tools Screenshots for Fake Text Messages I am a fan of small niche single purpose tools. I was building a landing page for a web site and I wanted a screenshot of a text message. iFake
virtual-assistant How to Hire a VA The 4-hour work week makes hiring a VA look easy. I don't think it's that easy. Here's my process.
Two Screens for Every Bay Area Teacher tl;dr Skip to How to Help. I spoke about the difficulties at home for remote learning, but another side is the difficulty of remote teaching. One issue is technology.
git Git and Historical Revision A well crafted history is a trade off. It's similar to writing tests. Most of the time tests do nothing, but when they raise an alarm it is super handy. With practice, the cost is minimal.
git The Purpose of Version Control I think it's rare to see a project not automatically added to Github shortly after, if not before, inception. It's just a checkbox of writing code. Previously it was something
gifs Turning Screen Recordings into Animated GIFs✨ So, I love animated GIFs. Anybody who has worked with me knows that I love them and am quick at posting context-appropriate GIFs into a Slack channel. Apparently, you can
git Legible Git History Everything you produce gets consumed. If you make it easier to consume, it will cause less friction for others as well as yourself.
twitter Retweeting Revisited So I cleaned up my twitter feed a little bit, by following my @CityOfSanJoseEN account. I then noticed that our county, Santa Clara, does the same multi-lingual tweets: 聖塔克拉拉縣處於紅色風險級別，這意味著更多企業可以在室內營業。
twitter Retweeting Robot San Jose tweets their updates in multiple languages: Help out. If you’d like to support wildfire evacuees, please contribute to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation Fire Relief Fund. To
etiquette BCC and the Etiquette of Introduction My rules for introducing people: Usually I suggest it to a person. "Hey Asif, you should meet Blair. I know you're looking for X and I think she could help
education Video Killed The Love of Learning Technology Problems During a Pandemic2020 is the year of dumpster fires and distance learning is no exception. For 25 years, technology and education has always been messy. Covid19 has amplified
deploys What actually goes on during a deploy Previously, I covered, at a high level, how our builds work and what tools we used. I wanted to explain what exactly we are doing during a deploy, with an
python How We Deliver Features to Pinners Previously we discussed what tools Pinterest uses for deploys. This article shows how we connect them to create a “pipeline.” In practice, Pinterest is a continuous delivery shop. That means
deploys Tools We Use To Release Pinterest We have a fairly flexible Continuous Delivery system at Pinterest. The tools we use are fairly accessible, so you can build your own Continuous Delivery system too. Github Enterprise is
jinja DRY with Jinja Templates Jinja is a great templating language that's used with Python. One of the easiest ways to not repeat yourself in Jinja is to use macros. Let's say you want to
mozilla Using git to borrow from the future One of the great features of git is the ability to re-order commits, break commits into parts, and merge commits together. Assuming that my master branch is a pristine copy
database Database versus files for Images Update 2 January 2021: This was written in 2009 when virtual private servers were the rage, so I've updated it slightly to deal with our new cloud overlords. Where should
