ohryan.ca

A Web Developer in Winnipeg

  • How To: Exclude Words Like “An, A, The” From Alphabetized MySQL ORDER

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    When ordering lists of names or titles it’s sometimes desirable to exclude articles or other words from the order clause (eg. you want “The Burning Hell” to show up before “Great Lake Swimmers” in a list ordered by name). Early on in my career I must have assumed it was not possible and never bothered to look into again because I don’t recall ever ordering a list like this.
    Anyways. Here’s how you do it:

    SELECT name FROM artists ORDER BY TRIM( LEADING "a " FROM TRIM( LEADING "an " FROM TRIM( LEADING "the " FROM LOWER( name ) ) ) )

    [thanks metafilter]<

  • How To: Cold Brew Coffee

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    Now that summer has finally reached The True North (strong and free), I decided to finally attempt cold brewing some iced coffee. Turns out it’s one of the easiest operations I’ve ever attempted in the kitchen. Basic recipies is as follow:

    – 1cup coarse ground coffee
    – 4.5cups water
    – combine, leave in fridge for around     12hours
    – filter
    – drink

    I brewed it in my french press carafe overnight – with a saran wrap lid to keep out any potentially nasty fridge smells. In the morning I used the french press as usual. Unfortunately, this left the coffee more gritty than when using a french press with hot coffee, the cold water must keep the smallest grinds in suspension more readily. Next time I’ll either forgo the french press altogether and directly filter the coffee through a regular filter, or possible dual filter it (the later seems less messy).

    [ Original Recipe From Internet Food Association via Lifehacker]

  • Quickfire Productivity Tip: Bookmarks

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    Don’t use them!

    At the very least, don’t bookmark distracting sites. After a recent hard drive failure, I found myself without a bookmarks backup. I’ve discovered that just the act of starting to type the url of some productivity sucking site is enough to make me think twice.