Notes
Atom FeedDownload and Convert Youtube Playlists to MP3 Files
These are two scripts to download a youtube playlist of videos, and convert the videos into MP3 files.
youtube-dl supports converting files automatically but requires ffmpeg to be installed on the machine
and visible in $PATH. convert.sh instead uses a ffmpeg docker container.
download.sh
#!/bin/bash
# Download a youtube playlist
set -euo pipefail
IFS=$'\n\t'
url="$1"
wget https://yt-dl.org/downloads/2021.06.06/youtube-dl-2021.06.06.tar.gz
tar xvf youtube-dl*
screen python3 youtube-dl/youtube-dl "$url"
convert.sh
#!/bin/bash
# This script converts an mp4 into an mp3
# It works by running ffmpeg in a docker container
set -euo pipefail
IFS=$'\n'
convert () {
input="$1"
output="$input.mp3"
docker run -v "$(pwd):$(pwd)" -w "$(pwd)" jrottenberg/ffmpeg:3.4-scratch \
-stats \
-i "./$input" -vn \
-acodec libmp3lame -ac 2 -qscale:a 4 -ar 48000 \
"./$output"
}
if [ -z "${1-}" ]; then
for f in $(find . -type f -name "*.mp4"); do
convert "$f"
done
else
convert "$1"
fi
Nobody Ever Got Fired for Copying FAANG
There’s a famous saying “Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM”. This once referred to IBM being a huge ubiquitous company that was a safe choice for being a technology vendor. Nowadays, though IBM is still a pretty large company (#42 on the Fortune 500), it’s outshined by newer larger tech companies like Facebook (#34), Apple (#3), Amazon (#2), Netflix (#115), and Google (#9). These FAANG companies share similar culture and technology and are frequently copied by other companies on things like interview process, internal tools, UX design, and compensation. I therefore propose that the 2020 version of this saying is “Nobody ever got fired for copying FAANG.”
PermalinkRemoving Token Authentication From Jupyter/iPython Notebooks
Jupyter (formerly iPython) notebooks by default require an authentication token to access. This is because the notebooks allow users to run arbitrary code so the token prevents access by non-authorized users. However, with a properly secured environment (running within a local network or not binding to a public network interface), there’s little need to set an authentication token. While the Jupyter documentation recommends using a password instead, it still doesn’t get around the fact that the default notebook configuration uses unencrypted http connections which allow any party to intercept or modify requests, making both tokens and passwords trivial to bypass. Therefore, to fully get rid of authentication on a Jupyter notebook:
- Make sure your notebook is not accessible to the wider internet.
- Run
jupyter notebook --generate-config - Uncomment the line
c.NotebookApp.token = ''and make sure the value is set to an empty string - Restart your notebook server
Debian and Ubuntu Releases
Debian Releases
| Version | Name | Release | End of Standard Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Bullseye | TBA | TBA |
| 10 | Buster | 2019-07-06 | 2022 |
| 9 | Stretch | 2017-06-17 | 2020-07-18 |
| 8 | Jessie | 2015-04-25 | 2018-06-17 |
| 7 | Wheezy | 2013-05-04 | 2016-06-04 |
| 6 | Squeeze | 2011-02-06 | 2014-07-19 |
Ubuntu Releases
| Version | Name | Release | End of Standard Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20.10 | Groovy Gorilla | 2020-10-22 | 2021-07 |
| 20.04 | Focal Fossa | 2020-08-06 | 2025-04 |
| 18.04 | Bionic Beaver | 2018-04-26 | 2023-04 |
| 16.04 | Xenial Xerus | 2016-04-21 | 2021-04 |
| 14.04 | Trusty Tahr | 2014-04-17 | 2019-04 |
| 12-04 | Precise Pangolin | 2012-04-26 | 2017-04-28 |
| 10.04 | Lucid Lynx | 2010-04-29 | 2015-04-30 |
| 8.04 | Hardy Heron | 2008-04-24 | 2013-05-09 |
Setting Up FastAI Fastbook on a Fresh Ubuntu Instance
This is how to set up the fastai environment on a fresh Ubuntu instance, for those of us who have a computer with a good Nvidia graphics card and Ubuntu and don’t want to use a cloud-based platform.
- Install nvidia CUDA drivers. So far, the most dependable guide that I’ve found has been this askubuntu post.
- Verify that the CUDA drivers have been installed correctly following this guide.
- Download fastbook with
git clone [email protected]:fastai/fastbook.git && cd fastbook. - Install the latest version of python -
sudo apt update && sudo apt install python3.9 python3.9-venv python3-setuptools - Create a virtual environment:
python3.9 -m venv env - Activate the virtual environment:
source env/bin/activate - Install a build requisite:
pip install wheel - Install packages:
pip install -r requirements.txt - Launch the notebook with
jupyter notebook