Martin Scorsese's Film School

The 85 films you need to see to know anything about film.

What suprised me about this list? how many of these films I had NOT seen.

KeyGrinder

So you and all your clan use one password for every stupid site that doesn't matter. I know you use a better/secure/unique p4sSw0rd for your banking sites but how can you possibly remember a different password for every account you have.

KeyGrinder is a program that provides theft-resistant passwords without you having to think much about them. Using the pwdHash algorithm you enter the website URL or account name and your simple easy to remember (and type) key/password. KeyGrinder then produces a reasonably secure password based on the website/account and your simple password. Then take this generated password and use it for the website's (so each of your sites/accounts have a unique password while you remember only one key.)

You end up with each website having a unique secure password while you remain the weak link (because you always use the same simple key to generate these passwords.) In other words, this process isolates risk from website/account security compromisses but will not protect you from angry girlfriends that you once trusted.

Download KeyGrinder from the Apple App Store, for iPhone and iPad. Or use the www.KeyGrinder.com website to generate the same passwords on the fly.

There is little useful documentation on the app but I did fine this blog post on how to use KeyGrinder. If you don't checkout the PwdHash project and think it is cool then most likely you will never seriously use KeyGrinder.

Security is inversely proportional to usability.

Auburn House Concerts bring music, audience closer - Auburn Journal

Every other month, an Auburn couple opens their doors to the community, inviting musicians and audiences to enjoy live music in an intimate home setting. From the Auburn Journal article published on February 17, 2012, page A12. Auburn House Concerts bring music, audience closer - Auburn Journal

MS Windows screen capture

Microsoft's Snipping Tool is part of the more complete Windows 7 packages.

I have been using Lightscreen at work and it meets my needs quite nicely. Just though I'd blog this for the day I am on a machine without my standard testing tools thumb drive.

Brownies

Learned this recipe from ATK, Season 11 Chewy Brownies. First made it for Sharon to take to Lark Camp 2011 to hand out (I wanted to have a couple of brownies but didn't want to have eaten the whole thing.) They were a big hit so I'm making them again to hand out as Christmas gifts to friends and coworkers.

Chewy Brownies Yield: 24 brownies (4 - 6 servings)

Calories: 254 per square

1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa

1½ teaspoons instant espresso (optional)

½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons boiling water

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted

½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2½ cups (17½ ounces) sugar

1¾ cups (8¾ ounces) all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon salt

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into ½-inch pieces

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving about a one-inch overhang on all sides. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Whisk cocoa, espresso powder, and boiling water together in large bowl until smooth. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted. Whisk in melted butter and oil. (Mixture may look curdled.) Add eggs, yolks, and vanilla and continue to whisk until smooth and homogeneous. Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated. Add flour and salt and mix with rubber spatula until combined. Fold in bittersweet chocolate pieces.
3. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and cool 1½ hours.
4. Using foil overhang, lift brownies from pan. Return brownies to wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve. Brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days (if well hidden.)

(From Cook’s Illustrated, March & April 2010 issue)

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Here is another posting for the same Cook's Illustrated chewy brownies recipe, looks like a great blog for finding cooking inspiration.

Variable Naming Conventions

The benefits of naming conventions in software code are generally recognized while specific "conventions" are debatable. Personally I'm looking for the implied intent and meaning of the source code, code that reads as a narrative. Here are the heuristics that I use (when not given a coding standard.)

• Compound identifiers, containing more that one word
• CamelCase the compound identifiers
• Start with a letter; [a-z,A-Z]
• Use only letters and numbers, no other chars like -_+~!. (Under_score is possible exception.)
• Mnemonic names built from a (informal) dictionary of shorthand strings.
• Start function identifiers with a cmdlet verb (Powershell convention).

Since I am currently developing in a .NET world the Microsoft recommendations also apply.

• UpperCamelCase for most identifiers.
• lowerCamelCase for parameters and variables.
• No type prefix hints.
• End the identifier with a base class name (optional).

And then there are the PowershellCommunity.org recommendations.

• ScriptAndGlobalFunctionNamesShouldFollowCmdletNamingStandards
• VerbsShouldBeSelectedFromStandardList
• ScriptAndGlobalFunctionNamesShouldBePascalCased
• CamelCaseVariableNames
• NounNamesShouldBeSpecific
• NounNamesShouldBeSingular
• ScriptsIntendedToBeDotSourcedShouldUseLibraryPrefix
• ProvideDescriptiveVariableNames
• AvoidHungarianNotation

Sail to other shores with Coding Guidelines (PDF), naming conventions of OBO Foundry, Hungarian Notation pros/cons, and Powershell best practices.

Upma

Two years ago I blogged about the Loughhaven restaurant. Well here is information on upma/uppammaa/upama (a spicy Indian dish using curry, vegetables and Cream of Wheat). Cream of Wheat, semolina and sooji; the names are many but the truth is one. Upma is good, make it the way you like it.

We tried toasting the sooji in a dry dutch oven and set it aside. Later used only two cups of water for a fluffier constancy. Sharon thought the wheat was a bit under cooked so next time we will use 2 ½ cups of water to a cup of sooji.

Below are a couple of videos that I referenced in developing the above recipe.

We tried the mold trick in this next video without using Pam, the upma came right out, no problem. (Maybe a non-fluffy version of the dish (more water) will cause it to stick to the cup.) Molding it certainly makes for a nice presentation, I put the yogurt on top and the pickle on the side.

If you know what you are doing this video is nice. She uses 3 cups of water to 1 cup of sooji.