 November 2018Today.
"The teacher words the question different so we get it wrong!"
No, Kid, she words it differently so that you can demonstrate your mastery of the material. If wording a question differently causes you to answer incorrectly, you don't understand the material.
Related.
"You're near failing."
"But I'm not actually failing."
Way to embrace the razor's edge, Kid. How about doing the work so that you're not anywhere near failing?