Ed Cottrell

  • Leaving My Job and Starting a Business

    As you may know, I gave my notice at the First Court of Appeals this week. I am leaving the practice of law in order to start a software company, Cereblitz! I will be developing and marketing an ecommerce platform for selling customizable products, such as products that can be imprinted with text or logos or have other…

  • How to Stop Random iPhone Vibrations

    I had problems recently with my iPhone 6 vibrating randomly. I didn’t get any alerts, banners, or app icon badges that I could see, so it was driving me a little crazy. It turns out there are two kinds of mail notifications. The first kind is under Settings > Notifications > Mail. The second, which…

  • Using SSL with MySQL

    If you ever make remote connections to a MySQL database, it’s extremely important to connect over SSL. Otherwise, you run the risk of someone seeing data in transit, modifying data in transit, or, worst of all, stealing your credentials. This could be an utter disaster. Unfortunately, getting MySQL to use SSL is kind of complicated. Here’s how…

  • Stack Overflow Moderator Elections, Part III

    As I posted here and again here, I stood for election as a moderator on Stack Overflow this year. While I was not elected, I made it much further than I expected and finished in sixth place out of 32 nominees, 30 primary candidates, and 10 general-election candidates. Stack Overflow is an amazing site, and…

  • Stack Overflow Moderator Elections, Part II

    In case you missed my first post on this topic, I am a candidate in the 2015 Stack Overflow moderator elections. I made it through the nomination phase (32 candidates) and primary (30 candidates), and now I’m in the general election with only 10 candidates for 3 spots remaining! I am extremely honored and humbled…