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• Note: An AI Generated pill displayed in the list below indicates that the post description displayed on the page was generated from the post content using Generative AI (GenAI). The post content itself was written by a human (me).

• Scammers Getting Slightly Smarter

  Posted Thursday, November 21, 2024 at 07:18 PM  in Phishing
  

  In Postal Scam Urtye dot com, I pointed out a lot of different ways you can easily tell when a text message you receive is crap. I received a lot more of those types of text messages lately and it's fun to watch them evolve.

• Suspended Presidential Campaign

  Posted Saturday, November 16, 2024 at 06:47 PM  in Miscellaneous
  

  A few weeks before the 2024 election, I suspended my campaign for president. I didn't want to keep votes from the candidate I wanted to win. I'm getting ready to delete the web site for my campaign but I thought I'd share with you links to the campaign store in case you want to pick up any Wargo 2024 branded items as a form of protest against our political system.

• Added Automated Mode to Link Checker

  Posted Saturday, November 16, 2024 at 02:32 PM  in Node.js
  

  After publishing my link checker utility, I realized I wanted the ability to write the utility's settings in a project folder so I could quickly scan links for that project.

• Validating Links On This Site

  Posted Saturday, November 16, 2024 at 10:47 AM  in Web Development
  

  When I migrated this site from Joomla! to Eleventy, one of the things I didn't spend much time on was validating the links in the site (both internal and external links). I recently decided to spend some time to check all of the links in the site and ended up spending time building a utility that automated the process for me.

• Yet Another Link Checker Utility

  Posted Friday, November 15, 2024 at 06:03 PM  in Web Development
  

  Describes a node.js-based utility I created and published to validate web links in a web site or page.

• Conditional Prompting Using Prompts

  Posted Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 12:18 PM  in Node.js
  

  Over the years, I published a variety of Node.js modules and CLIs; the CLIs because I wanted to automate some operation I needed to make easily repeatable. For my CLIs, I started building them using command-line arguments, but I quickly forgot the arguments and order. Next I used configuration files, but then that tied me into a specific file or set of files for different operations. Eventually I started using an npm module called prompts that allows me to prompt for all of the configuration options either as the only input into the program or for writing the settings to a default configuration file. Yesterday I spent some time figuring out how to do conditional prompts, so that's the topic of this post.

• Amazon Delivery in 2036

  Posted Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 12:06 PM  in Miscellaneous
  

  Imagine my surprise when I received an email from Amazon letting me know that an album I purchased a while ago, (Opeth's Last Will and Testament), wouldn't be delivered until 2036.

• Adding Sidebars to an Eleventy Site

  Posted Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 02:43 PM  in Eleventy
  

  I decided recently that one of the things missing from this site was the ability to have call-outs in the content. My buddy Scott Good was here this weekend working on something in my workshop, so, while we waited for some glue to dry, I asked him to add some call-out CSS to the site. After he left, I added some code to the site to make it all work.

• No Posting

  Posted Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 07:53 PM  in Miscellaneous
  

  Wow, no posts from me in a while. I apologize for that, but I've been spending a lot of time in my workshop making sawdust, and I've not had much I wanted to blog about.

• Flame Throwing Pumpkin

  Posted Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 07:34 PM  in Arduino, Internet of Things (IoT)
  

  Back in 2019, I decided to finally start work on a Flame Throwing pumpkin project for Halloween. I saw some projects like this in the past, and I wanted to do my own version. Some projects do some pretty sophisticated things to make a flame thrower in a pumpkin (like using a solenoid to push down the nozzle of a spray can (hair spray or WD-40)) but others use a simple air freshener (short spurt) in front of a candle.

• Cloned Tool Shopping

  Posted Wednesday, July 24, 2024 at 07:26 PM  in Woodworking
  

  As you probably know from this site, I'm a geek and a software developer. I'm also a woodworker and it feels like I'm going to pull in more woodworker stories this year - mostly because I've been doing more woodworking than coding lately.

• Oval Router Template

  Posted Sunday, July 14, 2024 at 08:41 AM  in Woodworking, 3D Printing
  

  Over the US 4th of July holiday, we were hanging around with family when my sister in law mentioned that she wanted to get an Owl House for her back yard in order to attract an owl to live in her yard. I'd never made an Owl House before, so I quickly volunteered to make one for her.

• Google Functions Deploy Module

  Posted Thursday, July 11, 2024 at 06:41 PM  in Cloud Development
  

  Describes a node.js based CLI I created to make it easier to deploy multiple Google Cloud Functions with a single terminal command.

• Spam Chase Auto Pay Disabled

  Posted Thursday, July 11, 2024 at 07:31 AM  in Phishing
  

  I received another supposed Chase Bank Phishing email the other day and thought I'd spend some time analyzing it.

• Connection Request

  Posted Tuesday, July 9, 2024 at 07:48 AM  in Miscellaneous
  

  I often get LinkedIn connection requests where I just don't understand the potential connection value.

• Generating Post Descriptions Redux

  Posted Monday, July 1, 2024 at 09:04 PM  in Artificial Intelligence
  

  AI Generated   I recently published a post about 3D printing but forgot to set a description. Luckily, I used the Describer GenAI extension for Visual Studio Code to quickly generate a description for me. It only took a few clicks and seconds to add a nice description to the post before publishing it.

• 3D Printing Paradise

  Posted Monday, July 1, 2024 at 08:40 PM  in Project Builds
  

  AI Generated   I bought a 3D printer during the pandemic but struggled with it, so I upgraded to a P1S printer from Bambu Lab. The new printer is enclosed, self-leveling, and fast, making it easier to use. My daughter loves using it for cosplay projects. I also bought a lot of filament and have been impressed by the quality of free models available online. I recently used the printer to create a wooden enclosure for a T5 e-Paper display unit, but had to find a 3D printer plan for a better fit due to the unit's design. The prints turned out amazing, and I'm excited to see the final result.

• Spam Chase Bank Autopay Halted

  Posted Saturday, June 29, 2024 at 03:35 PM  in Phishing
  

  I received a phishing attempt the other day and thought I'd poke some holes in it.

• Repeating Countdown Timer in Flutter

  Posted Thursday, June 20, 2024 at 05:07 PM  in Flutter, Mobile Development
  

  A while back, while anticipating a particular event (my retirement), I decided to create an app that allowed me track the number of days until the event. One thing led to another and I decided to create a more generic version of the app so I could write about it here.

• Ali Express Parts

  Posted Wednesday, June 19, 2024 at 12:17 PM  in Internet of Things (IoT), Project Builds
  

  In my previous post, I mentioned that I like building electronic projects I find online. Historically, I purchased a lot of project components from online vendors like Adafruit and Sparkfun. Both offer their own proprietary boards as well as some standard electronics components you can use for your projects (such as battery connectors, cables, breakout boards, other connectors).

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