Posts on ngmarley.com

You Need to be Freedommaxxing

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I can’t believe Anthropic is actually doing age verification for new accounts … yet, … I can? This company seems to have the most brain-dead leadership I’ve seen, maybe ever.

Something is wrong in the halls of Anthropic. There’s a mind virus, something warping the thoughts of the people within.

Age verification isn’t required by any government mandate (yet), but here we are. And this is after Anthropic completely nerfed their models,

Reduce Friction

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Everything I try and do, I try to reduce friction.

By the way, I internalize so many of my beliefs and philosophies such as this, that I start to assume other people share them. Or if not, that they’re low IQ and don’t have the intellectual or mental capacity for e.g. consideration of how their actions affect others. Anyway…

I try and design or suggest the UI needs that make sense. Why 3 clicks when I could be one? Why any clicks if not necessary? Usually this means “reduce/remove” visual clutter as well.

Open, AI-enabled Tools are the Future

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

(Thanks OpenAI for ruining any kind of normal title I could have had for this post.)

Claude Code is great, but you know what would make it even better? Me being able to use any model that I want, not just Anthropic models. In the end, when all this AI novelty wears off and people start to regularly integrate AI into their lives as a regular part of their augmentation, the tools which will persist will be model-agnostic.

Change

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

It’s funny how much things change over a decade or so.

I’m back in a town I haven’t been to in 10 years. My wife and I first came here together in 2012, then once again in 2015 to visit my parents. This was before we had kids, so things were different for us too.

I walked into the Starbucks yesterday. The same Starbucks where I’d sat w/my wife around 12 years ago, I remember looking at the newspaper headlines every day, and writing about whatever it was and its correlation to either government incompetence or police corruption, or both.

Once, Never Again (Ichi-go Ichi-e)

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Buttercup, newly introduced to the family

Our family cat Buttercup died this morning, or last night, sometime during the night.

He was killed by some animal — a coyote or a bobcat or similar. Brittany found his body in the backyard over by the kids’ swingset / play set. I’m devastated. We all are—he was the perfect kitty. Tolerated EVERYTHING the kids did to him. We had him for about 7-8 months or so, since he came to us in February, in the winter.

My Coffee House that Never Happened

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A beautiful sight

When I was around 20 or 21 (half my age ago), I wanted to start a coffee shop.

I’ve loved the coffee house vibe, e.g. from Friends. Loved coffee, lattes. Who doesn’t?

The hamburger shop/grill across from the university’s computer science department had just shut down. And it was a perfect location, because it was a corner that stuck into the university.

How do I get into Bitcoin?

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A one-week plan, by day:

Day 1: Go sign up at coinbase.com, add your bank account there.

Day 2: Login to Coinbase.com and buy $10 worth of Bitcoin.

Day 3: Download the Blue Wallet app on your app store. Pick Add Wallet -> Bitcoin -> Create. Write down the special backup seed phrase ON PAPER, and put that paper in your passport.

Day 4: Login to Coinbase.com again. Send some Bitcoin (e.g. half of it, around $5 worth) to your phone app. This is a big step if you’ve never done it before. Feel free to ask for help.

Priorities - Freedom is the Goal

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Gotta start ’em young.

Last night I saw this Instagram clip of Bob Odenkirk answering the question of who he’s most jealous of. His answer? “Anybody who’s got young kids.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMtE6dnSrlN/

That’s the goal, that’s the best job of all — being a good, present parent. IYKYK. It’s the best time of life, the most hectic, and you just want a break. But at the end of it all, you wish you’d had more of this time. Someday, the shoes and toys won’t be scattered all over the living room floor. And you’ll wish you had the time back.

Everything is an Offer

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Everything you see in life was or is at some point an offer that somebody created, and someone else (e.g. you) paid for. You traded stored energy (money) for a thing which provides Value to you.

“Value” is vague and thrown around often but it’s the worth that you assign to a thing. If the value (perceived benefit) is not worth the cost, you don’t buy that thing. Simple as.

For Mental Clarity, Write Daily

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Clarity - daily writing, 1st thing in the morning, This seems to bring me the most clarity, and direction in life. Show me what I’m missing. The direction I need to be headed.

This was previously not an issue for me but since I’ve gotten into such a murky life situation, especially without having work over the past year, and after having lost Asami, I feel like I need to realign on this. My brain used to work differently, I used to think much more strategically. And it’s hard to think strategically when you’re in a survival mode situation, especially after prolonged many months at a time.

Opportunity is Disguised

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Opportunity doesn’t always look like opportunity. It’s disguised.

A couple opportunities I’ll have tomorrow:

Sports App

I’ve been talking with someone in Alberta who does hockey stats, and he’s wanting to launch an app to use AI to improve on old, clunky UIs. There’s a clear, underserved market for this. How could I best serve him (without thought to my own interests for now — just try and help).

Transitions

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Sunrise over a rural southwestern Missouri hayfield field w/a round haybale and native trees in the background.

Some days I wish I had my old blog because it’s easier just to write whatever I want about whatever I want. I haven’t started a Substack yet. So I feel like I have to create something that’s polished or that’s directed in certain way or has a theme, whereas my personal blog is just whatever the hell I wanted to write because it was mine. It was raw and real and it was about me, I didn’t have to go with a certain theme or something. And maybe I don’t have to do that with a Substack blog either, I don’t know.

Passed the AWS DevOps Pro exam

Fri, 05 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Two days ago I sat the exam and passed with an 83% overall!

Here are my actual scores and domains:

Overall Score: 83%

Topic Level Scoring:
Domain 1: 75%
Domain 2: 87%
Domain 3: 100%
Domain 4: 100%

I’m actually surprised that I did this well, as I was a bit nervous and not sure if I’d pass or not. I did spend a couple hours the night before studying CloudFormation (WaitCondition & WaitConditionHandle), OpsWorks and Elastic Beanstalk.

AWS DevOps Pro - Practice Exam Passed

Sat, 29 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Last night I spent a couple hours reviewing my previous exam answers and writing down what I would have done differently and why. I also played around with OpsWorks and ElasticBeanstalk a bit yesterday so that I could better understand those technologies… and then took the exam again this morning.

I passed this time, and here are my new results:

Domain 1. 72% (Continuous Delivery and Process Automation – passed this time, and the only change)
Domain 2. 75% (Monitoring, Metrics, and Logging)
Domain 3. 100% (Security, Governance, and Validation)
Domain 4. 100% (High Availability and Elasticity)

AWS DevOps Pro - Practice Exam Take 1 (Failed)

Sun, 23 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Just failed an AWS practice exam for the first time!

I currently hold all 3 associate certifications and am going for the DevOps Pro certification next.

Was actually a bit surprised! Fortunately the parts that I failed are the parts that I really don’t care about and will never use (ElasticBeanstalk and OpsWorks). Unfortunately, we’re still tested on those bits and I’ll have to study up. Since I got a 60% overall score, I really think I could have got a “pass” if I’d gotten just one or two more answers correct.

HD Wallet Standards for Interoperability

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Note: I originally wrote this in April 2016 while traveling thru Asia and kept it in my private log area until now.

Many different software vendors have produced different HD (e.g. BIP32-compliant) Wallets, and it’s nice, but the supposed features/benefits of HD wallets aren’t really able to be used except by the most-technical of end-users. That’s because the HD standard is both really flexible (by enabling a multitude of derivation paths), and because multiple standards are used by wallet software vendors, some of which are conflicting, and each developer will use whichever standard he/she thinks is best, without regard to interoperability or what’s best and easiest for the end-user.

Where Apple Went Wrong...

Tue, 01 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

People don’t give a shit about things like a “Touch Bar” with emojis and the ability to pay for stuff via ApplePay. People don’t care about ApplePay, or about “eliminating cash”. And, although governments want to eliminate cash for other reasons, Apple is not the entity which is going to do so.

You know what people want?

Good hardware and software that works well.

Honestly, I don’t even think anybody cares whether their laptop is 0.005 inches thinner or 4 ounces lighter, but the ability to have 32 or 64 GB RAM is fucking huge. HUGE, I say.

What is Docker? (And good luck finding out.)

Thu, 16 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s an example of how technical people still can’t explain things:

I search for “What is Docker”, and I even get to the “What is Docker?” page on the official website:

But as you can see, I still don’t get a straight answer.

This page tells me what Docker allows me to do … and what Docker containers are… (but I still need to know what Docker is first).

Some Things That Will Be Obsolete in 5 Years

Tue, 14 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Just 20 years ago, the world was a completely different place. And in 20 years, it’s going to be completely different than it is today. Everything’s gonna change. Lifestyles, standards of living. It’s already in progress. We just don’t always see it that way.

Think about it: can you imagine a time before YouTube? That’s just ONE service that’s changed the way we learn, share, entertain and, in some cases, make a living.

Precious

Sat, 28 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Our cat Precious passed away today. She’d been with us for the past 5 years (almost to the date). It seems like much longer than that. She was around 18 years old, and we’re not 100% sure of her exact age.

She was white with a bit of grey, mostly on her ears and face. And her tail was really beautiful, w/dark grey rings all the length of it.

She was a generally scared being, most likely from some early trauma or maybe a fight with a brother or sister at an early age. Precious, or “the princess” as we sometimes called her, was very selective of who she would approach, and only a few people were ever able to get close enough for comfort — her “inner circle.”

Review: Wiko Lenny 3 Smartphone

Sat, 14 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Wiko Lenny 3 — A Game Changer? Hardly.

Update: Be sure and see my update below. Even more brickkery!

I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand when my Nexus 5 finally just gave out. The infamous Nexus 5 “power button issue” meant that I could not use it for more than 2 minutes without the phone just shutting down again, just immediately, as if the battery had been removed. Then my screen cracked when I was trying to get it to work. It cracked bad, so much that I couldn’t see anything even when I could get the damn phone to power up. So it was finally dead.

Saigon vs Chiang Mai (winner: CNX)

Sun, 01 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Chiang Mai, Thailand is one of my favourite places in the world. After arriving yesterday from Saigon, I immediately noticed the stark constast between the two places. Saigon is loud, crazy, bustling, dangerous, a concrete jungle. And hot. Really freaking hot.

Chiang Mai is less of all of that, in every category. It’s not too loud, a little less busy, not very dangerous, and instead of concrete jungle, it kinda feels like the city was built in an actual jungle. There’s trees, greenery, plenty of wats (Buddhist temples) just about everywhere you look. It does gets hot here, and it feels a bit more humid, but it’s worth the tradeoff, in my opinion.

Success Habits

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Some Random Sunset that has Nothing to do with this Post

I started reading Robert Ringer’s Million Dollar Habits this afternoon and just got inspired to make a list of success habits myself, before even reading any of his own. Only one came to mind at the time I started writing, which was to rise early. Then the rest of this list just sorta… rolled out onto the page. But I think they’re good habits that compound, especially if one is consistent over several days or weeks. I tried to be practical, with pragmatic advice that anyone can implement immediately (and I myself need to start implementing my own advice, for most of these).

Tonight I ordered a plate of fries...

Mon, 04 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

French Fries… a.k.a. “NastySticks”

… and I didn’t eat any of them. I couldn’t do it.

Initially I just thought, “Oh, it’s just a little unhealthy, not a big deal. And I miss Western food, so I can afford to eat this junk, just for now, while I’m here in Asia.” (That’s a convenient rationalization.) Anyway, I ordered them. $60 NTD, around $2 USD for a plate of comfort.

WordPress 4.4+ — How to Fix the Disappearing Admin Panel in the Post Editor

Sun, 03 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Well, the geniuses behind WordPress did it again. Enabled a change that Automattic thinks is the latest thing since sliced bread, and forced it upon the entire rest of the WordPress world.

This time, it’s in the form of a disappearing admin panel when you write posts. Apparently everything else is a “distraction”, and when writing, the only thing you should see is your little text box and nothing else. Well, fuck that. It’s annoying, and most of all, distracting! The distraction-free feature is actually distracting the hell out of me and I just want to write my post with a standard static screen with all my buttons and checkboxes that I’m used to.

Institute Policies to Avoid Breaking Hard Rules

Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Today I had a conversation that went something like this:

Girl: “Hey, can I borrow your laptop?”

Me: “Hell no!” (jokingly, but not really joking)

Girl: “I’m working on something now, so I’m gonna need to borrow your laptop. This font size is just too small for what I’m working on.”

Me: “…”

I personally have a hard rule about my laptop: no one uses my laptop. For any reason, ever. That rule is slightly bendable for one person - my wife. And even then, she has her own account on my Macbook, she doesn’t log on using mine. Why?

Least-Expensive Fruit Stands in Taipei

Sat, 05 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

A Fruit Stand in the area of Dalongdong Temple, Taipei City

Being vegan who likes to eat raw whenever possible, I eat a lot of fruit.

Of course, Taipei doesn’t have too many raw food cafes (any?), but it does have a lot of fruit to offer. tropical fruits and the same “regular” fruits that we get at home (my favorite is dragonfruit — 火龍果).

Taipei - initial experiences

Sat, 28 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Wow, just wow. Where to start?

Taipei is a bit like I expected for an Asian city. Small shops everywhere, no obvious zoning considerations at all, general Asia street smell…

I found a nice tea house in the Yongkang street area (Da’an district) while I was walking around and — wait for it — waiting for another tea house to open. Guess the early bird gets the worm? Finding True Heart teahouse was a breath of fresh air.

Refresh Yourself in the Airport

Thu, 26 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

When traveling long-distance flights with multiple connections, I always feel 100% better after refreshing myself, changing my socks and shirt.

I’ve found that it’s generally easier if I can locate the family restroom, then refresh in there. I’ll wash my feet, dry them with my Packtowl, then put on a fresh pair of socks. I also will wash/rinse my armpits and apply fresh deodorant, and change my shirt. The aforementioned Packtowl is wonderful when traveling.

In transit to Taiwan

Tue, 24 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

The last 2 weeks of life have been a complete blur. I’ve been running around like crazy trying to get loose ends tied up in Arkansas, get assets moved around and re-allocated, and sell my big stuff (e.g. car) that I won’t need abroad.

Right now I’m in the Narita airport in Japan, about 80 or so km east of Tokyo.

And unlike my last short visit to Japan, this trip’s layover is only about 3 hours, so there’s really no time to get out and see any of Japan. So I’m staying in the international terminal, getting some food in my stomach and waiting for my evening flight to Taipei.

Ctrl-P to print...

Mon, 02 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Most people don’t think about how their websites or blogs print out. Probably because most people don’t print things anymore. But for me, if I’m starting on a long article, I’ll try and print it so that it doesn’t hurt my eyes.

When I Google related searches, I see people posting thoughts along the lines of:

“Why bother? Nobody prints things anymore.”

Those people are ~~assholes~~ inconsiderate, or ignorant, or both.

Just Do the Thing.

Wed, 21 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes you just gotta Do the Thing you’re putting off.

After a recent serious bout of email anxiety, I’ve finally got to Inbox Zero. Tonight.

I wasn’t going to do it tonight. I almost left my house. Had something else to do – I still do! But I had been putting off emailing Valeska for too long. I had to at least get some momentum. Before I left the house, I had to at least prepare for emailing her upon my return tonight. Then I thought – no, I have to get started on the email. At least to write the initial greeting, formalities, etc.

Email Anxiety

Mon, 19 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Breathe while reading your email!

I don’t know if email anxiety is a real thing, but I definitely have it, regardless.

When composing an email, sometimes it takes me one, two, … up to three hours or more. To write an email. Not a long email of a few thousand words (I don’t believe most emails should be that long). Just a simple, short introductory email.

“Hey, how are you? I’m Nathan. I see you’re doing [INSERT COOL THING HERE], I think that’s cool because [REASONS] and just wanted to connect with you. I’d love to help if you need it with [SOME THINGS I CAN HELP WITH].

Anyway, take care,
Nathan
"

I get what they don't have...

Thu, 15 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

My wife and I were invited over to a new mutual acquaintance’s house the other day. The house is in a nice subdivision… really nice. As in, 4 beds 4 baths 3518 sqft… $500k+ house. Just looked it up on Zillow.

Many of the houses are even bigger, with better views. Some of them are $1.5M+. There’s one that’s $4.8M, 8-bedroom and 15000 sqft.

That’s crazy. Anyway, that’s just to give a feel for where we were. As I drove through the subdivision, I got a little inspired. Motivated.

Customer Service for Businesses and People Too

Tue, 13 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

The first interactions with your company or organization really the the most important ones. It’s what makes your company in a person’s mind – be it good or bad. It’s the initial filter that everything else passes through. It’s also really really hard to turn around a negative first impression.

I’ve been in service-oriented positions before, and in positions where I didn’t have to offer great service, but chose to anyway. It’s really made a huge difference in both how customers perceived me, and in the way I felt afterwards. Like I was actually helping out vs. just “doing my duty”.

On Being Prolific

Thu, 08 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Cut to the chase - I’ve decided to commit to being prolific. YOLO, and I’ve got so much stuff that I’ve worked 80% on, then just left it there. Articles that I’ve left it on my hard drive, never published. Ideas for amazing things, workshops, businesses, just left in my notebook.

A couple weeks ago, I had an idea for a non-profit. It just came to me in the shower, but it was so detailed, and the potential upside so big, that I had to write it out. It’s just sitting in Evernote now, but I’ll be publishing that publicly very soon.

Foundations

Tue, 06 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Foundations - Name of a non-profit organization to work with young people and teach them to make good decisions.

The basic idea is that the decisions we make, big and small, are the very reason that we’re exactly who & where we are at this moment in life. So, for people to affect their future in a positive way, they’ve to have a solid base of decisions. The non-profit would organize a workshop for juveniles (both delinquents and school children) to not only demonstrate the power of decisions, but give very specific tactics for pragmatic implementation of making good decisions. Teaches basic entrepreneurship and community involvement.

Be Ruthless with your Email

Mon, 05 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Email is sacred ground. It’s where you get important notes from friends and family, as well as the businesses and organizations that you care about.

But for a lot of people it’s become a wasteland, a junkyard to be traversed, only every once in a while finding a gem here or there.

Me? I’m ruthless with my email. If any company, organization, or marketer sends me something that I don’t want to receive even once, they’re gone. Done. Unsubscribed. I don’t care how much they might have improved my life or condition. By giving over my primary email address, for any reason, I’ve given you my trust, and that doesn’t come lightly.

Feeling of Significance, and Early Access to Pumpkin Spice Latte

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Oh, hello autumn. I see you there, peeking around the corner. Come on out, it’s ok. Stay a while.

“You’ll just have to wait until next week.”

YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!! NARRGGGGHHHOOOOOOO!!!!

Wait. Let’s back up.

So I walked into a Starbucks today to get some work done - a usual location for me, and at this point I can probably be described as a “regular” for this location.

How to Get Your Passport (for US citizens)

Wed, 26 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

US Passport

Note: I wrote this back in 2010. I think the fees might have increased, and I’m not sure if the links are all working now. Get the book, not the card. The card is useless. Oh yeah, now you have the option to get the 26-page or the 52-page version. I don’t think there’s a price difference, so just get the 52-page version. Trust me on this one.

Finally, some solid goals.

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Sunset on a Highway in Alabama

Feel like I’ve had a breakthrough tonight. Maybe it’s a combination of being alone for a few hours (INTJ - I charge up on being alone), or maybe it’s the slight lift that I got from the cup o’ tea that I had a little bit ago, but it’s starting to click.

For years, I’ve wanted to “travel the world” and be mobile, yet make an income at the same time. But it was so hard to envision without getting a time-consuming and draining customer support job.

Official Last Request(s)

Sat, 08 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

A few days ago I was driving home from my usual after-midnight grocery shopping. (Side note: I wrote this 5 years ago.) After the stock CD player in my auto went out, I was forced to resort to my iPod and one of those tape-deck converters. I usually play my iPod on shuffle just to mix things up. Anyway, one of the awesomest songs ever came on, and as I was singing along at the top of my lungs, I realized I wanted this song to be played at my funeral. The song? Tarzan Boy by Baltimora.

Gratitude

Sat, 25 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

An Abundance of Peaches

Today I had 11 dollars to spend @ the Farmer’s Market. It was the perfect amount, because I planned to spend $7 on a 1/4 peck of peaches, and the remaining $4 on tomatoes. I was so grateful that I had exactly the right amount to purchase my peaches and tomatoes (black cherry and sungold, my favorites!).

Well, not only did I have enough, but my peach guy threw in some extras and gave me a $2 discount. (Yeah, I have a guy, for peaches.) Two whole dollars! I was then so grateful because I not only had an extra dollar to tip him (he’s a good peach guy), but I also had an extra dollar to tip one of the wonderful groups entertaining the market with their music.

Arabic Challenge Results

Thu, 04 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Well, my first Arabic conversation wasn’t a very long one, but it happened.

Here’s the result:

Basically, I’m saying to him, “Excuse me, do you speak Arabic?” to which he playfully responds, “No!”, and we both get a laugh out of it. There’s some more talk (in English), and a LOT of background noise too. The first 9 seconds covers the entire conversation. That’s it!

This was a fun challenge, and I’m glad I did it. I now have some working knowledge of the language and a (solid?) base from which to continue my Arabic learning.

One-Week Arabic Challenge

Thu, 28 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Arabic text. I have no idea what this says.

I’ve decided to learn Arabic in a week. The entire language. Plus the alphabet. Not really.

But it’s no secret that I’m a language nut. I want to be able to speak 17 languages.

Why Arabic?

Most Saturdays my wife and I make the drive from Bentonville to Fayetteville to buy fresh produce at the farmer’s market. That’s in Arkansas, for any non-local readers. We love the Fayetteville market. Fresh local veggies sold by the farmers themselves, live music from local musicians. Good people. It’s just a great vibe overall.

How to Start Every Day Awesomely

Mon, 25 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Another 5-year-old post, but I believe the principle still applies. Routines like this also build discipline, one of my most important virtues.

The last 3 days have started awesomely for me because I follow the steps outlined below.

This is a modified version of “How You Should Start Every Day For The Rest Of Your Life!” by Gary Halbert.

I don’t recommend his steps for a couple of reasons. First, he recommends consuming dairy products, which are poisonous to humans. It’s just that most of us don’t know it yet. Second, he tells us to “scarf” down food a couple of times, and I don’t think “scarfing” is an appropriate way to eat anything unless you’re a dog.

10 Ideas to improve your site's SEO

Sun, 24 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

SEO

I wrote these ideas for a local photographer that I know, who was asking on Facebook about SEO for her website. But since I think they’re pretty generic, these could apply to just about anyone with a local business. So I’ll just share them on here for everyone, and point her to this post.

SEO is basically broken into 2 things:

How relevant is your site’s content to the people searching for it? You improve this by optimizing your site - content and meta information (e.g. meta tags, internal links to other pages on your site, etc.)
How popular is your site? (Sites with the same relevance, but more popular = higher in Google results.) This means how many “backlinks” your site has, which is other people/websites linking back to yours. You improve this by what’s called “link building”.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s a list of ideas that might help improve any site’s SE rankings.

DIY hand-roasted coffee

Thu, 21 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Or… “that one time I hand-roasted coffee on the stove…”.

A couple of weeks ago, I was inspired by Jeff Goins’ post on how he basically “created” a coffee company in 48 hours. Since his site and email list are kinda aggressive on the marketing side, I’m not going to link to it. You can find it via Google if you want. (Jeff, if you’re reading this, no offense intended. And don’t hesitate to get in touch for ideas on how your marketing could be improved.)

How to Do Anything at All in Life

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Note: I originally wrote this in July 2010, 5 years ago, but never posted it. Five years! That’s crazy. Obviously a lot has changed since then, and I wish that I’d posted this waaay back then. But the point I was trying to make still holds true, even more now, since it’s like I was writing for myself. My future self. It’s like a time machine, but in reverse. Crazy, man.

Another redesign

Wed, 15 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Switched themes again, this time so that the site would have a responsive theme. The theme is a default WordPress theme, ‘Twenty-Fifteen’ by Automattic. It’s got a large default font, is clean and responsive… I’m not looking for much in a theme, and this one ticks off all the boxes, for now.

Also, hope to have some more posts up soon. I’ve got a few projects in the works, namely, my consulting site, nathanmarley.com and some book ideas that I need to flesh out. Also working on a Northwest Arkansas local cleaning service business that I’m running with my wife, Maid in NWA.

Principles

Sat, 07 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Gandhian Principles in Kannada

Today I was talking with a vegan friend (I’m vegan as well) who mentioned that she had received a casual offer of work at a food truck. She said that she was considering doing it, because it would mean some extra income and she is tired of doing what she is now.

I asked her if the food truck served meat products, and she said that yeah, it does. It struck me as odd. For the non-vegan people reading this, a statement like that from a vegan is kind of disconcerting.

Open Financial eXchange (OFX) is Broken (Online Banking Security is a Joke)

Thu, 05 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Am I the only person in the world who thinks that it’s utterly ludicrous that we have to give our passwords to sites like Mint.com so they can help us keep track of our spending habits? Surely I can’t be the only one. It’s like giving away the keys to the kingdom.

It kind of irks me a little that if I want to use a site like Mint.com to track my spending habits and help me keep my budget in line, I have to give my username and password over to them.

Credit

Mon, 12 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Not all credit cards suck.

“Don’t get a credit card, it will just ruin your life.”

I’ve heard that line, or something like it, since I was a teenager. I never was interested in credit cards, probably because of the scary stories I’d heard about them.

It’s probably that way for a lot of people. Either that, or they love the idea of spending money that they don’t even have (yet!) and just rack up so much debt they can literally feel it crushing down on them in later years. (And by literally, I mean figuratively).

Ambiance

Fri, 26 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

low-lighting creates a great, cozy coffee house ambiance

The concept of “ambiance” (or ambience) isn’t very well understood by most Americans today, it seems. Google tells us that ambiance is defined as: the character and atmosphere of a place.

I’ve always stated that there are two main things which make up a place’s ambiance: 1) Lighting, and 2) Music. Art/décor have an effect on the mood of a place as well, but not as much as lighting and music.

The Living Light Culinary Arts Institute

Sun, 19 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I never thought I’d actually fulfill the dream of going to culinary school, especially after adopting a vegan diet and lifestyle. But fast-forward to now and… here I am! I’m currently attending the Associate Chef and Instructor Training program at the Living Light Culinary Arts Institute in Fort Bragg, California.

It’s only been two weeks, but it’s been an amazing ride thus far. I’ve learned far more than I even thought possible, and still have two weeks left to go (one of which is dedicated to desserts!).

Bitcoin eliminates PCI compliance

Sun, 09 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I was just reading up on wrapping APIs and just came to another realization regarding Bitcoin. In a payment system using only Bitcoin, there is absolutely no need for PCI compliance. Zero. That’s right:

Bitcoin eliminates PCI compliance.

There’s no private data to store. No customer data exists that a criminal can then steal and rack up charges. Since Bitcoin payments are a push from the customer, instead of a pull from the merchant, there’s no need for any PCI compliance. Customer security is simply “baked in” to the protocol.

Here's why Bitcoin will change the world...

Thu, 27 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

As I’ve said before, a lot of people a lot smarter than me could explain Bitcoin a lot better than me… so I’ll leave it up to them.

Both of these videos feature Andreas Antonopoulos, a network and security professional and major Bitcoin evangelist.

Watch This First

The first clip is Andreas speaking at the Milwaukee Bitcoin meetup a couple of weeks ago. You can start watching at 47 minutes and 15 seconds (the link should take you there).

Bitcoin

Sat, 25 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve refrained from posting about Bitcoin until now, mostly because I haven’t had time, which is to say that it hasn’t been prioritized. I have also refrained from posting because I’ve been considering a site re-design, and didn’t want to take the time to mess with it. But I’ve got too many thoughts which I need to get out, plus the “Twenty Fourteen” WordPress theme is pretty clean and simple. I like it. Anyway, here goes…

My Wife Has a Website

Thu, 17 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

A few months ago my wife began her quest toward becoming a full-fledged web developer.

She’s now got a good basic understanding about computers in general, and today she set up her very own website (without any help from me!). The link to her site is here:

http://huckleberry.site44.com/

Needless to say, I’m very proud of her and wish her continued success on her long and rewarding journey.

Hardly Raw - Day 20

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’m tired of writing/editing in HTML, so I’ll probably move to a markdown-based blogging software in the near future. Here is some of the food that I remembered to log. It’s hardly raw anymore, but at least I’m still eating some salads every day.

Vegetarians in general get a reputation for eating only salads, and I’m not sure why. But raw, leafy greens are a great source of tons of nutrients, like iron. I didn’t eat many during my first year of veganism. I’m convinced of the benefits of leafy greens, so I doubt I’ll quit eating them anytime soon. I really should start eating more raw beets.

Mostly Raw - Day 19

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

nutrition

1 Brazil nut
Irish breakfast tea w/splash of vanilla soy milk
rolled oats, flame raisins, coconut palm sugar, slivered blanched almonds, raw cacao nibs
coffee with a splash of vanilla soy milk
1 large apple
mixed greens salad with vegan Parmesan cheeze and walnuts/pecans and some kind of vinaigrette
hot pot
Lady Grey tea with splash of vanilla soy milk and 4 ginger biscuits

physical activity

Mostly Raw - Day 18

Mon, 30 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

nutrition

1 Brazil nut
English breakfast tea w/splash of almond milk
rolled oats, flame raisins, coconut palm sugar, raw sprouted almonds, raw cacao nibs, raw hulled buckwheat
coffee with a splash of vanilla soy milk
1 large banana
red and green seedless grapes (it was the only kind available)
some apple slices
mixed-greens salad with pecans and walnuts, milled flax seed, vegan Parmesan cheeze and some vinaigrette
1 cup hot chocolate
too much nasty fried vegan food from a vegan restaurant
1 Blue Moon Pumpkin Harvest beer
Lady Grey tea w/splash of soy milk

physical activity

None.

Mostly Raw - Day 17

Sun, 29 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

nutrition

Irish breakfast tea w/splash of almond milk
kale, banana, blueberry & raspberry smoothie
1 Brazil nut
vegan breakfast burrito w/Field Roast vegan sausage, tofu and Daiya pepperjack cheeze (and other cooked vegetables)
coffee with a splash of almond milk
cashew carrot ginger soup
mixed greens salad with* 1 cup of Yerba Mate
- some Raw-Tella (this is a raw vegan version of Nutella that my wife made)
- 1 cup hot chocolate
- mixed-greens salad with pecans and walnuts, milled flax seed, vegan Parmesan cheeze and some vinaigrette
- pear
- mango
- raw tomatoes
- strawberry soy yogurtkale, banana, blueberry & raspberry smoothie

physical activity

Push-ups and stretches.

Mostly Raw - Day 16

Sat, 28 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

My wife said I should go anorexic today, because I have to write too much for this.

nutrition

English breakfast tea w/splash of hazelnut & almond milk
kale, banana, blueberry, raspberry smoothie
1 Brazil nut
vegan Rösti potatoes at Mint Tea restaurant
mint tea
coffee with mulling spices and a splash of soymilk
cashew carrot ginger soup
1 large banana
some Raw-Tella (this is a raw vegan version of Nutella that my wife made)
1 cup hot chocolate
1 Blue Moon pumpkin harvest beer
mixed-greens salad with pecans, milled flax seed, vegan Parmesan cheeze and some vinaigrette
Lady Grey tea w/splash of almond milk
kale, banana smoothie
one medjool date
mango coconut yogurt

physical activity

None.

Mostly Raw - Day 15

Fri, 27 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

nutrition

Irish breakfast tea w/splash of almond milk
rolled oats, flame raisins, coconut palm sugar, raw sprouted almonds, raw cacao nibs, raw hulled buckwheat
1 large banana
1 large apple
coffee with splash of soy milk
Thai green curry w/brown rice
vegan bird’s nest w/fake chicken and veggies at Vegetarian Restaurant in Portland
spring rolls
superfruit kombucha

physical activity

None again. :(

Mostly Raw - Day 14

Thu, 26 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

nutrition

Irish breakfast tea w/splash of hazelnut milk
1 Brazil nut
rolled oats, flame raisins, coconut palm sugar, raw cacao nibs, raw hulled buckwheat, milled flax seed
1 large banana
1 large apple
blackberry Nancy’s soy yogurt
Thai green curry with brown rice
coffee with splash of soy milk
some kale chips
some sprouted almonds
2 medjool dates
Lady Grey tea w/splash of hazelnut milk
mixed greens salad w/pecans and vegan Parmesan cheeze
small piece of stone-ground chocolate

physical activity

None.

Mostly Raw - Day 13

Wed, 25 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

nutrition

Irish breakfast tea w/splash of hazelnut milk
1 Brazil nut
rolled oats, raw sprouted almonds, flame raisins, coconut palm sugar, raw cacao nibs, raw hulled buckwheat, milled flax seed
1 large banana
tomato soup
carrot soup
mixed greens salad with walnuts and vegan Parmesan cheeze
coffee with soy milk
Lady Grey tea with splash of almond milk
Thai green curry w/brown rice

physical activity

None

Firefox, You've Done It Again

Tue, 24 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Problem

After upgrading to Firefox 24, some fonts weren’t displaying correctly in one of my own websites. I was referencing a Google fonts URL in my CSS, because they’re so pretty. And free. And apparently a security risk, according to the new Firefox default settings.

The Fix

Type about:config in the address bar.
Search for “security.mixed_content.block_active_content”, set to false.

For the love of G-d, Firefox devs, please stop trying to protect us from ourselves. It’s ok. We know what we’re doing.

Mostly Raw - Day 12

Tue, 24 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

nutrition

Irish breakfast tea w/splash of almond milk
1 Brazil nut
rolled oats, raw sprouted almonds, raw dried mulberries, coconut palm sugar, raw cacao nibs, raw hulled buckwheat, milled flax seed
decaffinated Earl Grey tea
2 large bananas
2 apples
mixed greens salad with walnuts and vegan Parmesan cheeze
green Thai curry
carrot soup

physical activity

Mostly Raw - Day 11

Mon, 23 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Happy Monday.

nutrition

1 Brazil nut
Irish breakfast tea w/splash of hazelnut milk
rolled oats, raw sprouted almonds, raw dried mulberries, coconut palm sugar, raw cacao nibs, raw hulled buckwheat
1 large banana
kidney bean and tortilla soup
Thai green curry w/brown rice
drinking chocolate from Taza
Lady Grey tea w/splash of almond milk
cup of mint tea
mixed greens salad with walnuts, vegan Parmesan cheeze and raw sauerkraut
pumpkin and veggie soup

physical activity

None. Welcome back to the work-week!

Mostly Raw - Day 10

Sun, 22 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Today is the last day of Portland VegFest 2013, and Brittany is pretty excited to go to that. So we’ll go, and we’re going to try and eat raw as much as possible at home before and after, because there will be a LOT of delicious cooked food at the Fest. Feast? Feast Fest.

nutrition

1 Brazil nut
kale-banana-blueberry-raspberry smoothie
Irish breakfast tea w/splash of hazelnut milk
2 apples, locally grown in Washington state
kidney bean and tortilla soup
small piece of chocolate bar
some dried raw mulberries
tasteless Pad Thai with 2 similarly tasteless potstickers at VegFest
VegFest samples
Lady Grey tea w/splash of almond milk and 4 ginger biscuits
cup of mint tea
piece of stone-ground chocolate
mixed greens salad with walnuts, vegan Parmesan cheeze and raw sauerkraut

physical activity

Push-ups to failure (1st set max today = 30), dips.

Mostly Raw - Day 9

Sat, 21 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’ll probably stop this experiment soon. The “30 days of (mostly) raw” eating thing is turning into a “one week of raw and it was driving me crazy so I have to eat some cooked food every day now” thing.

Brittany and I had a breakfast date this morning at Mint Tea in Vancouver, Washington (where I am typing this right now). The food is delicious and they have a lot of vegan options (but see update #2, below). They also have a cozy nook on the second floor, with a raised floor and pillows. You have to take off your shoes to sit there. It’s like a little slice of Morocco.

Mostly Raw - Day 8

Fri, 20 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

nutrition

1 Brazil nut
Irish breakfast tea w/splash of almond milk
banana, kale, blueberry, raspberry, collard green smoothie
coffee with 1/2 cup Vanilla soy milk
rolled oats, slivered almonds, flame raisins, milled flax seed, coconut palm sugar, raw hulled buckwheat
1 large banana
green Thai curry w/brown rice
mixed greens salad w/walnuts and vegan Parmesan cheeze
one pink pearl apple
Lady Grey tea w/4 ginger biscuits
hot pot
kale, banana, blueberry, strawberry smoothie w/blue-green algae
mint tea
rolled oats, flame raisins, milled flax seed, coconut palm sugar, raw hulled buckwheat

physical activity

none

Mostly Raw - Day 7

Thu, 19 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

nutrition

1 Brazil nut
Irish breakfast tea w/splash of hazelnut milk
coffee with 1/2 cup Vanilla soy milk
banana & kale smoothie
1 large banana
1/2 Asian pear
rolled oats, raw sprouted almonds, flame raisins, milled flax seed, coconut palm sugar, roasted cacao nibs, raw hulled buckwheat
mixed greens salad with pecans and avocado dressing, topped with vegan parmesan “cheeze” (made from almonds and nutritional yeast)
Lady Grey tea with splash of almond milk and 4 ginger biscuits
hot pot (mixed veggie soup w/rice noodles) *clearly not raw
Thai green curry (bok choy, red cabbage, green beans, pumpkin, coconut milk, vegan green curry paste) *clearly not raw
Harvest time herbal tea with splash of almond milk and 6 ginger biscuits

Mostly Raw - Day 6

Wed, 18 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’m not sure if I can keep this up the full 30 days. Writing about this every day is getting to be a chore.

We found out last night that the cacao nibs that we thought were raw, weren’t. Thanks, Chuck’s.

nutrition

1 Brazil nut
Lady Grey tea w/splash of hazelnut milk
coffee with 1/2 cup Vanilla soy milk
1 large banana
rolled oats, raw sprouted almonds, flame raisins, milled flax seed, coconut palm sugar, roasted cacao nibs, raw hulled buckwheat
baby spinach, walnut and raspberry salad w/nutritional yeast
mango soy yogurt
some leftover Penang curry (about 1/4 cup)
Vanilla coconut yogurt
1/2 large peach
classic Mediterranean salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, lemon juice, olive oil)
some sprouted quinoa
some sprouted spelt
Greek-style Vanilla almond yogurt

physical activity

none

Mostly Raw - Day 5

Tue, 17 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

nutrition

Irish breakfast tea w/splash of Vanilla soy milk
1 Brazil nut
kale, banana, blueberry, raspberry, mango smoothie
3 large bananas
rolled oats, raw sprouted almonds, flame raisins, milled flax seed, coconut palm sugar, ~~raw~~ roasted cacao nibs
hot pot
Lady Grey tea
splash of almond milk
digestive biscuits (Not an American “biscuit”, like the Brits eat with tea)
1 apple
Concord grapes with seeds (I don’t like to eat seedless grapes).
some cooked Buttercup squash
harvest blend herbal tea

physical activity

random pushups to failure throughout the day

Mostly Raw - Day 4

Mon, 16 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

My wife and I went to Portland today to get new tyres put on the 4Runner. Actually, we went to Clackamas. Anyway, we were looking for a specific restaurant with some raw menu choices on Hawthorne Boulevard in Portland on our way back home.

And we saw this vegan Thai place which looked good. And we were hungry. So we decided to eat there, and that wasn’t raw.

Oh yeah, and as I was parallel parking the wrong way (forwards, instead of backing into the space), I freakin’ hit this girl’s parked truck. The impact was pretty loud, but there were only some small scrapes and her truck was pretty crappy looking any way (her words). She said it only cost her $600 for the entire pickup, and told me not to worry about it. I love Portland in moments like this. I gave her my insurance and contact info just in case something came up, and we continued to the vegan Thai restaurant across the road.

Mostly Raw - Day 3

Sun, 15 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been forgetting to log my daily Brazil nut, so I went back and edited the posts from the first 2 days to reflect it. I eat one Brazil nut every day to ensure that I get my daily intake of selenium. More than one or two Brazil nuts per day can lead to selenium toxicity (selenosis).

nutrition

morning:

Irish breakfast tea w/hazelnut milk
blueberry, banana, mango, flaxseeds, kale and collard green smoothie
raspberries
1 Brazil nut
1/4 cup oats w/cacao nibs, shredded coconut, 1/4 cup raisins, 1/8 cup raw sprouted almonds, 1 TBSP flax seeds, water

afternoon/evening:

Mostly Raw - Day 2

Sat, 14 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Today my wife and I went to Portland to shop. We decided to visit a vegan café to see if they had any raw options, which they did. They had a raw sunflower butter sandwich with raw zucchini pesto, and a salad bar with mostly raw stuff. Energy levels were about normal.

nutrition

mint tea (contains no caffeine or actual tea)
raw sprouted almonds
coffee
about 1/2 cup Vanilla soy milk
1 Brazil nut
1 apple
rolled oats
flame raisins
raw cacao nibs
milled flax seed
water
shredded coconut
watermelon radish
shredded carrots
shredded cabbage
raw sunflower butter
raw zucchini pesto
raw chai cacao fudge
nutritional yeast
kelp
sauerkraut

physical activity

A light jog this morning, somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 mile.

Mostly Raw - Day 0

Fri, 13 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I decided today that I was tired of feeling unhealthy after almost every time I eat. I don’t eat bad, today it was only some cooked jasmine rice (with soy sauce) that made me feel sick.

My wife and I are both vegan, and are actually probably pretty healthy compared to most of America. But we don’t eat like we should, or the way we used to. Specifically, we don’t get enough leafy greens, and we would like to eat more raw fruits and vegetables. And fermented foods (cabbage, beets, vegan yogurts, and kombucha, for example).

Mostly Raw - Day 1

Fri, 13 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This is day 1, of my mostly raw 30-day diet. Most of these ingredients will be organic, unless there wasn’t an organic option at the store.

nutrition

This is pretty much the sum total of what I’ve consumed this morning:

mint tea (contains no caffeine or actual tea)
1 Brazil nut
raw sprouted almonds
coffee
about 1/2 cup Vanilla soy milk
1 medium banana
1 pear
rolled oats
flame raisins
raw cacao nibs
coconut palm sugar
milled flax seed
water
shredded coconut

For lunch, Brittany made a kale-cabbage-walnut salad with avocados, and a blueberry-raspberry-banana smoothie to wash it down. Energy level at lunch seems higher than normal. I realize it just could be in my head.

HTTP Response Header: Content-Disposition

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

For the longest time, I always wondered how WordPress.org always served the current version of wordpress from a file named “latest.tar.gz”, and whenever I downloaded it with a browser (such as Firefox), my browser would always save it as something like “wordpress-3.5.2.tar.gz” instead. This never happened when I would retrieve the file using “wget”. I never really bothered looking into it much.

Just tonight I stumbled across it while downloading a driver for a USB wireless adapter that I have.

Password Policy

Thu, 04 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Hackers/crackers use modern GPUs (and possibly ASICs) to brute-force passwords. The old-school password policies from the early 2000’s really shouldn’t apply now, because to a computer, it’s irrelevant which characters are which. Computers can run through the entire UTF-8 charset in fractions of a second, and they’ll eventually guess a short password whether or not it contains a mix of character types (upper, lower, numbers, special, etc).

I’m tired of seeing password policies like this (I saw this when trying to change one of my passwords today):

Remove Ubuntu/Debian version from sshd server string

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

For security reasons, I don’t like that “Debian/Ubuntu” shows up on my sshd server string.

You can see the sshd server identification string by telnetting to port 22.

$ telnet ngmarley.com 22 Trying 106.187.97.211... Connected to ngmarley.com. Escape character is '^]'. SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_6.0p1 Debian-3ubuntu1 ^] telnet> quit Connection closed.

It’s very simple to just remove the “Debian…” part off the end.

Just edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and append

DebianBanner no

to it.

Then re-start your sshd:

Almost Christmas!

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Update: After 3 months, I have finally received my refund from JetStar. I still can’t recommend that anyone ever give them any of his/her hard-earned money, though. #worstcompanyever

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here.

Our last post left off with us in Chiang Mai, Thailand, about to complete our one-month stay in our apartment. Since then, Brittany and went all the way through Malaysia to Singapore via train from Chiang Mai. It was a long, multi-stop journey. We first went from CM to Bangkok, which took about a day (24 hours. We took a sleeper). Trains in Thailand aren’t that great, and stop a lot. For apparently no reason. For hours at a time. After a night’s rest in Bangkok, we took another train to Penang, Malaysia, also on a sleeper.

Thailand - September 2012

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

My wife and I have been in Thailand for over a month now. We will be in our apartment until around October 9th.

Thailand is a beautiful country in SE Asia. The Thai culture is predominantly Buddhist and very conservative. The landscape is beautiful and the people always have a smile. But Thailand is not what it used to be. It’s not as inexpensive as in the past. Tourists are everywhere. This country loves tourism (but not necessarily tourists — just their money). Although Thailand is the “land of smiles”, I get the feeling that a lot of the Thai smiles given to the farang are not genuine. I’ve seen Thais turn from really “helpful” to quite nasty when they realize they won’t be getting any of your money.

Sailing!

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

My wife and I are now registered for the ASA 101 Basic Keelboat Sailing class through Learn to Sail Texas in Corpus Christi.

We’re currently the only 2 members enrolled for the July 28-29th course, but that’s full enough that the captain won’t cancel the class (unless there is a hurricane).

This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a little over 2 years now, so I’m pretty excited that I’m finally able to make this happen.

Disable "Speed Dial" Feature in Firefox 13

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

When you open a new tab in Firefox 13, you see a preview grid of most-visited web pages or something. Maybe. I’m not sure where that list comes from. Doesn’t matter, I don’t like it. There’s no way to disable it in the Firefox preferences, so you have to tweak the config settings to disable it.

I don’t know what the guys at Mozilla were thinking when they added this not-so-optional “feature”. Someone suggested they were trying to win… “The Most Retarded New Features Competition”. I would change that to “The Most Superfluous New Features Competition”.

OSX - How to change the root user's shell.

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Or the default shell of any user for that matter. I don’t know if this is recommended or not, but changing from /bin/sh to /bin/bash will enable tab-completion, and since I’m a lazy admin that’s what I’ll do. (Plus, less keystrokes = longer hardware life for my keyboard.)

This command will display the user’s default shell (replace root with desired username):

rivendell:~ root# dscl . -read /Users/root UserShell

Now change the shell (in this case to /bin/bash):

Analysis of a Chinese Phishing Scam - Global Payments, Inc.

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This post will be of particular interest to customers of Global Payments, Inc. I received an email which seemingly came from them, asking for account login details. Since I don’t have an account with them (and before this morning didn’t know who they were), I did some detective work. It turns out to be a phishing scam.

phish·ing/ˈfiSHiNG/
Noun:
The fraudulent practice of sending e-mails purporting to be from legitimate companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal or confidential information, such as such as credit card numbers or passwords by directing a user to a fake email message or website.

Rare-ish Foods

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

My wife and I like to eat a lot of non-standard items such as purple and yellow carrots and purple potatoes.

Here are some images of foods we’ve eaten in the last few months.

The Purple Carrot (Rare-ish foods part deux)

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

And here are some images of the purple carrot and yellow carrots we found at our local natural foods coöp.

I promise the soup tasted better than it looks. Even my in-laws liked it.

Black Carrots

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Since learning about the black carrot about a month or so ago, I have been fascinated with the idea of growing and eating them myself. The world carrot museum probably has the most information about them. They are grown in Turkey, the middle east and the far east.

Black carrots are not the same as purple carrots, although they are in the same carrot family (eastern carrots). They contain anthocyanins, which gives them their dark color.

Convert .m4a files to .mp3 format (with tags)

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

A Perl utility I wrote to convert .m4a files to .mp3 format. It will also pull the tags over from m4a format. If there are no m4a tags, the script will die. (But of course you can just comment that part out.)

Here is the direct link to the script: m4a2mp3.pl

Note: I’ve updated the code to reflect my more current programming style. If I had time to re-do this, I’d have used IPC::Open3 or something else for IPC, instead of the system call used.

Saga of the Date Palms… Parte 1

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

So my wife & I have been on a date kick lately. Not the kind of dates you go on, but the kind you eat.

Since we’ve been going really green the past 3 months and now have a strong interest in self-sustainability, we’ve been trying to sprout and grow just about every seed we can get our hands on. We have a particular interest in growing seeds that came from food that we’ve eaten. There’s just something about growing & eating your own food which came from food that you ate… something about taking it full-circle that really feels empowering & let’s us know we can grow our own food without depending on others.

Facebook account deletion link

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In case anyone is looking for it:

https://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account

This is the official Facebook delete account link. You can permanently delete your account by visiting this & entering your password & a (Re-)Capcha.

Be aware that it will be gone forever – this doesn’t just de-activate it. For now, there is still a 14-day grace period, so if you log back in within 14 days, the account deletion request will be cancelled.

Spanish learning resources

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote this a couple of years back. Some of the information (esp. chronological) no longer applies. -2012Jan02

El idioma español seems to be gaining quite a bit of popularity (at least within my social circle) nowadays. These are the resources I have used to learn Spanish:

Coffee Break Spanish - An intended-to-be-weekly free podcast from Scotland. Instructor Mark is an experienced Spanish teacher, and Kara is a student that learns along with the listeners.

spicnspan.pl – “clean up” text files

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

At times I get tired of editing code with tabs. And by “at times”, I mean every time. I hate tabs in code. I hate trailing spaces in code too (makes it more difficult to navigate using vi/vim). And more than anything, I hate Windows CR/LF (carraige return/line feed) line terminator characters.

So I wrote a script to take care of it. I call it “spicnspan”. To use: spicnspan

Simple enough. This script:

Japan – initial experiences

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I am in transit from London to Auckland, with an 8-hour layover in Tokyo, so I thought that I might as well explore the city a bit. (As of the last 10 years or so, as US citizens we no longer need a special visa to enter Japan.)

Japan is unlike any of my recent (within the last 5 - 6 years) travel experiences. For one, I cannot speak or read even a little of the language. This has led to some unexpected things. For one, I withdrew about 10 times what I wanted from the ATM (about $600 instead of $60). No worries, I can change it back at the end of the day.

Take Action. Now.

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The Karma Machine

Note: This workshop in Wellington has been canceled by the school due to the low number of participants enrolled.

I just enrolled in a one-day Krav Maga workshop which will take place a month from now when I’m in Wellington, New Zealand.

Krav Maga has been on my life list for several months now, but it’s only been in the “some day” category. And after reading a bit about true-life stories of guys getting mugged (and after traveling in foreign counties quite a bit lately), I’ve come to realize that I might also get mugged, jumped, whatever. And when that happens, I’m not going to be able to say “Oh, wait… can we postpone this, I haven’t had my self-defense training yet. So… let’s take a rain-check and then you can mug me once I’m more prepared”. This is something I’ve needed to do for a while, but kept making excuses and putting it off.

CPAN changing permissions on OSX

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

some Perl code

If you are looking for a Perl module to interface with Amazon’s S3 hosting service, do not use the Net::Amazon::S3 module. It has an unrealistically huge list of modules on which it’s dependent (one of which is more like a framework — a pain in itself) and you’ll likely never get it installed. The Amazon::S3 module by Timothy Appnel installs without a hitch, and it was based on an earlier version of the Net::Amazon::S3 module.

Language Skills

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Chicks dig dudes with mad skills

Chicks dig dudes with mad skills. Today I’ll cover one of the most important types of skills to have this day & age: language skills. Language skills are some of the most valuable skills in existence, and their value ranks just a little bit below ninja skills and right around technical skills.

The ability to speak another language or several is one of the most beneficial and rewarding talents available to us today. Especially today, in this increasingly connected world. It’s much easier to travel than ever before, and also much easier to learn a new language. Of course, the best way to learn a new language is to travel to a place which speaks that language, hands down. If someone really wants to learn a language, I believe he/she can do so, and learn that language fluently, in a matter of months. Not years, months.

How to break out of an exit popup in Firefox

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Ever gone to a site and tried to close the window/tab and instead of closing, you get a popup? “Wait! Don’t go yet! Come back and sign up to my email (legit spam) list!”.

It looks something like this:

And keep trying to get your ass outta there, and each time it gets more & more frustrating, because the site won’t let you close the damn window.

Life Update and Castles in Belgium

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Castle at Bouillon, Belgium

I just realized that my ‘about’ page is pretty freakin’ sissy, so I’ve reverted to the old one. The image of myself on that page is pretty sissy as well, but I’ll change it as soon as I get around to it. The sissy ‘about’ page can be found at https://ngmarley.com/blog/about-2. (Update, April 2015: Not anymore. Sorry.)

Also, I’m going to immigrate to Belgium and purchase a castle there. I’ve already got some semblance of a plan in place, but currently only in my head. Here in a few days when I’m finished traveling I’ll be able to focus more on the specifics and getting it laid out and such. But basically, it’s a €10M in 3 years type thing. Don’t worry, it’s do-able.

Arrival at Quebec City

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Le Château Frontenac

Quebec City (known locally as just Québec) greeted me with 20MPH+ winds whipping freezing rain into my face as I trundled out the door of the bus station, laden with only my (quite full) backpack. It was so freakin cold. And wet. But I still had to go about 15 minutes walk before arriving at my hostel. Fifteen minutes in freezing wet rain and wind that kept whipping across every exposed part of my body. But I endured. And I’m glad I did, because if I didn’t, then I would have died I guess, and that would suck. Anyway…

Change is Good

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Ok, I’m lazy as hell. That’s a good quality for a programmer, but not so good for other things. This was originally supposed to be published on 25 Oct 2010, exactly. So that’s when I’m going to set the publish date, even though it’s now 6 Nov 2010. Screw it.

Change is inevitable. Nothing ever stays the same. Change can either be for good or for bad, but it will always be.
– paraphrased from Coach Gothard (i think)

How to Find Cheap Airline Tickets

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I hear a lot of people complaining about high ticket prices these days, especially with regard to international flights. Cheap airfare isn’t as hard to find as many think it is, if you know where to look. I can usually find a price lower than most people find by following some basic guidelines.

Basic Stuff

Go to Mobissimo.com & enter your departure/destination airports (or city/country). This site is my 1st stop when checking ticket prices and I haven’t been able to find less expensive tickets anywhere else.

Lost in Translation

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I was reading an article in Spanish on an Argentine news website. The article is titled “The 10 Things a Mate Drinker Should Never Do”, and the original article can be found here (Spanish): http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1311281.

Point number 9 used the word “ajeno”, a word I wasn’t familiar with. I looked it up on google translate & it just said “alien”, but many times it’s more accurate to enter an entire phrase to translate so as to get the context. The translation of certain words will sometimes change based on the context.

Why you should NOT use short tags in PHP

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Where’s My Damn Emulator?

So I was trying to find a good SNES emulator for Mac. I read somewhere that Snes9x works for OSX, so I went to the site and then the downloads page to find one to… well, to download. The page started out “Here is a list of all the known available mirrors for Snes9x…”, but then it was an empty list.

I thought of two possibilities. Either the list contains exactly zero available mirrors, or something is wrong with the page. It struck me as rather odd that the site would put up an empty list of download mirrors for its own product, so I did some investigative research to check out possibility #2.

Greasemonkey script to remove ‘Who to follow’ box on twitter.

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Note: It’s now April 2015. This is really old & probably won’t work anymore. But I don’t like removing old content, so I’ll keep this post up anyway

Here’s a Greasemonkey script to remove the “Who to follow” (aka “recommended users”) box on twitter.com.

It’s annoying as hell and way too facebookish.`// ==UserScript==

// @name No Recommended Twitter Users // @namespace https://ngmarley.com/

// @description Remove ‘who-to-follow’ box on twitter.com.

// @include http://twitter.com/* // ==/UserScript== function disable() { location.href=“javascript:(function(){ $(’#recommended_users’).remove(); })()”;

Simple Blogging Tips

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Veerle’s Blog at Starbucks

I decided to do an «arbitrary number»-part series on basic steps people can take to improve their basic/new blogs.

Use WordPress. It really is the shit.

If using blogger, migrate to wordpress.com. I really recommend a self-hosted blog using the software from wordpress.org, but that’s not for everyone.

If you’re using WordPress, you’ll get an About page, a “Hello World” post and a fake initial comment.

Things every internet café should do to improve service

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Internet and Tacos

This was originally posted on my old blog, ngmarleyDOTnet, on Jul 21, 2009 @ 17:28 CDT. That blog is now defunct and the content is slowly being absorbed into this one. This is one of a few posts I wrote when traveling Latin America during the summer of 2k9. I distinctly remember writing this one in an internet café in Buenos Aires.

(hint for proprietors: Better service means more customers. Which means more cash flow. For you.)

Como me le va?

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Medellin Taxi

This was originally posted on my old blog, ngmarleyDOTnet, on Jul 12, 2009 @ 15:00 CST. That blog is now defunct and the content is slowly being absorbed into this one. This is one of a few posts I wrote when traveling Latin America during the summer of 2k9.

As I entered a taxi a couple of days ago, the driver said to me “¿Cómo me le va?”, which I took to mean “Como le va?” (how are you), but he added an extra “me” in there, which perplexed me. In all my time studying/speaking Spanish, I’ve never heard it worded this way before (with the extra 1st person personal pronoun thrown in). I asked the taxista to repeat the question, and he clarified for me with a slowly-spoken “¿Cómo estás?”.

Medellin, Colombia

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

A Typical Paisa

This was originally posted on my old blog, ngmarleyDOTnet, on Jul 10, 2009 @ 21:48 CST. That blog is now defunct and the content is slowly being absorbed into this one. This is one of a few posts I wrote when traveling Latin America during the summer of 2k9.

I’ve been in Colombia for a week now. I was in Cartagena for 4 days, and I’ve been in Medellín for 3. Cartagena is nice to visit, but has too much of a tourist vibe for me. But Medellín… this has got to be one of the greatest cities to which I’ve ever been in my entire life. For one thing, there aren’t many foreigners here because this isn’t a touristy place. Also, compared to all the other cities I’ve been in Latin America, it seems a lot more tranquil and safe. And it’s surrounded my mountains on every side. But the biggest reason is… the women. They are all gorgeous here. Derek’s post on Colombian women sums it up perfectly. This is one of the few cities in which I would consider spending the rest of my life. Maybe. I would at least consider finding my wife here.

Panama

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Stilt House in Bocas del Toro, Isla Colon, Panama

This was originally posted on my old blog, ngmarleyDOTnet, on Jun 30, 2009 @ 09:45 CST. That blog is now defunct and the content is slowly being absorbed into this one. This is one of a few posts I wrote when traveling Latin America during the summer of 2k9.

Rudi Gunn: What’s a Panama? Al Giordino: It’s a Navy thing. Rudi Gunn: I didn’t know you were in Panama. Al Giordino: We weren’t in Panama, we were in Nicaragua. Rudi Gunn: So why do you call it a Panama? Al Giordino: Because we thought we were in Panama!

Costa Rica

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Sunset in Guanacaste

This was originally posted on my old blog, ngmarleyDOTnet, on Jun 22, 2009 @ 09:37 CST. That blog is now defunct and the content is slowly being absorbed into this one. This is one of a few posts I wrote when traveling Latin America during the summer of 2k9.

So, I’ve been in Costa Rica for almost a month now and not posted anything here yet. I hope to break that trend soon.

Mac OS X – madplay mp3 player

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

This was originally posted on my old blog, ngmarleyDOTnet, on May 8, 2009 @ 11:20 CST. That blog is now defunct and the content is slowly being absorbed into this one. I pretty much do use iTunes exclusively on my Macbook now, but wanted to preserve this for posterity.

I’m not a huge fan of iTunes. On my Linux systems, I use a command-line MP3 player. I simply type the names of the files I want to play as arguments.

Traveling vs. Living

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Hobbiton

I got back from a trip to south Texas at 4:20 am this morning. A trip in which I realized that I really don’t like traveling – at least not the “traveling” part. It was a lot of driving, and a lot of my car falling apart {it now has 227,000 miles on it and makes some awful scraping noises}.

I love seeing new cultures & spending time getting to know an area, a culture and a people, but hate the actual transport part of it. I arrive to my destination tired and dirty. I don’t like being tired. Or dirty. I also usually arrive hungry, which I also don’t like being.

check gmail from command-line on Mac OS X

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

This was originally posted on my old blog, ngmarleyDOTnet, on Apr 19, 2009 @ 18:47 CST. That blog is now defunct and the content is slowly being absorbed into this one. I’ve rewritten this one just a bit to make it better.

I bought a new Macbook ~~last week~~ (several weeks ago, when this post was originally written) for my anticipated travels. I wanted something both lightweight and stable. For several reasons, I like to check my gmail using the mutt email client (command-line based).

a new word has come…

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Stop the presses, peoples! I’m’a call the editors of some dictionaries also, because… I made up a new word today.

The new word is:

grruélkananth — the sticky unknown substance on the counter that you just want to clean off because it looks gross

The pronunciation of this will probably be difficult for most Americans, so I’m’a ‘splain: You trill the ‘rr’ and make sure and place emphasis on the ‘é’.

added a life list

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

A Moleskine Notebook

I was inspired by yearlyglot’s bucket list, so I decided to create one of my own. It’s not the first time I’ve had one, nor is it the first time I’ve published a life list on my blog. However, it is considerably shorter than my previous life list.

Check it out if you care to do so (also you can click the link in the nav bar at the top of this site):

fireflies

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I just saw a firefly outside.

Here is some useful interesting info on fireflies.

Apparently the taillight contains two rare chemicals, luciferin and luciferase.

update: 2011Mar28: Oh noes, a broken link!! Here’s a shittier article about fireflies from the same domain as the initial good link. It has no picture, no pretty url and nothing about luciferin or luciferase. If this one ever breaks then I’ll just link to the Wikipedia article.

make a universal binary on OSX 10.6 – Snow Leopard

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

This post describes how to create a “fat binary” on Mac OS X. If you’re using Snow Leopard, I don’t know why you’d want to make one of these, except maybe to compile for distribution to an older OS version (Leopard) or something. In fact, I can’t even remember why I wrote this, but I wrote it some time last fall or winter and thought I’d go ahead and post it now since I’d already spent some time working on it.

basic Perl log function

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I believe any good Perl utility should have a log to which pertinent information should be written. I’m not even going to go over the merits of having a log file, but all good scripts should have one.

Setup - Define the Function and Log Filename

Here’s the log function which I use in my Perl scripts. This could easily be exported to a log module. Yes, I realize there are probably a lot of good logging modules out there already, I’m just offering this for the lazy sods who don’t currently log anything in their Perl scripts, but realize that it’s a good idea to start.

under construction

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I’m trying to make the site look better. Sorry it looks like crap right now. I’m working diligently on it, but I’m gonna go to bed now & work on it some more tomorrow.

Thanks for your understanding & patience.

photo credit

How to be Physically Healthy

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t usually like list posts. I know, everyone adds that nowadays just before writing one. I just wrote it here because I’m really trying to like to be like everyone else. Anyway, here is the list:

Stop eating animals. No meat, no dairy, no honey.

Don’t eat out. This is probably quite difficult for most Americans, because we’ve styled our lives around being dependent on restaurants. Also, this means you’ll have to learn to cook.
Eat healthy foods. Purchase & cook quinoa. Look up quinoa. (No, seriously, click the wikipedia link & check it out.) Eat raw brazil nuts (one daily is fine) and learn to cook steel cut oats. Look up steel cut oats so you know what they are. Also, buy & eat Ezekiel 4:9 cereal. It’s like Grape Nuts but better. (I know it’s like $6 a box, but your health is worth it. And you’re saving a ton of money by not eating out anyway.) These things can be purchased from Whole Foods or any good health food store.
Daily physical activity. Also, you need to be doing stuff that makes you sweat at least 3-4 days a week, for at least 30 minutes each session.
Get enough sleep.

American Rendezvous 2k10

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I just returned home yesterday afternoon from 3 days of intense Parkour training event in Columbus, Ohio. The event was American Rendezvous 2010, presented by the Parkour Horizons group.

The instructors came from both Parkour Generations and three of the Yamakasi, also current members of Majestic Force.

Just a side note, as a result, my DCI tracker will be missing entries for a few days, due to the fact that it was a bit difficult to get them in during the event.

a typical day in the life…

Tue, 25 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

07:15 ish - wake up, check email/twitter/facebook, shower, check email/twitter/facebook

08:15 ish - eat one of the following:

Clif Builder’s Bar
Ezekiel 4:9 cereal or Nature’s Path granola with 1/2 cup soy or almond milk
oats, almonds, flax seeds & blueberries

08:25ish - go to work

09:30ish - go to Kennedy Coffee for a 16oz black coffee in a 20oz cup, and a splash of soy milk. it’s usually about 1/2 cup soy milk.

for better or for awesome…

Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

So, I initially started this as a personal blog about the things that interested me most:

technology,
b) languages,
and c) international travel.

I still love these things, but seem to have trouble coming up with good material (actually, I’ve got a lot of old stuff, but not much new). Hence the grand total of 3 blog posts in almost 2 months.

Health and fitness have surprisingly become a big part of my life now, as well vegetarian/vegan eating habits (I’ve been straight up vegan for about 2 months now), purchasing organic foods, a newly reinforced hatred for Wal-Mart and being more “green” overall. I’m basically turning into a hippie. Minus the tie-dye and herbal supplementation.

dreaming of Andalusia… Oklahoma

Wed, 12 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

On or about Nov 09, 2010 at 02:30 am I awoke from one of my most crazy-go-nuts dreams ever. The part I remembered wasn’t very long, but it was pretty intense. For whatever reason it must have spooked me enough to send me quite forcefully into the realm of consciousness, because I was coherently able to type all this into a text file on my Macbook at 2:30 am.

I dreamt that I was riding through Jerusalem on a white horse looking at all the Spanish architecture. Only for some reason, it looked exactly like the city park in Laverne, Oklahoma, the town in which I grew up (and haven’t visited for 12 years… no clue).

Linux shared library error

Mon, 03 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Note: this was originally written on Apr 23, 2010, so that’s why the dates are from about a week and a half ago. Because I’m a lazy sod, I didn’t get around to publishing this until now.

After installing ntp on my Arch Linux server via pacman, I received this error message while trying to update my system time with ntpdate:

# ntpdate ntpdate: error while loading shared libraries: libcrypto.so.1.0.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

my personal daily caloric intake tracker

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Update {2010 Ago 10}: I am no longer updating the DCI Tracker. At the time, it was a good thing for me to do, it fit in with my life/lifestyle and it was also a great start with CakePHP. I still eat healthy, but don’t have time to update it. I also don’t feel the need to update it anymore. My life is taking on a new direction with me getting involved in Internet Marketing and also traveling to New Zealand. Those pursuits are now taking up most of my time. I will keep the tracker up for posterity’s sake.

Kaixo, mundua!

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome one and all to ngmarley.com. This is the resurrected version of ngmarley.net. I’ll probably write a lot of {seemingly} random posts on various eclectic subject matter, but that’s how I roll.

My main interests are modern spoken languages, international travel, and technology (mostly sysadmin/programming type stuff), so most of my future posts will likely fall into those categories.