Well, I have now been using Quicken for thirty years, spanning three operating systems. I can’t think of any other software I’ve used this long. I started with Quicken for DOS, moved to Quicken for Windows, and eventually landed on Quicken for Mac. Quicken comes from an era when software was useful, comprehensive, and required reading the manual. But, the people of today don’t read instructions. Modern software is overly simple, laser-focused on a few things, and all two features are discoverable. The Quicken program, as powerful as it is would not be written today. Quicken for DOS My persona ..read more

Over the last few years, anti-Christian activists have influenced asset managers and are pushing ungodly agendas. If you invest in Mutual Funds or ETFs, your Fund Managers may be voting on your behalf, against your values. I wonder if Christian shareholders are aware their votes are pushing Marxist, social gospel resolutions. If we voted in a bloc for board members based on Biblical values, perhaps the blatant ungodliness we’ve seen at Bud Lite, Target, Ford, Disney, etc., would not even exist at all. Proverbs 27:23 LSB – Know well the condition of your flocks, and pay atte ..read more

I’m looking for a scan of a blue note, and I simply can’t find it in Evernote. Evernote versions 4 and 5 were the prime of Evernote. Kris and I used it extensively as our document management system, document knowledge management, and notetaking application. It was a great way to organize things. Every note, every important piece of paper, we scanned into Evernote. I’ve been a huge fan of Evernote, but over the last 6 years the product has become unusable. I suffered through it, but I really want to find my blue note. So, I moved everything to Apple Notes. Apple Notes couldn’t handle my 22182 n ..read more

We ran after her down the hall and she broke into a run, giggling trying to get away from us. Bethany and her Mardi Gras beads She cried, she laughed, and she loved to be chased. My siblings and I played with her not too differently than we’d play with each other. She never grew up the way most of us do. Mental issues like she had are less noticeable when you’re young and only manifest themselves gradually. From my perspective as a kid, there was no sudden realization that she was different; by the time I realized it, it was already normal. My sister, Bethany, passed away at 32. She was numbe ..read more

Here’s how I configured my WordPress server to handle huge traffic spikes. It’s easier than you think. For those who have seen smoke coming from your server in the garage, you know. But for those who haven’t, here’s a bit of history as I remember it: In the 1990s Slashdot used to link to interesting websites and blogs. If you wrote about using Linux as a NAT router for your entire University, assembled a huge aircraft carrier out of Legos, built a nuclear reactor in your basement, or made a roller coaster in your backyard; you’d end up on Slashdot. Slashdotted. The problem is Slashdot became ..read more

2023-06-01 06:18:00 Genesis 1:27 ESV – So God created man in his own image,     in the image of God he created him;     male and female he created them. The post 2023-06-01 06:18:00 appeared first on b3n.org ..read more

2U Supermicro servers are my go-to. These are much quieter than 1U servers, but the fans spin at 8800RPM. The IPMI fan modes available are Full (9000RPM), Heavy IO (6000RPM), and Optimal (supposed to auto-adjust). Unfortunately, setting the Fan Mode to Optimal seems to have a floor speed of 4500RPM, which is too loud. Even though my servers are in the garage, I sometimes work on projects there and can’t have it that noisy! In the past, I’ve replaced Supermicro fans with low RPM Antec or Noctua fans, but since I moved my homelab to the garage I don’t need it to be that quiet. Here’s my script ..read more

Good morning. Today is March 31st. ? It’s World Backup Day. This is a good day to review your backup strategy. I thought I’d share a cloud backup experiment I’ve been running for 9-months. I hope you find it helpful. I needed a cloud service for my offsite backups… the two prominent services are BackBlaze B2 and Amazon S3. I wasn’t sure which would be cheaper. But there’s one way to find out. For the last 9 months I’ve been backing up my TrueNAS data to both BackBlaze B2 and AWS S3. About the NAS Data My TrueNAS Data that I’m backing up to the cloud consists of the following: 1.39 TB Archive ..read more

Our Dell Laptops were EOL (End of Life) for BIOS security updates. This time, I refreshed with MacBooks. I used to use Macs so they’re not new to me. But a decade ago, I ran into issues with a lemon Macbook and Apple being unable to provide support in North Idaho. It takes all day to drive down to the nearest Apple store and back. After they had me drive down to Spokane twice, eating up two Saturdays, I decided to use Dell. If you get next-day business support at least Dell will send a tech to your house which is a lot better than driving to Spokane–although Dell seems to be having trouble sta ..read more

Whoever is slothful will not roast his game,     but the diligent man will get precious wealth. — Proverbs 12:27 LSB Before hitting the tools, I categorize my work into the following areas: Tasks – Small units of work. Usually < 1 day. Responsibility Areas – Ongoing operations for which I’m responsible. Projects – Groupings of tasks to accomplish a large goal. Goals/Vision – Long-term > 1 year objectives with a defined outcome. Themes – Overarching areas of attention for the year. Here are the tools I use to manage projects & tasks. Tasks (Microsoft To Do) For ..read more