Articles

The term *financial independence* indicates a state of finances in which an individual can fulfill primary needs without participating in employment. It is usually achieved when the difference between *recurring revenue*—corporate dividends, product sales, real‑estate rentals, etc.—and *living expenses* covers the basic quota for personal sustenance. The path to financial independence is usually undertaken by people with a strong desire for freedom, or by people with significant capital looking for smart ways to manage it. This goal is rarely achieved by luck—like a lottery win—but rather by a strong and disciplined management of personal finances, with a pinch of entrepreneurial skill. ...

*I remember one time that I was under a pretty heavy barbell doing chest presses. I was listening to the podcast and the host made a very good joke, I lost my temper, I almost dropped the weight on myself and bursted out laughing in the middle of a otherwise very silent but also very populated gym. Luckily, I kept a bit of self control and saved possibly a few ribs. So be advised, and **listen responsibly ;)**.* The discovery happened because I wanted to employ my daily commute to work to deepen my fitness knowledge amongst other things, confrontation is something that does not finds much space at the gym, people get there to workout and not much to talk. Scrolling through the iTunes podcast directory, health section, I found the Get Up and Code podcast and got intrigued. The description stated fitness for developers so I checked it out, hoping for a nicely tailored approach that might help me leverage some technical skills. ...

**Luck Surface Area** principle, credited to Jason Roberts, states that increments of **luck** in a certain field of interest can be achieved by **doing** and **telling** about it. The Formula The recipe may not sound new to many—the concept is ABC for influence and advertising—but what I find interesting is its simplicity (easy to remember and explain) and its applicability to personal branding. L = D * T ...

*Note: This article was originally written in 2014. ASP.NET vNext and KVM/KRE were early projects that later evolved into .NET Core and the modern .NET SDK. Instructions are kept for historical purposes.* The article will describe how to run ASP.NET vNext on Mac OS X. The process, requires multiple configurations and therefore some patience. Luckily, OS X already includes one of the pre-requirements, Ruby, 2.0 on Mavericks and Yosemite, 1.8.7 on Mountain Lion, Lion, and Snow Leopard. ...

The ErgoDox is a DIY ergonomic keyboard, featuring a split design—each half, one hand. The two halves are connected with a phone TRRS connector cable, while the connection to the PC—or Mac or Unix—is obtained through a detachable mini USB. History The project has been initiated by Dominic Beauchamp—aka Dox, from which the keyboard name derives—on the GeekHack.org forum; the design has been largely inspired by the Key64 project by Nestor Diaz. ...

Personal branding is a branch of marketing and a set of techniques for *nurturing* the public *perception of self*. I'm a software developer with interest in personal development and entrepreneurship, and this article discusses a few key principles I've learned over time and through literature. It’s a matter of survival We all live in times when big corporations dominate the web, when work‑contract stability is challenged every day by competition and outsourcing to the cheapest. Information is a first‑class citizen; HR departments can conduct most of their research through LinkedIn and Google. Change might be subtle but it relentlessly pulls the levers. ...

Filco Majestouch-2 Ninja Tenkeyless black The Filco Majestouch-2 Tenkeyless Ninja is a japanese mechanical keyboard that sport semi-blank keys, n-key rollover and it’s built like a tank… plus, it’s ninja! Here is why I love it and why I think you should do too: It’s mechanical For those who don’ t know: mechanicals keyboards engage physical switches when keys are pressed, whilst rubber domes on the counterpart, engage rubber membranes which close the electrical circuit. Latest are cheaper, spill-resistant, usually do not provide a significant tactile feedback; the foremost does, mechanicals are famous for providing a distinctive ‘clicky’ sound. This helps to relate the action and therefore acknowledge or autocorrect the key press . ...

This article explains how to achieve a portable and elegant logging solution with NLog and SQLite on the .NET platform with a few configurations. NLog NLog is a free, lightweight logging library for .NET. It supports many targets (files, databases, console, network, email, and more). nlog-project.org Install (NuGet Package Manager Console) PM> Install-Package NLog SQLite SQLite is a simple embedded database engine. No separate server daemon is required; the database is a single file (e.g., .db3). ...

MavensMate was a popular community plugin for the **Force.com** platform, built on the Sublime Text IDE (created and maintained by Joe Ferraro) as a free alternative to the official Force.com IDE. Under certain conditions on Windows 7/8 (often proxy/firewall configurations), installation could fail with an error similar to: Installation of Sublime Text plugin failed. This is likely due to the installer being unable to reach GitHub. If you are behind a firewall or using a proxy, you should configure git accordingly (google: git config --global https.proxy) and ensure your HTTPS/HTTPS_PROXY environment variable(s) are set properly. Otherwise, please log an issue on the MavensMate GitHub project. There is an existing GitHub issue with a workaround suggested by Joe Ferraro. The steps that worked for me were: ...

The Pomodoro Technique is a simple productivity method: Work 25 minutes on a well‑defined activity, no distractions Rest 5 minutes, or 15 minutes after 4 pomodoros Repeat Key benefits: Work with time: helps regulate work pace instead of focusing only on deadlines Eliminate burnout: ensures time to refocus; without a system, it’s easy to overwork Manage distractions: unrelated activities are deferred or scheduled into other pomodoros Work‑life balance: clear boundaries between work and free time make switching easier Here is a list of my favorite apps—in order of preference—for applying the technique on desktop: ...