C++ Guy / is on Nostr

I'm an oldish software developer in the UK. Cis het man, married to Mrs Wife since for ever.

I'll always accept your follow request unless you're a bot, a spammer or a troll. I don't always follow back. Feel free to follow me back or not, whichever you prefer.

I've chosen a server that blocks Threads, because I don't trust Meta's intentions towards its users or Fedi. I'm in the process of migrating from [@CppGuy](https://infosec.exchange/@CppGuy ).

Avatar is a photo of a Jersey bay, with a boat setting out to sea.

Pronouns: He, him, his

Last Notes

2024-06-17 17:31:20

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Agreed. In addition (and Lauren will already know this), IP addresses are often ephemeral; you can change them at will by going to a coffee shop or a friend's house, by moving from your home Internet connection to a mobile one, or by using a VPN. Especially if you use a VPN (but not only then), your IP address will be shared with many other users and automated devices.
If someone does something naughty on your home Internet connection, you can plausibly argue that a friend was using your WiFi or that someone in the street broke into it.
A government ID, in contrast, is permanent, can be backed up by other official documents, and is not intended to be shared. It can be tracked across the Web and used to build up a picture of your activity in a way that no IP address can.
Do you want to know why Facebook and other tracking companies work so hard to link up devices used by the same person — why my old Lenovo phone used to contact graph.facebook.com when I connected Bluetooth headphones to it? Precisely because they want the kind of panopticon that a government ID would give them.

2024-06-08 12:35:08

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It depends on the manufacturer. Whenever possible, I buy biodegradable tea bags for just this reason. They go into the thermal compost bin and I never see them again. 🙂
https://media.infosec.space/infosec-space/media_attachments/files/112/581/024/686/909/954/original/7ee63ec39468a363.png

2024-06-06 17:08:47

What's your moral alignment? This relates to https://mastodon.nu/@Loukas/112570044162508528.
Boosts welcome!

2024-05-31 17:14:05

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I thought the idea of #scrobbling was more than just logging: I thought the point was for some central service to find other people who listened to the same #songs as you and then recommend #music that they enjoyed but which you didn't know.
Have I misunderstood, or has the word changed its meaning in the last 20 years?

2024-05-28 22:01:56

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The article (quite rightly) doesn't specify the source of the leak, and it also doesn't say how old the documents are. I get the impression that Google tweaks its search algorithm every few days. Could the age of the document explain some of the differences between what Google claims now and what the document says?
[@theverge](https://flipboard.com/@theverge )

2024-05-27 15:08:30

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I was interested enough to go looking for the original quote. I found it here, in an opinion piece from April last year:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/19/snp-implosion-is-a-chance-to-put-devolution-in-reverse/
"So now: do something different. Not only must no more powers be devolved to Scotland, it’s time to reverse the process. Devolution was designed in a different world – a world in which many powers theoretically devolved to Scotland were actually held at EU level and could not be exercised in practice. Brexit changed that, but rather than using the opportunity to rationalise things, a complex programme of “common frameworks” was established, making the UK Government a supplicant to the devolved administrations to maintain common rules across the country."

2024-05-27 12:11:59

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Yes! And, while we're on the subject, let's explain the difference between deficit and debt (deficit goes down, debt keeps going up), and please tell journalists that a new power station will not generate two gigawatts per hour, or per year, or per any other unit of time.
😖

2024-05-24 18:28:33

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I'm not American either, but here's my take:
First, the official line is that #Covid is over and everyone should go back to shops, offices and restaurants. Therefore, you don't need a mask. I've described this doctrine elsewhere on Fedi as gaslighting, and I stand by it. It's also deeply ableist.
Second, whatever the real, darker motive may be, the purported justification for the ban is that criminals and terrorists use masks to hide their identities.
Don't ask me to justify the American attachment to #guns when guns killed 48,830 Americans in 2021 and, in the same year, 81% of murders involved a firearm. Many Americans believe that guns protect them. I would have to describe it as a national delusion.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/
#CovidIsNotOver #WearAMask

2024-05-21 21:31:27

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Too true. Never mind America: the whole world can't afford another Trump presidency. God help us all if he wins this year.

2024-05-21 21:27:01

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#Alt4You Photo of a blackboard outside a sandwich shop or café (possibly), saying:
NO HIPSTERS
Don't be coming in here with your hairy faces, your vegan diets, your tiny feet & your sawdust bedding. No, wait. Hamsters. NO HAMSTERS.

2024-05-21 21:18:07

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Cats have well and truly domesticated humans.

2024-05-20 23:05:42

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I've got more than I can count. Family is weighing on my mind at the moment.
https://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/2013/10/mystery_solved_owner_of_the_st.html

2024-05-18 12:58:51

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I've not been over there for twenty-odd years. When I visited, it was never the light switches that caught my attention. 😄
One thing ours get right is that down is off, rather than down being on. Someone or something that falls against a light switch is more likely to knock it downwards than upwards, so there's less risk of suddenly applying 230V to the circuit by accident. (Of course, at night, that increases the risk of plunging yourself into darkness just as you plummet towards the floor. Nothing's perfect. 😄)

2024-05-18 12:32:08

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You can get those light switches here if you want them. We used to have some, decades ago.