=== ANCHOR POEM === ═════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────────── @user-346 Nobody will get past the login screen on my computer, but if they do they probably won't know that you need to push alt+p in DWM to start a program. But even if they push "alt+p firefox" they will only have access to my gmail and discord, because those are the only two places I've saved my login information. Most of my data is on my hard disk anyway, so for that they'd have to push alt+enter and then navigate my filesystem to find it. Shouldn't be too hard if you're familiar with Linux. They could always just pull the hard drive and put it into a new computer though. It's not like it's encrypted, because why would I encrypt it? I want to share information, not conceal it! Surely nobody would desire to exploit that vulnerability of mine, that my data should be unencrypted? If you have a copy of Wikipedia then you're 500% more prepared than 90% of humanity so good job _^ Sure would be cool if you put it in the documents folder of every person in your family who solicited tech advice from you ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────────┘ === SIMILARITY RANKED === --- #1 messages/181 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────── I know you don't want to hear this, but there is a chance that there will come a time where your life depends on your ability to debug a computer without the internet. To set up an SSH server. To install Linux. To program in C. To do something else that I'm not prepared for... If StackOverflow didn't exist because network connectivity has been lost, could you remember syntax? Maybe it's a good idea to set up a local LLM that can answer basic questions about technology. Maybe it's a good idea to set up on your parents computer, just in case you have to hide out there for a couple months. Maybe it's a good idea to download wikipedia, just in case. If I need to use a mac, I'm screwed ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #2 fediverse/239 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────────┐ ║ if your computer gets hacked, but nothing was broken or changed... do you │ ║ leave it as it is so that anonymous can see you're chill or do you wipe it │ ║ because you're afraid it's the feds? │ ║ │ ║ ehhhh false dichotomy most people are afraid that their system will get borked │ ║ or their bank account will be stolen or their email will get spam or that │ ║ random icons will turn inside out and their mouse cursor will turn into a │ ║ barfing unicorn or they'll finally have to figure out bitcoin to pay a ransom │ ║ for their files including the only pictures they have of their niece. whoops │ ║ │ ║ people are afraid of technology because of what it can do to hurt them. │ ║ they're afraid it'll break or stop working, and they'll have to spend time │ ║ figuring it out. they like things how they are, but for some reason companies │ ║ keep changing things? it's frustrating learning a new system, and every 5-10 │ ║ years it feels like you have to learn a new paradigm and ugh it's just so │ ║ exhausting. technology is not designed for users... or maybe users get bored. │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #3 fediverse/3234 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────┐ ║ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ║ │ CW: ritz-is-fucking-stupid-I-guess-oh-whoops-cursing-mentioned │ │ ║ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ ║ │ ║ │ ║ my understanding is that anyone with my IP address could make my heart bleed │ ║ due to a hardware vulnerability on my motherboard. Though you might have to │ ║ get past my decrepit ancient linksys EA 3500 router from 2012 first. │ ║ │ ║ unrelated, but does anyone want my IP address? I don't have any remote │ ║ backups, so if you hate me now would be a great time to show me how despised I │ ║ am. Alternatively you could try searching for anything evil to ensure that I │ ║ can be trusted. You're gonna find mostly video games and source-code that I │ ║ didn't write though. But also all my notes in directories that are │ ║ non-standard, meaning you'll have to look around a bit. I leave little notes │ ║ everywhere I go, so that I can remind myself how to do things in the │ ║ directories I revisit months later. It's so weird how sometimes the things I │ ║ wrote stop working after a while even if I didn't update my system lmao │ ║ │ ║ what is it with artists and self-immolation? "I never thought I'd actually di │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #4 fediverse/383 --- ╔════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────────┐ ║ ┌──────────────────────┐ │ ║ │ CW: linux? │ │ ║ └──────────────────────┘ │ ║ │ ║ │ ║ If I'm trying to get a game or piece of software working, I'll pretty much │ ║ install any package that some random post from 2017 tells me to. Sometimes it │ ║ feels like I'm a Linux grandma clicking on things that say "bored of your │ ║ marriage? click here for games!" and I say to myself "well my marriage is │ ║ fine, but I enjoy horsing around from time to time" and then I get a virus and │ ║ my things break and I go to my niece who's just a darling and say "hello │ ║ niece, I can't check my emails anymore because I downloaded some spam, can you │ ║ give me some tips on how to fix my computer?" and she just rolls her eyes │ ║ because this is like, the fifth random package I downloaded just because some │ ║ random forum poster that SAYS it's from 2017 but who I don't actually KNOW is │ ║ from 2017 and isn't just some automated LLM output that tells you to │ ║ downloaded automatically generated virus packages that are secretly snuck into │ ║ the package repositories because nobody can keep track of ALL THIS STUFF │ ║ anymore now that the internet is AI │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧═════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #5 fediverse/71 --- ════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────────────── Oh it's compressed on tumblr too. And Reddit can delete my account at any time, just saying. I don't trust Facebook to fare any better... I tried to put it on my neocities website so I could just put a link here. Nevermind the fact that most people see a link they don't recognize and completely glaze over it. Guess what? Compressed there too. The file is fine on my PC, so how about I give a download link? Well, where should I host it? Dropbox or Mega I guess, but they locked my account for inactivity. I don't really like having other people in control of my data either. Maybe I can host it on my website, like a file server? Well, the browser intercepts the file somehow and I can't get it to automatically download to the viewer's computer. Maybe I'm just completely average and representative of the base population but I just can't figure this darn thing out. Alas, if only it was the modern era where things make sense and not the ancient days of 2023. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #6 fediverse/1329 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────┐ ║ @user-941 │ ║ │ ║ well, your computer only has so many 1s and 0s that it can use at once. Like, │ ║ having a trillion hands that can each hold a single grain of rice. Every │ ║ character in that txt file would be like, 8 grains of rice, minimum, meaning │ ║ you'd need at least 8 "hands" (or spots to put a zero or a one) for each │ ║ letter! │ ║ │ ║ Hmmmm that's a lot of bits and bytes if everyone's writing to the same file. │ ║ Maybe if we split the file up into smaller sections, then we could just read │ ║ part of it at once. Then we could "scroll" through it to make sure we've read │ ║ the whole thing, starting from the top and going to the bottom. │ ║ │ ║ ah but if everyone's SSHing into the same computer and reading it there, then │ ║ that computer will have to present different parts of the file at different │ ║ times to different people, as they read from the top to the bottom. Maybe we │ ║ could just send them the file, so they can read it at their leisure? │ ║ │ ║ Yeah! And we could use tags to organize it and make it look pretty, like an │ ║ HTML file except... wait hang on │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #7 fediverse/1345 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────┐ ║ ┌────────────────────────────┐ │ ║ │ CW: re: cursed-chromebooks │ │ ║ └────────────────────────────┘ │ ║ │ ║ │ ║ ah but are you really armed in the first place if everything you do has to be │ ║ googled or stack-overflowed first │ ║ │ ║ are you really armed if every web page request goes through their │ ║ infrastructure │ ║ │ ║ are you really armed if every page downloaded is directed to by their DNS │ ║ │ ║ perhaps it's the illusion of power that gives Linux it's attraction to nerds │ ║ such as we. Perhaps we feel powerful by bash scripting a few things together │ ║ and making some program that does some thing. Maybe the idea that the │ ║ machinery is open and clear is what compels us to use it without fear, though │ ║ as far as we can hear there's nothing about it that makes sense. │ ║ │ ║ I guess that's why they teach Linux in school, so that our elementary │ ║ interactions with the computers that comprise our future existence will make │ ║ sense to us as children. │ ║ │ ║ ... wait they don't do that, do they? kids get chromebooks, or didn't you │ ║ hear, they're always putting boogers in the CD trays and breaking their LCD │ ║ displays, much better to just start fresh │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #8 fediverse/2945 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────── my favorite feeling is when I hear my fans running intermittently on my computer even though I'm not doing anything and there aren't any new processes in my resource manager like... that feels like a virus, but I'm on Linux, so what do I know right? it's probably not somebody deleting all my art. or perhaps just selective parts. Backups are a loooooot to manage >.> ... or even just mining crypto-coins lol, botnets amiright?? ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────┘ --- #9 fediverse/6101 --- ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────┐ ║ oh look at me, cargo-culting wine commands because I can't be bothered to │ ║ guess whether the windows software running on my computer is doing evil │ ║ microsoft things as part of the drivers or whatever. I mean, there's gotta be │ ║ a reason that microsoft's software runs slower on linux than linux software │ ║ runs on windows, right? │ ║ │ ║ ... wait I forget exactly where I was going with this, are you saying there's │ ║ a keylogger built into the wine / windows environment software? no, but I'm │ ║ not NOT saying that. listen I'm too eepy sleepy for hardcore computing like │ ║ that! rubbin' bits between your fingers and twiddling the nose of cutie pies │ ║ is only sorta my jam - the rest of the time I like to snuggle up with a pillow │ ║ shaped like a pillow and then fall asleep to the tune of the tortured souls │ ║ being reaped from the afterlife and given new life as seeds and berries in │ ║ this one. oh, did you think death had no other homes? all things are defined │ ║ in waves, something something samsara but like, different because humans cant │ ║ be rite │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╧══────────┘ --- #10 fediverse/1038 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────── ┌──────────────────────┐ │ CW: re: what │ └──────────────────────┘ @user-766 ah yes but then how will my comrades come for my things know where to look? my precious precious drives may be less safe inside of the computer case but at least then someone I can about can find them. or what you're saying is that a basic part of situational awareness is having a plan for this kind of thing with the people who care about you? Ah, well, nobody cares about me like that. Just a couple normies who want nothing but business as usual. wonder if I can open up my hard drives to "read only" SSH access? Or maybe I'll just make the important files into a torrent. Or perhaps marking them as "downloadable locations" on Soulseek? Plenty of options, all of them require someone to care enough about your junk to want to archive it. Something something ipfs? ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────┘ --- #11 fediverse/1720 --- ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────┐ ║ there's even websites online like Facebook or Twitter where you can share │ ║ advice and various spells you've invented yourself (it's totally easy to do │ ║ btw, I'll show you how) │ ║ │ ║ everyone's super friendly and anyone who's not isn't allowed to bother us. │ ║ it's pretty neat. anyway no matter what it is, if something's bothering you │ ║ about your computer, you can fix it. it's just a matter of reading through │ ║ documentation. Ah, well, isn't it great to have a lot of free time that you │ ║ don't know what to do with? │ ║ │ ║ Linux is pretty great, I gotta say. I honestly never really leave the command │ ║ line - the text based buttons, I mean. I only use a mouse when I'm doing │ ║ something with pictures (or playing a game like freecell or hearts) │ ║ │ ║ plus you can do things like sending raw packets of information to your friend │ ║ who's on the other side of the country and they can use a secret key-code to │ ║ decrypt it like checking the mail at a locked mailbox. │ ║ │ ║ anything you can imagine using the physical components of a computer, is │ ║ possibleifyrts │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧═════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #12 fediverse/3907 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────── kinda wanna make a linux distro that has all the capabilities of a GUI distro and isn't so minimal (like screen recording, calculator, screenshot, wifi manager, etc etc) but with i3 instead of a desktop. they could literally just be symlinks (shortcuts) to scripts that are in your /usr/bin or whatever directory seriously it's not like there's THAT many ways to use ffmpeg, why not just write a script for them? that's what you're going to do when you use it for the first time, anyway, so... ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┘ --- #13 fediverse/3470 --- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────── alternatively, when you initiate an SSH session it sends you a randomized public key whose private key is the password that you need to login. By decrypting the string of text it sent you and sending it back (plus the password at the end or whatever) you can ensure secure authentication without bothering with the passwordless keys which are wayyyyyy more trouble than they're worth and lack the "something you know" authentication method. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────┘ --- #14 fediverse/1261 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────┐ ║ sometimes I run this WoW server with only like, 10 username and passwords. And │ ║ they're all public. As far as I can tell nobody's ever tried connecting │ ║ (whatever >.> ) but rather than set up a way to create your own │ ║ credentials I just said "yeah pick one at random and play whatever someone │ ║ else was doing because I like the idea of that" │ ║ │ ║ somehow, it felt right. │ ║ │ ║ most of my passwords (not all of them) are hacked and visible on the clear │ ║ net. Like you could probably google my usernames and get my current passwords │ ║ for things like, social media or my banks or whatever. I kinda like the idea │ ║ that "you cannot trust anything I say, so think of the ideas behind my words │ ║ and decide whether they hold meaning to you" rather than "execute these │ ║ particular thought patterns in your mind as if they came from my voice" │ ║ because one implies an exertion of control over the mind of the recipient │ ║ -> obey my thoughts as I broadcast them into your mind, that kinda vibe. │ ║ And I feel like you have to consent to that kind of thing hehe │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #15 fediverse/2124 --- ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────┐ ║ seriously, just google docs mixed with WC3 editor. │ ║ │ ║ boom, infinite storytelling device. As long as you were good with it, which │ ║ was something that a CHILD could learn in like 3-6 months. │ ║ │ ║ Seems like it could be an ENTIRELY NEW SKILL that people could play with. │ ║ │ ║ But no, we learn excel and word in class at middle school. │ ║ │ ║ boring. │ ║ │ ║ I'd rather learn Bash or terminal customization or memory hierarchy │ ║ organization. │ ║ │ ║ Yeah I mean that's cool but dude have you heard of multithreading? It's so │ ║ cool, you can run like 500 different thoughts at once. It's amazing. │ ║ │ ║ ... I dunno, but I'm sure there's times when you'd want to use it. Like, │ ║ processing a lot of data little-by-little. │ ║ │ ║ like, what if you had a camera feed of EVERY social media perspective AT ALL │ ║ TIMES. Like, an instance admin streaming your inputted text to their databanks │ ║ that they can project onto an LLM which interprets and identifies mis-aligned │ ║ or altered direction units and mark them as "flagged", whatever that means, │ ║ for their future the algorithm doesn' │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧══════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #16 fediverse/2674 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────── ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ CW: factually-untrue,-that-never-happened.-this-is-just-gesturing. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ the kind of friendship where you SSH into each other's systems and leave notes for one another. as soon as you find one you message the person who left it like "yoooo only just found this lol" and they're like oooo yeah did you see the bash script I wrote in that directory "yeah totally I used it on one of my video files just now - cool filter!" ahhhh reminds me of all the times hackers have hacked my permanently insecure system and left me friendly messages like "hey I'm on your side" or "how's life, friend? I hope it's going well." or "never forget; you are worth all the fear" y'know cute things like that oh. right. because leaving vulnerabilities like that can lead to threat actors affecting your stuff. how lame. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────┘ --- #17 fediverse/5291 --- ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────── the most important skill I can think of for a linux software engineer is the ability to connect multiple systems together and turn windows and macintosh devices into Linux devices so that datacenters can be built out of whatever's on the around. there's this programming language I like called Chapel for distributed computation computing which is also cool, if you're more of the programming type. networking security I believe often has hardware solutions, so getting the crypto-graphy boys and the PCB girls together to work on some jams is a good and productively useful gathering of insightful events "but ritz computers should only be used to solve problems that people have, not make more problems!" ah yes but have you considered that problems find you, and the computers help you work through them ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────┘ --- #18 fediverse/2056 --- ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────┐ ║ sometimes I think about how you can store number values in letters, in │ ║ addition to numbers. Like, ascii values for each word of your grandma's maiden │ ║ name. All you have to do is encode it, and suddenly "44 means something │ ║ different than Q" │ ║ │ ║ if I showed up at your place and used your username as a password to a public │ ║ key I'm showing you in my hand, would you trust me then? Would you trust if we │ ║ ran the simulation on your computer versus mine? Would you trust if I had │ ║ never told you I knew where you lived? │ ║ │ ║ ... probably, tbh, I'm desperate for adventure. Though I got some good things │ ║ going for me, so you'll have to convince me. (not the right attitude in an │ ║ election year, just saying) │ ║ │ ║ why are elections so perilous this is NOT what democracy is designed for │ ║ │ ║ when kids cry in preschool, they're sent to a different room (or put outside) │ ║ until they stop making noise and ruining it for others. That's just natural, │ ║ like "hey baby let's walk around the block while I bounce you on my shoulder │ ║ and hum calming music to │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧══════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #19 fediverse/1503 --- ═════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ CW: vague-gesturing-at-paranoia-I-think │ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ part of me kinda wants to be the kind of nerd that writes down the names of every file that's permanently stored on my computer so that I can verify in my own handwriting or perhaps using a type of code that the files on my computer were placed there intentionally and not used to discredit or implicate me in something I had no intentions of being associated with phew idk what that means but surely it's important something something "file creation dates are just bits to be flipped" ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────┘ --- #20 fediverse/899 --- ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────────┐ ║ frankly I'm just excited to see what humanity does with the endlessly │ ║ calculated and stored blockchains. Like, that's a good set of pseudo-random │ ║ data, I wonder if we could build something off of it that wasn't exclusively │ ║ money? like, a necklace, I dunno. │ ║ │ ║ or like, a numbers station x2, where each message is accompanied with a │ ║ pre-calculated destination somewhere on this endless and │ ║ impossible-to-understand string of data. and that part is what seeds the next │ ║ code. once you start reading, certain numbers would be "flags" while others │ ║ would be "data" and they'd each have the same size on the hardware. that way, │ ║ they're impossible to predict. │ ║ │ ║ ah, but wouldn't it be noticable that certain results seem to appear next to │ ║ one another? well, isn't that just cryptology? Could probably be defeated if │ ║ you had an AI advanced enough, just saying. something that sorted through │ ║ massive mounds of data and gave you results in garbled or broken english. what │ ║ a wonderful tool, that's wonderfully mis-abused, perhaps in the fu │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧═══════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────┴──────────┘ |