my spirit

this is my spirit:

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt

Piwik: Open source alternative to Google analytics

I have been using Google Analytics for a while but I don't like it because:
- I prefer not to give my website data to Google
- it does not provide real-time analytics
- it does not able to monitor clicks on PDF, and other similar types of files.

The log file analysis tools usually provided with hosting services are not very good. I have meant to set up my own system on my home machine but haven't gotten to it yet.

I have finally found an open source solution which looks promising. I am about to install it on my website and will report back on how it goes. check it out at: Piwik

RF media remote recommendation for your computer

I have had a Logitech wireless keyboard, mouse and media remote combo for about four years and have been extremely happy with it. I use the media report the most, love the fact that it works through walls and I don't have to have line of sight with my computer to control itunes. Unfortunately they stopped making this gadget.

I have been looking for a similar gadget for my Ubuntu LINUX computer for a while but I didn't find anything that I liked. I looked again a few days ago and found this on Amazon:


Been using for about a month and am very happy with it. In addition to being a remote, it has a Novel mouse feature that at first I thought would be a gimmick. But it's actually pretty cool.

Is my way the right way?

I often disagree with a friend of mine about project management. How can I show him that I'm right? It's very tempting to say that between the two of us the one who completes the project successfully had the right idea.

But, I feel that the relationship between action and result is not such a close one. Then, how can I show my friend my way of managing a project is the right one? Would it help to take an average of the result of 10 projects?

I think the real question that I am asking is, if we break apart the relationship between action and result, as recommended by the Gita to some extent, what is the basis for choosing between one action and the other.

What leads to misunderstanding in relationships?

Very often you see in Hindi movies that either the girl or the boy hesitates to tell the other about how they feel, leading to a sad song and a sharp twist in the story. The goal of the rest of the movie is usually to resolve this misunderstanding.

For a long time I thought that misunderstandings were often a communication issue. As long as everyone is clear about their intent, I thought people could generally avoid surprises about each other in the future (avoid "I never knew you felt this way" moments).

Some time ago, I can't remember the exact event clearly, my opinion changed. I now feel, communication is not the only issue. Even if we asked people clearly to state intent we may still end up with misunderstandings. People may not be able to answer clearly because they either don't know, or are afraid to tell.

For example, if I asked someone whether or not they are committed to a camping trip, it is quite possible that even though they intend to answer clearly, they may not know how they feel at that time the question is asked, they may not know that they don't know.

Windows web service doesnt know about 'tsv' files

How long have people been using TSV files for data? 30 years? My XP computer graciously offered to use an 'online service' to locate the right application to open a '.tsv' file I have. And then showed me this:

Simple website link checker

Simple website link checker

check status of a list of links you have in a text file:

GIGRIB is useragent for pingdom.com

for i in `cat urls`; do echo -n $i ' '; wget -B --spider $i -S -U GIGRIB -O - 2>&1 | awk '/HTTP request sent, awaiting response/{getline;print}'; done

i will update with more info.

easy, free website monitor

I just signed up with pingdom.com to monitor one of my websites for uptime.

Easy signup. Seems to be from a reputable company/founder.

They have a free account that will monitor one site for you.