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Joined 14 days ago
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Cake day: August 10th, 2026

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  • Tbh you should just get a mac.

    You can have privacy on them with a little less effort than on windows and they’re already decently secure. They can play cyberpunk and you already have the linux (bsd) toolkit. They’re already the kind of computer you like with the good trackpad etc.

    I would drop your “be European” requirement.



  • You’re barking up the wrong tree and fucking up your life by doing this.

    Split the streaming/gaming duty to a different device that can be operated in the way the user expects.

    Wherever you disconnect shutdown signals from will be relied upon by something down the road and you’ll end up with a weird messed up broken update when that happens.




  • That’s only true for some environments.

    E: this is the first time I’ve read that blog post since it was published (or at least a long time ago) and there’s now a comment specifically referencing the actual behavior I observed in the wild when I tried to sub other things in for “normal” uses of dd:

    Nobody says: 2016-12-30 at 15:17

    cat /dev/cdrom > myfile.iso

    Works

    cat myfile.iso > /dev/cdrom

    Won’t – dd allows you do handle writes in various block sizes, so if a device can’t handle a one-byte write, cat could well end up writing your byte followed by zeros (and because of where the pointer now is, do it again for the next byte).

    Still, all your other points stand – nice piece.

    While that comment was written seventy years ago, in this age of people with questionable intent, capability and integrity rewriting system tools in rust there’s no better time to linger thoughtfully over cp or cat or any number of other commands that begin with the letter “c” before grabbing the ol’ reliable footgun whose fifty years of script backwards compatibility ensure that no one can get their dd replacement accepted in normal use until it behaves as expected.


  • Secure erase just drops the ssd controllers table of where logical blocks are in the physical memory and trims the disk. Which is good and you should do.

    That means a person would have to address the memory directly with flying leads or a bed of nails or something. Or have special software that makes the controller tell them what’s on each physical block and then put that data together into a bunch of files.

    If that worries you, do dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/<disk> before you secure erase.

    Then everything on the drive will be random static before the secure erase drops the block table and trims, so even if someone uses magic power to read the block contents directly they just get to see static.

    That has the benefit of speeding up the drive by resetting read fatigue at the expense of one layer of writes which is always worth it.


  • Am I mistaken or are you the same person who asked if you were the asshole for not planning to attend your fathers funeral after being given an explicit invitation and request to attend because you might see people you don’t like?

    If so, consider making amends before tricking your parents into a public place so you can ask them how they want to handle their deaths with a little less chance of your own discomfort.

    If possible, enroll in a program of therapy. What you’re experiencing isn’t abnormal, but the way you’re responding to it definitely is. I want you to be healthy and have access to the resources you need during the experience of managing loved ones lives.




  • Here’s an alternative view, one that perhaps you haven’t heard:

    You are living in a world that has become less stable or secure every day. A world with rampant inflation no matter how it’s measured. Guarantees of survival from government have been eroding away steadily and with the advent of llms those same guarantees from private business are already gone.

    Family is a safety net you still have access to. Property and possessions held by family empower this safety net.

    Consider having a serious and painful conversation with your dying loved ones regarding how to preserve the family and ensure that wealth paid for by the lifeblood and sweat of its members remain in control of the family for as long as is possible and further the needs of the members of the family when disposed of or used.





  • You do not need to keep replying to me with insults and vitriol. I’m not trying to fight you.

    I’m trying to make sure that anyone who reads your comments understands that audiobooks are not in any way a substitute for reading. I want you and anyone who also listens to podcasts or audiobooks or even those long yts to understand that they are different things.

    I think that’s an important thing to do because one of the biggest differences is the type of thought each one requires and reading the written word is associated with better cognitive outcomes as a person ages.

    I want you to live a long healthy life so I’m still replying :)