Category Archives: Uncategorized

Recaptcha

So I was commenting on a special needs parent blog, and this new ugly recaptcha variant came up, where it's a crummy picture and a distorted word, and you need to read text from a slanty image of a sign on a building, or whatever. It's pretty awful. So I tried that a few times and gave up, and tried the audio version.

Recaptcha sound

I don't know if any of you can make that out, but I can't. I assume the majority can, or they wouldn't post it. I cannot hear the numbers over the noise at all.

Ultimately, Becky had to help me with a text version to get the comment to post. I think we're starting to hit a wall, where we're taking reverse turing tests so far they assume you have good sensory skills and can handle visual and auditory noise well, or you're not a human. That's a scary world for someone who doesn't.

Android Issue: IPv6 literal in EHLO – Exim4 fix/workaround

To fix the issue where android does this:

IPv6 address/MAC address sanitized

 31.855405 2607:f4b8:2600:1::1 -> 2607:f4b8:2600:5:b607:f9ff:xxxxxx:xxxxx SMTP Response: 220 ignignokt.timminstechnologies.com ESMTP Exim 4.69 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:28:43 -0400
.....
 31.857239 2607:f4b8:2600:5:b607:f9ff:xxxxx:xxxx -> 2607:f4b8:2600:1::1 SMTP Command: EHLO 2607:f4b8:2600:5:b607:f9ff:xxxx:xxxx
....
 31.862978 2607:f4b8:2600:1::1 -> 2607:f4b8:2600:5:b607:f9ff:xxxxxx:xxxxxx SMTP Response: 501 Syntactically invalid EHLO argument(s)
....

Do this in your exim4 config, and restart exim:

helo_allow_chars = _:

Technically, only the colon is necessary, but the underscore fixes some other handsets that use the android_aklsjdfljasdf style names in ehlo instead, also a bug.

More details:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=13681

Before you have unprotected sex, read this

(tl;dr: I am not threatening my kid with the knife, it's a tool. If you're gonna read this thing, read the whole thing)

As I stood in front of my calm, smiling child with the exposed blade of the knife from a multitool in front of me, I considered for a split second how I arrived at this point.

Sure, he is a fine child, and I love him dearly. He's getting physiologically ready to potty train, and what comes out down there is always a surprise, both in quality and in quantity. Today is no exception.

Before me, I am confronted with a quiz. You have a nearly two year old in front of you, whose plain undershirt onesie he's been running around in is a faint brown color near his nether regions, but they can only be practically removed by pulling the item over his head. This has been easily done in the past, but today, he's outdone himself. The entire bottom is soaked and the area you have to unsnap is also a brownish color. He thought it best to hide from you while doing this, since he of course wanted his privacy. So you decided to declare the onesie a loss, as it's the cheaper undershirt kind anyway.

So you size up the situation, note the boy hasn't been squirmy and is very interested in what you're up to. So you pinch his shirt near the belly, and with the sharp side toward yourself, you make a 4" incision from the center to the left side across the shirt, and close up the blade, putting the multitool back on your belt. With some easy tearing, your son now has an exposed midriff, and the bottom portion slides safely off via his legs, as he patiently smiles.

Now you remove the diaper, which is apparently more… well, liquid than usual. It's clearly… soft. Mixed with a bladder full of urine. Which explains how the mess happened so quickly.

Slipping both off, wiping your child from the bellybutton down, front and back, and up the legs to the feet, you begin to wonder when he'll be able to communicate his need to use the restroom before he does it. Soon, hopefully.

Disaster averted, you play happily.

Now I don't say this stuff to discourage procreation. Not by any means. I love my child, worked diligently with my spouse in a long term loving relationship to have him, and plan on eventually having another.

But when you think to yourself "boy, that condom sure is a pain in the ass, I'm sure we'll be okay just this once" I want you to consider that visual for a moment. If you're cool with that, with the partner you're with, by all means, have at it. If you're not, well, trojans are the same cost as that onesie, when both are purchased in quantity.

Be safe out there and have fun!

For me, for later. For others?

How to change from blockio to fileio on a running openfiler instance with initiators connected and filesystems mounted:

[root@filer1 ~]# cat /proc/net/iet/volume
tid:1 name:iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:tsn.ee0e2bfd7f91
lun:0 state:0 iotype:blockio iomode:wt path:/dev/mudkips/minun
[root@filer1 ~]# vi /etc/ietd.conf

edit the iotype to fileio in this file – but you're not done yet!

Also edit it here
[root@filer1 ~]# vi /opt/openfiler/etc/iscsi/targets/iscsi_settings.xml

This part sounds like it will kill xenserver. It won't. IO will hang for a second while the target is stopped.

[root@filer1 ~]# /etc/init.d/iscsi-target restart
Stopping iSCSI target service: …… [ OK ]
Starting iSCSI target service: [ OK ]
[root@filer1 ~]#

[root@filer1 ~]# cat /proc/net/iet/volume
tid:1 name:iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:tsn.ee0e2bfd7f91
lun:0 state:0 iotype:fileio iomode:wt path:/dev/mudkips/minun
[root@filer1 ~]#

The internets say you can do:

[root@filer1 ~]# ietadm –op delete –tid=1 –lun=0 && ietadm –op new –tid=1 –lun=0 –params Type=fileio,Path=/dev/mudkips/minun

However, you can't delete a target that's got initiators connected. You CAN do this to a running copy of ietd/iscsi-target if this target has nobody connected without restarting ietd.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Remember, if you care about my more ephemeral stuff, I'm usually posting that to Facebook these days.
http://www.facebook.com/PaulTimmins

Hey guys does anyone want to go wardriving with me?

Ironic note: My digital camera uses the same technology utilized by me in 2003 to get me in a world of federal trouble (okay, so that was not specifically the overt act that landed me in hot water, using the internet connection I found was). It uses it to put a latitude/longitude coordinate on the images I take so I can see where they were taken. How was that data collected to have that work? Dorks driving around with laptops, wifi cards, and GPS units.

What was villified in the news in 2003, 2004 and 2005 is now status quo. My iPod Touch also uses that technology in order to emulate a GPS in location based apps such as foursquare and google maps.

Consider me to be so far out on the cutting edge, I was actually cut.

(and before someone accuses me of being late to that party, I should note that prior to acquiring a proper wifi card, we were doing netstumbling like exercises with Spectrum24 and RangeLan2. This was in 2001/2002 era)

Dear lazyweb

I am looking for two videos of any quality of the following (they would have predated 1984):

The AT&T "Joey" long distance ad that tries to highlight how hard it is to use a competitive long distance carrier with the old couple getting confused on all the numbers they have to dial

The MCI "Joey" ad using the same cast that shows the same old couple aghast at their bill when they gave up on MCI and switched back to AT&T.

Anyone providing these will win at least 2 internets.

Somehow I survived 30 years

Heres's to 60 more.

2010 was a year with no major trips to the hospital for me or my family that I can recall, which is a small feat considering every year prior involved at least 2 days hospitalization for me, and some for other members of my immediate family.

(There were of course ER visits, but no inpatient care or IV treatment)