Topics

1

Off Topic / How Many Computers do You Have, and What are They Running?

« on: January 11, 2020, 07:48:00 PM »

Saw this question elsewhere, and thought it'd bring it up here.

I have too many systems to properly keep track of by now (at least 10 currently running).
Mostly of my systems are servers running Fedora Linux, but I have one server running Debian and the firewall to my network is running pfsense (though I'm considering other options as I'm frustrated with the underlying FreeBSD system, especially its unscalable network stack).
I also have many systems that currently have no OS as they're not in use, or are in need of repair, including an IBM PS/2 type 8580 that is currently non-operational due to a damaged floppy drive.

2

Off Topic / When Someone Says "I Have Some Old Computers"

« on: December 21, 2019, 01:46:45 PM »

-And you leave with a truckload of machines, parts, drives, and old brown townog security equipment ranging in age from last decade to only a few generations old.

I have a boxes of hard drives ranging from less than 160GB to 2-4TB+.
I'm quite satisfied with this transaction.\

I can now safely pass out, as I haven't slept up to this point.

3

Off Topic / Sometime All it Takes is to Say Something

« on: November 16, 2019, 02:47:39 PM »

Remember the post I made a few days ago about the website with terrible security?

So after poking around their system a but more (and accidentally shutting down one of their databases using SQL injection), I decided to make another attempt to contact them and warn them about the issues with their security.

I managed to find the number for their support desk and I called it.
Amazingly, I immediately got a real person! (I was so shocked I just stood there in disbelief for a few seconds before saying anything.)
So I told them that there was an issue with security and that I wanted to speak with someone from their IT staff. Their tone instantly became one of concern, and they went to find the person I needed to speak with.
Unfortunately the person I needed wasn't available, but they told me where to send an email and assured me that they would get it where it needed to go (Yes I was skeptical of that too).

So I wrote an email giving a detailed description of my concerns and the issues I had encountered.
I waited a couple days to hear back. But finally, I got a reply.



After receiving this I waited a few more days for the issues to be resolved.
Today when I checked, they had disabled all but TLSv1.2 (Unfortunately, the sever they're running doesn't currently support TLSv1.3.), and the SQL injection code, no longer worked.

This is the sort of thing I love to see.
While I wouldn't say that they fixed everything, this is certainly a step in the right direction.
All it took, was for someone to speak up.

4

Off Topic / (Rant and PSA) God No: How Not to Internet Security

« on: November 09, 2019, 07:43:54 PM »

Today I went to file an application for a new job (Yes I'm still on that).

However, when I went to do so, I noticed something concerning.
I can forgive the company for offloading job applications to a third part. I've seen that before.
I can forgive the crappy 1998 web design of the third party's site.
What I can't forgive is the fact that they are exclusively using outdated, weak, and insecure encryption methods (TLS version 1.0 and earlier) to secure the channel they're using to transmit personal information including full names, work history, and even Social Security Numbers!

My personal site has far better security, and it cost me nothing to set it up!
There is no excuse!

Needless to say, I didn't apply for that job.
I sent a message to the email listed under the domain's whois, and I even contacted the home office of the company to inform them of the issue with the third party handling their employee's information.

A reminder to everyone:
Always check, before sending any personal information over the internet anywhere, that the page your using is not only secured, but secured using protocols that aren't horrendously obsolete.

(I will not point to the offending domain, as I want to give them a chance to respond and correct the issue.)

5

Off Topic / C or Go

« on: November 05, 2019, 07:39:39 PM »

Should I start my next project in C, which I already know, or should I go back and finish learning Go?

6

Off Topic / Nostalgia Thread

« on: October 29, 2019, 02:31:34 AM »

Remember the before times?

7

Off Topic / Livestreaming (Ended Again)

« on: October 18, 2019, 10:04:46 AM »

I'm live again.

(10/26) Will be playing a few different games, starting with The Long Dark, then maybe trying to finish Penumbra: Black Plague.

8

Off Topic / Man Restores Range Rover

« on: August 28, 2019, 10:08:27 PM »

-And documents it with glorious stop-motion and timelapse video.

There's something incredibly satisfying about this, so I thought I'd share it with everyone.

Enjoy.

9

Creativity / Simple JavaScript Browser Puzzle Game (Updated: 08/26)

« on: August 24, 2019, 07:42:44 PM »

I've been taking a course on web development and started making a game to test out my JavaScript.

There's not much to it, but it's interesting to play around with.

Have fun.

Updates (08/25/19):
Added new "CMYW" color mode.
Game now hides everything until the JavaScript has loaded.
Tweaked layout.
Fixed bugs.

Updates (08/26/19):
Added new "Timed" game mode.
Changed options menu functionality. (Pauses game, and changes the next round without affecting the current one.)
Tweaked layout.

10

Off Topic / Horrendously Awful Month

« on: August 23, 2019, 12:09:50 AM »

So as some of you already know, a while back I went on a trip to visit my friend. Everything was going fine, until it wasn't...



I was tired, lost, and frustrated. I drove my civic off the road, hit a tree, and ripped out the rear suspension. My car was destroyed and I had to shell out over an extra $120 to pay for a hotel while I waited for someone to come out nearly 1000mi to get me.

I was broke, angry, and depressed. I had no money in the bank, and several hundred dollars that I still needed to pay off. Even still, me and my brother shelled out for a used Chevy Trailblazer, so that I would have something to get me around.

Then amidst all this, last week, my manager decided to fire me.

I don't know why. Naturally no one will tell me anything, but it probably had to do with an incident earlier that same morning that was caused by him changing the schedule without telling me. Something he is very prone to do.

So now, I have no money, aside from what's left of my savings, a, rather gross, unfamiliar vehicle, no job, and about $400 in credit card charges that I still need to pay off.

If this isn't justification for soul crushing depression, I don't know what is.

On the plus side. I have plenty of time to learn things like proper web development, something I've been meaning to do for years.

forget life...

11

Off Topic / "Tragic" Road Trip

« on: August 04, 2019, 01:08:18 AM »

On Monday I will be leaving to travel on a 3,200 mile round trip to see my friend.

Along the way I will be recording my decent into madness from being on my own out on the road for so long. I will then post videos, probably after the fact.

Discuss.

12

Off Topic / I Just Got My Driver's Licence

« on: June 05, 2019, 12:35:51 PM »

Discuss.

13

Off Topic / Livestreaming Now! (Ended)

« on: May 21, 2019, 04:34:06 PM »

I'm live on Twitch!

I'll probably be playing Raft. After that, who knows.

Stream ended. Thank you for stopping by.

14

Off Topic / Oh forget! aka. Murphy's Law Kicks (My Face) In

« on: May 06, 2019, 01:29:33 PM »

Everything has officially gone wrong.

It all started when I decided to update my systems to the latest version of Fedora.

Everything went fine on my laptop and every server I tried, but when the time came to upgrade my main rig, the stuff hit the fan. Hard.

I've never had an upgrade go wrong, and especially not like this. Everything was fine, until the upgrade actually started, then a short was in, everything froze. I figured, "whatever I'll let it be for now", and passed out as I hadn't slept yet. However, when I woke up, it was still frozen. And thus began the downhill spiral.

I rebooted the system, hopping that it would magically start working again. No luck. In fact, I didn't even get a BIOS logo. I disconnected everything, and pulled the system out. I then proceeded to remove the second graphics card (an RX 480), and crossed my fingers. Still no luck. Just a black screen.

I started to get that "Oh forget..." sinking feeling as I proceeded to switch out my main card (a used $500 RX Vega 64) with the old secondary card. Luckily, this time the system booted. Unfortunately, that meant that my, now past its return date, $500 card, was causing my system to hang. I proceeded to take the card apart, and change the thermal compound. The only thing I really could do.

At this point though I notice that the upgrade has hung again, this time during cleanup. I proceeded to reboot and try the upgrade a third time, and pray that it would just finish the damn upgrade. Unfortunately, it seems that I have angered some higher power, and they weren't done yet.

The system finished cleanup and then sat there, for several minutes, just doing nothing, saying that it was going to reboot. Finally I got fed up, and decided to press the power button, just to see what it would do. It did at least shut down, but the upgrade still failed. When I rebooted this time, I was still on the old version, but now it refused to return to the upgrade, saying that it wasn't ready.

Now I'm stuck with a broken upgrade, gnome-terminal won't even start (Have to use xterm), a probably forgeted GPU that cost me way too much money, and I've wasted a bunch of my day off on this crap.

So to whatever almighty being I have unknowingly offended, I beg your mercy and forgiveness. Please see fit to end this torment, I have worked hard, and I ask for so little. So please. Just let me be and leave my computers alone. I will be forever grateful.

15

Off Topic / 210% Shook AF: Have to Reapply to my Job

« on: April 04, 2019, 10:39:23 PM »

So, the franchise that owned the store I work at was bought out/merged with another company. Now everyone has to reapply to their jobs.

As if that wasn't enough of a pain, after reapplying, we have to do the prerequisite forms online.

I hate tax forms. Most of the time, they're poorly explained, and very little help is given. So naturally, when I got to the W-4 form, I had a mental breakdown, followed immediately by the site the system is hosted on going down for maintenance, leaving me unable to even try to complete it.

May the over-complicated Amarican bureaucracy burn in hell for all eternity.