@gerowen@mastodon.social
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

gerowen

@gerowen@mastodon.social

Husband, father, US Army veteran, IT specialist, school bus driver, diesel mechanic, tech, security, Linux and free software enthusiast, gamer, dog lover.

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

gerowen, to privacy
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

So my brother called today saying he wanted to run a node to help folks in need, and asked for my help.

I told him that one of the more beneficial options in my opinion would be a dedicated snowflake proxy. It's simple to set up and helps to relay/proxy people who might otherwise have access to Tor blocked, which would be helpful for people under oppressive regimes or on restricted networks.

An hour after getting it going it had already handled a couple GB worth of traffic, 🙂

A video of a raspberry pi 4 with a wired ethernet connection. The link lights are blinking without interruption.

gerowen, to privacy
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

I really didn't like the microphone in my LG television remote, especially after it was discovered Samsung was using theirs to listen to customers without their consent.

My soldering gun needs a new tip though, so I brought out my propane torch, might have been a little overkill, 😛 . I got it a little too hot, despite my best effort to only hit the corner, but I succeeded in removing only the microphone and leaving the rest of the remote functional. win, :-)

I'm holding the little metal cover for the microphone that was installed in my TV remote on the tip of my finger.

gerowen, to privacy
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

THIS is why is CRUCIAL

https://youtu.be/eR7D6Fx0fTQ

reay, to random
@reay@mastodon.social avatar

Hey, digital security types:

I use Authy for some secure logging in. Yesterday, twice on two separate occasions when I wasn't online (let alone using Authy), I got text notifications from Authy with a two-step verifcation code.

That's something, to my knowledge, that only happens when I'm trying to log on to certain websites.

Would that have been someone (or a system/whatever) trying to access my account info? Or would that just be a glitch generating those codes out of the blue?

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@reay I would assume it was somebody trying to log into those accounts and change their passwords just to be safe. If you're getting a 2FA code then it means they probably have your password in order to get that far, so even though the 2FA did its job, I would change the password just to be safe. You might also be able to check security logs to see login activity and see if there has been anything suspicious, especially around the time you got those messages.

gerowen, to FreeSpeech
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

So much for

" Suddenly Suspends Journalists Critical of
No explanation was given."

#X

https://futurism.com/the-byte/twitter-suspends-journalists-critical-elon-musk

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@LouisIngenthron I put "free speech" as a hashtag since that line is in the article itself. Apologies if it didn't display correctly for you.

gerowen, to homelab
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

So after 4.5 years it's time to replace the batteries in our UPS again. I don't think the runtime or battery charge level is accurate since I literally just put them in. I'll give them a day to charge and warm up and run a calibration and self test on them. Started getting emails from the server the other day that the battery needed changing and its runtime was down into the sub 20 minute range. They've been pretty abused by this Kentucky electrical grid.

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@marczak The biggest reason I keep an eye on it is because our electricity isn't the most reliable. Though to be fair, I don't believe we had any unexpected flickers for all of December. I like getting the alerts because it gives me the opportunity to notify my brother and sister in law and the couple friends on my Plex server if it's going to shut down.

dgar, to random
@dgar@aus.social avatar

The thing is about Australian wildlife is that most Aussie animals won’t back down from a fight, but most of them don’t go looking for a fight either.

If you’re worried about visiting Australia because of our deadly fauna, here’s a hint. If you see an Australian animal, walk away from it.

A kangaroo has trouble disemboweling a retreating person because its attack involves rocking back on its tail and kicking you with both feet. It’s not really able to do any damage on something that’s moving away.

Magpies will generally let you know where their territory is, and if you stay out of it while they’re nesting, they won’t knock a hole in your head.

You literally have to get in the water to be bothered by sharks or crocodiles. Swim where the locals swim.

Snakes and spiders are about the only thing that you might happen upon by surprise and they tend to be happy to let you leave, but will happily fuck you up in self defence.

Y’see, Aussie wildlife mostly kills idiots who approach it, try to pat it, or catch it. Our animals mostly kill and maim stupid people.

I guess, my point is, we don’t have anything like lions or bears that will chase you down, pull you out of your car and tear you to pieces.

Also, the chances of being shot in this country is almost non existent.

Australia’s a pretty safe place to visit, comparatively.

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@dgar Your wildlife only attacks idiots that get too close? America has plenty of those, lol.

https://youtu.be/1-lcudRQQVQ?si=uf1TnZxN-8U8YWvr

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@dgar That's true. Mountain lions have even been known to pick a target, like somebody who runs every day, learn their habits and route and choose an appropriate spot to attack. Bears are bad too because they're not like most predators. A mountain lion or a wolf or something will kill you "then" eat you. A grizzly bear though will just straight up pin you down and eat you alive.

We joke about Australia, but every country has some messed up animals if you pay attention.

jhx, to linux
@jhx@fosstodon.org avatar

My stack:

side:

side:

...and a little :windows95:

How does yours look like? 😎

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@jhx My whole house is Debian except our phones, which all run CalyxOS. I do have a Windows VM for the occasional one-off Windows specific task, but that's it.

gerowen, to Israel
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

BB has wanted and worked towards this for years.

As Gazans return to destroyed homes, Israeli ministers push resettlement

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/04/gaza-displaced-civilians-resettlement-israel/

gerowen, to geopolitics
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

"You don't get to line up for the buffet again until everybody has a plate."
-- Linus Sebastian

https://youtu.be/IcgSu4ckb3E

gerowen, to internet
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

"Japanese disaster prevention #X account can’t post anymore after hitting API limit"

Governments should not depend on for communication. If you run a group or organization, you shouldn't be using Facebook or Twitter for your official communications, you should use products designed for that purpose that won't interfere with your ability to disseminate information in the event of an emergency.

https://www.dexerto.com/tech/japanese-disaster-prevention-x-account-cant-post-anymore-after-hitting-api-limit-2451266/

viktor, to opensource
@viktor@me.dm avatar

What's one project you can't live or work without?

❗No distros/OS. Let's make it interesting.

Boosts appreciated 🙏

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@viktor . I use it not only to block ads and malware network wide, but to place content restrictions on all my kids' devices. I've added lists for social media, pornography, gambling, etc. that only apply to my childrens' devices. When there's no school the next day, re-enabling YouTube is as easy as hitting a toggle in the interface.

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@viktor Once the PiHole sees each device individually, you can just add them as "Clients" based on MAC address, then add those clients to groups, and you can then set your lists or domains to only apply to certain groups.

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@viktor One extra step I took, was my kids have Pixel 6a phones. I flashed them with CalyxOS, installed and set up an app from F-Droid called "TimeLimit.io". It's a little finnicky to figure out, but what it essentially does is let you allow, block or limit app usage. One thing I did was set up PiVPN on the PiHole (VPN server), set the VPN connection on their phones as required for internet, then used TimeLimit.io to block access to the "Settings" app...Continued ->

gerowen, to Israel
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

Holy shit, even is getting in on it.

"IDF Soldier Recounts Harrowing, Heroic War Story Of Killing 8-Month-Old Child"

https://www.theonion.com/idf-soldier-recounts-harrowing-heroic-war-story-of-kil-1826048745

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Today let's spread the love!

@ someone in the comments who has made your Mastodon experience better, a little explanation as to why would be awesome too! You are welcome to do more than one.

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@RickiTarr @tekeous Landalf the Grey makes Mastodon better for me because he posts cool stuff and his avatar reminds me of the game "Dungeon Defenders".

gerowen, to privacy
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

I wrote a little something talking about , and the things I use in my daily life to help control the flow of and access to my personal information. Here I talk about my recommended messaging, email, cloud storage and other services.

https://gerowen.wordpress.com/2023/12/22/so-you-have-nothing-to-hide/

gerowen, to random
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

Considering upgrading my personal key from 4096 bit DSA/Elgamal to ECDSA/ED25519 . Not sure it's worth the bother, given the schism that's probably going to come to a head in the next year or two as everybody tries to agree on an open, resistant asymmetric standard.

I've had my Elgamal key for years, and I have no reason to believe it has been compromised, it's just a thought. I don't use it much other than XMPP chats and file encryption between myself and family.

gerowen, to Signal
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

I find myself these days hesitant to even consider any private messengers if they don't have the option to verify which devices/keys have access to your messages. , / OMEMO, , hell even Facebook Messenger's E2EE chats let you verify which devices can read your messages. If you're encrypting your users' messages, but they can't verify whether a rogue device has access to their messages, then why even bother encrypting them?

fribbledom, to random
@fribbledom@mastodon.social avatar

We're doing ad-blocking wrong.

Instead of blocking ads, we need to ensure they register being shown as often as possible.

Drain these ad budgets with useless traffic 😈

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@fribbledom I saw a browser addon ( adnauseum maybe? ) recently that did exactly this, registered false clicks on as many ads as possible as you browse the web to flood their analytics with garbage data.

Gargron, (edited ) to random
@Gargron@mastodon.social avatar

We're testing a couple new follow recommendation algorithms on mastodon.online, so if you have an account there, please check Explore → People and let me know if the quality of the results has improved for you.

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@Gargron I followed several of the media outlets that are accessible now that @Flipboard is federating, so I contributed, 😜

ChrisPirillo, to random
@ChrisPirillo@mastodon.social avatar

one does not simply

gerowen,
@gerowen@mastodon.social avatar

@ChrisPirillo This is awesome. I've wanted a figurine of Azura holding her star to serve as my tree topper for a while, but it seems like the only way I'll get it is to work up a model and 3D print it myself.

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