Background: I just built a new computer, and "upgraded" to Ubuntu 12.04. I've been a fan of Ubuntu for a long time (first Debian, then Ubuntu because of the faster / more predictable release cycle). But you can add me to the list of people unimpressed with the "Unity ...

Something I didn't know until recently:

zsh does not require cd to change directories.

Using the directory as a command implies "cd". For example, instead of doing:

me@server:/home/me $ cd /tmp
me@server:/tmp $

You can just do:

me@server:/home/me $ /tmp
me@server:/tmp $

That ...

Every now and then I have to run a foreground job under sudo that doesn't want to die when I hit ^C. Then it's a hassle to ^Z, get the pid of the sudo job, and sudo kill that pid.

So I wrote a little script (or a ...

I recently found myself wanting to quickly figure out how far (both miles and driving time) it is to various destinations. At first I was keeping a Firefox tab open to Google Maps and kept keying in the address for the destination. Then I realized that I could make a ...