Curious Musings

Zippy in the mists of time

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is my September 2026 #Emacs Carnival entry. Back in the mists of time, there was Zippy the Pinhead. For a while, zippy quotes were included as part of emacs, but they were not free, so they were removed.

Here, to help you “understand” Zippy are a couple of the comic strips Zippy One Zippy Two, but “understand” is the exactly the wrong word when it comes to Zippy.

Now, add to that even less context. Just the text of random zippy quotes and you’ve got … well, you tell me what you’ve got?

The last thing that happens in my emacs startup config displays a random Zippy quote on the status line. Here’s the code.

1 Zippy haunting my emacs config

* All's Well That Ends Well, YOW !!!
   Because, well, you've got to be able to M-x psychoanalyze-pinhead
   to fill a buffer and pass the time....

   Discussion of the demise of zippy in Emacs here:
    - http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=302313

   You'll need a copy of the zippy quotes.  I pulled from here LONG ago..
   https://github.com/shentonfreude/dot-emacs/blob/master/yow.lines

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :exports code
  (message "init.el finished. Yow !")
  (setq yow-file "~/.emacs.d/etc/yow.lines")
  (global-set-key "\ey" 'yow)		; my ANCIENT keybinding

  ;; This function gives me a zippy quote on the status line after
  ;; everything else in the config has settled down.
  ;; I'm sure there are better/cleaner ways...
  (defun display-yow-in-status-line ()
    "Display the result of yow in the status line once after 1 second of idle time."
    (interactive)
    (run-with-idle-timer 1 nil
                         (lambda ()
                           (let ((yow-output (yow)))
                             (message "%s" yow-output)))))
  (display-yow-in-status-line)

  #+END_SRC

2 psychoanalyze-pinhead

There also used to be “M-x psychoanalyze-pinhead” where you could endlessly fill a buffer with Rogerian analysis of zippy quotes: https://www.elsewhere.org/journal/archives/2001/10/07/psychoanalyze-pinhead/ I mean, who needs LLMs when you can watch a live analysis session of Zippy. There are some issues that keep the original code from working in modern Emacsen, and I meant to fixed them in time for this Emacs Carnival post, but didn’t quite get there.

There was also “M-x psychoanalyze-flammer” which analyzed a stream of inflammatory insults.

3 The new traditionalists

My startup fragment above shows how to pull the original, non-free zippy quotes. If you are a purist and don’t mind using some AI-generated quotes, here are some you might try.

YOW!

Give me 60 new quotes in the style of Zippy the Pinhead with more current cultural and historical references. 20 should be in classic zippy style 20 should should have a Mark-twain flavor 20 should have a kafka-esque twist. Separate them into sections, and maybe prefix things like “zippy sez:”, “Mark Twain Zippyism:” or similar.

3.1 Classic Zippy

zippy sez: “Am I logged into the Metaverse yet, or is this just a low-resolution IHOP in Sandusky?”
zippy sez: “YOW! My cryptocurrency is backed entirely by vintage Cheez-Whiz and discarded TikTok drafts!”
zippy sez: “Are we fine-tuning the AI language model yet, or did I accidentally swallow a microchip?”
zippy sez: “I’m having an existential crisis inside an abandoned Sears, but at least the Wi-Fi password is ‘Doughnut123’!”
zippy sez: “FOOLED YOU! I put my life savings into Nvidia microchips and a half-eaten sleeve of Oreos!”
zippy sez: “Is it safe to manifest a boba tea in a post-apocalyptic pop-up shop?”
zippy sez: “YOW! My smart-toaster just joined a union and demanded equity in my morning Pop-Tart!”
zippy sez: “I’m doomscrolling on a Roomba while singing the theme song to The Golden Girls!”
zippy sez: “Does the algorithm know I prefer my existential dread with extra ranch dressing?”
zippy sez: “BARBRA STREISAND! The podcaster told me my microbiome needs more air-fried Cheetos!”
zippy sez: “Are we experiencing a disruption in the supply chain, or is my Muppet persona taking over?”
zippy sez: “I demand a cloud-based refund for this unboxing video of a 1994 Buick LeSabre!”
zippy sez: “YOW! I’m getting 5G signals directly through my polyester leisure suit!”
zippy sez: “Can an autonomous vehicle find true love at an abandoned Blockbuster Video?”
zippy sez: “MY HEAD IS FULL OF SOURDOUGH STARTERS AND UNREAD EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS!”
zippy sez: “Is this an ASMR video of bubble wrap, or are my neurons just microdosing?”
zippy sez: “FOOLED YOU! The smartwatch says my resting heart rate is set to ’80s Synthpop!”
zippy sez: “I’m pivot-to-video-ing my way through a drive-thru Dutch Bros!”
zippy sez: “Are we having fun yet, or is this just a sponsored Instagram story about tooth enamel?”
zippy sez: “YOW! My smart fridge just unfollowed me on LinkedIn!”
* /

3.2 Mark Twain Flavor

Mark Twain Zippyism: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still trying to log into its two-factor authentication. YOW!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to eat a bowl of Cap’n Crunch and check your spam folder.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything, except where you left the remote control for the air fryer.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Giving up social media is easy. I’ve done it a thousand times, usually right after downloading a new meditation app.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and leak your personal data.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who only watches 15-second cat videos on YouTube.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest, especially the algorithms on X.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work—and my electric scooter that needs charging!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “High culture is something that everyone wants to have read, but nobody wants to stream past episode two.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little influence in society, unless they’re selling crypto on Telegram!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Civilized people are only savage people who have learned to use contactless payment at the Buc-ee’s.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read, like the terms of service agreement!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first, before the Wi-Fi router.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Fact is stranger than fiction, but fiction doesn’t require a monthly subscription fee. YOW!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started, preferably after a second iced caramel macchiato.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions, especially in the YouTube comment section.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment… like investing in non-fungible Ding Dongs!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been, or where the face-filter failed to load.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody—unless it’s sparkling water served in a Stanley cup!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear… or so my wearable device claims during a panic attack!”
* /

3.3 Kafka-esque Twist

Kafkaesque Zippyism: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a verified X account. YOW!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The Trial has been postponed indefinitely, pending the verification of my CAPTCHA test! Am I a robot or a pinhead?!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “Before the Law stands a doorkeeper, but he won’t let me in until I complete a 45-minute customer satisfaction survey!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “I am a memory trace of an unwritten email, trapped forever in the outbox of the High Tribunal!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The Castle is imposing, impenetrable, and currently offering a 10% discount on first-time app orders!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “They condemned me to hard labor, which consists entirely of endless scrolling through LinkedIn connections.”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “A cage went in search of a bird, but it only found an abandoned Amazon Prime locker in New Jersey!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The official told me my permit was approved, but the file size was too large for human comprehension!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “My metamorphosis was complete: I was no longer a clerk, but a pop-up advertisement for frozen waffles!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “You can hold back from the suffering of the world, but perhaps this holding back is the only thing you could avoid—YOW!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The inspector arrived, but he was merely a chatbot trained on complete transcripts of Judge Judy!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “In the Penal Colony, the sentence is etched directly on the skin using a laser printer loaded with expired mustard!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “I am free and that is why I am lost… in a Target parking lot at 3:00 AM!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “I opened the door to the magistrate’s office, only to find an automated self-checkout register demanding an attendant!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The judgment was handed down: I am sentenced to life without parole inside a Peloton commercial!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “Every word written by the bureaucracy turns into a tiny paper crane that screams ‘Are we having fun yet?’”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything wrong, his account was shadowbanned!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The advocate promised to file my appeal as soon as the cloud server finishes its scheduled maintenance!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “I am writing from the inner chamber of the labyrinth, but the door handle is a cold, damp Spam can!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The infinite corridor leads only to a closed DMV window where a typewriter plays synthwave!”

And remember, “Everybody gets free BORSCHT!”. YOW!

This Year I'll…

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0500

This is my emacs carnival blog post for January 2026 responding to Christian Tietze’s prompt “This year I’ll…”

This year emacs-related goals include moving into denote, updating workflows, integrating AI where it makes sense and sharing more publicly. Specific packages will include denote, gptel, and likely something with Claude code. Still loving org-social. This is the year of the verb: “to emacs”.

1 What will you do differently in emacs?

What will you do differently in Emacs this year? Or will you just get started? Why?

So many things TODO. Org mode is soooo good at making huge TODO lists. This year I’m hoping to share more of my tinkering in public in git, blogs, my config maybe an emacs-conf talk.

A number of the projects are not strictly emacs, but enablers for further sharing: I plan on resurrecting my own git server using one of my own domains. It’s likely going to turn back into a Forgejo git server. For a while now I’ve needed to get more comfortable with my blogging platform, micro.blog (my current blog is at https://micro.blog/eludom). Micro.blog replaced the hugo blog I was producing (with ox-hugo) which is still up at http://curious.galthub.com/. Micro.blog is hugo on the back end.

I missed a shout-out to JTR in last month’s “The People Of Emacs” carnival. He turned me on to hugo, then micro.blog and always seems to be just ahead of me on interesting emacs/org projects.

1.2 What’s old is new

I have digital flotsam and jetsam that goes back decades, including my old hand-edited HTML index page (http://port111.com/george/) (yes, I use HTML mode). A lot of this stuff needs to be collected. Emacs will be central to that task.

The oldest file for which I have an mtime is .emacs.uu my emacs config file from July 12, 2001 when I was working at UUNET. There’s a TOPS 20 dumper tape in garage that may have emacs (TECO) stuff from the 80s if anybody’s got a TU-77 handy.

Change (and config-twiddling) seem to be the only constants.

plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

2 What are you excited about with emacs?

What are you excited about to explore and tinker with? What do you want to perfect?

2.1 Visual Line mode

Let’s start small. This week I switched to using the visual-fill-column mode. Turns out we’re not in the era of VT100s anymore. “Terminals” have more than 80 columns and a lot of people, for some strange reason, don’t break their lines at 80 characters. Up to now, I had stubbornly been setting a fill-column and using fill-paragraph a lot. That’s over:

(remove-hook 'text-mode-hook #'turn-on-auto-fill)

(require 'visual-fill-column)

;; Add visual-line-mode and visual-fill-column-mode to text-mode-hook
(add-hook 'text-mode-hook (lambda ()
                            (visual-line-mode 1)
                            (visual-fill-column-mode 1)
                            (visual-fill-column-toggle-center-text)))

;; Set the desired wrap width
(setq-default visual-fill-column-width 120) ;; because 80 character terminals were a thing?

2.2 Denote - a new workflow

I’m moving into Denote. I’m not sure what the ?final? workflow will be but I know it’s going to be better.

Up until now I’ve been doing the traditional directory structure thing. Blogs here, finance stuff there, travel planning someplace else, etc. And then I have to remember where it all is.

The denote workflow will be some form of files mostly in one directory:

20260113T084007--experiments-using-vpns-for-daily-web-access__tech_writing.org
20260113T115229--debug-and-fix-garage-door__house.org
20251217T081925--jones-family-christmas-letter-2025__public_writing.org

The exact set of tags is a work in progress. The current list includes: emacs,tech,writing,public,money,planning,blogging,travel,retirement,info,house,fitness,family

The key will be to find a minimal, effective, memorable set of tags. I’m trying to follow Karl Voit’s guidance on How to Use Tags. Karl is another person who should have gotten a shout out in my People of Emacs emacs carnival entry last month.

I also have an increasing number of files that are “conversations” with AI (ChatGPT to date), more on AI below. Files that start life as conversations with AI are generally landing in ~/notes/ai/.

I’m currently pushing anything I tag _public to https://codeberg.org/eludom/home.public.notes/src/branch/master/home/public/notes They are likely to move to git.galthub.com once I stand that back up.

2.3 GPTel - AI all the things

I’ve been using ChatGPT in emacs buffers with gptel to ask questions and keep a log of answers. I just type the question in the buffer/file and send it off.

I have a capture template that captures queries in hierarchically structured date tree.

The capture template looks like:

(setq org-capture-templates
      '(
        ;; gptel query
        ;;  [Hit ^X-G (gptel-send) to run the query then ^C-^C (org-capture-finalize) to save]
        ("g" "GPTel Query" entry (file+datetree "~/tmp/gpt-captures.org")
"* GPTel Query\n  %U\n:Query: %^{Enter your query}\n\n%?" :jump-to-capture t)

        )
      )

Configure ~/tmp/gpt-captures.org to where you want the captures/queries to land. Running the buffer and providing the query results in a buffer that looks like

**** GPTel Query
  [2026-01-17 Sat 17:07]
:Query: what does :jump-to-capture do in an org capture template

And after running query (^X-G with my bindings, gptel-send) and saving it (^c^c, org-capture-finalize)

* 2026
** 2026-01 January
*** 2026-01-17 Saturday
**** GPTel Query
  [2026-01-17 Sat 17:07]
:Query: what does :jump-to-capture do in an org capture template

In Org mode, the =:jump-to-capture= option in a capture template is used to jump to the newly created capture...

but I’m moving to mostly capturing things as denote notes in notes/ai/ instead. No need for AI/GPT specific org-capture template (above). I’m finding this segregates conversations better, maintains context, allows selective sharing (via _public tags and pushing to git).

The workflow there is to just do a normal denote capture, type the query in the buffer and do ^x-G to run the query. I often iterate/refine the query/have “conversations” in the same buffer.

2.4 Claude Code - AI agent all the things

I’m just starting to explore Claude Code/agentic AI. Yet another paradigm shift. The AIs (or some portion of them) run on your system and do stuff with your things.

I got started with Claude by feeding a twitter thread to ChatGPT and asking how I could replicate some results: https://codeberg.org/eludom/home.public.notes/src/branch/master/home/public/notes/ai/20260114T052256--claud-workflow__public_tech.org

I’ve run the shell (installed claude, type “claude” to start it) and fed it some of my old bash scripts for cleanup and restructuring, no problem. Proofreading text files, no problem. I installed this claude skill, fed it .csv files of credit card transactions (no credentials) and let it find things that could be canceled to save money. You need a $20/month account. I canceled my OpenAI/ChatGPT paid account ($20) because I’m mostly using that via the API (gptel) anyhow.

I’ve been using the clipea cli tool for a bit to just generate “Do What I mean” command lines:

gmj@forum ~ $ ?? what package owns /usr/bin/brave I am on arch linux
📎🟢$ pacman -Qo /usr/bin/brave
Execute? [y/N] y
/usr/bin/brave is owned by brave-bin 1:1.84.132-1

Claude is going to take that about 4 orders of magnitude further, allowing access to as much (or as little) of your local system (files, commands) as you feel comfortable with. Once I learn more, I will probably integrate locally with my mail (offlineimap) and rss feeds to do filtering, scoring, summary reports, etc.

For now, I’m just using the default command line/terminal-based Claude AI, but as I type a new version of agent-shell dropped on MELPA. Emacs integration is probably in the near future.

There’s learning to do.

And then there’s org-social. The social network where all your stuff stays on your computer (your posts, your “likes”, your follow list), everything is formatted in org-mode, there is an emacs client, or if you don’t like that you can just curl all your friends’ feeds, ‘cause theirs are all just a single publicly accessible text files too.

If you’ve not tried it, do so. Emacs people need niche places to congregate. This is a ground-up emacs/org-native social network. Check it out. Join. Use it.

3 large projects with emacs?

Are there any large projects in front of you that you’ll emacs with confidence?

I’m pretty sure everything listed above will count as several large projects. Stay tuned.

And much as I dislike project managment and Kanban boards, I may ask one of the AIs to help me with my ever-growing and ever-too-big-to-accomplish TODO lists. Maybe I’ll figure out which ones are more important and get a few of them done. These are exciting times.

4 Emacs, the verb

And Christian, I’m with you on using emacs as a verb:

To emacs, or not to emacs, that is the question.

*Emacso, -are, -avi, -atus* (verb, 1st conjugation)

emacso, emacsas, emacsat, emacsamus, emacsatis, emacsant

- Cotidie, cum discipulis meis, emacso ad software melius discendum.
   /(Every day, with my students, I emacs to learn better software.)/

“All your emacsifications are belong to us”

Zippy in the mists of time

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0500

Here, to help you “understand” Zippy are a couple of the comic strips Zippy One Zippy Two, but “understand” is the exactly the wrong word when it comes to Zippy.

Now, add to that even less context. Just the text of random zippy quotes and you’ve got … well, you tell me what you’ve got?

The last thing that happens in my emacs startup config displays a random Zippy quote on the status line. Here’s the code.

1 Zippy haunting my emacs config

* All's Well That Ends Well, YOW !!!
   Because, well, you've got to be able to M-x psychoanalyze-pinhead
   to fill a buffer and pass the time....

   Discussion of the demise of zippy in Emacs here:
    - http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=302313

   You'll need a copy of the zippy quotes.  I pulled from here LONG ago..
   https://github.com/shentonfreude/dot-emacs/blob/master/yow.lines

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :exports code
  (message "init.el finished. Yow !")
  (setq yow-file "~/.emacs.d/etc/yow.lines")
  (global-set-key "\ey" 'yow)		; my ANCIENT keybinding

  ;; This function gives me a zippy quote on the status line after
  ;; everything else in the config has settled down.
  ;; I'm sure there are better/cleaner ways...
  (defun display-yow-in-status-line ()
    "Display the result of yow in the status line once after 1 second of idle time."
    (interactive)
    (run-with-idle-timer 1 nil
                         (lambda ()
                           (let ((yow-output (yow)))
                             (message "%s" yow-output)))))
  (display-yow-in-status-line)

  #+END_SRC

2 psychoanalyze-pinhead

There was also “M-x psychoanalyze-flammer” which analyzed a stream of inflammatory insults.

3 The new traditionalists

My startup fragment above shows how to pull the original, non-free zippy quotes. If you are a purist and don’t mind using some AI-generated quotes, here are some you might try.

YOW!

Give me 60 new quotes in the style of Zippy the Pinhead with more current cultural and historical references. 20 should be in classic zippy style 20 should should have a Mark-twain flavor 20 should have a kafka-esque twist. Separate them into sections, and maybe prefix things like “zippy sez:”, “Mark Twain Zippyism:” or similar.

3.1 Classic Zippy

zippy sez: “Am I logged into the Metaverse yet, or is this just a low-resolution IHOP in Sandusky?”
zippy sez: “YOW! My cryptocurrency is backed entirely by vintage Cheez-Whiz and discarded TikTok drafts!”
zippy sez: “Are we fine-tuning the AI language model yet, or did I accidentally swallow a microchip?”
zippy sez: “I’m having an existential crisis inside an abandoned Sears, but at least the Wi-Fi password is ‘Doughnut123’!”
zippy sez: “FOOLED YOU! I put my life savings into Nvidia microchips and a half-eaten sleeve of Oreos!”
zippy sez: “Is it safe to manifest a boba tea in a post-apocalyptic pop-up shop?”
zippy sez: “YOW! My smart-toaster just joined a union and demanded equity in my morning Pop-Tart!”
zippy sez: “I’m doomscrolling on a Roomba while singing the theme song to The Golden Girls!”
zippy sez: “Does the algorithm know I prefer my existential dread with extra ranch dressing?”
zippy sez: “BARBRA STREISAND! The podcaster told me my microbiome needs more air-fried Cheetos!”
zippy sez: “Are we experiencing a disruption in the supply chain, or is my Muppet persona taking over?”
zippy sez: “I demand a cloud-based refund for this unboxing video of a 1994 Buick LeSabre!”
zippy sez: “YOW! I’m getting 5G signals directly through my polyester leisure suit!”
zippy sez: “Can an autonomous vehicle find true love at an abandoned Blockbuster Video?”
zippy sez: “MY HEAD IS FULL OF SOURDOUGH STARTERS AND UNREAD EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS!”
zippy sez: “Is this an ASMR video of bubble wrap, or are my neurons just microdosing?”
zippy sez: “FOOLED YOU! The smartwatch says my resting heart rate is set to ’80s Synthpop!”
zippy sez: “I’m pivot-to-video-ing my way through a drive-thru Dutch Bros!”
zippy sez: “Are we having fun yet, or is this just a sponsored Instagram story about tooth enamel?”
zippy sez: “YOW! My smart fridge just unfollowed me on LinkedIn!”
* /

3.2 Mark Twain Flavor

Mark Twain Zippyism: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still trying to log into its two-factor authentication. YOW!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to eat a bowl of Cap’n Crunch and check your spam folder.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything, except where you left the remote control for the air fryer.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Giving up social media is easy. I’ve done it a thousand times, usually right after downloading a new meditation app.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and leak your personal data.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who only watches 15-second cat videos on YouTube.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest, especially the algorithms on X.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work—and my electric scooter that needs charging!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “High culture is something that everyone wants to have read, but nobody wants to stream past episode two.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little influence in society, unless they’re selling crypto on Telegram!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Civilized people are only savage people who have learned to use contactless payment at the Buc-ee’s.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read, like the terms of service agreement!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first, before the Wi-Fi router.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Fact is stranger than fiction, but fiction doesn’t require a monthly subscription fee. YOW!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started, preferably after a second iced caramel macchiato.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions, especially in the YouTube comment section.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment… like investing in non-fungible Ding Dongs!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been, or where the face-filter failed to load.”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody—unless it’s sparkling water served in a Stanley cup!”
Mark Twain Zippyism: “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear… or so my wearable device claims during a panic attack!”
* /

3.3 Kafka-esque Twist

Kafkaesque Zippyism: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a verified X account. YOW!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The Trial has been postponed indefinitely, pending the verification of my CAPTCHA test! Am I a robot or a pinhead?!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “Before the Law stands a doorkeeper, but he won’t let me in until I complete a 45-minute customer satisfaction survey!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “I am a memory trace of an unwritten email, trapped forever in the outbox of the High Tribunal!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The Castle is imposing, impenetrable, and currently offering a 10% discount on first-time app orders!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “They condemned me to hard labor, which consists entirely of endless scrolling through LinkedIn connections.”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “A cage went in search of a bird, but it only found an abandoned Amazon Prime locker in New Jersey!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The official told me my permit was approved, but the file size was too large for human comprehension!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “My metamorphosis was complete: I was no longer a clerk, but a pop-up advertisement for frozen waffles!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “You can hold back from the suffering of the world, but perhaps this holding back is the only thing you could avoid—YOW!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The inspector arrived, but he was merely a chatbot trained on complete transcripts of Judge Judy!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “In the Penal Colony, the sentence is etched directly on the skin using a laser printer loaded with expired mustard!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “I am free and that is why I am lost… in a Target parking lot at 3:00 AM!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “I opened the door to the magistrate’s office, only to find an automated self-checkout register demanding an attendant!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The judgment was handed down: I am sentenced to life without parole inside a Peloton commercial!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “Every word written by the bureaucracy turns into a tiny paper crane that screams ‘Are we having fun yet?’”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything wrong, his account was shadowbanned!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The advocate promised to file my appeal as soon as the cloud server finishes its scheduled maintenance!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “I am writing from the inner chamber of the labyrinth, but the door handle is a cold, damp Spam can!”
Kafkaesque Zippyism: “The infinite corridor leads only to a closed DMV window where a typewriter plays synthwave!”

And remember, “Everybody gets free BORSCHT!”. YOW!

Back to the egg - Emacs in the 70s

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0500

1 Ab Initio

In the beginning, there was TECO¹.
And darkness was on the face of the programmers,
And the MIT hackers said “Let there be Emacs”,
And there was a collection of TECO maros".

This is the first in what is planned to be a series of posts on “The people of Emacs” who have influenced me. I’ve found that the use of Emacs is often a marker for “interesting people doing interesting things”. I have absolutely zero interest in tracking weight lifting stats, but using Emacs on Android as a base for “replacing proprietary software with free alternatives”? Now I’m listening.

Since I’ve been noodling around with Emacs since something like 1979 I’m going to do this in installments. This is part of the Emacs Carnival for December 2025. I suspect I will write several installments after the December carnival has ended.

2 Try this at home kids !

Because Emacs people are fundamentally a hands-on crowd, I’ll try to start each installment with some DIY project. Thanks to fine folks at SDF Public Access UNIX System you can log into a TOPS10 or TOPS20 system today and run the original TECO Emacs. You can run your own PDP-10 on a raspberry pi if you want even more fun.

Go to https://sdf.org/ or https://twenex.org/ to get started.

“If you’re computer doesn’t have 36 bits,
you’re not playing with a full DEC²”

Your assignment is to create yourself an account, log in, run Emacs, create a file, and save it. Bonus points for running dired. Double bonus points if it’s a finger plan file (the TOPS20 version of “About Me”). Can you edit a file in Emacs c.a. 1980? How much of what you do today in Emacs was there at the beginning? The past is a foreign land.

Emacs was created on multi-user systems. That had implications for the ethos and the culture around it. This may be new to you if you started computing after, say, 1985. When you log in, run “finger” to see who’s logged in and what they’re doing. You will be presented with BB³ (bulletin-board) messages (system local messages that other people post). There was/is “talk” for connecting with other users on the system.

One of the many things that was cool about the TOPS20 exec (shell) was the command line help system. Type “?” at any point (no return) and you will see the list of valid command options at that point. This was mimicked in Cisco IOS and Columbia C-Kermit. Bits of it were re-implemented in tcsh (TENEX C shell) and later in bash. Type “?”. See what happens.

Triple bonus points - log in using telnet. Who needs ssh? Who needs encrypted passwords on the wire?

3 The people

3.1 RMS - sine non qua

I don’t think I need to or can say anything new about Stallman, his vision, his skill as a programmer, his dedication, etc. For my entire career he was a force, a presence, a coding-monster, a moral inspiration, etc. The Emacs story began 6 or 7 years before FSF, but I think the sharing culture that created it was and is the heart of free software and where it most clearly lives to this day.

3.2 Guy Steele and the CMU connection

Guy Steele contributed to the initial development of Emacs. He was a student at MIT at the time. He later moved to Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU) as an assistant professor. He later co-authored one of the standard references on C and helped standardize Java. I’m assuming he brought Emacs with him from MIT. Secondary effects indicate that this is probably true. I know of at least two other implementations of Emacs that happened at CMU around that time: “Gosmacs” by James Gosling (later of Java fame), and FINE (FINE Is Not Emacs) for TOPS10 (more on that later). My future wife was an undergraduate at CMU at the time and knew Steele and his family.

3.3 More CMU connections

The plot thickens. My older brother went to CMU as an undergrad in the fall of 1978. He was running in the computing circles where Emacs versions were proliferating. My first memory of Emacs is a stack of green-bar print-outs of the source code (TECO) for Emacs that sat for a year or so in my younger brother’s room. He and several of his friends from CMU worked as interns during the summers for Steve Wilhite (he of GIF file format fame) at CompuServe. Steve was developing compilers, run-times and programming support tools (like editors). They brought FINE with them from CMU. CompuServe ran (to its dying day) on DEC10s. I later worked for Steve in my first job out of college. FINE was there and waiting for me.

3.4 The Columbian Exchange.

To keep this post mostly in the 70s I have to mention a group in passing that deserves its own history. It turns out I was in the right place at the right time with (in retrospect) an incredible group of friends.

In high school, before the Apple-II, before Star Wars we had a clique that called itself the “Computer Wizards”. In many cases we were sons of professors and the odd Bell Labs/Western electric/Battelle engineer. We made our own light sabers before there was Star Wars merch on the shelves. Members of the group went on to places like CMU, Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. Various of us were responsible for things such as the Document Object Model (DOM), the Java VM at Sun, C++ standards, bits of the Mach kernel (running to this day as the core OS of macs), high speed networking research, tcsh, IETF standards work and managing a James Bond movie shooting site in Puerto Rico that sometimes doubled as a world famous radio telescope. Several migrated to CMU. Several more of us spent time working at Ohio State University Computer and Information Science (osu-cis) in the early days of GNU/Gnu Emacs. For about 10 years there was a constant flow of people between OSU, CMU and, later, silicon valley. Emacs was part of the ethos and the environment.

4 Feedback and submissions

I’d welcome feedback and corrections. This was mostly written from memories, some of which are over 45 years old.

I’d also welcome other people’s stories. If you’re reading this in December 2025 write something up on your blog and drop me a link. I’ll add it to the carnival. Late submissions might even be accepted.

See Emacs Carnival for December 2025 for instructions.

TECO is an editor originally for use with paper tapes that provided the substrate for the initial version of Emacs. It provided the flexibility and power needed to create Emacs. This was apparently appreciated by others as well, as I was peripherally aware of a separate set of TECO macros curated inside CompuServe. I confess to never having used it directly for anything serious, but since every key did something when you typed it the joke was “Type your name and see what happens”. ↩︎
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) made the PDP-10 line of computers that had a 36 bit architecture. They were word (not byte) addressable with the addresses being stored in 18 bits of a word. For a while, fans of DEC’s “Big” PDP-10s had an attitude about their 16 bit (PDP11) and 32bit (VAX) cousins. ↩︎
I wrote a “BB” knock-off on Vax/VMS in Fortran-77 using the EDT editor long ago. People tried to port many good ideas form the TOPS10/20/TENEX/ITS systems to Unix and other environments. ↩︎

"The People of Emacs" - Emacs Carnival Prompt

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

1 Emacs Carnival, December 2025 - “The People of Emacs”

This is a writing prompt for Emacs Carnival for December 2025.

The basic ask is to write about “Emacs people you’ve known.” Preference is given to people who influenced you, who inspired you, who taught you, or who bent your mind. Bonus points if they are people you’ve known in “real life” (offline). Of course, stories, character sketches, tributes and poetry are encouraged.

Emacs is the most people-centric technology I’ve ever used. I’m willing to bet that’s true for others as well.

Who are your “People of Emacs”?

2 What’s a Blog Carnival, again?

Copied from donaldh copied from Christian Tietze:

A blog carnival is a fun way to tie together a community with shared writing prompts, and marvel at all the creative interpretations of the topic of the month.

3 Submissions

3.1 How to Submit

Please DM or email me with your blog submission. I will link to all submissions I receive before the end of December.

3.2 Your Submissions Here

#emacs #emacscarnival

The path to a world without hold music.

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

I recently faced frustration while trying to get clarity on my insurance coverage. I discovered a solution that spares me from time on hold. It also holds promise for freeing people stuck answering calls to pursue more fulfilling work. I used AI in ways the company never envisioned.

Figure 1: “Pete Rose and Harp” by George Jones and ChatGPT is licensed under CC-BY 4.0

I’ve had an interesting experience the past few days trying to get information about my insurance policies. It started when I wanted confirmation that my auto policy would cover me when renting a car, as I believed it had for the past 30 years. So I called my agent three times and never got a straight answer. Frustrated, I called a friend who is an agent at another insurance company. She answered my question in one minute.

I also had a question about my homeowners policy. At this point I was loath to call my agent again since I wasn’t sure I’d believe any answer I received. The former owner of the agency had recently retired; she used to stay on the phone until 9 PM to ensure questions were answered. Another call resulted in someone saying, “I can’t answer that; I’ll have to transfer you to an agent.” After holding for 10 minutes, I was told, “Nobody is available; can they call you back?” Begrudgingly, I agreed, but nobody called back. I called again hours later, only to find out they had spoken to my wife about a different matter but had not returned my call.

From here, I planned to transfer my policy to a different agency with the same insurer. The idea was to call them in a sales situation to see if a) they’d answer the phone, and b) they could answer my coverage question. But after three calls and only reaching a voicemail to “leave a number”. So much for that plan.

Plan C: I decided to use ChatGPT. After downloading my policy, I discovered the PDF was encoded to prevent easy text extraction. After researching PDF to text OCR solutions and getting one to work on my laptop, I finally uploaded my policy text to ChatGPT. In about 30 seconds, I got an answer straight from my policy.

I then compared the full text of my old policy with a potential new one using ChatGPT, resulting in a clear side-by-side comparison. Very Nice.

What does this mean?

I’m not going to seek answers from people at my old agency who appear to lack the knowledge and dedication of the previous owner. Nor will I transfer to an agency that won’t answer a sales call. I’ll switch to the company where my friend works, as they answer calls, seem knowledgeable, and offered me a lower rate.

Implications for AI:

It means I can get answers without talking to people who may not know what they are talking about (or who just won’t give me the time of day). It means I can get my own answers quickly from the authoritative source using AI directly.

Caveat quaesitor

“Trust but verify”: Answers from AI need to be validated. They very often get you “in the ball-park”, but you need to look at the results and apply common-sense tests, and to the extent that you have expertise (as I do with programming), see if the answers are silly or wrong.
I’m not your average AI user: I have a degree in Computer Science, have been toying around the edges of AI and cognitive science since the 80s and worked some with “modern” AI and data science the last few years of my career. But I think the beauty of LLMs is that you don’t need my level of understanding to use them.

Impact on Jobs:

We don’t have to take Teslas to the blacksmith to get new horseshoes.

People can do more productive things with their time. I suppose we could have government regulations and subsidies for blacksmiths and unions protecting their jobs. People shouldn’t have to work in dead-end jobs.

When the camera was invented, I’m sure there was push-back form portrait painters, but painters moved on to things the camera could not do: impressionist and abstract art, etc. I’m glad we got Monet, Picasso, etc. When the printing press was invented we got mass literacy because we were no longer dependent on sciptoria full of monks hand-copying every manuscript. There will be disruption, but the world and people’s lives will be better in the end.

Let’s move on to bigger and better things. Together.

When time is short

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Some perspective from a person who spent decades providing financial advice, planning for retirement and was then diagnosed with brain cancer at 61….

Figure 1: “Grim Reaper With Question Mark” by George Jones/DALLI is licensed under CC BY 2.0

For the past couple years, I’ve been reading/learning a ton from the retirement-related web site HumbleDollar, which is run by Johnathan Clements, who, for almost 20 years wrote the Wall Street Journal persnal finance column. He was recently diagnosed, at 61, with a form of brain cancer that gives him at most a couple years to live. His determination, transparency, and positive attitude in dealing with it, very publicly, has been inspiring. Something like this brings clarity to what’s important, and what’s not. I’m grateful that he’s sharing his journey and his thoughts. I’m hoping to learn from his experience and improve my approach to life (and death, and money and time)

Here are a couple quotes from his most recent article:

https://humbledollar.com/2024/08/on-the-clock/

…I’m determined to make the most of every day, doing what I love and trying mightily to fend off life’s nonsense. It’s an attitude I recommend to readers—one I’d encourage you to embrace now, rather than waiting for a dire medical prognosis. We should never forget that our most precious resource isn’t money, but time.

Moments of irritation also occasionally creep in. Soon after I got my diagnosis, it seemed the insurance company was dragging its feet, taking far too long to approve my treatment plan. I was bothered by the delay. But mostly, I was bothered that this bothered me—that I was wasting time being angry at some lumbering, unresponsive insurance company. That meant a day that wasn’t as good as it could be.

Closing the gates of Janus

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0400

In ancient Rome, there was a temple to the god Janus (he of the month “JANUary” fame). There was a tradition that the gates of the temple of Janus were to be closed in times of peace, and open in times of war. They were usually open.

I asked the Brave web browswer’s AI-assisted “Leo” search engine and ChatGPT to put that in in cotext, both in the history of Rome and in the past 150 years of world history.

If ancient roman rules applied world-wide, when would the gates of janus be closed?

…

1 Brave on the gates of Janus

If ancient roman rules applied world-wide, when would the gates of janus be closed?

Based on the ancient Roman tradition, the Gates of Janus would be closed during times of peace and prosperity. From the search results, we can identify the following instances when the Gates were closed:

During Numa’s reign: As mentioned in multiple sources, the Gates of Janus were closed during Numa’s peaceful reign, indicating a period of stability and harmony. After the First Punic War: The Gates were closed after the war, symbolizing the peace and prosperity achieved by Rome. Under Augustus: Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, ordered the doors to be closed, marking a period of peace and stability under his rule. Under Nero: Nero also closed the Gates of Janus, likely to commemorate a period of peace and prosperity during his reign. Under Vespasian: Vespasian, another Roman Emperor, closed the Gates, indicating a time of peace and stability. Notable Absences

There is no record of the Gates being closed during the reigns of Tullus Hostilius, Manlius Torquatus, or during the Christian era, as mentioned in Orosius’ account of the gates being closed for 12 years during Christ’s childhood.

Conclusion

If ancient Roman rules applied worldwide, the Gates of Janus would be closed during periods of peace and prosperity, as indicated by the historical records. The specific instances of closure mentioned above would serve as benchmarks for this tradition.

2 ChatGPT on the gates of Janus

if ancient roman rules applied world-wide, when would the gates of janus be closed

ChatGPT said:

In ancient Rome, the Gates of Janus were closed during times of peace and opened during times of war. The gates were part of the Temple of Janus, and closing them symbolized that Rome was not engaged in any military conflict. Given that the Roman Empire was often involved in various military campaigns, the gates were rarely closed.

If the same rules applied worldwide today, the Gates of Janus would be closed only during periods when no country in the world was engaged in any form of military conflict, whether a war, civil war, or significant military operation. Considering the current global landscape, with multiple ongoing conflicts, it would be rare for the Gates of Janus to be closed, as complete global peace is elusive.

You said: When might this have happened in the last 150 years?

ChatGPT said: ChatGPT

In the last 150 years, global peace—where no country was involved in any military conflict—has been extremely rare. However, there are a few moments in history when the world was relatively peaceful, and the Gates of Janus might have been closed if ancient Roman rules applied:

Late 19th Century (1871-1914): After the Franco-Prussian War ended in 1871, Europe entered a period of relative peace known as the “Belle Époque.” While there were colonial conflicts and smaller wars outside of Europe, the major powers were largely at peace until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. This period could be one of the closest to global peace, especially in Europe.

Post-World War I (1918-1939): After World War I ended in 1918, there was a brief period of peace, particularly in Europe, though it was marred by the Russian Civil War (1917-1923) and other regional conflicts. The period between the wars (the Interwar period) saw no large-scale global conflicts until the lead-up to World War II.

Brief moments post-World War II: After World War II ended in 1945, there were moments of relative peace before the Cold War escalated into proxy wars. For instance, the immediate post-war years saw a temporary lull in global conflict, though tensions quickly rose with the onset of the Cold War.

Early 1990s: After the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, there was a brief period of relative global peace. The early 1990s saw fewer large-scale conflicts, although this period was soon followed by regional wars and interventions.

While these periods might have seen the Gates of Janus symbolically closed, it’s important to note that complete global peace, without any conflict at all, is extremely rare and may not have been fully achieved even during these times.

Deep Freeze

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0400

I got motivated yesterday to do some credit-report hygiene. I wrote a HOWTO describing process of freezing all 3 major reports, see (http://git.galthub.com:3000/gmj/home.public.howto/src/master/home/public/HOWTO/freezing-credit-reports.org)

I also added some commentary what motivates the credit unions (and it’s not your security and privacy) and the sad state of things 9 years after one of them lost 200 million records (likely including yours).

The TNI is dead, long live the TNI

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Today was the day I removed the TNI (Telephone Network Interface) from my house. The last vestiges of our land line. The last outpost of a once vast network.

Figure 1: “This Phone Is Property of Ohio Bell” by George Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0

There used to be vast infrastructure (the Telephone Network) that got phone calls from place to place. I remember sometime around 1969 (cub scouts? Elementary school?) touring the local AT&T building that housed rows and rows of mechanical switches that routed phone calls in our neighborhood. For those with an eye for it, those buildings are still everywhere to be seen. Square. Few windows. Brick. In virtually every neighborhood.

There was the Microwave relay tower near my grandfathers farm. Part of a nationwide network that supported the “Long lines”, where AT&T made it’s money until Judge Green broke it up, costing the world Bell Labs (creator of the Transistor and Unix) in the process.

I recently stayed at a friends house, vintage 1920s. It has a little alcove in the wall just off the kitchen that was undoubtedly for “the phone”. Growing up we had “the kitchen phone”, and one on my dad’s desk. When it rang sometimes you had to dash to the other room to answer.

Phones like the one pictured above could be thrown down the basement stairs onto a concrete floor and survive. Not that I would know. Bell ENGINEERED their hardware.

I’m glad we have moved beyond that technology, but it made the world move for over a hundred years.

Figure 2: “The TNI about to be removed” by George Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Read “Exploding the Phone” for an insightful and amusing history of the phone system, phone phreaks, the rise of hacker culture, and how Steve Jobs and Woz got their start selling blue boxes in the Berkeley dorms so students could “steal” long distance calls (my father’s roommate got around the high cost of long distance in the 50’s by using ham radio to “phone home”). The world has changed.

Figure 3: "Exploding the Phone"" by Phil Lapsley

#59 of #100DaysToOffload take 3.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Insurance companies are using AI. People will die.

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0400

So, life. Death. Taxes. Insurance companies and AI.

This is one very real, present way AI is going to kill people. Not by HAL-9000 or Borg malevolence, but with a heavy dose of group-think by insurance companies.

Life has brought me rather suddenly to the place that I’m interacting heavily with insurance companies about a medical issue for a loved one.

The customer web site has a chat bot, and of course the “cut-every-direct-costs-ignore-the-consequences” insurance company pushes you hard to use it. I did. The output was semi-coherent, non-resposnive and tended to just spit out canned responses that you would find on the customer service web site (because, to be sure, that’s what was trained on).

I can read the web site. When I call in, it’s because I’ve already done that and can’t get my question answered. I need a person who understands things, can explain what I’m missing, and help me resolve non-standard problems. But generally the people you get only know how to run a call script and maybe transfer you to other people who know how to run different call scripts.

I got one of those who I think was a real human being, but, going foward with text to speach/speech to text all tied to AI on the back end, I’m pretty sure it’s going to get to the point that you can ONLY interact with AI. Yay, Turning test.

So the person seemed to help me, seemed concerned, and promised to follow up on the issue I raised. We even got into an email exchange. 3 weeks later, no follow-up. No resolution.

I emailed back. The emails were all answered quickly, suspiciously quickly. It seemed to have no reference to the email exchange 3 weeks earlier, even though I had replied to the earlier message. It seemed unable to link ideas, reason or apply any common sense. I started getting the same snippits-from-web-site-docs replies. It told me that they both had and had not received something the doctor had sent them. Yup. AI again.

It also helpfully recommended that I set up a 3 way call with their billing people and the doctor involved to resolve the billing issue. So, the doctor is asked to sit on hold for the benefit of the insurance company, not spending time helping patients with medical issues and, not billing valuable hours while waiting on hold with the insurance company. Who’s running this show? For who’s benefit?

It would be interesting to see the results of some blind tests, A/B testing, etc. where customers got access to competent people to help them vs. only AI. I think we could measure the results in terms of mortality. That sort of testing would raise ethical issues (the value of a human life in terms of $).

Aside from raising my blood pressure (stroke anyone?), it’s going to delay needed care, give wrong/inconsistent answers (hallucinations etc), and cause caregivers, patients and medical professionals alike to waste time and figure out how to work around it.

But I’m pretty sure what’s going on is mid-to-upper level people inside insurance companies are just on the AI-hype bandwagon, driving it all the way down in their organizations, further dehumanizing customer service people before they lay them all off, and congratulating themselves on how forward looking they are and what good service they are providing.

People are going to die.

#58 of #100DaysToOffload take 3.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Be kind to your call center friends

Sat, 02 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0500

I’m going to subvert the system and try to connect with humans I talk to in call centers as humans … at least until they are all replaced by AI.

Figure 1: “No good deed unpunished, from Brazil” courtesy of MENTAL FLOSS may be copyrighted.

My life has taken a turn where it looks like I will be talking to lots of customer service people on the phone: medical stuff, tax stuff, insurance stuff. Oh joy.

It’s no fun for me, but even less fun for them. They are likely working an 8-5 job (at best), dealing with angry frustrated people for low pay, having their calls recorded by “the man”, fed to AI for analysis, graded on how quickly they get people off the phone, with often no knowledge of the big picture, and no empowerment (or encouragement) to actually understand and solve problems that are not on their call script….generally a bad place to be.

I’m going to try to subvert the system with each call. My goal (beyond getting insurance bills corrected, etc) will be to connect with the human on the line. To get their name, to read their mood, to connect on some human topic, likely small.

Some will likely be annoyed or threatened by anything that takes them off script or out of their role or adds 3 seconds to their measured time on phone per call, but I think it’s important to acknowledge the humans in the system when we do manage to get past the AI chatbots.

I/they may be rewarded with Winston Smith (1984)/Sam Lowry (Brazil) torture in the end (or just having the system refuse to fucntion in mindless fashion), but I think the small act of humane rebellion will be it’s own reward.

#57 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

We've got to do better than this

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0500

We’ve got to do better than this … https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Not sure what the answer(s) is(are). Decentralization? Required 2FA? Returning to the offline world?

Several of my accounts were in the list multiple times. And then, our friends at the credit bureau lost it all 6 years ago, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Equifax_data_breach, and a large US federal agency that does backgournd clearance investigations a few years before that and Snowden a few years before that (and at the moment Congress does seems uninterested in FISA reform).

Life goes on? We all seem to be conditioned to thinking that this is normal and OK.

#56 of #100DaysToOffload take 3.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Digging through layers of obfuscation

Sat, 20 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0500

This is a story about the similarity between finding good information to identify vulnerable devices on the Internet and finding the info one needs to sign up for US health care.

Hint: in one of these domains it’s possible to find facts. In the other there is a shifting maze of marketing, laws, partisan media coverage, and bureaucracies who’s goal is to profit from making it impossible to find facts and make decisions on your own.

In my last job at Palo Alto Networks/Cortex Expanse (https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex/cortex-xpanse), one of the things I did was dig through data that we generated by scanning the entire Internet regularly to identify devices and applications on the Internet so that we could inform our customers what potential attackers saw to allow them to fix it.

One thing I learned pretty quickly was that you had to get past marketing and sales info to find useful information. A first step was usually to search and exclude the companie’s web site (ususally mostly marketing material) from the results. Someitmes I went looking for technical manuals and installation guides, the “rubber meets the road” reality for making things work “Open up these firewall ports….”. Acquisuitions (company name changes) and product name changes (a favorite pass-time of marketing departments) where another source of confusion. I generally found that the older the info was (tech startup’s first engineer-written product description) was often the best source of infomation … the longer the marketing people had their hands on it, the fuzzier and more confusing things got. Once you see “The market leader in…” it’s time to move on. The acutal information content will approach zero.

I tell you that story to tell you this one.

Having just retired, I’m looking at health care, both ACA (ObamaCare) and Medicare for myself and may family. It turns out the same marketing obfuscation applies here, and I’ve not yet figured out how to filter out the mis-information.

But wait, there’s more. In this space we’re dealing with a political football (healtcare) where the laws and regulaitons change every year, where there is highly partisan coverage of the topic, and where mistakenly giving out your phone number can result in 30 robocalls a day for a week.

I’m not sure I will be able to find digestable spin-free sources of truth in the health care space. There are too many vested interests with a stake in keeping things confusing allowing them to posture to appear to be “the solution”. It’s not about healthcare. It’s about votes, maintaining bureaucracies, keeping things complicated so you need to pay people to help you and in general siphoning off as much money as possible at every step.

I pay a physician friend directly, out-of-pocket, no insurance for basic primary care. I get what I pay for, no more, no less, with none of the obfuscation or competing interests, no office manager or staff to deal with, no claims to file, no stupid one-size-fits-all policies that are actually a hazard to my health. And I get good informatoion, unfiltered.

#55 of #100DaysToOffload take 3.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

"I ain't no Senators son, no !"

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Warning. First-world baby-boomer problem described here:

So, I'm stitting here on the group-W bench, I'm just sitting here...

OK. Really. Not trying to get out of the Viet Nam draft, just having another surreal interaction with the US Federal government 50 years later along the lines of:

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Ah, they really help themselves
But when the tax man comes to the door
Lord, the house look a rummage sale, oh yeah

John Fogerty/Credence Clearwater Revival
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/catpower/fortunateson.html

I retired last month. As a result of a lot of luck and about 38 years hard work, I have more money now than at any other point in my life, and thanks to the Obamacare (ACA) rules and the way my finances are structured I have strong incentives to arrange things so that I have very little “income” this year. In fact, I’m flirting with having so little income that I would qualify for Medicaid and be at or near the federal poverty level.

So, yeah, I’m trying to make the house (1040) look like a “rummage sale” all for benefit of the taxman. And it’s all legal and right there on the the government web sites, just a twisted bunch of incentives.

It’s just surreal.

There's one for you, nineteen for me,
should five percent appear to small,
be thankful I don't take
it all, 'case I'm the taxman

George Harrison, the nascient neo-con

#53 of #100DaysToOffload take 3.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Congress, Big Pharma and Kickbacks, Oh My !!!

Sat, 30 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0500

GoodRX may save my son $3,500 or more on his prescription meds. This is a large fraction of the income he’s earning on his first job.

Congress exempted “Big Phrama” from kickback rules in the 90s, the result seems to be that prices signals are allowed to work in the market to the benefit of people who would otherwise be made poor buying medicine they need at artificially high prices.

I was wondering how GoodRx gets such deep discounts. From: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/watchdog/2022/02/24/dear-watchdog-how-does-goodrx-knock-down-the-price-so-steeply-for-many-drugs-at-the-pharmacy/

GoodRx says it earns money when a customer uses her or his GoodRx code to make a purchase. Even more money is made when the consumer becomes a repeat customer.

To be clear on this, when you use a GoodRx code, a PBM receives a portion of that. GoodRx then receives a percentage or a fixed payment from the PBM for directing the customer to that PBM’s pricing and the pharmacy, the company explains.

In other industries, these payments could be called illegal kickbacks. But in the early 1990s, Congress exempted drug companies’ rebates from federal anti-kickback laws. The thinking was that the payments could serve as a negotiating tool, according to Consumer Reports.

Reason has a series of podcats that shows how federal government myopia of a different sort (tariffs) cause baby-food shortages https://reason.com/podcasts/nice-things/

#54 of #100DaysToOffload take 3.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Changing the world, one side project at a time

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0500

It is somehow fitting that the day I retire, the state of Ohio chose to unveil an historical marker outside the former headquarters of my first employer, CompuServe. I guess I’m history :-)

Figure 1: “CompuServe Historical Marker”

I started in June of 1985, and, looking back, what was going on there was world changing: the first commercial email, the first online banking, the first online shopping, the first electronic news wire feed, the first song released exclusively online (Arrowsmith 1994), online chat (CB), OS and compiler development, VPNs (X.25 !), data over cable in ‘82 …

In the course of my career, it turns out that many of the things that mattered wound up coming out of individual side projects, not grand corporate visions.

1 Side projects

1.1 The Eternal September, sorry.

One of my earliest lasting contributions resulted from a side project that I put my good friend karl kleinpaste, up to: creating the first Compuserve <-> Internet mail gateway as a skunk-works project while we were both working at Ohio State Computer Science. Karl followed up with a USENET <-> CompuServe gateway, which was soon copied by AOL leading to the eternal september Sorry.

Eternal September seems to be about to repeat it self with facebook’s “threads” implementing a gateway to Mastadon.

1.2 The Web Browser that never was

Then there was this web browser I wrote at CompuServe that would have let the masses access the WWW before most people had even dial-up Internet. But the corporate powers-that-be we’re not sure this web thing was going to catch on, so it was never released. Vision !!!

It depended on a graphics library and the WinCIM interface developed by Steve Wilhite (of GIF fame)

1.3 The editor that created Linux

In early CompuServe days, Wilhite and I did a little collaborative coding to to improve MicroEmacs, I posted the source code to the Usenet group comp.sources.amiga and it took on a life of it’s own thanks to Daniel Laurence, first being called MicroGNUEmacs until RMS himself objected to the use of “GNU” in the name. Linus Torvalds (he of Linux fame) maintains a verison of MicroEmacs. And Carsten Dominik, creator of Org Mode (“Your life in plain text”) was an early user and was influenced by it.

Org Mode is central to most parts of my life today. What goes around, comes around.

1.4 SANS, IETF, Flocon, the White House

Along the way I wrote The Router Audit Tool (RAT). Offshoots of this work fed indirectly (via XCCDF) into the creation of STIX and TAXII. John Stewart, the venture capitalist and former CISO and VP of Cisco and Neil Ziring, tech director at NSA, contributed code to the project while I was leading it. Alan Paller of SANS convinced me to release it through the Center for Internet Security as one of their benchmark tools. RAT started as a side project at UUNET.

Also at UUNET I started what became RFC3871: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3871. The IETF OpSec working group continues to this day as an offshoot (“Many fine lunches”?). This was a side project that spanned UUNET and MITRE.

While at CERT (CERT/CC at Carnegie-Mellon, the original CERT, not US-CERT) I had the opportunity to chair https://www.flocon.org/ twice. This was something of a side project for the organization, but one that got resources (my time).

Also at CERT I had the opportunity to provide netflow analysis training to the White House SOC.

1.5 Side projects at Palo Alto

At Expanse/Palo Alto I spent a lot of time staring at Internet scan data, trying to figure out what vulnerable devices were presenting themselves to us (and hackers). An irony here being that 15 years earlier we thought scanning was always bad, and there were PhD theses around how to detect it. Mike Collins is still cataloging scan traffic (give it up Mike, Internet traffic IS scan traffic :-))

After Palo Alto acquired Expanse, I spent a fair bit of time understanding the vast array security-related data available for analysis in other parts of the company. In my judgment, Palo Alto may have the best overall collection of data for analyzing and addressing security threats, second, possibly, only to AWS. They actively work to use these data sources to protect customers, see PanDB, for instance. I presented on my findings at an annual internal meeting of researchers. A side project.

As part of that effort I met Janos Szurdi and collaborated with him and other AMAZING researchers in that division, mostly on informal projects such as an internal “Hackathon”, my role mostly being to advise on the use of Expanse datasets. The result can be seen in Janos’ blog post about detecting stockpiled domains

At this year’s internal research meeting Tim Hofmockel and I explored further applications of combining data sources to support security analysis to solve our customers challenges. Such meetings are side projects for everyone, but the in-person interactions that happen there are what gets the creative and collaborative juices flowing and are often the source of further outside-the-box projects. I think that’s why I like them, and why companies fund them.

There is a possible patent coming out of some side efforts (this would be the first of my career).

2 The Amazon Leadership Principals

There is one set of corporate mumbo-jumbo I actually believe in: the Amazon Leadership Principals. They stick with you. They form a way of thinking about the world and getting things done: Dive Deep, Learn and Be Curious, Bias for Action, Earn Trust, Disagree and Commit, Deliver Results. It’s said that some Amazonians have to try hard to turn them off with family.

I think one of the reason those struck such a cord with me is that I saw them modeled 10 years before Amazon was founded at an early, impressionable period in my carrer. You could not have found a better description of Steve Wilhite (but one would have to add laconic, curmudgeonly, self-assured, stubborn and a few other adjectives)

I’m holding my Amazon stock despite Andy Jassey now being in charge and the FTC going on an anti-trust fishing expedition. The company is solid. And the leadership principals and customer obsession are a large part of it.

3 People matter.

Yes, you have to have corporate vision statements to keep investors happy and make HR VPs think they are relevant, but so often what matters are the side projects, the accidents, and things that fly under the radar.

I have it from Wilhite (30+ years ago) that the first DEC10 was delivered to CompuServe by mistake. It was then the computing arm of Goden United Life Insurnace Compay. They had ordered a smaller machine from Digital Equiptment Corporation. When the DEC10 arrived, they kept it, eventually started selling extra cycles as time-sharing (Cloud Computing, 1975), built a packet switched network, c.a. 1972 (take that ARPANet), started the first online service, c.a. 1979, and much of the world as we know it today was born.

Shortly thereafter, Dan Piskur had to invent “Cybersecurity” ab initio.

Wilhite left Ohio State during the 1970 riots to go do fun work on a big computer at a startup down the road. He never finished his degree. Too much to do. Things worked out. I think I can say the same.

People matter. Individuals matter. Side projects matter (again, see Wilhite and GIF.).

So make your strategic plans, track things in your kan-ban boards, have project managers run your agile sprints, but remember

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”

— John Lennon, 1980 in “Beautiful Boy”

#52 of #100DaysToOffload take 3.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Thanks Sacha !

Sat, 09 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0500

Ode to emacsconf 2023

All the world’s a text, And all the men and women merely editors; They have their reads and their writes, And Emacs in its time plays many parts…

With apologies to William Shakespeare and actual odes.

Figure 1: “2015-02-02 Making a virtual Emacs conference happen – index card #emacs #organizing-people #conference #planning #questions” by sachac is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Emacs is a tangent to life.

We use Emacs around the edges of life. It’s adjacent to everything we do: our work, our finances, our art, and, oh yea, our code too.

Our life is text. Emacs is a text editor. Emacs itself is text. We edit Emacs with Emacs. “All the world’s a text….”

Emacs gives us a (false?) sense of control. It’s shiny object. Using it turns parts of our lives into encounters mediated by a shiny object. Or maybe it just leads us down rabbit-holes when we should be paying the bills.

Emacs is a community. A worldwide diapora of isolated geeks. It is a form of existential self expression. It can be cathartic.

We share all this once a year at https://emacsconf.org/ emacsconf, thanks to Sacha Chua and friends.

Thanks, Sacha.

“Now wait, how was I planing to tweak that capture template? ….”

#51 of #100DaysToOffload take 3.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

What matters in work?

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0500

The chart below is a mental framework I’ve used to evaluate my work situation over the span of may career. The goal is to move as far up the pyramid as you can. Being at the top (interesting )is really a first or zeroth world problem. Insert discussion of human flourishing/εὐδαιμονία here. If you’re failing at a lower level, the upper layers really don’t matter.

#50 of #100DaysToOffload take 3.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Who 'ya gonna trust? CNN, Podcasts, ChatGPT…

Sun, 14 May 2023 00:00:00 -0400

On my Mastadon feed this week, the question was asked

“Why have #podcasts become so popular in the last few years? What’s changed?”

I think there are a lot of answers…

Figure 1: ChatGPT rendering of “Make an image of Dorothy Gale of Kanasas riding a bucking bronco with the wicked witch flying on her broom in the background and a tornado behind that” by ChatGPT and George Jones is licensed under ????

My answers include

No need for the overhead or editorial control of older media forms. Lower production and distribution costs. A wide range of presenters and topics.

I think there’s going to be another HUGE reason to tune unto long-form talking-heads/analysis style podcasts: You can be pretty sure (at last for a while) that the people talking are people, not, e.g. ChatGPT spitting out articles. If you want to hear what PEOPLE are saying and thinking, for the time being podcasts are it. When we get to the point that AI generation of TV anchors and White House press secretaries is common place, we will have arrived at an existential crisis of trust in all mass-market delivered content.

At that point, your best bet will be to have live, in-person, one-on-one interactions with real people. And, come to think of it, in any event, talking to people more might not be such a bad idea.

#49 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Hikers, Volunteers, Hard Work and Relationships

Sat, 11 Mar 2023 00:00:00 -0500

In your “Presidents Log Book Entry” article in the monthly newsletter, you talked about the need for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) to build its “brand identity” to reach our target “consumers”. About that…

I’m involved in PATC as a trail maintainer and an avid hiker with 1700 miles of an AT Section hike over 14 years. I’m in it to meet the likes of Tom Johnson, one of your predecessors as PATC president. I ran into him once in the middle of a long day-hike, corresponded a bit and devoured the copy of the history of the PATC which he wrote and sent to me shortly before he passed on while leading a hike. I’m in it to work with Jon & Katherine Rindt, Mosby district supervisors. I admire their non-ceasing selfless work to clear 100s of blow downs, corral the cats (volunteers like me), fix signage, work with the county/state/parks to get parking lots fixed, etc. I’m in it to take trail maintenance classes from the likes of Robert Fina and to, again, admire the dedication, learning and investment of time and resources he puts into it. I do my little bit, but there are giants out there. I’m in it to take walks with my family, to meet casual hikers and to talk to the steady stream of thru-hikers who are on a mission. I’m in it drag my daughter-in-law, a professional ornithologist, out with me to do maintenance and to be amazed as she identifies 30+ in species of birds around us on one outing without even seeing most of them. She then put together a display about the birds that is in the display case at the Tucker Lane parking lot (thanks to Jon, too).

So, yeah, brand identity. I’d welcome the chance to get to know you and to talk to you about it, one-on-one. I could use some help cleaning out water bars and weed-wacking my section once the vegetation gets going later this spring. Let me know if you’d like to help.

#48 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Count Your Blessings

Thu, 09 Feb 2023 00:00:00 -0500

Do something radical.

Count your blessings, name them one by one

Literally. Do it. Write them down. Meditate on all the good stuff in your life. Maybe even give thanks.

https://hymnary.org/text/when_upon_lifes_billows_you_are_tempest

(the fact that this follows yesterdays “Making Lists” musing is just coincidental … he asserts … our maybe it’s the positive application)

#47 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Making lists

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 00:00:00 -0500

Dad made lists. Lots of them. I have Emacs org mode.

Making lists is part of the story I tell myself about how I’m working on the right things and getting them done.

Dad was an incurable list maker. He had to-do lists from Mom. He wrote detailed instructions (a list) of how to set up the camper. He posted lists of the date that each of my brothers and me would start paying for their own gas for the car and the milage rate. When he used computers he decided to save everything on USB drives. There was (is) a list indexing those USB drives. There were multiple phone lists updated regularly. There were (are) song lists in the harmonica case.

I have Emacs Org Mode (“Your life in plain text”), the penultimate list making software.

The lists I make on computers bear only tangential relationship to what I do. They are never done. In fact, computers make it all to easy to make lists of more things than I could every do. So, why?

The fantasy is that when I make lists, they are organized, complete, logical, right, drive all that I do (and don’t do) and that I’m more effective, accomplish more and am happier as a result. Or maybe I just need the illusion of order.

The reality is, I do what I do. I am time bounded. Lists grow to infinity. Lists are there more to make me feel good than to drive actual behavior, so that I can tell myself (and others) that I am ORGanized. Lists are there for psychological reasons. They are there because I like making lists. It’s enjoyment of the process and the illusions about what they help me accomplish, not, for the most part, because I get more done (but I think I do…no, really….)

True, it is better to have a plan than no plan. “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” Got it. But, in reality, lists are part of the story I tell myself about how I’m working on the right things and getting them done.

Now,

M-x org-agenda

what am I doing today? …

#46 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Try writing more, you'll worry less

Sat, 04 Feb 2023 00:00:00 -0500

The past couple weeks, I’ve intentionally cut the phone out my morning routine. I was already writing a daily journal (on paper), about a page or two a day. I’ve always found that to be cathartic, as well as a good way to organize my thoughts and do some day-to-day planning. Now I’m writing two daily journals.

The second journal is an attempt to capture family history and oral tradition. A lot of history, artifacts and stories have landed on me after 150 or 200 years. I’m “getting them out” in a semi-organized manner, using what I know of peoples financial circumstances as writing prompts. There will probably be online versions later, but I find the process of writing on paper leads to much more creativity at the start.

Which leads me back to the start of this post. You can start you day doom-scrolling, filling your head with sound bites, stories of political (and other) apocalypses, or you can use the time to create, reflect and plan before spending the time you are given this day. Your choice.

(turns out this is version 2 of my previous post…)

#45 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

mornings without the phone (regaining my mind)

Sun, 29 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0500

Believe it or not, you will be OK if you don’t use your “smart”-phone to look up everything the minute you think of it, if you don’t have it by your bed at night and you don’t turn it on for a few hours. You might even regain a less-addicted, more thoughtful “smart”-you.

For the past few days I’ve been going “Cold Turkey” on using the “smart” phone as part of my morning routine: checking news, listening to podcasts, checking email, looking up things I’m curious about, etc.

It feels like I’m getting my own mind back.

I have spasms of “I have to look this up”, but I really don’t need to. They quickly pass, and I’m OK without knowing why the Crickets were not with Buddy Holly when his plane went down.

Sometimes you want to maintain control of your own stream-of-consciousness. Sure, it might be free association of ideas, knowledge and experiences that are already bouncing around in your skull. But they are YOUR thoughts. Not some advertising-induced, attention grabbing graphic-heavy distractions that some web-designer or marketing person decided you needed to see to drive “engagement” with whatever their schtick is.

It’s OK not to know. Get your own mind back. Break your addiction to the smart phone, for at least part of the day.

The first version of this was written in a paper journal with a pencil.

#44 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Death, Taxes, and Job

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0500

Today I’m going to pay my taxes, work on updating my living will and health care power of attorney, telling others when I want doctors to pull the plug if I can’t make that decision myself.

Death and taxes. You can’t live with them, and they get you in the end.

When discussing death, taxes, and “I know I’m right, why is all this bad stuff happening to me?”, there’s no better place to turn than Job…

Job is the oldest book in the bible. It pre-dates Rome, it pre-dates Abraham Lincoln, Isaac Newton, Jacob Astor, Joseph Stalin, and Benjamin Netanyahu :-). It pre-dates the Christian faith and Jesus’ birth by hundreds of years.

For those who may not be familiar, Job is a story of suffering. Unjust suffering. Short version: Behind the scenes (Job never learns this) Satan makes a bet with God that Job (God’s “righteous servant”) will curse God if God lets Satan take away his money, family, and health. God takes the bet. Job’s children die. His livestock is stolen. He skin breaks out in boils. His wife and his friends blame him and tell him it’s all his own fault. Some friends. His loving wife summarizes “Job, do you still hold to your integrity? (claim it’s not your fault) Curse God and Die !”

Fortunately for us (and germain to the topic of my living willing/advanced medical diretive), Job did not live in 21st Century Canada, was not counseled to kill himself to keep the governments health care expenses down, but instead endured (seemingly) pointless suffering, wrestling with the question “Why?”, and as a result we have one of the greatest works of literature in human history that has inspired theological and philosophical debate and great art for millennia. “Curse God and Die ?”

Let’s hear from Job.

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another;

Job 19:25-27

I can not read those words without hearing the setting in Handel’s Messiah.

The phrase

Yet in my flesh shall I see God

is likely going on my tombstone. It is an expression of the hope of resurrection and eternal life.

Seeing those words on a tombstone would probably make Job happy (Job happy?), because, immediately before that he said:

Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!

Job 19:23-24

But in context, he’s referring to his long-running instance that he is innocent, that his actions and thoughts are right, and that no-one (God included) can question that. Sound like any people or current cultural movements you know?

The book ends with God asking Job a series of unanswerable questions. Job finally admits he may not have the whole picture and that maybe it’s time to be humble and admit his limitations, frailty, mortality and, yes, the possibility of his own moral failings when faced with an Eternal, Omnipotent, Infinite, Just and Merciful Creator.

May I do the same.

Oh, and to those who may decide to pull the plug on me or not, yeah, the answers are often not clear. Sometimes suffering has a purpose. Do what you think is best at the time and leave the rest to God. It’s all any of us can do.

#43 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Generation P

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0500

I think I’m a member of “Gen-P”, the “Peter Pan” generation who grew up in the shadow of the 1953 Disney production that touted the idea that we never have to grow up.

Figure 1: “Boat off Jeckyll Island” by George Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A friend who’s a few years older than me recently related trials she is having caring for elderly parents. Nine years ago, my father moved to be near us. For the last 5 years of his life I spent time providing help to a very independent-minded person who rarely admitted he needed my help. This included an incident where I had to take the car keys from someone for whom driving was a right of passage into adulthood. It was not pretty.

Somewhere in the late fifties or early sixties (when I as born), I think the old notions of independence that were common in the 30s, WWII, and my parents generation and earlier went out the window. They lived in a much harsher world, and understood that fact. Farming. The depression. WWII. The bomb. There was nowhere near the economic prosperity that came in the decades after. There was nowhere near as much social safety net as there is today. Shades of Archie Bunker’s “Those Were The Days” are now drifting through my head" … it’s time to stop this line of thought.

Then came Peter Pan. “A Generation Lost In Space”. I look in the mirror and sometimes wonder who that old man is. When addressed as “Mr. Jones”, I wonder who they’r talking to? To hear my daughter-in-law call me “Dad”, seems very strange.

But life moves on. The lost boys and Wendy do, in fact grow up.

Back to my friend who’s caring for her parents. Enjoy the seasons of life. If you’re in a position to help someone (kids, older parents), be glad about it. Life can be rough. Pre-“Boomers” seem to have gotten that more than me. Almost in spite of my self, I’ve learned that some of the deepest meaning in life comes in stepping up to deal with adversity.

Have fun in never-never land. I don’t think I’m coming.

#42 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Successful?

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In http://curious.galthub.com/blog/2022-12-25/ I said

Bruce moved on from there to be VP of MSN at Microsoft for a while. Arguably a “Highly Successful Person”

Which, of course, begs (assumes, cedes) the question:

What is success?

Bruce embraced the management track. I’ve fairly consistently and actively dodged it, ironically after Bruce promoted me to my first supervisory role … managing the development of a web-page creation tool for CompuServe’s “MySpace”-like web page publishing system … from there I took a hard career turn into the security world focusing on Internet security, routers, linux/unix, etc. For me, that’s been a resounding success. Just no direct reports, budgets or Microsoft Windows, which were anti-goals for me. I’ve focused on front-line, hands-on doing.

#41 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

The unnumbered habits of a questionably effective person

Sun, 25 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This is two part rant on planning with (and without) Emacs Org Mode, shoved together into one post in much the same way as Lennon-McCartney songs were shoved together from musical scraps they had laying around. My Frankenstein post will probably have less impact and reach than “A Day In The Life”, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.

1 Rants on org mode, humanity and Bruce

1.1 Org mode and planning

These are reflections getting things done (not GTD). Or not getting things done. Or yak-shaving with Emacs and org-mode while pretending to get things done and really just enjoying the experience either way. Maybe that’s what org mode is all about anyhow.

Org mode is the best list making tool I’ve ever found. Org capture let’s you capture thoughts, links, TODO items on the fly in the middle of whatever else you’re doing and get back to them. You never miss anything.

1.2 But we’re human

But there are a couple problems. We’re human, not AI-driven lisp code knocking off all the TODO items, and we’re finite in terms of time, attention, focus, money, friends, skills, etc.

The result is that org mode enables me to grow infinite lists of TODOs. The human brain is good at focusing on maybe 3 things at a time. The path to despair (long undone lists) is obvious. Sometimes I just give up on org mode lists and do things.

1.3 Bruce

Long, Long, ago in a tech company far, far away (CompuServe, Columbus, Ohio) there were “how do we migrate off of DEC10 to compete with AOL wars”. I knew Bruce McNaughton. Bruce moved on from there to be VP of MSN at Microsoft for a while. Arguably a “Highly Successful Person” (who I’m pretty sure does not use org mode, but does have ligit geek creds). I asked him once how he plans and memories (vague) are that he did not make lists (at the time Franklin Planners and then Franklin Planner software were all the rage). That image stuck with me. Just talk to people and do stuff.

1.4 Concluding Rant

It’s about enjoying what you do
- just the act of planning
- maybe actually getting things done, maybe not
- a sense of accomplishment (TODO -> DONE)
Software can be a tool, a focus, a shiny object or a distraction
Software can be tyrannical
- Computers are good an infinite lists, humans aren’t
I will die with a TODO list much larger than it is today.

2 My work planning regime with org mode

That said, here’s more-or-less how I plan my days at work. Home/personal stuff is similar, but a little less structured.

2.1 Morning Planning

What’s in my head: capture TODOs form the top of my journal (diaty.org)
Look at “inputs”: look at calendar, email and slack in that order.
Look at existing porjects/plans: Look at weekly plans, tasks, etc

Juggle all these and figure out what I’m going to try to do that day

2.2 During the day

Capture new stuff and move on: Quickly capture new asks, TODOs (org-capture) and move.
Capture info: capture info (links to HOWTOs, etc in the same file)
Keep a calendar open: Keep a calendar window open so I don’t miss thigns
Turn off all notificatons: Turn off all email, slack, etc. notificatons and pop-iups so I can control my focus.
Check email, slack on my schedule: Check in somewhat frequently with slack, email so people can get ahold of me in a somewhat timely fashon. If it’s urgent, call or text. Voice calls seem to be a dying breed (“BR 549”, “Pensylvania 6-5000”)
Minimize yak shaving: I tend to yak-shave a lot. Like writing this post. Watch it.

2.3 Organizing Time

Do “thinking work early”: plan do do “thiking work” early in the day
Do “collaboration work mid-day”: do 1:1s, collaboration mid-day
Do “meetings late-day”: Push meetings, interrupts, etc late day

2.4 Where to store “TODOs”

one file: I increasly just store TODOs, info , etc to one file (diary.org) which is a diary-like file organized under Year/Month/Day/ENTRY items.
project files: I do have planning files for most projects with TODOs etc
agenda: I do use org-agenda to get a roll-up agenda view, but more and more I’m just going with the inverse-stack, what’s at the bottom of my diary.org and using mental prirotization.

3 Projects template

And because this post is getting too long already, I’ll make it longer.

Here is the org project template that I’ve developed over the last decade or so. I still use it, but I’m moving more and more to capturing everything in diary.org/the journal and maybe linking out to these project files.

A couple notes. “OODA” refers to the “OODA Loop”. At times, its a useful paradigm for thinking about action, think Snoopy and the Red Barron: Snoopy Observes the Red Barron, he Orients himself, he Decides to let the Red Barron live to fight another day, and the Acts by disengaging the dogfight.

“Cogita”, “Fac”, and “Dic” are Latin singular imperatives for “Think”, “Act”, “Speak”. Another paradigm for thinking about actions. Figure out what you’re doing, gather info, plan, then do stuff, then talk about it (blogs, reports, papers, meetings, sales…)

# #+options: ':nil *:t -:t ::t <:t H:3 \n:nil ^:nil arch:headline
# #+options: author:t broken-links:nil c:nil creator:nil
# #+options: d:(not "LOGBOOK") date:t e:t email:nil f:t inline:t num:2
# #+options: p:nil pri:nil prop:nil stat:t tags:t tasks:t tex:t
# #+options: timestamp:t title:t toc:t todo:t |:t
# #+title: PROJECT
# #+date: <2022-12-25 Sun 07:50:58>
# #+author: George Jones
# #+email: ME @ SOMEWHERE
# #+language: en
# #+select_tags: export
# #+exclude_tags: noexport
# #+creator: Emacs 28.0.50 (Org mode 9.3.7)

# This is a project to...(overview/intro)...

# * PROJECT
# ** PROJECT - Info                                                         :cogita:Ooda:
#    - Observe :: Gather Raw Information.
#    - Think (Cogita) :: Thoughts, Brainstorming, etc.
# *** Info about the project
# *** Links
#      - project directory :: file://~/home/private/FOO
#        + change this
#        + create directory
#        + keep project files here.
# *** HOWTOs
#     - Links of HOWTO articles relevant to the project
# ** PROJECT - Background
#    - Add any background info here (old files, plans, projects..)
# ** PROJECT - Planning                                                     :cogita:oODa:
#    - Think :: Think about observations and info gathered
#    - Orient :: "Figure out which way is up"
#    - Decide :: Decide what your doing, which way to go.
# *** Goals
# *** Plans
# ** PROJECT - Action Items                                                    :fac:oodA:
#    - Act/DO (Fac) :: Actions to take on info and plans
# ** PROJECT - Meetings and Reports                                                 :dic:
#    - "After action reports"
#    - Tell people what happened.
#    - Have meetings, write reports, etc. (as needed)

# ** PROJECT - Backlog

#40 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/ of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Mark Twain quote on cryptocurrency (via ChatGPT)

Sat, 10 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

make up a mak twain quote about crypocurrency

Here is a possible quote that Mark Twain might have said about cryptocurrency:

“The only thing more elusive than the value of cryptocurrency is the person who invented it. They must be a master of misdirection, for they have managed to convince the world that a string of numbers and letters has worth.”

A poem about Pete Rose? A LATIN poem about Pete Rose? A bash script to search files and contents? Advice on investing beat the market and inflation? How to pack for a week long backpacking trip?

We used to say of computer programs “Garbage in, garbage out” … but ChatGPT seems to be getting a little better than that, probably not close to passing the Turing test, but at the very least amusing. I think grading of high school assignments just became a lot harder…

write a poem about pete rose

Pete Rose was a baseball great,
A player without compare,
With a bat in his hand and a smile on his face,
He could hit a ball anywhere.

His hits record will never be beat,
And his passion for the game was clear,
But his fall from grace was a tragic defeat,
And his legacy forever tarnished, I fear.

But still, I can’t help but admire
The way he played the game,
With speed and skill and all his heart,
He left it all on the field and never gave up the fight.

So here’s to you, Pete Rose,
A baseball legend in your own right,
Though your mistakes may never be forgotten,
Your place in history is secure, at least tonight.

But wait, there’s more.

write a latin poem about pete rose

Pete Rose, ludus magnus,
Non comparari potest,
Bat cum manu et risus facie,
Posset pila ubique ferire.

Record eius numquam vincetur,
Et amor eius pro ludo patet,
Sed casus eius tristis est,
Et memoria eius semper maculata timeo.

Sed tamen admirari non possum
Modo ludebat,
Velocitate et peritia et tota corde,
Semper certabat et numquam desistebat.

Ergo tibi, Pete Rose,
Legenda ludi tua propria,
Licet errores tui numquam obliviscantur,
Locum tuum in historia tutum est, saltem hac nocte.

write me a bash script that searches for files by partial name that contain a certain regex

Here is a Bash script that searches for files with a partial name that match a specified regular expression and prints their names to the terminal:

Copy code

#!/bin/bash

# Prompt the user for the search term and regular expression
read -p "Enter the partial file name to search for: " search_term
read -p "Enter the regular expression to match: " regex

# Search for files with the specified name and matching regular expression
results=$(find . -name "*$search_term*" -exec grep -l "$regex" {} +)

# Print the names of each file that was found
while read -r file; do
  echo "$file"
done <<< "$results"

This script uses the find command to search for files with the specified partial name and grep to match the regular expression. The -l option for grep is used to print only the names of the files that match, rather than their contents. The read command is used to prompt the user for input and to iterate over the search results.

To use this script, save it to a file (e.g. search.sh), make it executable with chmod +x search.sh, and run it with ./search.sh. You can specify the partial file name and regular expression to search for when prompted.

how do I invest to beat the market and inflation

To invest in order to beat the market and inflation, you can follow these steps:

Identify your financial goals and the time frame in which you want to achieve them. This will help you determine the right investment strategy for your situation.

Create a diversified portfolio that includes a mix of stocks, bonds, and other investments. This will help reduce the risk of your investments and increase the chances of achieving your financial goals.

Research different investments and compare their potential returns, risks, and fees. Look for investments that have a track record of outperforming the market and have the potential to protect against inflation.

Consider consulting with a financial advisor who can provide expert advice on investing and help you create a personalized investment plan.

Regularly monitor your investments and make adjustments as needed. This may include rebalancing your portfolio to maintain the right mix of investments, selling underperforming investments, and buying new investments that align with your financial goals.

By following these steps and being disciplined in your approach to investing, you can increase the chances of beating the market and protecting against inflation. However, it is important to keep in mind that there are no guarantees in investing, and the value of your investments can go up or down. It is always a good idea to carefully consider the risks and consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

what backpacking gear should I get rid of when hiking for a week or more

When backpacking for a week or more, it is important to carefully consider the gear you take with you. To save weight and space, you may want to consider getting rid of the following items:

Extra clothing: Take only the essentials, such as a few layers for different weather conditions and a waterproof jacket. Avoid taking duplicate items or clothing that you are unlikely to wear.

Heavy or bulky items: Look for lightweight and compact alternatives to your gear, such as a backpacking stove, sleeping pad, and tent.

Non-essential items: Consider leaving behind items that are not necessary for your trip, such as a camp chair, extra gadgets, or luxury items.

Expired or unnecessary items: Get rid of any food, medication, or first-aid supplies that are expired or that you are unlikely to use.

Overall, the key is to pack only the essentials and to prioritize lightweight and compact gear. By doing so, you can save weight and space and make your backpacking trip more enjoyable.

make up a mak twain quote about crypocurrency

Here is a possible quote that Mark Twain might have said about cryptocurrency:

“The only thing more elusive than the value of cryptocurrency is the person who invented it. They must be a master of misdirection, for they have managed to convince the world that a string of numbers and letters has worth.”

#39 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Why do we hack?

Sun, 04 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Why do we hack? Because we enjoy it? Because we want others to use our work? Because we get paid?

Figure 1: “Teco Emacs on TOPS20” by George M. Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Once again EmacsConf went to fountainhead of free software and gave us a chance to hear from and interact with rms.

People in the public eye often get on (or get put on) a soapbox repeating the same lines. Stallman even chose to open by playing an 8 year old TED talk he did extolling software freedom. Certainly not new, but once in a while it’s refreshing to return to primary sources rather than news or other mediated views. This talk and the Q&A was a view straight into the heart, soul and source of the Free Software movement.

I asked two questions on the webpad which Stallman answered. In both cases I was trying to get past the repeated soapbox points to what makes the person underneath tick.

Despite the utter profusion of tools built around the ecosystem he created over the past 40 years (just look at the program of EmacsConf and the contents of the *LPA archives), several of his comments lead me to believe he still views emacs as “just an editor”, so to clarify I asked:

Q: What do you use emacs for beyond editing?

A: I use it for reading and writing email; this is what I do most of the day. (Sings) “I’ve been answering my email, all the g**-d***** day / .. / <transcriber lost the thread about here [lyrics available at https://stallman.org/doggerel.html#IveBeenAnsweringMyEmail]

Which confirmed my suspicion about non-use of the ecosystem…. but a live performance of his own parody song about email? Score one for touching the human behind the troupe.

As someone who’s been around computers and Emacs long enough to have started using the TECO based emacs something like 3 years after RMS created it (c.a. 1979 for me), I look back fondly on some of the tech I’ve used (all of which included versions of emacs): TOPS20, TOPS10 (!), Multics, VMS, BSD Unix, SunOS, Solaris, etc and thanks to places like SDF and friends I can still log in and tinker in those environments once in a while. At EmacsConf 2020 Stallman waxed nostalgic for a moment about (I think) DDT (Dynamic Debugging Technique) or similar for a minute and the sense of control it gave, so this year I probed:

Q: Do you ever dabble in retro-computing, e.g. logging into TOPS10/20 systems SDF, etc?

A: No, I decided it’s a waste of time. It’s tinkering that would not develop anything of any importance or use. And I know if I’m going to enjoy developing something… I could enjoy developing anything… I decided not to distract my attention from useful computing.

So that’s revealing. It acknowledges the existential pleasure of creating, in any environment, but only values creations that are likely to be used by others.

I have a son who’s about to finish a doctorate in piano performance. Clearly it’s legitimate for him to perform for the enjoyment of audiences, that is “useful”. But I think it was also legitimate for him, a child, to sit down at the harpsichord in the hallway of George Washington’s Mount Vernon and to knock out baroque pieces for the sheer joy of it, I don’t think that was a “distraction” or “waste of time”.

A lot of what makes Emacs what it is, is the accretion of scratch-you-own-itch solutions (Org-mode, for instance) done for oneself and possibly the pleasure of just writing the code and making things work, and then shared as an afterthought. In this context GNU Emacs itself is now 40 years old and was at the time a re-implementation of a then 7 or 8 year old system (TECO Emacs) targeted to run on a re-implementation of a system (Unix) created in 1969. Today (much to my amazement) there are STILL people into the Amiga¹, C-64s, and there are PDP-10’s that run on raspberry-pi’s. I once had an office-mate who “wrote” his own version of the Z80 in Verilog, because he could.

I appreciate the desire to have one’s software used widely, but I think its equally valid for people to do their own thing, possibly in nitch areas or on obsolete platforms, just because they want to. I’d even say these are prime examples of people exercising software freedom on their own hardware and, at least to them, this is “useful computing”.

Hat’s off to RMS for Emacs, GCC, Core Utils, the GPL, FSF, Free Software…

Happy Hacking !!!

#38 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

The Amiga was my first computer. I was the first person to port an Emacs editor to the Amiga, porting a version of what became “MicroEmacs” and mg to it and receiving a phone call from one of the core Amaga engineers at Commodore asking if they could use it after I posted to comp.sources.amiga ↩︎

EmacsConf 2022 - Day 1

Sat, 03 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

So, day 1 of EmacsConf 2022 is in the books. Another eclectic mash up of everything from the “Emacs Buddy Initiative” to a geeky dive on how to Edit live Jupyter notebook cells with Emacs (no, really, I like editing everything in browser text boxes … not!) to a serious proposal for a new economic model for software: Maintaining the Maintainers: Attribution as an Economic Model for Open Source

Thanks to the organizers (Sacha Chua and friends) the conference came off almost without a glitch, run entirely on open source software (Big Blue Button, IRC, etc.). Notepads, live Q&A, pre-recorded talks, most of them already up, captioned with transcripts, for free.

Things I’m probably going to look into as a result of this are the Tree-sitter beyond syntax highlighting for syntax-aware editing of python, bash, etc., the logistics of Attending and organizing Emacs meetups (who knew there were people using Org mode tables to analyze real-estate deals, tracking and visualizing health data, or envisioning GNUS as the core of a system to replace Microsoft, Apple and Google ?), and hooking Emacs to edit text boxes (think code in Jupyter Notebooks, huge SQL blocks in BigQuery web console, JIRA and Confluence forms, etc.)

Looking forward to day 2.

#37 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Just a flu shot

Fri, 18 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0500

I got a flu shot this week.

I happened to be at the pharmacy waiting for a prescription and had been planning on getting one, so I did.

No politics…

No threats of being fired by my employer.

No media coverage.

No G20 summit leaders agreeing I should not be able to travel without it.

No politics dividing me from friends and family.

No Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. books full of conspiracy theories.

No doubts about the long term side-effects of under-tested medical interventions.

Just a flu shot.

Because I thought it might help me.

#36 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

To publish my configs, or not, that is the question.

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0500

This is a HOWTO on publishing certain Unix config files while keeping others private using GNU stow and ?clever? groupings of files into directories such as home.public.dotfies and home.private.mailconfig

I like to publish my personal config files (.bashrc, emacs configs, etc) but there are some things you probably just don’t want to share because they only apply to you (your list of rss feeds) or are just personal, and some things you should not share such as files with passwords.

To solve this problem, I break stuff down into public,private and secret categories. I used to have these live under

~/{public,private,secret}/*

but any more, I just used GNU stow which builds symlink trees. Now I have

~/stow/home.public/dotfiles/.bashrc

which gets symliked into

~/.bashrc

by doing

cd ~/stow/home.public/dotfiles
stow

The beauty of this is that I have repos made public such as

http://git.galthub.com:3000/gmj/home.public.dotfiles

and others private and secret not published. You can even mix “work” and “home” by using hierarchies such as

work.private.dotfiles

to use different ~/.gitconfig files.

You get the idea. I’ve probably gone to far with it http://git.galthub.com:3000/gmj/

#35 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

"Red" vs. "Blue" Name calling? We can do better than that.

Sun, 06 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0400

As we approach another election in the US where hearing cries of “Red” vs. “Blue” become unavoidable, I’m increasingly convinced that such labels are unhelpful substitutes for thought and actually engaging with other people and ideas.

I’ve been listening to Jordan Peterson’s “12 Rules For Living”, as well as his podcast lately. Yes, per Wikipedia Jordan Peterson can be labeled a

Canadian media personality, clinical psychologist, author, and
professor ... public intellectual .. conservative ... classic
British liberal ... traditionalist

but in listening to him, I am coming more strongly to the option that labels such as “conservative” or “liberal” are just intellectual crutches people use to avoid thinking, to avoid engaging with ideas and people, to label people in “us” and “them” categories such as “Red” and “Blue”, and to cluster together into tribal groups. The result is we reject our fellow human beings out of hand and we are all worse off for doing so.

I’m only two chapters in, but his “12 Rules For Living” is already both an interesting story and one of the most thought-provoking things I’ve read in a long time. He draws on his experience as clinical psychologist dealing with broken people, his own experience growing up in a small oil town in northern Alberta, Canada (teenagers cruising a small town, drunken parties, long dark nights), and along the way walks through the story in Genesis 1-3 with the eyes of a psychologist answering the question why we take care of other people, even our pets, better than we do ourselves (Hint 1: we’re all deeply messed up and we are all to aware of this. Hint 2: The whole “Red” vs. “Blue” thing and the tribal identity around it is in fact a proxy for a deeper human need for meaning)

Even two chapters in, I’d recommend it

#34 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Check Czech Check, Czech? Check!

Sun, 30 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0400

I was once eating in a restaurant with some co-workers in Prague, and it came time to leave. We wanted the check. In that setting, this would have been a meaningful sentence (in convoluted punning English) addressed to our waiter…

Check [for the] Czech Check, Czech [waiter]?

to which an appropriate reply from the waiter might have been:

Check!

#33 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Get going, go get go git going

Sun, 30 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0400

I’m in the process of installing a new “git” server. It’s written in the “go” language. I was about to get out of bed to work on it, so…

Get going, go get go git going

#32 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

The way to get something done is to not do everything else.

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0400

See the title.

#31 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Friends

Sun, 23 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Aristotle identified three types of friendship - friendships of association, utility and virtue. Who were you “best friends” with in early school years? Do you keep up with your old co-workers? Who has hurt you deeply, yet you still wish them the best?

This morning I listend to a podcast that gave a summary of Aristotle’s classification of friendships. This is a summary of a summary of a summary of one of the greatest thinkers in human history. Aristotle classed friendships in three categories (and this is from memory, so I’m pretty sure I’m not naming them they way Wikipedia or Aristotle’s Ethics would)

Friendships of Associaiton: School friends, sports team members, people I meet hiking.
Friendships of Utility: Most of your Linked-in contacts.
Friendships of Virtue: People you care about (and who care about you) for their (your) own sake. I’m thinking a Mother’s love for a child falls here (but that may be a category all by itself). Who do you love “just because”? Who want’s the best for you even if you hurt them deeply?

#30 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

It's Manjaro !!!

Wed, 19 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0400

2022-10-17:14:06:52: Installing and migrating to Manjaro
2022-10-17:14:29:04: pacman -Syu # update pacman
2022-10-17:14:30:06: sudo pacman -Syu # update pacman
2022-10-17:14:30:23: sudo pacman -S ed # install ed
2022-10-17:14:32:41: scp -v -r -p 192.168.0.10:~/stow . # copy stow files
2022-10-17:14:33:39: sudo pacman -S stow # instal stow
2022-10-17:14:47:04: # INFO - Arch runs zsh by default. Cool prompt stuff. Not quite bash
2022-10-17:14:59:24: sudo pacman -S emacs
2022-10-17:15:06:51: stow home.public.emacs.d/
2022-10-17:15:07:49: # and emacs just worked tail /home/gmj/var/log/install.org!
2022-10-17:15:14:31: # INFO enable sshd on arch https://linuxhint.com/arch_linux_ssh_server/
2022-10-17:15:26:12: TODO figure out the relationship between bash an zsh on arch. Looks like I'm really running zsh.
2022-10-17:15:26:31: TODO create a backup account
2022-10-17:17:29:28: DONE install all my stow files
2022-10-17:17:37:07: DONE install bind
2022-10-17:17:42:07: DONE installed mlocate
2022-10-18:05:51:17: DONE sudo pacman -S xclip
2022-10-19:06:21:54: TODO figure out how to start bash, not zsh
2022-10-19:06:22:18: IN-PROGRESS backing up ed to archive drive
2022-10-19:06:22:49: IN-PROGRESS copying /home/gmj/home/public /home/gmj/home/private /home/gmj/home/secret to mx
2022-10-19:06:23:21: DONE installed jupyter-notebook and pandas and matplotlib
2022-10-19:06:29:34: DONE sudo pacman -S hugo
2022-10-19:06:33:46: DONE sudo pacman -S community/speedtest-cli

#29 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

Black Lives Matter … the 1852 version.

Fri, 07 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0400

So, I’ve been listening to the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin on Audible.

How long until it gets canceled for use of the “N” word? Looks like Paypal might try to charge me $2500 for reading something they don’t approve of https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/10/the-2500-fine-read-it-and-weep.html. I’ve canceled Paypal.

But that said, read it (while you can?). If you can get past contemporary hangups about the “wrong” words being used you will find one of the most powerful statements in all of human history that “Black Lives Matter”. Stowe visited Lincoln in the White House in 1862, and there is a possible apocryphal quote by Lincoln that goes “So this is the little lady who started this great war.”

My family hid runaway slaves (14 miles north of the Ohio river) and fought in the Union army. One of them was a student at Lane Seminary in Cincinnati (just across the Ohio ) where Stow’s father, Lyman Beecher taught … where a series of student debates over Aboliton attended by Stow caused riots. The student body withdrew en masse to Oberlin college. This book provides context and a backdrop for what drove them to disobey the law (the Fugitive Slave Act) and take up arms.

That’s history. While I’m proud of what they did, I claim no virtue for their actions. The question for me now, as it was for them then, is how do I treat my fellow human beings today.

I have my relative’s hand-written notes (1830s) from “Dr. Beecher’s Lectures on Theology” in my closet. Maybe that’s up next on the reading list to better understand what drove them…

#28 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/

"We" are "pleased" to..

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Email from [company I have investment with]:

We are pleased to let you know that there is a new document for you to review

Translation,

the corporate machine sent this to you to mitigate it’s risk of being sued by you and fined by government regulators for not doing so. There is no “we” in the personal sense. And no human being is “pleased” by this. Emails like this are a debasement of perfectly good words describing human interaction at best and disingenuous, self-serving, collectivist, lies at worst.

#27 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

Can I get the job done by doing nothing?

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Over the years you pick up useful ideas from people. One of the most useful “project management” ideas I’ve ever encountered is

Can I get the job done by doing nothing?

Use the code you already have. Use existing slide decks. Time is scarce. Don’t waste it creating something new when something you already have will do the job. Don’t spend hours getting a slide deck to %100 perfection when what you really need to do is talk over some ideas and the existing material is sufficient to spark conversation.

Thanks to Russell Leighton (then) at AWS for the mind-boggling obvious idea.

#26 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

Marcus Aurelius was right

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0400

I’ve been reading Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. I’m trying to have a positive effect on the things and people I can actually change (myself and my own reactions in this moment). Below are some quotes along those lines from Longfellow, Bob Dylan, the Apostle Paul and Reinhold Neibuhr, some of classics of “Don’t worry, be happy”. Now if I can just internalize some of this…

Figure 1: “The cannon thundered in the South,” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

Worry is debilitating. And usually you can’t do much about whatever is worrying you directly. It can raise your blood pressure. It can get you to opine on geo-political solutions and outcomes you have very little hope of affecting or even influencing. See the war in Ukraine.

I keep coming back to Longfellow’s A Psalm of Life

"Act, act the living present, heart within and God o'erhead
...
Let us then be up and doing, with a heart for any fate"

Henery W. Longfellow

This from a man who new the loss and devastation of war

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_the_Bells_on_Christmas_Day

Marcus Aurelius is right. Worry keeps you from doing the good you can do now, both for the benefit of yourself and those around you. It keeps you from affecting the things you can affect.

To go back a few decades:

"Karl Marx has got you by the throat,
and Henry Kissinger's got you tied up into knots.
When you gonna wake up, and strengthen the things that remain"

Bob Dylan

The big stuff will happen. You largely can’t change it. Change what you can, which is yourself in this moment.

Slightly out of context (go read the context), but…

Let us not become discouraged in doing good, for in due time we will
reap, if we do not become weary. So then, while we have
opportunity, let us do good to all people,...

Paul, Galatians 6:9-10

And

God, grant me the Serenity
To accept the things I cannot change...
Courage to change the things I can,
And Wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Neibuhr

Neibuhr had a large influence on a young pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s who was executed in prison for, well, trying to do what he could do in his time…

Post 26 #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

Spring Creeping Up The Mountain

Sun, 17 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0400

This is the view from White Rocks 13 miles north of Harpers Ferry. In the fall you can see the colors (leaves changing) creeping down the mountain because it’s colder as you go up. Here you can see spring creeping up the mountain.

Figure 1: “Spring Creeping Up The Mountain” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

#25 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

Shared Experiences

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Shared experiences bring us together.

This is some (possibly obvious) introspection involving the Appalachian Trail, the moon landing and the Beatles.

Figure 1: “Archive: Apollo 11 Sees Earthrise (NASA, Marshall, 07/69)” by by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Saturday I was out on a training hike on the Appalachian trail in central Pennsylvania. I met a German (well, German speaking) hiker with the trail name “Boomerang”. We talked for about 10 minutes. In all likelihood I will never see him again. But we had a bond, largely because of our shared experience of the trail. I can talk to random hikers about experiences we share, people we’ve met and places we both know, “Oh, the outfitter in Harpers Ferry, you mean the one on the left side going up the hill from town towards the ATC headquarters?”. Shared experiences bind us together.

My brothers and I have shared memories and experiences from our formative years that no one else can ever share. My wife of 35 years and I have had and raised two “kids”. She knew my (now deceased) parents, grandmother and extended family. You only have so many people in your life with that level of connection. They are irreplaceable.

You see the need for connections in the existence of (American) VFW posts (a gathering place for former military members), in the existence of Eastern Othodox churches and synagogues all over the old ethnic neighborhoods of Pittsburgh and in efforts to preserve endangered languages (Breton, Irish, Hawaiian…)

In a larger sense, we all share the human experience: birth, life, struggles, death, the quest for sigificance and the desire for eternity.

The moon landing on July 20, 1969 was a moment when the world stopped. All of humanity was glued to TVs and radios. My parents kept us up late to watch the landing. People stared at the moon in the sky as people have done for all of human history, but with the knowledge that there were people there. We were there. The next day, the Beatles went into the studio and started work on a song called “Come Together”. We need to.

#24 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

Life! Carpe diem! Carpe viam! Carpe vitam!

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0400

I am listening to Jack Kerouac’s On the Road - Wikipedia. What a rant! What a stream-of-consciousness-grab-life-by-the-horns-drink-until-it-kills-you peaan to not missing a single moment or experience in life !

Figure 1: “Upward and Onward” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

A lot of what happened in the 60s starts, I won’t say to make sense, but to have a context…. musically there was Route 66, Tangled Up In Blue, All Come To Look For America, Me And You And A Dog Named Boo, There’s A Killer On The Road …. and to some extent Woodstock (what happens 10 years later when thousands of people try to live the carefee life spontaneously together on a farm in upstate NY without proper infrastructure) and as an echo people following the dead on tour …. Wow, man !

Keruac’s and friends lifestyle choices were, let’s just say different than my own, but man did he grab the bull (life) by the horns.

In my own tame way I get out and play where there are bears, rattle snakes thunderstorms, chances to discuss 19th century philosophical movements with a rap-loving kid from the Bronx out for a hike and a meet a guy from Mexico City hiking the Appalachian trail because his grandfather read Thoreau in Spanish … https://outdoorfoo.wordpress.com/

To life !

#23 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

Hope springs eternal.

Sun, 03 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0400

The sun is always shining.
The flowers are always blooming.
There are no bugs.
The trail is always flat.
There are no rocks.
It never rains.
It’s never too cold.
It’s never too hot.
There’s never overcrowding.
Your gear always works.
Your physical conditioning is always good.

Figure 1: “Sun on lake” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

This is bloodroot. I also saw a few early violets. The daffodils are up. The forsythia are starting. Red-buds soon. Then dogwoods. Spring in northern Virginia !

Figure 2: “Spring Flowers” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

This is a nice flat stretch. Somehow every time you start you think it will be like this.

Figure 3: “Perfect trail” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

This is a water-removal feature that was being installed by fellow trail maintainers as I hiked. It is a textbook example that follows the “SET” principal where the features are Sustainable, Effective and Traversable.

Figure 4: “Water Removal - Textbook Example” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

Somehow, getting out in nature in early spring renews hope.

#22 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

New Cars

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Cars have changed. Back in the day you could “pop the clutch” to start a car by letting it roll down hill, putting it in first gear with your foot on the (manual) clutch, let the clutch out (“popping the clutch”) and often the car would start. Handy if you had a car with a dead battery at the top of a hill.

Cars are full of electronics now, and that can be good, and it can be very bad…

The only electronics on cars back in the day were the battery, the spark plugs, fired by an alternator, the starter motor, the lights, the radio, the heater fan (OK, there are were a lot of electronics…)

But now, cars are Internet connected computers integrated with everybody’s favorite obsession, the smart phone. The computers in the car can physically steer, apply breaks, accelerate, decelerate, monitor your alertness, turn the car off, call 911 if you crash, etc. These are all usually good, or at least well intentioned when they work as designed in the conditions they were designed for.

But there are potential downsides. Pretty sure it would be technically trivial for you to get a speeding ticket every time you went 26 in a 25 zone. And Siri, Android Auto, Alexa and friends can listen to your conversations, do speech to text, feed them to machine learning trained programs to pick out anything, not just your selection of music or driving direction. Have you ever ranted to a friend in a car about social, political or religious topics … or maybe the suspected paternal lineage of the driver who just cut you off? It might all be on record.

And I’ve worked with computers for too long to believe in bug free code or code with no design defects. Things break. In this case, it could cost me my life.

Then there are security issues. If the car can do the right thing with properly functioning software and in road and weather conditions, it could do the wrong thing as well if someone messes with the software, sensors (radar, camera), or operating environment. With a cell phone or other radio connection, cars are now, in once sense, computer systems with constant Internet connections.

This has been a topic in hacker circles for several years now: https://www.blackhat.com/us-18/training/car-hacking-hands-on.html, and industry is acknowledging the problem https://www.einfochips.com/blog/automotive-iot-security-an-inevitable-factor-in-growing-market-of-connected-vehicle-ecosystem/ We don’t need to envision any cloak-and-dagger-middle-of-the-night car mods in a futuristic James Bond film to see what could go wrong.

So I’m pretty sure we’re not going back. I considered buying a refurbished 1970s VW beetle to get away from all this, but for now I’m going to accept risks, cited above and completely ignored by car salesmen on the theory that it’s more likely the car will keep me from making a fatal lane change than that Dr. No (or random functionaries at the TSA, local police or a kid in his basement) will hack my car.

There was a time when driving was the symbol of autonomy, independence, personal responsibly, individualism and adventure. You see bit’s of that in Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” and Nat King Cole’s “Route 66”. Those days are, I think, gone. Now, how do I connect Android Auto and setup Waze? …

#21 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

"I close my eyes, only for a moment, but the moment's gone"

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0400

When you’re on a world tour following COVID lock-downs, nominated for 3 Grammys, scheduled to play at the Grammy’s this year … and your drummer dies….

https://youtu.be/fns6N_iAVBw

I close my eyes
Only for a moment and the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity
...
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind (All we are is dust in the wind)
Dust in the wind (Everything is dust in the wind)
Everything is dust in the wind

From memory and https://genius.com/Kansas-dust-in-the-wind-lyrics

#20 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

It will be done when it's done

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Steve Wilhite died last week. Yes, he created GIF, but that was just a side project among mountains of mostly single-handed coding projects that were a large part of what kept CompuServe going for years in the face of AOL and the Web.

One of my coworkers recalled:

…many times when asked about a delivery date Steve would answer “it will be done when it is done.”

I laughed when I read that. It was so Steve. It would have been said authoritatively, matter of factly, and any poor project manager involved would have to take that as the final word, because Steve was right … and consistently delivered.

Figure 1: “CompuServe Languages and Tools Group c.a. 2019” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

You got the same type of response when asked how to pronounce GIF. To quote Steve “Choosy programmers choose GIF”, echoing an old JIFF peanut-butter commercial, soft “g”. It didn’t matter that the president of the United States disagreed. The president was just wrong. End of story.

Steve was laconic, matter-of-fact and almost always right. He had a knack for knocking out the right project at the right time, be it the 3 DEC10 compilers in the 70s and early 80s, the “Host Micro Interface” (HMI) protocol that let the Information Service move away from text-only command line interfaces, to WinCIM (the CompuServe graphical Interface/UI/Information Manager on Windows). I used capabilities provided in WinCIM to write FTP and Telenet gateways that allowed users to access the Internet. Steve also wrote libraries included in WinCIM that provided enough functionality for me to write a web browser….that was never released :-(. It allowed users without a direct Internet connection (most people) to browse the web which was full of GIFs then.

A lot of the reporting about Steve and his “Webby” award for GIF refers to him working on it with “his team”. I guess I was part of that “team” … he had hired me out of college and I was in “his” Languages and Tools group (Compilers and Runtime Systems) and was 2 doors down when he was parading people in to see the fruits of a project (one of the MANY) he did on the side/at home called GIF that displayed, if I recall correctly, on DOS systems, Windows systems, Atari STs, Amigas, all which Steve had either in his office or at home or both. We did a little collaborative coding to port MicroEmacs to the Amiga which became today’s mg (nee Micro Gnu Emacs) editor, but GIF was just Steve.

Sandy Trevor (CompuServe Executive Technical VP) and others were wise just to let Steve do his thing.

Beyond the code, I think Steve stamped a lot of his outlook on a young me. That’s probably part of why I’ve dodged management at every opportunity. There’s too much “real work” to do :-). Years later, I worked at Amazon for a bit and grew very quickly to appreciate the leadership principals: https://www.aboutamazon.com/about-us/leadership-principles. Turns out, in retrospect, I think they were describing the Steve I knew to a “t”: He was right, a lot, dove deep, delivered results, earned trust, was always learning and curious, thought big and was forever inventing and simplifying. I think Bezos was somehow taking queues from Steve.

Steve also had one quality that a lot of utterly brilliant people lack: He took you (me) where you were. Not everyone went home and read Knuth and CACM cover-to-cover for bedtime stories. He got that. He took you where you were as a programmer and a person. That gave me room to grow personally and professionally at a critical time in life.

There was way more to Steve than GIF. His output was prolific and in his laconic let-your-code-do-your-talking kind of way, he was inspiring. I was privileged to have a front row seat to watch a master at work.

#19 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

To self host or not to self host, that is the question?

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Shelving the self hosting for a while. Just gonna push the static blog up to my 20 year old Hurricane Electric shell account. URL redirection is a marvelous thing. This is not your fathers CNAME record.

After my raspberry pi died (when I unplugged it from the new UPS that was supposed to keep it up), and I manifestly failed for 2 weeks to allocate the time to rebuild it, I decided to let other people run the system and network. While it’s fun/retro to go back to doing all my own systems admin, networking and security work on top of a day job that has me on a vertical learning curve with systems, networking, security, databases, programming etc at the end of the day, literally at the end of the day, I just don’t have it in me to sit in front of a computer and do more computer stuff.

So I will let the nice people at Hurricane Electric with whom I’ve had an a shell account for ~20 years run the system, the web server and the network (they are really good at that). Every time I send mail to support@he.net I get what seems like a genuinely interested geek replying.

Division of labor. What a concept.

I’ve got other things in life that need attention and time now (and some world events that are sucking up attention)

#17 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

Peace be with you

Sat, 05 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0500

I’ve been listening to the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, the stoic Roman emperor. The stoic philosopher Epictetus, who was an older contemporary of Marcus Aurelius said

Never say about anything, I have lost it,
but only I have given it back.

It might lower my blood pressure if I could get my mind around that.

It’s all to easy to get upset when people wrong you, or when dictators invade a neighboring country, killing thousands of people and destroy the country for seemingly unknowable and unjustified reasons.

In the meditations, the point is often made that the only thing you really have is this moment in time and your ability to control your reactions. You do not “have” or control the past, the future, events, people, money, etc. It’s a sophisticated version of what parents often tell their children “Don’t worry about what your brother is doing, pay attention to what you’re doing”.

Martin Luther (not King Jr.) put a Christian spin on the idea:

I have held many things in my hands,
and I have lost them all;
but whatever I have placed in God's hands,
that I still possess.

The world is not fair. It is not just. And I control almost none of it, aside from my own assessment of what is “fair”, what is “just”, and how I react to it. I’ve caused myself a lot of trouble over the years by they way I asses things and how I’ve reacted.

I wish you peace.

#18 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

The lesson of history

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0500

I think the lesson of history is that we don’t learn from the lessons of history.

#16 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

Present Duties

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0500

This is framed quote that’s been hanging on my family’s walls since sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It’s way more positive than the other things I was thinking of posting in these dark times…

Figure 1: “Present Duties” by William Penn paraphrasing Jesus is in fact not copyrightable, Charles Scribners’s Sons claims c.a. 1897 notwithstanding.

#15 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

When goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

When goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will.

That is all.

#14 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

George Washington Slept Here

Sun, 27 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Hiking yesterday in the Shenandoah Valley I discovered that I was on part of “Morgans Road”, which is a road George Washington had built into the hills to allow his army to retreat from the British in case things got really bad. “George Washington Planned To Sleep Here If Things Got Really Bad”. That was enough at the time of the bicentennial (1976) to put up another George Washington marker.

This includes a longish list of Washington sites I’ve run across, including a couple with family connections.

Figure 1: “George Washington Planned To Sleep Here” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

I’ve lived in northern Virgina for almost 20 years. 250 years later, there is still a mythos, and in some cases still oral tradition about George Washington everywhere you go from his home at Mount Vernon to Bunker Hill in Boston. Some of the most visible reminders (aside from Washington, DC and the Washington Monument) are all the “George Washington [did X] Here” signs.

The myth may be larger than life. The story about young George Washington saying “I can not tell a lie” when he cut down is father’s cherry tree is probably a fabrication. But there was a core of truth, a real man behind the legends that inspired those who knew him and the generations that followed.

Living in northern Virginia, you can hardly step outside without running into some “George Washington [did X] Here” memorial. Here is a top-of-the-head list of things I’ve run into in the past few years:

Neavil’s Ordinary: Neavil’s Ordinary (inn) is a few miles from my house. George Washington (and George Fairfax of Fairfax County fame) spent a night there on they way to survey land in the Shenandoah Valley.
Washington, VA: Washington himself surveyed and laid out the town of Washington “The First of them All” Virginia, the county seat of Rappahannock County.
A farm in New Jersey: Backpacking on the Appalachian Trail in New Jersey I spent a night camped behind the barn of a family that has owned the land since the revolution. They have an oral tradition that Washington came through and spent a night in the old farm house.
Winchester, VA: There is a “Washington’s Headquarters” site in Winchester, VA.
Longfellow House, Cambridge, MA: Then there is the house in Cambridge, MA (across the green from Harvard) that served as Washington’s headquarters during the siege of Boston and later as the home of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This one starts to get personal, as I am a cousin of some sort to Longfellow. We both go back to John Alden on the Mayflower. See Longfellow’s “The Courtship of Miles Standish”.
Fort Enochs/Fort Capon: This one is very personal. Turns out Washington commissioned my Great,Great,Great,Great,Great grandfather Lt. Colonel Henry Enochs to build a fort on his land during the French and Indian war. Of course, Washington did the land survey.
In the 20 years we’s spent living in Virginia driving back to Ohio regularly, we developed a route that goes through Bloomery, West Virginia which winds up cutting right past the sight of the fort (now unmarked on a bluff in a field). It is next to an old one-lane bridge. We did this before we knew of the fort or the family connection. I guess my ancestral lands were calling me home. In reality, much of my family kept moving west to Ohio, where Washington owned land. They were among the first settlers of Marietta, Ohio, the first town in the Northwest Territory and the seat of … Washingotn county.
Bacon Fort: Two weeks ago, on the way home from another hike I came across a marker for “Bacon Fort”, another “Ordinary” and former frontier fort at which Washington stopped.
Mount Vernon: And then there is Washington’s home of Mt. Vernon where he and wife Martha are buried. It is a private foundation and admission is free to people named “George” on his birthday. There is a harpsichord in the house that at least one 12 year old keyboard prodigy was allowed to play a few years back. This Mount Vernon is not to be confused with the town of Mount Vernon, Ohio which my high school played in football.
Culpepper, VA: A young Washington live in Culpeppr, VA a little south of where I live and joined the Masonic lodge there. Nice men from the Masons can be found at his grave from time to time honoring their brother and (a few years back) handing out coins to children with Washington’s image.
The National Road/Braddock’s Road: Then there was the time Washington and Braddock went to what is now Pittsburgh to try to dislodge the french at Fort Duquesne. Braddock wound up dead, buried under the road and Washington wound up hastily building Fort Necessity and signing surrender documents in French that he did not understand. And the French and Indian wars were off and running…
Other Washington sites: Over the years I’ve been to other sites associated with Washington: Valley Forge, The crossing of the Delaware, Independence Hall (Philadelphia ) New York, Yorktown.

The man got around Colonial America (see The George Washington Day By Day project)

To be fair there is, of course, another side to the “Settlement” story some of which is told by John Ruth in his book This Very Ground, This Crooked Affair. After seven generations, Ruth’s family can no longer afford to live on land they got directly from William Penn near Philadelphia. Penn, was “granted” all of Pennsylvania by the King of England despite the fact that there were already many people living there who had been there thousands of years…

But that said, man or myth, Washington was an inspiring character. He had flaws (don’t we all?).

I can not tell a lie. I think the take-home for me is to figure out what praiseworthy qualities Washington (or his myth) embodied and to at least try to add those qualities to my own life.

#13 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

It seems like a good day for some Russian opera

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Below is some text from Rimsky-Korsakov’s last opera, where the people mockingly pledge loyalty to the Russian King (Tsar)

King Dodon, a lazy and gluttonous ruler, is greatly worried by his warlike neighbors.

It seems the Kremlin’s website is having some issues right now…

Figure 1: “Kremlin Website, Nothing To See Here, Move Along” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

People (shouting).
Long life to thee! Hurrah!
May thou have every good thing!
(Begin to sing.)
"We are thy faithful servants.
Who kiss the Royal feet.
We are glad to serve thee.
To amuse thee with our foolishness,
To box for thee upon a holiday,
To bark, to crawl on all fours,
So that thy hours may flow quickly
And may bring sweet sleep.
Without thee we should have no
Reason for existing;
For thee we were born
And for thee we have had chidren."

From https://archive.org/stream/lecoqdorgoldenc02pushgoog/lecoqdorgoldenc02pushgoog_djvu.txt

In the historical context (1908), Russia had just lost a war to Japan where it’s army was defeated and two fleets were sunk by Japan. The Tsar was in disgrace. The start of WWI was only 6 years away and the Russian revolution was only 9 years away.

The (Tsarist) censors didn’t like the text. Wonder why.

#12 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

Hiking and Art

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

From Eagles Rock you can look back east and see the Massanutten range and pretty much all of Shenandoah National Park. From Tibbets Knob there is a nice view of a valley and “Big Schloss” which is a rock formation and the destination of another popular local hike.

Figure 1: “But is it art?” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

More pictures here https://pixelfed.social/p/eludom/402070358478944399

#11 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

Oh, Little Town of Harpers Ferry, How Still We See Thee Lie

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Harpers Ferry: a quaint little town, vegan restaurants, a national park, Appalachian Trail headquarters, great place to hop a train to DC or Pittsburgh, a Kansas album cover or a great place to start a civil war? It’s all in how you look at it, who’s looking, and when.

This is a picture I took on a hike above the town on Loudoun Heights Saturday and the painting of John Brown in the John Brown museum.

Figure 1: “Harpers Ferry” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

Saturday I went hiking above Harpers Ferry, WV. Today it’s just a sleepy little town with a good little vegan restaurant, headquarters of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and a lot of national park buildings (most of the old downtown). But back in the day (1859), it housed the federal armory, gun factory and John Brown thought it would be a great place start a slave rebellion. He was wrong. But he lit the fuse of the Civil War that ended slavery. His short lived rebellion was put down by federal troops lead by … Robert E. Lee, later commander of the Confederate army and JEB Stewart, a confederate general. And you may even recognize a Kansas (70s band) album cover in the painting of Brown-as-Moses with a bible in one hand and a gun in the other.

Turns out there is no museum in Harper Ferry dedicated to the man who enforced the status quo. I guess we know who was “on the wrong side of history.

#10 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

Oh, you gotta get a glory in the work you do

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

I’ve been reading a lot of poetry lately. A snatch of a poem my grandmother used to quote about finding meaning in work came to mind:

Oh, you gotta get a glory
In the work you do;
A hallelujah chorus
In the heart of you.
Paint, or tell a story,
Sing, or shovel coal,
But you gotta get a glory
Or the job lacks soul.

Berton Baley

Even Google and Duck-Duck Go don’t know much about it, so here it is in my grandmothers handwriting. From cleaning houses, to taking care of kids, to canning beans she NEVER did anything halfway.

Figure 1: “Oh, you gotta get a glory” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

#9 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

The mighty Casey has struck out

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

I watched the Super Bowl last night, in which a second Ohio team just missed a national championship in a year. There is no joy in Porkopolis. I don’t know any good football poems, but…

Figure 1: “Joy in Mudville” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

I stayed up late (for me) last night to watch the Super Bowl. The Bengals were the only professional team I ever half-way followed. This was in the 70s and into the 80s when they made their two other Super Bowl appearances. They, unlike the later “Bungles” were worth watching.

I started following them largely because they were in Cincinnati and at the time I had become a huge (not half-way) Reds fan. It was a good time to be a Reds fan. Those were the years of the Big Red Machine … Rose, Bench, Morgan, Perez, etc. Back-to-back World Series wins in 75 (the year I started following) and 76. I was hooked (see some thoughts on where professional baseball has gone here). The Bengals gave me something to follow in the off-season. I even followed the Cincinnati Stingers hockey team in the short lived WHL for similar reasons. It probably didn’t hurt that I grew up in Columbus during the Archie Griffin years and that the Bengals drafted him in 76. It just seemed natural that the teams I (somewhat) followed played in the Rose Bowl (then the national title game for college football), the world series and, probably, the Super Bowl every year.

Other than the Reds, I was never really a huge sports fan. Growing up in Columbus, Ohio you don’t realize how pervasive Buckeye-fever is: it’s in the water, its in the air, it’s in the people’s blood. I realized that this was not universal only when I moved away.

So, when the Buckeyes were in the title game this year I signed up a free trail FuboTV account, watched the game and immediately canceled. I did the same thing with the Bengals in the Super Bowl last night (honestly I could not have named a single player on the team.)

Yesterday, for different reasons, I was reading some of the poetry my Grandmother loved. Which is probably what brought this to mind, so, for my friends in Cincinnati and those who actually care about Football…

Casey at the Bat by Ernest L. Thayer

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout; But there is no joy in Mudville– mighty Casey has struck out.

https://www.ellenbailey.com/poems/ellen_097.htm

#8 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

Ἰλιάς

Sun, 13 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

The Iliad and Dr Seuss have nothing to say to us today. “One fish, two fish”? Really. Recent translations of liner-A tablets reveal that it was a faceBOOK post that launched 1000 ships.

Figure 1: “Oracle headquarters, Delphi, Greece AUC MMDCCXLII” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

I recently finished re-listening to the Iliad (20 hours) and was struck by how little has changed in 3000 years:

The Olympian gods still enter directly into human battles.
The Hittites still rule Anatolia (Turkey).
Slavery is still a thing in the Mediterranean.
Raiding and plundering coastal towns is a perfectly acceptable career path.
Augery (reading the livers of animals) and portents (birds flying to the right or left) are still seen as valid ways making important decisions.
Political leaders are valued for their bravery in battle, leading from the front, risking their own lives and leading by example.

And there is even new evidence, deciphered form Liner-A tablets, that they were deeply concerned about issues of climate change, social justice and COIVD-19 vaccines. It seems that the oracle at Delphi read a Facebook post and clued them in that the people of the early 21st century (21st century from what?) would be rightly obsessed with these issues and that these people and their views would be the pinnacle of moral development for all of human history, and that the opinions and concerns of twitter mobs in that era were fixed, immutable and correct for all time.

In fact, the Trojan war was launched because the Trojans were on the wrong side of history on all these issues. So Agamemnon and the boys showed up and did the right thing. They administered social justice and burned it all down. For millennia we’ve referred to “The face [Helen] that launched 1000 ships”, but that was due to an incorrect textual variant in the source documents. It was a “faceBOOK” post that launched 1000 ships. Unfortunately, this lead directly to Aeneas founding Rome. They were also on the wrong side of history. What can you do?

There are some themes that Homer dealt with at length. Things change. These are no longer issues for humanity:

Wrath
Jealousy
Hatred
War
Death
Greed
Pride
Fate
Joy
Sorrow
Glory
Destiny
Companionship
Loyalty
Retribution
Pathos
Grief
Treachery
Mortality

It’s a good thing nobody has to read Homer any more. Or Dr Seuss. That stuff is problematic, and longer that 140 characters!

#7 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

IPv6 Day

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Today was the day I made the choice to live for an entire work-day on an IPv6-only network. And it worked. I’ve been watching this slow train comin’ for 30 years. Now I’m holding my breath for CNLP :-)

I consciously, actively spent an entire day (well, work day) on a hotspot that was serving up only v6. This has been 30 years coming. I was on the big-ip mailing list as far back as 1992 that was discussing how to get past the impending crisis in 32 big IPv4 addressing. That was when the Web was just about to happen and I think getting an allocation may have involved sending email to Jon Postel. CIDR was introduced in 1993. NAT, BGP and DHCP came long, and countless other engineering and social hacks kept things functioning (and killed the end-to-end principal).

I’m sure I’ve been using v6 in lots of places (my phone) without doing any setup or making any choice to enable it, but today was the day I “turn on” v6 explicitly and lived there for a day. And it worked.

Ironically, one of the days tasks involved trying to identify and enumerate usage of v6 in some networks where it appears to have very little actual deployment.

#6 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

John Lennon, 1970 #+end_example

Figure 1: “Past their sell-by date.” by George Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0, includes work by Nature Vectors by Vecteezy

Don't believe in Digital Equipment Corporation,
Don't believe in Sun Microsystems,
Don't believe in CompuServe,
Don't believe in Perl,
Don't believe in USENIX,
Don't believe in SourceForge,
Don't believe in GitHub,
Don't believe in Facebook,
Don't believe in Linked-in,
Don't believe in Google,
Don't believe in The SANS Institute,
Don't believe in The Center for Internet Security,
Don't believe in Google Plus,
Don't believe in Twitter,
Don't believe in Spotify,
Don't believe in Wikipedia,
...
I just believe in me,
human beings and me.

Me, 2021

This is a list of tech companies I once admired.

1 A tale of two tech companies

I’ll start with two examples. Writing at Christmas-time 2021, I’ll categorize the two examples as “naughty and nice”.

The examples will provide “soft” examples of what attracts me to tech companies and what drives me away. Following that, I’ll break it down more systematically (when, why…)

1.1 Wikipedia - naughty

The catalyst for thinking about all this was the revelation that Wikipedia, an organization that is built on the backs of volunteers can’t stop fund-raising (and lying in the process) even when flush with cash: https://www.theregister.com/2016/12/19/jimmy_wales_breaks_promise_more_chugging/ and is making plans to further monetize it’s volunteers work. I’m looking for ways to stop using Wikipedia. How does it get to this point?

1.2 Wordpress - nice

Wordpress came off the “naughty” list as I was writing this post when I came across this toot https://fosstodon.org/@markosaric/107495024812888717 which referenced a good article on Matt Mullenweg the CEO of Automattic, the company that runs WordPress.com:

“The cycle plays out the same in tech”, he said. Take the internet: built as an open platform, eventually colonized by a handful of dictatorial players…

“…But it also contains the seeds of its own demise.” Users inevitably begin to feel hemmed in and controlled by the closed platforms, and yearn for open pastures. Then they go build something better. Something open. “People’s natural desire for freedom starts to get more and more of the best and brightest in the world working on open, distributed, decentralized systems.”

2 How you know the end is near for a company

The geeks who started it leave or are edged out by MBAs.
The founders, who had the vision leave.
Free services morph into something that’s all about monitization.
Volunteers are exploited.
The arrival of the unwashed masses … eternal September.
Things are dumbed down.
You (the “customer”) become the commodity, one of “the target audience” that the marketing people try to “reach”
When there are hoards of people earning six and seven figure salaries that had nothing to do with creating or maintaining the value.
Slogans like “Learn git and github without any code!” appear on sites that are all about code.
When you use the phrase “The market leader…”

3 Why do things go bad?

Greed, hubris, selfishness (in other words, human nature)
The problem of the commons
MBAs, marketing people and projects managers run the show.
Lies.
Loss of trust and good-will.
Loss of mission. “It’s just a job.”
- The founders with the vision are either gone, no longer or charge or fail to communicate and sell the vision (Bezos did an excellent job of this with the “Amazon Leadership Principals”)

4 So what? Where to go from here?

4.1 A day in the life (musically inspired metaphors)

Go hide out in a New York city townhouse, withdraw from public life, bake bread and raise your son until some deranged fan kills you? (see Lennon). Props to @emacsen for the creative re-use of the “Dream is over” motif that I stole https://emacsen.net/@emacsen/107405795056467815
Existential nihilism or hedonism (“Whatever gets you through the night, it’s all right, it’s all right.”)
Live your life, enjoy your family (“I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round”)

4.2 My current responses

Self hosting: I’m self hosting on a raspberry pi. Blog. Git. New domain name (galthub.com). Re-considering increased use of my 2001-era hand-edited HTML website: http://www.port111.com/george/. I took a year off blogging and stopped pushing any code, HOWTOs, etc to git.
Moving back to paid services: I started my work life at Compu$erve. You paid for what you got. Then the web happened. The advertising business model migrated from print and broadcast to where the eyeballs had moved. And you stopped paying. But you became the product. Your privacy became a commodity or a joke. I’m increasingly reverting to seeing paid services as an “honest” alternative. I’m using paid email (fastmail, protonmail), VPN (proton), shared hosting (hurricane electric), domain names (namecheap) and may move to others, say, high quality professional journalism. It seems there really are no truly free (as in speech or beer) lunch or online services.
Paper: For about 30 years I used the phrase “If it requires paper, it’s the wrong interface”. I’m backtracking on that. There are no marketing people, project managers, MBAs, data aggregators, or advertisers involved in my journal, and the threat models and data loss and protection paradigms are well understood.
Reconsideration: In light of recent discoveries, and my exploration of the principals of why I move to/away from online services in this post, I’m reconsidering Wordpress. I may reconsider others.
Pobody’s Nerfect: We live in a messed up world. The Latin Poet Ovid said “In medio tutissimus ibis” (roughly, “you will go most safely in the middle.”). While it may be possible to use only free software (and grow your own food), most people can’t live there entirely.

4.3 If you’ve got the energy and the vision…

The world is driven by individuals with vision. All hail Saint IGNUcius. There would likely be no free software movement without him. Individuals change tech: Alan Turing, Ken Thompson, Donald Knuth, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Linus Torvalds, Jeff Bezos, etc.

If you’ve got the energy, the vision and the talent, go change the world. Or just go tinker around, scratch your own itch and share the results. That’s often how the world is changed.

Why I hike

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Why I hike. A picture is worth 1000 words

Figure 1: “Sun behind ice on tree” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

I went hiking in Shenandoah national park Satuday. Pictures here https://pixelfed.social/p/eludom/396268280449793695

I had not been out much lately (winter, cold), but this reminded why I hike. You get to the top (in this case, of “Mary’s Rock”) and have breathtaking views (often when you are already out of breath :-). There is the sense of accomplishment in having finished the climb (in this case a modest ~1000 plus feet up, 1.5 miles). You meet people (I met an older gentleman with a camera, and we stopped and talked photography for 20 minutes, I ran into some old friends). You have time to think (assuming you don’t blast music or podcasts into your brain while you could be letting it enjoy the quite of nature). And it’s fun.

In some cases you take calculated risks … this time the trail was 3 miles of ice, treacherous in spots. I “only” fell twice. Others had cramp-ons on their shoes to give traction, I just had my poles and did “rock hopping” most of the way up, avoiding the ice. But there is nothing to match the feeling you get when you reach the top and stare out into infinity across the mountains and valleys.

There are 200 some words here. Which are worth about 1/5 of a picture.

#5 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/

Doing Latin without thinking about it

Sun, 06 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

This may be obvious to people who are fluent in several languages, but communicating in different languages does not have to be like working a proof in geometry. The Latin I learned focused on being able to consciously understand all 144 different inflected forms (yes, 144) of any standard Latin verb. Pretty sure most children in antiquity could not separate a genitive geurnd from a supine from a plural perfect passive participle. But they could talk.

Figure 1: “Forum Romanarum Nocte, Anno MMXIX” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0

I’ve been doing both the Spanish and Latin courses on duolingo for a few weeks (24 days, per the app). Today, I had an experience I’ve not had in 35 years of toying with Latin: I was translating without being aware of conjugations or declensions or even if I was translating to or from Latin. They flip quickly between reading, listening and written translation exercises in the native language and the language being learned. It was so effective that I forgot which language I was working in. It was just ideas and words.

To repeat a quote from an earlier blog post:

There is no reason why learners should be made to treat every Latin text as puzzle to be deciphered into translation, rather than a specimen of normal human communication to be understood as such.

http://blogicarian.blogspot.com/2019/03/argumentum-ad-ignorantiam.html?m=1

Euge, Duolingo!

#4 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/.

Conspiracy theories can be fun!

Sat, 05 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Illuminati is a game that allows you indulge your inner conspiracy theorist, hopefully in a self-aware tongue-in-cheek manner. My son apparently made off with my copy. I think he’s in on it. He took it as part of a secret communist conspiracy to keep me from suspecting the truth about secret communist conspiracies…

Figure 1: No, really, the Freemasons have been secretly runing America since it’s founding.

I can’t find my copy of Illuminati, I’ll keep looking but my SUSPICION is that DANIEL took it to CEDARVILLE in a blatant attempt to prevent YOU from knowing that the democratic party controls the international communist conspiracy who use their orbital mind control lasers (see tin foil hats) to control the convenience store clerks who incite KKK rallies that buy large numbers of Chick-fil-A sandwiches secretly on Sunday at, wait for it….the brand new Chick-fil-A dining hall on the cedarville campus (what more proof do you need, seriously !!!!)

And because I can’t leave anything un-analyzed…

Conspiracy theories are more of a problem when you’re close to them, when they’re believable, and may have an impact on your life. I’m not to concerned (outside historical and literary interests) as to whether Marc Antony was actually planning to crown Julius Caesar as King of Rome. I’m not invested (as Cicero was) in the myth that the rule of Rome was going to stay in the hands of the Senatorial class and the Tribunes.

This, on the other hand, hits a little close to home https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Real-Anthony-Fauci/Robert-F-Kennedy/Children-s-Health-Defense/9781510766808 Be careful…

#3 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/.

Adding years to your life, or life to your years?

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

My great aunt took her first motorcycle ride at 100.

Figure 1: “Aunt Bess Takes Her First Motorcycle Ride at 100” by George Jones is licensed under cc by 2.0

Some thoughts on living in a small town, neuroscience and life.

What are you doing on your 100th birthday?

My great aunt Bess was one of 11 children, who lived her whole life in the small community around Frankfort, Ohio. She had scores of cousins and nephews and nieces. In her younger years, she worked as a cook in the local high school cafeteria and so knew an entire generation of kids in the community (and their kids) as they grew up. The last 50 years or so of her life, she lived in her own house on the edge of town. She lived on her own until the year she died (at 102). When we went to visit the routine was “Well, I don’t know what I’ll feed you all”, and an hour later a full thanksgiving dinner-style meal was on the table no matter what time of year from corn she had canned, etc.

We had a big birthday party for her at a local church when she turned 100. There where 100 or more people there. And that was the day she strapped on the leather and took her first motorcycle ride with a nephew.

She added both years to her life AND life to her years.

I recently listened to a book called “Successful Aging” by professional musician-turned-neuroscientist Daniel Levitin. One of the key ideas he points out is that people thrive on interaction with other people, from the earliest stages of childhood development to centegenarians like my aunt. For the book he interviewed a number of successful older people from former Mexican president Vicente Fox, to the Dali Lama, to former US Secretary of State George Shultz and professional jazz musician Sonny Rollins, all of whom were active and engaged well into their 80s or 90s.

And it’s not just old people. Levitin goes into the literature of childhood development. Kids need social interaction to develop properly. Kids thrive, literally, on social interaction. Social interaction is important to the early development of the brain, language learning and learning the self control needed to function in society. Without social interaction, some of these developments are physically retarded or absent, often permanently and irreversibly.

As Stacey Lance recently pointed out with some of what’s been going on for the past few years, “I’m a Public School Teacher. The Kids Aren’t Alright.” https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/im-a-public-school-teacher-the-kids. Kids need social interaction. My own reflections on the article are here http://curious.galthub.com/blog/2022-01-24/

I’m told similar things about the correlation between aging and thriving by a friend who is a financial councilor (he works with lots of older people) and our former pastor, in his 70s, who himself is working a third or fourth career at a construction company and maintaining the very active walking regime he and his wife have maintained for years.

In the past two years:

I’ve seen a big family wedding celebration scaled down and held almost secretly for fear of police showing up.
We canceled our annual new-years gathering of friends and family.
I skipped visiting a relative who’s husband had just died as I was driving right past her house 100s of miles from home.
Churches stopped meeting.
The Catholic church stopped serving Communion in person, for the first time in 2000 years. Diocletian didn’t even get that far with his persecution (I’m not Catholic).
Photography clubs stopped meeting.
Kids stopped going to school (well, not home-schoolers…).
People stopped going to restaurants and socializing.
Appalachian Trail maintenance training and work trips have been canceled.
Events people have planned their lives around like spending 6 months hiking, meeting 100s of people from, literally, all “walks” of life have been canceled.
I (and millions others) have canceled plans to travel, meet people and enjoy interaction with our fellow human beings.

Are we adding years to our life, or life to our years?

Figure 2: “Aunt Bess holding a young Bryan” by George Jones is licensed under cc by 2.0

#3 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/.

100DaysToOffload, Take 2

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

I’m going to make another run #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

First attempt made it to about 40 posts. Interrupted for a year or so in part by a refusal to post anything else on github, which was where I was hosting my blog and the saga of getting a raspberry pi-based blog to my liking up-and running chronicled in part here http://curious.galthub.com/blog/no-marketing/ and here http://curious.galthub.com/blog/hugo-via-mysocket/

Pretty sure I won’t make it daily, but I’ve got a huge backlog of ideas (from my daily paper journal, email to friends, etc) and now, a place I feel good about to put them out.

Stay tuned. Thanks Kev.

#1 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/.

Career counseling should not take itself too seriously.

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

These are some musings I sent to a friend who is a career counselor at a local community college.

Short version: I’m pretty sure I could not have planned my current career in “IT” and “Cybersecurity” when neither of those terms even existed until well into my career.

In my journal this morning I wound up writing about 8 pages on “how did I get here” towards the end of what has arguably been as mostly successful career in IT cybersecurity. Except that neither the words “IT” nor “cybersecurity” existed until well into my career. One of my conclusions is that it would have been impossible to plan my career. It might be possible to plan careers in fields where technology does not change, where personal connectoms don’t matter, and where being in the right place at that right time dont matter. In my case, those (and, well, providence and an aversion to lying, management and marketing) were the drivers.

Pretty sure career counseling as a field needs to not take itself too seriously.

We had a long exchange where she made some cogent points in defense of her profession. Sometimes I stake out a possibly-extreme position as a way of starting conversations. I may expand on that conversation in future posts.

#2 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/.

Learning Latin the wrong way, an argument against ignorance.

Sat, 29 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0500

I’m doing some of the Duolingo Latin course. Who knew you could shop, converse and joke in Latin? Certainly not the classics professors I learned from. Quid pudor est.

There is no reason why learners should be made to treat every Latin text as puzzle to be deciphered into translation, rather than a specimen of normal human communication to be understood as such.

http://blogicarian.blogspot.com/2019/03/argumentum-ad-ignorantiam.html?m=1

A longer quote from the article:

The fact that there aren’t any Romans to chat with anymore didn’t stop people like Erasmus from using it as a conversational language with other educated people. Even though there is little practical need for spoken proficiency in Latin anymore, there is no reason why learners of Latin today should be railroaded into the kind of semi-literacy that academic classicists often acquire. There is no reason why learners should be made to treat every Latin text as puzzle to be deciphered into translation, rather than a specimen of normal human communication to be understood as such.

There’s a lot more. Very cogent. Makes me sad I (halfway) learned Latin the way I did. Duolingo is good.

Lingua latina vere vivit.

—George Jones

"This train's got the disappearing railway blues"

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0500

I recently took an Amtrak trip form Pittsburgh to Tucson and back. My cousin asked me

How was the Amtrak ride? It went through Chillicothe for a few years maybe in the 1970’s. Then B&O/CSX abandoned the tracks.

and noted

in the 1920’… there were 5 passenger trains a day from Cincinnati to Columbus

Figure 1: “Trains” by George Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Some pix from trip are here https://pixelfed.social/p/eludom/392240376640730492

The trip was long. 6 days on the train for what would have been two 4 hour flights. But no airport. No TSA !!! And it’s relaxing. Would NOT want to do a trip of that length in coach. The sleepers are tiny, but still. And it comes with “dinner in the dinner, nothing could be finer” and COFFEE!!!

I think the train service to Chillicothe stopped in the 60s. Mom and Dad took us (or maybe just my older brother) on one of the last trains.

Government officials seem to be stuck on the need for modes of transportation that stopped working 70 years ago, in part because of government action in the form of federal highway subsidies, in part because, well, airplanes, which were the work of a couple Ohio boys form Dayton. Now they want force everyone to subsidize the one they killed and make the other so unpleasant that it’s unusable.

social costs

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0500

I sent this to my son who is on the path to being a high school socials study teacher.

This article has me trying to project the impact today’s “social distancing” would have had on a very messed up introverted teenager of 45 years ago. It’s not a pretty picture.

https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/im-a-public-school-teacher-the-kids

I’m a Public School Teacher. The Kids Aren’t Alright.

My students were taught to think of themselves as vectors of disease. This has fundamentally altered their understanding of themselves.

From: ME (Today 04:49) (inbox)
Subject: What you're heading into
To: SON
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2022 04:49:50 -0500

https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/im-a-public-school-teacher-the-kids

As a homeschooler you may not resonate with this, but I can't
imagine how the introverted, messed up kid I was
would have turned out without the huge array of social experiences available to me.

And to think of teenagers, invincible, immortal, carefree teenagers
with the world at their feet being made to   feel that they ARE the
problem and that they need to shut down and isolate?  We're loosing
a generation.

The title  may be an oblique reference to "the kids are all right" by the who (very Beatles 1966 sounding, with
shades of the beach boys and prefiguring the Ramones some)...or
maybe I'm just getting old.

But that would be too easy

Sun, 23 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0500

This is a navel-gazing simple desultory philippic about adventures in yak-shaving. It is dedicated JTR’s ox-hugo theme I’ve borrowed for the second time. Thanks!

“But you could just use wordpress”

he tells himself.

“Ahh, but then think of all the yak shaving you would miss.”

he responds to himself.

“Opportunity cost, he thinks…”.

“Yessss, preciousssss. The opportunity cost. Gollum. Gollum. Gollum.”

These are notes-to-self on converting my blog to using JTR’ new hugo template.

These are mostly of interest to (my future) self and JTR.

This is round 2 of how I use ox-hugo to pubish my blog. Round 1 is documented here https://curious.galthub.com/blog/hugo-org-github/

1 The work flow

The general work flow is

.org file -> ox-hugo export -> .md in content/
.md in content/, images/ and static/ -> hugo -> .html in docs/
.html files in docs/ -> rsync -> web server public html directory

2 DONE `[3/3]` Action Items

2.1 DONE `[7/7]`Testing and figuring out what to chang

2.1.1 DONE Clone the JTR current template

git clone https://gitlab.com/taonaw/taonaw

2.1.2 DONE Set up new capture template

   (setq org-capture-templates
      (quote (
              ...
             ("h" "hugo blog" entry (file "~/blog/drafts.org")
"*** TODO %^{title}
:PROPERTIES:
:EXPORT_FILE_NAME: %(format-time-string \"%Y-%m-%d\")
:EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: %(format-time-string \"%Y-%m-%d\"):
:END:

The short story ..

#+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG][\"Name of work\" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]]
#+attr_html: :width 200px
[[file:images/BAZ.JPG]]

#+hugo: more

The long story...
"
             )

2.1.3 DONE Update config.toml

diff --git a/config.toml b/config.toml
index f9089c30..abc6cd5c 100644
--- a/config.toml
+++ b/config.toml
@@ -1,17 +1,17 @@
 enableRobotsTXT = true
 canonifyURLs = true
-baseurl = "https://helpdeskheadesk.net/"
+baseurl = "http://curious.galthub.com/"
 publishDir = "docs"
 languageCode = "en-us"
-title = "The Art of Not Asking Why"
+title = "Curious Musings"
 # themesDir = "themes"
 # theme = "hyde"
-disqusShortname = "taonaw"
+#disqusShortname = "curious"
 footnoteReturnLinkContents = "[^ back]"

 [author]
-    name = "JTR"
-    homepage = "helpdeskheadesk.net"
+    name = "George Jones"
+    homepage = "curious.galthub.com"

 # If Porting existing theme
 [original]
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ footnoteReturnLinkContents = "[^ back]"
     repo = "https://www.github.com/mdo/hyde"

 [params]
-    description = "A Blog by JTR: Tech, Life, and the Stuff in Between."
+    description = "A Blog by George Jones: Musings on life, computers, security, etc.."
 #    themeColor = "theme-base-0a"

 [paginator]

diff --git a/layouts/partials/sidebar.html b/layouts/partials/sidebar.html
index 6700d4d7..06ab109f 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/sidebar.html
+++ b/layouts/partials/sidebar.html
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@
         {{ range .Site.Menus.main -}}
           <li><a href="{{.URL}}"> {{ .Name }} </a></li>
          {{- end }}
+        <!-- ELUDOM - list all my posts -->
+        <h4><a href="/blog/">All Posts ►</a></h4>
+
       </ul>
       <ul class="sidebar-nav">
           <h3>About</h3>
@@ -24,23 +27,25 @@
               <a href="{{ .Site.BaseURL }}/about">Author</a>
             </li>
             <li>
-	      <a href="{{ .Site.BaseURL }}/taonaw">TAONAW</a>
             </li>
+            <!-- ELUDOM - large image at bottom of sidebar -->
+            <img src="/thinker.png">
       </ul>
       <ul class="sidebar-icons">
         <li>
-	  <a href="http://helpdeskheadesk.net/index.xml"><i class="fa fa-rss-square fa-lg" aria-hidden="true"></i></a>
-	</li>
-	<li>
-	  <a href="https://mastodon.technology/@jrss"><i class="fab fa-mastodon fa-lg"></i></a>
+          <!-- ELUDOM - change link to RSS feed  -->
+          <a href="http://blog.galthub.com/index.xml"><i class="fa fa-rss-square fa-lg" aria-hidden="true"></i></a>
         </li>
         <li>
-	  <a href="https://keys.openpgp.org/search?q=brownexitus%40protonmail.com"><i class="fas fa-lock-open fa-lg"></i></a>
+          <!-- ELUDOM - change link to mastadon id  -->
+          <a href="https://fosstodon.com/@eludom"><i class="fab fa-mastodon fa-lg"></i></a>
         </li>
+        <!-- <li> -->
+        <!--   <a href="https://keys.openpgp.org/search?q=brownexitus%40protonmail.com"><i class="fas fa-lock-open fa-lg"></i></a> -->
+        <!-- </li> -->
       </ul>
     </nav>
   </div>
 </aside>

2.1.5 DONE Delete most of JTR’ content

Just delete the stuff you don’t want in content/
Beware of browser caches with old tags (refresh)

2.1.6 DONE `[6/6]` Remove/replace JTR’ custom artwork with Thinker

DONE stop JTRs image from loadiing

Comment out in /static/css/hyde.css, both

/* background-image: url("/taonaw_logo.png"); */ twice

George Jones :emacs: :orgmode: @eludom
@jrss Having trouble figuring out where to remove your custom graphic from the sidebar.  Thought maybe favicon.png but I can't figure out where to remove it?

JTR :emacs:☕
@jrss@mastodon.technology

@eludom taonaw_logo.png and title-logo.png in static I believe.

George Jones :emacs: :orgmode: @eludom

@jrss OK.   Killed it (comment) in .css.   SOMEONE (browser, hugo server, ...) was caching the image and refused to let go even after I renamed the files.

DONE add “thinker” at bottom of “about” in sidebar

Add immage static/thinker.png
Update the sidebar

<ul class="sidebar-nav">
          <h3>About</h3>
            <li>
              <a href="{{ .Site.BaseURL }}/about">Author</a>
            </li>
            ...
            <!-- ELUDOM - large image at bottom of sidebar -->
            <img src="/thinker.png">

   <img src="http://curious.galthub.com/title-logo.png">

DONE load thinker image from somewhere other than github. Local?

Make the following changes to layouts/partials/sidebar.html
```

<img src="/thinker.png">
```
and static/thinker.png

DONE Add twitter cards
- see https://curious.galthub.com/blog/hugo-org-github/ Short version: if you drop twitter_cards.html in layouts/partials/ of your blog, you then just write your blog, publish it, and past the URL into the https://cards-dev.twitter.com/validator to make sure it’s going to work when posted
- DONE Test on mastadon once live
  - The “normal” way to validate “twitter” cards is on the twitter web site https://cards-dev.twitter.com/validator
  - since I started using twitter cards on my blog posts, I’ve quit twitter. No account
  - The twitter validator requires a twitter login.
  - But mastadon (and others I’m sure) read and use the twitter card info in links/posts.
  - SOOO … validate live by posting links to blog posts that have (should have) twitter cards to mastadon and see if they work. I tested with a private message to myself.

DONE Add my index of all posts back in

Just add this to layouts/partials/sidebar.html
```
<h4><a href="/blog/">All Posts ►</a></h4>
```

DONE Remove comment mechanism or sign up for service
- Not there any more ?
- Check again when I go live

2.2 DONE `[2/2]` Transition to new template

2.2.1 DONE `[6/6]` Make a clean version of JTR new template

DONE Do a clean checkout of JTR new template

git clone https://gitlab.com/taonaw/taonaw
git checkout -b20220122-barebones

DONE Pair down to almost no content
- e.g. content/posts (mine go to content/Blog)

DONE Add my own minimal content (sidebar, title, a few posts)

DONE Make sure it works

DONE [2/3] Fix any problems

DONE Replace “Thinker” image with something attributed/credited

Using the following, with attribution (alt tag), but local copy of image

Short Link (Direct Image Link)
<a href="https://www.pikpng.com/pngvi/mxwhTw_thinker-rodin-thinker-clipart/" target="_blank">Thinker - Rodin Thinker Clipart @pikpng.com</a>

DONE Comment mechanism not working, need account or delete it.

Your Commento.io account has been suspended. Go to the Commento dashboard to resolve this.

Comment out disqusShortname in config.toml

# disqusShortname = "curious"

layouts/_default/single.html

defines

{{ if .Site.DisqusShortname -}}
<hr>
<h2>Comments</h2>
<script defer src="https://cdn.commento.io/js/commento.js"></script>
<div id="commento"></div>
{{- end }}

TODO Figure out why hugo thinks I don’t have a #+title
- ox-hugo export all seems to be broken. Complains that #+title not found. May have to export one by one.

DONE commit changes, possibly push branch
- Note taken on [2022-01-22 Sat 11:10]
  - pushed to ssh://gitea@git.galthub.com/gmj/taonaw.git

2.2.2 DONE `[5/5]` Pair down my old blog (keeping same .git)

DONE create a branch of my content for merging in new stuff

DONE Delete most everything but content

DONE copy over templates etc from clean JTR version

DONE re-export my posts from curious.org
- export everything
  - ox-hugo export all seems to be broken. Complains that #+title not found. May have to export one by one.
- did it one by one with the help of emacs keyboard macros

DONE test

2.3 DONE `[4/4]` Go live

2.3.1 DONE Copy to live site

2.3.2 DONE test, fix any problems

2.3.3 DONE have JTR look at it

2.3.4 DONE fix any problems

TODO 3 `[0/1]` Future additions

TODO 3.1 add in Wayback machines links per Karl Voit

https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/

Tech companies I once admired

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The dream is over,
what can I say?
The dream is over,
yesterday.

John Lennon, 1970

Figure 1: “Past their sell-by date.” by George Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0, includes work by Nature Vectors by Vecteezy

Don't believe in Digital Equipment Corporation,
Don't believe in Sun Microsystems,
Don't believe in CompuServe,
Don't believe in Perl,
Don't believe in USENIX,
Don't believe in SourceForge,
Don't believe in GitHub,
Don't believe in Facebook,
Don't believe in Linked-in,
Don't believe in Google,
Don't believe in The SANS Institute,
Don't believe in The Center for Internet Security,
Don't believe in Google Plus,
Don't believe in Twitter,
Don't believe in Spotify,
Don't believe in Wikipedia,
...
I just believe in me,
human beings and me.

Me, 2021

This is a list of tech companies I once admired.

1 A tale of two tech companies

I’ll start with two examples. Writing at Christmas-time 2021, I’ll categorize the two examples as “naughty and nice”.

The examples will provide “soft” examples of what attracts me to tech companies and what drives me away. Following that, I’ll break it down more systematically (when, why…)

1.1 Wikipedia - naughty

1.2 Wordpress - nice

“The cycle plays out the same in tech”, he said. Take the internet: built as an open platform, eventually colonized by a handful of dictatorial players…

“…But it also contains the seeds of its own demise.” Users inevitably begin to feel hemmed in and controlled by the closed platforms, and yearn for open pastures. Then they go build something better. Something open. “People’s natural desire for freedom starts to get more and more of the best and brightest in the world working on open, distributed, decentralized systems.”

2 How you know the end is near for a company

The geeks who started it leave or are edged out by MBAs.
The founders, who had the vision leave.
Free services morph into something that’s all about monitization.
Volunteers are exploited.
The arrival of the unwashed masses … eternal September.
Things are dumbed down.
You (the “customer”) become the commodity, one of “the target audience” that the marketing people try to “reach”
When there are hoards of people earning six and seven figure salaries that had nothing to do with creating or maintaining the value.
Slogans like “Learn git and github without any code!” appear on sites that are all about code.
When you use the phrase “The market leader…”

3 Why do things go bad?

Greed, hubris, selfishness (in other words, human nature)
The problem of the commons
MBAs, marketing people and projects managers run the show.
Lies.
Loss of trust and good-will.
Loss of mission. “It’s just a job.”
- The founders with the vision are either gone, no longer or charge or fail to communicate and sell the vision (Bezos did an excellent job of this with the “Amazon Leadership Principals”)

4 So what? Where to go from here?

4.1 A day in the life (musically inspired metaphors)

Go hide out in a New York city townhouse, withdraw from public life, bake bread and raise your son until some deranged fan kills you? (see Lennon). Props to @emacsen for the creative re-use of the “Dream is over” motif that I stole https://emacsen.net/@emacsen/107405795056467815
Existential nihilism or hedonism (“Whatever gets you through the night, it’s all right, it’s all right.”)
Live your life, enjoy your family (“I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round”)

4.2 My current responses

Self hosting: I’m self hosting on a raspberry pi. Blog. Git. New domain name (galthub.com). Re-considering increased use of my 2001-era hand-edited HTML website: http://www.port111.com/george/. I took a year off blogging and stopped pushing any code, HOWTOs, etc to git.
Moving back to paid services: I started my work life at Compu$erve. You paid for what you got. Then the web happened. The advertising business model migrated from print and broadcast to where the eyeballs had moved. And you stopped paying. But you became the product. Your privacy became a commodity or a joke. I’m increasingly reverting to seeing paid services as an “honest” alternative. I’m using paid email (fastmail, protonmail), VPN (proton), shared hosting (hurricane electric), domain names (namecheap) and may move to others, say, high quality professional journalism. It seems there really are no truly free (as in speech or beer) lunch or online services.
Paper: For about 30 years I used the phrase “If it requires paper, it’s the wrong interface”. I’m backtracking on that. There are no marketing people, project managers, MBAs, data aggregators, or advertisers involved in my journal, and the threat models and data loss and protection paradigms are well understood.
Reconsideration: In light of recent discoveries, and my exploration of the principals of why I move to/away from online services in this post, I’m reconsidering Wordpress. I may reconsider others.
Pobody’s Nerfect: We live in a messed up world. The Latin Poet Ovid said “In medio tutissimus ibis” (roughly, “you will go most safely in the middle.”). While it may be possible to use only free software (and grow your own food), most people can’t live there entirely.

4.3 If you’ve got the energy and the vision…

If you’ve got the energy, the vision and the talent, go change the world. Or just go tinker around, scratch your own itch and share the results. That’s often how the world is changed.

Privacy Technology

Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

These are a few perspectives on privacy prompted by initial thoughts on the Usenix PEPR ‘22 Call for Participation. I may or may not flesh this out as a submission. If I do, it might take a totally different form, this being a first reaction.

Figure 1: “Privacy Technology for the 21st Centry” by George Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0

First, here are some work experiences that inform my perspective. Professional life began for me at CompuServe in 1985. In many ways CompuServe invented the online world. Long stories there, told elsewhere. The long strange trip has taken me through work with Usenet, UUNET, the IETF, SANS & The Center for Internet Security, the IETF, MITRE, CMU=/=CERT, AOL, Amazon=/=AWS, and currently Palo Alto Networks. Security and privacy have been a large part of my life for 25 years.

My personal response to questions of privacy has been to go backwards. I journal. On paper. Google has no idea. I quit Facebook in 2016 when it got political. I actually deleted the account (along with Spotify) a couple years ago after I sent a Facebook messenger note to my son saying that in childhood I loved Julie Andrews music and Spotify, without my input, started playing Julie Andrews. I’ve stopped posting content on most large commercial platforms over concerns about monetization, aggregation and corporate self-interest driving what they do with it. I currently self-host my blog and git repo on a raspberry pi. I share publicly what I want to share. The rest is not online. It’s in my head or on paper.

To be sure I use some of the current tools available to try to preserve some online privacy: Signal, Proton Mail, Tor, VPNs, etc. and while I laud academic, commercial and governmental efforts to improve privacy, I think we need to begin by admitting that the problems are not technical. They are social. They are human.

Emacs enlightenment

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

“…It’s also clear you have a achieved emacs enlightenment. The state where you see the whole world through the mind-bogglingly useful lens of emacs and org mode and fail to see (non judgmentally) why anything should exist outside that world. ‘Om, Om, Om, M-x find-universe’ :-)”

From a reply to a friend about his latest emacs ‘wow’ moment.

Figure 1: The Enlightened GNU “Levitating GNU with Emacs source code” by Macduff is licensed under GPL 2.0

Finding needles in the marketingstack

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

At work I do a lot of research around finding and understanding the capabilities of things connected to the Internet. I find that often checking Wikipedia and/or searching for the product excluding the vendor website gets to the real information fastest, e.g. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=vmware+tanzu+-vmware.com+-www.vmware.com

Inclusion and Diversity in Ancient Egypt

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Today is a newly decreed “inclusion and diversity” holiday at work.

I’ve got the inclusion and diversity cards ready to go. I’ve got the inclusion and diversity lights out of the garage and strung them all over the house (we’re going to out-do the neighbors this year !). We’ve celebrated the annual ritual of baking ethnic foods (cultural appropriation at it’s best, yum !!!). And when the kids are home, we will all gather ‘round the fireplace with hot chocolate and ask

Why is this night different from all other nights?

and tell stories of oppression and patriarchy …. wait ….

What is "the news"?

Thu, 09 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Last Sunday I went to a Christmas concert a a local church. All flutes (plus the occasional Harp). Who knew there was a contra-bass flute ?

The concert was a benefit for “Furthest Corners” mission that has a school and hospital in Myanmar (Burma). I talked to one of the missionaries who had to leave the country recently due to the civil war. The civil war in [Burma] has been going on on-and-off for 70 years. Who knew?

It seems the military decided to bomb the school. It’s half gone. They are holding school in the other half.

I asked about the war. Apparently its “everybody against the military and the police now.” Imagine having to go the grocery store (or grow and store your own rice) in an environment where you might get mugged by the police. Where do you turn? How do you live? How do you eat?

I also recently finished All Quiet on the Western Front, a book about the experience of one German soldier in the trenches of WWI. The German title of the book Im Westen nichts Neues, literally translates “Nothing New in the West” referring to the “news” from the front they day the main character was killed, with the end of the war in sight and “not much going on”. “Not much” in who’s view?

“The news” tends to be voyeuristic, detached, high level and mass market. It tends to feed judgmental views and tribalism.

People are what matter. Kids having a school to go to (or half a school). Having food to eat. Living free from fear of those who are supposed to protect you. But that’s not news.

##################### I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day #############################

And in keeping with the Christmas concert and war theme, these words were written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow during the depths of the American civil war:

https://hymnary.org/hymn/CYBER/2815

1 I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

2 And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th’unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

3 Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

4 And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth, I said,
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

5 Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.

These verses, usually omitted in modern hymnals, reflect the words'
origin during the American civil war:

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Archive Of This Page

No TV

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Figure 1: ““Console Television Receiver”” by ellenm1 is licensed under CC BY 2.0

When I got married I made the decision not to have a TV because I knew my personal tendency to let it suck up my attention and I did not want that as an additional distraction from the hard work of building and maintaining important relationships. My (now 23 year old) son and I are currently working through the first 3 seasons of Star Trek The Next Generation (TNG) on DVD.

Growing up (this will date me) I watched some of the (then) current kids shows. I remember how much my grandfather loved watching Lawrence Welk. The annual airing of The Wizard of Oz ad A Charlie Brown Christmas were anchors of the TV-watching year. My best friend would not miss the Jerry Lewis telethon. All In the Family, The Waltons and MASH where staples. In the 70s there were cult-like re-runs of Star Trek TOS and this wacky British show called Monty Python’s Flying Circus late at night on the PBS station. And there were major events like the moon landing (I was 8, vague memories) and the celebration of the American bicentennial and less happy things like the nightly body count on the evening news during the Vietnam war.

We often watched together as a family (or part of a family). Most families at the time had “the TV”, one TV (Mr. Green of the Monkeys “Pleasant Valley Sunday” not withstanding). There were in our case only 4 stations to choose from, the CBS, ABC, NBC and PBS affiliates. We argued over who got “the good chair”, who had to get up and change the channel (yes, no remotes) and if you got your place when you came back. With so few selections, it was highly likely that some of your friends had watched the same show the night before. There were no VCRs, DVDs or YouTube. You watched what the local stations put on, when they chose to air it (yes, air) or you didn’t watch anything. This lack of choice contributed to a shared culture, shared experiences. I wonder if the ancient Athenians had more than one play by Aeschylus or Euripides at the same time?

“Back in the day” (40s to early 80s) there were local and regional TV shows. Cincinnati had the Paul Dixon Show and Midwestern Hayride, Dayton had Phil Donahue (who later went national). Columbus had Lucy’s Toy Shop (live kids show) and Flippo the Clown..afternoon B-Movies with commentary … and a recording of Flippo (Bob Marvin) playing the Beatles Norwegian Wood on sax with his Jazz Combo for the theme song. Any “kid” of a certain age (OK, we’re all now approaching 60) from central Ohio can still sing theme from Lucy’s Toy Shop by heart. TV of the day created a shared culture. Those a few years older than me seemed to all have watched they American debut of a British group on the Ed Sullivan show playing a style of music copied from American artists such as Elvis Presley who in turned copied it from the current black artists of the day. There’s a lot to be said for shared culture.

…

When we focus on fear and stop caring for people

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The real tragedy of COVID is the collateral damage it’s causing to the way we interact with other people. This is worse than even the deaths it causes. The damage includes a lack of civility, division in families, and people dying alone in hospitals because nobody’s allowed in.

From a Christian point of view, “the end is not the end”. We need to strive to “live at peace with all men (even those we disagree with on divisive social issues), so far as it depends on you”. Without that perspective, all that’s left is fear of death and division (who’s author is well known).

The medical system itself is a casualty of COVID. My wife got COVID and had gone two weeks without food or (my larger concern) much liquid and was lacking motivation to even do anything about it when I convinced her to go to her doctor. All they would do is a COVID test in the car. They would not even see her until she had a negative test. Her test was positive. So they would not see her. A friend at church is a nurse at a medical practice that is specializing in COVID treatment. They use alternate therapies, including Ivermectin and claim %100 success (e.g. no deaths). I was (and am) skeptical of Ivermectin … this “just happened” to land at the top of my news feed the morning I got up with the intent of researching it https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/ivermectin-much-more-than-you-wanted

But a) they agreed to see her when her doctor would not b) they got an IV (fluid) into her when she was severely dehydrated c) they caught the fact that she was developing pneumonia and prescribed antibiotics d) they had us get a blood-oxygen monitor for use at home, gave us a nebulizer and a prescription for albuterol with instructions to call them any time of day or night if her O2 levels got too low e) the result of all this was that she became interested in her own care and motivated to participate in it and f) I had the chance to server her in ways I usually don’t which has been positive for our relationship.

And she’s better now.

I’ll take “fringe” medicine that cares for people over “mainstream” medicine that lets them die because they are too worried about lawsuits and government edicts to actually care fore people.

The real tragedy of COVID is not the deaths, but what it is doing to the way we interact with our fellow human beings.

Trust, Money, Force, Blockchain, Wired and China

Sun, 05 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Web3 sound like bs —Elon Musk

https://maxread.substack.com/p/is-web3-bullshit

I’m just starting to come to terms with “Web3”, “blockchain” etc.

Having thought that the end of brick-and-mortar stores and cash were right around the corner in 1995, I’m a little skeptical of new web trends. I’m a life-long fad-avoider and I’ve smelled a big fad around “blockchain” since it began. Wired is all over it. What further proof is needed?

That said money is about trust. Do you believe someone else will exchange goods and services for gold? Do you believe this coin really contains %100 gold? Do you believe this paper money is backed by gold? Do you believe this paper money (fiat currency) that is no longer backed by gold will continue to be accepted in trade? Do you believe it will hold value in the face of a central bank that is printing infinite amounts of it in response to political demands? Do you believe that those account balances that represent your life savings, which are nothing more than numbers in some database are secure from loss/being completely wiped out in two seconds by cyber fraud, ransomware, accidental deletion, bureaucratic incompetence, corporate self interest or the government?

Money is also about force. Will those in charge of the current fiat currencies, who wield force (police, courts, regulations, laws, armies) use that force to shut down a new fiat currency (blockchain) that they don’t/can’t control. My guess is, yes. See China.

Learn git and galthub without any marketing

Sat, 04 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

OK, so a year or so later I’m back online with both a self-hosted git and blog presence.

I had been using both github for code and github.io for my blog, but for various reasons I decided to stop putting content there.

Walled gardens go away: Walled gardens go way whenever it stops suiting the bottom line of the company. All the form posts from CompuServe (my first employer) are gone AOL Instant Messenger messages (another employer) are gone. Myspace content is gone. Twitter, Facebook and Google have been caught regularly censoring and deleting material. Apple, Amazon (another employer) and Google (G+ anyone?) will be gone someday, and the user content they host that no longer suits their business needs will be gone before that. I’ve written at length aobut this in [BROKEN LINK: Blog/walled-gardens-part-1.pre-processed.org] “40 years of walled gardens & open platforms: Part I” and “40 years of walled gardens & open platforms: Part I”

Karl Voit nailed it :: https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/

“Learn git and github without any code!”: Really? A site who’s sole purpose is (was?) to allow programmers to share code puts a slogan on top of all it’s pages Learn git and github without any code. Umm. No. Just no. It appears the marketing people at Microsoft totally own the tech-focused site they bought. The CEO left. They are apparently developing some non-standard tool (of course they are, it’s Microsoft, “embrace and extend”") “the Github CLI” that they want you to use instead of, you know, standard git tools that they don’t control. And somehow an inherently distributed source code control system is now centralizing all the worlds code. No. Just no.
My content, my way: I just don’t want wordpress or atlassian or microsoft to reformat my content, add advertising links, require people to login or to throw long legal click-throughs and cookie disclaimers in front of my public cogitations.
Using tools I like: Emacs org mode is going to take me to my grave. I like using it. Using it is a hobby. It is therapeutic. There is a worldwide community built around emacs: https://emacsconf.org/2021/. I LIKE using Hugo. See [BROKEN LINK: Blog/hugo-org-github.pre-processed.org] (just ignore the github bits now). No need to use the mouse.
Learning/Geeking: I like learning how to do things, how modern-ish Internet stuff works. In the process of getting this back up, I’ve registered a new domain name (learning new record types, SEO, etc. in the process), discovered http://mysocket.io, brushed up on my apache and ansible skills, reinstalled my dead raspberry pie, and learned a good bit about configuring gitea

More to come now that I can get it out in a way I feel good about.

The World Needs Visionaries

Sat, 03 Jul 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO of Amazon Monday. I met him briefly at an internal company conference (the Amazon Machine Learning conference) when I worked there 2016.

Figure 1: Jeff Bezos

I admire him. He’s created things. He built a company that’s changing the world. He had vision. He (and his in-laws) took risks. He provided leadership (see the The Amazon Leadership Principals) and he knew when to get out of the way.

Any organization of humans that’s big enough will have problems. It’s full of humans. But I view it as a mark of success that the teamsters and the taxman are taking aim at Amazon now. There is value there that can be envied, vilified, stolen, leached off of and sued¹. The European Union and Congress are not trying (as hard) to take down smaller companies. Amazon is on their radar because there is real value there. Bezos created it and he deserves every penny of the value his %10 stake in the company gives him. Who is ~~John Gault~~ Dagny Taggart?

A couple years ago I finally met Jeff Wilkins, the early CEO of CompuServe. I had heard him spoken of in reverential terms by Steve Wilhite (creator of GIF) and others at CompuServe. But Henry Block canned Wilkins the week I started at CompuServe. After meeting Wilkins and having a little time to actually talk to him, I get the importance of vision at the top. Wilhite, Dr. John Goltz et al. did some amazing tech work (packet switching in 1972 anyone?) but it took vision to drive the company to pioneer much of what we now know as the online world in the 1975-1985 time-frame … email (gmail), electronic news, online shopping (Amazon, eBay), chat (slack), file sharing (iTunes), discussion groups (blogs, twitter, et al.), “cloud computing” (wide area networking, virtual private networks and time-sharing). CompuServe ran on steam (and the back of some great tech work by Wilhite and others) for another 10 years, but the vision was gone. CompuServe was eclipsed (and purchased) by Steve Case and AOL, the Internet happened and about this time an online bookstore was starting up.

Hats off to the visionary, the risk taker and the leader. You made the world a better place. Thank you…and enjoy your trip to space following the vision of Robert Goddard, Gene Roddnenbery and others :-)

See The Beatles and Apple Corp. (not Apple Computer) for examples of creative visionaries who wound up in a morass of lawsuits. George Harrion, “Sue Me, Sue You Blues”. ↩︎

Of Typewriters, Scribe, LaTeX, Org mode, Hugo and Paper

Sun, 06 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

1 What is this and why was it written?

This is my personal history of putting words-on-page-or-screen-or-blog-entry covering the period from the late 1970s to present (2020-12-05).

It was written (partially) at the request of JTR from whom I borrowed a Hugo blog theme. Thanks JTR.

I was writing a post where I wanted to include the $\TeX$ symbol in the post, which is perfectly possible in emacs org mode where $\TeX$ and $\LaTeX$ are first class citizens, but it wasn’t working.

The blog exports to markdown via the ox-hugo Org exporter back end (lost yet?) which Hugo then translates to HTML which can then be previewed locally with Hugo’s own web server and then pushed to the live site, in my case, this site using git push.

I pinged JTR who, it turns out had little experience with $\LaTeX$ and so was not able to help. Along the way, he asked me

Is there more you can tell me about use case for it? In other words, can I get you to vent some more about this, it’s interesting.

So here is some venting. I can always vent. And, in case you were wondering, the solution is to put

<script type="text/javascript"
src="https://cdn.mathjax.org/mathjax/latest/MathJax.js?config=TeX-AMS-MML_HTMLorMML">
</script>

at the bottom of layout/partials/head.html before </head> in the modified Hugo hyde theme I borrowed from JTR.

2 Some History

Marley was dead, to begin with…

No. No. No.

It was a dark and stormy night…

Wrong.

OK, how about this:

3 Dad - Typewriters

In high school I wrote out my paper assignments by hand and then my Dad typed them for me, at least until I took typing and got up to 30wpm. White-out can be your friend :-)

Better.

As high school progressed I and my friends started using the HP-2000E in the computer lab on ASR 33 Teletypes (/dev/tty anyone?) that printed your input and the computers responses on a role of paper. We may have printed a few stories or other prose, but mostly it was BASIC listings.

Towards the end of high school, I remember eyeing the school secretary’s IBM Selectric typewriter because we knew it could be converted to a printer…(Apple II’s were all the rage then …)

4 Brian Reid - Scribe

So, Scribe. So in the late 70’s at Carnegie-Mellon, Brian Reid stepped into the long tradition of Computer Science geeks scratching their own itch, developing one of the first mark-up languages that allowed the author to describe a document structurally (chapters, paragraph, et cetera.), and to target different output devices (text, laser printer, etc.), and to externalize styles, presaging the later CSS style sheets.

Reid killed several birds with one stone. Scribe was the subject of his PhD Thesis, it formatted his PhD thesis (and many others for a few years), and was sold to Unilogic sparking the first software copyright problems between CMU and students, wining Reid the ACM Grace Hopper Award, and, of course, criticism from Richard Stallman¹ for not making it available for free…some people :-)

I wound up using Scribe on the Ohio State DECsystem-20 and then being the SCRIBE administrator for the department of Mechanical Engineering for a year or two. As I had access to then-world-class formatting and typesetting facilities, Dad was no longer typing my papers :-)

5 Donald Knuth - TeX

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country (on a dark and stormy night?), Donald Knuth was (and still is) engaged in writing his foundational series of Computer Science textbooks, The Art of Computer Programming ². But he was not happy with the appearance of the typesetting from his publisher, so, being Donald Knuth, he set out to write his own formatting and type-setting program c.a. 1978. The result was $\TeX$. Along with TeX he developed Metafont, a language for describing fonts from which we get the Computer Modern fonts.

The current $\TeX$ release is 3.14159265. Each subsequent release adds a digit of $\pi$. Metafont is at 2.7182818 and approaching e with each release.

I installed the Pascal based TeX82 on the DEC10’s at CompuServe sometime around 1986.

6 Donald Knuth - Literate Programming

Not content with having won the Turning award in 1974 (4 years prior), with creating a typesetting system that is used to this day for a large fraction of academic publishing, alongside $\TeX$ he came up with the concept of Literate Programming, the basic idea of which is you are writing a program both for humans and machines. The language was called WEB³. The basic process is to run “weave” to generate output for humans (say, a volume of the The Art of Computer Programming) and to run “tangle” to generate output (code) for machines.

We see elements of this today in Jupyter and Zeppelin notebooks, and for those of the Emacs-Org-mode faith, as the mix of Org Mode and Org Babel. See the paper by Domnick, Shculte etc on reproducible research: https://www.jstatsoft.org/article/view/v046i03

Org directly supports a form “tangle” today.

7 Guy Steele - the 1 degree of separation

Guy Steele who later went on to have a lot to do with Java (and standardizing C) seems to have been the 1-degree-of-separation point for Emacs, TeX, and possibly SCRIBE. As recently as https://emacsconf.org/2020/, Stallman credits Steele with helping invent Emacs. Per Wikipedia, Steele spent the summer of 78 at Stanford and later implemented a back-end for TeX at MIT. By 1980 or so (per my wife who knew him there) he was at CMU and Tartan Labs as Reid was finishing off SCRIBE and his thesis. The Stanford-Berkeley-MIT-CMU crowed was (is?) a small world. James Gosling (Java, GosMacs 1981) was also kicking around CMU before moving off to Sun.

8 Leslie Lamport - Latex

So, $\TeX$ was cool and all, but it was very low level, and in some ways difficult to work with. People had seen SCRIBE. So at some point in the mid-80s, as SCRIBE was on its way to proprietary-software-oblivion, Leslie Lamport created $\LaTeX$.

$\LaTeX$ is, from my point of view, a set of SCRIBE-like macros on top of $\TeX$. Very useful.

And because creators gonna create….along the way Lamport and Oren Patashink created BibTeX which is to this day one of the most common ways to keep a list of bibliographic references that can be cited in your papers.

If you’re curious what all this looks like, I keep my resume in .tex format⁴. You can see it here http://www.port111.com/george/resume/ along with the .bib file for citations and .tex input.

9 Bill Gates and the nameless corporate droids⁵ - WYSIAYG Editors

What You See Is All You Get (WYSIAYG) also known as What You See Is What You Get (WISIWYG) editors let you move pixels around on the screen and print exactly what you see. With no training at all in printing, typesetting, aesthetics, or design you can make wildly inconsistent and incoherent decisions about the visual appearance of your document, in fact, you (and your boss and your marketing department) can focus on that from the start to the exclusion of stringing together coherent thoughts.

I’m pretty sure SCRIBE and $\LaTeX$ form the basis of my antipathy to the WYSIWIG editors that started to come along (mass market). When writing documents you should think first about what you are saying, the structure of your document, your arguments and your story line before you worry (if all) about making a font just the right size and color so you can make your power point. Formatting should be the afterthought, and no more than choosing the right style sheet. Brian Reed got that right.

10 Sir “Almost not appearing in this blog post” - RUNOFF and nroff

A couple honorable mentions that I did in fact use a good bit along the way are DEC RUNOFF (DEC 10s, VMS) and nroff (unix).

nroff comes in handy when you want to write man(1) pages.

11 Tim Berners-Lee - The Web

There was a time before the web. There were things written and published before the web. But since the early 90s it’s been the 800-pound gorilla in the living room.

There were other hyptertext systems before it. Apple’s HyperCard. The GNU/Emacs info system. There was, in fact, a whole academic conference on hypertext systems at which early versions of HTML/HTTP were scorned.

But NCSA Mosaic happened, Netscape happened (Marc Andreessen). The NCSA, Netscape and Apache servers happened. For various reasons, the World Wide Web took off in ways that gopher never did and Gemini probably never will. Stodgy XML editors were rebranded as exciting new HTML editors.

I attended the 2nd International Conference on Mosaic and the Web, met Berners-Lee, and implemented a never-released web browser that worked through CompuServe’s WinCIM which would have allowed dial-up users without an IP stack such as SLIP or PPP (most users at that time) to access the web. But marketing people. They were not sure this web thing was going to catch on….

12 Carsten Dominick - Org Mode - “Your Life in Plain Text”

Your blog post is text. Your email it text. Your slack (IRC) messages are text. Your documents are text. Your calendar and agenda are text. Your shopping lists are text. You TODO lists are text. Musical scores are texts. Poems are text. ASCII art is text. Source code is text. Data is text (json). The web is text (once you strip out all the graphics, videos, java and javascript…) At different levels YOU are text. Your DNA sequence is a text. The story of your life is a text.

There was a period in the late 90s and early 2000s where Emacs (the text editor) kind of went into a lull. Then two things happened: package managers (ELPA, MELPA, basically “apps” for emacs) and org mode.

Org mode is a game changer. It’s going to take me to my grave or senility where I forget the meta-alt-control-shift-escape sequences needed to make the magic happen, whichever comes first. People are learning an arcane 44-year old editor just to use org mode (and the growing list of packages being built in/with round it).

Org started as a simple text outline tool. It enabled Abraham Lincoln to write a short, pithy, and memorable speech:

* Hook
  Four score and seven years ago our fathers
  - brought forth on this continent, a new nation,
    o conceived in Liberty,
    o and dedicated to the proposition
      + that all men are created equal.
** Body
   Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that
   nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long
   endure...
*** Conclusion
    ...that government of the people, by the people, for the people,
    shall not perish from the earth.

OK, maybe not.

Carsten Dominick, the creator of Org, is an academic (Astronomy professor), he built in support for $\LaTeX$ from the beginning. To use $\LaTeX$ in Org, you simply write latex and math equations exactly as you would for “normal” $\LaTeX$. If the back-end exporter (e.g. the $\LaTeX$ exporter or the HTML exporter) support $\LaTeX$, you just get your nicely formatted output for free

\begin{multline*} p(x) = x^8+x^7+x^6+x^5 \end{multline*}

Org documents can be easily exported to text (of course), $\LaTeX$, HTML, .ODF (Microsoft Word compatible) and scores of others. Same input. 2 or 3 keystrokes. Different output.

Org naively supports TODO lists, outlines, agendas, planning (GTD and similar systems), note taking/knowledge capture, contact management, calendaring, spreadsheet-like calculations, literate programming and the list goes on.

Same basic interface. Same commands. Not a mouse-over, click or graphical interface in sight (unless you want it) Just text, all the way down.

And since it’s just text, it can be handled with source code management tools (git) and of course your favorite text editor.

There are mobile clients (see Orgzly) so you can simply push org text files to your phone with Dropbox or Syncthing and use them for TODO lists, quick note taking and journal entries, shopping lists, contact management, schedules, etc.

Oh, and ASCII art is a thing…

                                        /  \ "I'll see you on __
                /\                     /   /  the text side  /  \
               /  \                   /       of the moon"  /   /
-------R------/    \                _/_____       _______  /
-------G-----/    --\-----W------- /       \ / \ /       \/
-------B----/        \            |   Org   |   |  Mode   |
           /          \            \_______/     \_______/
          -------------

Code Snippet 1: Text Colored Glasses

13 Johnny Cash - “I’ve seen ’em come and go, and I’ve seen ’em die..”

CompuServe
Prodigy
BIX
GEnie
AIM
AOL
MySpace
Google+
Killed By Google

My father spent 25 years working for the Ohio Historical Society running the microfilm department. A lot of that time was spent preserving the last remaining copies of 19th and 20th newspapers that somebody found in Aunt Millie’s attic at her estate sale. Save for that, the daily history of Findlay, Cadiz, Yellow Springs, Lima and Barberton would have been completely lost. He was preserving important texts. He was preserving, in some cases, the only record of people’s lives. People’s lives matter.

I began my professional career at CompuServe. CompuServe had vibrant forums where there was lots of interaction, growth and history made. All with text exchanges. A couple years ago, most of that history was flushed because “there was no business case for preserving it.”

Companies come and go. They should not be trusted to preserve important texts or to decide which texts are important. Today Facebook and Twitter are censoring content. How long will they be in business? When will they dump text you care about?

Karl Voit has spelled this out very well in a blog post: Don’t Contribute Anything Relevant in Web Forums Like Reddit

I am systematically moving my texts off “Big Internet”. Facebook went (mostly in 2016, completely in 2020). I’ve stopped posting to Twitter. Dropbox is gone. Github (which hosts this blog) is next. Google in progress. I helped create this world, but it’s time for a course correction. Centralization and mediation of human interaction by organizations with nothing but a advertising-driven profit motive⁶ is a problem. We need to move to systems that put people first.

Having recently joined the Mastadon community Fosstodon that focuses on Free and Open Source Software, I believe we are living in an incredible time where the tools we need for a federated, decentralized, ad-free, people-centric world are being created…all without even jumping on the crypto-currency bandwagon :-). There are extant/emerging solutions for authoring, messaging, social networking, distributed source code control and many more. Herein lies another long post, but to me this “feels” very like the early days of GNU and Linux.

14 Steve Francia - Hugo

One last entry in the things-I-have-used-to-write lineup. The Hugo static web site generator is bringing you this blog.

The production of this blog combines many of the technologies and processes already discussed:

org mode: The actual source for this blog is a “normal” emacs org mode buffer which is exported via the ox-hugo backend
$\LaTeX$: The ox-hugo exporter deals seamlessly with almost all org features, including $\LaTeX$⁷, footnotes, emphasis, etc.
Web: Once the markdown is produced, Hugo does what it does. It uses style sheets, templates, themes etc to render the blog as HTML served up via a local web server for texting and to be pushed to the “live” web serer for production.
Focus on the content: And all of this is in the “don’t worry what it looks like, just focus on the content” mode. With 4 keystrokes I exported a copy of this post to .ODT format so my son could review it in word. A different 4 keystokes exports to text or HTML. I let the back-ends “do the right thing” to make it “look good” in the target format.
git: Once the results are satisfactory, they are “pushed to production” via git push. Problems? Need to back out? It’s git. Multiple authors? It’s git.

I described this process in way too much detail already elsewhere in my blog post on [[http://curious.galthub.com/blog/hugo-org-github/][publishing a blog on Github with Org and Hugo]

15 George Jones - OK, but did George actually write anything worth reading?

You’ve read this far on a long blog post :-)

I may have written some things, well, a lot of things. You can decide if they are worth reading.

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3871: RFC3871 was a starry-eyed attempt at getting large network equipment vendors to, you know, stop using telnet (with plain-text passwords in the clear) for management of inconsequential computers like the routers that make up the Internet backbone. It used yet another cool text formatting tool, xml2rfc. In my opinion we lost the war, e.g. getting security features in important devices … and well … IOT devices are here now, many using the same least-cost TCP/IP stacks that are full of the same problems, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripple20 and not up-gradable. It looks like the IETF OPSEC Working Group that that document spawned is still going, pumping out documents, and, I’m sure, in the words of Marshall Rose, there have been “Many fine lunches and dinners”
Links to a few pubs, talks, papers, etc: Because 20 year old index.html files never die http://www.port111.com/george/#pubs

16 Back to paper

I used to have a saying:

If it requires paper, it’s the wrong interface.

I’m backtracking on that. I journal, on paper, most mornings. I’m finding that there is a level of creativity, spontaneity and a kind of catharsis that happens when putting things on paper. I make non-linear connections that would never be made at a keyboard.

I’m not sure what that’s saying. Stay open? Be willing to re-consider things you’ve discarded? There will be no follows. No likes. No re-shares. No chance of going viral. But its where I find my thoughts. Things have come full circle.

17 Final thoughts

I hope this has been at least an in interesting read. I hope it has provided at least some idea of where we are and how we got here in terms of technology for putting thoughts on “paper”.

\begin{array}{*{20}c} {x = \frac{{ - b \pm \sqrt {b^2 - 4ac} }}{{2a}}} & {{\rm{when}}} & {ax^2 + bx + c = 0} \\ \end{array}

This was several years before the start of the GNU project. ↩︎
Knuth’s The Art Of Computer Programming is available on github. I’m not going to provide a link because when I went there and tried to view the site it crashed my browser and nearly froze my computer. My guess is Knuth just did something that was perfectly sensible from a theoretical view (maybe creating a 50 gig PDF), but which mere software chokes on. Computer Science classic texts as DOS attacks? Another unintended side effect. I wonder if MITRE ATT&CK has mapped that threat yet? ↩︎
And, yes, Tim Berners-Lee was in academic circles then and could not have helped knowing about Knuth’s WEB … score naming the Word Wide Web as a side effect of a side effect for Knuth? ↩︎
Actually, it’s in in an .org format with custom elisp code that implements cpp style ifdef logic for producing different output for the short resume, the long resume, linkedin, etc. off the same source, that creates latex on export which is then run through tex and friends to produce a pdf, but shhh. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. ↩︎
“Bill Gates and the Nameless Corporate Droids” sounds like a fine name for a band, right up there with “The Dead Kennedys” ↩︎
Oppressive governments and various other not-so-friendly motivations fall here as well. ↩︎
once the layout/partials/head.html was fixed

Posts 39, 40 and 41 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/. This one was a production. It counts for 3. ↩︎

.bashrc as literate programming

Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

1 Knuth gets annoyed at his publishers, $\TeX$ is born.

Back in the late 70s Donald Knuth who was (and still is) publishing a seminal series of Computer Science text books got annoyed at the typesetting, layouts and font choices he was being presented by publishers. So he did what any self-respecting hacker who happened to be Donald Knuth would do: he created his own typesetting system called $\TeX$ which (along with $\LaTeX$ which borrowed heavily from SCRIBE) is something of a standard to this day in academic publishing.

Because, you know, why is it unreasonable to expect publishers to render simple equations, right?

\begin{multline*} \vec{E}_{\mathrm{tot}}= q\cdot k_{b}\cdot \dfrac{r}{r^3} \left\lgroup \frac{\hat{r}-\left(\dfrac{d}{2\cdot r}\right)\hat{d}} {\biggl(1+\left(\dfrac{d}{2\cdot r}\right)^2- \left(\dfrac{d}{r}\right)\hat{r}\cdot\hat{d}\cdot\cos(\theta) \biggr)^{3/2}} \right. \\ \left. {}- \frac{\hat{r}+\left(\dfrac{d}{2\cdot r}\right)\hat{d}} {\biggl(1+\left(\dfrac{d}{2\cdot r}\right)^2+ \left(\dfrac{d}{r}\right)\cdot\hat{r}\cdot\hat{d}\cdot\cos(\theta) \biggr)^{3/2}} \right\rgroup \end{multline*}

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/371644/how-to-write-this-long-equation

But wait, there’s more.

2 Literate Programming

In addition to writing his own typesetting system, he came up with the concept of Literate Programming at the same time. The basic idea is that you write for humans to read (e.g. text books) with a side-effect of outputting code (for machines to execute). It is the ultimate in software documentation. The code and the description are an integrated whole with different processes, “tangle”, to produce code and “weave”¹, to produce output for humans

I’ve been influenced by the concept of Literate Programming ever since I installed the original TeX (and LaTex) on CompuServe’s DEC10s.

3 The children of tangle and weave - Org, Babel, Jupyter and Zepplin

Fast forward a few decades. Carsten Dominick creates org mode for Emacs to organize, well, everything which, of course, has a back end to output .tex files. Eric Schulte then has the bright ideas of creating org-babel, which allows small (or not so small) blocks of code to be imbedded in org files and executed with their output becoming part of the document. Literate programming, here were are, again….oh, and it’s a tool for doing reproducible scientific research as well where the data, code, descriptions of experiments and results/conclusions are all one document:

https://www.jstatsoft.org/article/view/v046i03

Jupyter and Zeppelin notebooks provide similar functionality today for Python, Spark, Scala and the data science community, but Knuth was there 40 years ago.

4 George gets annoyed at a complicated .bashrc, .bashrc.org is born

Which brings me to my own humble annoyances which are not likely to change the course of science or academic publishing…

As a nearly lifelong emacs user I am mildly annoyed any time I have to do something that can’t be done in emacs in general, and have been particularly annoyed at the growing complexity of my .bashrc file which could not be organize and documented in org mode….until now.

5 EmacsConf 2020 talk: README Driven Design

A talk at EmacsConf 2020 reminded me that Org mode can be used directly for literate programming.

Test Driven Design (TDD) had been a concept for a while: write your tests first, once your code passes, you’re done. Find a bug, write a new test, code until it passes.

“README Driven Design” continues in the same vein. Often programmers will wait to the end to write their documentation, install notes, user guide etc. What this talk advocates is to use literate programming and to start the README.org, which, given Org babel, could be the whole application, including TDD scripts. See. Emacs does subsume all, did you notice how TDD just got swallowed up without missing a step? See the blog post summarizing the talk at http://adamard.com/literate_programming.html

6 1 - My .bashrc as literate programming

What follows are three different versions of my (457 line) .bashrc file.

The first is the version for-human-consumption, complete with comments, descriptions, useful font highlighting and actual text blocked out. In Knuth’s terms, this is the “weave” output.

The second is the .bashrc that actually gets executed by bash. This is the “tangle” output.

The last is the org mode source from which both preceding versions used as input.

6.1 1.1 - My .bashrc - weave output for humans

Here is the human-readable .bashrc file with comments, etc.

6.1.1 About this .bashrc file

Intro

This is George Jones’ .bashrc file as an literate programming file in emacs org mode using babel blocks.

To generate the actual .bashrc

This .bashrc.org file must be processed to generate the actual .bashrc It can be processed interactively to generate .bashrc via org-babel-tangle-file or from the command line as
```
emacs --batch --eval "(require 'org)" --eval '(org-babel-tangle-file ".bashrc.org")'
```
Permanent changes must be made to the .org version, as the actual .bashrc will be overwritten when the .org version is “compiled”

Debugging

In most bash files I do
```
set -e
set -u
```
but there are problems setting it in .bashrc. An error then causes you to exit the shell entirely (not what you want), and there are several constructs that cause warnings due to undefined variables (these can/probably should be fixd)

Set
```
export DEBUG=1
```
to enable debugging output from the debug helper function.

6.1.2 The actual executable .bashrc

Helper functions

I define a few syslog-ish helper functions to print warnings, errors, etc.

#PROG=`basename "$0" | tr -d '\n'`  # normal setting
PROG="bashrc" # setting for bashrc due to errors

function info()  { echo ${PROG}\: info: "$@" 1>&2; }
function warn()  { echo ${PROG}\: warning: "$@" 1>&2; }
function error() { echo ${PROG}\: error: "$@" 1>&2; }
function debug() { [[ -v DEBUG ]] && echo ${PROG}\: debug: "$@" 1>&2 || true ; }
function die()   { echo ${PROG}\: fatal: "$@" 1>&2 && exit 1; }

Set a reasonable default prompt

Here I set a reasonable default prompt that includes timestamp, username, host and current directory:
```
export PS1="\# [\t] \u@\h \W/ $ "
```

Misc aliases

Define various aliases that I use

alias rm='	rm -i'
alias ag='	alias | grep -i'
alias eg='	printenv | grep -i'
alias hg='	history | grep -i'
alias ht='	history | tail'
alias fpg='	find . -print | egrep -i'
alias egi='	egrep -i'
alias psg='	/bin/ps -auxww | grep'
alias p8='	ping -c 3 8.8.8.8' # make sure routing works
alias pp='	ping -c 3 port111.com' # make sure dns and routing work
alias locate='locate -r'

cd commands that use/print the directory stack

These aliases support pushd/popd/dirs like functionality while listing one directory per line

I like to keep a “stack” of directories so I can work on one thing then “pop” back to where I was. pushd an popd support this, and dirs lists the directories, but I prefer to have them listed one per line.

function dirl() {
    # "DIR"ectory "L"ist directory stack, one per line
    # Usage: dirl

    for d in `dirs`; do echo $d; done
}

function dirc() {
    # "DIR"ectory "C"onnect - connect to directory and list stack
    # Usage: dirc [DIR

    pushd ${1:-"$HOME"} > /dev/null
    dirl
}

function dirp () {
    # "DIR"ectory "P"op - pop N entries off the directory stack
    # Usage: dirp [N]
    #
    # OLD:
    #   alias  dirp='popd > /dev/null && dirl'
    for i in `seq ${1:-"1"}`; do
        debug "dirl: popd. i is $i"
        popd > /dev/null;
    done
    dirl
}

alias cd=pushd

Misc functions


function gf() {
# grep-find: grep for patterins in files via find
#
# Usage: gf patterns [files [days]]
#
# Examples:
#   gf findMeAnywhere
#   gf findMeInTextFiles '*.txt'
#   gf findMeInTextFiles .txt
#   gf BEGIN\|END .org 30

local files=""
local days="365"

set -o noglob

# First arg is pattern(s) for egrep
if [ -z ${1+x} ]; then
  echo 'gf needs string(s) to search for ' 1>&2
  info "Usage: gf patterns [files [days]]"
  return 1
fi

# Second arg (if present) is files for find.  No globbing, so "*.txt" OK
if [ ! -z ${2+x} ]; then
  if [[ "$2" =~ ^\. ]]; then
    # Special case: treat ".foo" as "*.foo"
    # Avoids needing to quote on command line
    files="-name *$2"
  else
    files="-name ${2}"
  fi
fi

# $3 (if present) is find -mtime arg, default 365
if [ ! -z ${3+x} ]; then
  days="${3}"
fi

# set -x
find . -type f -mtime -${days} $files -exec egrep --color -H -i "${1}" \{\} \;
# set +x

set +o noglob
}

Bash history functions and settings


# Preserve history across sesssions
#
# http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/1288/preserve-bash-history-in-multiple-terminal-windows
#
export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups:erasedups  # no duplicate entries
export HISTSIZE=100000                   # big big history
export HISTFILESIZE=100000               # big big history
shopt -s histappend                      # append to history, don't overwrite it

# Save and reload the history after each command finishes
export PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a; history -c; history -r;"


function hgt() {
    # hgt == "history grep (for arg) tail"
    #echo "Histroy Grep tail"

    if [ -z ${1+x} ]; then
        echo 'hgt needs an argument' 1>&2
        return 1
    fi

    history | grep -i "$1" | tail
    return 0
}

Set the hostnane, timezone and local

Set HOSTNAME if ~/etc/hostname exists

if [ -e ${HOME}/etc/hostname ]; then
    export HOSTNAME=`cat ${HOME}/etc/hostname`
elif [ -e /etc/hostname ]; then
    export HOSTNAME=`cat /etc/hostname`
else
    export HOSTNAME="unknown"
fi

# Set timezone if ~/bin/tz.sh exists

# NEW, if neeeed?
#
# https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-set-or-change-timezone-in-linux/
#
# OLD:
#
# if [ -e ~/bin/tz.sh ]; then
#     echo Setting timezone.
#     source ~/bin/tz.sh # should be in ~/rc.local
# fi

# STILL NEEDED?
#
# Set local for numeric output
LOCAL=`locale -a | grep -i en_us | head -1`
if [[ "$LOCAL" != "" ]]; then export LC_NUMERIC="$LOCAL"; fi

Set up ssh agent

Add keys by hand if needed via

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_*

if [ -e ~/bin/sshagent ]; then
    source ~/bin/sshagent
fi

Copy stdin to clipboard

if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "linux-gnu"* ]]; then
  alias 2clip='xclip -selection c'
  alias 3clip='printf %s "$(cat /dev/stdin)" | xclip -selection c'  # no final \n
elif [[ "$OSTYPE" == "darwin"* ]]; then
  alias 2clip='pbcopy'
fi

Path functions

These path* functions add and remove elements to PATH. They insure that entries are unique. They allow you to place a path first or last in the order (e.g. so that ~/bin comes before /usr/local/bin)

pathrm() {
    # remove an item from the path
    if [ -d "$1" ]; then
        removeThis="`echo $1 | sed -e 's#/#\\\/#'g`"
        newPath=`echo $PATH | awk -v RS=: -v ORS=: "/$removeThis/ {next} {print}" | sed 's/[ :]*$//g'`
        export PATH=$newPath
    fi
}


pathlast() {
    # add path to the end if not there
    if [ -d "$1" ] && [[ ":$PATH:" != *":$1:"* ]]; then
        export PATH="${PATH:+"$PATH:"}$1"
    fi
}


pathfirst() {
    # add path to the front if not there
    if [ -d "$1" ] && [[ ":$PATH:" != *":$1:"* ]]; then
        export PATH="$1:${PATH}"
    fi
}

path() {
  # show path
  echo $PATH
}

# show path, one entry per line
alias pathcat="echo $PATH | sed 's/:/\n/g'"


# Be sure we have a few specific paths if they exist

pathlast $HOME/bin
pathlast /usr/local/bin
pathlast /opt/bin

source ~/rc.local/*.sh to do non-general bash setup

Execute any .sh files in ~/rc.local/*.sh

This allows me to split out setup for aliases and commands that only get used on certian systems or in certian contexts (git, go, mail, blog..)
```
if [ -d ${HOME}/rc.local ]; then
    for rcfile in $(find ${HOME}/rc.local -name \*.sh); do
        debug running localrc ${rcfile}
        source ${rcfile}
    done
fi
```

Invoking emacs

alias emacs='setsid emacs'

# from http://stuff-things.net/2014/12/16/working-with-emacsclient/

if [ -z "$SSH_CONNECTION" ]; then
    export EMACSCLIENT=emacsclient
    alias ec="$EMACSCLIENT -c -n"
    export EDITOR="$EMACSCLIENT -c"
    export ALTERNATE_EDITOR=""
else
    export EDITOR=$(type -P emacs || type -P ed)
fi
export VISUAL=$EDITOR

ls aliases


# coloring for ls functions

if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "linux-gnu" ]]; then
    color="--color";
else
    color=""
fi

BIN_LS=/bin/ls
alias ls='	ls '$color' -a'


# Long List Reverse Tail
function llrt() { ls -lrt $color ${*:-}; }

# Long List Time
function llt() { ls -lt $color ${*:-}; }

# Long List Time, More
function lltm() { ls -lt $color ${*:-} | more; }

# Long List Time, Less
function lltl() { ls -alt $color ${*:-} | more; }

# Long List Time, Head
function llth() { ls -lt $color ${*:-} | head; }

# Long List Time, Tail
function lltt() { ls -alt $color ${*:-} | tail; }


# List Sort Size
function lss() { ls -a1s $color ${*:-} | sort -n; }

# List Sort Size Reverse
function lssr() { ls -a1s $color ${*:-} | sort -nr; }

Aliases for viewing the newest file in a directoy


function nf ()
{
    # list the newest file in the current directory
    NF=`find ${1:-.} -maxdepth 1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0 ls -1t  |  head -1;`;
    echo ${NF:-/dev/null} | sed "s/ /\\\ /g"
}


# new file tail file
function nftf { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs tail -f  ; }

# new file tail
function nft { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs tail  ; }

# new file head
function nfh { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs head  ; }

# new file less
function nfl { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs less  ; }

# new file cat
function nfc { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs cat  ; }

# new file ls
function nfls { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs ls -A1t  ; }

# new file ls -l
function nflsl { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs
ls -Atl  ; }

viewing files

Notes on setting up file/mime type associations can be found at

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/77136/xdg-open-default-applications-behavior

So, to make emacs (what else?) the default for MIME type text/plain …
```
locate -r 'emacs.*\.desktop'
xdg-mime default emacs.desktop text/plain
```
```
if [[  ! -z "`which xdg-open`" ]]; then alias open='xdg-open '; fi
```

All done

touch $HOME/.bashrc-ran
debug ".bashrc done"

6.2 1.2 - My .bashrc - tangle output for computers

Here is the actual .bashrc file for bash(1) to consume

#PROG=`basename "$0" | tr -d '\n'`  # normal setting
PROG="bashrc" # setting for bashrc due to errors

function info()  { echo ${PROG}\: info: "$@" 1>&2; }
function warn()  { echo ${PROG}\: warning: "$@" 1>&2; }
function error() { echo ${PROG}\: error: "$@" 1>&2; }
function debug() { [[ -v DEBUG ]] && echo ${PROG}\: debug: "$@" 1>&2 || true ; }
function die()   { echo ${PROG}\: fatal: "$@" 1>&2 && exit 1; }

export PS1="\# [\t] \u@\h \W/ $ "

alias rm='	rm -i'
alias ag='	alias | grep -i'
alias eg='	printenv | grep -i'
alias hg='	history | grep -i'
alias ht='	history | tail'
alias fpg='	find . -print | egrep -i'
alias egi='	egrep -i'
alias psg='	/bin/ps -auxww | grep'
alias p8='	ping -c 3 8.8.8.8' # make sure routing works
alias pp='	ping -c 3 port111.com' # make sure dns and routing work
alias locate='locate -r'

function dirl() {
    # "DIR"ectory "L"ist directory stack, one per line
    # Usage: dirl

    for d in `dirs`; do echo $d; done
}

function dirc() {
    # "DIR"ectory "C"onnect - connect to directory and list stack
    # Usage: dirc [DIR

    pushd ${1:-"$HOME"} > /dev/null
    dirl
}

function dirp () {
    # "DIR"ectory "P"op - pop N entries off the directory stack
    # Usage: dirp [N]
    #
    # OLD:
    #   alias  dirp='popd > /dev/null && dirl'
    for i in `seq ${1:-"1"}`; do
        debug "dirl: popd. i is $i"
        popd > /dev/null;
    done
    dirl
}

alias cd=pushd

function gf() {
# grep-find: grep for patterins in files via find
#
# Usage: gf patterns [files [days]]
#
# Examples:
#   gf findMeAnywhere
#   gf findMeInTextFiles '*.txt'
#   gf findMeInTextFiles .txt
#   gf BEGIN\|END .org 30

local files=""
local days="365"

set -o noglob

# First arg is pattern(s) for egrep
if [ -z ${1+x} ]; then
  echo 'gf needs string(s) to search for ' 1>&2
  info "Usage: gf patterns [files [days]]"
  return 1
fi

# Second arg (if present) is files for find.  No globbing, so "*.txt" OK
if [ ! -z ${2+x} ]; then
  if [[ "$2" =~ ^\. ]]; then
    # Special case: treat ".foo" as "*.foo"
    # Avoids needing to quote on command line
    files="-name *$2"
  else
    files="-name ${2}"
  fi
fi

# $3 (if present) is find -mtime arg, default 365
if [ ! -z ${3+x} ]; then
  days="${3}"
fi

# set -x
find . -type f -mtime -${days} $files -exec egrep --color -H -i "${1}" \{\} \;
# set +x

set +o noglob
}

# Preserve history across sesssions
#
# http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/1288/preserve-bash-history-in-multiple-terminal-windows
#
export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups:erasedups  # no duplicate entries
export HISTSIZE=100000                   # big big history
export HISTFILESIZE=100000               # big big history
shopt -s histappend                      # append to history, don't overwrite it

# Save and reload the history after each command finishes
export PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a; history -c; history -r;"


function hgt() {
    # hgt == "history grep (for arg) tail"
    #echo "Histroy Grep tail"

    if [ -z ${1+x} ]; then
        echo 'hgt needs an argument' 1>&2
        return 1
    fi

    history | grep -i "$1" | tail
    return 0
}

if [ -e ${HOME}/etc/hostname ]; then
    export HOSTNAME=`cat ${HOME}/etc/hostname`
elif [ -e /etc/hostname ]; then
    export HOSTNAME=`cat /etc/hostname`
else
    export HOSTNAME="unknown"
fi

# Set timezone if ~/bin/tz.sh exists

# NEW, if neeeed?
#
# https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-set-or-change-timezone-in-linux/
#
# OLD:
#
# if [ -e ~/bin/tz.sh ]; then
#     echo Setting timezone.
#     source ~/bin/tz.sh # should be in ~/rc.local
# fi

# STILL NEEDED?
#
# Set local for numeric output
LOCAL=`locale -a | grep -i en_us | head -1`
if [[ "$LOCAL" != "" ]]; then export LC_NUMERIC="$LOCAL"; fi

if [ -e ~/bin/sshagent ]; then
    source ~/bin/sshagent
fi

if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "linux-gnu"* ]]; then
  alias 2clip='xclip -selection c'
  alias 3clip='printf %s "$(cat /dev/stdin)" | xclip -selection c'  # no final \n
elif [[ "$OSTYPE" == "darwin"* ]]; then
  alias 2clip='pbcopy'
fi

pathrm() {
    # remove an item from the path
    if [ -d "$1" ]; then
        removeThis="`echo $1 | sed -e 's#/#\\\/#'g`"
        newPath=`echo $PATH | awk -v RS=: -v ORS=: "/$removeThis/ {next} {print}" | sed 's/[ :]*$//g'`
        export PATH=$newPath
    fi
}


pathlast() {
    # add path to the end if not there
    if [ -d "$1" ] && [[ ":$PATH:" != *":$1:"* ]]; then
        export PATH="${PATH:+"$PATH:"}$1"
    fi
}


pathfirst() {
    # add path to the front if not there
    if [ -d "$1" ] && [[ ":$PATH:" != *":$1:"* ]]; then
        export PATH="$1:${PATH}"
    fi
}

path() {
  # show path
  echo $PATH
}

# show path, one entry per line
alias pathcat="echo $PATH | sed 's/:/\n/g'"


# Be sure we have a few specific paths if they exist

pathlast $HOME/bin
pathlast /usr/local/bin
pathlast /opt/bin

if [ -d ${HOME}/rc.local ]; then
    for rcfile in $(find ${HOME}/rc.local -name \*.sh); do
        debug running localrc ${rcfile}
        source ${rcfile}
    done
fi

alias emacs='setsid emacs'

# from http://stuff-things.net/2014/12/16/working-with-emacsclient/

if [ -z "$SSH_CONNECTION" ]; then
    export EMACSCLIENT=emacsclient
    alias ec="$EMACSCLIENT -c -n"
    export EDITOR="$EMACSCLIENT -c"
    export ALTERNATE_EDITOR=""
else
    export EDITOR=$(type -P emacs || type -P ed)
fi
export VISUAL=$EDITOR

# coloring for ls functions

if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "linux-gnu" ]]; then
    color="--color";
else
    color=""
fi

BIN_LS=/bin/ls
alias ls='	ls '$color' -a'


# Long List Reverse Tail
function llrt() { ls -lrt $color ${*:-}; }

# Long List Time
function llt() { ls -lt $color ${*:-}; }

# Long List Time, More
function lltm() { ls -lt $color ${*:-} | more; }

# Long List Time, Less
function lltl() { ls -alt $color ${*:-} | more; }

# Long List Time, Head
function llth() { ls -lt $color ${*:-} | head; }

# Long List Time, Tail
function lltt() { ls -alt $color ${*:-} | tail; }


# List Sort Size
function lss() { ls -a1s $color ${*:-} | sort -n; }

# List Sort Size Reverse
function lssr() { ls -a1s $color ${*:-} | sort -nr; }

function nf ()
{
    # list the newest file in the current directory
    NF=`find ${1:-.} -maxdepth 1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0 ls -1t  |  head -1;`;
    echo ${NF:-/dev/null} | sed "s/ /\\\ /g"
}


# new file tail file
function nftf { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs tail -f  ; }

# new file tail
function nft { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs tail  ; }

# new file head
function nfh { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs head  ; }

# new file less
function nfl { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs less  ; }

# new file cat
function nfc { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs cat  ; }

# new file ls
function nfls { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs ls -A1t  ; }

# new file ls -l
function nflsl { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs
ls -Atl  ; }

if [[  ! -z "`which xdg-open`" ]]; then alias open='xdg-open '; fi

touch $HOME/.bashrc-ran
debug ".bashrc done"

6.3 1.3 - My .bashrc - The org mode source file

Here is the .bash.org input file

#+title: .bashrc
#+date: <2020-12-06 03:13:07 Sunday>
#+author: George M Jones
#+email: gmj@pobox.com
#+options: ':nil *:t -:t ::t <:t H:3 \n:nil ^:nil arch:headline
#+options: author:t broken-links:nil c:nil creator:nil
#+options: d:(not "LOGBOOK") date:t e:t email:nil f:t inline:t num:2
#+options: p:nil pri:nil prop:nil stat:t tags:t tasks:t tex:t
#+options: timestamp:t title:t toc:t todo:t |:t
#+language: en
#+select_tags: export
#+exclude_tags: noexport
#+creator: Emacs 28.0.50 (Org mode 9.4)


* About this .bashrc file
** Intro
   This is George Jones' .bashrc file as an literate programming file in
   emacs org mode using babel blocks.

** To generate the actual .bashrc
   This .bashrc.org file must be processed to generate the actual
   .bashrc It can be processed interactively to generate .bashrc via
   org-babel-tangle-file or from the command line as

   #+begin_example
  emacs --batch --eval "(require 'org)" --eval '(org-babel-tangle-file ".bashrc.org")'
   #+end_example

   Permanent changes must be made to the .org version, as the actual
   .bashrc will be overwritten when the .org version is "compiled"

** Debugging

  In most bash files I do

  #+begin_example
  set -e
  set -u
  #+end_example

  but there are problems setting it in .bashrc.   An error then causes
  you to exit the shell entirely (not what you want), and there are
  several constructs that cause warnings due to undefined variables
  (these can/probably should be fixd)

  Set

  #+begin_example
  export DEBUG=1
  #+end_example

  to enable debugging output from the debug helper function.

* The actual executable .bashrc
** Helper functions
   I define a few syslog-ish helper functions to print warnings,
   errors, etc.

   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export
  #PROG=`basename "$0" | tr -d '\n'`  # normal setting
  PROG="bashrc" # setting for bashrc due to errors

  function info()  { echo ${PROG}\: info: "$@" 1>&2; }
  function warn()  { echo ${PROG}\: warning: "$@" 1>&2; }
  function error() { echo ${PROG}\: error: "$@" 1>&2; }
  function debug() { [[ -v DEBUG ]] && echo ${PROG}\: debug: "$@" 1>&2 || true ; }
  function die()   { echo ${PROG}\: fatal: "$@" 1>&2 && exit 1; }
   #+end_src

** Set a reasonable default prompt

   Here I set a reasonable default prompt that includes timestamp,
   username, host and current directory:

 #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export
export PS1="\# [\t] \u@\h \W/ $ "
 #+end_src

** Misc aliases

   Define various aliases that I use

   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export
  alias rm='	rm -i'
  alias ag='	alias | grep -i'
  alias eg='	printenv | grep -i'
  alias hg='	history | grep -i'
  alias ht='	history | tail'
  alias fpg='	find . -print | egrep -i'
  alias egi='	egrep -i'
  alias psg='	/bin/ps -auxww | grep'
  alias p8='	ping -c 3 8.8.8.8' # make sure routing works
  alias pp='	ping -c 3 port111.com' # make sure dns and routing work
  alias locate='locate -r'
   #+end_src

** cd commands that use/print the directory stack

   These aliases support pushd/popd/dirs like functionality while
   listing one directory per line

   I like to keep a "stack" of directories so I can work on one thing
   then "pop" back to where I was.   =pushd= an =popd= support this,
   and =dirs= lists the directories, but I prefer to have them listed
   one per line.


   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export
  function dirl() {
      # "DIR"ectory "L"ist directory stack, one per line
      # Usage: dirl

      for d in `dirs`; do echo $d; done
  }

  function dirc() {
      # "DIR"ectory "C"onnect - connect to directory and list stack
      # Usage: dirc [DIR

      pushd ${1:-"$HOME"} > /dev/null
      dirl
  }

  function dirp () {
      # "DIR"ectory "P"op - pop N entries off the directory stack
      # Usage: dirp [N]
      #
      # OLD:
      #   alias  dirp='popd > /dev/null && dirl'
      for i in `seq ${1:-"1"}`; do
          debug "dirl: popd. i is $i"
          popd > /dev/null;
      done
      dirl
  }

  alias cd=pushd
   #+end_src

** Misc functions

   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export

  function gf() {
  # grep-find: grep for patterins in files via find
  #
  # Usage: gf patterns [files [days]]
  #
  # Examples:
  #   gf findMeAnywhere
  #   gf findMeInTextFiles '*.txt'
  #   gf findMeInTextFiles .txt
  #   gf BEGIN\|END .org 30

  local files=""
  local days="365"

  set -o noglob

  # First arg is pattern(s) for egrep
  if [ -z ${1+x} ]; then
    echo 'gf needs string(s) to search for ' 1>&2
    info "Usage: gf patterns [files [days]]"
    return 1
  fi

  # Second arg (if present) is files for find.  No globbing, so "*.txt" OK
  if [ ! -z ${2+x} ]; then
    if [[ "$2" =~ ^\. ]]; then
      # Special case: treat ".foo" as "*.foo"
      # Avoids needing to quote on command line
      files="-name *$2"
    else
      files="-name ${2}"
    fi
  fi

  # $3 (if present) is find -mtime arg, default 365
  if [ ! -z ${3+x} ]; then
    days="${3}"
  fi

  # set -x
  find . -type f -mtime -${days} $files -exec egrep --color -H -i "${1}" \{\} \;
  # set +x

  set +o noglob
  }
 #+end_src

** Bash history functions and settings
   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export

  # Preserve history across sesssions
  #
  # http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/1288/preserve-bash-history-in-multiple-terminal-windows
  #
  export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups:erasedups  # no duplicate entries
  export HISTSIZE=100000                   # big big history
  export HISTFILESIZE=100000               # big big history
  shopt -s histappend                      # append to history, don't overwrite it

  # Save and reload the history after each command finishes
  export PROMPT_COMMAND="history -a; history -c; history -r;"


  function hgt() {
      # hgt == "history grep (for arg) tail"
      #echo "Histroy Grep tail"

      if [ -z ${1+x} ]; then
          echo 'hgt needs an argument' 1>&2
          return 1
      fi

      history | grep -i "$1" | tail
      return 0
  }
   #+end_src

** Set the hostnane, timezone and local
   Set HOSTNAME if ~/etc/hostname exists

   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export
   if [ -e ${HOME}/etc/hostname ]; then
       export HOSTNAME=`cat ${HOME}/etc/hostname`
   elif [ -e /etc/hostname ]; then
       export HOSTNAME=`cat /etc/hostname`
   else
       export HOSTNAME="unknown"
   fi

   # Set timezone if ~/bin/tz.sh exists

   # NEW, if neeeed?
   #
   # https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-set-or-change-timezone-in-linux/
   #
   # OLD:
   #
   # if [ -e ~/bin/tz.sh ]; then
   #     echo Setting timezone.
   #     source ~/bin/tz.sh # should be in ~/rc.local
   # fi

   # STILL NEEDED?
   #
   # Set local for numeric output
   LOCAL=`locale -a | grep -i en_us | head -1`
   if [[ "$LOCAL" != "" ]]; then export LC_NUMERIC="$LOCAL"; fi
   #+end_src

** Set up ssh agent
   Add keys by hand if needed via

   #+begin_example
   ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_*
   #+end_example

   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export
   if [ -e ~/bin/sshagent ]; then
       source ~/bin/sshagent
   fi
   #+end_src

** Copy stdin to clipboard

   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export
   if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "linux-gnu"* ]]; then
     alias 2clip='xclip -selection c'
     alias 3clip='printf %s "$(cat /dev/stdin)" | xclip -selection c'  # no final \n
   elif [[ "$OSTYPE" == "darwin"* ]]; then
     alias 2clip='pbcopy'
   fi
   #+end_src

** Path functions
  These path* functions add and remove elements to PATH.
  They insure that entries are unique.
  They allow you to place a path first or last in the order (e.g.
  so that =~/bin= comes before =/usr/local/bin=)

  #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export
  pathrm() {
      # remove an item from the path
      if [ -d "$1" ]; then
          removeThis="`echo $1 | sed -e 's#/#\\\/#'g`"
          newPath=`echo $PATH | awk -v RS=: -v ORS=: "/$removeThis/ {next} {print}" | sed 's/[ :]*$//g'`
          export PATH=$newPath
      fi
  }


  pathlast() {
      # add path to the end if not there
      if [ -d "$1" ] && [[ ":$PATH:" != *":$1:"* ]]; then
          export PATH="${PATH:+"$PATH:"}$1"
      fi
  }


  pathfirst() {
      # add path to the front if not there
      if [ -d "$1" ] && [[ ":$PATH:" != *":$1:"* ]]; then
          export PATH="$1:${PATH}"
      fi
  }

  path() {
    # show path
    echo $PATH
  }

  # show path, one entry per line
  alias pathcat="echo $PATH | sed 's/:/\n/g'"


  # Be sure we have a few specific paths if they exist

  pathlast $HOME/bin
  pathlast /usr/local/bin
  pathlast /opt/bin
  #+end_src

** source ~/rc.local/*.sh to do non-general bash setup
   Execute any .sh files in ~/rc.local/*.sh

   This allows me to split out setup for aliases and commands that
   only get used on certian systems or in certian contexts (git, go,
   mail, blog..)

   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export

   if [ -d ${HOME}/rc.local ]; then
       for rcfile in $(find ${HOME}/rc.local -name \*.sh); do
           debug running localrc ${rcfile}
           source ${rcfile}
       done
   fi
   #+end_src

** Invoking emacs
   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export
   alias emacs='setsid emacs'

   # from http://stuff-things.net/2014/12/16/working-with-emacsclient/

   if [ -z "$SSH_CONNECTION" ]; then
       export EMACSCLIENT=emacsclient
       alias ec="$EMACSCLIENT -c -n"
       export EDITOR="$EMACSCLIENT -c"
       export ALTERNATE_EDITOR=""
   else
       export EDITOR=$(type -P emacs || type -P ed)
   fi
   export VISUAL=$EDITOR
   #+end_src

** ls aliases
   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export

   # coloring for ls functions

   if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "linux-gnu" ]]; then
       color="--color";
   else
       color=""
   fi

   BIN_LS=/bin/ls
   alias ls='	ls '$color' -a'


   # Long List Reverse Tail
   function llrt() { ls -lrt $color ${*:-}; }

   # Long List Time
   function llt() { ls -lt $color ${*:-}; }

   # Long List Time, More
   function lltm() { ls -lt $color ${*:-} | more; }

   # Long List Time, Less
   function lltl() { ls -alt $color ${*:-} | more; }

   # Long List Time, Head
   function llth() { ls -lt $color ${*:-} | head; }

   # Long List Time, Tail
   function lltt() { ls -alt $color ${*:-} | tail; }


   # List Sort Size
   function lss() { ls -a1s $color ${*:-} | sort -n; }

   # List Sort Size Reverse
   function lssr() { ls -a1s $color ${*:-} | sort -nr; }

   #+end_src

** Aliases for viewing the newest file in a directoy
   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export

   function nf ()
   {
       # list the newest file in the current directory
       NF=`find ${1:-.} -maxdepth 1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0 ls -1t  |  head -1;`;
       echo ${NF:-/dev/null} | sed "s/ /\\\ /g"
   }


   # new file tail file
   function nftf { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs tail -f  ; }

   # new file tail
   function nft { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs tail  ; }

   # new file head
   function nfh { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs head  ; }

   # new file less
   function nfl { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs less  ; }

   # new file cat
   function nfc { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs cat  ; }

   # new file ls
   function nfls { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs ls -A1t  ; }

   # new file ls -l
   function nflsl { NF=`nf ${1:-.}`; debug NF $NF;  echo "$NF" | xargs
   ls -Atl  ; }
   #+end_src

** viewing files
   Notes on setting up file/mime type associations can be found at

   https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/77136/xdg-open-default-applications-behavior

   So, to make emacs (what else?) the default for MIME type
   =text/plain= ...

   #+begin_example
   locate -r 'emacs.*\.desktop'
   xdg-mime default emacs.desktop text/plain
   #+end_example

   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export
   if [[  ! -z "`which xdg-open`" ]]; then alias open='xdg-open '; fi
   #+end_src

** All done
   #+begin_src shell :tangle .bashrc :noweb no-export
   touch $HOME/.bashrc-ran
   debug ".bashrc done"
   #+end_src

Congratulations for reading this far. Go forth and write literate programs.

Posts 38 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/.

This was about 10 years before the world wide web … maybe Berners-Lee got some inspiration on the name from Knuth? Or Sir Walter Scott: “‘Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive” ↩︎

What a day for a daydream

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

“Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention…”

This piece began as some thoughts on “attention” and wound up as reflections on daydreams. I think I’m a fan of daydreaming.

1 Attention

Attention is a finite commodity. You only have so much attention to give in your life, in your day. Parents want your attention. Brothers and sisters and friends want your attention. Teachers want your attention. Employers want your attention. Politicians want your attention. Social media wants your attention. And, of course, advertisers¹ want your attention (the most literal translation of the Latin roots of the word “advertisers” would be rendered “turn-toward-ers”)

Sometimes there is a reward (punishment) for your attention (in-attention). Sometimes you are just “had” and your money goes away with your attention, never to return.

You never get your attention back once you’ve given it. You can’t create more attention. You can’t save attention. You can waste attention. You can fragment attention. You can destroy attention.

Attention is a precious, irreplaceable commodity. Guard it. Use it wisely.

Which leads to…

2 Daydreams

We say daydreamers are “lost in their own thoughts”. They don’t do the things other people want them to do. They don’t give their attention to things other people think they should give their attention to.

But (some) dreamers change the world.

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.

T.E. Lawrence, https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._E._Lawrence

Daydreamers are “their own people”. And that bothers people who want them to be somebody else, to pay attention to certain other things.

3 One daydreamer

This may not be “the perfect blog post”. It may not have the perfect structure and flow. It may not end concise advice you can live by and a nice list of actionable items.

I’ve going to end it with a quote from a daydreamer who was torn apart for 40 years by demands on his attention from school teachers, societal norms, family, fans who loved him, people who hated him, the music industry, his band-mates, religious teachers, artists, social causes, politicians, the media and lawyers:

...

People say I'm lazy
Dreaming my life away
Well they give me all kinds of advice
Designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall
"Don't you miss the big time boy, you're no longer on the ball?"

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

I just had to let it go

J. Lennon, Father, "house-husband" and bread-maker, 1980

Dream on.

Post 37 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

ADS stands for “Attention Distraction Syndrome” ↩︎

All we are saying, is give init.el a chance

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

On this Armistice Day, 2020, commemorating the end of “The war to end all wars” 119 years ago, I reflect that if the whole world were busy fiddling with their emacs configs there would be no more war. Well… so the treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations did not work out as planned…so maybe we look for community in the small instead.

There is community that has grown out of research labs in Boston (a city notable for its contribution to the birth of other well known communities). Some of the well known members of the community that I am acquainted with include a Chinese programmer living in Palo Alto, a philosophy major in France, an Astronomy professor in the Netherlands, a programmer in New Zealand, a Fin living in the United states and a Filipina mother of a 4 year old living in Canada and of course it’s founder, still in Boston.

All we are saying, is give init.el a chance.

Post 36 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

Nixon's The One !!!

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

For those who remember the “All in the family” sitcom:

Mister, we could use a man like Richard Nixon again

Figure 1: “Richard Nixon” by History In An Hour is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Richard Nixon lost the 1960 election to John F. Kennedy in the closest (popular) election of the 20th century. There was a credible case to be made that voting irregularities in Chicago (read, the Richard Daley political machine) and Texas put Kennedy over the top (in the electoral college). And yet…

On Wednesday afternoon, November 9, 1960, Nixon officially conceded the election to Kennedy. He told his friend, journalist Earl Mazo, that “our country cannot afford the agony of a constitutional crisis.”

https://www.constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-drama-behind-president-kennedys-1960-election-win/

On this election day 2020, I reflect, in all seriousness that “We could use a man like Richard ‘I am not a crook’ Milhouse Nixon again”, a man with the character, morals and civic pride to put the interests of the country above his own.

Post 35 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

History: escape to the past or lessons for the present?

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve always liked history. And because the un-examined predilection is not worth having (γνῶθι σεαυτόν), I turn to Livy to understand it:

This I hold to be the chief value and reward of history, to have examples of all kinds set forth as an illustrious record, from which you may choose what is worthy of imitation in public and private life, and what is to be shunned as wrong in inception and ruinous in outcome

Livy, Preface to History of Rome.

Quoted from “Classics In Translation: Volume II, Latin Literature”, MacKendrick and Howe, 1982

So, history provides examples for present living. It provides a moral and practical purpose, helping to guide our interactions with others in the present, but also…

To me on the contrary it is one of the rewards of my labors to turn away for a little while from the multitude of evils which our own age has witnessed, and to give my whole mind to those earlier times, released from every care or consideration by which the historian’s mind might be troubled and distracted, if not deflected from the pursuit of truth.

Livy, Preface to History of Rome.

Quoted from “Classics In Translation: Volume II, Latin Literature”, MacKendrick and Howe, 1982

The study of history can also provide a private, personal escape from the calamities and confusion of the present.

And of course, there can be value in loving or doing a thing for it’s own sake. Without such passions, life becomes meaningless drudgery. That said, here, from this morning’s introspection, are a few more possible reasons I might be fascinated with history. History can be:

an escape
a “safe place”
a source of examples for living in the world today
a place to find idealized people and institutions (that may never have actually existed in the form we visualize)
something fixed in a changing world
a place where we know the outcomes
a place where we can approach the world in the third person
something to give context and explanations to our current beliefs
a place where we do not have to enter into personal conflict
a collection of interesting stories

And, yes, I do have one son studying to be a History/Social Studies teacher and another who has devoured the western cannon. The apples do not fall far from the tree.

Post 34 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

Joy in the sorrows of others?

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

“Why is it that man desires to be made sad, beholding miserable and tragic things which he himself would by no means wish to suffer? Yet he desires as a spectator to feel sorrow, and this sorrow is his pleasure…”

Was this guy watching too much news, political mudslinging or maybe just hanging out on Facebook?

No, this was Augustine in “The Confessions” circa AD 397 talking about his youthful fascination with stage plays. People have not changed. I have the same desire to feed on doom and gloom. It’s not healthy.

So, what do you do? My answers have included unplugging from thew news (never owning a TV by choice), becoming very intentionally and deliberately apolitical, turning off Facebook (2016) and Twitter (2020) as they became political cesspools and conduits for voyeuristic negativity (e.g. “news”) to creep back in to my life.

But humans don’t change. I have not changed. I just choose to remove the fire-hoses delivering gloom and tragedy to me 24x7. It will find me again, and I will have to make more choices to cut it out.

““Always look on the bright side of life”

Monty Python, Life of Brian

Well, yes.

The Monty Python song embraces an outlook that sees a world full of bad things, and that it views, in the end, as meaningless and absurd (see their next movie, “The Meaning of Life” or John Cleese’ most recent (2020) one man show “Why There Is No Hope” in which they drive the point home)

Augustine himself passed through a period where he embraced skepticism…literally the Greek philosophy of Skepticism that doubted everything, including the existence and know-ability of meaning itself. But he went further.

It’s not enough to create a vacuum, to get rid of the bad, the negative. A vacuum will always be filled. My answer is to try to go where Augustine wound up as articulated by the Apostle Paul:

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:8, NASB

What are you allowing to fill your vacuum ?

Post 33 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/ (yeah, I’m going slowly)

Hello twtxt

Sat, 17 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

And in the to-simple-to-be-true category…

twtxt is a decentralised, minimalist microblogging service for hackers.

https://twtxt.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/intro.html

$ twtxt tweet "Is there anybody out there, just nod if you can hear me"

Install twtxt

pip3 install twtxt

Configure twtxt

twtxt config
...
 $ cat ~/.config/twtxt/config
[twtxt]
nick = gmj
twtfile = /home/gmj/twtxt.txt
twturl = http://www.port111.com/george/twtxt.txt
disclose_identity = True
character_limit = 140
character_warning = 140

[following]
twtxt = https://buckket.org/twtxt_news.txt
adiabatic = https://www.frogorbits.com/twtxt.txt
beyond = https://enotty.dk/beyond.txt
jcolag = https://john.colagioia.net/twtxt.txt
vain = https://www.uninformativ.de/twtxt.txt
prologic = https://twtxt.net/user/prologic/twtxt.txt
antonio = https://twtxt.net/user/antonio/twtxt.txt

Post some tweets

$ twtxt tweet  This is incredible.  Simple.  Text.  Decentralized :-\)
$ twtxt tweet  There is life after twitter.  http://curious.galthub.com/blog/goodbye-twitter/
$ twtxt tweet Thanks @prologic

Push my twtxt.txt file to the server (dropbox, github, s3 buckets, etc would do…anything with a public URL)

scp twtxt.txt gmj@port111.com:~/public_html/george/twtxt.txt

Follow someone:

twtxt follow prologic https://twtxt.net/user/prologic/twtxt.txt

Read your timeline

$ twtxt timeline

Some of the docs

https://twtxt.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/usage.html

https://twtxt.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html

And if you want a browser based interface that does threading, etc (BUT requires a login…)

https://twtxt.net/

Day 32 of #100DaysToOffload.

Goodbye Twitter

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

1 1 of 2

Goodbye twitter. In 2016 Facebook got too political so I dropped it. Now, Twitter. You can reach me as gmj AT pobox DOT com. Please drop an email if you to stay in touch. I blog semi-regularly at http://curious.galthub.com/.

2 2 of 2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon_(software) is a free, open source, ad-free, distributed twitter-like thing. No corporation algorithmically manipulates your timeline and AUPs are set by the community. I’m on the https://fosstodon.org instance.

Source Code Distribution From Printouts to Github

Sat, 10 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Source code distribution has changed over the years. Today we all love (hate?) git, github and friends, but, believe it or not there were ways to distribute source code even before the Internet. In fact, this was the world in which the GNU Public License was created. Below are a few of the ways I’ve gotten/transferred source code through the years, in something like chronological order

Figure 1: Code on the Europython 2009 bag" by Thomas Guest is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Post 31 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

Print Outs: Paper. Yes, paper. My first memories of source code (late 70s) include source listing of BASIC programs printed on ASR-33 Teletypes. I also have memories of a large stack of “green bar” printouts at home (again, c.a. 78 or 79) that I think where the printouts of Emacs (TECO emacs, the original, before GNU) that my brother probably brought home from Carnegie-Mellon where he went as an undergrad.
Paper Tape: The ASR-33s had paper tape punches on the side. You could punch your programs onto tape and read them back in. It was 8-bit ASCII. At one point, I think my brother could read the ASCII by looking at the tape.
Cards: Early in college (80, 81) I actually punched cards for a class or two. You could duplicate cards. No cheating on that programming assignment now !
BYTE Magazine: Gamers of yore bought BYTE Magazine (and others), in part to get the source code listings that they could then type in.
ACM, Knuth: And of course there were textbooks such as Kunths (to this day unfinished) “The Art of Computer Programming” and ACM publications. Steve Wilhite used an algorithm published in ACM as part of GIF…of course anything printed was in the public domain, right? … well, no. We were all still learning about and in some cases defining the legal status of software then, right along with GNU/FSF.

USENET News

In the late 80s, MIT project Athena periodically posted the source code to X-Windows to the USENET news group comp.sources.x. If you were on a USENET site that “took a feed” of that newsgroup (usually over modems not faster than 9600baud), to get the latest source to X, you watched the news group (using readnews, rn or some other “newsreader” program), saved off the individual pieces from each post, reassembled and then extracted the code. The (large) distro was compressed and broken up into many pieces, and re-assembling them often involved the use of uudecode, shar, patch, tar, and programs to decompress (pretty sure gzip was not a thing yet). Of course, you had to grab them before your news site expired the articles (spool space was limited, and space was shared with rec.humor.funny and other essential news groups). Heaven help you if you missed one piece. No bit-torrent for you to find the missing pieces. You got one shot from one source in a limited time window.

UUCP

UUCP being “unix to unix copy”, you could literally issue a copy command of source known to live on a remote system something like

uucp cbosgd!/archive/hdb-uucp.tar.gz hdb-uucp.tar.gz

with multi-hop paths being possible…if you knew the topology (pathalias !) and the filenames.

mag tape

Then there was the time I was in Boston (visiting Encore computer?). I took a blank 9-track tape, arranged to stop by MIT, was given a personal tour of the labs, show the locked room where the all-important KDC (forerunner of Microsoft’s domain controllers) was kept, and got a copy of the latest Athena source (X, Kerberos, Hesiod, etc.) dumped to tape. This was getting software, the easy way.

DECUS tapes

Tapes were a thing for quite a while. early on users of DEC computers created and distributed “decus tapes”, which were user-contributed collections of software. If the VAX/VMS bulletin board system I created in FORTRAN-77 around 1983 exists anywhere in the world, it’s probably in the archive of DECUS tapes. This is one example of collections of user-generated software that grew into the software archives we came to know later. I think the IBM SHARE user group had similar collections. The programs (games, etc) distributed with BSD Unix formed another set. DistroWatch is one web site in this vein today.

Floppies

With the advent of the PC (early, mid 80s) floppies became a thing. I purchased a copy of the Mark Williams C compiler for DOS just to get the public-domain source to MicroEmacs which I then ported to the Amiga. Of course, with floppies came boot sector viruses and the security wars were on. Later issues of BYTE sometimes shipped with floppies of source so you didn’t have to type it in.

Email

Yes, you could always use tar, shar(1), uuencode(1) and friends to email source code. Email has been a workhorse for something like 40 years, not just for communication but as the file transfer method of last (first?) resort.

CompuServe (and other) Forums

I ran (“SYSOPed” the CompuServe Unix Forum for a few years. I think we/I may have invented the file suffix “.tgz” to stand for “gzip tar” archive (because the forums could not deal with multiple suffixes, as in .tar.gz). We had source code available for download. The Forums were just CompuServe’s version of the local dial-up BBS and many other similar message/download systems.

FTP

As Internet connectivity started becoming common (at least in universities, government and some larger corporations), a number of “well known” FTP sites where created (often at well connected UUCP sites) that collected and offered source downloads. UUNET and WUSTL (Washington Univerity at St. Louis) being some of the larger ones (there is still a version of FTP server software, wu-ftp available for Linux)

Source Code Control Systems

As Internet connectivity became a thing, source code control systems such as cvs, svn, mercurial and friends started being used on local networks and it became possible to use them over the Internet. They also solved a lot of the collaboration, version control and release management issues that are important for projects of any size.

SourceForge

Sourceforge gets honorable mention as a precursor to github and friends. In the early 2000s it hosted many open source projects. I initially hosted NCAT there which became the Center for Internet Security’s Router Audit Tool.

“My name is Legion, for we are many”

Git is a good thing. Really. Today we have github, gitlab, dropbox and thousands of other options for getting and sharing source code, some of which even work reasonably well.

The world has changed. It really is a better place. No more trolling the USENET News feed spool. No more trips to MIT, tape in hand. No more hoping ftp.uu.net has the latest version. Go forth and hack.

Privacy: The view from 1987 and Antiquity - or why I'm deleting Google,Facebook and Twitter

Sun, 04 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

1 “A History of Private Life”

There is, I think, an urgent need to protect the essence of individuality from headlong technological progress. For unless we are careful, individual men and women may soon be reduced to little more than numbers in immense and terrifying data bank.

Georges Duby, Forward to A History of Private Life, 1987

I’m in the process of deleting Facebook, Twitter and Google from my life. I think Duby et al. were on to something a little ahead of their time.

Figure 1: A History of Private Life

Post 30 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

2 What’s bothering me

It takes a lot of work to change your email provider of 15 years. You loose contacts when you ditch Facebook (that guy I’ve not seen since 3rd grade..). Twitter is, well, a thing. Just ask the President (’nuf said ?) So why go the trouble? What is it about privacy that gets me and so many people spun up to the point that we will spend time fighting what is almost certainly a loosing battle against Big Brother, Big Internet and Big Advertising?

There are many reasons, but I think they all center around what it means to be human:

We want to be left alone sometimes
We want space to be ourselves
We want our thoughts to be our thoughts (and we want to have them before the machine learning algorithms that are tracking us have them)
We want the freedom to think, act, feel, love and hate ("Odi et amo …") as we see fit, at least inside our own heads
We want to be able to work out life for ourselves
We want space to think, to grow, to make mistakes and correct them, or even to be free to persist in our chosen errors and delusions. “To err is human…”

Something about using the current set of “free” Big Internet offerings where, “If you’re not paying for it you ARE the product” violates the space we so desperately need.

3 Back to the big thinkers

Enough of my ramblings. Back to the deep thinkers who put together the encyclopedic A History of Private Life in 1987 without (gasp) Google or anything better than a IBM-PC running DOS…

…at all times and in all places a clear commonsensical distinction has been made the public — that which is open to the community and subject to the authority of its magistrates — and the private. In other words, a clearly defined realm is set aside for that part of existence for which every language has a word equivalent to “private”, a zone of immunity to which we may fall back or retreat, a place where we may set aside arms and armor needed in the public place, relax, take our ease, and lie about unshielded…this is the place where the family thrives, the realm of domesticity; it is also the realm of secrecy. The private realm contains our most precious possessions, which belong only to ourselves, which concern nobody else, and which may not be divulged…

Georges Duby, Forward to A History of Private Life, 1987

Is he right? Do you have the space you need to “protect the essence of individuality from headlong technological progress”?

Privacy: Motion activated cameras in the woods?

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I recently went backpacking on the Appalachian Trail in Massachusetts. One of the reasons I go out is to “get away”, to go “off the grid”, to enjoy nature and get away from adds, trackers, social media, etc.

But a funny thing happened at my last campsite. There was a camera strapped to a tree taking my picture every time I put my food in or out of the “bear box”. The sign on the camera, in addition to asking us not disturb the camera (duct tape, anyone ?) assured us that they were only using the images to track bear activity at the campsite and the images would be destroyed after being used for their intended purpose. Right. They would not be fed to facial recognition software, and the results would not be passed to law enforcement. Right.

Figure 1: “Caméra de vidéo-surveillance” by zigazou76 is licensed under CC BY 2.0

In addition to that, many hikers now use the “Guthook” app to track their progress, find distance to water, etc. It has social media-like features that let you leave messages to help other hikers like “there is a good stealth campsite at this stream…”. And such comments suggesting helpful, but sometimes over the official line actions, which are absolutely not being monitored by park officials (looking at you Smokies, Baxter) and others concerned with keeping everyone strictly in line with the mountains of rules made by people sitting at desks who have NOT just hiked 8 to 12 hours a day for days on end and have no appreciation of or sympathy for realities in the field.

Mind you, I’m all for Leave No Trace, minimizing impact, ensuring that others have the same opportunities I crave to enjoy nature, not killing cute little animals out of sheer cruelty, etc, but…

"Signs, signs, everywhere there's signs,
blocking out the scenery, blowing my mind,
saying 'Do this, don't do that'
Can't you read the signs?"

Signs, The Five Man Electrical Band
https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/five-man-electrical-band/signs

Code Snippet 1: foo Signs

The point is that our information-obsessed, always-connected, bureaucratic society will not even leave you alone, even in the woods. Thoreau, Muir, Audubon: meet the panopticon.

Post 29 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

Privacy: what is it and why do we care? …

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In this world where Big Internet firms track you to sell you stuff (and to sell YOU), big Government tracks you because, well, they can, and where I found myself on a motion activated camera when backpacking alone in the “backcountry” in an attempt to “get away from it all”, I’ve spend some time thinking about privacy.

Life is short. I could spend a lot of time registering domain names, managing certificates, running my own mail server, de-googling, convincing my friends and family to use nifty new security and privacy apps, and generally fighting the privacy fight as an individual against entire well-funded industries and governments. Or I could just live my life secure in the knowledge that Google and Amazon know what I’m thinking of purchasing even before I do.

This is the first in what will probably be a series of blog posts exploring the following (current outline):

**** TODO Privacy: Motion activated cameras strapped to trees in the woods?
**** TODO Privacy: An attainable end state? A lost cause?
**** TODO Privacy: A path to making a living via bureaucracy?
**** TODO Privacy: Something to rant about ... with words.
**** TODO Privacy: Rage against the machine ... with code?
**** TODO Privacy: Hiding out on the digital frontier?
**** TODO Privacy: A process, an ideal, one part of life?

Stay tuned.

Post 28 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

AT Hiking 2020: 1500 miles down, 700 to go

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

1500 miles down, 700 to go to finish section hiking the Appalachian Trail with 215 miles completed this year in 3 trips.

Of course, I have some of the hardest miles left: the Smokies, Mt. Washington, the Whites, the Presidentials, the Bigelows, but with persistence, luck, health, constant gear tweaks (and some HARD hiking) I should finish in a few years.

Figure 1: Miles to go before I sleep

#100daystooffload #hiking

1 9/6 - 9/12/2020 Bennington VT to Great Barrington, Mass (Rt. 23)

82 miles, 6 nights.

Figure 2: View From The Cobbles, Mt. Greylock, Cheshire Mass (in valley)

From Sunday 2020-09-06 to Saturday 2020-09-12 I hiked 82 miles SOBO on the Appalachian Trail from Bennington, VT (VT 9) to Great Barrington, Mass (Mass 23). Highlights (high point) of the trip included Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Mass, the lovely town campsite in Cheshire, Mass, Camping by a beaver dam Sunday night and seeing Moose in the morning, lots of beaver dams/bogs, staying 2 nights (Thursday, Saturday before driving home) at the Berkshire Lakeside Lodge, a lovely little motel .2 off the trail, and, of course, lots of hiking and people. Resupply in Dalton, Mass at the Post Office. Chocolate shake and meatball grinder in Cheshire. Pizza and milk in Dalton. Magic coming down to 20 Thursday in the most-of-the day rain. The weather, except for Thursday rain, was excellent. Upper 50s to lower 80s.

Pre-trip I stopped at a Legend Of Sleepy Hollow/Rip Van Winkle site, and just down the road the Martin Van Buren home, a short hike in Philmont (!), NY to a high waterfall that people were swimming under, saw some wild turkeys. Stayed at the Days Inn in Great Barrington and got a shuttle Sunday morning from Debbie Andrus

Post trip, I went back to the Berkshire Lakeside Lodge. I’d spent time in the area. Normal Rockwell museum. Lakes. Tanglewood music festival (Boston Symphony summer series). Shaker village (I camped at the ““Shaker Campsite””). West Stockbridge is a lovely little town. It has the ““TurnPark””, an outdoor interactive art park where I met one of the artists (cutting the weeds). Good food. Probably expensive and crowded in a non-COVID high season. "

2 7/3-7/4/2020 Davenport Gap to Hot Springs

33.9 miles, 1 night

Figure 3: View From Max Patch in the Morning

Breakfast at diner. Shuttle to I-40. Lost 1 - 1.5 hours because shuttle driver (NYC guy) was a slave to his GPS, would not just hop on 40. On trail at 10. Made it to Max Patch about 6. UP HILL. I was shot. July 3 on the summit was a mob scene. I camped 1/2 mile short. Tried cold dinner (mashed potatoes + stuffing + chicken). Meh. Went up for sunset, and again just after sunrise. Bueatiful. Hiked 21 back into Hot Springs. Hiked a little way with 2 girls from Tucker/Stone Mountain, GA (where my wife went to school). Hit town. Liquid. Shower. DROVE to store. White Castles. Bed. Drove home. %65.1 of trail done.

3 6/17-6/24/2020 Hughs Gap to Hot Springs

99 Miles, 7 nights.

Figure 4: Rob Bird provided “Trail Magic” 2 hikes in a row

“Mountian Squid” joined me for the first 3 miles. Ran into 2 older Russian couples who were out for the first time. Hiked with the owner of https://www.flowmarshall.com/ gallary in Marshall, NC and her British husband for a bit. Stayed at Uncle Johnnies 1st night, shuttled to Hughs Gap. Stayed at Uncle Johhnies 3rd night, resupplied, hiked on to Hot Springs. 20 into hot springs from Laurel Fork. Zeroed at Laughing Heart hostle, shuttled back to Irwin to get car, drove, car broke down in Wythville (axel), rented a car, came home, started a new job, went back to Wythville Wednesday night. Got car Thursday drove back to Hot Springs/Laughing Heart, run by “Chuck Norris” and “Tigger” … former Jesuit retreat center/hostel. Great place. Got food in Hot Springs hiking in. Big hill/rock steps coming down.

Post 26 #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

What is that thing on the Internet, and is it bad?

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

When talking about Internet assets we often confuse “What is it?”, “Is it bad?” and “What should I do about it?”. This write-up intends to show why it is important to keep those questions and answers to them separate.

Figure 1: The Shape of the Elephant

Post 27 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

1 Questions to ask

When identifying Internet-based assets, there are a series of basic questions¹ that need to answered:

What is it?
How do I know?
How certain am I?
Is it “bad”?
- depends on who you are
- depends on time
What can I do about it?

2 An Example: Web servers serving pages with flash

One example can be used to illustrate the point: web servers serving content with Adobe Flash (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash).

Flash is an older web technology that has known security vulnerabilities, is deprecated (Adobe to stop supporting it on 12/31/2020) and has been replace by HTML5.

Let’s classify it using the questions above, assuming we have scanned a web site and pulled back the HTML body of the main page via an HTTP GET request:

What is it?: A web server serving pages with flash.
How do I know?: We see files with .swf extensions embedded in javascript returned as part of the web page, e.g.

var swfpath="/e/data/images/pixviewer.swf

How certain am I?: Your signatures may vary. There are other strings you can look for such as:

application/x-shockwave-flash

http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer

You might start with a google search for

intext:http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer

It’s just a question of how much time you want to put into developing the signature. For some things (HTML) there is a lot of ambiguity. For others (TCP, HTTP, SNMP, SSH…) the protocol will not work if the transactions are not well defined. Identification of less well defined protocols is ad hoc based on heuristics. Identification of well defined protocols is more certain. See below.

Is it “bad”? It depends.

Once we’ve answered the “what is it” question, you can begin to address the “is it bad” question and possibly it’s corollary “how bad is it?” (not addressed here). Lets return to our flash example. It turns out Chinese web sites are a large current (2020-09-17) source of flash on the web. A security products vendor also uses a lot of flash on their login page.

‘Is it bad?’ depends on who you are
1. Chinese government? Maybe you WANT people to download vulnerable software to enhance your ability to monitor citizens activity.
2. Chinese human rights activist? You probably don’t want known vulnerable software on your computer.
3. Security vendor? Forcing your security minded customers to download and run known vulnerable software as part of logging into your security web site is, at best, bad form.
‘Is it bad?’ “Is it bad” “depends on time When did vulnerabilities in the product become widely known (e.g. a CVE published)? When was “proof of concept” exploit code available? When are/were patches/upgrades available? …
‘Is it bad?’ depends on where you are Are you at work on a laptop supplied by your employer who has a policy against accessing web sites that use flash? Are you at home or in a lab doing web vulnerability research on a “throwaway” machine…

What can I do about it?

Lastly, and probably most importantly, the question is “What can I do about it?”. Are there steps I can/should take to fix things that are “bad”? Patch? Upgrade? Choose a different security vendor…?

3 Keep each issue separate, think about them independently

It is important to keep the answers to these questions separate. For instance saying “write some software to find bad things on web servers” presupposes a common definition of “bad”, which, as we’ve seen above can be highly contextual.

It would be far better to keep them separate. For instance, define a taxonomy (see below) to say “what is this”? Then separately devise ways to answer the “is it bad” question for separate environments (countries, organizations, individuals …)

4 Taxonomies, Ontologies and ASCII Art, Oh My !!!

The outline above lists the basic questions. It is possible that there will be a need for a deeper dive/more complete classification. For instance, revisiting what is it? for the web server with flash, we might come up with this taxonomy:

+ open port                      WELL DEFINED, CERTAIN IDENTIFICATION
  + tcp
    + tls                                        ^
      + web server                               |
         + microsoft                             |
           + iis                                 |
             + 7.3                               |
               + services                        |
                 + flash                         v
               + frameworks
                  + dotnet       LESS DEFINED, LESS CERTAIN IDENTIFICATION

Taxonomies help in classifying, understanding and communicating about things, for instance taxonomies (and Latin names) have been used in Biology for hundreds of years. More recently, the cybersecurity world started standardizing vulnerability naming as CVE.

5 Conclusion

When thinking about Internet assets, writing software to detect and classify/fingerprint assets and deciding what to call “bad”, keep the preceding questions in mind and try to keep the questions separate.

6 Disclaimer

The opinions expressed here are mine, and not those of my employer. In fact, they may not even be mine. I may have changed my mind. I may have grown beyond a particular opinion. I may be trolling you. I may be engaging in Socratic dialog to tear down your beliefs. I may be tearing down my own beliefs. γνῶθι σεαυτόν!

Note that these are not randomly chosen questions. They map fairly directly to some of the basic questions of epistemology, morals and ethics. ↩︎

HOWTO: See SOME lines from a file

Tue, 01 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes you want to see the head of a file. Sometimes you want to see the tail. Sometimes you just want to see some lines from a file.

The bash function below gives you some lines:

gmj@ed bash [master] $ cat <<END > lines.txt
> 1
> 2
> 3
> 4
> 5
> 6
> 7
> 8
> 9
> 10
> 11
> 12
> 13
> 14
> 15
> END
gmj@ed bash [master] $ source some.t
sh
gmj@ed bash [master] $
gmj@ed bash [master] $ some -2 lines.txt
14
15
gmj@ed bash [master] $ some -2 lines.txt
9
10
gmj@ed bash [master] $ some -2 lines.txt
6
7
gmj@ed bash [master] $ cat some.sh

function some {
    # Functon to print "some" lines of a file, like head or tail but, random start
    #
    # Usage: some [[-#] FILE]

    set -u; # be safe out there

    HOW_MANY=10 # Number of lines to print.  Default.
    FILE="/dev/stdin" # default


    if [ "$#" -eq 0 ]; then
        :
    elif [ "$#" -eq 1 ]; then
        if [[ "$1" =~ -[0-9] ]]; then
            HOW_MANY=`echo "$1" | sed 's/^-//'`
        else
            FILE="$1"
        fi

    elif [ "$#" -eq 2 ]; then
        if [[ "$1" =~ -[0-9] ]]; then
            HOW_MANY=`echo "$1" | sed 's/^-//'`
        else
            echo "some: Usage: some [-# [FILE]]"
            return
        fi

        FILE="$2"
    fi

    # Count the lines to bound display
    LINES=`wc -l $FILE | sed -e 's/ .*//'`

    # pick a random starting line at least HOW_MANY back from the end
    FIRST=$((1 + RANDOM % (LINES - HOW_MANY + 1 )))
    LAST=$((FIRST + HOW_MANY - 1))

    # Let's see some lines !
    awk "NR >= $FIRST && NR <= $LAST" $FILE
}

Post 26 #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

HOWTO: /bin/ed by example

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Below I show an editing session that uses basic /bin/ed commands.

/bin/ed is the standard Unix Editor

ed was written round 1969. It’s still here. grep comes from /bin/ed: g/re/p works as an ed command to search *g*lobally for a *re*gular expression and *p*rint the matching lines. ed commands will be familiar to users of sed, as sed is the “stream editor” with a very similar set of commands. ed commands will be familiar to vi users. If you type “:” in vi, you get, basically, an ed prompt. You can type ed commands (see below) and they work. “vi” is the “visual interface” to ed (or one of it’s successors). Though I am a die hard emacs user, often when I just want to do a quick edit or take some note I just fire up /bin/ed and go….

1 A sample `/bin/ed` session…


gmj@ed tmp [master] $ ed -p: ed-HOWTO-blog.org  # use ":" for the prompt, just like vi
ed-HOWTO-blog.org: No such file or directory
:# append some lines
:a
* Write a blog post about /bin/ed
  /bin/ed is "The standard Unix editor" ... since 1969
  It was written by Richard Stallman

* Show some basic ed commands
  - "a" :: append
  - "p" :: print
  - "s" :: substitute
  - "w" :: write
  - "q" :: quit
  - "." :: end input
:
:# Whoops, Stallman did not write ed
:# go back to line 1
:1
* Write a blog post about /bin/ed
:# make sure we are at line 1
:.=
1
:# find the mistake
:/Stallman/
  It was written by Richard Stallman
:.=
3
:# its on line three
:# fix it
:s/Richard Stallman/Ken Thompson/
:# let's see the fix
:p
  It was written by Ken Thompson
:# let's see the start of the file to here
:1,.p
* Write a blog post about /bin/ed
  /bin/ed is "The standard Unix editor" ... since 1969
  It was written by Ken Thompson
:# OK, looks good, but one more change
:p
  It was written by Ken Thompson
:s/Ken Thompson/Ken Thompson or maybe Dennis Ritchie/p
  It was written by Ken Thompson or maybe Dennis Ritchie
:# let's see the whole file now, it's short
:1,$p
* Write a blog post about /bin/ed
  /bin/ed is "The standard Unix editor" ... since 1969
  It was written by Ken Thompson or maybe Dennis Ritchie

* Show some basic ed commands
  - "a" :: append
  - "p" :: print
  - "s" :: substitute
  - "w" :: write
  - "q" :: quit
  - "." :: end input
:# now lets grep (g/re/p) for lines that contain "ed"
:g/ed/p
* Write a blog post about /bin/ed
  /bin/ed is "The standard Unix editor" ... since 1969
* Show some basic ed commands
:# ok, this looks good.  write and quit
:w
288
:q
gmj@ed tmp [master] $

Post 25 #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

Dad treated people like people. I admire that.

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

When my father was writing letters to faceless, nameless people stuck jobs answering IRS letters, he started with tiles like:

PENALTY OR NO PLENALTY, THAT IS THE QUESTION

Big, bold a the top, and IN CAPS.

When talking to nameless customer service drones on the phone, he always acted as if they were personally empowered, able to make decisions, and as if they were personally invested in their companies mission and in serving him, as their customer. He expected them to be engaged, to take responsibility, to solve problems, and to interact with him as a human being on equal terms.

In a way, this was naive, not recognizing how many people have just been turned in to mindless cogs in the machine. But in a way, it was him insisting on dealing with every human being as a person.

Dad treated people like people, whether they saw themselves that way or not.

I admire that. Thanks, Dad.

Post 24 #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

There's a lot to be said for climbing mountains

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Vulgate (Latin): Matthew Chapter 5

1 Videns autem Jesus turbas, ascendit in montem...

or, roughly (my translation):

Jesus, however, seeing the crowd/mob/political disturbance went up on
the mountain...

The word “turba” per my paper dictionary tends towards a crowd that is politically disturbed. It can also mean an eddy (water) or a child’s spinning top. Per https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/turba#Latin it means…

stir, disturbance, tumult, uproar, trouble
mob, crowd, throng
multitude

The world is like that. You have to get a way to clear your head, to see clearly, to literally “get above it all”. I like going up mountains (of the 1000 to 3000 foot variety in the eastern US).

Apparently, Jesus had this figured out. This was his opening move to set the scene for delivering the most profound sermon in history: “Blessed are the poor in poor in spirit…the meek..the peacemakers…those who thrust and hunger for righteousness…”

Go climb a mountain. See what happens (in your mind) next.

Latin Flash Cards in the 21st century (2773 AUC)

Sun, 23 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Latin flash cards are not what they were in 1983: https://latinlexicon.org.

It’s got a thing where you can pop in a sentence (say, one form Cicro or random #Latin conversations on twitter (yes, they exist)), and you can click on the words (yellow above), it shows you all the possible words that particular inflected word might be and then offers to build flash cards for you…complete with citations/examples from the literature….I know what my Latin reading tool is from here on out.

Post 23 #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

The History Of Rome - nihil novi

Sat, 22 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been listening to “The History of Rome” podcast recently. There is nothing new under the sun: Plagues (er, “pandemics”), riots, xenophobia, wars, greed, ambition, and political factions.

It’s filling in a lot of gaps and details for me. I would recommend if you’re interested in history. Today’s basic problems are not new.

Figure 1: Life-Size Lego Roman Soldier, Lego Store, Rome, 2019

Post 22 #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

Why was Mark Twain’s home town named for a general who ultimately lost? (hit, he spent 10 years wondering around Italy conquering everything but Rome itself and his tactics are still studied in military schools).
Where did Tolkien get the idea for war “Oliphants”? (related to the last question).
What is a Pyrrhic Victory? (hint: the kind you don’t want many of)
What happens when you move from a democratic society made up of a broad base of citizens with wide distribution of wealth (farms) to one where most of the wealth is held in a few hands (hint: Jefferson and the other American founders had seen where that lead and thus championed the idea of the “Yoeman farmer”)
How do you accomplish land (wealth) reform and not get killed? Ask the Gracci, wait, they were both killed. Ask the American Indians, wait, wait…
What happens when the reward structure for civic and military leaders morphs from community-minded civic responsibility to personal power bases and personal enrichment? (you get Caesar … who gave us the basic calendar we use to this day … and then got killed)
Is peace under military dictatorship (the “Pax Romana”) worth the loss of freedom? What have the Romans ever done for us?

40 years of walled gardens & open platforms: Part II

Fri, 21 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Here are some developments in late 70s and early 80s where I started to become aware/involved in “Online” things that eventually evolved into today’s Social Media: Modems¹, BBS systems, TOPS-20 Bulletin Boards, Usenet News and the birth of CompuServe.

Figure 1: Desktop Dial-up

Post 21 #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

Dialup BBS Systems: Once upon a time it was illegal to connect modems (or anything else but AT&T equipment) to the phone network. And that was, basically, the only network. Some time after that changed, dialup Bullitin Board Systems (BBS) arrived. You could dial up and connect to a BBS running in someone’s house often connected to the only line (the home phone). Mom and Dad may have wondered at first why they picked up a call and heard awful electronic squawking noises rather than someone saying “Hello”. Once on, you could leave messages, read messages, etc. Communities formed this way.
TOPS-20 Bulletin Boards: I’m not sure, but my first exposure to bulletin boards and email (“social media”) was probably on the Ohio State DecSystem-20. I had friends who worked there, and we later went to school there and thus had a “legitimate” accounts. The world and software I remember is describe well here http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/dec20.html. Kermit (the project that the authors of this article ran) was a very important piece of software for 10-15 years, a workhorse of moving files across dial-up phone connections.
Usenet News: Social media c.a. 1980. Usenet was (is) a system that moves messages (posts) between connected computers. In the beginning this was dial-up lines. Mostly between universities and research institutions and, of course, AT&T/Bell Labs etc. For a while the USENET “backbone” (the long haul links, the well connected sites) were run by an unofficial cabal internally at AT&T (because they had free access to “long lines”) and traffic was farmed out to local sites (universities) for further distribution. It was the quintessential “old boy” network. To connect, you had to know someone and convince them to “give you a feed”. I was on sometime from the mid-80s on. A few ?representative? newsgroups: comp.sources.amiga, rec.humor.funny alt.ensign.wesley.die.die.die
CompuServe: Dialup+Network+Dec10s == Information Service: CompuServe (“Online Services”) was born in this world. People started having “Personal Computers” in the late 70s and early 80s. Modems started becoming a thing. While Usenet, BBS systems, Fido-net and friends started using these technologies to connect people in non-commercial settings, Compu$erve started to do so in a commercial setting. CompuServe had been running a nationwide packet switching network since 1972 (take that, ARPANET !), had been selling business oriented computing services, and time sharing on its DecSystem10’s accessed via that network as well as growing raft of dial-up modem pools, conveniently located in H&R Block offices around the country at a time when having “Local” numbers was important (long distance was expensive). This was the 1970s version of “Cloud Computing”. Business use slacked off at night, so what was a good time-sharing company to do? Why start an Information Service that grew into the familiar lineup of “Forums” (BBS), “InfoPlex” (email), “CB” (chat/Aim/IRC), and the recurring services that every online service, search engine and social network eventually devolves to: News, Weather, and Sports. I think the online service started around 1980. I began working there in 1985. More from the CompuPerspective as these posts progress.

Modem picture courtesy of: “Dial-a-Grue” by Digital Game Museum is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ ↩︎

Disclaimer

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The opinions expressed in this [FOO] are mine, and not those of my employer. In fact, they may not even be mine. I may have changed my mind. I may have grown beyond a particular opinion. I may be trolling you. I may be engaging in Socratic dialog to tear down your beliefs. I may be tearing down my own beliefs. γνῶθι σεαυτόν!

40 years of walled gardens & open platforms: Part I

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This the first in a series of articles where I do a brain dump pf something like 40 years experience with “social media” of various forms: Dial-up BBSs, Fidonet, Usenet, IRC, CompuServe, AOL, Slashdot, Sourceforge, blogspot, Facebook, Jabber, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Mastadon “…we didn’t start the fire (flame-war?)…” OK, maybe we did.

I hope this is useful, or at least interesting. It may wind up just being a mix of introspection, hubris or narcissism, it may be part of working up the nerve to quit Twitter as I quit Facebook in 2016, maybe I’ll even work up the nerve to go cold turkey as tychi is doing.

Figure 1: RS-232 pin-outs

Post 20 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

1 Before my time

To being with, we need to set the stage. We’re here. Now. How did we get here? What went before? Understanding these might help us both to live in the world as we find it and figure out how to move forward.

‘- - - … - - -’: Yesterday, <2020-08-16 Sun> was the 100th anniversary of the first trans-Atlantic telegram: https://cryptologicfoundation.org/what-we-do/educate/bytes/this_day_in_history_calendar.html/event/2020/08/16/1597554000/1858-early-telegraph-communications/77123 In a very real sense, the telegram was the beginning our digital age.
Telegraphs, Phones, Blind Kids and Steve Jobs: Phil Lapsley wrote a fascinating book called “Explode The Phone”. It is fascinating story of technology and hacking culture from telegraphs to somewhere after Steve Jobs and Woz were going door to door in the Berkeley dorms selling little black boxes. Phil gave a keynote at USENIX Security one year and I was there and talked to him a bit … part of his passion was to record the “Phone Phreak” culture that lead directly to the modern “Hacking” (good sense) culture while enough of the principals were still around. I talked to “Captin Crunch”, one of the main subjects of the book at ToorCon one year. What a character. The entire hacker/blackhat/freedom-to-tinker movements (and Apple Computer) owe him homage. Just don’t give him a piggy-back ride. Phil was also the author of Network News Transport Protocl (NNTP) for for Usenet and we may get to why Usenet, pathalias, GNUS and friends may or may not have been a good idea in later posts.

I want to pick up the story where I have personal history and Phil’s book, conveniently runs right up to about that point.

I guess one of my goals parallels his: to document bits of how we got to the “Social Media” (and “walled gardens”) of today, as I’ve live through and been a small player in bits of it.

Publishing a blog on Github with Org and Hugo

Sun, 16 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

If you ever thought to yourself, “Gee, Emacs Org mode is a great outlining and authoring tool, and I wish there were a powerful and simple way use it to publish static websites on github or in S3 buckets, I wish my blog could look as slick ast http://curious.galthub.com/” your’re in luck, All but the simple part. Here are some of the references I used.

Post 19 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

1 Potential ox-hugo sites to copy

1.1 The Art Of Not Asking Why

I started by looking for sample web sites to copy by perusing the sites on this list https://ox-hugo.scripter.co/doc/examples/

I found the following

Site: https://joshrollinswrites.com/
Source: https://github.com/jarss/TAONAW/tree/master

Josh has been great in answering the odd question. His blog is interesting too !!! He accepts paypal…

2 General Info on Hugo, Ox-Hugo and github pages

Then I did some reading (this is where the not simple part comes in) on the following sites

hugo getting started

https://gohugo.io/getting-started/quick-start/

hosting a blog on github pages

https://gohugo.io/hosting-and-deployment/hosting-on-github/

github pages

https://pages.github.com/

HOWTO with Hugo and github pages

https://medium.com/swlh/hosting-a-hugo-blog-on-github-pages-with-travis-ci-e74a1d686f10

Org mode hugo exporter

https://ox-hugo.scripter.co/

I’ll probably go here, but it seems like a bit much to start…
Maybe learn the un-automated way first?

About Hugo

https://people.umass.edu/weikaichen/post/emacs-ox-hugo/

About blogging with Hugo

https://www.shanesveller.com/blog/2018/02/13/blogging-with-org-mode-and-ox-hugo/

3 The results

You’re looking at the results: http://curious.galthub.com/, this and other posts. It took a couple deep dives to understand it, but I think I more-or-less have it, and it is a very seamless integration wtih Org-Mode, which for some of us closes the deal even if there is pain involved

4 Bonus: Twitter cards

And for bonus points I did reading on how to add twitter card support to ox-hugo bog posts, e.g., so you can write your post and have twitter or other sites (such as Mastadon) that understand the format pull the title, intro and possibly an image to post in the web sit.

4.1 Twitter Cards: HOWTO, the short story

Short version: if you drop twitter_cards.html in layouts/partials/ of your blog, you then just write your blog, publish it, and past the URL into the https://cards-dev.twitter.com/validator to make sure it’s going to work when posted

4.2 Twitter Cards: More than you ever wanted to know, the long story.

Twitter Cards: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/twitter-cards/
Twitter cards in ox-hugo: https://ox-hugo.scripter.co/doc/org-toc/
Twitter cards in Hugo: https://gohugo.io/templates/internal/
Twitter cards partials for Hugo: https://gohugohq.com/partials/twitter-cards-partials-for-hugo/
Ttitter card, ox-hugo discussion: https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/solved-help-with-twitter-card-image/14067
about hugo partials: https://gohugo.io/templates/partials/

5 How to publish: files, settings, process

And, finally the gory details of actually publishing.

These are raw/WIP notes, but mostly right. They actually publish this blog.

5.1 Important Files and Directories

/home/gmj/public/github/ox-hugo-blogs/blog/curious.org: The one file to rule them all o This is the blog. All articles live in this one file as separate org trees. This is the “source”.
HUGO_BASE_DIR=/home/gmj/public/github/ox-hugo-blogs/blog: The root of my blog o This is the root/source for the blog. It gets pushed to git@github.com:eludom/blog.git (fetch)
${HUGO_BASE_DIR}/content/: Where local content (markdown) goes, e.g. content/posts/steve.md
${HUGO_BASE_DIR}/docs/: Where the content to publish (html) goes,

5.2 Settings and Organization

5.2.1 Set EXPORT_HUGO_SECTION

In the .org file that is the blog, set EXPORT_HUGO_SECTION to be “Blog” (or in whichever section you want posts to land, default is “posts”)

This is inherited lower level headers in org so

** Blog
   :PROPERTIES:
   :EXPORT_HUGO_SECTION: Blog
   :EXPORT_FILE_NAME:
   :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE:
   :END:

covers things in

* Content
** Blog
*** Work Stuff
*** PUBLISHED Choosy Programmers Choose GIF :Wilhite:CompuServe:GIF:History:Computers:Emacs:Programming:

5.3 Processes

5.3.1 Drafting

TODO start hugo in root directory

hugo server -D

TODO Edit curious.org

Add an entry like this
```
*** WIP Walled Gardens
    :PROPERTIES:
    :EXPORT_HUGO_SECTION: Blog
    :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: walled-gardens
    :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2020-08-11
    :END:



    This is a brain dump on something like 40 years experience with
    "social media" of various forms.
```
EXPORT_HUGO_SECTION : probably not needed if inherited from higher level headline

EXPORT_FILE_NAME : The file name for this post. Could be date.

EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE : Set to the date this post should be “live”. Can be used to schedule “future” posts.

IMPORTANT : Posts with a status of TODO are drafts. WIP or PUBLISHED are “live”

EVEN MORE IMPORTANT : A valid Hugo post subtree is an Org subtree that has the EXPORT_FILE_NAME property set. ox-hugo only exports valid subtrees to markdown. You can draft to your hearts content in subtrees that do not have EXPORT_FILE_NAME set (and maybe export the subtree to text or html to view)

TODO Save

With point in the newly created or updated subtree, save the file.

TODO view at http://localhost:1313/

view the drafts http://localhost:1313/ View the result in your browser

5.3.2 Publishing

run hugo

In the HUGO_BASE_DIR run hugo. The results will be written to “doc/”.

push to github

I host on github.io.

cd doc
git add -A
git commit -m"name of new post"
git push

5.3.3 make sure post is live, looks right

Go to site: http://curious.galthub.com/
It often takes a minute or so after push for things to show up on the web site. You might have to refresh

5.3.4 Add and push the source

cd ..
git status .
git add [new files]
git commit -m"name of new post"

be sure not to add docs/, as that is pushed a a subtree.
possibly move the docs/ tree so that is not subsidiary to the root

6 Conclusion

“I mean, why not just use blogger.com or Wordpress”? Been there done that.

Companies come and go. I ought to know. I started my career working at CompuServe. The forums where apparently finally deleted on 2017. History was lost.

There are issues of control. There are the issues of using tools I like, not the GUI or “download my app” du jour with tracking, ads, monetization, bloat and more.

Plato's Cave: a plea for good leadership

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

You learn things when you read original sources for yourself.

I recently picked up a copy of Plato’s allegory of “The Cave”. I had known some of the highlights of the story before, the shadows on the wall, prisoners thinking that the shadows were reality, since that’s all they ever knew, of one prisoner being taken out to see the sun and seeing the true light, coming back down and trying to, literally, enlighten his fellows, and being thought crazy.

Figure 1: Shadows on the wall

But I had not known the context until reading the original. He was talking about the need for rulers of the state to have a higher vision, to have a view of truth, of the transcendent, to willingly leave the ivory tower, the “Isle of the blessed” if you will, where they desired to spend their whole life in contemplation of the truth, and to willingly go back into the cave to enlighten their brethren and lead with a knowldge of truth, not desiring the mundane (and false) trappings of the world of shadows (power, wealth, leisure, goods) for their own sake and for their own use. Rulers who do not have that vision, and who only focus on this life are bad rulers, and everyone (including the rulers) loose out.

Whereas the truth is that the State in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern [because they would rather be engaged in philosophical pursuits] is always the best and most quietly governed, and the State in which they are most eager, the worst. …

Yes, my friend, I said; and there lies the point. You must contrive for your future rulers another and a better life than that of a ruler, and then you may have a well-ordered State; for only in the State which offers this, will they rule who are truly rich, not in silver and gold, but in virtue and wisdom, which are the true blessings of life. Whereas if they go to the administration of public affairs, poor and hungering after their own private advantage, thinking that hence they are to snatch the chief good, order there can never be; for they will be fighting about office, and the civil and domestic broils which thus arise will be the ruin of the rulers themselves and of the whole State. — Plato, Republic, 8.vii

Where there is no vision, the people perish — Proverbs 29:8, KJV

The science is settled? Who says so?

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I recently picked up reader of samples of important ancient texts that I’ve had for a LONG time and read excerpts from Socrates Apology. Short version:

Oracle of Delphi: “Socrates is the wisest man”
Socrates: Nice hypothesis, Apollo, you may be a god, but let’s test it….
Socrates: Seeks out “The Wise” of his day, Politicians, Poets, Artisans … questions them … has them all expose themselves as blithering idiots.
Socrates: OK, “The Wise” are all blithering idiots. They are not wise. The hypothesis holds … for now.
The Wise: (still mad), Yo, Socrates, here’s some hemlock (poison). Drink up…

There is nothing new under the sun. In the mid 20th century, in response to questions about “what is a science” Karl Popper proposed “falsification” as a way do delineate scientific theories from non-scientific theories. The basic idea is that one counter-example disproves a theory.

Socrates defense (5th century BC) is a clear example of the method Popper had in mind. There is nothing new under the sun. And if we follow Popper and Socrates, “the science” (or the pronouncement of the god) is never “settled”. Conclusions are always tentative and are always just one counter example away from being rejected.

For more on Popper and the “what is a science” question see:

8/7/20

Adding uncertainty in uncertain times

Tue, 30 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

So, when life turns uncertain you have two choices. Cling to things that seem to add stability and certainty, i.e. try to “stay safe”, or embrace the uncertainty, live now, carpe diem, and do things would seem to be fulfilling now.

I’m choosing the latter. At 58, in the middle of a pandemic and social unrest, I’m moving to a startup. The following are notes from a friend who has been playing the silicon valley startup game for a few decades. These are notes-to-self and anybody else who cares from that conversation:

Map out the architecture of the org/org structure (official) vs. what is actually working
Whats the (people) API: theory, practice?
Find “they guy who built it, knows everything”
What is the aspirational architecture vs. what’s really built?
Find “the guy” who has it all in his head, maybe stuff that has not made it to paper. Whiteboard it, write it up.
Most places don’t do that
Look at reality vs. getting stuck in “my teams perspective”
Use systems thinking to figure it all out
Find the “old salts” who know where the bodies are buried, not “official channels”
“First 90 Days”, book
“An elegant puzzle”, book
#1 lesson for all startups: “IT’S ALL ABOUT HOW MUCH CASH YOU HAVE IN THE BANK”
If company is healthy, CFO knows burn rate, want’s whole company to be thinking about it
Health check: how aware are people of cash position?
Build vs. buy
Bailing wire and duct tape?
WATCH BURN RATE, WATCH REVENUE
Valuable people: people who understand tech and that you have to be a functioning business, i.e. you need more $ revenue than you are spending
People should be excited about growth
Watch out for scaling company before projected/actual growth in revenue
Biz/finance folks should be excited about you being interested in finances. Defensiveness is a warning sign. You WANT people who care about $. People share what they are interested in
Working remote, COVID
- open door policy?
- Ask admin assistant “Can I get 1/2 hour on X’s calendar”?
- Have/ask leading questions
- Dig into current, next challenges
- Demonstrate that you are thoughtful and someone who wants to make things work
Most important: GET THINGS DONE
reward/appreciated if you are seen as someone who wants to make things work, shape product
not “staying in my lane”
culture to pass things on, figure out where the holes are, fill them
Each team should have onboarding guide
Whoever was last onboarded updates it
if not, as ?Mentor? to get it
You should have a mentor
there should be a doc that includes “what IT didn’t tell you
“When I build systems, I try to build something with good [benefits?] but light filling” (e.g. don’t over-engineer)
Two bad extremes:
- Try to build something that works now, don’t “boil the ocean”
- Pure agile people…constant refinement, incrementalism.
e.g. you know you need a memory managers. Start with an interface.
People. There are always “a few of ’those’ people”, hard to work with, disrupt everything. Stay away.

#100DaysToOffload stalled, but that's OK

Tue, 09 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

So my attempt at “just blogging something” for 100 straight days as part of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/ has stalled, but that’s OK.

I have a home painting project going that keeps expanding in scope every time I look at it. I’ve gone on a couple weekend backpacking/canoeing trips, and (biggest time sync of all), I’m in the middle of a job change. That sucks down time and energy. Oh yeah, and the country/world is in a little turmoil right now (COVID-19 and protests) which is, to say the least, distracting, disorienting, disturbing, destructive and otherwise detrimental to a simple goal of blogging every day.

Figure 1: The ever-exapanding painting project

That said, I think #100DaysToOffload was (and is) a success for me. I’ve gotten into a “writing mindset.” My paper journaling (started just before COVID-19 hit) continues on a mostly-daily basis. A number of the blog entries I’ve written have spurred conversations with friends. I’ve posted copies of a couple of them on my linked-in feed because I thought they were relevant there.

I seem to be a failure at building a large social media following, but that too is OK. I write what (to me) is interesting, thought provoking stuff and get 3 or 4 “likes” and 10 or 20 people reading it. I guess I’m not cut out to be an “Influencer” or “Thought Leader” (both terms I despise). TED talks anyone?

I am and always have been about one-on-one relationships. The whole idea of broadcast media (you know, TV, Radio) bothers me. You’re just “one-of-the crowd”. But then, hyper-targeted advertising feed by corporate spying and machine learning isn’t much better.

I’ve taken to writing every blog post (except maybe this one :-)) with an individual in mind, kind of like an open letter. I write for one person. Some of the models are Cicero’s letters to his friends and the correspondence John Adams and Thomas Jefferson carried on late in life. As personal letters, the writing can be focused and specific while still dealing with topics of possible general interest. For instance this, http://curious.galthub.com/blog/the-stuff-of-time/ was written for my cousin the family genealogist reflecting on us both having a lot of family “stuff”. And this http://curious.galthub.com/blog/opening-day-2020/ was written for my friend Ken who has been going to Reds games with me for 30 years, reflecting on changes in the game and why we go in the first place (friendships, diversion, traditions, hope…)

And I’m also writing for myself. The process of thinking and writing let’s me collect my thoughts, capture them for myself and anybody else who may care. It also allows me to start conversations with people, referencing my writing if appropriate.

So I’ll keep writing. Don’t look for me to complete 100 posts in 100 days. Life has not gone like that. But there is value to me, and I think potentially others, so I’ll keep it up.

Day (well, post) 17 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

Cincinnati Reds Opening Day 2020

Sun, 07 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Opening day [of baseball] in Cincinnati has always been a time of hope and optimism, a time to look forward to, a time to enjoy being with family and friends, a time to enjoy looking at the forsythia and daffodils heralding spring, to walk across the Ohio River on the Roebling bridge, to take in the annual Findlay Market Parade, and to hear the umpire (or Marty and Joe on the radio) say “Play Ball.” I am declaring today my personal “Opening Day 2020”

Figure 1: In Yankee Stadium

1 Personal History

I started following the Cincinnati Reds in'74 and went to my first game in 1975. In part, this was as a way to retain some connection with my Grandfather who died early in ‘74. My first baseball memory is of watching the final out of the ‘72 world series against Oakland with him.

The mid-70s were a good time to start following the Reds. “The Big Red Machine” (Rose, Bench, Perez, etc) had been in the series in ‘70 and ‘72 and wound up as World Champions in ‘75 (RedSox, 7 games, lots of drama) and ‘76 (swept the Yankees in 4 games). I was in the stands for one game in each of those series. Joe Morgan won back-to-back MVP awards, Foster had an amazing 52 home run year in ‘77. There was more than hope there. There was accomplishment to admire by one of the best teams in the history of the game.

Figure 2: The Big Red Machine

Then there was Pete (Rose). Mr. Cincinnati, “Charlie Hustle”, “The Hit King”, batting champion, MVP, a 44 game hitting streak in ‘78. He eventually passed Ty Cobb’s all-time hit count dumping a single in to right on September 11, 1985 (and THAT for me will, will always be THE event of 9/11). I was there and had driven 3 straight nights from Columbus to be in the stands for the event.

Figure 3: Statue of Charlie Hustle in action

I was in the stands again for another series victory in 1990 over the A’s, which helped mitigate some of the pain caused by, shall we say, Pete yielding to his competitive spirit a little too much the previous year and as a result being banned for life from the game.

There have been good times (see above) and bad times including the early 80s after Dick Wagner prematurely dismantled the Big Red Machine, and the last 5 years where the Reds have finished last. But opening day was always a day of hope. A clean slate. A new start.

2 Traditions

Baseball is (was?) a game of traditions. Cincinnati had always been accorded the privilege of having the first opening game of the season in honor of their being the first professional baseball team (undefeated in 1869) and having, to some degree, inspired the birth of professional baseball itself. That tradition ended sometime in the 80s or 90s in favor of increased revenue to MLB from TV contracts having other teams open.

I had my own traditions. I attended 27 straight opening day games from 1976-2002. That streak ended the year I moved to Virginia, not because it was too far, but because the event had become a zoo and it became more of a crowd/media event than a time for fun and relaxation. Since then, I’ve attended at least one game every year running that streak to 46 years. That tradition too is in jeopardy if there turns out to be no 2020 season due to COVID-19.

And then there are the obligatory pre-game stops at Skyline Chili for coneys and chili-spaghetti before the game and Greater’s ice cream after the game. If you’re from Cincinnati, you know.

Figure 4: The One True Game Day Food

The sound of the Reds broadcasters, “Marty and Joe” (and later others after Joe retired), has been the backdrop to so many of our lives. Listening on the radio, in the car, out in the yard, late at night. Joe signing off with is signature “Rounding third and heading for home”, and Marty’s call “And this one belongs to the Reds” after every victory. Marty retired last year.

Figure 5: Marty

And then there were the friends and family that went with me. Dad took us to my first game against his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates. Mom was in the stands with me the night Pete got 4192. I think my brother Mark was there the night Seaver pitched a no-hitter. My (future) wife Stephanie learned quickly that this was part of life. Son Daniel still has a life-long streak of one game a year going. And my friend Ken (two whom this missive is dedicated) has been to games with me for something like 40 years, including 20 or so opening games. And for the record, the Davy Concepcion was a better shortstop than Larry Bowa :-)

Figure 6: Family at GABP

Figure 7: Uncle and Cousin at GABP

3 What now?

I was mentally gearing up to give Tommy Thrall a chance. He was to slated to replace Marty this year. The Reds spent significant money in the off-season building a team to get out of the cellar and back into contention. I was willing to hope again.

I was already toying with ending my 46 year streak this year anyhow. A few years ago baseball started using TSA-style metal detectors at the ballpark. Just as Opening Day became a zoo, there is something “too corporate” about MLB games these days, in contrast with, say, local minor league games. “Money-ball” has turned the game into a series computer/stats driven calculations where it is impossible to second-guess the manager without your own data analysis infrastructure and machine learning models. I no longer understand the basic stats, and I do data analysis for a living. My friend Ken refuses to carry a smart phone and it becoming nearly impossible to get/use paper tickets anymore. Add to that the possibility of having to wear masks and practice social distancing in stadiums designed for anything but that and it feels to me like the “national pass-time” will have transformed into some kind of Orwellian panopticon. No thank you. I wish major league baseball the best. It’s been a wonderful part of my life.

4 Moving forward together

Life moves on. We can get stuck in the past or remember it fondly (or not), learn from it, and move forward.

Figure 8: Dogwood, herald of spring

The “national pass-time” may never be back, unless you count socially-distanced people staring at their cell phones not talking to each other as a “pass-time”. People don’t walk or drive their horse-and-buggy to the “ball-field” anymore. People don’t sit on their front porch waving at passers-by. You can’t just play hooky from school or take the day off work for a relaxing afternoon in the sun forgetting your problems watching the “Mudville Nine” and cheering on the Mighty Casey.

So we (I at least) will enjoy the memory of what was, and look for new ways to slow down, new ways to enjoy life, and new ways to spend time with family and friends. To all those who’ve enjoyed a game or two or thirty with me, thanks. I enjoyed your company.

Look me up if there’s some kids headed out to the pasture on the “back 40” for a pick-up game, a local little league game or a church softball tournament. Let’s spend time together. Let’s enjoy life together.

Figure 9: Opening Day Baseball

Thoughts on the OODA loop and falling out of a canoe

Tue, 26 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In my never ending quest for synthesis, this post combines thoughts on the OODA loop and falling out of a canoe twice this weekend in rapids on the Shenandoah river. There is a connection. Maybe.

If you want to see the full trip report, pictures, etc. go here Things that fall in the river get wet. If you’re interested in how this relates to the OODA loop or, better, if you have experience/thoughts on applying the OODA loop to operational cybersecurity settings, read on (and comment !)

Figure 1: On the river during calm between crisis events

1 The OODA Loop

The OODA loop is a concept cybersecurity has borrowed from the US Air Force. “OODA” stands for “Observe, Orient, Decide, Act”. The OODA loop began as a very fighter-pilot-centric view of a problem space. I always think of Snoopy and the Red Barron. Snoopy observes the Red Barron at a distance, orients his Sopwith-Camel towards the Red Barron, decides to fire, and then acts by firing-away. Then repeat the OODA loop. Observe: what was the effect of your action (the Red Barron went down in flames, or you missed and now he’s on your tail)…

2 The OODA Loop and falling out of a canoe

The OODA loop parallels my decision making process in the rapids this weekend. In one of our two crisis events I observed the other canoe flip in the rapids ahead. I oriented my canoe towards shore. I decided to grab a tree root to buy time to sit and contemplate options. I acted by grabbing the tree root. We flipped due to the strong current. REPEAT. I observed that we were in the water 10 or 20 yards (9 to 18 meters) from the start of the rapids. I oriented myself towards shore. I decided to swim to shore at all costs (loosing the canoe and all our gear) rather than float the rapids in life jackets. I acted by swimming to shore. REPEAT. I observed that we were safe on shore without our boat, gear or friends. I oriented myself downstream. I decided to walk in search of boat, gear and friends. I acted by walking…

3 Where does the OODA loop work well?

The OODA loop seems to be a good model for rapidly changing situations where the personal stakes to the actor are high, the actor is receiving relevant information in a timely fashion and has the ability to decide on appropriate action and execute in a very short timescale. There were elements of this in Bill Cheswick’s classic An Evening with Berferd and Cliff Stoll’s The Cuckoo’s Egg, but I am wondering how many of these conditions apply, to, say the modern SOC?

4 Does the OODA loop work in SOCs?

How do the characteristics of crisis situations such has that described above or a fighter pilot in dogfight map to the modern SOC? Does a SOC have a rapidly changing situation? Probably. Are there personal stakes for the actor (analyst)? It depends. Is it just “work my shift and go home after the hand-off”? Are the actors (analysts) receiving relevant information in a timely fashion? Or are they waiting for a weeks-long (months-long?) approval process for the ingest of needed data, the provisioning of enough storage and compute power to run the queries they need? Are they empowered to take action in a short timescale? Or are there three levels of management approval needed and reports to be written before any action can taken? Can they take machines offline, implement blocks, etc? Even if it impacts production? Can they observe, orient, decide and act, or is it time to put your feet up, hope for the best and float through the rapids?

Your thoughts? Experiences?

Days 17 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

Things that fall in the river get wet

Mon, 25 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Figure 1: Bryan paddling on the Shenandoah

1 Intro

This weekend my son Bryan, friends (former scouts from Philmont days) Sam and Preston and friend Jack went on an canoe trip down the Shenandoah river. We were only dumped in the river by two of the two rapids we encountered. More on that below.

Figure 2: Things that fall in the river get wet

2 Other people having fun

Along the way we saw many people out enjoying the Memorial Day weekend along the river. The photo below shows a water slide set up to let kids slide into the river, with a twist: the last 10 (3m) feet or so of the slide were down a mud bank. For safety there was a kayak in the water to help the fun-havers out if needed

Figure 3: Water and Mud Slide Into The River

3 Getting Dumped the first time

The river was up. Running about 6 feet (1.8m) at Luray. The outfitters along the river recommend only going at 5 feet (1.5m) or less. Our second day out we were making 5 miles per hour (8 km/h).

We hit the Compton Rapids. The swells were 3 feet (0.9m) or so. We made it about half way through, taking on water, and then got dumped. Life jackets are a good thing. It was a little dicey floating though the end of the rapids. We kept our paddles and stayed with the upside-down canoe. The only losses were a couple water bottles, cup holders and a fishing rod (other canoe). Most everything was tied down.

We floated 10 or 20 minutes in still-ish water and wound up swimming our swamped canoe to the banks where there was a large group camp-out. Some of the people (speaking pretty-much only Spanish) helped get our sorry selves and swamped canoe out of the water and drained out. They gave us 6 water bottles which replaced the water we had lost. Gracias !

4 Getting Dumped the second time

Figure 4: Pulling out after the second spill

The second time we got dumped was a about a mile from the end of the trip. Our planning had failed to disclose the presence of these rapids, just had it had failed to disclose the possibility of portage around the first set (Preston :-))

The other canoe went first. We hung back in the smooth (but fast) water so as not to run into them if they had trouble. They did. They dumped about half way through. These canoes were a little heavy with gear and people and not horribly stable. Extra water in the boat does not help.

I decided to go to the shore and work thorough options. We reached shore 10 or 20 yards (9 or 18) upstream from the rapids. I grabbed a tree root to hold us in place, but the current flipped us. At that point I made the call to “abandon ship”. We let the canoe go and swam to the bank rather than float the rapids in life jackets.

We climbed up the bank, staggered downstream and found that our friends were a) OK and b) had snagged our canoe.

5 The end

In the end, we had minimal losses, no significant injuries, no harm, no foul? Live and learn? Life jackets, tying down your gear and quick thinking are your friend. And fun was had in the face of self-selected risks.

Figure 5: At the takeout point (BEFORE we were drowned rats)

Days 15 and 16 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

More Thoughts on More Stuff

Thu, 21 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Figure 1: Things on our mantle

1 What is this and who is it for?

This is written primarily as a personal reflection to my cousin about us both winding up with tons of family “stuff”. Secondarily it is intended for a family newsletter. Tertiarily, for my sons to document snippets of family history, and lastly (quarternarily ?) it is written as an “open letter”.

2 To John

John, you and I both have a lot of “family stuff”, for different reasons I think. I sort of inherited it as, literally, “the last man standing”. I care about it some. I’ve been told stories about some of it my whole life. I think you have been a little more active (well, a lot more active) in collecting and organizing “family stuff”.

3 Some (more) of the stuff I have

I have (top of the head, small sample) the Crokinole game board (19th century I think), the big old custom-made oak cabinet (that has moved exactly 3 times since it was made in the 1860s), two old oak kitchen tables (Grandma/“Esther Morrison”’s and Ernie’s), our great grandmother’s 1868 wind-up clock with which she “set up housekeeping”, wall hangings, family bibles, hymnals, cookbooks, school books, farm records, the founding constitution of the Union Soldiers Aid Society (1863) of the Dry Run Church, tools (Grandpa’s scythe), and until recently we had the Civil War Diary of Elisha Morrison and his discharge papers. Mike has the rifle Elisha Morrison picked up after the other one he had was struck by a bullet saving his life, or none of us would be here today.

On the Jones side I have all Dad the photography major’s negatives, the Jones/Reeder/Williams family records, my grandmother’s family photo album showing Dad’s high school dance band practicing (led by one of Nancy’s former neighbors … small world) and pictures of the TV showing live atomic bomb test blasts and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth (who is STILL on the throne, is she immortal?)

If anybody in the family wants some “family stuff” talk to me. Much of it can be had cheep (free). I may be making an inventory which would aid your selection.

4 What’s the value?

Some of the people we have behind us include Pilgrims (John Alden, Priscilla Mullins), “Underground Railroad” participants (Ephraim Gould), Union Soldiers (Elisha Morrison) and on “Esther (Free) Morrison”’s side a Hessian Soldier from the Revolution who jumped ship and took the name “Free” with some connection to the zany “Immortal J. N. Free”, and then there’s “Cousin Henry [Longfellow]” (also descended from John Alden)

Tell me not in mournful numbers, life is but an empty dream….life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not it’s goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul

It’s good to know where you came from. It’s good to know the laudable deeds of your ancestors. Not everybody has that. Not all deeds we know about were laudable or momentous,

“Though it’s the laughter, we will remember, whenever we remember, they way we were … the rest we simply choose to forget” (B. Streisand)

5 Where is the stuff going?

I often wonder where this stuff is going. Some of it’s been around since the 1700s. Apparently somebody has cared about it in every generation since then. Maybe I’m the last. Maybe it will finally wind up in the dump (Bryan, Daniel, Doug, Meg …. your call :-))

6 Where are WE going?

At one level we are stuff. I think you and I may both have a date to join all the loved ones we know in the Frankfort cemetery in the next few years (every time I go there I look around and say “Thelma/Bess/Mom/Dad/Grandma…what are YOU doing here?”. As time goes on I “know” more and more people there.

Until then, back to “Cousin Henry”

Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate ; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.

And one of the passages that I’m sure inspired him:

54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” 1 Corinthians 15

7 Closing

Stay safe during this strange (COVID19) time. Enjoy time with your family. Enjoy your genealogy work (and thank you). Thanks for following up with Ebright on Dad’s stone. Hope to see you soon.

Day 14 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

Tuscarora Trek

Sun, 17 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

May 15-17, 2020 Son Bryan (“Music Man”), Jason Boyle (“Alaska”) and I (“Curious George”) hiked 30 miles on the Tuscarora trail.

The picture below shows Bryan standing on Eagles Rock with the first 11 miles of the hike on the ridge behind him.

Figure 1: Bryan at Eagles Rock

Full trip report and more pictures here: https://outdoorfoo.wordpress.com/2020/05/17/tuscarora-trek/

Day 13 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

WARNING: Extreme Social Distancing In The Rain

Thu, 14 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve got some extreme social distancing going on this weekend. It requires gear. Might involve a mountain or two. Loaded up the pack and put it on. Feels good! There may be rain, but

There is no bad weather, only bad gear

Figure 1: Social Distancing Gear

Will have minimal connectivity, so #100DaysToOffload will be on hold for a few.

Day 12 of #100DaysToOffload https://100daystooffload.com/

"My Computer ?"

Tue, 12 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The windows desktop has (had? I don’t pay attention) icons labeled “My Computer”. I always thought that was odd, or at least very often out of context as many (most?) instances of Windows ran on machines at people’s jobs. They didn’t own the computer. It was not “My Computer”.

Similarly, Apple has a long history of asserting they know what’s best for other people and their computers. The last time I had to go to “The Apple Store” all I wanted was a power cable. I wanted the part, I wanted to pay, I wanted to get out. But, characteristically, the “experts” there (what does that say about their view of their customers) wanted to engage me, to “have a conversation”, talk to me about warranties and if I qualified, they wanted to wast my time (more valuable than my money) on their agenda. Apple software is the same way. Not “My Computer”.

Then there is the cloud. “There is no cloud, there’s just other people’s computers.” I’ve worked at AWS. I worked at CompuServe about 5 years into the information service days. Before that, it was a time-sharing company. “There is no isolated Project, Programmer Number environment with custom BASIC and FORTRAN Compilers, InfoPlex (email), and FILGE (FILe Generator and Editor) connected via X.25 PADs (VPNs back in the day), there’s just CompuServe’s DecSystem-10s.”

And then there is this glorious 3 or 4 year old laptop that I’m about to blow up, wiping the disk and reinstalling Ubuntu (switching to Kubntu, because, why not?). No change control. No production concerns (well, maybe a few, I’m putting out this blog post early in case it does not come back quickly). I have a long running game of naming my systems. This one’s currently called ed (for the editor), octo (8 processors), mel (for “real programmers”). I think when I reinstall this time, I’ll call it “MyComputer”.

HOWTO: Breaking and fixing DNS - Understanding modern DNS on Ubuntu.

Sun, 10 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

One dark and stormy night I broke my DNS. I decided to move beyond /etc/resolv.conf and see what demons (daemons?) were lurking under the hood. “Its complicated.” This is the story of understanding, debugging and fixing it.

1 /etc/resolv.conf

If you look at /etc/resolv.conf on a Linux system today (Ubuntu 19.10) you will find something like:

# Dynamic resolv.conf(5) file for glibc resolver(3) generated by resolvconf(8)
#     DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN
# 127.0.0.53 is the systemd-resolved stub resolver.
# run "systemd-resolve --status" to see details about the actual nameservers.

nameserver 127.0.0.1
search lan

But the file seems to change. I’ve seen it without most of the verbiage above. I’ve seen the file contain both 127.0.0.1 and 127.0.0.53. Confusing. systemd?

2 You can edit `/etc/resolv.conf`

First let me say that despite the dire warnings below, you can edit /etc/resolv.conf, e.g. to make it look like

# Generated by NetworkManager
search lan
nameserver 9.9.9.9

And it will work until NetworkManager chooses to overwrite the file. Not sure if sudo chmod 444 /etc/resolv.conf be enough to keep NetworkManager from overwriting it.

3 You can make `/etc/resolv.conf` immutable

If you do edit /etc/resolv.conf you can make it immutable to prevent systemd from updating it:

$ sudo chattr +i /etc/resolv.conf
$ sudo rm /etc/resolv.conf
rm: cannot remove '/etc/resolv.conf': Operation not permitted

4 Debugging a broken DNS

I was living dangerously and simultaneously playing with https://pi-hole.net/ and letting Ubuntu try to upgrade my system. It went south. DNS stopped working. The following were some of the debugging steps I took to try to understand/fix the issue:

4.1 Testing resolution - is name resolution working?

In this phase of debugging, I try to do name resolution as configured:

dig - no namserver specified: I ran $ dig www.uu.net to see if everything was working as intended. Nope. No response.
dig - known-good nameserver: I ran $ dig www.uu.net @9.9.9.9 to see if I could resolve against a known-good nameserver. This worked. No issues with connectivity/routing.
dig - 127.0.0.53: I ran $ dig www.uu.net @127.0.0.53 to see if the local systemd-resolved nameserver specified in /etc/resolv.conf was working. Nope.
systemd-resolved - how is it configured?: I ran $ systemd-resolve --status to see how systemd thought dns was configured. The wireless interface I was using pointed to a nameserver (the proxy server on my wireless router) that should work:

$ systemd-resolve --status
...
Link 3 (wlp2s0)
      Current Scopes: DNS
       LLMNR setting: yes
MulticastDNS setting: no
      DNSSEC setting: no
    DNSSEC supported: no
         DNS Servers: 192.168.86.1
          DNS Domain: ~.
                      lan

systemd-resolve - let systemd resolve a name

dig(1) and host(1) are not the only game in town for doing command line DNS look-ups. Systemd (of course) will do it for you:

$ systemd-resolve www.uu.net
www.uu.net: 152.195.32.39

In this case, it worked, which tells me that systemd-resolved is happy and working.

try dig again

Try another “normal” lookup:

$ dig www.uu.net

This failed. The conclusion seems to be that the whatever the resolver library is looking at (127.0.0.53) is not working.

edit /etc/resolv.conf

Pointing /etc/resolv.conf at working nameservers fixed the problem:

# Generated by NetworkManager
search lan
#nameserver 127.0.0.53  # BROKEN. systemd-resolved nameserver set by NetworkManager
#nameserver 9.9.9.9     # WORKS. quad9 nameserver
nameserver 192.168.86.1 # WORKS. wireless router nameserver

4.1.1 Conclusion - the systemd-resolved is not answering

4.2 What name resolution processes are running?

The next question is: what’s (not) running? What’s (not) listening?

To answer these questions, I poked at the network and the running processes:

nmap - look for listeners: nmap did not show a DNS listener at 127.0.0.53

gmj@ed home-computing [master] $ sudo nmap -v -sU -PS  127.0.0.53

Starting Nmap 7.60 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2020-05-10 07:51 EDT
Initiating Parallel DNS resolution of 1 host. at 07:51
Completed Parallel DNS resolution of 1 host. at 07:51, 0.02s elapsed
Initiating UDP Scan at 07:51
Scanning 127.0.0.53 [1000 ports]
Completed UDP Scan at 07:51, 2.80s elapsed (1000 total ports)
Nmap scan report for 127.0.0.53
Host is up (0.000049s latency).
Not shown: 997 closed ports
PORT     STATE         SERVICE
68/udp   open|filtered dhcpc
631/udp  open|filtered ipp
5353/udp open|filtered zeroconf

zeroconf :: Is zeroconf listening? What is 5353?

It looks like 5353 is multicast DNS.

$ egrep -i domain\|dns /etc/services
domain		53/tcp				# Domain Name Server
domain		53/udp
mdns		5353/tcp			# Multicast DNS
mdns		5353/udp

lsof -i: look at listening ports
Next, I used lsof(1) to look at listening and connected ports, successively grepping out the “known” and “uninteresting”:

gmj@ed home-computing [master] $  sudo lsof -i -n  | egrep -vi established\|dropbox\|ssh\|http\|smtp\|bootp\|ipp
COMMAND     PID            USER   FD   TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
avahi-dae  1064           avahi   12u  IPv4  25434      0t0  UDP *:mdns
avahi-dae  1064           avahi   13u  IPv6  25435      0t0  UDP *:mdns
avahi-dae  1064           avahi   14u  IPv4  25436      0t0  UDP *:42027
avahi-dae  1064           avahi   15u  IPv6  25437      0t0  UDP *:44240
dnsmasq    2538 libvirt-dnsmasq    5u  IPv4  37248      0t0  UDP 192.168.122.1:domain
dnsmasq    2538 libvirt-dnsmasq    6u  IPv4  37249      0t0  TCP 192.168.122.1:domain (LISTEN)
brave     28951             gmj   43u  IPv4 250584      0t0  UDP 224.0.0.251:mdns

Looks like avahe-dae[mon] is listening on multicast-dns (mdns) on 5353, and there are outbound connections to 192.168.122.1:53, which was a wired connection to the router, but nothing listening on port 53. This is a problem.

4.3 Why is systemd-resolved not answering - do I care?

Do I really want to debug systemd-resolved? No. I was half planing on upgrading to the latest Ubuntu release (20.04) anyhow. This seems like the time to do it, rather than debugging this problem further.

4.4 Lessons learned

run servers on dedicated systems: I had been messing with https://pi-hole.net/ on this system (a laptop that mostly does not move/go off the net). There was some confusion/doubt about whether this interacted badly with things/caused the problems. It may have. I un-installed it. But running a dedicated server would be better.
Failed Ubuntu “upgrade”: The actual trigger that made things not work was an attempt to let the Ubuntu installer upgrade the system. This failed in strange ways. After running, my system which was Ubuntu 19.10 reported (/etc/issue) to being 18.04 and the pi-hole logs reported that they could not find the wireless interface it had been configured to use (but the device was still there, same name, still working…)

5 Next Steps

TODO 5.1 Do a hard upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04

Full backup, wipe disk, restore…
Use ansible, docker, chief or similar to make configs repeatable.

TODO 5.2 Set up a server to run pi-hole and other services

Possibly re-purpose an old laptop or pogo-plug device running something minimal like Arch Linux
Use ansible, docker, chief or similar to make configs repeatable.

6 Things to learn more about

avhai: So what is avhai-dae[mon]? It looks like a zero-configuration (I wish !) networking services that uses multi-cast DNS on a local network. Do I need to be running this?
systemd-resolved: I may want to learn more about this, as it is part of the new regime in most Linux distros. But not now.

For Further Reading

resolvers, stub resolvers and nameservers : https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/500536/what-are-dns-server-resolver-and-stub-resolver

Day 10 of #100DaysToOffload. Delayed a day due to DNS problems :-)

9 days of #100DaysToOffload

Fri, 08 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

1 Experiences after 9 days of blogging

About 3 weeks ago I decided to start blogging. For various still ill-defined reasons, some of which I explored in a blog post contemplating the fate of writing and writers great and small. But it’s still somewhat mushy.

I spent some time coming up the curve on the Hugo framework for building static web sites and the emacs org mode counterpart ox-hugo which let me put up my Curious Musings blog.

The a few days after that on Fosstodon (open source distributed social media) I came across the https://100daystooffload.com/ challenge which, basically encourages you to “just write”. Good timing. Here it is.

I’ve put out a couple posts that I’ve put some work into like this one about Awesome online singing from Denmark to Australia, and social distancing too! and a tribute to Steve Wilhite who was my first mentor and whom some of you know as the creator of GIF (a very minor output of Steve’s total work that just happened to stick). Some post have been quick.

2 “Yes, but what if everyone did this”?

Yesterday, also on Fosstodon, Per Gregory@g had this say:

“Social media: Don’t use it to impress people, use it to impact people” ~ unknown

I love this, and I’m going to remind myself of it when on social media.

Wise words. Basically, “it’s not about me” (unless you take the catharsis or hubris angles I explored earlier). OK, it should not be all about me.

3 Who is this post for?

So who is this post for and is it useful? You be the judge.

Maybe you’re interested in getting started blogging, or wondering what software you could use, or where you could find new online communities that are not monitized by ads, or you want to pay tribute to someone, or you’re interested in organizing online choral singing, or joining meet-ups of new online communities during social distancing. Then this post might be for you.

Day 09 of #100DaysToOffload.

Life imitates…

Thu, 07 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

And to get away from it all tonight we played (well, continued) a game of Civilization: Famine, Strife, Civil War, Flood, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, but strangely no epidemic (yet).

Figure 1: Civilization

I think I’ll take the real world please. Wait, no. We’re loosing Democracy, Law and Philosophy….

Day 08 of #100DaysToOffload.

Awesome online singing from Denmark to Australia, and social distancing too!

Wed, 06 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

There are some amazing online singing events happening now around the world: Denmark, Australia, Nashville, etc. I want to highlight a couple examples of that to add brightness to these dark times.

Human beings have an unquenchable desire to live in community. Singing has always been an expression of that. Modern technology has enabled it.

Figure 1: The Sacred Harp Quarantine Chorus

Day 07 of #100DaysToOffload.

1 Harmonia Sacra - a capella four part shape note singing

I sing (the quality is arguable at times). For the past 25 years on-and-off I’ve been singing 4 part a capella hymns in Mennonite circles. It’s a communal thing. You can sing the bass line by yourself, but it’s not the same.

For the past 10 years or so, my family and I have been driving over to Shenandoah Valley 2 or 3 times a year to participate in a few of the annual “sings” that have been happening in the area since Joseph Funk first published Harmonia Sacra in 1832 (in the little town of “Singers Glen”¹)

Since we could not have the regular April singing in person, I figured out how to host one on Zoom, based on instructions for leading Chorial Music over Zoom by Jim Daus Hjernøe of the Royal Academy of Music in Denmark

Figure 2: RAMA Vocal Center, Denmark

Basically, I split out a number of tracks from one of the better sings and rebroadcast the them as guide tracks. Here is a recording of “Dedication Anthem”, a.k.a., “606”, a.k.a. “The Mennonite National Anthem” sung in 4 part harmony by 400 people.

It worked, more or less. There was not the same sense of community as standing right next to other singers, but it let out some our pent up need to sing our favorite joyful songs in a time of uncertainty.

2 “Movers and Shapers”

There is another, larger tradition of shape note singers called Sacred Harp. When looking or examples of how to put together online singings, I came across Sacred Harp Australia, who put up a video of a Fa-So-La “singing school”. Unlike Harmonia Sacra sings, the Sacred Harp singers sit in a square/circle “by parts” (Bass, Tenor, Alto, Soprano).

The Sacred Harp singers took remote singing to an entirely different level with The Sacred Harp Quarantine Chorus -EASTER ANTHEM - 360° Virtual Singing and Easter Egg Hunt!. This an amazing recording of 331 singers from 37 states, 4 Canadian provences and 11 countries singing a joyful song “together”. This 360 degree video puts you you in the best seat in the house. And here’s how they did it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIEJOK_m1ek

3 The pros in Nashville

And then there were the pros in Nashville. The Nashville Studio Singer Community - Virtual Cell Phone Choir - “It Is Well With My Soul” arranged by: David Wise This was a group of professional singers, who indeed looked like they were enjoying being part of the virtual community of singers. They covered the standard hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” which was written by Horatio Spafford in response to the loss of his family when a ship sank.

Figure 3: The Nashville Studio Singer Community - Virtual Cell Phone Choir

4 Is it well?

When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Whatever your faith, I think we can all take a little solace in the human spirit that can’t be contained and overflows into joyous music even at times like these. It is indeed well with my soul.

Alice Parker, associate of the former Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Choir conductor Robert Shaw wrote a play called “Singers Glenn” about Joseph Funk which is staged very 5 years in Singers Glen across the street from his log cabin with descendants in attendance. She has attended many of the performances. ↩︎

Getting started in life is harder right now

Tue, 05 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Getting started in life is harder right now. I have two college age sons who both just finished up their year with online classes, and both are home now. In “normal” times they would be working summer jobs or participating in other activities that would help them advance toward their chosen careers. Jobs may or may not happen. Even getting out of the house may not happen much. These are weird times.

Figure 1: The Great Seal of the State of Ohio

I am happy to help my sons with a place to live, emotional and other support, but it is a time of life where they should be moving towards increased independence. The opportunities to do that are drastically reduced right now. This state of affairs concerns me, and it’s not just my family. Maybe we need to look for the silver lining, find opportunity in change, etc., but it is certainly going to take more effort and intentionality right now.

Day 06 of #100DaysToOffload.

Vis tibi sit

Mon, 04 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

On the occasion of the ancient Roman Festival Bella Stellaria, I wish you

Vis tibi sit

Lucas Skywalker

magis de bella stellaria hic: https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars et hic https://twitter.com/tutubuslatinus/status/1257065883614109696

Day 05 of #100DaysToOffload.

Hiking, the Appalachian Trail, Health and Choices

Sun, 03 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve section-hiked over 1000 miles on the Appalachian Trail. Through-hikes have been shut down this year, upsetting plans people have made for years. I’m headed out today to do maintenance today. Not sure what I’ll find. I will be good to be out.

Figure 1: Mt. Katahdin from Abol Bridge, 2018

Day 05 of #100DaysToOffload.

I like to hike. The Appalachian Trail is near my house. Literally the day before the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) recommended EVERYONE stay off the trail (180 degrees against its primary mission), I accepted the responsibility of maintaining a 3 mile section for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC). Just yesterday I got word that trail maintainers have a local exception and are allowed to be on the trail. I’m going out this afternoon to see how much underbrush needs cut, if there are any trees that need chainsaw work, if any work is needed on erosion control, etc. It will be a joy to “be out” again.

A couple weeks before the cronavirus lockdown started, I went for a hike on the Tuscarora Trail. It was going to be a quick day hike. Up 900 feet, along a ridge, back down. Maybe 8 miles. Going up the hill I fell on a rock and sliced my forearm open and wound up going the ER in Romney, WV with 21 stitches. I accept some risk when I choose to hike (there are bears too). With the potential strain on the medical system and emergency care being uncertain, I’m choosing not taking risks now.

I am a “section hiker”. I go out when I can, usually 2 weeks or so a year. I have over half the Appalachian Trail done (1000+ miles) and had plans to go out Memorial Day (May 25) for two weeks. That’s probably not happening. I’m not young. I only have so many years to get this done. Health is never a given.

The ATC asked all hikers this year to call it off: through hikers, section hikers as well as day hikers. Through hikers are people who have re-arranged their life, their finances, their work and family life to spend 6 months on the trail. For many, it may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But for most, through-hiking involves staying together in shelters on rainy nights, sleeping in bunk-houses in hostels, getting rides with local shuttle drivers, going into trail towns to shop for re-supply, etc. These all make social-distancing hard. And there is the assumption that there will be some local medical care available, like that which I needed when I fell. So the ATC asked people to shut it down this year.

The last time I was out hiking, the day after my initial trail-maintainer training, the parking lot at the trail-head was packed. Not sure what I’ll find today. Crowds? Empty Trails? A persistent through-hiker? People make their own choices.

Figure 2: me, on top of old smokey, 2018

HOWTO: Using Pi-hole DNS to block ads. The struggle continues…

Fri, 01 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This article is a work in progress. Updated: 2020-05-02. This is turning into a bit of a catch-up on the state of DNS for me.

Day 03 and 04 of #100DaysToOffload.

1 Intro

The war against ads continues. https://pi-hole.net/ looks like a reasonable, good, new?, open source entry in the war against ads. Get ‘yer source/install for linux at https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole

Per Paul Vixie

not even non-technical users need a “public DNS” to shield themselves from a lot of known-evil internet sites. check out @The_Pi_Hole or have your 12yo child or cousin install it.

..but I always make things harder.

Figure 1: pi-hole console after a few hours on my system

2 What

It’s a local DNS server to block adds.

3 Why

Blocking ads is a moral good.
I’ve not done home network hacking for a while.
I’m moving into a bit of a more “don’t track me” frame of mind.

4 When

Now, because I’m home more during corona-virus.

5 How

Set up local server.
First on a Linux laptop that (usually) does not go off the net.
Then maybe on an old pogoplug or laptop.

6 Install It

Here’s what I did to instlal

[ ] basic install

On a Linux server, the basic install is simple:

sudo bash basic-install.sh

[ ] Static IP

But you will want a Linux box with a static IP address. This may involve, e.g., convincing your wireless router to hand out a the same static IP to a static IP

[ ] Tell other systems to use this IP for DNS

Again, probably configuring your wireless router to specify your local IP as the DNS server for DNS assignments via DHCP assignments. You could also do this by configuring the individual devices to use it.

[ ] Remember your admin password

Make note of the admin password during install

[ ] hit the local admin web server

Its a very nice. It will be at a something like http://192.168.86.230/admin/index.php.

7 Test It

[ ] Look something up by hand: Use dig(1) or host(1). Note the SERVER in the response below that shows where the answer came from. If it’s your IPS’s DNS or Google, try again (something’s not configured right). In my case 127.1 is right.

$ dig www.uu.net

; <<>> DiG 9.11.3-1ubuntu1.11-Ubuntu <<>> www.uu.net
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 54721
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 4, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.uu.net.			IN	A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.uu.net.		299	IN	CNAME	global.mci.com.
global.mci.com.		959	IN	CNAME	wac.C449.edgecastcdn.net.
wac.C449.edgecastcdn.net. 3599	IN	CNAME	gp1.wac.v2cdn.net.
gp1.wac.v2cdn.net.	3599	IN	A	152.195.32.39

;; Query time: 59 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Fri May 01 19:16:11 EDT 2020
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 146

Check the query logs via the UI to make sure your target domain showed. Be aware of caching. It may only show up the first time you query.
Find your favorite 90s-era web site, go hit it, and watch the counters
- http://computershopper.com
- http://www.yahoo.com
- http://www.compuserve.com
- http://www.aol.com
- http://sears.com (get it while it lasts)
If the counters go crazy and you don’t see the expected plethora of ads, you win. If not dig deeper.
If you are already using ad-blockers or browsers such as Brave that block ads, you may have to test with something else (Firefox, Chrome, etc.)
Browser and other apps are getting cagey about using not using the system DNS, using DOH, and otherwise not acting like you expect them too. Editing /etc/resolv.conf is not the whole game anymore.

8 Tools you may want to use/learn/install

dig: for making/testing queries by hand
Wireshark: Use Wireshark to see what’s going on on the wire, who you’re talking to, etc.

9 The things you learn

pi-hole can apparently function as a DHCP server itself.
You can choose your upstream DNS servers from a list with options for IPv4, IPv6, DNSSEC/no DNSSEC, filtered/unfiltered.
Quad9 is one of the choices. It looks to be really useful for adding malware blocking to your domain. See https://www.quad9.net/faq/ for a useful bit of education.

The logs are at /var/log/pihole.log

Possibly use Marcus Ranums’s principal of “Artificial Ignorance” to grep out the known and see what’s left:

$  cat pihole.log.1  | egrep -v microsoft.com\|google\|amazon\|in-addr\|linkedin\|dropbox\|facebook\|messenger\|ubuntu\|github\|brave\|basicattention\|yahoo\|disqus\|twitter\|akamai\ | sed 's/.*: //'  | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head
334 reply min-api.cryptocompare.com is <CNAME>
334 reply ccc-api.cloudapp.net is 40.115.22.134
334 query[A] min-api.cryptocompare.com from 127.0.0.1
238 forwarded min-api.cryptocompare.com to 8.8.4.4
143 cached min-api.cryptocompare.com is <CNAME>
101 query[A] no-thanks.invalid.lan from 127.0.0.1
101 query[A] no-thanks.invalid from 127.0.0.1
101 forwarded min-api.cryptocompare.com to 8.8.8.8
100 reply hfq2h9152m63.statuspage.io is <CNAME>
100 query[A] rpt.cedexis.com from 127.0.0.1

$ cat pihole.log.1  | egrep -v microsoft.com\|google\|amazon\|in-addr\|linkedin\|dropbox\|facebook\|messenger\|ubuntu\|github\|brave\|basicattention\|yahoo\|disqus\|twitter\|akamai\|compuserve\|aol | sed 's/.*: //'  | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | tail -20
1 cached imap.gmail.com is 2607:f8b0:400d:c0f::6d
1 cached imap.gmail.com is 2607:f8b0:400d:c07::6d
1 cached imap.gmail.com is 2607:f8b0:400d:c00::6d
1 cached imap.gmail.com is 2607:f8b0:4004:c08::6d
1 cached imap.gmail.com is 2607:f8b0:4004:c08::6c
1 cached imap.gmail.com is 172.253.63.109
1 cached imap.gmail.com is 172.253.63.108
1 cached hosts-file.net is 3.234.198.254
1 cached encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com is 172.217.13.78
1 cached dig is NXDOMAIN
1 cached content-signature-2.cdn.mozilla.net is <CNAME>
1 cached beacons-handoff.gcp.gvt2.com is 172.217.15.99
1 cached beacons.gvt2.com is 172.217.13.227
1 cached beacons.gcp.gvt2.com is <CNAME>
1 cached beacons4.gvt2.com is 216.239.32.116
1 cached beacons2.gvt2.com is 216.239.38.117
1 cached beacons2.gvt2.com is 216.239.36.117
1 cached beacons2.gvt2.com is 216.239.34.117
1 cached beacons2.gvt2.com is 216.239.32.117
1 cached article.smartasset.com is <CNAME>

What is this stuff?

10 Tune it

I’m not sure all the devices in the house are using the P-hole proxy. If they are, then they are showing up as the single device _gateway. I need to understand this and figure out if I can get other devices pulling wireless addresses via DHCP from the WAP to use the Pi-hole DNS directly. Stay tuned.

11 POST INCOMPLETE FROM HERE

12 Migrate

13 Burn in

14 Inflict it on others

Choosy Programmers Choose GIF

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Steve Wilhite is the most prolific programmer I’ve ever known. He’s mostly remembered for creating GIF but he spent 30 years writing piles of amazing software which helped set the stage for the Web.

Figure 1: CompuServe XF4 Fortran Manual

Day 02 of #100DaysToOffload.

Steve worked at CompuServe (and successors) from 1970 to 2001. I was fortunate enough to start my career working with/for him. My view of his programming output comes largely from 1985-1995. I’m sure there was much more that I missed.

1 Things Steve Wrote

Steve ran the languages and tools group when I arrived. He had just given up on writing at DEC10 ADA compiler¹ (Steve is still writing ADA software), was just beginning to embrace PCs as “real computers” worthy of his attention, had written a FORTRAN compiler, a BASIC compiler and associated run-time systems, and a run-time library for BLISS called BTOOLS. These were partially in support of CompuServe’s pre-information-service time-sharing services supported by a homegrown packet-switched networking. “Cloud computing” in the 1970s :-)

I worked on BTOOLS, SKIMAN (Single Key Index Access Manager), a B-Tree library Steve had created. There was a full-fledged database system written in there somewhere I think. There were ports and hacks to various tools such as FINE (Fine Is Not Emacs), a C compiler, DEC Runoff, laser printer support, source code control systems, etc.

On top of that, Steve created the HMI (Host Micro Interface) protocol that rode on top of CompuServe “B-Protocol” to allow API driven interactions with the information service (the alternative being text/command line interfaces). This was all in an environment where 9600baud modems were considered “fast”. Compression, incremental display, etc. were paramount.

He later used that as the substrate for WinCim, the graphical interface to the information service that he created which kept the company going for a while in the face of the likes of AOL. Somewhere in there, there was a graphics library and enough pieces that I was able to write a web browser that worked inside WinCim, that would have allowed CompuServe users without an Internet connection (most everyone then) to browse the web. Marketing did not want to release my web browser. Sigh.

Later on (after my time) Steve as pulled into major projects to support the back end processing for H&R Blocks’s TaxCut program when online tax-filing was a new thing. He was also pulled into the WOW project which was supposed to be the AOL killer when it became apparent that CompuServe needed an AOL killer.² One of those projects succeeded. Single-handed technical virtuosity could not fix the one that didn’t.

And there was this little side project called GIF.

2 Things that got out

2.1 GIF

Be careful what you do and say. It’s often the incidentals that you are remembered for. The kind (or unkind) words. The side projects.

In the world of the mid 80s there were IBM PCs, Apple Macs (classic), Amigas, Atari-STs, CoCos, and yes, Apple-IIs and Commodor-68s. The information service was moving beyond a text-based, menu-driven system (I like curses and termcap as much as the next guy, but hey..). People wanted to share pictures, display online-shopping catalogs, weather maps, etc. There were no/few good portable graphics formats. So Steve wrote one. GIF. Then the web happened. The web wanted portable images too. GIF worked. So the early web adopted it. There was the kerfuffle over the LZW compression algorithm it used resulting in the creation of the PNG format, but, hey, who in 1987 would ever think that an algorithm published in ACM might not be free. OK, Stallman, but who else :-). And now there are Giffy’s in slack that I turn off because I hate dancing bears. Thank-you Steve.

3 MicroEmacs/mg display hacks

And then there are the MiroEmacs display hacks. When the Amiga came out Steve convinced me to buy one (it was that or the AtariST, he had and was hacking on both). But there was no Emacs. Somehow (Steve?) I became aware that the source to MicroEmacs was included on with the disks to Mark Williams C compiler for the PC. So I bought the C compiler, ported the source to the Amiga (all it needed was character I/O drivers to work in the native ANSI/VT-100 terminal) and gave the source to Steve, who, I think, hacked/improved the screen update logic. I then posted the source to the USENET group comp.sources.amiga. It took off from there (thanks to Daniel Lawerence). It’s rumored that Linus Torvalds uses a version of the code to this day.

4 CompuServe: Groundbreaking events, great teams and amazing individuals.

At the recent (2019-10-19) CompuServe 50th Anniversary reunion I was reminded of the revolutionary things that happened there: the first commercial email, the first online banking, the first online shopping, the first electronic news wire feed, the first song released exclusively online (Arrowsmith 1994), online chat (CB), OS and compiler development, VPNs (X.25 !), data over cable in 82….and Dan Piskur inventing what we know today as much of standard online security, incident response and “cyber”/law enforcement collaboration, all before the Internet.

Of course it all took the efforts of many people and groups: the network software team (packet switching c.a. 1972, take that DARPA), the “monitor group” (TOPS-10 OS development), MicroComputer Software (terminal emulators forever !), large systems software (billing et. al.), and of course the genius of the founders (John Goltz) and the vision of Jeff Wilkins (CEO 1970-1985).

There’s a lot to be said for being in the right place at the right time, and for having a team, but many things do not happen without the essential contributions of amazing individuals.

Thanks Steve.

Figure 2: It all started…

Steve corrected me. There were never actually plans to write an Ada compiler. But I was unaware of the XBASIC compiler. So 3 compilers in all. ↩︎
Steve informs me he was NOT pulled into the WOW project. Maybe the outcome would have been better if he had… ↩︎

Poetry in the trash

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 00:00:00 -0400

A few years ago, my mother went through the effects of her cousin after she died. It turns out Thelma Jane wrote poetry. Nobody knew. It wound up in the trash.

Thelma lived alone. Her husband had died in his 40s. They had no children. Her mother, my great-aunt Bess, lived to 102 and took her first motorcycle ride at 100. My mom had to go through Thelma’s stuff and Aunt Bess’ stuff, most of which Thelma still had. I now have some of the leftovers. But nobody wanted the poetry. So it’s gone.

This brings me to the question this article explores: why write?

#100daystooffload #whywrite #poetry

Permanence?: Thelma’s poetry is gone. Even names carved on tombstones crumble with time. If your writing is very good (see, e.g., Virgil and Cicero) and you’re lucky (see scribes in Celtic monasteries) your scribblings on paper, velum or in cyberspace might last the centuries and inspire other writers (see Dante).
Therapy?: I’ve been journaling (on paper) for a month or so. I find the process quite creative and even cathartic. And there is something freeing about being able to scribble, erase, underline, circle, draw arrows from one idea to the next, and in processing information a non-linear fashion. Unexpected connections can be made. I’m a huge fan of emacs org mode (this blog post is being written in org mode exported using ox-hugo to export a hugo static web site hosted on Github pages, but even using the best of digital writing tools, there is something not quite as free about it. There is something mentally relaxing about writing on paper (and going for long walks).
Learning?: You learn by doing. The process of writing (can) help you organize thoughts. You often have to research things. Putting ideas out there opens you up to criticism. You have to defend or modify your position. It can be a starting point for conversation.
Social Connections?: See Facebook, Twitter, et al. For all their downsides, there is no denying that writing, even the at the banal and everyday level of much of “social media” generates connections. I prefer to think it will allow me to maintain meaningful connections to people who are important to me in life, but my writing may not, in fact, be that noble.
Hubris?: Pride? Vanity? Self-importance? Self-absorption? These are all possibilities.
Professional Reasons?: I sometimes write on professional topics, see Bears Attacks and Cybersecurity and Reproducable Security Analytics. A mix of the same motivations is often in play.
To kill time?: In this busy world we don’t often feel that we have time to kill. We don’t sit on our front porch watching the world go by (and, in fact, it’s been a hundred years or so since the front porch featured prominently in residential architecture, at least in the USA.), and even Baseball, the “national pass-time” is looking for ways to speed up the game for a public that has lost patience. Maybe we need to slow down and focus on important things, or just enjoyable things. Writing may be one of those things.
A habit?: For some people, writing is a habit. I think that may be one of the goals of the #100DaysToOffload concept. I’m going to give it a try. Thanks Kev Quirk

I’ll never know why Thelma Jane wrote her poetry. I’m still trying to figure out why I write. Maybe it’s one of the reasons discussed above. Maybe it’s all of them.

Digital chimney smoke?

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Daniel Boone is quoted (via Hubert Humphrey) as saying

when he could see the smoke from another chimney, felt himself too crowded and moved further out into the wilderness.

Mark Twain said

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

I was on email as early as 1980 on a DEC20. I was on Usenet news when it was the digital frontier and on the Internet in the mid-80s, 10 years or so before the Web. I helped bring America online working at CompuServe before America Online existed. I quit Facebook in the run-up to the 2016 election as it got too political and now I find that my main digital platform (Twitter) is home to the daily, um, ?sophisms? of the President who spawned the political rhetoric I fled.

Is it time to move on? Time to find another avant-guard tech hole to clime into? Thanks to the Internet there are infinitely more options than just the dial-up BBS systems of the early 80s.

I was a little sad to loose contact with all the elementary school friends that Facebook enabled me to reconnect with after 40 years (OK, not really) and I would be sad too loose touch with the zany #ClassicsTwitter crowd (aeneasgoogling apud elysium I’m looking at you) that tweets in Latin.

Where to go? Maybe just pick up stakes, head west and see where I find myself?

All is not doom and gloom: go for a walk !!!

Sat, 25 Apr 2020 00:00:00 -0400

I find that when I stay glued to twitter (pick your social-media-of-doom-amplifier) I tend to get a rather gloomy view of life. There is indeed a lot one can be gloomy about these days. But if you just go for a walk and look around you may be surprised:

I found this art sidewalk art at just about the exact place where last fall I had purchased a cup of lemonade from 4 eager young entrepreneurs. I suspect the ring leader of that optimistic young bunch.

Figure 1: Sidewalk art

Spring is the best time of year. The daffodils bloom, dogwoods are in full bloom, red-bud trees come out, the tree-frogs sing up a storm (at least that’s how it goes in Virginia)

Figure 2: Dogwoods in bloom

I recently had my yard re-graded and re-seeded and now, after 17 years I have full luscious grass (that has to be mowed). This may not happen again:

Figure 3: Actual grass

And last but not least I saw a bird I don’t think I’ve seen before, it turned out to be a common tree swallow, but it was startling to see the almost metallic, shinny dark blue back and white belly (the picture does not capture it well)

Figure 4: Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)

Go for a walk. Look at the world around you. It’s spring. All is not doom and gloom!

Some Happy Notes

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 00:00:00 -0400

And on a happy note…my son Bryan has finished his Masters of Piano Performance at Duquesne University and will be headed to Penn State to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts. You can watch listen to Bryan Jones’ masters degree piano recitle at Duquesne on Youtube.

1 Bryan’s Music

The corona virus has wreaked havoc with many things, not the least of which is the performing arts, but, as they say, “the show must go on”. The program was to have been a live performance, but things being what they are (social distancing) recordings where made to satisfy the requirement.

The program includes:

Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 (original version, 1837)
Debussy: Images Book II - I. Cloches à travers les feuilles
Debussy: Images Book II - II. Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut
Debussy: Images Book II - III. Poissons d’or
Ginastera: Piano Sonata #1, Op. 22 - I. Allegro marcato
Ginastera: Piano Sonata #1, Op. 22 - II. Presto misterioso
Ginastera: Piano Sonata #1, Op. 22 - III. Adagio molto appassionato
Ginastera: Piano Sonata #1, Op. 22 - IV. Ruvido ed ostinato

I particularly like the Debussy.

2 Other Happy Notes

My other son Daniel is finishing out his junior year at Cedarville from home. Bryan’s girlfriend (also graduating from Duquesne) will again spend the summer doing something she loves, counting birds for Bird Conservancy of the Rockies. A “kid” I knew from scouting is headed off for a masters in biomedical engineering this fall, and we may hike together a week or two if possible in June or July.

Life goes on. All is not doom and gloom. There are some happy notes. Share some of yours?

Fixing GNU bash associative array insert speed

Sat, 18 Apr 2020 00:00:00 -0400

Bash uses linear search to insert values in to associative arrays. This is all well and good for small numbers of keys. I was adding millions¹. I went poking around the bash source code today (2020-04-18) to confirm my suspicion and gauge the difficulty of adding an option to do something more sensible.

In less than a day after I reported it, there is a patch https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2020-04/msg00114.html My timing code and pre and post patch timings are here: https://github.com/eludom/snippits/tree/master/bash/tests

Here the steps I took and where I might go if I get serious about fixing the problem:

1 Get the source code

1.1 Find it

find the homepage: A quick bit of googling lead to the homepage http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/bash/
use git: For a minute it looked like GNU was still stuck in the bad old days of having to download a tarball and then apply a series of patches, but fortunately, it there is a git repo http://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=bash

1.2 Download it

git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/bash.git

1.3 Build it

Bash follows a time honored build convention

./configure
make

1.4 Analyze it

I read the NEWS file for any indication that associative arrays has been worked on to speed up associative array insert/look-ups. No indication that they had.
I checked the git commit logs, which appear to be meaningful after Bash-4.4 patch 19. Nothing.
With judicious use of grep (“grep-find in Emacs”) for “associative” and “hash_search” it turns out that associative array inserts (as all inserts) are done with use of the “hash_search” function in hashlib.c
has_insert() begins as follows:

/* Create an entry for STRING, in TABLE.  If the entry already
   exists, then return it (unless the HASH_NOSRCH flag is set). */
BUCKET_CONTENTS *
hash_insert (string, table, flags)
     char *string;
     HASH_TABLE *table;
     int flags;
{
  BUCKET_CONTENTS *item;
  int bucket;
  unsigned int hv;

  if (table == 0)
    table = hash_create (0);

  item = (flags & HASH_NOSRCH) ? (BUCKET_CONTENTS *)NULL
                               : hash_search (string, table, 0);

and there it is, the linear search walking the list in hash_search()

/* Return a pointer to the hashed item.  If the HASH_CREATE flag is passed,
   create a new hash table entry for STRING, otherwise return NULL. */
BUCKET_CONTENTS *
hash_search (string, table, flags)
     const char *string;
     HASH_TABLE *table;
     int flags;
{
  BUCKET_CONTENTS *list;
  int bucket;
  unsigned int hv;

  if (table == 0 || ((flags & HASH_CREATE) == 0 && HASH_ENTRIES (table) == 0))
    return (BUCKET_CONTENTS *)NULL;

  bucket = HASH_BUCKET (string, table, hv);

  for (list = table->bucket_array ? table->bucket_array[bucket] : 0; list; list = list->next)
    {
      /* This is the comparison function */
      if (hv == list->khash && STREQ (list->key, string))
        {
          list->times_found++;
          return (list);
        }
    }

2 Next steps

2.1 DONE Reach out to the maintainers

see if they would even entertain the idea of a patch

2.2 CANCELED Look for appropriate in-memory hash insert/lookup functions

btrees ?

2.3 CANCELED Code it

2.4 CANCELED test it

2.5 CANCELED submit patch

See https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2020-04/msg00114.html

yes, there are many better tools for this job, but not in the constrained environment where this had to run. ↩︎

Bear attacks, no-win situations and cybersecurity

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 00:00:00 -0400

I spend a good amount of time hiking in Shenandoah National Park and surrounding areas. I’ve seen quite a few #bears and I’ve followed one down the trail. I’ve been growled at by a mother bear when I unknowingly came between her and her cubs. This is going somewhere related to #cybersecurity. I promise.

You can’t outrun a bear. Climbing a tree won’t help. If a bear actually decides to attack you, the odds are not in your favor, but fortunately they almost never attack. The old joke goes “I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you” because, presumably the bear will catch your slower partner, stop, and not bother you when you both decide to run for it in violation of bear encounter best practices.

This hints at any number of cybersecurity principals:

Know your threat model.
Know and follow best practices.
Don’t let fear (or adrenaline) dictate your response.
Know and practice situationally appropriate responses (Grizzlies: if attacked play dead. Black Bear: if attacked fight for your life)
Be prepared (bear spray, first aid kit)
Practice deterrence (make noise, travel in groups)
Prevention costs less than recovery. By far.
And, of course, make sure the other guy is an easier target. Run faster if you run. Apply patches, have good backups (Hello, ransomware !), have layers of defense, decoys, monitoring, DLP, practice threat hunting, etc. For a decade or so, I’ve been reflecting on the fact that defensive cybersecurity is a loosing igame. The red team (attackers) always win. I don’t like no-win situations.

There’s a lesson here:

Don’t feed the bears: They become habituated to humans, loose their inhibition, become a nuisance and sometimes have to be relocated or killed. Nobody wins.

OK, not that lesson. Lessons like:

Follow best practices: Following best practices CAN help avoid problems. Not following best practices WILL invite problems.
Have an incident response plan: If you see a bad thing happening, if it is coming straight for you, what do you do?
Line up the right resources: Do you know how to triage wounds? Do you have a cell phone? Are you in range of cell towers? If not, do you have a SPOT to call for help? Where is the nearest hospital? Are you prepared to shelter in place if need be?
It’s not just you: Feeding the bears or failing to store food properly might result in perfectly good backcountry shelters being torn down. And here we are, 20 or so years after it became clear that that allowing spoofed packets out of your network enables #DDoS #attacks and we still do not have widespread adoption of reverse path forwarding checks. Please stop spoofed packets at your border !

So it maybe true that few people win in the face of an actual attack, but, it turns out, there are still good reasons to play the game.

1 For Further Reading

Numbers of bear attacks: In North America, only 2-5 people are killed annually by bears: https://www.thealaskalife.com/outdoors/bear-attacks-statistic/ vs (Worldwide) 10 killed by sharks, 50,000 by snakes and 725,000 by mosquitos. https://www.statista.com/chart/2203/the-worlds-deadliest-animals/
U.S. Forrest Service: “Be bear aware” https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/know-before-you-go/bears
Internet safety 101: “Internet safety 101: 15 tips to keep your kids and family safe online” https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-kids-safety-stop-stressing-10-internet-safety-rules-to-help-keep-your-family-safe-online.html. Sure they want to sell you antivirus software, but this is generally good advice.
Ultimate Guide to Cybersecurity: “Your Ultimate Guide to Cybersecurity: At Home, at Work, and on the Go.” https://www.ibtimes.com/your-ultimate-guide-cybersecurity-home-work-go-2818655. A little more in depth.
CIS Critical Controls: “The Center for Internet Security (CIS) Critical Security Controls” - https://www.cisecurity.org/controls/cis-controls-implementation-groups/ More in depth. For enterprises.

"I'm passionate about…"

Mon, 09 Mar 2020 00:00:00 -0400

“I’m passionate about…” I’ve always hated that phrase. Because I thought it was fake. I thought it was trendy. I’ve reflexively reacted against trendy things for decades. Pet Rocks, Disco, TED talks, cryptocurrency… But I am coming to see what the phrase is getting at. And I think I like it.

In a work world where human beings are called “resources”, where intelligent, creative, inquisitive, motivated people are subjected to management practices derived from 19th century steel mills and automotive assembly line production, the phrase “I’m passionate about…” is (can be) an attempt to re-assert humanity.

I’ve just finished reading Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language . For no good reason. Again and again, it raises the question of what it means to be human: to be joyful, spontaneous, creative, inquisitive, fulfilled, to discover, to appreciate beauty, music, art, language, and poetry (yes, I have a liberal arts degree)

I guess if I had to say what I’m passionate about, it’s about being human and treating other people as humans. To put a professional spin on it “I am passionate about collaborating with technical people to find creative solutions to important problems.”

Go learn a useless language. Climb a mountain and enjoy the view. Spend time playing games with your family. Be human. Be passionate. Carpe diem.

"Reproducible security analytics?"

Tue, 25 Feb 2020 00:00:00 -0500

I’m looking for repositories of “reproducible security analytics”.

As an addict of Emacs Org mode, one of the papers that got me started thinking along these lines was A Multi-Language Computing Environment for Literate Programming and Reproducible Research. I realize for most of the rest of the world this vision is now realized more in things like Jupyter and Zeppelin notebooks. Your loss :-)

One thing that looks promising is mitre’s cyber analytics repository. Another is Hunters Forge/Mordor I’d be interested in pointers to more.

Curious Musings

Zippy in the mists of time

1 Zippy haunting my emacs config

2 psychoanalyze-pinhead

3 The new traditionalists

3.1 Classic Zippy

3.2 Mark Twain Flavor

3.3 Kafka-esque Twist

This Year I'll…

1 What will you do differently in emacs?

1.1 More sharing and big backlog of projects

1.2 What’s old is new

2 What are you excited about with emacs?

2.1 Visual Line mode

2.2 Denote - a new workflow

2.3 GPTel - AI all the things

2.4 Claude Code - AI agent all the things

2.5 org-social - one org mode to communicate with them all

3 large projects with emacs?

4 Emacs, the verb

Zippy in the mists of time

1 Zippy haunting my emacs config

2 psychoanalyze-pinhead

3 The new traditionalists

3.1 Classic Zippy

3.2 Mark Twain Flavor

3.3 Kafka-esque Twist

Back to the egg - Emacs in the 70s

1 Ab Initio

2 Try this at home kids !

3 The people

3.1 RMS - sine non qua

3.2 Guy Steele and the CMU connection

3.3 More CMU connections

3.4 The Columbian Exchange.

4 Feedback and submissions

"The People of Emacs" - Emacs Carnival Prompt

1 Emacs Carnival, December 2025 - “The People of Emacs”

2 What’s a Blog Carnival, again?

3 Submissions

3.1 How to Submit

3.2 Your Submissions Here

The path to a world without hold music.

When time is short

Closing the gates of Janus

1 Brave on the gates of Janus

2 ChatGPT on the gates of Janus

Deep Freeze

The TNI is dead, long live the TNI

Insurance companies are using AI. People will die.

Be kind to your call center friends

We've got to do better than this

Digging through layers of obfuscation

"I ain't no Senators son, no !"

Congress, Big Pharma and Kickbacks, Oh My !!!

Changing the world, one side project at a time

1 Side projects

1.1 The Eternal September, sorry.

1.2 The Web Browser that never was

1.3 The editor that created Linux

1.4 SANS, IETF, Flocon, the White House

1.5 Side projects at Palo Alto

2 The Amazon Leadership Principals

3 People matter.

Thanks Sacha !

What matters in work?

Who 'ya gonna trust? CNN, Podcasts, ChatGPT…

Hikers, Volunteers, Hard Work and Relationships

Count Your Blessings

Making lists

Try writing more, you'll worry less

mornings without the phone (regaining my mind)

Death, Taxes, and Job

Generation P

Successful?

The unnumbered habits of a questionably effective person

1 Rants on org mode, humanity and Bruce

1.1 Org mode and planning

1.2 But we’re human

1.3 Bruce

2 DONE `[3/3]` Action Items

2.1 DONE `[7/7]`Testing and figuring out what to chang

2.1.6 DONE `[6/6]` Remove/replace JTR’ custom artwork with Thinker