Posts by Brendan McKenzie, a software developer and traveller from Melbourne, Australia. https://www.bmck.au en-us Sat, 11 Apr 2026 23:37:29 GMT Sat, 11 Apr 2026 23:37:29 GMT Monkeys All rights reserved 2026, Brendan McKenzie hello@brendanmckenzie.com (Brendan McKenzie) Whilst "surival of the fittest" originated as a simplified way to describe natural selection, applying this concept to human society fundamentally misunderstands both evolution and human development. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/survival-of-the-fittest https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/survival-of-the-fittest Fri, 08 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT Helping you navigate different bidet systems with confidence and cultural awareness. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/travel-guide-to-bidet-systems-around-the-world https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/travel-guide-to-bidet-systems-around-the-world Wed, 06 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT Implement domain-level redirects with CloudFront using this Terraform stack, providing an efficient, secure way to handle URL redirection at the edge. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/redirects-with-cloudfront-functions https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/redirects-with-cloudfront-functions Wed, 30 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT Have you ever noticed how boiling water emits a distinct smell compared to water at room temperature? This phenomenon arises from the interaction of heat with various compounds in the water, altering their volatility and enhancing our sensory perception. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/why-boiling-water-smells-different-from-room-temperature-water https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/why-boiling-water-smells-different-from-room-temperature-water Wed, 24 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT Explore the mysterious world of mushrooms—from their unique biological traits and significant health benefits to their ecological roles and cultural impact, including their intriguing portrayal in 'Star Trek: Discovery'—in this comprehensive exploration of one of nature’s most fascinating organisms. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/the-fascinating-world-of-mushrooms https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/the-fascinating-world-of-mushrooms Sat, 27 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT This post delves into the nuanced distinctions between soup, cordial, and cereal, exploring whether breakfast cereal qualifies as soup and if soup is merely a chunky version of cordial. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/the-culinary-conundrum-soup-cordial-and-cereal-explained https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/the-culinary-conundrum-soup-cordial-and-cereal-explained Wed, 03 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT Exploring the intricate historical narrative and strategic decisions behind Captain James Cook's pivotal settlement along Australia's east coast, shedding light on the geopolitical, navigational, and exploratory factors that guided this momentous chapter in colonial history. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/navigating-uncharted-waters-the-strategic-settlement-of-australias-east-coast-by-captain-james-cook https://www.bmck.au/posts/2024/navigating-uncharted-waters-the-strategic-settlement-of-australias-east-coast-by-captain-james-cook Mon, 29 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT Manifest Destiny drove America westward in the 19th century, while the Doctrine of Discovery justified European colonization with religious authority. Both ideologies, marked by divine justification, fueled expansion and conquest, resulting in cultural disruption and lasting impacts on indigenous communities. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/manifest-destiny-and-the-doctrine-of-discovery https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/manifest-destiny-and-the-doctrine-of-discovery Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT The Moon's appearance during the day is due to its reflective nature, its position in the sky, and atmospheric conditions, making it a fascinating celestial phenomenon to observe. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/mystery-of-the-daytime-moon https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/mystery-of-the-daytime-moon Thu, 28 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT A step-by-step guide on converting Parallels hard drive files for use with VMWare Fusion. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/converting-parallels-hard-drives-to-vmware-fusion https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/converting-parallels-hard-drives-to-vmware-fusion Tue, 04 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT Discussing the quirk in Javascript where months are zero-based while days and years are 1-based. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/understanding-zerobased-months-in-javascript https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/understanding-zerobased-months-in-javascript Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT Exploring and resolving an issue with WordPress's Elementor select plugin and key values https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/troubleshooting-hyphens-in-elementors-select-control-values-in-php https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/troubleshooting-hyphens-in-elementors-select-control-values-in-php Mon, 15 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT Exploring Rousseau's social contract theory that challenges the assumption of inherent sociability in humans, proposing that individuals willingly enter into collective agreements for their benefit. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/the-social-contract https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/the-social-contract Thu, 11 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT Discussing the lexical similarities and differences between Spanish, Italian, and French, and exploring why Spanish and Italian are more similar to each other than to French. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/a-comparative-study-of-spanish-italian-french-and-portuguese https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/a-comparative-study-of-spanish-italian-french-and-portuguese Mon, 17 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT Exploring why AWS Cognito allows for using refresh tokens to renew access tokens but doesn't allow for renewing refresh tokens, and how this approach helps to balance convenience with security https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/aws-cognito-and-the-tradeoff-between-convenience-and-security-in-token-renewal https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/aws-cognito-and-the-tradeoff-between-convenience-and-security-in-token-renewal Wed, 12 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT To capture stunning images of magnificent wildlife and breathtaking landscapes, it's essential to have the right equipment and clothing. In this post, we'll look at some of the essential gear and clothing you'll need for an African safari adventure. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/essential-gear-and-clothing-for-capturing-stunning-images-on-an-african-safari https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/essential-gear-and-clothing-for-capturing-stunning-images-on-an-african-safari Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT Exploring the etymology of the words "Arctic" and "Antarctic" and delving into the history of exploration and scientific research in these remote and extreme environments. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/the-etymology-and-history-of-the-arctic-and-antarctic https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/the-etymology-and-history-of-the-arctic-and-antarctic Sun, 12 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT Exploring the relationship between the Falklands War and Argentina's economic history, particularly with respect to British investment and foreign debt https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/economic-history-of-argentina-from-british-investment-to-foreign-debt https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/economic-history-of-argentina-from-british-investment-to-foreign-debt Sun, 05 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT Discussing the key differences between the platforms, including services offered, pricing, security, support, and ease of use. Additionally, it highlights how Terraform can be used with all of these platforms to automate infrastructure management. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/comparing-azure-vs-aws-which-cloud-platform-is-right-for-you https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/comparing-azure-vs-aws-which-cloud-platform-is-right-for-you Sat, 04 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT Exploring the origins of coffee, its introduction to Italy, and the development of Italian coffee culture, including the invention of iconic drinks like espresso and cappuccino. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/how-coffee-became-synonymous-with-italy https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/how-coffee-became-synonymous-with-italy Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT Exploring how tomatoes became a popular ingredient in Italian cuisine, tracing their introduction to Italy in the late 16th century, their initial use for ornamental purposes, and the rise of pizza as a significant factor in their widespread popularity. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/tomatoes-in-italian-cuisine https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/tomatoes-in-italian-cuisine Fri, 24 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT Configure Lambda in a VPC without losing access to external services. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/building-a-vpc-for-lambda-functions-with-terraform https://www.bmck.au/posts/2023/building-a-vpc-for-lambda-functions-with-terraform Wed, 22 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT Arguing the case for fully native mobile applications. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2022/argument-for-native-mobile-apps https://www.bmck.au/posts/2022/argument-for-native-mobile-apps Fri, 07 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT Investigating the possibility of Typescript functions on Lambda without transpilation. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2022/typescript-on-aws-lambda https://www.bmck.au/posts/2022/typescript-on-aws-lambda Sat, 02 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT A simple description on how to deploy code to a Linux server using Octopus Deploy and Github Actions https://www.bmck.au/posts/2022/automated-deployments-to-linux-servers https://www.bmck.au/posts/2022/automated-deployments-to-linux-servers Thu, 28 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT The problem of building websites is frequently not a technical one to solve, but a strategic one https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/the-problem-building-a-website https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/the-problem-building-a-website Fri, 05 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT How to host multiple WebSocket servers within one instance of Express web server https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/multiple-websocket-servers-in-a-single-express-instance https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/multiple-websocket-servers-in-a-single-express-instance Sat, 28 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT There’s no good reason to not use Typescript anymore. This is a quick guide on how to start a NodeJS project with Typescript from the get-go. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/starting-a-typescript-node-project https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/starting-a-typescript-node-project Thu, 29 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT Configuring Umbraco to log to Azure's Application Insights https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/umbraco-logging-to-azure-application-insights https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/umbraco-logging-to-azure-application-insights Fri, 25 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT Installing the bare minimum for Umbraco https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/umbraco-server-configuration https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/umbraco-server-configuration Fri, 21 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT A couple of IIS (URL Rewrite 2) redirect configurations I use regularly https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/common-redirects-with-iis https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/common-redirects-with-iis Mon, 17 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT How to apply an IP whitelist/restriction on Azure's Application Gateway https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/ip-restricting-azure-application-gateway https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/ip-restricting-azure-application-gateway Fri, 07 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT Uncovering a major pitfall of overusing the CSS Grid https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/google-chrome-performance-issues-with-css-grid https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/google-chrome-performance-issues-with-css-grid Wed, 05 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT Mindless dribble about the economy versus humanity https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/the-economy-isnt-real https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/the-economy-isnt-real Thu, 22 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT Throwing my opinion out there on when to use interfaces over types and vice-versa https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/typescript-interfaces-and-types https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/typescript-interfaces-and-types Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT Addressing observed patterns with DOM updates in React applications https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/issues-with-direct-dom-manipulation-in-react https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/issues-with-direct-dom-manipulation-in-react Thu, 15 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT The middle-ground between back-end and front-end development https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/backend-for-frontend https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/backend-for-frontend Mon, 22 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT Exploring the difference in how Gatsby and NextJS build their pages https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/nextjs-for-gatsby-build-phases https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/nextjs-for-gatsby-build-phases Wed, 10 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT The main hurdle artificial intelligence must overcome to achieve domination is our trust https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/trust-ais-roadblock-to-domination https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/trust-ais-roadblock-to-domination Sat, 06 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT The best bits of Sitecore https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/sitecore-best-bits https://www.bmck.au/posts/2021/sitecore-best-bits Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT A quick guide on how to encrypt values in a web.config file https://www.bmck.au/posts/2020/encrypting-webconfig-values https://www.bmck.au/posts/2020/encrypting-webconfig-values Tue, 21 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT If you want to build useful software, use it https://www.bmck.au/posts/2019/building-solid-useful-and-usable-software https://www.bmck.au/posts/2019/building-solid-useful-and-usable-software Sun, 17 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT Building a pure serverless CDN with image processing in AWS using the Serverless framework, Cloudfront, Lambda and S3 https://www.bmck.au/posts/2019/serverless-cdn https://www.bmck.au/posts/2019/serverless-cdn Thu, 12 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT Implementing an abstracted method of CRUD operations with GraphQL, Entity Framework Core and JSON Patch https://www.bmck.au/posts/2019/graphql-entity-framework-core-and-json-patch https://www.bmck.au/posts/2019/graphql-entity-framework-core-and-json-patch Sat, 06 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT Overcoming an issue with indexing lists of data on Azure Search https://www.bmck.au/posts/2019/sitecore-indexing-arrays-with-azure-search https://www.bmck.au/posts/2019/sitecore-indexing-arrays-with-azure-search Sun, 31 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT Before we discovered the Helix framework developed by Sitecore our projects were disorganised, to say the least. We had no real guideline to follow when building out our solutions. Helix changed that. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2018/lessons-with-sitecore-helix https://www.bmck.au/posts/2018/lessons-with-sitecore-helix Sat, 03 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT The prerequisites for installing Sitecore 9 using SIF are *technically* detailed in the installation guide. However it's a bit obscure. Here's a summarised list of additional packages that need to be installed to run the SIF installation tool for Sitecore 9. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2018/sitecore-9-prerequisites-sif https://www.bmck.au/posts/2018/sitecore-9-prerequisites-sif Tue, 27 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMT All Sitecore documentation directs users to use the SIF or SIF-less tools to install Sitecore. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2018/installing-sitecore-9-manually https://www.bmck.au/posts/2018/installing-sitecore-9-manually Wed, 21 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMT As developers, learning is part of our job, rarely are we faced with a problem where the solution is obvious and straightforward. Understanding the problem is a learning in itself. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2017/what-did-you-learn-this-week https://www.bmck.au/posts/2017/what-did-you-learn-this-week Thu, 16 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMT I have been playing around a lot with AWS Lambda lately, writing most of my functions in Javascript. It made me wonder what other languages/platforms would be well suited to such an environment. Javascript works well because it's lightweight and flexible. Lambda has the option for Java but has some performance issues due to the spinup time of the JVM. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2016/serverless-net-core https://www.bmck.au/posts/2016/serverless-net-core Sun, 19 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT I work for a digital agency - Deepend. We primarily build and maintain content managed websites for clients. We are platform and technology agnostic meaning we deal with a lot of different programming languages, operating systems and databases. That's great for me because it gives me the freedom to play with a whole assortment of toys. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2016/going-serverless https://www.bmck.au/posts/2016/going-serverless Tue, 07 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT Yesterday I completed my first ever Spartan Race. Leading up to it I was nervous and excited. Excited for all the obstacles, nervous because it had been so cold lately that I was scared I'd get hypothermia. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2016/spartan-race https://www.bmck.au/posts/2016/spartan-race Sun, 05 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT One of the hardest questions to be asked as a programmer who primarily does web development is: 'How much for a website?' It's one of those questions that doesn't really have an exact answer. 'How much do you want to pay for a website?' is probably a better question. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2016/so-you-want-a-website https://www.bmck.au/posts/2016/so-you-want-a-website Fri, 03 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT I was tasked with implementing some extra levels of validation on the registration form of a website I built. Registration was a simple AngularJS form that hit an ASP.NET WebAPI endpoint. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2015/pesky-adblock https://www.bmck.au/posts/2015/pesky-adblock Sat, 30 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT Umbraco is a powerful CMS that isn't overly intrusive. It can work nicely side-by-side your web appliction providing a nice and easy way to manage dynamic content pages. The latest version also has a nice fresh UI. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2015/umbraco-specification-file https://www.bmck.au/posts/2015/umbraco-specification-file Fri, 16 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT It's a terrible name, but maybe one day I'll figure a better one. Either way... https://www.bmck.au/posts/2014/actions-pattern https://www.bmck.au/posts/2014/actions-pattern Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMT I was looking for a method to abstract away integrating my RESTful services for regular CRUD operations. There's ngResource, but it's a bit voodoo and restrictive. I wanted to come up with a solution that was a bit more simplictic that's also not surrounded by magic. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2014/angularjs-models https://www.bmck.au/posts/2014/angularjs-models Mon, 18 Aug 2014 00:00:00 GMT I am currently developing a website that will entirely be a Single Page Application (SPA). I started building the back-end in D and the front-end in AngularJS. I decided after a couple of weeks that Jeff Atwood was right in saying 'Storage is cheap, programmers are expensive.' Though D is a useful language, it was taking me too long to produce useful RESTful API endpoints, so I decided to make the switch to Flask given my familiarity with it. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2014/flask-angularjs-and-cors https://www.bmck.au/posts/2014/flask-angularjs-and-cors Tue, 05 Aug 2014 00:00:00 GMT I have spent the last few days learning a bit of D, I have contributed to a library, written my own library and developed a basic understanding of the language. It comes across as a very powerful and developer-friendly language. However there are a few downsides to it. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2014/thoughts-on-d https://www.bmck.au/posts/2014/thoughts-on-d Thu, 17 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT In the ideal world is a great way to start any thought, then reality comes in and kills all your big ideas. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2014/musings-about-web-application-development https://www.bmck.au/posts/2014/musings-about-web-application-development Fri, 11 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT My website once was an ASP.NET MVC website that was very full featured. I realised that most of the features weren't actually being used and I wanted to free up some spacing on my webhost. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2014/running-jekyll-on-heroku https://www.bmck.au/posts/2014/running-jekyll-on-heroku Fri, 04 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT About a year ago I wrote a post suggesting how one could approach the Repository and Unit of Work patterns when using Entity Framework, at the time I was somewhat new to Entity Framework and it was a shiny new toy that could do everything. Since then I've been involved in quite a few projects and though it is quite a nice framework, I've concluded that it's not the one tool to rule them all. I also realised that the Repository pattern isn't always the best approach to take. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2013/alternative-to-entity-framework-and-the-repository-pattern https://www.bmck.au/posts/2013/alternative-to-entity-framework-and-the-repository-pattern Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT I came across a curious piece of code as I was working my way through the project I work day-in-day-out on; not that curious pieces of code are rare in this project. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2013/unique-file-name https://www.bmck.au/posts/2013/unique-file-name Fri, 04 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT I am on a mission to find good coffee using Flat White café in Soho (London, UK) as my benchmark. I thought it was impossible here in Toronto, but I was wrong. Here's my finding from the delightful Te Aro Coffee Roasters on Queens East and Ossington. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/coffee-heaven-in-toronto-te-aro https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/coffee-heaven-in-toronto-te-aro Wed, 12 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT You know what grinds my gears? Long URLs, URLs littered with UTM tracking information, and YouTube URLs that contain more than they need - which is just the video ID. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/clipboard-cleaner https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/clipboard-cleaner Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT As chaotic as the advertising world is, working at a couple of agencies in London gave me perspective and a lot of insight into the way things should be done; sometimes this was done inversely: I could see what was being done and realised that it wasn't exactly the right way to do it, but it made me realise a way that what was being done could be adapted to a more practical way. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/developers-are-not-designers https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/developers-are-not-designers Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT The summit of Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest point in all of Africa at 5,985m above sea level (ASL). One believed origin of the name is derived from the Chaga word 'Kilimankyaro' meaning 'difficult mountain to climb;' had we known that before we climbed, maybe we might have thought it better not to try. Luckily for us - we found out a few days after we started our ascent: far too late to turn around. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/climbing-kilimanjaro https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/climbing-kilimanjaro Tue, 06 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT I have had Windows 8 installed on my home laptop for a few months now and last week my Surface RT arrived. I thought I'd take this time to list a few things I like and hate about the whole new system. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/windows-8rt-review https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/windows-8rt-review Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT Whatever the question is, jQuery Mobile is never the right answer. Well, unless you're throwing something together very quickly and have absolutely zero concern for customisability and are targeting *only* phones with screens 4.5' and smaller. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/jquery-mobile-is-the-wrong-answer https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/jquery-mobile-is-the-wrong-answer Thu, 01 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT This is definitely a reminder post for myself. Twice now I have fallen victim to issues working with 32-bit COM libraries running under ASP.NET websites under Windows 64-bit. The main issue in this case was a library used by a legacy app that had to be ported from an older server to a newer one. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/swf-to-image-under-64-bit-windows https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/swf-to-image-under-64-bit-windows Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT So today I bit the bullet and pre-ordered a Microsoft Surface. I was always opposed to buying an Apple iPad because I couldn't justify the cost for something I doubted I would get much use out of. The difference with the Surface is that it's a Microsoft product and I'm a Microsoft developer. I have toyed with objective-c and it's just a pain, developer support (documentation, tools, updates, tutorials, etc...) from Microsoft is 100 times that of Apple's and .NET is a very, very nice environment to develop with. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/windows-rt-and-microsoft-surface https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/windows-rt-and-microsoft-surface Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT I never thought I would like a city as much as I did London (UK, not sure how many times I have had to clarify that in the past six months) but Vancouver comes close. The park, the beaches, the people, the food and the culture. It has it all. I see it as a Melbourne with a nicer park and beaches on the ocean, not a port. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/three-days-in-vancouver https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/three-days-in-vancouver Thu, 20 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT Git is an awesome piece of software, not just for developers working in large teams, but also for individual developers. I have projects where I can track the entire history of it via it's Git repository and most of the time I'm working alone. I have had issues working with other developers who haven't used it as much as I have, but we've always worked through it. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/git-and-powershell https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/git-and-powershell Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT This is one city that's always been on my list, and this weekend just gone I had the pleasure of spending it there with my beautiful Lil Miss Planet. Everyone I have spoken to tells me how different the Americans from east coast are from those on the west, they weren't wrong. There certainly was the US feel about the place but it was nothing like L.A. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/three-days-in-new-york-city https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/three-days-in-new-york-city Tue, 11 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT Let's start with the code... https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/entity-framework-executing-stored-procedures https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/entity-framework-executing-stored-procedures Tue, 28 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT It's been a while since I left. But London still has a homely feel to me. I left a lot of friends behind when I made the move to Canada, and a lot of fun areas untouched. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/three-days-in-london https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/three-days-in-london Mon, 13 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT I love git, nothing will change that. I just came across some odd functionality today. I use the command line client most of the time, though it's getting a bit tiring so I will probably switch back to using SmartGit again soon. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/git-log-oddity https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/git-log-oddity Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT It's finally here! I made the switch at beta, then upgraded to the RC, now the Visual Studio 2012 RTM launch has been announced. August 15th for MSDN subscribers (all the more reason to sign up... $800/year for basically all MS products isn't too bad...), or September 12th for everybody else. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/visual-studio-2012-rtm https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/visual-studio-2012-rtm Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:00:00 GMT It started with ASP.NET (MVC, WebForms, WebApi, etc...) and now they've gone and opened up the source for Entity Framework! https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/entity-framework-goes-open-source https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/entity-framework-goes-open-source Thu, 19 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT I'm a little late to the party on this one, but I just watched Anders Hejlsberg's announcement (... from 2010) on it and must say that I am very impressed. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/c-50-and-asynchrony https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/c-50-and-asynchrony Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT Too often I come across bad code, and I just wanted a little repository to keep it all, just to remind me of days that weren't so great. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/new-microsite-bad-code- https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/new-microsite-bad-code- Tue, 17 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my life in London. I was there for two years, I built a solid base of friends, places I liked to go, great pubs, bars, clubs, a solid network of recruiters to keep me working. But due to visa restrictions I was not allowed to stay and therefore moved on. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/better-to-have-then-lose-or-to-never-have https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/better-to-have-then-lose-or-to-never-have Mon, 09 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT When developing websites it's easy to forget what you're actually trying to achieve. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/build-what-you-want-to-be-used https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/build-what-you-want-to-be-used Wed, 04 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT The more I play with it, the less I like it. The concept is nice and all, but it's too inflexible. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/i-dont-like-jquery-mobile https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/i-dont-like-jquery-mobile Tue, 03 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT When it comes to developing websites for mobile devices, there is no set framework. There are tools, helpers, quasi-frameworks, but there is no specific *framework* for developing these applications. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/there-is-no-mobile-framework https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/there-is-no-mobile-framework Tue, 26 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT I have absolutely no idea why this question even came to me but I felt compelled to find an answer, it wasn't hard. But interesting nonetheless. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/what-was-lincoln-going-to-see-the-night-he-was-assassinated https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/what-was-lincoln-going-to-see-the-night-he-was-assassinated Sun, 17 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT So anyone who has actually been paying attention may notice a few updates to the site. This is very much a work in progress, but I'm getting there... slowly. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/site-updates https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/site-updates Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT Had someone asked me a year ago where Mount Kilimanjaro was, I probably would have said it was somewhere in Asia. Now I am 14 weeks out from climbing that very mountain with my beautiful girlfriend, the one and only Lil' Miss Planet - Ivona. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/african-adventure https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/african-adventure Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT In building this website there have been a couple of websites that have been quite useful. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/useful-websites https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/useful-websites Wed, 13 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT I was slapped with another funny one with Entity Framework and MVC today. I wanted to access a System.Data.Spatial.DbGeography part of the Entity Framework in one of my views. But I kept getting the error saying that DbGeography was in an assembly that wasn't referenced. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/spatial-data-types-in-entity-framework-and-mvc https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/spatial-data-types-in-entity-framework-and-mvc Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT This has been discussed over and over and over and over again, and you would think in 2012 with HTML5 this conversation would have been put to sleep a long time ago. Unfortunately, not. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/tables-and-html https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/tables-and-html Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT I'm making the move from my old website to my new one, and didn't want to lose all my data so here's a snap shot of my old 'About' page, which I'll get around to setting up on this site at some point. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/new-website https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/new-website Mon, 11 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT **łatwe** https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/polish-word-of-the-day https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/polish-word-of-the-day Mon, 11 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT Today I was tasked with answering a customer query regarding IPv6 and whether it will have any impact on their website. I initially wasn't sure how to address this, but did my best to respond. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/the-implications-of-ipv6 https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/the-implications-of-ipv6 Fri, 08 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT So the project I'm working on one of the tasks was to review the countless exception emails that get sent to all the developers and triage them. Determine which ones to fix and which to ignore. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/threadabortexception-and-responseend https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/threadabortexception-and-responseend Tue, 05 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT Too many times architects and/or developers will start a project with delusions of grandeur, instead of addressing the issue and achieving the required goal, they end up tacking on so much more than is actually asked for which more often than not ends up in more of a mess than if they took the simple approach. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/solution-to-fit-the-problem-not-solution-to-fit-all-problems https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/solution-to-fit-the-problem-not-solution-to-fit-all-problems Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT After a discussion on the feasibility of open source, I needed to get my thoughts out there on the topic. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/open-source-vs-closed-source https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/open-source-vs-closed-source Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT So I'm a little late to the party on this one apparently but it seems too good to be true, and I'm putting it here simply so I don't forget about it. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/aspnet-mvc-profiler https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/aspnet-mvc-profiler Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT My current task is to investigate what technologies to port the current WebForms application to, it's been decided that we will go towards MVC, but I need to determine what extra technologies will be needed to match (and of course, better..) the current site. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/aspnet-mvc-4-mobile-friendly-client-customisable-localised-website https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/aspnet-mvc-4-mobile-friendly-client-customisable-localised-website Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT I've always had great respect for good web designers. They need to know enough about how websites work as well as having an eye for making things look good. From my own perspective I know how websites work, from HTTP requests to how HTML and CSS get rendered, but when it comes to design, quite simply: I suck. (Which explains why this blog is running a stock-standard BlogEngine.NET theme) https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/web-design-isnt-easy https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/web-design-isnt-easy Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT I gave myself a problem. I started reading about test-driven development (TDD), and it had me intrigued. The way I generally developed websites was having the presentation layer of my applications (mainly MVC websites) somewhat tightly coupled with the data source. Controllers would be access the database via L2S or EF and pass the returned model to the view. This works, sometimes (small projects, etc...), but it isn't exactly great when projects start to expand and testing becomes useful. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/entity-framework-unit-testing-and-the-repository-pattern https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/entity-framework-unit-testing-and-the-repository-pattern Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT Well I'm not sure it's just Polish that's hard to learn, coming from English everything seems difficult. I've come to conclude it's due to a couple of things... https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/polish-is-a-really-hard-language-to-learn https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/polish-is-a-really-hard-language-to-learn Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT So after a hard drive crash and a memory upgrade my MacBook is back up and running with OS X Lion and Xcode installed. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/calculating-velocity-on-iphone https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/calculating-velocity-on-iphone Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT There is a clear distinction between a mobile application and a mobile web application. Mobile applications are natively compiled applications that run on mobile devices, mobile web applications are regular web applications designed to run on mobile devices. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/mobile-web-applications-vs-mobile-applications https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/mobile-web-applications-vs-mobile-applications Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT Today marks the one month point of me starting my new life in Canada and there have been certain things that I just can't get my head around. Granted I have been living in London (England, not Ontario) for the past two years and the city is significantly bigger, older and more established, but sometimes I just find myself saying: 'Seriously?' https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/adanac-is-canada-backwards https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/adanac-is-canada-backwards Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT **The greatest keyboard ever made.** It's a little bit more expensive but it is most definitely worth it. The keyboard action is so comfortable, the form factor is nice and slender. The back-lit keys are a little bit unnecessary but it does add a nice effect. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/logitech-illuminated-keyboard https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/logitech-illuminated-keyboard Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT In 1989 a company called Gap Star was started in Holland, in 1996 they went international and one of the ramifications of doing so was a clash with a certain other large international clothing brand that inevitably forced them to rename themselves, as what we now know as G-STAR. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/welcome-to-canada-gstar https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/welcome-to-canada-gstar Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT Having just started a new job where I'll be working on a particular product for some time, I've spent the last couple of days reviewing the code base, documentation and database structure. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/the-stored-procedures-debate https://www.bmck.au/posts/2012/the-stored-procedures-debate Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT I just wanted to make mention how cool this is, now I don't have to look at my ugly blog site to post blogs on it! https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/my-first-post-from-windows-live-writer https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/my-first-post-from-windows-live-writer Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT I encountered an issue with XPages and a text field in a Lotus Notes document. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/xpages-and-nbsp https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/xpages-and-nbsp Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT I have encountered an issue with the file download control and reported it to IBM. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/xpages-file-download-control https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/xpages-file-download-control Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT Until I found the 'Display default error page' application property I struggled to debug XPages errors. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/xpages-error-500 https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/xpages-error-500 Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT *This is a follow up to my previous post: 'When is a save not a save?'* https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/xpages-document-not-saved https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/xpages-document-not-saved Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT I had the requirement to export data to a PDF document recently, which involved plotting data from a Domino database over an map that was stored in JPEG format. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/convert-a-jpeg-image-to-pdf-document https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/convert-a-jpeg-image-to-pdf-document Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT Attached is the Java code for an agent I built that resizes all the images (attached in a rich text field) to a certain size if they are too large. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/resize-image-attachments-in-lotus-notes https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/resize-image-attachments-in-lotus-notes Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT I had the necessity to extract an image that is embedded in the database an a resource out to the file system. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/extracting-image-resources-from-domino-databases-using-java https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/extracting-image-resources-from-domino-databases-using-java Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT I have come across an issue when using IIS as the HTTP front end to Domino where XPages fails to work. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/iis-domino-xpages https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/iis-domino-xpages Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT I use ices0 + icecast to stream my music to me all over the globe. I created a python script to build generate the playlist of songs that are played. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/playlist-script-for-ices https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/playlist-script-for-ices Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT More playing with XPages and I've come across another anomily. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/xpages-querysavedocument https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/xpages-querysavedocument Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT I have recently moved host and have changed the blog configuration to run off a database instead of flat XML files. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/stay-tuned https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/stay-tuned Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT # Background https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/dijitdialog-in-domino-xpages https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/dijitdialog-in-domino-xpages Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT Further to my post a few days ago... https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/notes-really-has-to-go https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/notes-really-has-to-go Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT Recently I have been trying to add a printer on a server available to all users, using the add printer wizard with no luck. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/global-printers https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/global-printers Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT So apparently, according to Visual Web Developer, input elements don't belong in forms? https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/since-when https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/since-when Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT I would like to hear from one person, who is not currently making or has not recently made a decent income from the Lotus Notes suite of products, who can strongly say they support IBM's Lotus Notes as a user-friendly, efficient, productivity increasing piece of software. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/notes-has-to-go https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/notes-has-to-go Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT Nothing. No problems. No dramas. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/something-different https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/something-different Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT Another half day wasted trying to work my way around the shoddy piece of software IBM like to call Lotus Notes. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/another-day https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/another-day Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT The grand prix kicks off here in Melbourne today. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/grand-prix-moodsad https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/grand-prix-moodsad Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT I hear you all look at my with a curious expression on your face. https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/when-is-a-save-not-a-save https://www.bmck.au/posts/2009/when-is-a-save-not-a-save Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT