Ok, looks like this is the week of funny experiences.

Customer: "I had an AI check our server and it says the SSH port is open and that's not very secure."

Me: "Yes, you asked us to open it so you could access the server via SFTP (actually, you wanted FTP, but we discussed it a bit and found this compromise). Don't worry, it's only accessible from your IP and you land in a dedicated FreeBSD jail. From there, you can only access the 'exchange' directory on your server, where you can upload and download files without affecting the application."

(NB: I had suggested a VPN, but they declined because it was too complicated.)

Customer: "Yes, but maybe it's still insecure. Can't we close it?"

Me: "No, unless you want to lose access to that directory."

Customer: "Ok, thanks."

One hour later:

Customer: "Hi, I think we've found a solution. We've just created an app (!!!) with AI that lets us access the files anyway, but more securely than SSH (!!!). Can we install that and close SSH? Oh, and not in the dedicated jail, but directly in the application's jail, because it needs access to the application's files."

Me: "Frankly, I trust SSH in a dedicated jail, restricted by the firewall, a lot more. I don't think this is a good idea."

Customer: "Ok, thanks."

Half an hour later:

Customer: "Ok, now it's secure. I had another AI check it and it found some security issues, but it fixed them all. Can you install it and disable SSH?"

Me: "I strongly advise against it. I can see problems coming."

Customer: "Ok, thanks."

One hour later, my phone rings.

Their internal IT guy (who has access to the machine, which, after all, belongs to them) had given the AI the login credentials to go ahead with the operation.

Except the AI had managed to lock itself out via the firewall, without even starting the app. And now they couldn't get back in.

Fortunately, I had my own access, via VPN, to a separate jail that the AI hadn't touched (or even considered).

Customer: "SORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRY! From now on, we do things your way."

Well, at least it ended well.

PS: The customer knows I'm sharing this story and agreed to it.

#IT #SysAdmin

[FREE DOWNLOAD GAME // NEW SINGLE]

New single PLUG AND PLAY is out now on all digital platforms.The track is the soundtrack of the trailer for 'No Trace Back,' a racing game we are developing at Theta Division Games, the team behind VirtuaVerse.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/WAYj_0j_GHc
DOWNLOAD: https://thetadivision.com

Elder0010 codes it in Unity, I write the music, and we shape the concept and game design together. It is a racer in pure vector graphics, in the line of the early arcade classics like Star Hawk, Tempest, and Cosmic Chasm: fast, high framerate, set in a virtual world where you compete for the prestige of your house.

The free demo already runs on several mechanics, and the full version will go further, adding narrative and strategy elements and VR support. Computer metal has always come with code attached: crypto puzzles, ARGs, a whole server, a video game. This time the code is a racer.

The demo is free download at thetadivision.com

SPREAD THE CODE

It’s time to de-privatize the US government. “The problem is not just that privatization is often inefficient because it adds a nontransparent layer of profiteering on top of government functions. The problem is that government loses basic capacity.” https://prospect.org/2026/10/13/time-to-de-privatize-federal-government

Fab story from Margaret Hamilton, RIP, showing why Science-Mums are brilliant scientists! When innovating at the cutting edge of technology, it's so important to bring together a wide range of lived experiences. Sad that only ~20% comp-scientists are female 👩‍🔬🧪

ℹ️: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

You pass butter. #AvatarImages

Options to support the project here:
https://about.marginalia-search.com/article/supporting/

Gothmog #AvatarImages

A thread of #AvatarImages I've used.

Marginalia is an incredible web search created by a wonderfully crazy guy who decided to just sit down and code it up.

"Web search has traditionally been difficult to monetize, which has pushed many search engines to go the route of advertisement, to the detriment of search results.

"The project is independent in that it has no loans, no investors [...] just providing as good internet search as it is capable of."

Currently just 17 Github sponsors. I guess 18 now, including me. Anyone else?

WWIII won't look like armies sweeping through countries, or nuclear oblivion.
It'll be a Superpower completely destroying itself and turning on it's allies while pretending everything is fine.
It'll be Fascism quietly subverting every Democracy left on the planet because that Superpower people trusted is compromised.

WWIII is happening right now and people have no idea, just a vague feeling that things are not right.

If you joined the @ThePSF when they rejected the NSF grant for its anti-DEI poison pill, that was almost a year ago. If you're able, consider showing your ongoing appreciation with a renewal.

#Python

Happy Coming Out Day!

If you are out and proud and happy, congratulations, you've made it.

If you're reading this and you're not out, that is perfectly OK. You will do it on your time, on your own terms, when you're ready ... and can do it safely.

Love is love.

#NationalComingOutDay

Like any civilized person I am shocked and saddened by what my government has been doing in the waters off Central America.

Hundreds of fishermen, travelers, and even pleasure boaters have been murdered from the air by a cowardly coast guard that has not called out illegal orders.

It will probably be a footnote at best in most histories of this era; but it is not a footnote to the dead, nor to those they left behind.

RE: https://toot.cafe/@baldur/117433920248778095

"Tech is the new tobacco industry"

This one hit me in the feels.

This is depressing. Perfectly good alternatives to all Adobe have existed for many years and are used at pro level, but someone hallucinates some code with claude (which I hear was trained on code of programs like gimp and inkscape) and suddenly everyone is raving about it being the end of Adobe, though the thing they praise is at best entry level stuff. But like other snake oil sellers, they claim it will get there, though their "in one month" is now "many months" #artcraft #foss

I couldn’t sleep, and so, for whatever reason, thought to do something I haven’t done in years: play around with the Mandelbrot set.

Whatever computational backend this site runs on is way more sophisticated and capable than these things used to be: what you’re looking at here is the set’s “ass crack,” followed inward to ludicrous levels of zoom. (Again: couldn’t sleep.)

Then I got curious about how big the total set would be from this position, if every time I did a reverse-pinch gesture the portion visible on the screen was subjected to 10x magnification. It turns out it only takes 29 reverse pinches for that dimension to exceed the diameter of the known universe.

Finding minibrots really really deep in the set always puts me in mind of Carl Sagan’s spine-tingling conceit in “Contact,” about the discovery of a perfect rasterized circle buried somewhere past the octillionth digit of π. There is the distinct brush of the numinous.

https://mandelbrot.site/

An Open Letter To The People Writing Lengthy Posts About 'Why I'm Going Back to Twitter'

https://dansinker.com/posts/2026-10-12-open-letter/

Here's the popup

Don’t forget that Christopher Columbus isn’t just a violent cruel asshole by modern standards. He was also seen as (and arrested for being) a violent, cruel asshole during the time he lived

Pour one out for Robert X. Cringley. Dude was an absolute legend in tech commentary for decades, and I started reading his stuff in Infoworld back in the day.