In April 2024 (roughly 7 months ago), I installed a set of four Hiseeu Solar Powered Wireless Security Cameras. They're mostly mounted in semi-protected areas, under eaves, or protected from the wind by the wall they're mounted on. I placed the solar panels to catch most of the available sunlight - none of the panels get full Michigan sun.

Surprisingly, maybe, the cameras have pulled just enough solar power each day to stay topped off, with each camera's indicator showing a full battery even in the morning.

Quick little project to scrape a long word list from a paginated web site.

I can't even believe this worked, so I have to share it.

I have a pair of Jabra Elite Actrive 65t Earbuds, which I bought (renewed) almost three years ago. They are great headphones; good quality audio (in both directions, for calls), decent battery life, and small enough to keep in a pocket.

This is such a good tip that I better save it right here for future use. To hide all the Linux-like dot folders (folders with names starting with a period, or full stop), open Command Prompt and run:

ATTRIB +H /s /d C:\.*

This will fix all the current folders, but any new ones generated later will not be hidden. You'll have to re-run this script (maybe automated as a Windows Scheduled Task?).

Such a good tip, that I better save it right here for future use. To hide all the Linux-like dot folders (folders with names starting with a period, or full stop), open Command Prompt and run:

ATTRIB +H /s /d C:\.*

This will fix all the current folders, but any new ones generated later will not be hidden. You'll have to re-run this script (maybe automated as a Windows Scheduled Task?).

A script that ran happily for about a year suddenly stopped working last week. From the stack trace, it was apparent that the script was stumbling on Python's smtplib>sendmail command. Here's the error:

OSError: [WinError 10013] An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its access permissions

The offending code:

This script tracks of Bitcoin's current USD price and displays it along with the price's "trend" since the script started running. The main part of the idea was borrowed heavily from this Stack Exchange article. It takes advantage of the coindesk API for getting current price information.

Sure, it's not a fancy line graph, but it's got ASCII-art up/down arrows!

Here's an example screenshot:

if you frequently have to toggle between two network adapters in Windows, it can become a hassle to keep opening the Control Panel widget, right-click, disable/enable adapter, etc. For example, you may want to turn off your wired connection and connect to wifi, then switch back to wired, etc.

I find that I frequently (many times daily) have to send files as email attachments. Depending on the task, the files can be located in a half-dozen or so places on the Windows file system. I found myself browsing (from Outlook's "Attach File" function) to my Documents, Downloads, Desktop, or one of several network drives for the file I just saved there a few seconds ago.