@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

SonOfSunTzu

@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social

"External security brain": providing Decision Support and Cyber Security Strategy over at https://www.pathdependence.co.uk .

Epistemic Trespasser, Analogy Overlord, Tsundoku adherent. LGBTQIA+ ally.

Hermit extrovert.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

danluu, to random
@danluu@mastodon.social avatar

Some kind of attack (ransomware?) has crippled London Drugs, a local Canadian pharmacy chain (moderate size, 78 stores) for the past week. Apparently their phone systems are tied in with their computer systems since their phones have been down for a week, but they'll fill prescriptions if you go to the store and bring your old prescription labels.

I'm curious if the business is going to be able to survive this or if the customer loss from being down for a week will end up being fatal.

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@danluu I wonder if there are a relatively small number of attackers and a relatively large size of targets, so the actual chances of being compromised in a way that's useful to an attacker is low.

The impact on the target is huge of course, and recovery is particularly difficult, but the chances are a company won't be affected, so they play the odds?

antlerboy, to random
@antlerboy@mastodon.social avatar

Am I being dumb? I have Google Gemini in a private Workspace, I have licensed myself and (I think!) given all permissions - so why doesn't Gemin have access to my calendar, email, drive to make itself useful?! I'm tearing my hair out...

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@antlerboy I look forward to hearing how you get on... by the looks of it, if you just manage to get this working at all....

Faintdreams, (edited ) to fanfiction
@Faintdreams@dice.camp avatar

My brain: What you wanna do is write some fanfic about B Cumberbatch's Sherlock and T Hiddleston's Loki arguing over who is the smartest.

Me: Noooo. No. Nope. Nu-Uh.

I have important real life things to do !

My Brain: Imagine the hilarity that would ensue if Sherlock tried to psycho-analyse Loki.

Meanwhile John and Mobius would be on the sidelines eating popcorn...

Me: GAH!

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@Faintdreams I mean, actually, in a wibbly wobbly metaversey kind of way, I can see John and Mobius getting on really well, and being far more interesting than the two main characters.

SonOfSunTzu, to random
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

YouTube has added games, DuckDuckGo has added AI, LinkedIn has added video... The Great Platform Singularity continues.

mekkaokereke, to random
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io avatar

🤔 All this talk of could Caitlin Clark play in the NBA (no) or the BIG3 (maybe), but no talk of could Dawn Staley coach in the NBA (yes), or the BIG3 (yes). 🤷🏿‍♂️

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@mekkaokereke @memory "But an NFL wide receiver or corner back, is almost always a great athlete that wasn't quite athletic enough to play in the NBA. Seriously."

Wearing my best "Internet smile" ... do you have a citation for that? Not looking to disagree, but that feels like an assertion someone has data on somewhere...

Faintdreams, (edited ) to random
@Faintdreams@dice.camp avatar

Boyf disgree with me on this and thinks it's just a cute Godzilla reference.

[Edit he meant King Kong I mis-rememberd. My Bad. Still my point stands]

I strongly disagree 🤣

https://dice.camp/@Faintdreams/112218359539969524

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@Faintdreams King Kong, but yes. And I can't imagine anyone online thinking differently...

augieray, to random
@augieray@mastodon.social avatar

Years ago, I realized I was forgetting more than I recalled about the many studies I read that found was NOT just a mild, acute illness but led to chronic health problems. So, I created a spreadsheet to track these studies. Over the last two years or so, I've read significant parts of over 1,500 research studies, and my spreadsheet is approaching 525 reports that demonstrate COVID leaves people with damage to brains, hearts, immune systems, reproductive systems, and other organs. (1/5)

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@augieray thank you for sharing this, I will - at some point - manage to take a proper look.

From the briefest of looks the results generally look concerning, have any of the 1500 studies concluded that the "it's just a cold" hypothesis is valid?

SonOfSunTzu, to random
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

My budget, and choice of mostly bloatware free Android phone vendors, really limits me to a few phones, and the current choice is between:

  • Good enough phone, with Android 14
  • Slightly better phone, with Android 13

I'm tempted to go with Android 14, in the expectation that it will be current/secure for longer - but this is mainly a "vibes based" decision. Do any of you have a useful insight here?

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@sarajw that's a very good question, and I've edited the original post appropriately.

I'm considering Motorola, as I like how little they tend to add to the default build... I should see how many versions they'll upgrade through, but from previous experience I'm assuming only two or three years.

SonOfSunTzu, to random
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

Has anyone written strategy guides or write-ups on how techies introduced Linux into their corporate networks before it became officially accepted?

Recommendations and reposts welcome.

SonOfSunTzu, to random
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

My UK energy supplier is telling me my 20 year old meters are no longer certified and must be replaced by a smart meter.

Am I right to still be suspicious of this technology, both from a security point of view, and thinking who the installation actually benefits?

How do I figure out if my energy supplier is correct, or if this is just an escalation because they need to meet Government targets?

( thinking @bloor @revk and @neil )

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@bloor @revk @neil yeah, it pretty much looks like I don't have a choice.

I don't think the risk is high enough for it to be worth my time arguing, but - like you - the general feeling I get from the infosec community is an informed wariness about the tech.

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@revk @bloor @neil thank you for this, I expect I'll just stick to requesting written confirmation, and not acting without it.

Meanwhile, the technology seems unreliable... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9zqn77ezno

SonOfSunTzu, to random
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

Does this fall under Poe's Law, where you're not sure if a product is genuine or ironic, or am I thinking of something else?

Full story https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/movies/binance-made-crypto-perfume-baffling-140000741.html

Also the Binance CMO said “I think the goal of this is to be irreverent, to be fun, to try to push boundaries” ... "think"?

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@Faintdreams yeah, it feels that way, but it's the "any parodic or sarcastic expression of extreme views" that I keep thinking about, I'm not sure that something like crypto perfume falls under that.

Faintdreams, (edited ) to random
@Faintdreams@dice.camp avatar

Feeling spicy!

Reply to this for a fantasy tinged compliment*.

Provide pronouns (if you like) for a more personal touch 😉

[This offer valid for up to five hours from time of original posting]

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@Faintdreams _o/

thelinuxEXP, to linux
@thelinuxEXP@mastodon.social avatar

So, a while back, I asked you to recommend your favorite command line utilities.
I got 187 answers, with 3 recommendations for almost each of them, and I sifted through these to land on 12 picks that I either started using myself, or that I felt would be very useful!

So, here are 12 terminal apps and utilities that you recommended:

https://youtu.be/nCS4BtJ34-o

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@thelinuxEXP thank you for putting this together, some useful programs to try... zellij looks especially intriguing.

SonOfSunTzu, to random
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

For Firefox, if I don't have a dictionary installed, the spell-checker doesn't complain that it has no dictionary to use... it just silently fails.

I am, as always, amazed at the quality of software we can use, for free - but also, as always, amazed at some of the failure states....

neurovagrant, to random
@neurovagrant@masto.deoan.org avatar

looks like AT&T is leading the pack but lots of US mobile service outage reports this mornin

screenshot from Downdetector tracking outage reports

https://cnycentral.com/news/local/nationwide-cell-phone-outage-impacting-att-verizon-other-cell-carriers

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@neurovagrant weird - to me - that the cell service being out appears to take away GPS functionality, or push iPhones into "SOS mode", but I've only read a couple of articles beyond this one.

Faintdreams, to random
@Faintdreams@dice.camp avatar

AI "Prompt engineering?"

That ain't engineering.

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@diyelectromusic @Faintdreams yeah, it's really weird that using this text interface, that should be universal, apparently requires special skills. I can see that entire profession going away after a UX/UI upgrade though...

SonOfSunTzu, to random
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

For those of you with accountants in the UK - how soon before the self-assessment deadline do they tend to inform you of the documents you need to approve, and the liability you need to pay? And is this usually measured in weeks, days, or hours?

( Boosts welcome. )

SonOfSunTzu, to random
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

I'm in the UK, and bought multi-insurance last year from a company. I then bought home insurance from them this year, but they auto-renewed by multi-insurance anyway.

Is there anything interesting, or financially beneficial, to do if you have two home and contents insurance policies with the same organisation as their choice?

Faintdreams, to random
@Faintdreams@dice.camp avatar

Whenever I see a question similar to:

"Is Animal Crossing New Horizons still worth buying in 2024?"

I always think DUDE.. what do you Even think this game is ?

Do people think Animal Crossing is some huge MMO type thing that only has worth when a bazillion other people are also playing it?

It has multiplayer/co-op but it's primarily a relaxing, single player, Life Sim.

Chillout people.

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@satsuma @kevin @Faintdreams that sounds like you've internalised the expectations from other corporations that in no way represents the desires or intentions of Nook Inc.

Now to figure out the ACNH equivalent of Marie Kondo....

Faintdreams, to random
@Faintdreams@dice.camp avatar

Netflix becomes latest media company to shelve finished work for.. ' reasons' that make no sense. Film was in final post-production.

"Netflix Shelves Halle Berry’s ‘The Mothership’

Berry and the Mothership team already completed much of the filming on the project, but it was in need of extensive reshoots to get it over the finish line. Netflix opted not to move forward with those reshoots and shelved the film instead." - Hollywood Reporter

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/netflix-shelves-halle-berry-the-mothership-1235806103/

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@Faintdreams what happens to films in this case, do they just go onto a backup disk somewhere, never to be seen again, and lost once the storage fails?

Theorem_Poem, to random
@Theorem_Poem@mstdn.social avatar

Can we reclaim "jugaad"? It's taken on such a pejorative meaning of late. People use "jugaad" to mean solutions that cut corners or use unethical means....no no no no.

When we used old bicycle spokes to fix a TV antenna, that was jugaad. Finding a carpool when your taxi cancels is jugaad.Stitch- binding loose pages out of a book is jugaad. Jugaad is the spirit of DIY-ing yourself out of a tough situation. Let's bring it back. I'm haryanavi and we are the people of jugaad. 😁

SonOfSunTzu,
@SonOfSunTzu@mastodon.social avatar

@Theorem_Poem @simonzerafa the positive or negative connotation of "hack" depends on who's saying it about what.

With my wikipedia level knowledge of "jugaad" it appears that it's used much more often in a positive light, and there's an emphasis on frugality, whereas for "hack" the emphasis is on cleverness, or maybe the "neatness", of the hack.

A very useful word, and an interesting concept, thank you for sharing.

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