All posts by Sean

Install Python module earthpy on Windows

Programming, Technical, Windows, , ,

I encountered numerous errors when I attempted to install the earthpy Python module and here’s how I eventually got it to work:

pip install wheel
pip install pipwin

pipwin install numpy
pipwin install pandas
pipwin install shapely
pipwin install gdal
pipwin install seaborn
pipwin install fiona
pipwin install pyproj
pipwin install rasterio

pip install earthpy

NOTE: both pip and pipwin are used.

Continue reading Install Python module earthpy on Windows →

Top 5 “new” SingStar annoyances

gaming, Whinging

The updated version of SingStar has some real backward steps in it. Here’s the ones I dislike the most:

  1. Having to re-enter your name in the High Score table after every song. Ugh.
  2. Having to remember to disable that 2nd player mic everytime you pick that first song of the session. I never remember and always have to restart.
  3. Not being able to navigate in the reverse direction in the song list, i.e. Z=>A. It doesn’t wrap around.
  4. Lack of navigation and volume controls in post-song media Gallery.
  5. 3 millions point. WTF?

Hide “related” articles on Facebook

Technical, Whinging

Facebook has (not that) recently added the “related” articles feature which displays extra links beneath a News Feed story when you click a link in that story.

I can’t stand it as it changes the length of the page and makes me lose where I was in the page.

Disable this behaviour with Adblock by adding these filters:
www.facebook.com##DIV[data-ownerid^="u_jsonp"]
www.facebook.com##DIV[data-ownerid^="u_ps"]

Continue reading Hide “related” articles on Facebook →

Firefox unable to “permanently store this exception”

Technical, Whinging

When visiting sites over HTTPS that use a self-signed or expired certificate Firefox will stop dead in it’s tracks with a “This Connection is Untrusted” message. Annoying but necessary given the web-savviness of the majority of net denizens nowadays.

On occasion when clicking “Add Exception…” the option to “permanently store this exception” will be greyed out. Very annoying. Especially when it’s my test server and I created the self-signed cert and I KNOW it’s not valid.

The Solution

The only reliable solution I’ve found is to delete (part of?) Firefox’s certificate database. The file (on Windows 7/Vista) is:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\
Profiles\<random-string>.default\cert8.db

Note, you will have to quit FF first. Annoying.

Note to self: try and find a HTTPFox clone for Chrome so I can finally free myself from this awful browser.

How to use upgrades in Mass Effect (PC)

Identity

Open the inventory and click the box(es) to the left of the item’s coloured icon. This will show all the upgrades in your inventory for that item.

Mass Effect inventory screen

Maybe I just missed the relevant part of the Inventory tutorial (was there one?) but it wasn’t immediately obvious to me how to use weapon and armour upgrades.

I knew I was looting items I could use and was wondering where they went. After some unsuccessful googling I finally figured it out so I thought it deserved a post.

Magicka doesn’t save

gaming, Whinging

So I shelled out my hard earned and bought Magicka on Steam. It looked like a fun casual game.

I played for 21 minutes and reached the 1st checkpoint and thought it would be safe to quit.

Wrong.

Apparently, according to many forum posts, the game only saves at the end of each “chapter”. Seems this isn’t a casual game at all. It’s the equivalent of an old-school hardcore platformer. I’m too old for that kind of shit.

Uninstalled.

At least I only wasted 3 bucks.