2025-02-25 TIL: On-Premises Software and NewsNow

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On-Premises Software

On-premises software is installed and runs on computers within the premises of the person or organization using the software, rather than at a remote facility such as a server farm or the cloud (SaaS).

• On-premises software is deployed within an organization’s internal system, along with the necessary hardware and infrastructure for it to function.
• Cloud-based software is typically delivered via the internet, allowing users to access it online anytime and from any location.

NewsNow

Elegant real-time news reading.

• Features an elegant design for a pleasant reading experience, keeping you up to date with the latest and hottest news.

2025-02-24 TIL: One for the Money Rhyme and Its Use in Popular Music

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One for the Money

“One for the Money” is an English-language rhyme. Children have used it as early as the 1820s to count before starting a race or other activity.

The full rhyme reads:

One for the money,
Two for the show;
Three to make ready,
And four to go.

The rhyme has been used or referenced in popular music since the 1950s. Here is a Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0DPCAFpstp5pQneqJasAoa

2025-01-19 TIL: Scheduled Tasks in ChatGPT & Gaelic Football

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Scheduled tasks in ChatGPT

In this early beta feature, you can create scheduled tasks to enable ChatGPT to run automated prompts and proactively reach out to you at set times. This feature helps automate repetitive tasks and improves productivity by providing reminders or personalized interactions. Examples of Scheduled Tasks:

• “Give me a briefing on AI news each afternoon.”
• “Practice French with me daily.”

Gaelic football

Gaelic football is a fast-paced, action-packed sport that combines elements of soccer, basketball, and some of the world’s fastest sports.

• Originating in Ireland centuries ago, it’s now gaining popularity in North America.
• It features free-flowing gameplay, requiring both skill and athleticism, with players passing, kicking, and scoring in a dynamic, high-energy match.

2025-01-18 TIL: How to Separate a Sectional Sofa & Types of Pianos

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How to Separate a Sectional Sofa

Sectional sofas are designed with hooks and latches that connect individual pieces, making them easy to detach, move, and rearrange.

• Locate the Connectors: Find the hooks, clasps, or latches that join the sofa sections. These are usually located underneath or between the sections.
• Detach the Sections: Gently lift or slide one section to unlock it from the connectors. Be careful not to force it to avoid damage.
• Move and Rearrange: Once separated, you can easily move, rearrange, or store the individual pieces as desired.

How Much Does A Piano Weigh?

There are three primary types of pianos: Grand, Upright, and Electric. The average upright piano weighs between 200-1,000 pounds.

• Grand pianos: The largest type of piano, also known as a Horizontal Piano due to its horizontal string alignment. Offers a rich, full sound but requires significant space.
• Upright pianos: The most common type of acoustic piano, also called a Vertical Piano because its strings are strung vertically. Designed to be more compact, making it ideal for smaller spaces.
• Electric pianos: Also known as Digital Pianos, they are popular among beginners and traveling performers. Lightweight and portable, making them easy to move and maintain.

2025-01-15 TIL: Placify and Artab

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Placify

At Placify, we aim to Create a truly personal map—one that lets you gather and organize all the place-related content you’ve saved across different platforms.

• The most beautiful things in life are not just things. They are people, places, memories, and pictures.

Artab

Get Inspired by the World’s Greatest Artworks in Every New Tab.

2025-01-14 TIL: WWE’s “Raw” and “SmackDown”

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WWE Raw and SmackDown

WWE’s “Monday Night Raw” and “Friday Night SmackDown” are the company’s two flagship programs, each offering unique content and styles to engage a wide audience.

• Both shows feature scripted storylines and predetermined match outcomes, which are standard in professional wrestling to enhance entertainment.
• Despite being scripted, the physical performances are very real, requiring wrestlers to undergo rigorous training to perform moves safely.

Personally, I found some segments uncomfortable to watch during last Saturday’s broadcast.

2025-01-13 TIL: Custom URI Schemes and Standard Web Links

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Custom URI Schemes and Standard Web Links

Custom URI schemes are application-specific protocols that allow apps to communicate with each other or be launched directly. They are defined by developers to enable deep linking into specific parts of an app.

• Example: A custom URI like myapp://section/page can open the “page” in the “section” of the app named “myapp”.

Standard web links use common protocols like HTTP or HTTPS to direct users to web content. When integrated with app linking mechanisms, they can open corresponding content within an app if installed, or fallback to a web browser if not.

• Example: A link like https://www.example.com/page can open the corresponding page within an app if installed; otherwise, it opens in the browser.

Here’s how these linking mechanisms are represented across major platforms:

Key Differences:

• Security:
  • Custom URI Schemes: Less secure; any app can register the same scheme, leading to potential conflicts or malicious hijacking.
  • Standard Web Links: More secure; rely on domain verification to ensure only authorized apps handle the links.
• Fallback Behavior:
  • Custom URI Schemes: If the app isn’t installed, the system may not know how to handle the link, potentially leading to errors or no action.
  • Standard Web Links: Provide a seamless user experience by opening the app if installed or defaulting to the web browser if not.
• Implementation Complexity:
  • Custom URI Schemes: Simpler to implement but require careful management to avoid conflicts.
  • Standard Web Links: Require setting up domain associations and hosting verification files but offer a more robust solution.

2025-01-09 TIL: WIIFM Principle & the Meaning of Level

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WIIFM

WIIFM stands for “What’s In It For Me”—a simple yet powerful question people naturally ask when facing change.

• This principle helps you understand stakeholders’ needs, motivations, and expectations.
• By applying WIIFM, you can tailor communication to show how changes benefit others, making it easier to gain their support and engagement.

Level

Level has multiple meanings depending on the context:

1. To make a surface flat or even.
   • Example: Level the wet cement before it sets.
2. To completely destroy a building or area.
   • Example: Devastating wildfires in the LA area have leveled entire neighborhoods as firefighting resources are stretched thin.

2025-01-09 TIL: city-roads, Earth Peel, llama-ocr & Rendezvous Meaning

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city-roads

city-roads allows you to render every road in any city at once using WebGL.

• Roads are fetched from OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API.
• To enhance download performance, ~3,000 cities with populations over 100,000 were indexed into a protobuf format.
• Name resolution is handled by Nominatim.
• You can customize the display and export visuals for further use.

Earth Peel

The Earth Peel explores how projections flatten Earth’s spherical surface into a 2D map.

• It highlights the trade-offs and distortions in flattening a round object.
• Check out The Impossible Map for a creative demonstration of projections using fruit.

llama-ocr

llama-ocr converts documents to Markdown using Llama 3.2 Vision.

• It leverages the free Llama 3.2 endpoint from Together AI to parse images into Markdown.
• Inspired by Zerox, a PDF-to-Markdown tool, this library focuses on image-based OCR for structured outputs.

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rendezvous

Rendezvous (noun) /ˈrɑːn.deɪ.vuː/

• An arranged meeting, often secret, at a specific place and time.
• A place where a particular group regularly gathers by arrangement or habit.

2025-01-08 TIL: ArcGIS Object Store, HTML’s Importance, htmx, and the Richter Scale

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ArcGIS Data Store object store

Object storage solutions are designed to handle large volumes of unstructured data. With ArcGIS Enterprise 11.4, the object store now serves as the primary location for:

• Hosted scene layer caches
• Hosted 3D tile layer caches
• Videos for a federated ArcGIS Video Server site
• Cached query responses for hosted feature layers

HTML Is Actually a Programming Language

HTML is arguably the most significant computing language ever created. Its simplicity and accessibility are its greatest strengths.

What other programmers might say dismissively is something HTML lovers embrace: Anyone can do it. Whether we’re using complex frameworks or very simple tools, HTML’s promise is that we can build, make, code, and do anything we want.

htmx

htmx (also stylized as HTMX) is an open-source front-end JavaScript library that extends HTML with custom attributes that enable the use of AJAX directly in HTML and with a hypermedia-driven approach.

• These attributes allow for the dynamic definition of a web page directly in HTML and CSS, without the need for writing additional JavaScript.
• These attributes allows tasks that traditionally required writing JavaScript to be done completely with HTML.

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Richter Magnitude Scale

The Richter Magnitude Scale is a system for measuring the size of earthquakes, developed by Charles F. Richter in 1935. Initially designed for local earthquakes, it became a foundation for subsequent seismic scales.

• Taiwan: 芮氏地震規模
• China Mainland: 里氏震级
• Hong Kong: 黎克特制地震震級