Don't You Dare Give Me a S.M.A.R.T. Failure
…and what happens if you do. If I can’t have my data, then nobody can.
Continue readingMacOS Installers and .DS_Store
If you’ve ever used a drive not formatted as HFS or APFS in a Mac, and later plugged it into a non-mac or poked around in the terminal, you’ve probably noticed a lot of hidden files. Almost everything has a copy that begins with ._, and there’s this ever-present .DS_Store in every directory. What’s up with this? And furthermore, how does this relate to application installers? AppleDouble and The ._ Files macOS will only create . Continue reading
I Hate White Dwarf Stars
If you know Elite Dangerous, that picture and title tells you everything you probably need to know. If not, well, let me put it this way: Even found yourself in a game where it puts you in a literally impossible and unwinnable situation? Well that’s what happened.
For those who don’t know Elite: Dangerous, I’ll explain. For those that do, just skip the sections.
Continue readingProgramming Isn't a Skill, It's a Mindset
Spoiler Or as those darn scientists insist on calling it, ABSTRACT: A programmer isn’t someone who can write code, a programmer is someone who can think. When most people speak of, are told of, or think about, a “programmer” as an abstract being, they either picture one of two things: Either someone in their favorite all black gear, sunglasses, and a lime green-on-black terminal window open with lines flying by (see also: hacker), if they’ve watched too many movies, or someone sitting at their computer with a text editor / IDE / pick your favorite app, typing code into. Continue readingMinor Rant: Linux, Scripts, and SetUID
You know the feeling when a system that you’ve used for years, and trusted, suddenly throws a curveball at you with a fun “Yeah you know this simple and concrete rule that’s never broken? Well in this one exception, it is, and nobody ever points it out. Have fun!”
Continue readingAdventures in HAProxy
For those of you that do not know, HAProxy is an amazing piece of kit that can proxy HTTP and arbitrary TCP connections. It’s also so customizable that I’m practically using it as my main entry point to my network, and do indeed refer to it internally as the “border gateway.” With two exceptions (SSH and SMTP, more on that later), everything that comes into the TD-StorageBay network, yes, that includes this site too, passes through that one process. However, HA cannot do everything… and I feel that I’m pushing its limits. Not in the “sheer workload” sense, no, I am way far off from that. I mean in the old Mythbusters style “using things in ways for which they were never intended” manner.
Continue readingFun Fact: Wax Seal Colors and Etiquette
Anyone reading this actually familiar with wax seals? No? Okay, it’s this:
For you young ones, this was how we used to seal envelopes. No lick-and-stick flaps, you took your envelope (or even, the back of your folded letter), and put some wax (not always actually wax) on it, and used the seal (the metal circle there) to make an imprint and press the wax down, sealing the envelope. Common seals would be either a motto or something novelty, a monogram / initial(s), or a family crest, each with slightly different meanings. Additionally, the stereotypical seal color is red, but the color was actually important: the seal was likely the first thing you’d see, so the color of the seal was a hint as to the contents of the letter.
Continue reading