Punkie
Linux nerd and consultant. Sci-fi, comedy, and podcast author. Former Katsucon president, former roller derby bouncer. http://punkwalrus.net/
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Punkie@lemmy.worldto Today I Learned@lemmy.world•TIL ancient Romans used communal toilets—stone benches with keyhole-shaped holes—where people sat side by side without privacy, chatting while waste drained beneath them using flowing water.English34·13 days agoAlso “without privacy” is also in question, because you could use cloth partitions hanging from a rod; something known to be used in stadiums to separate class.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world•Instead of Orange Man doing Tariffs would it not have been better for him to talk about shopping locally and so forth. And giving more tax breaks to companies that stay and sell in the US?1·20 days agoI often think he’s a second grader lying on his oral book report.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world•Does being hot decrease the chance of you being bullied day to day?29·2 months agoNo. I have known a lot of attractive people get bullied by jealous bullies. Imagine you’re attractive, guys checking you out, and girls who work HARD to get noticed see you get noticed without much effort. You may even be, “no thank you,” like you have a choice. And they will seethe because they think it’s unfair you “have it so easy.” Logic and reason do not apply to bullies, they only know how to “preemptively retaliate” to keep the status quo in their head,
Punkie@lemmy.worldto Asklemmy@lemmy.ml•Why does it seem that "freedom" and "security" are antonyms?21·2 months agoI was in a discussion the other day about this, and someone brought up the “freedom vs. security” as the kind of “trade” someone assumes if they would, with complete freedom, fuck up someone else because they had no restrictions. We were discussing how the reason most laws exist is because somebody fucked it up for someone else.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world•If there was a commonly used item today that was going to be our equivalent to the Roman dodecahedron, what item do you most speculate it would be?172·2 months agoI read somewhere that stainless steel (like common household items, which also has some chromium in it) would outlive plastics, and could even survive in geological strata like fossils, escept they will last indefinitely. Recently, I saw some “premium toy site” sold “high quality stainless steel” butt plugs. Assuming it’s not being superfluous (one reviewer said “it’s nice and heavy,” and I don’t use butt plugs, but that’s a quality one wants?), this could confuse a lot of fossil hunters, especially 304 and 316 stainless, which has been known to last hundreds of years under the sea. 316 stainless steel, for example, is widely used in marine applications like boat hardware, underwater structures, and offshore platforms.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto Asklemmy@lemmy.ml•Have any of you been memed about/turned into memes?35·3 months agoA friend of mine started the anime meme “Is this a butterfly?” She’s actually employed as a translator for anime, so it made sense.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world•How do I stop laughing at stupid shit all the time15·3 months agoThese are two types of cartoon sounds when a character snores.
The “Inside you there are two wolves” is the name of a proverb which began being parodied towards the end of 2018 and through the beginning of 2019. In the original proverb, a grandfather says there are two wolves fighting inside him, an evil one and a good one. His grandson asks, “who will win?” The grandfather replies, “The one you feed.” In parodies, the story is often simplified to “There are two wolves inside you. One is X. The other is X. You are X.” The proverb’s actual origins are murky. It has been attributed to Christian pastor Billy Graham in 1978, as well as the Cherokee Native American tribe.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world•What's the longest you've gone without eating?6·4 months agoAbout 4 days. multiple times. I was really poor once. I used to take Tylenol and Tums to keep away the hunger pains, and I am surprised I still have a liver and kidneys.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world•What behavior in an adult do you think most screams 'peaked in high school'?251·4 months agoKept women with Instagram influencer vibes selling Lulu Roe or whatever. Usually has a job listed as a “realtor” but don’t actually sell houses. Houses are always McMansions with gray floors, white walls, and vaulted ceilings. They have kids are named Jaydenn, Ashleigh, Brittany, Colt, and Madison. Their skin is tanned, taught, and they always smell of product.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world•What's the longest you've been without power?3·4 months agoElectrical power? I mean, not including camping, I think 4-5 days after a major storm.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world•What is the oldest age anyone in your family has lived to?3·4 months agoThe record is my maternal grandmother who lived to either 86 or 89, depending on what birth record you use.
I have a kaleidoscope for the blind.
One of only 150 or 250 made (I forget which). The artist (Reinhold Marxhausen) got Alzheimer’s in his final years, and is probably dead now. It looks like a metal blob, but the inside is hollow and it has are springs that vibrate and make tones to the slightest touch and heat change. Just shake it and hold it to your ear. It makes different and unique sounds depending on who is holding it, the weather, the air temperature, and so on.
I got it from a kaleidoscope collector, who sold it to me because the small handmade box it came in was damaged in shipping, and it wasn’t worth as much without the box. I keep it in a handmade suede bag.
Edit: I made an Imgur post about it: https://imgur.com/gallery/kaleidoscope-blind-Ab8Xz
Punkie@lemmy.worldto Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world•How do you seriously fight fascism and don't say just vote?66·4 months agoNot mine, but from a post: First, you’re never going to win a head-on battle with an adversary that’s got you outgunned. That’s not the point of the Resistance. The point is to create friction, make it hard for your adversary to operate, to increase transaction costs.
Second, resistance doesn’t have to be a dramatic act. It can be a small act, like losing a sheet of paper, taking your time processing something, not serving someone in a restaurant. Small acts taken by thousands have big effects.
Third, use your privilege and access if you’ve got it. He and his buddies stole weapons from the Nazis by driving up with a truck to the weapons depot, speaking German, acting like it was a routine pick up, and driving away.
Fourth, part of the third point really, sometimes the best way to do things is right out in the open. Because no one will believe something like what you’re doing would be happening so blatantly. All good Social Engineers know this.
Five, bide your time. But be ready for opportunity when it strikes. Again, your action need not be dramatic. Just a little sand in the gears helps.
Six, and this is a no-brainer, operate in cells to limit damage to the resistance should they take you out. Limit the circulation of info to your cell, avoid writing things down and…
Seven, be very careful with whom you trust. Snitches and compromised individuals are everywhere. My dad was arrested because of a snitch. His friends weren’t so lucky, the Gestapo machine gunned the cabin they were in without bothering to try and arrest them.
Eight, use the skills you have to contribute. Dad was an electrical engineer. When the Nazis imposed the death penalty for owning a radio (the British sent coded messages to the Resistance after BBC shows) he said he became the most popular guy in town.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto Memes@lemmy.ml•The CEO killer watching from his hidey hole as authorities try to pin everything on some random dude named Luigi661·5 months agoSee, I think one of three scenarios might have happened:
- Luigi didn’t do it. He was framed and set up because out of the hundreds of prank tips, this guy looked “close enough.”
- Luigi did it, but the evidence was made up to make the case solid and the police look competent. Luigi wasn’t stupid, but he’s boned anyway.
- Luigi did it, and he really was that stupid.
As a writer, one of the aggravating tropes we have to follow is, “make the story believable,” when reality sometimes doesn’t align with “a good story.” Some criminals are really that stupid, and some armchair theory, based on decades of movies, books, and TV shows, you expect “hey, this is what they SHOULD have done is.” And they didn’t. It’s like when a chessmaster has to watch complete amateurs play chess. “Obvious strategies” are ignored, and basically both players are just not thinking past their last move.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto Showerthoughts@lemmy.world•Can you imagine how good Smurfs must taste when Gargamel can't decide whether to eat them or turn them into gold?26·5 months agoI also wonder what the trade value of gold might have been in that universe? For all we know, it might be an either/or situation. Like “Well, I could have my favorite takeout every Friday for a year, OR the newest smartphone.” Both are tempting but for different reasons. Like, “I could buy a lot of turnips, potatoes, and beer with one golden smurf and not have to worry every month if I have enough food, but then they taste REALLY good on their own.” Gargamel struck me as someone who didn’t have a lot of money, so having been poor myself, I understand this weird conundrum. Also, having a golden smurf to trade might bring unwanted attention from locals would who assume he has LOTS of them, and rob his home looking for them.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world•To the few hackers, crackers or whatever pc experts here... Once you managed to get "inside the system/problem" you say to yourself or to someone there with you "I'm in"?19·5 months agoYes. Most of them were east-to-find solutions on the web, or someone else giving me access. “Can you reset my password on Blah?” “Try TempP@ass123.” “I’m in, changed password. Thanks.”
A few times when I am really acting like a Senior Linux Administrator is figuring out a kludge or back door nobody had thought of. Recently, a client told me that the former admin had left and didn’t leave the password to over 300 systems (it turns out he did, the client was clueless, but I didn’t know that in the moment). I found every system the admin had access to, and looked for a dev box where he had access but I could take down during production hours. I took it down, booted into init with /bin/bash, changed root password, brought it back up. Then I checked his home directory to see what public keys he had. Based on that, I checked to see if there were any private keys on the bastion systems that matched as a pair (using ssh-keygen -l -f on each pair to see if the signatures matched). They checked which pair had no password. That was pretty quick because I quickly discovered a majority of these cloud systems also had an ec2-user that could escalate to root via private/public key pairs (it is supposed to be removed for security reasons, but wasn’t). Within a few hours, I had full access back to all their systems. Without taking down production.
I, too, have shitty wireless. In fact, for my work laptop, that’s exactly what I do. So much more reliable. Way too many wireless connections on too many channels close by.
Punkie@lemmy.worldto No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world•Does the USA simply have no food safety standard at all?9·5 months agoMy wife was an insurance adjuster for a major company, and that’s EXACTLY how it goes.
Thank you for this!