Tips and tricks for geeks

64 things every geek should know.

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Queen's Gambit Chess References

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Queen's Gambit is the first series I've binge-watched end-to-end in a very long time. Not since Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown have I found a series worth investing so much time into. And it's fitting, considering that although I've been playing chess since my father taught me the game as a kid, and I've dabbled in it off and on ever since, it's the now 9-months long COVID-19 social isolation that pushed me into the next level of obsession with chess.  What follows is a list of all of the factual chess references I could keep track of while watching this riveting series. I have attempted to omit anything that appeared to me to be fictional references, of which there were many. Episode 1: Openings Scholar's Mate Sicilian defense  Levenfish variation  Najdorf variation Queen's Gambit  Modern Chess Openings (book) Reti opening  A simultaneous  Episode 2: Exchanges Backward pawns Forks Knight-rook combination  My Chess Career (Jose Capablanca's aut...
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Milwaukee Appliance Hand Truck

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Milwaukee Appliance Hand Truck, leaning against my shed Also known as a cart or a dolly. The model is HDA700. I paid around $120 for it. Here's a list of the features. Wrought iron frame 800 pound load capacity 6 inch non-marking wheels (solid, non-inflatable, never go flat) Stair climbers to help move loads up and down stairs and curbs Padding to prevent the cart from damaging the appliance (this is the white strip in the picture above) Belt or strap that goes around the appliance to secure it to the cart and keep it in place Manual ratchet belt tightener, the buckle-like part at one end of the belt (more on this below) Belt tightener handle (this is the red handle in the picture above) to add more tension to the belt once the manual ratchet has been used to the tighten the belt  I recently used this hand truck to move a big ass 320 pound refrigerator out of my garage (where it was delivered) and up a couple of steps to the deck, up one more step through the doubl...
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Revolutionary Agile Project Management with RTC

[DISCLAIMER: I have NO monetary relationship with IBM or any of its subsidiaries.] If you develop any serious software, I'm sure you're tired of manual steps required to collaborate among the various tools involved in the process of Agile software development. You need to take a hard look at IBM's Rational Team Concert (RTC) for its ability to facilitate collaboration among the multitude of tools development shops use for managing requirements, stories, code, builds, tests, deployments, issues, defects and all of the various threads that run through a large software development effort. Hint: RTC has legendary Eclipse pedigree. I've been using RTC for about a month now and strongly recommend it as a solid option for truly end-to-end Agile software development . You may be familiar with other Agile Project Management (APM) tools such as Rally . I've used Rally extensively and it's a good product. RTC, however, is in a league of its own. It has no real compe...
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