@grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@sean_ae@post.lurk.org You’re missing that netflix uses data centres in a very different way that uses far less resources. They use more storage and network bandwidth than CPU/GPU. That uses less energy. They also distributed bandwidth usage by “donating” network cache computers to ISPs to save bandwidth (and money) for both them and the ISP. I don’t know if they still do this. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/10/redditor-acquires-decommissioned-netflix-cache-server-with-262tb-of-storage/ @ketan@climatejustice.social

arstechnica.com

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@SmudgeTheInsultCat "Uncle Cosmo ... why do they call this a word processor?" "It's simple, Skyler ... you've seen what food processors do to food, right?" -- Jeff MacNelley, "Shoe"

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@alicemcalicepants filenames? If you load your whole system from punch cards or that new-fangled paper tape you don't need no steenking filenames

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@jwildeboer Way back in the dawn of time (late 1990s) I used a bash script to generate html from text files. I had my own format similar to markdown. Where does that fit in? pre-post-framework-framework?

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@Larvitz@burningboard.net Almost a very chatty version of Eliza. I ran a version of Eliza written in BASIC on a Casio FX-702P. 2Kbytes of memory and uses 2 CR2032 batteries.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Pepijn and don't forget those "wood carving" angle grinder disks. Let's wrap a chain around a disk that spins at 10000rpm. What could go wrong? I'm shit scared of angle grinders at the best of times and have seen far too many injuries caused by shattered standard disks, even ones from reputable manufacturers.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@ennopark The bible often states Gods shows no favoritism. There is also the parable of the poor man in heaven and the rich man suffering in hell. @ShredderFeeder

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@TimWardCam Not all of them pooled their assets. Lying about holding back some assets was a grievous sin. Note not the holding back, the lying. @ShredderFeeder

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@DianeBruce @alicemcalicepants More than 26 years ago? BTW if you really want to mess with people on Unix like systems put newlines in the filenames.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Today's very special WTF moment. Apparently Adobe takes it upon themselves to modify /etc/hosts when their software is broken. Luckily I skipped the March update.
Read those release notes people.
I also made a screenshot of the insanely long tracking URL you get sent to when you click on the release notes link in the app.
#adobe #CreativeCloud #SoftwareUpdates #brokensoftware

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/apps/whats-new/release-notes.html?product=Creative%20Cloud%20Desktop

hostux.social

Mastodon Hostux

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@ObsidianUrbex I had the opportunity of replacing similar electrical network and pipeline control systems with modern SCADA systems. The operators liked the overview the large panels gave at a glance. The big walls of instruments were replaced by large displays that gave the same info but there was also the ability to drill down into far more detail on a workstation that the modern system provided. Railways are very conservative and we had to build the old style panels driven by a computer.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@hacks4pancakes Not that we are high on anyone’s target list but I’m very happy that the network upgrade I worked on at South Africa’s largest coal to gas refinery is done and I don’t have to go near it anymore. It was built in the 1970’s and fragile AF. They are of course pushing production to its limits because they might just make a decent profit for a change.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@publius@mastodon.sdf.org @msbellows@c.im @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @deutschestechnikmuseum@mastodon.social Has one hanging over their entrance, I suppose we should warn them someone may want to use it again. I had the privilege to fly in two that were use in the Berlin air bridge.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@msbellows@c.im @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org There is a well documented case of a South African Air Force C47/DC3 making it back to base with its tail shot of in 1986 during the war in Angola. So not entirely impossible 😁

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@GustavinoBevilacqua Here in South Africa we have "car guards" that watch cars in parking lots hoping you will give them a tip for the "service" they provide. You can simply take a trolley and do your shopping. When you come out of the shop one will rush up, assist you with the trolley and packing your purchases in your car. Again they do this hoping for a tip. I normally tip generously because I'm grateful I can afford the shopping and don't have to do what they do.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Sadly "celebrating" workersday by working on the public holiday.☹️🙁
#mayday #workersday

hostux.social

Mastodon Hostux

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

For the South African and other gearheads.
When I was a kid in the 1970s the absolute ultimate car was a Ford Capri Perana V8. Even now 50 years later I would seriously think about buying one if the opportunity arises.
https://youtu.be/8Kz1T2Psego
#cars #classiccars #motorsport #southafrica

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@lindasgoluppiart A corollary of that is muting and blocking what you don't want to see.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@yugthebug Better yet, don't take your phone. iPhones still transmit even when they're off because they warn you they are still findable when you "Power off". I don't know android but I won't be surprised if android phones do the same. @billyjoebowers

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 7mo ago

Replying to

@announcements Also remember to report and block.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@nitinkhanna @SecureOwl roll your own, e.g. create an e-mail alert with fail2ban or maybe run an alert using pam_exec in /etc/pam.d/sshd

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 7mo ago

Replying to

@Qbitzerre@unbound.social @gabrielesvelto@mas.to But the AI scrapers broke the social contract. We allowed search engines to index our websites and they displayed links to our sites on relevant searches. There was also a “gentleman’s agreement” that they won’t index parts of our sites if we ask them not to. The AI bots now scrape the same thing multiple times, they ignore robots.txt and we get nothing in return.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@MostlyHarmless The headers of my site bsdfortune.com. Be gentle that site hasn’t been updated in years and runs on a 1GB ram VPS. The headers include x-clacks-overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett Edit: The nginx settings are simple # Turn on Terry Pratched header add_header X-Clacks-Overhead "GNU Terry Pratchett";

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Carryl Agree on the artificial sweeteners. When I was first diagnosed my dietitian advised me to avoid them especially the sugar alcohols. Getting joint pain from aspertame doesn't help. I simply started to avoid anything that's sweetened and now I cannot stand sweet coffee or tea. For something cold I drink plain water. Everyone is different. What you like and how your body reacts is unique. The only way is to keep on testing and see what works for you.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@pkirn@mastodon.social nginx ultimate bad bot blocker https://github.com/mitchellkrogza

GitHub

mitchellkrogza - Overview

Linux Specialist focus on network security, intrusion detection, SSL and generally a safer internet. Proxmox, Wordpress, Woocommerce, Server Setup Expert 4 Hire - mitchellkrogza

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@pkirn@mastodon.social Your'e unfortunately playing wack-a-mole whatever you do. I don't have links handy right now but nginx bad bot blocker has served me well. Have a look which countries the bots come from and block or challenge those. Block cloud service Ip ranges, Google cloud and Huawei cloud are the biggest offenders. I use Cloudflare and nginx on FreeBSD so I can give more info on those if you want. I reduced 200k hits a day to a sane 1k hits on my niche family site

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

The dshield.org blocklist is probably one of the most useful IP blocklists I have used over the years. Digital Ocean and OVH IP ranges used to feature prominently. It seems that Google Cloud and Hurricane Electric have taken over lately.

See https://isc.sans.edu/feeds/block.txt and also the Internet Storm Center https://isc.sans.edu/index.html

#firewalls #blocklist #security #cybersecurity #sans

isc.sans.edu

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

A meerkat doing science! 🤓🤩😲
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2k3pgTwGgI

#science #astronomy #radioastronomy #meerkat #ska #SquareKilometerArray #southafrica

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@sarahdalgulls Seeing that were talking backpacks and brands I suggest looking at Lowepro. I've used them since the 1990s. My first one I gave away in 2010 to a struggling photographer friend. The second one was stolen in 2013. My current pne was bought in 2013 and shows a few scuffs and had a zipper transplant but otherwise it's perfect for daily use. 13 years is a long time and their quality may also have gone downhill but I doubt that it has.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@joyousjoyness@mastodon.social Reminds me of our childhood border collie Flink (nimble,agile,quick) that was a brilliant fielder in our backyard cricket games. We mostly played one bounce, one hand for catches. Flink did proper catches but of course one bounce, one mouth also counted. PS We played with soft rubber balls not real cricket balls in case you wondered.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 7mo ago

Replying to

@C_Miller I didn’t find avoiding sweetened drinks and food problematic at all when I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes. Avoiding carbohydrates like e.g. bread, pasta and pizza is way more difficult. My dietician told me to avoid any sugar alcohol sweeteners (those ending in ol). Aspartame gives me joint pain which pretty much leaves stevia. I simply decided to avoid any sweet stuff and I really don’t miss it.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 25mo ago

Replying to

@bartholin@fops.cloud @dave0@a2mi.social @ogbog@mastodon.social Only those in US are cursed with Google search “AI”

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@blogamf@indieweb.social Umqombothi (African Beer) is one of her most popular songs. This clip’s quality is not great and there are probably better ones on youtube but it gives a glimpse of 1980s South Africa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZAWo_K3yNA

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@rfc1036@hostux.social This is kind of triggering because the amount of incorrect assumptions made about valid phone numbers, e-mail addresses, postal codes, first names, surnames etc. is staggering. There is nothing like the frustration fighting a webform that thinks it knows your address and postal code better than you do. At least I don’t have to worry about forms that insist a name must have more than 3 letters.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@ax11@mastodon.social They don't want to neutralize Guttenburg, they want to neutralize guttenburg[.]org. I don't think neutralizing a malicious website is a bad idea even if it may possibly refer to people or places in Germany. @gutenberg_org@mastodon.social

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@TerpEE93@hachyderm.io @evacide@hachyderm.io I'm 63, my father drove me to the computer club meetings at the local university. I had a Science of Cambridge Mk14 and was quite jealous of the people with Apples and Pets. BBSs came later when I was at university. https://hostux.social/@grumpyoldtechie/115977042951077437

hostux.social

Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️: "The first computer I ever owned and its manual. A…" - Mastodon Hostux

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@utf_7 create a custom jail and filter looking for the regex below. use the mail action failregex = ^%(__prefix_line)sAccepted .* for .* from port \d+ ssh2:.*$ or a regex that suits your needs If your mailbox get spammed by this you have real problems or a huge number of VPSs @nitinkhanna @SecureOwl

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@octothorpe@mastodon.online South Africa has this since 2002. It did nothing to prevent any unsolicited marketing calls.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@bitinn I'm self employed, so no.

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@davidho@mastodon.world While everyone is getting all nostalgic, this one is bringing back some good and some bad memories. Novell good, taking 2 days to format bad. 5 inch, double height Edit: 676MB It now functions as a doorstop

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Grumpy Old Techie 🕊️ @grumpyoldtechie@hostux.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@rootwyrm@weird.autos This is the wrong place to make up your own "facts" 😡 @catsalad@infosec.exchange @ramonfincken@mastodon.social

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