About the Author
I'm Stephan, a Linux user with a passion for open-source, UI/UX design, and exploring what makes fiction work.
In my spare time, I focus on (and write about):
- Programming (mainly in Python and Rust)
- Retrocomputing (mostly DOS but, as of January 2023, I also own a machine running Mac OS 9.2)
- Reading and Reviewing Fiction
- The odd bit of UI/UX design or literary theory
For notification of significant updates to existing posts, consider following me on Mastodon.
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Category Archives: Geek Stuff
Working around serde_json bug #464 (serializing pre-epoch mtimes)
You may not know this, but Rust’s serde serialization/deserialization library can panic if you happen to feed it a file modification time prior to the UNIX epoch. I discovered this when it killed an application I was writing and, in … Continue reading
Posted in Geek Stuff
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Why you should ALWAYS practice defensive programming
Take a look at this Rust snippet for a moment and tell me whether you can find the reason it’s not safe to run. After all, Rust is a language that makes comfortable safety its claim to fame, so it … Continue reading
Posted in Geek Stuff
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How to Hide Firefox’s New “Saved to Library” Confirmation Popup
…and another quick userChrome.css hack, since I wasn’t able to use the Browser Toolbox to figure it out and had to be told on Bugzilla… Removing the “Saved to Library!” confirmation popup that now appears when you add a bookmark. … Continue reading
Posted in Geek Stuff
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How to Remove The Thumbnail in Firefox’s Bookmark Popup
I run Firefox Developer Edition and, a couple of days ago, they announced a rather head-scratching feature which I received today: In the popup from the bookmarking star, they’ve added a thumbnail for whatever page is visible, right there below … Continue reading
Posted in Geek Stuff
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A Blueprint for Creating FLOSS-Safe Replacements for BWCC.DLL Stock Icons
TL;DR: Here’s a detailed description that should be sufficient to design knock-offs of the most iconic of Borland OWL’s stock icons for use Windows 3.1 hobby projects intended to be compiled with non-Borland compilers. In the name making my planned … Continue reading
Posted in Retrocomputing
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An Improved QPlainTextEdit for PyQt5
TL;DR: Code here UPDATE: A “fake QLineEdit” version for adding spell-checking to most places where you’d use QLineEdit is now available. One of the projects I’ve been working on recently is a proper replacement for the hacky way I handle … Continue reading
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A Musical Sampling of Subcultures With Feels All Their Own
There are various subcultures I’ve dipped my toes into, but not all are created equal. Some have that “wherever you go, there you are” feel about them (eg. the otherwise excellent fan-music scene for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Web Wandering & Opinion
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