mwl

mwl, 11 months ago to random

Me: I won't discuss business in a room with an Alexa, because Amazon is my business competitor and they eavesdrop.

Various other folks: :flan_eyeroll:

Today: Amazon to pay fine for eavesdropping. https://www.npr.org/2023/06/01/1179381126/amazon-alexa-ring-settlement

mwl, 3 months ago to random

My new favorite correction.

mwl, 4 months ago to random

You can get all Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels in a humble bundle for $18, which is great. Except you gotta trudge through Adobe DRM to extract the actual books so you can load them on your device. Here's how I did it--https://mwl.io/archives/23343

Bundle at https://www.humblebundle.com/books/terry-pratchetts-discworld-harpercollins-books

mwl, 8 months ago to random

1500 words on #ryoms today, on netcat IMAP and why we have the submission service.

If you want to encourage my suffering, do feel free to sponsor it. https://www.tiltedwindmillpress.com/product-category/sponsor/

mwl, 1 month ago to random

Hey everyone! #vultr just enshittified!

They re claiming ownership of all intellectual property you host on their VMs.

https://grimgreenfo.rest/notes/9rdle0uyo4d30029

Clear violation of copyright law.

So, where are people moving to? What options are out there? that suck less?

mwl, 1 month ago to FreeBSD

Looking for a way to run a single command as user "www" on #FreeBSD.

Roundcube uses doveadm to compute password hashes, but the www user defaults to the nologin shell and /nonexistent home directory. I really, REALLY don't want to change that.

Anyone have something clever to let me run just this one command as www? #sysadmin

[edit to add: Roundcube is a web app. It runs as user www. I can't have another run the command as www: www needs to execute the process. www can't run sudo or doas without the sort of something that would let www run doveadm.]

mwl, 7 months ago to sysadmin

On this date in 1993, the IETF published RFC1519 and obsoleted classful addressing.

If anyone talks about Class C addresses, or even A, B, D, or E, their knowledge is thirty years obsolete and they can be safely ignored.¹ #sysadmin

https://mwl.io/archives/3758

¹ Unless they're discussing history.

mwl, 1 year ago to random

Trying to dig up facts for the "Run Your Own Mail Server" book, and Internet searches are degrading weekly.

AI-generated search-optimized crap fills pages of search results.

I wrote my first tech book by relying entirely on mailing list archives and hand-selected authoritative web sites. That day is fast returning.

mwl, 10 months ago to random

Paypal spams me twice a day: once with "let us give you credit!" and once with "here's a sales recovery report, you should start a campaign!"

The sales recovery report is not a report. There's no way to get the report. And both my business and my life are designed to not run on credit.

No way to unsubscribe.

There's a customer reaction option at the bottom of each, letting me say if I like the message or not. Today I went to the "no" link, and guess what? Invalid hostname.

I now have nothing better to do than contact paypal customer support every time I get one of these emails and tell them to stop sending them.

mwl, 11 months ago to random

1300 words on #ryoms today, including instructions on meticulously testing your configuration to identify where you screwed up.

I also think I have a handle on the rest of the book. Which is adorable, because that handle will dissolve in a chapter or two! But it's a reassuring magic feather.

Want to help me survive so I can suffer through the atrocity of writing a book about running your own email? Sponsor me at https://www.tiltedwindmillpress.com/product-category/sponsor/

mwl, 10 months ago to random

Dear creators:

please, please, PLEASE set up your own web sites and distribute your work from there.

If you post your work only on Twitter and/or Reddit, it's gonna disappear. Soon.

mwl, 9 months ago to random

Read this.

https://dotart.blog/welshpixie/the-toxic-manosphere-of-fedi

re: https://mastodon.art/@welshpixie/110821191751455752

mwl, 3 months ago to random

If you have an Adobe account, for Acrobat or Photoshop or whatever: they've turned on the "we will pillage your work for AI" setting.

Go to https://account.adobe.com/ -> Account and Security -> Data and Privacy Settings -> Content Analysis. Turn it off.

If they want to learn from your work, make them pay for it.

mwl, 11 months ago to sysadmin

Computers are like onions. Everything is layers built on layers, and every layer makes you cry. #sysadmin

mwl, 11 months ago to random

The first #ProhibitionOrcs tale is now free everywhere. Bootlegging over the Detroit River! Elves that need a punch in the face! Orcs at breakfast! Frozen feet and hot lead!

Yes, this is a shameless teaser to try to get you to buy the duology. But if you hate the story, you won't like the books. If you like the story, readers assure me they get better.

Grab it from:

My store: https://www.tiltedwindmillpress.com/product-category/free/

Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=MtC8EAAAQBAJ&pli=1

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/spilled-mirovar

Apple: http://books.apple.com/us/book/id1037047676

Amazon US https://amzn.to/43x4EK3 - UK https://amzn.to/3qibGnC - AU https://amzn.to/3MFLo6l - CA https://amzn.to/45BuMp1 - DE https://amzn.to/3qj5JH8

(Edited to add: If you choose to buy the duology from my store, you'll get a bonus exclusive cookbook of orcish recipes! Real recipes, that regular people have cooked, eaten, and mostly survived.)

mwl, 8 months ago to random

looks like it's time to delete all my tweets. Ah well.

(Why? Twitter's new ToS says they'll use them to train AI.)

(How? https://redact.dev/download )

mwl, 1 month ago to random

As a straight middle-aged white dude who worked for decades in tech, my superpower is admitting that I don't know enough about something to have an opinion.

You could also develop this superpower.

mwl, 3 months ago to sysadmin

Question for people hosting their own email:

(I am not interested in "running your own email is impossible," "email is a lost cause," or other comments from folks who are not running their own email.)

What hosting provider do you use? Bare metal or VM? #ryoms #sysadmin

mwl, 1 month ago to random

Wondering why @lilithsaintcrow soft-pedaled this so much.

https://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/2024/04/we-gotta-talk-about-publishing/

mwl, 8 months ago to random

Submitted for the approval of all my horror writer friends: @bitterkarella 's three magnificent tomes, fresh through the mail.

It's enough to make me wish I wrote horror, so I could dream of being included one day. :flan_XD:

And the library stamps! Great minds think alike, and apparently... so do ours? (cough) https://mwl.io/nonfiction/networking#networknomicon (cough)

Next goal: get my various friends to sign their stories! You know who you are...

mwl, 11 months ago to random

I've been trying to rip any surveillance stuff out of my web sites. Not entirely possible, but Wordpress, but I'd made good progress.

But now my ebookstore is under a heavy spam user attack. The spam users can't DO anything; I don't take comments from the public. But they're sending out masses of emails that will bounce.

I guess it's time to deploy recaptcha. Which has Google hooks. :flan_piteous:

mwl, 5 months ago to random

apparently the secret to getting followers on the fedi is to get boosted by @SwiftOnSecurity .

mwl, 10 months ago to random

I was planning to change the titles of my nonfiction books, but SMBC has ruined the surprise.

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/coddled

mwl, 1 month ago to random

Me, when #glassdoor first came out:

"Oh, yeah, that'll be anonymous until they decide to monetize your gripes."

I loathe being correct.

mwl, 25 days ago to random

Today's mood: