http://www.pkshiu.com/loft Loft Living and Tech Musing Sun, 11 May 2008 20:39:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This is a common mistake. When defining a FileField or an ImageField, you need to specify where the files are stored. This is done by specifying a relative path in the upload_to argument. Django will then store your files in a subdirectory as named, under the MEDIA_ROOT directory. But, don’t put a leading ... http://www.pkshiu.com/loft/archive/2008/05/django-tip-no-leading-slash-for-upload_to-for-filefield-and-imagefield How many times do you need to do this? You have a list of things to output. The list can be empty, has one element, or more. You want to separate each items with a separator for readability. What do you do? 1. The simple but not reader friendly way: toppings = ... http://www.pkshiu.com/loft/archive/2008/04/django-tip-outputting-list-of-items-separated-by-commas-but-only-if-it-has-more-than-one-item I need a toolbox to store my supplies and tools for building electronic circuitries. Something that looks good in a normal office setting. Why not another IKEA hack? I always wanted to try one of the FIRA mini chests. They are functional, but too plain looking. Since this tool box ... http://www.pkshiu.com/loft/archive/2008/04/ikea-tool-box-hack I am getting back into electronics. To access all the back issues of Make Magazine, I decided to start a print+digital subscription. I was wondering, as a subscriber, if I have access to all the digital back issues. The answer is: Yes if I become a “premium member“, meaning that I ... http://www.pkshiu.com/loft/archive/2008/04/subscription-model-the-make-magazine-way My DMM arrived today from Amazon. First surprise — I came in a blister pack. The good nice is that it is an easy open blister pack. Remove the lone staple at the top and pull open the pack top to bottom. The bilingual (English/Spanish) user manual is tugged inside ... http://www.pkshiu.com/loft/archive/2008/04/review-extech-digital-multimeter-ex330 After many years, I have decided to start doing DIY electronics again. Things have changed a great deal. Let me share my research here to save you some time if you are thinking about starting electronics DIY. What tools do you need, and what are some of the fun things ... http://www.pkshiu.com/loft/archive/2008/04/electronics-diy-basics-tools Every so often I get one of these emails in my inbox. Today’s example: Hello! I have decided to join the ranks of half the people I know, and switch to Gmail. Therefore, effective immediately, please start emailing me at *xxxxxxx@gmail.com*. I’ll keep receiving verizon.net emails for another month. I hope you’re all well and that ... http://www.pkshiu.com/loft/archive/2008/04/be-careful-with-that-send-button Michael Faraday’s lectures at the Royal Institution in London - “The Chemical History of the Candle” : A candle is beautiful. “Beauty means not the best-looking things, but the best-acting thing.” A candle is beautiful because its functioning elegantly and efficiently rests upon a wide range of universal laws. The heat ... http://www.pkshiu.com/loft/archive/2008/04/the-beautiful-candle It is also fun to see what cellphones are used in different countries. As my plane taxi into the Hong Kong airport, I looked over across the aisle and the occupant pulls out an iPhone, switched it on and proceed to check the weather. I had to ask — Your ... http://www.pkshiu.com/loft/archive/2008/03/using-iphone-in-hong-kong There are quite a lot of digital analog converters available for computer based music systems. For example, my main music source is all digital — Apple lossless files playing thru iTunes on my iMac feeding a DAC, then a tube amp to headphones and speakers. One can debate which DAC ... http://www.pkshiu.com/loft/archive/2008/02/dac-and-their-chips