FOSS on Shared Bits

Short Bits 2026

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-29

01 - Check the Ingredient List When Purchasing Baked Goods in the Whole Foods Market Bakery (2026-02-06)

Image courtesy of Arturs Budkevic at Pixabay

If you buy baked goods made by Whole Foods Market bakery, you should check the ingredient list. About a year or two ago, I began to notice that Whole Foods Market bakery began using a GMO (genetically modified organism) ingredient in their cupcakes and in one of their pies. I was dumbfounded…Whole Foods Market, who prides themselves for selling organic food, using a GMO ingredient?! A few months ago, I noticed that they are now also using a GMO ingredient in their cookies. As a result, I choose not to purchase the products.

Installing and Maintaining Debian Unstable

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-08

1 - Introduction

Debian Unstable , also known as Debian Sid ( Sid being the Toy Story character who likes to destroy toys), is part of the development process for Debian Stable . Packages typically flow in the following order during the Debian Stable development process:

Experimental
Unstable
Testing
Stable

Approximately every two years, development is frozen and eventually Debian Testing becomes the next Debian Stable release.

While the primary purpose of Debian Unstable is for the development of the next Debian Stable release, it can also be used as a daily operating system. Used as a daily operating system, Debian Unstable is considered to be a rolling release . In other words, unless the installation breaks, you should never have to install it again. However, you need to know quite a bit about maintaining Debian Unstable as it is prone to breaking if you don’t know how to use and maintain it.

Spreadsheet Grocery Budget Management

Fri, 07 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-14

The process of using a spreadsheet to manage my grocery budget began in 2018 when I put together a LibreOffice Calc spreadsheet workbook (file of multiple spreadsheets), titled price–history, to track prices of purchased items. I wanted to keep track of prices so that I could recognize price increases, both obvious or phantom; e.g. quantity reductions for the same price. I mainly use receipts from my shopping trips to populate the spreadsheet, but I sometimes go from memory and I’ve also taken pictures of shelf prices using my smartphone.

Emacs - I Finally Got It

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-08-31

I was a member of a team working on an Oracle project the last nine months of my last job. My company was the prime contractor and we didn’t have any available company staff who knew Oracle, so the Oracle work was subcontracted to an Oracle subcontractor. One of the Oracle subcontractor employees sat in a cubicle next to me and we began talking about Linux one day. As our conversation went on, he began talking about Emacs , how he loved using it, and how powerful it was. He was contemplating starting a blog about Emacs.

Short Bits 2021

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-18

1 - Burned Three Times on Amazon Purchases (2021-02-08)

Image courtesy of Peter Ziegler at Pixabay

I’ve been burned three times within a four month period on purchases I’ve made on Amazon. The first incident occurred in September 2020. I purchased a 3-pack of Champion boxer style underwear. I didn’t notice that they were size medium and I usually wear a size large. The underwear were sold by a third party vendor in New York city.

Logging Linux Package Activity (Installs, Removals, Upgrades)

Sat, 22 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-04

1 - Introduction

I learned the importance of logging package activity when I began using Debian Unstable . Because you can encounter breakage or a problematic package(s) when performing package upgrades under Debian Unstable, logging package activity can prove to be useful for troubleshooting purposes. Logging package activity can be also be useful for reference and historical purposes. In this post I will share how I log package activity, specifically upgrades, for Debian and Solus , the Linux distros I currently use as my daily operating systems. While not covered in this post, I also use the same technique to record manual installs and removals; i.e. I initiate the installs and removals.

Short Bits 2020

Fri, 17 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-16

1 - Shoutout to the Keter Company for Great Customer Service (2020-01-17)

My wife gave me a nice Christmas gift of cash in December. I had been wanting to purchase a plastic storage shelving unit for use in my study. I borrowed two shelves and four posts from a unit in our basement to store distilled water in 1-gal jugs, but I also wanted to store some small kitchen appliances that I had been placing on the dining room table. Now that I had some extra money, I decided to purchase a new plastic storage shelving unit from Home Depot .

Debian With Openbox and Tint2 - Part 2 - Usable System

Tue, 14 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-22

As of 09/12/2025, I am no longer using the Openbox window manager and Tint2 panel to simulate a desktop environment. This post will remain for a period of time for informational purposes, but will no longer be updated except for minor changes.

In part 1 of this series, I provided details on installing Debian , a Linux distribution, using the Network Install method. Be sure to check out that post first if you haven’t installed Debian.

Debian With Openbox and Tint2 - Part 1 - Debian Network Install

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-16

Over a month in the making and many hours of work, this is part 1 of a 2 part tutorial on using the Openbox window manager and the Tint2 panel as a desktop environment under Debian , a Linux distribution. In part 1, I provide details on installing Debian using the Network Install method. As Luis Fernandes might have said, this is a ginormous post.

Manage Separate Pots of Money in GnuCash

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Updated 2026-09-04

1. Introduction

In this post, I will talk about how to manage separate pots of money in GnuCash . If you would like a bit more detail about GnuCash, please refer to my prior post on managing medical costs using GnuCash.

Why would you want to have separate pots of money? Having separate pots of money can prevent unpleasant financial surprises, can lessen the impact of large bills, and can help you achieve future financial goals. For example, on a monthly basis I used to set aside a set amount of money for automobile insurance, which I paid on a bi-annual basis. Other uses could be to setup: an emergency fund, a future automobile purchase fund, a vacation fund, etc.

Manage Personal Medical Costs With GnuCash

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-04

Introduction

In early 2017, I experienced a recurrence of lumbar (lower) spine issues. Toward the latter part of 2017, I also began experiencing pain in the thoracic (middle) area of my spine. After doing some research about spine issues, I determined that I needed to see someone before my issues became worse and as a result, possibly became permanently debilitating.

I saw a number of medical providers for diagnosis, imaging, and procedures. I initially used a LibreOffice Calc spreadsheet workbook in an attempt to manage all of the medical bills from the different providers. Using a spreadsheet workbook to manage my medical costs worked, but I found it somewhat cumbersome to manage.

Learn LibreOffice

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Updated on 2026-09-04

I made two wonderful learning discoveries two to three weeks ago. I decided to learn database technology using LibreOffice Base. I currently use spreadsheets for many of my data storage and manipulation needs, but I wondered if putting some of the data in a database would be more beneficial. I didn’t know much about LibreOffice Base other than that it was the database component of the LibreOffice suite. So, I did a quick Internet search and came across a site called The Frugal Computer Guy with video tutorials on many of the LibreOffice components.