View on GitHub

Quorten Blog 1

First blog for all Quorten's blog-like writings

WeWork, rental office space company

quorten

2019-02-06

Categories: twitter   random-software  
Tags: twitter   random-software  

So, I heard of WeWork from someone on Twitter, and it sounded interesting, so I decided to investigate. And indeed it is interesting! Basically, they are an office rental space company that wants to be more than the mundane title would suggest, and they are in fact much more! For example, they use 3D scanning for all of their office spaces they move into and setup.

20190206/https://www.wework.com
20190206/https://www.wework.com/mission
20190206/https://www.wework.com/blog
20190206/https://www.wework.com/blog/posts/using-lasers-to-capture-the-tiniest-details-of-a-workspace
20190206/https://www.wework.com/blog/posts/wecompany
20190206/https://www.wework.com/blog/posts/how-someone-really-bad-at-drawing-creates-stunning-art

Wow, interesting! WeWork and Rent the Runway are partnering. I guess Rent the Runway is also something to watch for the future too.

20190207/https://www.wework.com/blog/posts/entrepreneurs-say-the-right-clothes-help-them-demand-respect

Alas, now I keep reading further for more of their blog articles.

Researching the impact of stairs on a community, these are best when they are visible from the elevators and near go-to community locations such as kitchens.

20190207/https://www.wework.com/blog/posts/to-create-a-community-start-with-stairs

Read on →

Dead letter office

quorten

2019-02-06

Categories: random-software  
Tags: random-software  

So, learning about RabbitMQ when reviewing a pull request from a coworker, I catch mention of “dead letter exchange.” Surely, there must be a greater meaning behind this, and indeed there is. A dead letter office is the place where undeliverable mail without a legible return address is sent. Here is where there are detectives that try to discern information from either hints in the address labels or hints from within the mail as to where the mail should be sent. Historically, USPS was able to then deliver 40% of such mail sent to the dead letter office. The remainder would have valuables removed and later be auctioned off. It is the last part that makes the dead letter office look curiously interesting. Nowadays, USPS calls the modern equivalent the “Mail Recovery Center.”

20190206/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_letter_office
20190206/https://arago.si.edu/category_2032238.html
20190206/https://postalmuseum.si.edu/research/articles-from-enroute/remembering-the-dead.html
20190206/http://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2012/pb22351/html/info_005.htm

Good Doxygen and gtk-doc solution

quorten

2019-02-05

Categories: random-software   important  
Tags: random-software   important  

Important! So, I’m still searching for a solution to import Doxygen-style documentation into gtk-doc help systems like Devhelp. And I think I’ve found a good solution: use GDOC. So, that being said, I can move straight aways to using Doxygen in full force for my small-time projects without needing to worry for lack of documentation conversion tools.

20190205/DuckDuckGo doxygen gtk doc
20190205/https://josefsson.org/gdoc/
20190205/http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/libidn/libidn/doc/

Relearning the XDG standard for dot-files

quorten

2019-02-05

Categories: twitter   random-software  
Tags: twitter   random-software  

The XDG Free Desktop standard for dot-files and various other application data? Unfortunately, I’ve learned that this knowledge is still not very widely diffused throughout the Unix developer community, and it still takes quite a bit of effort amongst community members to continue to diffuse the knowledge. So, there is some redundancy among new blog authors writing new blog articles to educate others on the subject, and at least it appears to be gaining some momentum.

In Python, the cross-platform module to use is appdirs. Golang also has an appdirs module. Mac OS X’s equivalent of the XDG dot-files storage location is ~/Library.

20190205/https://0x46.net/thoughts/2019/02/01/dotfile-madness/
20190205/https://pypi.org/project/appdirs/
20190205/https://github.com/ProtonMail/go-appdir
20190205/https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3373948/equivalents-of-xdg-config-home-and-xdg-data-home-on-mac-os-x/5084892#5084892

Does sunscreen contain endocrine disruptors, and reflections on chemicals that are good or bad for our planet

quorten

2019-02-05

Categories: raspberry-pi   mat-sci   3d-printing  
Tags: raspberry-pi   mat-sci   3d-printing  

Does sunscreen contain endocrine disruptors? I do remember reading that sunscreen is bad for the environment. Let’s take a look at the Wikipedia article on sunscreen. It contains a list of chemicals that are potentially contained within sunscreen.

20190205/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunscreen

All of the chemicals have one or more 6-member carbon rings, and some even have 5-member carbon rings. Suffice it to say, many chemicals in sunscreen have the ability to readily transform into an endocrine disruptor, if they are not already an endocrine disruptor themselves. The only chemicals in sunscreen that do not have the ability to transform into an endocrine disruptor are titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. However, titanium dioxide has a tendency to accumulate in the ground and is known to be harmful to animals in higher concentrations. Zinc oxide is practically the only chemical in sunscreen that cannot be readily transformed into a hazardous chemical.

Alas, I must admit. My stated suspicion against chemicals with 6-member carbon rings or 5-member carbon rings is a really tough one. It’s only natural, due to the elemental structure of carbon, that many organic chemicals will have 6-member or 5-member rings within them. Surely such a recommended restriction would be enough to make any chemical industry pundit upset. If there is no statistical evidence that our chemical is dangerous, why are you criticizing us for the potential risks that might come about due to uncontrolled transformation of our chemical?

Read on →

Chemical properties of ABS plastic, synthetic rubber, pencil erasers, and the "Bissell" company name

quorten

2019-02-05

Categories: raspberry-pi   mat-sci   3d-printing  
Tags: raspberry-pi   mat-sci   3d-printing  

So, to verify. I’ve suspected that ABS plastic contains endocrine disruptors. Well, indeed ABS plastic does pose health hazards to humans, although that is not only because they contain endocrine disruptors. ABS plastic is short for acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. The main suspected endocrine disruptor in this mix is butadiene, which is also used in synthetic rubbers. The most common synthetic rubber is SBR, styrene-butadiene. For both of these materials, styrene is a suspected endocrine disruptor and known carcinogen under extreme exposure. Butadiene is also a designated carcinogen. This risk also extends to polystyrene plastic. Additionally, acrylonitrile is suspected of being possibly carcinogenic to humans.

“Teratogen” is one of the words Wikipedia uses to refer to chemicals that interfere with growth and development.

Another word on the uses and purposes of the constituent chemicals in ABS plastic. Acrylonitrile is used for additional strength and bonding. Butadiene is a rubbery substance used to provide additional toughness, even at low temperatures. Styrene is used to provide a smooth, shiny, and impervious surface.

20190205/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile_butadiene_styrene
20190205/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butadiene
20190205/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratology
20190205/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrene
20190205/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratology
20190205/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_rubber
20190205/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrene-butadiene
20190205/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_toughening

Read on →

Ex-US-spies spying on US and Uber's driver map interface

quorten

2019-02-05

Categories: twitter   random   random-software  
Tags: twitter   random   random-software  

So, I visited one of my acquaintance’s Twitter accounts, and found these two interesting, albeit random, articles.

20190205/https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-spying-raven-specialreport/special-report-inside-the-uaes-secret-hacking-team-of-u-s-mercenaries-idUKKCN1PO1A6
20190205/https://eng.uber.com/building-a-scalable-and-reliable-map-interface-for-drivers/

The chemical elements of plastic, paper, cloth, and endocrine disruptors

quorten

2019-02-05

Categories: raspberry-pi   mat-sci   3d-printing  
Tags: raspberry-pi   mat-sci   3d-printing  

So, about the whole endocrine disruptors thing. What exactly is the chemical composition of various different types of plastics, and what leads some of them to have a greater propensity toward being an endocrine disruptor than others? First of all, let’s start out with the chemical composition of endocrine disruptors and the endocrine system itself.

Steroids are one of the primary signalling and controlling factor in the endocrine system. Steroids, as we know, have been extensively studied and the chemical structural composition of them is well known. Namely, the chemical diagrams of steroids are distinctively visually recognizable by their inclusion of hexagonal and pentagonal loop structures. Specifically, steroids are defined to include three four-element carbon rings and one five-element carbon ring.

20190204/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steroid

Now, let’s take a look at the chemical structure of a few known endocrine disruptors. Phthalates have a distinctive 6-element carbon ring structure within them. Although a phthalate isn’t strictly a steroid per-se in its chemical structure, we know that they do in fact chemically interact with the endocrine systemm in a disruptive way, and you can intuitively reason that part of that is due to their similarity in structure.

20190204/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthalate

Read on →

ACL Perl modules

quorten

2019-02-02

Categories: perl  
Tags: perl  

Want to access ACLs from Perl? Well, then you need to install a CPAN Perl module to be able to access the system calls. Use Linux::ACL for Linux, Solaris::ACL for Solaris, and so on.

20190201/DuckDuckGo perl getfacl
20190201/https://metacpan.org/pod/Linux::ACL
20190201/DuckDuckGo perl solaris acl
20190201/https://metacpan.org/pod/Solaris::ACL