I tried to copy some large files (500MB+) from a remote location... In fact, it is very remote - exactly on the other side of the world. Using standard pppd in Ubuntu, I established a PPTP VPN connection to the server. However every time I tried copying the file it would randomly stall at 2% - 30% and then the PPP connection would drop. Errors such as these showed up:

May 11 15:25:16 waldopcl pptp[2354]: anon log[decaps_gre:pptp_gre.c:414]: buffering packet 1423724 (expecting 1423723, lost or reordered)
May 11 15:25:25 waldopcl pptp[2354]: anon log[decaps_gre:pptp_gre.c:414]: buffering packet 1426544 (expecting 1426543, lost or reordered)
May 11 15:25:31 waldopcl pptp[2354]: anon log[decaps_gre:pptp_gre.c:414]: buffering packet 1428269 (expecting 1428268, lost or reordered)
May 11 15:25:40 waldopcl pptp[2354]: anon log[decaps_gre:pptp_gre.c:414]: buffering packet 1431253 (expecting 1431252, lost or reordered)
...

It is clear to me that the link for some reason did not support the speed at which the sending side thought it could send packets. Somewhere the MTU or window size was incorrectly negotiated. I tried lowering MTU but it made no difference. In the end, what worked for me was to notice the transfer rate it was trying to send packets at, and then forcefully lowering it. It still produced dropped packets, however since the rate of transmission is slower it seems to keep up - I have been copying 2GB of files without a disconnect so far:

I just rendered an article I was writing in LaTeX, to PDF on my Apple Mac Pro. This worked fine - the PDF opened up in Preview and looked perfect. So I tried printing it on my LaserJet printer - but with horrible results. Font was wrong, spacing incorrect and symbols were missing. Look:

It took me 30 minutes but eventually I figured out the problem - it was not with my printer or the PDF document (all fonts were correctly embedded), however the issue seems to be Preview that sucks.

I have not fully written about this before, just briefly mentioned it, but it seems like what Apple fixed in 10.10.2 is now broken again.

When I was using Mavericks (Mac OS X 10.9.x) my Mac Pro 2013 was working wonderfully. I never had any issues with my WiFi, which is the conduit through which my Time Machine backups function. Then I upgraded to Yosemite (Mac OS X 10.10.0). What a huge mess. First I had to completely rebuild my machine from an earlier restore, which never worked well. So I decided to give the benefit of the doubt to Apple by starting from a clean slate - as clean as they come. I wiped my whole SSD, partitions and all. I then installed Yosemite from scratch. I did not perform an archive and install - I manually reinstalled and reconfigured all my settings as to avoid any migration issues.

So the WiFi saga began. Time Machine would work fine for a couple of days then just stop. Looking at WiFi, it wither showed that it was connected and indeed I could connect to the network, or it showed it was disconnected and trying to connect would do nothing. If I performed an

So too is disk space it seems. Nice Apple:

Apr 21 09:22:22 waldomp.local com.apple.backupd[1411]: Will copy (398.1 MB) from Macintosh HD
Apr 21 09:22:22 waldomp.local com.apple.backupd[1411]: Found 8874 files (775.6 MB) needing backup
Apr 21 09:22:23 waldomp.local com.apple.backupd[1411]: 10.34 GB required (including padding), 2.44 TB available

In Canada (British Columbia at least) the legal age for being able to purchase and consume alcohol is 19 years. Unlike the states, you will only be asked to provide proof of ID if you look younger than 19.

Once is a fluke, twice is a charm it seems. I am very flattered that I have been asked twice now in the past couple of years to show my ID before I was allowed to walk out with some wine. Last time I asked the cashier whether she thought I looked too young; she said yes.