Danny's Space

It is the third day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The reports have told of tanks entering border crossings and aircraft bombing airports and military targets well inside the country. It is clear that these actions by Russia is unwanted and uncalled for even taking into account the two separatist regions. There are no armed conflicts within Ukraine. Ukraine should have the right to work out its own problems with these separatist regions.  More over there are no guarantees that Russia will stop its invasion of Ukraine once security is restored to these separatist regions. In fact Putin explicitly calls for the government of Ukraine to surrender. It's open war against an independent European country!  There are around 400 Filipino workers in Ukraine according to our embassy. The plan is to evacuate them to Poland and Polish authorities have allowed this even if they don't have a visa.  The United States and the European Union are implementing a series of economic sanct...

BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:4.0 EMAIL;PREF= 1:d327roque@gmail.com FN:Donato Roque N:Roque;Donato;;; TEL;VALUE=TEXT:09185721710 X-MOZILLA-HTML;VALUE=BOOLEAN:TRUE UID:670c5491-a0ad-486f-9d33-8caa2afc7516 END:VCARD Thunderbird email client has been updated since I last used it. I am using version 91.5 in Ubuntu 20.04. I like the smooth desktop integration in the Ubuntu Gnome hybrid. I regard it a hybrid because it isn't pure Gnome. It has a lot of modifications. It handles better than evolution. My issue with evolution went away when I open Thunderbird. My issue is mainly how slow evolution downloads or syncs messages. It is so bad that I would rather open Gmail in the browser than wait. I still compose my emails in the desktop application. Encryption in Thunderbird is no longer an add-on. It is integrated in the application. This makes it easier to use OpenPGP to sign and encrypt my emails. I can open Google Calendar (yes, the web interface) within the clien...

Two things I've been focusing for a few days lately are keepassxc and thunderbird. Congratulations to keepassxc devs and all the people involved. It works and it works well. It works in linux and it works in android. I am also keeping thunderbird as a sort of backup to evolution. I know most of you use Gmail in the browser but hear me out. There's a reason for desktop email still. I still prefer desktop email clients for customization and security. Configured well that is.

I really like Converge ICT my ISP, my Internet provider. I got it last year April. After barely seven months of the initial base plan I applied to have a speed upgrade to 300 Mbps. They notified me that they are working on it. I thought that because of the lockdown it is going to take some time. No. Within days I am getting 590 Mbps downloads and 300 Mbps uploads. My Statement of Account, my bill, meanwhile remained the same.  So after four months of enjoying fast speeds and not getting billed for the upgrade plan, my "correct" bill arrives by email.  They welcomed me to the new plan and here's your official bill thank you.  I used to post every upgrade to software in Linux. I am more interested in amazing stuff. Like when such changes prove to be an addition to more efficiency and stability across the board. Like what? Like bluetooth in linux, like printers in linux and like ZFS. ZFS is new and experimental but I've been using it for two years now. I love it. My data...

My mother slowly turned our over size house into apartment units - and commercial units. We live on a major avenue so there are a lot of commercial traffic in front of the house. She did not do this in one construction frenzy but stretched it out for several years. Finishing some sections first and then leasing it. So some money is coming in as rental income and we did not get buried in debt while we essentially build a new house. Yes we are still living in the property while all these are happening. Somehow we managed.  January of every year is business license renewal. Local and National taxes for businesses are paid. Shops and offices are inspected or readied for inspection by the municipal engineers and the fire department and if your business is food then your place is visited by the sanitary department.  It used to have a dead line around the 20th. The municipal government passed a resolution extending the period of licensing up to March 31st. They also waived penalties ...