Category: On the Side

amazon-orders for Python

amazon-orders is an unofficial library that provides a command line interface alongside a programmatic API that can be used to interact with Amazon.com’s consumer-facing website. This works by parsing website data from Amazon.com. A nightly build validates functionality to ensure its stability, but as Amazon provides no official API to use, this package may break at …

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java-ngrok – a Java wrapper for ngrok

java-ngrok is a Java wrapper for ngrok that manages its own binary, making ngrok available via a convenient Java API. ngrok is a reverse proxy tool that opens secure tunnels from public URLs to localhost, perfect for exposing local web servers, building webhook integrations, enabling SSH access, testing chatbots, demoing from your own machine, and more, and its made even more …

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hookee – command line webhooks, on demand

hookee is a utility that provides command line webhooks, on demand! Dump useful request data to the console, process requests and responses, customize response data, and configure hookee and its routes further in any number of ways through custom plugins. Installation hookee is available on PyPI and can be installed using pip: pip install hookee or conda: conda install -c conda-forge hookee That’s …

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pyngrok – a Python wrapper for ngrok

pyngrok is a Python wrapper for ngrok that manages its own binary and puts it on your path, making ngrok readily available from anywhere on the command line and via a convenient Python API. ngrok is a reverse proxy tool that opens secure tunnels from public URLs to localhost, perfect for exposing local web servers, building webhook integrations, enabling SSH access, …

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Twilio-Powered Air Quality Texting Service

With wildfire season upon us, use this handy texting tool to find out what the air quality is in your area. Simply text your zip code to (415) 212-4229 for air quality updates. You can also add “map” to the text to be sent an image of your region. This service isn’t just useful for individuals with …

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Alex and Jess Are Raising Our Future

“Talk is cheap.” That’s what we say. And, to a degree, it’s true. But bear this in mind: all action is precipitated by talk. People will often try to silence your voice expressly for that reason — because they know it will lead to action. In the age where hating on millenials is trendy, dismissing the value …

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Ernie’s Adventure

What … Is This? If you’re like my brother and me, you love old-timey computer games almost more than the latest and greatest shoot-em-up.  For as long as I can remember, my brother and I have loved playing classic puzzle games like King’s Quest, Commander Keen (yah, I realize that’s not really a puzzle game), …

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The Question Project

Music, as defined by Webster, is “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity.” This has come to be the generally accepted definition of music. However, Webster also defines music as, “An agreeable sound.” Sound, by its second …

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Hotel California

Joe Kmetz and I were on our way to Krista’s house over Turkey Break and I had designated Joe as the DJ for the trip. At some point during the drive we ended up listening to “Hotel California,” probably the best song the Eagles ever wrote and performed. This spawned a discussion as to the …

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The Question of Music, Meaning, and Life Project

After viewing a few John Cage videos on YouTube (like this one, this one, and possibly this one), I thought to myself, “What the heck … I could write this crap.” And so, using his song 4’33” as my deepest inspiration, I proceeded to do just that. In fact, I made an entire album, with …

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