A Geek Goes Flying

I’ve been using Google Authenticator on my phone for sites that require MFA. But picking up my phone to obtain a code is fraught with potential distraction / derailment. (Kind of an event boundary / doorway effect kind of thing.) So I was stoked to figure out I can add an Authenticator extension to Chrome to retrieve tokens ( authenticator.cc ). To export my accounts from the phone app, I had to go through one by one to generate QR codes, AirDrop a screen shot of the code to my laptop, and then import in the extension. A bit clunky, but I really only have to do it once... Adding the extension In Chrome (or apparently, also, FireFox, though the instructions will differ somewhat), use the ⋮ menu, Extensions, Visit Chrome Web Store, and search for Google Authenticator. Add the authenticator.cc extension: Me, I like to have something I’m going to use that often, pinned to my toolbar: Exporting accounts from the iPhone app Open Authenticator and then use the “hamburger” menu ☰ and se...

The rOtring Freeway is ... fine ... but it’s feeling kinda loose and needed replacement in my daily carry kit. Wanted something inexpensive and stumbled across this Porsche Crest Carbon-Look Ballpoint Pen ($25). (Echos of the Porsche Design Tec Flex Steel Ballpoint Pen someone got me after I got my first Porsche, the 968 Cabrio.) Only ... it’s not a ballpoint pen. It’s a roller ball. Which is what I wanted. The included refill writes fine and is about as generic as you can get (it’s got a green “quill” logo with an ®, 2025-04 marking, and reads “International Roller Pen Refill 0.7.” I tried the Pilot, G2 Gel Ink Refill and it  almost  fits, but the tip is recessed a bit into the pen and the diameter is like a hair’s breadth too thick (it got stuck in the tip). It appears this is probably equivalent to a Schmidt 5888M rollerball refill.

Not sure why it took me this long to learn how to do this (it took like 3 clicks). The Displays control panel in system settings

Per Slashdot : Raspberry Pi is launching a new add-on board capable of running generative AI models locally on the Raspberry Pi 5. Announced on Thursday, the $130 AI HAT+ 2 is an upgraded -- and more expensive -- version of the module launched last year, now offering 8GB of RAM and a Hailo 10H chip with 40 TOPS of AI performance. Once connected, the Raspberry Pi 5 will use the AI HAT+ 2 to handle AI-related workloads while leaving the main board's Arm CPU available to complete other tasks. Unlike the previous AI HAT+, which is focused on image-based AI processing, the AI HAT+ 2 comes with onboard RAM and can run small gen AI models like Llama 3.2 and DeepSeek-R1-Distill, along with a series of Qwen models. You can train and fine-tune AI models using the device as well.   $130 is lower than I expected, based on the price for the other Hailo stuff. More on the Hailo H10 . Could probably put together a “play around with” setup for ~$200, a bit less than I ultimately have invested...

Solterra charging The cheap BLRENT charger lasted about a year. The cable started to separate from the charging box (I think just the insulation, but it was still unnerving to look at), and then one day I couldn't get the J-1772 plug to disconnect from the car charging port, it had become slightly separated and the push-button wasn’t providing enough leverage to disconnect the latch. Sigh. It was ... fine? ... while it lasted. (About the same price as a tank of gas for my old Jeep, so I can’t complain too loudly.) This time around I decided to go as inexpensive as possible while doing things “more right.” I also figured I’d future-proof a bit in the process. Folks recommended the Grizzl-E stuff (and the Mini looked like it could have worked, for $479), but I don’t see that it works with the L6-30 plug I have access to at the office. Primecom ships an L6-30 24A unit , but it too is $449. Instead, I went with a used Tesla Gen 2 Mobile Connector I found on Facebook Marketplace, fr...

Trying to create a folder on my WebDAV share, using Cyberduck , but couldn’t: The logs: # tail -f /var/log/httpd/ssl_error_log [Mon Feb 02 12:20:36.415327 2026] [dav:error] [pid 50869:tid 50979] [client 192.168.1.1:53060] The locks could not be queried for verification against a possible "If:" header.  [500, #0] [Mon Feb 02 12:20:36.415404 2026] [dav:error] [pid 50869:tid 50979] [client 192.168.1.1:53060] Could not open the lock database.  [500, #400] [Mon Feb 02 12:20:36.415412 2026] [dav:error] [pid 50869:tid 50979] (120002)APR does not understand this error code: [client 192.168.1.1:53060] Could not open database.  [500, #1] [Mon Feb 02 12:20:36.526440 2026] [dav:error] [pid 50868:tid 50966] [client 192.168.1.1:53061] The locks could not be queried for verification against a possible "If:" header.  [500, #0] [Mon Feb 02 12:20:36.526476 2026] [dav:error] [pid 50868:tid 50966] [client 192.168.1.1:53061] Could not open the lock database.  [500, #400] [Mon ...

Well, wrote it and then helped me tweak it. The prompts were easy. The code pretty straightforward. The functionality is very basic. It just takes the current page title and URL and, using the things:/// URL scheme , adds an item to the inbox. (Yeah, in Safari, the “Share ... Add to Things” option does the same thing in Safari. But I’m not using Safari.) This cleans up after itself, closing the tab that was opened to call the Things URL integration a second after it’s finished loading. I’m generally happy with it, with a couple of “punch list” items. https://pastebin.com/ckfftFfc ChatGPT: Original extension creation Modifying it to auto-close the newly opened tab  To do: Need to figure out why the keyboard shortcut isn’t working (“ keyboard shortcuts do work , but   only if the extension is installed as a permanent add-on , not as a temporary add-on via   about:debugging .”) Need to modify it to use the contents of the clipboard rather than the URL, if on certain cites (l...