Ikea Billy short bookcase

Okay so I have a wall with some bookcases on it and  clearly I need more shelves but I also want to keep the short bookcase in the middle as kind of a display area. Also I would love for them to all look the same.

The problem is, I do not have room for 3 bookcases without covering up a light switch. If I just had an extra 4 inches I could squeeze them all in. Now Ikea does sell a slimmer one but... (I often wonder what's the point, I mean I am sure it has its place but 15 inches is just not big enough.) Anyway I think it would just look odd.

So the plan is to make the short full width bookcase that Ikea sells a little skinnier. But after purchasing it I wonder why I didn't just buy a full size and only fill the bottom half with shelves. I would still have to make it skinnier but for the price and future movability it would have been the smarter move. Always second guessing things after it is done and cannot be returned! Or maybe It will just have to be version 2, oh well. Better luck next time 🤨? This is why I never get anything done!

But I digress, back to the plan! After measuring and then sitting on it for a day or two I measured again and realized I was off by almost 2 inches. Thankfully I had not made any cuts yet, but now I am mostly absolutely positive maybe that I need to take about 4 inches off the width of the bookcase. Maths is hard! Oh that made me remember the book I read Humble Pi, It's good and funny.

Yeah so... back to it... again. This is where I am currently with the project but I'll update this post and maybe add some pictures of the process once I'm done.

===== Update 6/??/2024 =====

So it's finnaly done! I finish the bookcase months ago but it has a wonkyness to it I'm sure one of my angles are off by a fraction of a degree causing it to skew just right jutting out one of the top corners by about a quarter to half an inch. I know not a big deal, but it is; it could be better. The second issue was the getting the shelves to fit right and drilling the holes for the Ikea shelf "pegs" on the shorter shelf planks. Which is what took so long, as I wanted to make sure they were square (eventhough the bookcase is awry) and I didn't have the equipment to do it and apparently I was having a difficult time asking a "friend" to use their table saw (I swear I don't have social issues). Anyway it's done, I wish I had done things differently, but I guess we can't know everything before we start a project.

TFTP Server in Snow Leopard

I have an old WRTP54G from Vonage and wanted to unlock it so I can setup my own VoIP with Asterisk. But in order to do that the instructions indicated I needed to have a tftp server setup using windows and that just looked like a lot of setup/work. So I looked at how to do it on a Mac and this is what I found.

You can start and stop tftp using the following commands

sudo launchctl load -F /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/tftp.plist

sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/tftp.plist

tftp files are stored in /private/tftpboot


Now That was Easy!

I did however still need a windows vbox to run cyt35.exe and I don't have the code or know what it does so I couldn't hack it from the mac. Maybe I'll dig into it some day.


TFTP [source]
WRTP54G Unlock [soruce]

Apple's Dictionary/Wikipedia Bug!

Update: Apple fixes Dictionary in 10.6.5, released today(10 Nov. 2010)!
Here is the File they changed:
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/DictionaryServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Wikipedia.wikipediadictionary/Contents/Info.plist

And What they changed in the Info.plist file:
<key>WikipediaDataURL</key>
<string>http://%@.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%@&amp;useskin=monobook</string>
<key>WikipediaDataVariantURL</key>
<string>http://%@.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%@&amp;variant=%@&amp;useskin=monobook</string>

I guess they liked my fix so much they decided to use it! And why couldn't they update this earlier?
====== End Update ======

Okay, I was about to post something completely different, but as I went to look up some information in Wikipedia (via Apple's Dictionary app) I ran into a snag. I could no longer scroll beyond the bottom of the window. (Ok you Mac users give it a try.)  I use Spotlight (command-space) then type in a word like "tree," select Definition and it brings up the Dictionary app. Now click on Wikipedia and you have some good info on trees except like I said you can't scroll any further down.

So, Why did this happen? Well, it's rather simple Wikipedia wanted to enhance/update their user interface. You can read about the changes here. No fault there, they have every right to innovate and improve. So now it's up to Apple to fix. "Well, what are they waiting for," you ask? That's a good question considering Wikipedia has been testing these changes since November 2009 and I'm sure Apple has known about it.

Alas, I guess it's up to the hackers and tech geeks to fix until the big companies decide it's important enough for them to do.

Here's the info and education on the fix:

Wikipedia default skin(look) was Monobook, their new one is Vector. If we modify the Dictionary's Wikipedia search string we can force it to use the old skin by adding useskin=monobook. (You can read more fun stuff to do with the search string @ MediaWiki.)

The file to change is deep in the system frameworks so be careful not to edit anything else or it could break something.

Warning: Edit the file at your own risk, I am not responsible if you break something!

The file: (starting from the root directory)

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/DictionaryServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Wikipedia.wikipediadictionary/Contents/Info.plist

What to change:

<key>WikipediaDataURL</key>

<string>http://%@.wikipedia.org/wiki/%@</string>

To:

<key>WikipediaDataURL</key>

<string>http://%@.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%@&amp;useskin=monobook</string>

The file (Info.plist) and the folder it's in (Contents) have read only privilege's, so if you really want to make the change and you don't know how you will have to look up file/folder permissions and how to change them on a mac. Good Luck!

Note (16 Oct. 2010):  I mentioned this in a comment below. If you decided to test out the URL in your browser you will get an error when using &amp; However Dictionary.app WILL crash if you only use &! 

Doorbell Chime

Back in May of 2009 we decided to repaint our living room. In the process I removed the doorbell cover and chime. No big loss, I didn't really miss it (in fact we kind of regret having a doorbell at times now), but it did leave some wire's hanging out of the wall. I finally decided we needed to do something about the wires. Sure I could just reinstall the old one; everything worked, but I've never liked the whole look of a plastic box sticking out of the wall (If something goes on a wall it should be decorative or functional.) While, the doorbell cover is marginally functional (it covers the ugly chime,) it doesn't do anything but sit there and detract from the rest of the decor in the room. On the other hand a thermostat while it can be ugly it displays the temperature and allows me to control my environment (functional.) It was decided that our new doorbell chime should be decorative as well as functional.

The process of finding anything decorative my wife and I agree on is a lengthy and often stressful one. But along and alas we finally picked a new chime, the Craftmade Hand Carved Scroll Design Chime in Matte Black - (CH1515-BK.). After it arrived and we opened it up to take a look. It has real glass with an Tea stained/frost to it and the whole thing is very solid. After holding it up in place we decided it would look really awesome if it had a light in it, (considering it looks like an old time lantern.) I said, "Sure I can do that."

Apple's MagSafe Power Adapter

Update: It's up to Apple's discretion and I'm not sure if they are still doing it but, if you bring your frayed adapter into the store they may just give you a replacement. As long as it isn't to mangled and shows normal use.

Now I'm usually a big fan of Apple but some things they just don't get right. I got my MacBook Pro used, not a bad deal everything works great but noticed a bulge in the cable by the MagSafe connector. I thought nothing of it but I was still cautious, trying to not bend it wrong and eventually have it break. Well, over the course of a month the cable started to deteriorate. So much for being cautious. This last week it would only work if I held it just right. I had enough! I thought okay I’ll just get a new one. Sure, for $80 from Apple! What a waste of money when the only thing wrong was a bad spot in the cable. Okay so it’s a little more complex than that. The insulation was melting, the wires had poked through and started looking like steel wool. Not a good sign!