Remote

Allpoints

@allpoints@mstdn.social

mastodon 4.7.2

About time I added a bio. There's a bunch I could write but let's just go with "Old man yelling at clouds." That works both metaphorically and literally. I'm an infrastructure geek by trade.

Header photo is a view over the Charles River from the Longfellow Bridge, looking north toward the Museum of Science with the Zakim Bridge in the background.

Pronouns: he/him but no strong preference. Use what's comfortable for you

229 Followers

125 Following

50 Posts

Joined November 10, 2022

Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 3mo ago

Boosted by @trending@homestead.social

It appears ICE is unhappy with people knowing that Jonathan Ross has been identified as the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good. They tried to bully an election worker for sharing Jonathan Ross's name. Again, that name was Jonathan Ross. Look, I get it. You're fascists and therefore bullies. It shouldn't be too tough for you to figure out who I really am. Feel free to drop by anytime and try to intimidate me. I could use the laugh. https://newrepublic.com/post/212340/ice-poll-worker-election-delete-instagram-post #USpol #FuckICE

ICE Tracks Down Woman to Force Her to Delete Instagram Post

The New Republic

ICE Tracks Down Woman to Force Her to Delete Instagram Post

Federal agents confronted a poll worker on Election Day because they were upset about her social media posts.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2w ago

Why the f2k do smoke detector batteries only fail late at night when the shops aren't open?

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@quixoticgeek@social.v.st I love it when folks try to insult me not realizing it's a compliment.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@overholt@glammr.us language is fascinating. Today I learned, "The book's value has migrated." is Techbro speak for, "We've stolen another book."

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2w ago

Hmm, what is going on inside this can?

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@briankrebs@infosec.exchange Are people actually expecting spoiler alerts for a 44 year old movie? So, let me tell you about rosebud.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@deviantollam@defcon.social I have a policy to not send email when cranky, or worse. Yesterday, I failed to follow that policy. #AI #BigTech

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@georgepenney@sunny.garden darn it, now I want a pie. Sausage rolls and pies aren't common in my part of the world. There used to be a shop but, sadly, gentrification. I think it's condos now. It's also nearing midnight so it's all rather moot. On the upside there's a pop-up barbecue place on Fridays near me. Guess I know what I'm doing for lunch tomorrow.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Boosted by @kagihq@mastodon.social

It was getting late yesterday and I was doing a 'net search to solve a tech problem. I couldn't find anything useful, page after page of useless results. I couldn't understand what was going on. And then I realized I was still using a test browser which defaulted to Google for search.

Hopped back to my primary browser with Kagi. Difference was night and day. I don't know how people get anything done without a decent search engine and an ad blocker in place. @kagihq@mastodon.social

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@mclare@recurse.social @pluralistic@mamot.fr let me start by saying it's unconscionable that we have to treat items we ostensibly own as hostile. These types of situations are a good use for those old phones you've got kicking about. Without a SIM/service, they'll have difficulty sending surveillance data back to our corporate overlords. That may not work in this instance, but for a lot of things you just need the app to control the device. #InfoSec #BigTech

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@cmconseils@mastodon.social nice, thank you Those looking for the missing kittens can see them here https://artvee.com/dl/vier-katzchen-und-ein-igel/

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

Just a thought, but if your alt text only contains the word "screenshot", you're doing it wrong.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

I just had someone send me a zip file of a zip file of some zip files.

/me doesn't want to play anymore

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@kibcol1049@mstdn.social I know of at least one company whose core business is ensuring physicians get paid. It's an arms race between payers and providers. You'll notice that patients don't enter into that equation. The next time some politician tells you that we can't have single payer because it will remove people's ability to choose etc, what they're reality saying is there's an entire industry making money on the current system and they don't want to mess with that. #USpol #Healthcare #Insurance

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

/rant
FFS vendors. Randomizing a MAC isn't making anyone safer. It just makes it harder for folks to manage their networks.

Up next on Today's Rant, enough with blocking inbound ping. You're not hiding from network probes.

#InfoSec #Security #Networking

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Guillotine_Jones @dissident @Strandjunker The irony is not lost on many of us in the US that in his rush to be just like Putin he has achieved many of the same results 1) Significantly damaging the economy in both the short and long term 2) Significantly damaged the role of the US as a world power 3) Starting an elective war that would be "won in a matter of days" but may take years to resolve I could go on but I think we all get it. #USPol

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

I occasionally scroll the public feed looking for new accounts and tags. Just came across one spewing hate. Looked at the profile, 16.5k posts, 0 followers. This, right here is why the Fediverse can be such a great place. There's no algorithm promoting outrage for engagement ad revenue.

I'm aware we need better protection against bullying/targeted attacks but this is a great start.

Mastodon 🐘

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Snagged the last pair of bar seats at my local. SO was on their way. Musicians were just getting settled in.

Food was tasty, Guinness perfectly poured and the staff was great as usual.

The musicians were wonderful. Today I learned what uilleann pipes are called. I've seen them before, I just didn't know the name.

I truly hope you folks have as good an end to your day and maybe learn something new as well. Stay strong. Keep looking out for each other. We'll get there.

#Cambridge #TheDruid

Mastodon 🐘

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@trashpanda@m.alittlenook.net so many variables to play with. Two things to think about. The first is how much energy is radiated not how much you're generating. Putting one watt into a dummy load is much different than putting one watt into a well-tuned, long wire antenna. The other is frequency. The higher the frequency/shorter the wavelength, the more things become line of sight and are blocked by physical objects. One watt at HF into a good antenna will reach around the world with good conditions.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@BackFromTheDud @georgepenney do they not have hipsters in your part of the world? Probably an old Olivetti portable in a canvas case.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@MaryAustinBooks@mstdn.social I love how they need the sign because, while the geese aren't fooled the humans are.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@georgepenney@sunny.garden Lunch! #Cambridge

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

I've been playing with resources to generate slippy map tiles from Open Street Map data. It's been working well. Now I'd like to do something similar for aviation sectional charts. Does anyone have a good resource for generating Slippy Map/ Meta Tile files for aviation sectional charts? I'm mostly interested in the U.S., but other regions of the world would be useful as well.

Also, this isn't my area of expertise so recommendations for hashtags and/or boosts are appreciated.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

As if I needed another reason not to shop at Whole Foods ever since they've been enshittified by Amazon.

I don't buy much on Amazon but it's tough to avoid them. I went into my account today to check order history for info on something I bought two years ago. The detail of every Whole Foods purchase I have made was there. I don't have prime so it must be tied to my credit card. I guess I have to go back to carrying cash now.

What a shitty timeline we live in.
#SurveillanceCapitalism #BigTech

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@tito_swineflu Fair. I was mostly just sharing that for the thread. FWIW, I also have a setup where the browser runs in another account and shared camera and mic for video calls etc. At least that limits the blast radius to the alternate account. Regardless, we shouldn't have to play these games to defend ourselves against the tools we're forced to use.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@tito_swineflu I only use chrome when absolutely necessary. This is in my bashrc. In launches when I need it then wipes all traces from my account when I'm done. #Google #Chrome function _chrome { /opt/google/chrome/chrome --no-first-run >& /dev/null & wait $! rm -rf ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome ${HOME}/.cache/fontconfig ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome ${HOME}/.cache/mesa_shader_cache } alias chrome='_chrome &'

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

I've been watching the latest solar powered SkyDweller flight for the past 5 days. IMO, rather cool they've gotten to the point where they can fly remote/autonomous ~ 700mi/1100km, stay in their target area for 5+ days and then return all on electric power. The company website is https://www.skydweller.aero/ You can follow along at https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a24b4b or https://www.flightradar24.com/N247PF #SkyDweller #Aviation #ElectricVehicles

Skydweller - Perpetual flight was once considered impossible

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Events were conspiring to keep me at work today but I finally escaped. At one of my locals. It's t-shirt weather. The roil up door is up. There's a tasty beverage in front of me. Life is good.

Stay strong folks. Find the little wins and enjoy the heck out of them. And keep looking out for each other. We'll get there.

#Cambridge #MiracleOfScience

Mastodon 🐘

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@marisa@mastodon.scot first of all, yes. Libraries are awesome. Personally, I think the right hates libraries because it assists people to become educated. An educated voter base doesn't tend to vote conservative. And the moneyed class loses a bit of their edge if it can't give their offspringing a head start with a decent education.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@skeletor@mas.to me too, Skeletor. Me too.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@dante@masto.posting.haus no, it doesn't. I apologize for the confusion. I believe I meant to reply to a post further down from yours in the thread that was more specific to Android and handheld devices.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@0x0@hachyderm.io @dante@masto.posting.haus @mcc@mastodon.social @GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social yes, it only runs on fairly recent pixels, but I hear there's a deal in the works with Motorola.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@dante@masto.posting.haus @mcc@mastodon.social see https://grapheneos.org/ @GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social

GrapheneOS: the private and secure mobile OS

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@OohOkayKay@beige.party I expect I'm skewing the results because I had a large stump removed and we'll be putting in a small patio. My usual expenditure would be significantly less.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@BrianJopek@mastodon.world thanks

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@TheJen@beige.party i've always used "congressperson using tech" as short hand for uneducated users.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@hisold I love the analogy. Hadn't consider it in those terms, but you're spot on.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Doreen32128 it was. I'm fortunate to be able to live in this neighborhood.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@quixoticgeek@social.v.st @chewie@mammut.gogreenit.net that's exactly it. I'm sure I could find a cage somewhere in a data center if I wanted to set up a few racks. But the idea of getting a couple U's in a rack or cabinet is no longer a thing in my part of the world.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@badastro I thought that was half the point of all those Starlink satellites. Now you're telling me all that crap they end up dumping into the upper atmosphere as they burn up isn't an upside? /s

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@quixoticgeek@social.v.st while I'd like to see most of them converted to something better for the planet, i'm hoping at least some of them are reverted to colo facilities. That market collapsed with the transition to cloud. (for you younger folks, you used to be able to rent a couple of U's of rack space in a data center where you could install your own servers and connect them to the net.). It would be great to be able to I have my own physical server in an actual data center again.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@quixoticgeek@social.v.st it's both fascinating and horrifying to me that the market knows it's a bubble but they keep inflating it. I think it may be that the large players make money either way and most of the smaller players think they'll be part of that minority that gets rich. Anyone have a good reference on the psychology at play here?

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@david_chisnall@infosec.exchange @tante@tldr.nettime.org politicians?

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@quixoticgeek@social.v.st thanks. Going to check my library's catalog now.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@BrianJopek@mastodon.world Ooh. Do you have the source? I'd love to pay the artist for a patch.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@davidho@mastodon.world better living through chemistry

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Anomnomnomaly @greg_harvey @pluralistic FFS, must one also heat their house with coal gas?

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@quixoticgeek@social.v.st related. You don't have to be a big investor to see a downturn as a buying opportunity. And for the really big companies it's a chance to buy or starve out the competition and increase market share. Heads they win. Tails you lose.

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Allpoints @allpoints@mstdn.social

· 5mo ago

I see that I'm exceptionally snarky this morning. Time to step outside, perhaps get a cup of coffee and a pastry. Life is better with pastries.

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