Ryan Schuetzler

A functioning Swoosh SMTP config

Spent about 3 hours fiddling around with different configurations of Swoosh, Elixir's most popular email library. Documentation is sparse, but this Elixir forum post got me to the answer. For reference, I'm using this with Purelymail, but it should be generic enough to use with any

filter

(Updated) How to filter Netflix on MPAA Rating

Netflix has “Profiles” which let you split up things like the watch list, show ratings, and viewing history. It’s great for kids, because it lets you create a pseudo-account for your child(ren) that is limited to watching shows appropriate for the age group. Here is the new process:

mind candy

Beware the Algorithm

"The algorithm" can be good for some things, but I want to be more mindful of how much time I'm giving it.

Get up and running with Phoenix on Windows

While it's possible to use Elixir and Phoenix entirely from within your normal Windows environment, there are some dependencies of Phoenix that are... challenging to install. So I recommend installing it within WSL instead. Prerequisites * A database (I like Postgres) Get Elixir installed WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

programming

Wrapping my head around Phoenix LiveView

Some helpful things I've learned about Phoenix and want to remember.

opinion

Getting unstuck

I'm going to start writing my half-baked ideas. Hope you don't mind.

mind candy

Tools to avoid mind candy

Sometimes you need a little help from technology to help you avoid technology.

mind candy

Update on the mind candy fast

6 days into the mind candy fast. It's been helpful, but challenging. Definitely going to keep it up, though, because I like the direction things are going.

productivity

Book Review: Four Thousand Weeks

Learning to accept that we are truly limited in our time is the first step toward being able to be satisfied with what we are able to accomplish. No time management technique is going to allow you to accomplish everything you want to do, or to be able to say yes to everything that is asked of you.

writing

Writing cattle, not pets

Stealing ideas from server management to help manage the frustration of writing.

productivity

A "mind candy" fast

Over the past 10 years, I've noticed that the cracks in my days have been increasingly filled with mind candy. I'm taking a break.

stuff i love

Tailscale is awesome

Tailscale makes it easy to run a VPN without needing to configure a router or anything else

Cool stuff I'm working on (Jan 2025 edition)

Just a brief update since my last blog post was 2020.

How to disable Pi Hole for specific devices

Pi Hole is awesome for blocking ads on all devices on your local network, but sometimes it gets in the way. Sure, you can log in and disable it temporarily, but for some people that’s too much work. Thankfully, updates in the newest version of Pi Hole allow you

Using Discourse.org for a class discussion board

For the past two semesters I have been using Discourse for my class discussion board. I started using it mainly due to the restricted nature of Canvas’s built-in discussion boards, which are terribly designed for actual discussion. Using Discourse, I’m able to have real conversations with my class,

How Much is that Service in the Window?

About 2 years into grad school I began to realize the importance of paying for the things that you love.  So many of the apps and services that I used offered a free tier that I used and abused as much as possible because I was a student with very

Back in Action

Man, it’s been a while. With the craziness of first trying to finish a dissertation in time, then trying to defend that dissertation, then packing and moving half-way across the country, then staring a new job, teaching a class (I’ve taught it before, but I’m trying to

LaTeX vs Word (again)

A recently published article in PLoS ONE, entitled “An Efficiency Comparison of Document Preparation Systems Used in Academic Research and Development” (link here) lit the world on fire. Okay, not really. In fact, most people, including researchers and even LaTeX enthusiasts have probably not read it. And that’s fine.

LaTeX for Researchers, Part 3: Figures

If you’re just joining us, it’s probably best to start out with my first two posts: * Setting Up * Citations Now that we’ve covered how to do create a document and how to add citations, the next major items we need to be able to put in a

LaTeX for Researchers, Part 2: Citations

Review In Part 1 we covered the very basics of creating a document. With that you have basically everything you need to start writing your paper. Here’s a quick review of the basic commands: 1. \documentclass{article} is the first thing in your document, and it tells LaTeX you

LaTeX for Researchers, Part 1: Setting up

So, I’ve already tried to make it clear that I really hate Word for creating academic documents. The biggest reason is that it frequently screws things up. So I use LaTeX, and I think you should too. Admittedly, it’s not always possible. Some journals, conferences, or other venues

LaTeX ICIS Template

As most everyone who works with me knows, I’m a huge advocate of LaTeX. If not for LaTeX, at least a huge opponent of Word. Word is sometimes okay if you’re doing a simple document without a lot of formatting, but once I start dealing with formatting a

Using Git and Bitbucket for Collaborative Research

I have been trying for a few years to get my coworkers to work on projects together using Git repositories for version control, and usually to varying levels of success. I finally took the time to hammer out a beginner’s guide to collaborating with git, using Github for Windows

Why I left Qiqqa for Mendeley

I love software that makes my life easier. As an academic, I do a lot of reading. I read a lot (I mean a lot) of PDF articles on a huge variety of topics. I have a virtual stack of papers that would probably reach half-way to Phoenix and cost

I have nothing to say

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way sometimes. I just sat down at the computer to write a blog post, and within seconds my mind had gone completely blank. I stared at the “Your Post Title” block at the top of the page, and