Disqus - Latest Comments for aviweiss

Re: macOS 12.0 Monterey Apache Setup: Multiple PHP Versions

aviweiss — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 14:39:38 -0000

Thanks for a great write up; Are there any updates to know of for MacOS Ventura? Particualrly, if I install Ventura over Monterey, will it disturb my current dev setup?

Thanks

-Avi

Re: macOS 12.0 Monterey Apache Setup: MySQL, Xdebug & More...

aviweiss — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 11:39:35 -0000

Hi Andy;

This GRAV page is extremely helpful. Just used it to install on Monterey, and had some bumps sso thought I'd drop a note:

1. unfortunately, eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)" only works for the shell its executed in, and you advise to close all terminal windows, which then wipes out the setting, losing the path to the executables. Ideally there would be something that just edits the appropriate .XXrc file for the shell being used in the home directory and does a "source .XXrc"

2. There seems to be a disagreement between your line above regarding xdebug showing when running "php -v" and the documentation on Xdebug found here: https://xdebug.org/docs/ins.... Specifically that document says Xdebug should be seen and it is, where above you say xdebug shouldn't be visible. Since Xdebug works properly when displaying in php -v, may want to update that line.

Thanks again for producing and maintaining such an amazing step by step guide...its been extremely valuable.

Re: The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy

aviweiss — Sun, 23 May 2021 09:37:01 -0000

Amro;

Don't have an article on my approach, but can add some additional flavor here and coupled with the above should provide enough detail to allow you to move forward with a similar approach.

I have an old Macbook that works as the aforementioned dual-disk TimeMachine NAS; any work completed on other iCloud enabled devices eventually gets replicated to this Mac and put into TimeMachine (in addition to having each device backed up to a local USB TimeMachine drive). On the same Mac, I have Arq 7 running that backs up to Wasabi storage service. I also have Backblaze running that backs up to Backblaze.

iCloud ensures that EVERY computer in my account has access to the current "working set" of files, while the TimeMachine backup provides a "local" easy-to-use interface to recover any deleted / corrupted files, and Wasabi and Backblaze provide true dual "off-site" archival in case disaster should befall all the local network of devices.

Hope that helps.

Re: macOS 10.12 Sierra Apache Setup: Multiple PHP Versions

aviweiss — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 17:26:20 -0000

Just got a new Mac, and since Mojave is coming out in just a couple of weeks, I'm wondering if there is any known changes to any of this related to Mojave (will it ship with php 7.2, etc). If there is significant changes, I'd rather wait until i upgrade rather than repeating everything again

Re: Automating Amazon EBS Snapshot Management with AWS Step Functions and Amazon CloudWatch Events

aviweiss — Wed, 16 May 2018 00:47:43 -0000

Would be nice if there were simply a qualifier to the cloudwatch "createsnapshot" event to "delete after 7 days", so that old snapshots essentially delete themselves without requiring coding or downloading CLI tools. In general, if there is a "create" function for a resource, there should be an easily-used "delete" balancing function.

Re: Apple will offer AirPod replacements for $69 if you lose one, & battery replacements for a fee

aviweiss — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 13:02:54 -0000

yes, been asking the same of my friends still left in cupertino the same, since they will be an easy target to thieves walking down the street ready to grab airpods out of ears.

Re: The Ultimate Guide to Solving iPhone Battery Drain

aviweiss — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 13:09:55 -0000

As an FYI, the "battery drain after iOS upgrade" is not imagined or unnoteworthy. After each upgrade, iOS runs through considerable housekeeping activities (indexing, memory mapping, etc) that users are left blissfully unaware of in terms of their actual occurrence or time spent occurring, and all of these actions require processor and memory access usage... in other words, battery drainers.

As a "power user", I would love to see a "power user" mode ("advanced" or some other name, accessed by having to jump through hopes to keep less intrepid users out) that would provide such things as "activity monitor" that would display all processes, and ability to granularly control those processes, among other tools to allow users to enhance their devices performance based on need and usage modes.

Re: The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy

aviweiss — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 10:50:52 -0000

Completely agree and have made it more like 2+2; I don't consider the original a "backup", but use two separate external drives for Time Machine. I also have two separate online backups (Backblaze and AWS S3) as "anything can happen to any service at any time" (from network outage to bankruptcy).

Another important aspect of backup is to monitor all medium integrity on a regular basis (SMART and disk until for local and file pulls from online) including pulling random files out of ransoms backup sets.

Even then, things can go wrong so no such thing as "too much backup"...

Re: OpenVPN on Mac: Tunnel Blick

aviweiss — Sun, 14 Feb 2016 01:48:12 -0000

tunnelblick app has been updated and now has the "Reset" found on the main "preferences" panel, not the "Advanced" panel

Re: The ‘aircraft’ has decided we’re NOT flying today!

aviweiss — Fri, 25 Dec 2015 16:30:37 -0000

Bruce;

I could discuss the pros and cons of "automated flight control" relative to design principals, failure modes, and failure probabilities at considerable length, but suffice to say that while automatic flight control has a long way to go to be fully-vetted as "full human replacements", humans have far greater failure modes, failure probabilities, and single points of failure than modern-day automation software and sensing and computational systems that support it.

As for adding "decision-aiding" features to ELBs, I've been asking "ForeFlight" for such features for quite a while now. Specifically, I've been asking for a "takeoff advisor" that would take current conditions (density altitude, winds, humidity), and apply them to performance charts for the specific aircraft, and provide both a graphical indication of "balanced field length" and a "pre takeoff brief" for both piston and turbine aircraft.

Many many GA pilots come to grief at this point because they fail to precisely plan the takeoff process based on current load and conditions, all of which should be readily available within any respectable EFB. What would be of immediate and great help would be to provide a "takeoff briefing" display, much like most disciplined professional crews conduct prior to rolling. While such briefings vary from crew to crew, the essence of such a brief reviews predicted takeoff performance and establishes callouts based on runway length and checkpoints, current TO weight, and of course computed density altitude. Such a brief would go something like this: "Runway is 5250 ft. We are at 3500 lbs, temp is 85 at this location. Total go-stop length is 4100 ft. We will need 2700 ft to rotate at 75 kts., and 3100ft to clear 50 ft. We should be 70kts by taxiway Juliet, and if not will abort takeoff roll". It would be nice to have a single pictorial representation of this come up "automatically" when the "runway proximity warning" alert is about to go off. Such a representation might be to have the numbers above legibly displayed in green/red color to represent ability to safely takeoff AND climb based on surrounding terrain, and the runway itself divided into green and red to indicate ability to stop based on estimated speed, and region where stopping on runway would no longer be possible if abort was started then. The computed "80% TO speed" and "rotation point" would also be clearly depicted as well. Assuming sufficient GPS resolution, when aircraft was rolling, a "full-scale" runway image with "real-time" aircraft position overlay could be shown, so PNF / PF could monitor roll based on computed values.

If you would like to see such features added to your favorite EFB, I suggest you forward an email to their support staff with this link, and let them know the time has come for such tools at the GA level.

Re: Putting the auto in autorotate

aviweiss — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 09:50:39 -0000

Looks very interesting.

I frequently defend my position on the ever-increasing amount of automation in vehicle control (terrestrial and aerial) that humans have several characteristics that over the long run, make them less optimal for vehicle manipulation than computers, and poor reaction time and/or incorrect corrective action to emergency conditions is one of them.

This looks like a great feature, and relatively easy to add. Hopefully the bureaucracy of aviation won't get in the way too much. Ideally, manufacturers should license this and add it into production aircraft at factory.

Re: Man vs. Machine: The Challenge of Staying Sharp in the 21st Century

aviweiss — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 14:02:36 -0000

As can be inferred from the last sentence of my comment, I concur. Every operation and moment of flight is different and thus not really practical to think in terms of a "standard of proficiency".

But just like there is "thrust required" and "thrust available", so too there is "proficiency required" and "proficiency available". Like thrust, increased proficiency comes at a cost, and the effort becomes one of trying to "a priori" determine how much proficiency one might "statistically require" for any given operation. As in many decisions in aviation, it often distills to rationalizing the POTENTIAL value of increased proficiency against the DEFINITE costs of gaining that proficiency. But when you need it, it's more than just a "nice to have"; It's doubtful ANYONE would begrudge the costs incurred by Sully's employers over the years in maintaining HIS proficiency levels (stick and rudder AND ADM), given the advanced level required to pull off what few aviators could have accomplished.

Given the very fluid and challenging nature of aviation, I would say it is a prudent aviator that obtains as much proficiency as they can "afford", because one never knows when all that "proficiency available" will be required.

Re: Man vs. Machine: The Challenge of Staying Sharp in the 21st Century

aviweiss — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 11:15:33 -0000

“Proficiency v Efficiency” is a distilled term I like to use when discussing this debate.

Most human skills require time to acquire, and then continuous work to remain proficient in them, as any human skill, be it solely mental or hand-eye coordinated, is perishable and will diminish if unused. Maintaining skill proficiency takes time and effort, and that time and effort gets prioritized against other demands for time, and against probabilities of requiring any particular skill. In the case of flying, while manual flight planning with a whiz wheel and paper charts, and using pilotage to fly that course would keep a pilots mental math and “positional awareness” skill fresh, especially if the navigation system fails, it takes greater amounts of time to do manual planning than just entering the destination and having it done for you, weighed against the value of skill sharpening and protecting against the probability of navigation system failure. While one could argue the relative merits of the cost in additional time spent relative to the value gained with the additional awareness, the issue is whether that value will be utilized against the time spent.

The same goes for emergency procedure training, hand flying, fuel management and the myriad of other tasks that pilots regularly hand off to automation in the interest of saving time and effort and to gain “bandwidth”. The question essentially distill to one of where to draw the line in terms of how much time and effort for how much proficiency. While 100% proficiency is laudable, it is likely not practical in terms of time and money constraints, especially in light of the probabilities of requiring 100% proficiency. I don’t have a all-encompassing answer for the question myself, though I will stipulate that humans are on average, more suited for dynamic situation decision making and flight management work than they are at aircraft manipulation. Freeing them up to focus on the tasks they are optimal at by off-loading the tasks they are not seems to be a far-better use of time and resources.

Except when it is not… Admittedly, we still have a very long way to go in terms of having sufficiently evolved automation capabilities, reliability, and integration with humans to ensure the desired level of performance and safety we’d like to see AND simultaneously being “ok" with the accompanying drop in human skill proficiency in the areas that automation takes over. Everyone is happy when the current automatic systems safely and comfortably move the aircraft from A to B with minimal human input to the task … EXCEPT when there is a problem, at which time, everyone then wants a 100% proficient human to step in and deal with the issue. While understandable, this is an unreasonable expectation given the time, money, and effort constraints most of aviation operates under.

As long as aviation continues to have a conation of human and automated control, the debate of where to draw the line for "proficiency vs efficiency” will continue, and it will be up to the judgement of each individual pilot and operation to determine where that line should be drawn.

Re: Flax Seeds vs. Prostate Cancer

aviweiss — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 20:22:42 -0000

Does this include plant-based fats, like avocado and nuts?

Re: This is what it looks like when you ping the entire internet

aviweiss — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 23:55:17 -0000

Not really possible to ping ALL the devices ON the internet, since many are behind undiscoverable NATs and / or have ping disabled. It is possible to send a ping to all registered IP addresses, but that doesn't mean a device will respond.

Re: Rotorcraft Rookie: Checkride success

aviweiss — Fri, 23 May 2014 14:14:32 -0000

Congrats Ian

Come on up to KLDJ and we'll get you up in 22 or 44 and fly the exclusion the way nature intended...

Re: The 12 Best Vegetarian Restaurants In NYC

aviweiss — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 10:43:43 -0000

Are you suggesting Candle 79 / west are no longer among top 12 veg*n restaurants in NYC? Will have to respectfully tell you that you are gravely missing the boat...

Re: Carcinogen Blocking Effects of Turmeric

aviweiss — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 14:04:40 -0000

How do items such as tumeric SURVIVE the digestive process and find its way to the carcinogens in question?

Re: Why Pilots and Planes Will Become Obsolete In The Near Future . . . And What We Can Do About It (Part 1)

aviweiss — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 13:58:12 -0000

There would be traveler push-back, but would be mostly emotional in nature, not fact-based, and certainly not reasonable, given the weakest link at the moment are us human pilots, NOT faulty automation (though poor automation man-machine interface design is another story).

Much of commercial flight today is ALREADY highly automated, so much so that B&CA magazine had extensive coverage in their February issue related to pilots becoming "children of the magenta"; overly dependant on automation and losing much of their basic airmanship skills, which the Asiana accident so brutally highlighted. With the coming addition of surface radar for taxiing, aircraft will soon readily be able to roll out of gate, taxi to runway, takeoff, climb, fly to destination, shoot a full Cat IIIC autoland approach, land and taxi to gate... all unassisted by human hands.

Yes, getting ALL the "bugs" and issues worked out from the software and hardware will take additional time, effort, and money, given the stringency of certification requirements and exceptionally low failure rates tolerated (10^-13 I believe but don't recall off hand), but it most certainly CAN be done, especially given the huge leaps in sensor, processor, display, and actuator design and technology that has been achieved in last 20 years. Once this is done, automation WILL enable the accuracy, precision, and consistency I alluded to above that will greatly reduce the risk of accidents in ALL phases of flight, much more so than is accepted as "small" today with humans still at the helm.

As a side note, the RTCA DO-178 process required to certify software for "flight-critical systems" is extremely exhaustive, and essentially requires a line-by-line review of code, which is one reason Microsoft has never wanted to be a part of flight-control software systems, even from the early days, since it would reveal far too much of the Windows operating system than they were prepared to allow. We had tried to use the kernel many years ago for an avionics suite I was apart of designing, but they were not interested.

Re: Why Pilots and Planes Will Become Obsolete In The Near Future . . . And What We Can Do About It (Part 1)

aviweiss — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 11:02:46 -0000

I mentioned the automation of elevators to bring in the notion of "push back" that the airlines will receive, much like the elevator-equipped buildings received from the many elevator operators who were disenfranchised by such automation. It was not mentioned to compare manipulating a one-degree-of-freedom vehicle to one with six-degree-of-freedom, which would be a non-sensical comparison.

That isn't to say that airlines wouldn't love to get rid of pilots for economic gain as well. Salaries, workman's comp, insurance, boarding expense when away from base, reduction in weight (or added payload), reduction in aircraft complexity... all reasons an airline would love to have automated aircraft, in addition to the consistency and precision afforded by automation.

Re: Why Pilots and Planes Will Become Obsolete In The Near Future . . . And What We Can Do About It (Part 1)

aviweiss — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 11:00:00 -0000

Humans, by their very nature, are frequently inaccurate, imprecise, and inconsistent in motor-skill based tasks, especially ones where "judgement" must be regularly applied in between tasks; Just like elevator operation was fully automated, ultimately all vehicle (terrain, marine, and air) control manipulation responsibility can and should be delegated to systems that will be far more accurate, precise, and consistent than human operators could ever be, even during their moments of greatest proficiency.

Decision-making and judgement based on dynamic conditions and situations are processing aspects where humans (still) excel over automation, and likely will for a considerable time to come, even with "AI" capabilities that are emerging and on the horizon. While it may "scare" some riders and no doubt anger seemingly-disenfranchised "pilots" who see aircraft manipulation as part of their domain, accepting that "division of labor", and fully committing to it during vehicle design will enable vehicles to be more efficient, enhance safety, and ultimately have societal "knock-on" effects across a wide spectrum of issues, from safety to efficiency to environmental improvement.

Re: It’s Time to Take Mesh Networks Seriously (And Not For the Reasons You Think)

aviweiss — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 12:06:04 -0000

As a long time mesh advocate and developer, I laud the notion of intelligent use of dynamic networking structures that expand, contract, and reorganize as needed.

Like other "great promise" technologies like artificial intelligence, write-once-run-anywhere runtime platforms, and many others, the "real world" issues that prevent wide-scale adoption of mesh networking have more to do with the nature of such user-driven systems. Indeed, the strength of the technology is also its weakness, relying implicitly and explicitly on intelligent, meaningful, best-intentioned users to make use of, and not abuse, access, bandwidth, and infrastructure, something unlikely to "scale" outside of a very small user base of extremely homogenous, like-minded moral users.

Simply put; the value in abusing such a network, pitted against the relative ease of doing so, coupled with a lack of culpability for doing so, would present too great a temptation to too many nefariously minded users, and the resultant insecurity and danger of joining such a network would preclude wide-scale adoption. As we see now, even with gate-keepers and high degrees of monitoring and control, networks and their users are still regularly abused by those wishing to take advantage or do far worse.

So while I believe there is great opportunity for highly-localized mesh networking use (I have a z-wave network in my house for home control), I am not sanguine that mesh can make the "jump to light speed" and deliver on a larger scale.

Re: Dwolla Everyday

aviweiss — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 12:24:35 -0000

Dwolla is useful, but to be a singular goto financial tool, Dwolla must up the game.

Needs to be able to auto-deposit larger amounts. Need to also have faster transit times from classic bank to dwolla account, like seconds rather than days. Need to have greater tie in to larger pool of financial institutions.

Without becoming a player in ACH and working closely with other institutions, it will be hard to use Dwolla as a sole financial transaction tool.

Re: Down But Not Out

aviweiss — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 17:18:39 -0000

Are you sure it was "inappropriate" flag? It may have been a DCMA take-down request if a video inappropriately referenced third-party product or other protected / copyrighted material. At any rate, it should have just been the one video, so the whole-account shutdown smacks of something related to "Terms of Service" violation.

It could also have been related to anything related to discussing farts, stools, or sexual function (ED), or other "graphic medical material", which to some people is emotionally inseparable from porn.

Might want to read through it and see if there is anything in your videos that could be interpreted as violating the native terms of service.

Re: Why are Eggs Linked to Cancer Progression?

aviweiss — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 11:19:25 -0000

Yes, that was my original question: plants had choline as well, so there must be some aspect of either animal-derived choline, or the amount/concentration of choline that would be the additional risk factor.

Either way, I would like to get more precision on the information rather than simply throw the baby out with bath water.