Category: technology
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Google Calendar Time Zone tricks
I regularly collaborate with scholars around the world. One problem that arises from that, however, is that we have to coordinate time zones. As a result, I have picked up a couple of really nifty features of Google Calendar that manage that for me. Here are the two I use most frequently. Add a Meeting…
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Credit Cards, Two Factor Authentication, and International Travel
We recently traveled to Norway for a combination of work and vacation. As a tech enthusiast, I’m all about ways to make life easier and tech can often accomplish that. But, there are some downsides, like the one I’m about to describe. I have three credit cards that don’t charge foreign transaction fees, one of…
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Backing Up Files to Prevent Data Loss
It took years to figure this out and it’s not free, but I don’t ever lose files anymore. Not losing files is worth the $240 I pay for these services per year. Do note that I use Linux as my operating system, which is part of the reason why I chose the software that I…
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Replacing Paragraph Breaks with Double Paragraph Breaks in LibreOffice Writer
Here’s the problem I was facing. I had a document with a lot of text that I had to analyze. The text had been copied from a spreadsheet and pasted without formatting to get rid of the cells. As a result, there was a single “return” or “paragraph break” between each passage of text. That…
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LibreOffice Calc – Conditional Formatting
I haven’t used this feature of spreadsheet software as much as I probably should, but I have a spreadsheet I have been working with a lot lately and conditional formatting has been key to helping me orient myself in the spreadsheet. However, in the process, I realized that I am really a noob when it…
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How To Fix PDF Forms Not Showing Contents in Okular (Linux)
I have had this problem happen twice now, and I don’t know exactly what is causing it, but I found a solution. Here’s the situation… I received a PDF that has forms. Typically, that isn’t a problem as Okular is able to open most PDFs with forms and show both the forms and what has…
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Plex Playlists with Amazon Echo
My music library is stored on my NAS. On my primary desktop at home, I mount the music folder and use Clementine to listen to my music. Everywhere else, I use Plex to play my music. Playing my music through Plex via my browser at work, via my Roku in the family room, and via…
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LibreOffice – address label merge (from spreadsheet)
I’ve been using LibreOffice for over a decade and have only had to do an address label merge twice in that time – both of which have been in the last month. The first time, I actually did a form letter and a label merge; the second time I just had to do an address…
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R – Finding and Setting Working Directory
R, like many software programs, likes to have a folder or directory on your computer to operate in. When you start R, depending on how you start it and whether or not you previously saved your session, it’s likely that R will set a default “working directory” or folder where it is going to look…
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Launching HandBrake 1.4.0 in Kubuntu 21.04
The fine folks at HandBrake have updated their software and distribution system to a Flatpack approach. Their Flatpack for Linux is based on Gnome, not KDE, which is fine, but it does mean that the GUI is no longer skinned with my system settings on KDE. Oh well… The bigger issue is that, with a…