Updated 03-Aug-2025 Scrollbar usability is shoddy and slipping across wide swaths of the web and software in general. Of course I am getting older, which means this is more and more of an annoyance. We know already, and for some time, how to do scrollbar usability and accessibility. Putting aside voice commands, just the bare ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 OpenVPN on Debian is the second step in securing an operating system. Below we include ufw firewall installation and configuration as well. Related Artices in Debian Services and Applications Debian on AWS Lightsail OpenVPN on Debian + UFW Firewall Nginx and Letsencrypt on Debian PHP & MariaDB on Debian Grav CMS on Debian ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 This is a setup of several items, starting with Debian 9 on Amazon AWS Lightsail. This has server basics and apt, and then follows with links to additional articles. In general, after several years of running CentOS on Linode, and then Amazon Linux AMI on EC2 and Lightsail, I find that Debian 9 ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Well, it turns out, there is no such thing, per se, as an IPA Keyboard Layout, at least not in the sense that there are keyboard layouts for various languages and layout styles (e.g., English, Dvorak, etc.). This seems to me to be a tremendous oversight, though it obviously came about because someone ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 I'll come back and write more about this later (especially how to help with this with one's children), but for now here are some resources: Submenu Navigation - Nielsen Norman Group Seeking information online: the influence of menu type, navigation path complexity and spatial ability on information gathering tasks Online Spatial Reasoning Task ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Note: since Debian has Cinnamon built-in as a desktop choice on install, and since the rest of Mint is Ubuntu or Debian (LMDE), it seems a bit nonsensical to go Mint when I can go Debian +Cinnamon. For Cinnamon interface changes, see: LMDE Cinnamon Modifications This document will be somewhat regularly updated with ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 There are significant differences between high-achieving, gifted, and highly gifted children. When one recognizes unusual, advanced early development, understanding what one is seeing is important. There are different vulnerabilities and burdens for each of these groups: - The Burdens of Gifted Children - The Truth About Gifted Versus High-Achieving Students - Vulnerabilities of ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs have similar insights when it comes to hiring the best. This is equally relevant when one is building a school. Hire the best teachers possible, if you want a high-performing school. Three Questions When Making a Hiring Decision From the 1998 Amazon Shareholder Letter: It would be impossible ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 There are several white label options for search and if one considers advertising a viable business model to engage in, then consider Bing or Infospacehttp://www.infospace.com/partners/. Consider the case of Izito and related country code tlds, as well as MonsterSpace, both are pure play partner deals with nothing technical in their own right, with ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 For various reasons, now is a terrible time (in the world). (Note: this is 2018, and we thought that was terrible. 2020 laughs hysterically at you.) At the same time, my own time horizons have shifted due to having young children. My eldest may graduate from high school in 15 years, give or ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 This is a brief overview of ChromeOS Keyboard Shortcuts / Keystrokes. Hardware Key Differences No Windows key, no Command key However external keyboards can have these mapped to other keys Capslock Key replaced by Search Key Shft+Search = Capslock Remap Keys > Settings > Device > Keyboard Remap Capslock to Search key on ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Moving from OSX to ChromeOS can be complex because the ChromeOS ecosystem includes Android and Linux applications, though support for those platforms are not fully implemented as of July, 2018. Nevertheless there enough advantages to make a comprehensive attempt at such a migration desirable at this point in time. My personal reasons include ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Blast from the past, this request for smartphone/netbook recommendations comes from May, 2009. Updated below with comments from July, 2018. Note that we've updated the title from Netbooks to Chromebooks. Help! Too Many Choices > Jeff, I am in need of a portable device for accessing email when I'm on the road. Of ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 > There is no evidence that fever itself worsens the course of an illness or that it causes long-term neurologic complications. Thus ... improve the child's overall comfort rather than focus on the normalization of body temperature. - Pediatrics research article
Updated 03-Aug-2025 See also LineageOS on Xiaomi The Xiaomi Redmi 4A (aka Rolex) is a cheap (~100 USD) and lightweight (131.5g) 5" phone. For price, weight, and size, there is not much competiton. The screen is a 720 x 1280 px 16x9 screen that is pretty decent. Its got a Snapdragon 425 and 2gb of ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 This is meant to help with the conversion from OSX to ChromeOS. For background on ChromeOS and Chromium, see chromium.org. See also a hardware discussion on Chromebooks, Chromebits, and Chromeboxes. What Chromebooks Can't (Yet) Do Note: the Crostini project means that a host of Linux apps and functionality can/will/may be on tap, which ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Note: 43" 4K monitors are likely taking over this WQHD space. Also beware the VA panels, they just don't perform as well as IPS. Second Note: the problem of using a 4K TV for a monitor is in the viewing angles. Also Chroma subsampling is needed for decent support of text. What appears ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Air Purification has a myriad of purifiers. There are roughly two kinds: Organics (formaldahyde, etc.) Particles (pm 10, pm 2.5, pm 1.0) Resources The effect of surface charge, negative and bipolar ionization on the deposition of airborne bacteria Air Quality Index (AQI) Basics Air Inoizer Ozone generators sold as air cleaners
Updated 03-Aug-2025 As of early 2018, ChromeOS and Desktop Linux have both crossed the 3% threshold. Android is approaching 50% for OS market share, and is in excess of that in terms of new devices. Heady times for the Linux Kernel indeed. While Android uses the Linux Kernel, nearly everything else in Android is customized, ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 See also OpenVPN on Amazon Linux Complexity with a Simplistic Solution OpenVPN on ChromeOS and Android has become a bit complicated, since ChromeOS now supports Android. However, Android seems to live inside its own environment within ChromeOS, accessible to other Android Apps, but without the ability to modify the larger ChromeOS environment. This ... Read more