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VA3FXP

135 karma · joined December 7, 2016

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VA3FXP··on Rand Paul: NSA Routinely Monitors Americans’ Communications Without Warrants

    The fight against apathy is unforgiving, relentless, and it only works in small doses.  As long as the masses have their opiate of choice nothing will ever change.
VA3FXP··on We didn’t lose control of the Web – it was stolen
That passage must have influenced Henry David Thoreau's - Walden.

Thank-you for sharing it.

VA3FXP··on We didn’t lose control of the Web – it was stolen
This quote is going to be immortalized. It is succinct, and perfectly reflects a real problem with the human condition.

Thank-you.

VA3FXP··on Why super-smart people may be drawn to a life of crime
2 reasons: (1) Boredom - 'work' is boring and involves tedium. Smart people try to avoid that. (dad joke: That's why it's called work and not play!)

(2) False idols - We have been told since we are children, "work hard, and get ahead" or "you need an education to get ahead". We know this is only works to a certain degree. The wealthy stay wealthy because the game is rigged. The laws are tailored so that they can maintain wealth. They don't have to pay the same amount of tax and there are multiple tax-loopholes that allow them to keep their money. They get the public to pay for their expenses and are not forced to share the wealth that they generate.

Smart people recognize this and do not want to play that game. Why should I bust my ass to make some millionaire more money? It is obvious that the 'easy' way to make money is to break the law. It's only the poor people who end up getting caught/punished.

VA3FXP··on Websites can now fingerprint a device when multiple browser instances are used
Let me address the "normal" web developers then:

Don't use cookies. Don't use Javascript.

And to use your own words:

<quote> "It would be better to add the functionality you are suggesting as an option and not by default, so people, who understand the "risks" of not viewing some sites properly in favor of more privacy, will turn it on by themselves." </quote>

Turning off all the cruft makes websites MORE usable not less. Plain text, offers the highest information density available. So do you want dancing monkeys on your screen, or do you want information?

VA3FXP··on The trouble with FreeBSD
I know, I was trying to make an AI joke. But I'm afraid I can't do that.

=) It's jokes all the way down.

VA3FXP··on The trouble with FreeBSD
This is my exact situation too. Give me simple config (nee .ini) files to grep/edit, and I can have a system running _the way I want_ faster then any other method.

I can understand it, I can edit it, I can fix it. IMO systemd and the like are too much like hand-waving voodoo.

It's like trying to interact with an adolescent AI: Computer run service abc123

I don't feel like it.

With config files: Computer run service abc123

Error on line #5 of abc123.conf

Bingo!

I wish they had just named systemd as HAL. It would have let me avoid months of hair-pulling.

VA3FXP··on Announcing gopass – A 'pass' compatible password manager for teams
I'm pretty excited about this actually. Thank-you so much for your efforts. I've been using pass for awhile now, and I really love what it does, but it's a case where it feels 90% finished.

I have one desperate request; colour output as an option. Every time there is an update to pass (or I need to reinstall) I need to edit the file and change the options from " tree -C " to " tree -n "

This is a pain in the ass. I am visually impaired. The 'default' dark-blue that tree uses for directories is unreadable to me.

My two choices for dealing with this are to use DIRCOLORS or edit the pass executable. I'd prefer to not muck about with my environment settings. (as I do not normally see any colour output)

Anyway; awesome project!

VA3FXP··on KeepassXC – A cross-platform community fork of KeepassX
I just recently started using it myself, and I completely agree it works well for my use-case.

I did find one major annoyance; the forced-use of colours for the "Directory" names. I did some digging and found out that within the program it calls the external program 'tree' for the display.

I edited the file (/usr/local/bin/pass) from: tree -C -l to tree -n -l

It was much easier then I expected, and I was pleased I didn't need to use a Hex-editor.

(in two locations)

VA3FXP··on Threaded messaging comes to Slack
So what do you get when you put IRC and Usenet into a blender?

A mess.

If my memory serves me correctly, isn't this part of what Google Wave was offering?

My company uses slack. I despised it at first, I tolerate it now. I suspect that we are not using it to it's full potential either.

VA3FXP··on Show HN: Privacy-focused, ad-free, non-tracking torrent search engine
Consider this an upvote. Need a kidney? I'd be willing to offer one for this feature.
VA3FXP··on Yubikey with USB-C
A security token is an excellent concept, but usually fails when applied to 'typical' use-case scenarios.

Are you military personnel who is in charge of turning the key and launching the nukes? -Excellent reason to have a key that is impossible to forge. -Also, "key discipline" is likely very high.

Are you a paranoid nerd that wants to make sure that you cannot be compromised? -Excellent reason to have a key that is impossible to forge. -But what happens when you lose that security token?

i.e. "Honey! I can't find the car keys, have you seen them?"

We desperately need _BETTER_ 2FA. Bio-metrics are not the answer. I would be in favor of an implantable RFID chip or whatever 'better' tech comes around.

VA3FXP··on Universal Basic Income
It seems to me that the only thing that a universal basic income will do is make corporations richer.

If you "double" the income of people living at or below the poverty line, you do not double their buying power. Mile that cost $2/L will now cost $4/L, rent will skyrocket, because more "welfare" will be available.

I wholly support the concept of UBI. But it can ONLY work if we restrict how much corporations can charge. Some things that would help in that regard: restrict the $ divide between the highest paid and lowest paid positions in a corporation.

VA3FXP··on Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport
My bike is 'average' height. Lower then some, higher then some. (There is incredible diversity in recumbent designs.)

I am "eyeball-level" with most cars/sedans. I am lower then most mini-vans.

As a general rule-of-thumb 75% of vehicles give me more room then they do when I ride a traditional bike. I would say that the majority of cars give me "half the lane" (which would mean that they pull over far enough that their right-side tires are in the left-side wheel track).

BUT, I still get atleast 1 vehicle a day that drives too close. In some parts of town this is more likely to happen then others, it also depends on road/traffic/other conditions too. When I am areas or during times-of-the-day where it is not as safe for me, I 'Take the Lane' and don't let cars try to drive beside me.

In my city I can either take road (12km route) or dedicated bike paths for most of the trip (20km route). I always prefer the bike paths.

VA3FXP··on Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport
I beg you to consider recumbent bikes. I am an avid cyclist. I ride daily to work. (less so now that the roads are icy) I have had back surgery (L4/L5 is now fused).

I went on a bike tour where I rode for 13+hrs a day for a month. At the end of the day the only thing sore was my muscles.

I weigh almost 300lbs.

A recumbent bike is a complete life changing, world altering, paradigm shifting, bundle of awesome. I beg you to look into it, or send me a PM if you have any questions.

VA3FXP··on Show HN: Monitor in a Box – Instantly usable, open source monitoring
I would love to read more about your product/service/idea.

But I can't.

http://contrastrebellion.com/

Being visually impaired just makes things worse. Your site doesn't work with FireFox 'Reader View', and that forces me to 'Toggle CSS' off which causes the icons and site-design to be FUBAR.

You might have the best damn product in the world, but if I can't read about it on your own pages then it's no good to me.

I only found out that you use Ansible from the comments on here from another poster. I really want to know about this now as I have migrated our entire datacenter to Ansible, and I really love it.

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