MySQL, MariaDB and relative asymptotics

In 2002 I wrote a book on MySQL



Speed Comparison of South African Media Websites

I’ve noticed that each time I’ve visited IOL recently my browser takes a noticeable performance knock…



You like my blog?

With my regularly updated blog jam-packed full of brilliant content, naturally it receives more compliments than Lady Gaga’s Twitter account.

Happy New Year by the way. And Christmas.

One fan went a bit overboard, submitting what seems to be every one of the compliments spammers regularly use to deceiver bloggers…



Lessons from a server upgrade

Recently, the server hosting the Ethical Co-op website died, and needed to be replaced…



SOPA and moving from GoDaddy

Late last year I moved most of my domains that I was hosting with GoDaddy to a new registrar, and the rest will follow closer to expiry.

For those who don’t know, in October, Lamar Smith, a US congressman, introduced a bill called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)…



Northern Sotho Wikipedia now an official project, Afrikaans reaches 20 000 articles

Northern Sotho now has it’s own Wikipedia, becoming the 10th official South African language to do so.

The project has been sitting for many years in the Incubator, where projects that aren’t yet ready are hosted and developed…



Becoming a morning person, take 2

I may live at the southern tip of Africa, but I’ve been on Hawaii time for a long time. For years my circadian rhythms have seen me going to sleep in the very early hours of the morning and waking up similarly late…



Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu and Mint

I run Ubuntu 10.10 on my primary machine, a now-aged Lenovo Y510. I used to upgrade the minute I could get my hands on a newer release, but the novelty has worn off, and I can’t spare the time these days to get my system back to how it should be, customising and/or fixing things, after an upgrade…



Faster online video

I don’t watch too many online videos – mainly because I’m impatient, and watching videos

is….

just…

so…

slow…

It’s not (just) that I’m counting the seconds but also that I get bored listening to people speak slowly, especially when they’re belabouring the point…



Northern Sotho Wikipedia needs help

Northern Sotho is the only official South African language without an active Wikipedia…