When I started tweaking the theme for WordPress, I started with css, especially the fonts. I wanted the fonts that mimic paper-like experience as much as possible, and although the goal post has shifted quite a lot since, the way I had done fonts on css were almost always the same. On WordPress, you can…
The Mad Tea Party
Inspiring yet Mad Spiels
By Rian
Gray, a writer.
App to Cache Google Fonts on WordPress for GDPR
Yet another post diving into the unguided madness that is privacy laws. By all means, while I am in favor of the privacy regulations, it’s hard for me to fathom what service —not what technology— could be in violation of the new law. Google Analytics had its own share of spotlight, hence why I became…
No More Multi Column Layouts
When I started preparing Mad Tea Party back in early 2010, I recall I had a decision to make. The era of widescreen, 16:9 resolution, was here to stay. But most journals, magazines, and even newspapers didn’t print in widescreen. When they had the precious space, they either reserved the saving for the new advertisement,…
The Case of Missing macOS Sleep Trigger
I was on a lookout for a certain trigger to automate macOS, a sleep trigger. I try not to automate any of the scripts around uncertain triggers, especially sleep cycles, when there may be certain expectations of how things should be at that moment. For example, if a script inadvertently disrupts the machine from going…
Metaphor: ReFantazio Spiel
Atlus does not make an easy game to hop on. The developer is behind one of those franchises that predates modern gaming conventions, ones that are hard sell for new gamers. Not only playing all the previous installments be nearly impossible without getting one’s hands on a retro console, the games are simply too dated…
How to Troubleshoot SSH Permission Issues
This one is for documentation purposes. Networking issue is usually the rabbit hole that gets deeper and weirder more we find out. My method of approaching networking is to leave the ones that are currently working, as-is. In other words, don’t jinx it. The problem I encountered was just plain weird. I was spooked by…
How to Metaphor: ReFantazio: Grind in Late Game
Metaphor: ReFantazio does offer lists of side quests to level up the party to prepare for the next big battle, that is, up until the new dungeon area, Skybound Avatar, is unlocked for the final-final confrontation. At this point, I had access to few other bounties, few dungeons, and some candidate encounters. Finishing them all,…
How to Add Delay to systemd During Booting
One of the things necessary to maintain a VLAN at home or small office is to automate the boot up sequence as much as possible. In case of, say, power outage, you would want the system to be able to boot up on its own, unless you opted Pis and others to turn on manually…
M4, M4 Extreme, and eGPU
eGPU, the popular Thunderbolt solution for underpowered laptops, seems to be sitting on the back burner for Apple. Considering MacBooks did open the way with much of the eGPU devices and support in the early days, it does make me wonder if the Californian company is seriously considering to make Apple Silicon chips to compete…
App to Remove Windows 11 Bloatware
Windows needs a lite version. When I’m working with different Linux distros, at least the community comes together to create a lite version, headless version, or a server version, depending on who is the wordsmith in town; we came to terms with the fact such thing is needed. So from where I stand, I find…
App to Verify Copies using Hash
Few years ago, correction, a decade ago, I did write a short code to verify copied files. As much as I would like to believe NAS is more tolerant, it would be a moot point if the files were already damaged going in —as the saying goes, garbage in, garbage out. Once I had the…
How to List Python Packages for Backup and Sync
If you are testing Python scripts on multiple machines, let alone different versions of Python, there is a moment where you would wish to synchronize all the packages across the versions, across the machines. Before I go into the details, I do want to clarify one thing: depending on how you would to set it…
How to Change Num Lock Default Settings on macOS Terminal
I suspect this is yet another “tabs or spaces” question for developers, but I believe there is a silver lining for all —we want consistent UIs. I want my numpads to work as number pads throughout. There are only few cases when I need it to be something else, be it may directional keys, application…
App to Check If Google Killed Your App
‘It never gets easier’ as the saying goes. Google, or Alphabet, acquires many unicorn companies only to abandon less successful, if not, less prospective businesses. Makes one wonder who approves these purchases in the first place. But regardless of the firm’s fiscal decision, it is undeniably true that these services, at one point, had some…
WordPress, Ulysses, and Integration
I’ve been writing on Ulysses app for some time, and I had been using Ulysses under the assumption that the app is pulling double duty as WordPress post editor; it is not. Ulysses doesn’t have access to posts already published on WordPress. From the email responses I’ve gotten from Ulysses team, it appears this is…