wow, OS X
OS X really makes setting up a LAMP service dead easy. I need to do some offline dev (and lets face it, I’m very sick of uploading over slow connections).
Apache and PHP are installed out of the box. Yep – installed *by default* on everyone’s OS X install, not just developers. This is used for the web-sharing feature.
But you have to change one line in Apache to enable the PHP module. This doc was useful (I used vi for everything though, of course). Or the apple docs which make it look harder than it actually is.
Installing MySQL is as simple as downloading the DMG from MySQL.com and running the installer.
And that is is. No ./configure, no make, no make install. Just tweak some settings, and run an installer.
Love it!
Too big to ban?
Living behind the Great Firewall, and with Australia planning a Ruddywall of it’s own, I have begun to wonder, are there websites that are simply too big to ban?
Take Facebook for example. First China bans YouTube – annoying, but you can get video content from many places. Twitter is still young, with fewer users here – but Facebook is a giant.
The thing is, you’ve always been able to punch through the Great Firewall using the software originally designed to secure corporate private networks (VPNs). But the average apolitical Joe previously had no need for one (myself included). But like how the anti-Napster ruling helped educate people that you can download music for free, the Facebook ban may educate people that you can visit banned sites. By banning something people have been using on a daily basis (dare I say, addicted too), you educate these users that the firewall exists, and encourage these users to seek ways to get around the ban, which then makes them educated on how to do this. Once you setup your VPN for example, now nothing is banned. All for the sake of Facebook…
So I think it is probably a mistake to ban high-profile sites with millions of users.
Pin Yin input on Mac
This guy has a great writeup on how to get PinYin accents on Mac
Once you have the U.S. Extended keyboard enabled you can use the following key strokes to do the accent marks:
* Alt+a for the first tone – ā
* Alt+e for the second tone – á
* Alt+v for the third tone – ǎ
* Alt+` for the forth tone – à
* To type ü, type Alt+u then u
* To type ü with tone marks, use the same Alt+[aev`] from above for the tone, then type v. For example, to type ǚ, type Alt+v then v – ǜ is Alt+` then v
I wish the rest of the world has such good and cheap food as China
Here’s what US$3.30 buys you in China:
And it’s so delicious. Without the drink it’s only US$2.20.
In most of the world I struggle to find nice food to eat (even disregarding cost), here it’s impossible not to find something delicious, and probably cheap.
How to get a free US Itunes account
Just try to buy any free app! This allows you to sign up with a “None” payment option.
Rice Triangles!
Back in China – and the Family Mart’s now have the Japanese style Rice Triangles!
These are the best snack. Costing next to nothing, delicious, fresh and (I think) healty. Great if you’re waiting for transport, great if you’re out drinking, great if you need an afternoon snack.
I am very happy :D
Rice Triangles
