Technology
-
Network disconnects – the phantom menace
For a few years I’ve been running a Windows 11 machine as a host for VirtualBox Linux hosts. Plenty of memory and 32 CPUs so I can happily run a couple of VMs with my various lab playgrounds. Invariably, it’s something to stick an Oracle database on. Of late, I’ve migrated from Oracle Linux 7… Continue reading
-
Retired. Or am I?
I am changing my name to object Object, because IT is dumb and I’ve noticed that what would have been caught by a QA department with humans seems to have slipped out into the open, because they were all fired. I should start at the beginning of this story, I suppose. Back in March (2026),… Continue reading
-
Adding ACARS to My ADS-B Flight Tracker: A Deep Dive into Aircraft Data Integration
For the past several months, I’ve been running a personal ADS-B flight tracking system from my home in Arlington, Texas. Using a Raspberry Pi with an RTL-SDR dongle feeding data to an Oracle database on my Mac Mini, I’ve built up a comprehensive system that tracks aircraft positions, detects routes, and provides real-time visualization through… Continue reading
-
Building StreamSync: How I Solved My “What’s On Tonight?” Problem
A streaming calendar that actually knows what I want to watch https://github.com/spbutterworth/WhatsOnTonight The Problem Every Streaming Subscriber Knows Picture this: You’re subscribed to Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, and Hulu. You’ve got a carefully curated IMDB watchlist with dozens of shows you want to catch. And yet, somehow, you keep missing new episodes because… Continue reading
-
How to Export Your Apple Photos Library to Adobe Lightroom Classic (With a Python Script)
TL;DR: I built a Python script that exports your entire Apple Photos library—with albums, faces, favourites, and edits—into a folder structure that Lightroom Classic can import cleanly. It’s incremental, so you can run it again without creating duplicates. https://github.com/spbutterworth/iPhoto_to_Lightroom.git The Problem If you’ve ever tried to move from Apple Photos to Adobe Lightroom Classic, you know… Continue reading
-
Build Your Own Air Quality Monitoring System
Introduction When you have multiple Awair air quality sensors scattered around your home or office, checking each one individually through their apps gets tedious. I wanted a centralized dashboard to monitor all my devices at once, track trends over time, and store historical data for analysis. This is the story of building a complete air… Continue reading
-
Building an ADS-B Flight Tracker with Oracle 23ai and Python
Introduction I recently built a local web application that captures aircraft data from my Flightradar24 ADS-B receiver and stores it in an Oracle database. As someone who works with Oracle databases professionally but admittedly struggles with Python coding, this project was both challenging and rewarding. In this post, I’ll walk you through the entire journey… Continue reading
Sage and Pepper's Musings 