Installing R packages on Mint 17.1: cluster, KernSmooth, Matrix, nlme, mgcv
Installing R packages on Windows is easy: you run the install code and it always works. Not so on Linux! Here one sometimes has to install them thru apt-get (or…
Deleting files with empty extensions on Windows 8.1
I'm posting this here so I can find it more easily because this is at least the third time I had to google the issue to retrace my own steps…
Converting a data.frame to a numerical matrix in R, not so easy!
Edit 2019 You don't really need the below. Look at the `model.matrix()` function, which converts data frames into matrices for glmnet and similar function. Original post Sometimes you need to…
Approximate string matching in R
In trying to merge some data, I was confronted with a problem of matching up strings where the author had mutilated them. He had done so in two ways: cutting…
Getting free wifi forever in airports on Mint 17.1
Many airports have free wifi services. The problem with these is that they are time-limited, usually to 1 to 3 hours. This can be very annoying if one is stuck…
As AI improves, what is the long-term solution to spam?
I've thought about this question a few times but haven't found a good solution yet. The problem needs more attention. AI and computer recognition of images is getting better. I'll…
Copying WordPress installations with phpmyadmin
So this should be fairly easy according to various guides, but it is not. The goal is to create a test installation of Wordpress on the server, so we can…
Re: “How To Get Rid Of Unwanted Redirects In Google Search Results”
Link to article. Ever been annoyed by the overly long links one gets when one tries to copy a link from Google? Here is an example: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCoQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stat.gl%2FLinkClick.aspx%3Flink%3DAlkohol%252Fpublika%2B2010%2Balko.pdf%26tabid%3D109%26mid%3D494%26language%3Den-US&rct=j&q=alkoholindtag+pr+land+gr%C3%B8nland&ei=2ffcTZThBIaF-wblnOHJDw&usg=AFQjCNG-ZRltkvhL1RYHjT4uSEJWmmXxVQ&cad=rja These are very…
Two ideas for torrent clients
Automatic addition of trackers With the probable closure of The Pirate Bay (TPB) in the near future the torrent scene will be more decentralized. Especially if the TPB tracker goes…