charlesroper

How to setup a practically free CDN using Backblaze B2 and Cloudflare

⚠️ Note 2023-01-21
Some things have changed since I originally wrote this in 2016. I have updated a few minor details, and the advice is still broadly the same, but there are some new Cloudflare features you can (and should) take advantage of. In particular, pay attention to Trevor Stevens' comment here from 22 January 2022, and Matt Stenson's useful caching advice. In addition, Backblaze, with whom Cloudflare are a Bandwidth Alliance partner, have published their own guide detailing how to use Cloudflare's Web Workers to cache content from B2 private buckets. That is worth reading,

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Digital agencies serving charities, social justice, and civil society

A curated, UK-leaning list of digital agencies serving charities, social justice, and civil society.

Full-service & product/web build

• Torchbox – employee-owned; Wagtail CMS creators; deep nonprofit track record. ([Torchbox][1])
• Reason Digital – builds sites, apps, and tools for charities; impact-focused. ([Reason Digital][2])
• Fat Beehive – charity website specialists; long-standing sector focus. ([Fat Beehive][3])
• The Developer Society (DEV) – UK not-for-profit co-op working exclusively with charities/NGOs. ([The Developer Society][4])

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Volunteer Your Skills

Volunteering

• DataKind UK – volunteer data & digital projects. ([DataKind UK][1])
• Digital Candle – free 1-hour advice calls for charities. ([digitalcandle.org.uk][2])
• CodeYourFuture – volunteer to teach/mentor. ([CodeYourFuture][3])
• codebar – coach at inclusive coding workshops. ([codebar][4])
• AbilityNet “ITCanHelp” – accessibility-minded tech support volunteering. ([abilitynet.org.uk][5])
• Reach Volunteering – skills-based volunteering marketplace. ([reachvolunteering.org.uk][6])

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Alt text (concise)

Line chart titled “US Unemployment Rate” comparing U-3 (unemployed) and U-6 (under-employed) from Dec 2016–Dec 2022. Both series are steady and slowly falling through 2019, then spike sharply at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (U-3 ~15%, U-6 ~23%) and decline through 2021–2022. By late 2022 U-3 is ~3–4% and U-6 ~6–7%. U-6 is consistently higher than U-3 throughout.

Extended description (for complex image)

• What the chart shows: Two lines: an olive line for Unemployed (U-3) and a blue line for Under-employed (U-6), plotted as percent of the labor force on the y-axis (3%–23%) across time on the x-axis (Dec 2016 to Dec 2022).
• Series meaning (context):

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Modern CLI Tools for *nix and Windows

A collection of CLI tools I use (or have used). Most can be installed using your *nix distro’s package manager, or with Scoop on Windows. If you’re not already using Scoop, it's definitely worth trying.

✨ Other lists you might find interesting

• modern-unix – A collection of modern/faster/saner alternatives to common Unix commands. Most work with both *nix and Windows.
• A list of new(ish) command line tools – Julia Evans

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{
  "adventureParty": {
    "name": "Dragon Slayers United",
    "members": [
      {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "Aria Stormblade",
        "class": "Ranger",
        "level": 8,
        "skills": ["Archery", "Stealth", "Tracking"],

charlesroper

<#
    eza-completion.ps1
    ──────────────────
    Native tab-completion for eza on PowerShell 7+

    Drop this file in your $PROFILE directory and source it:

        . (Join-Path (Split-Path $PROFILE -Parent) "eza-completion.ps1")

    Make sure the following PSReadLine options are set:

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Summary of Andy Masley’s AI articles

A cheat sheet for why using ChatGPT is not bad for the environment

Here’s a detailed summary of Andy Masley’s post “Why using ChatGPT is not bad for the environment – a cheat sheet”, which distils his core arguments, data points, and rhetorical strategies:

---

🧭 Main Argument

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How much bandwidth and CO₂e does an adblocker save?

ChatGPT o4-mini-high; 2025-05-17

On average, studies show that a heavyweight ad- and tracker-blocker like uBlock Origin saves around a third of the data you’d otherwise download – and in concrete terms:

• Bandwidth saved per page load
  In a diverse set of real-world tests on hundreds of popular sites, the average bandwidth saving from ad- and tracker-blocking was 899 KB (with a median of just under 500 KB and a 95th-percentile of 2.76 MB) (Brave). This corresponds to roughly 25–34 % less data transferred compared with no blocker (arXiv).
• CO₂e saved per page load

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Comparing Email to Other Energy Expenses

3–5 kg CO₂e per year (email footprint) ≈

Activity	CO₂e produced	Notes
Boiling a full kettle ~60–100 times	~50–70 g each	3 000–5 000 g = ~70 kettles
Driving a petrol car ~15–25 miles	~0.2–0.3 kg CO₂e per mile	UK average car
1–2 roast dinners	~2–3 kg each	Meat-heavy meal (esp. lamb/beef)