ceoln @ceoln@social.cleverlibre.org

Introduction: I'm a mathematician-turned-infrastructure-security-whatever

I lead security for Netflix's increasingly-inaccurately-named CDN, plus other things : )

🤔 I...don't know what I do outside of work these days. I have 2 cats, 1 tuxedo-colored puppy-cat, a wife (@sophieschmieg), I enjoy some sci-fi, and I decompress playing single-player games (mostly PS5 lately)

and a steadily increasing bevy of succulents

@djspacebunny the following may be too much detail, but it's useful for me to document for myself and for other people who ask

Succulents are almost all cat safe — but cacti mostly aren't cat safe. The extra spiky ones protect themselves, but some spikies have toxins IN the spikies (e.g., Madagascar palm, sago palm), and many have "oxalate crystals" which have mixed assessments but are probably Not Good.

Different succulents need different conditions from medium indirect light to full direct light. Most need to dry out, but Kalanchoe likes some regular watering and can't dry out too long. Ponytail palm is lovely and easy to care for and technically a succulent.

In the non-succulent families:
Prayer plants and Calatheas are spectacular, but picky. Money trees and bromeliads and spider plants are flexible and easy (highly recommend). Hoya and peperomia are good. Passion flower AND passion fruit are cat safe climbing vines!

Palms are mixed on cat safety—take care. Parlor palm, Aretha palm, and Majesty palm are good, but some cats will nibble on anything that dangles (which isn't toxic, but could lead to vomiting).

Citrus trees are good, as are juniper bushes and Japanese maple, and all can grow in (very) large pots.

The popular rubber trees, fig trees, and ficus are all toxic to cats. However, Jade plants (gollum Jade, crassula whatever) are very similar and—checks notes—well shit ok also mildly poisonous, so nevermind that. Aeonium is cat safe though!

There's some lemon and pepper and other specialized cat-safe cat deterrent sprays. I'm personally not comfortable relying on that with plants that are toxic to cats. There's "mildly harmful", "poisonous", and "Extremely Toxic". I strictly avoid exposing my cats to the latter two, and strongly avoid the first. YMMV. My very few toxic plants are placed where cats can't go without observation (e.g., outdoor balcony).

My personal general rule for plants that are or may be not safe for cats is this:
★ Don't keep the worst tier at all (lilies), and the second worst tier (my Madagascar palm that I should give away) must have more than one physical barrier that won't be accidentally moved or broken through by cats
★ Keep it isolated where cats don't or can't go without observation
★ Make sure it won't be accidentally or mischievously knocked down where cats might nibble at leaves or roots
★ Avoid anything tempting for cats to nibble or pull down to expose roots when the pot smashes on the floor (dangling leaves). So I'll tolerate Sansevieria Fernwood or Whalefin (outside, under observation), but never Monstera.
★ Use museum putty to stick pots and vases onto surfaces. Not that a cat couldn't break that hold, but if the vase doesn't wobble, the cat is less tempted to pull the prayer plant down Yet Again and eventually decides to chew on (literally) lower hanging fruit.
★ DO NOT get any more opuntia (prickly pear): although cat-safe, edible, fast growing, and easy to care for, opuntia thorns are nearly invisible shit-gobblers that leap into clothing, persist across wash cycles, and infiltrate pain centers at the worst moments from awkward angles while being incredibly hard to find (because nearly invisible tiny, thin, short needles).

#CatSafePlants #Cats #CatLovers #PlantLovers #NeverOpuntia

I published "Letter to an Insecurity Engineer"

This is an attempt to validate the insecurities and imposter feelings that often come up in the face of persistent hostility, criticism, and questioning of our competence, from our own colleagues within infosec.

#ImposterSyndrome
#Insecurity
#Infosec

https://medium.com/managing-on-the-margins/letter-to-an-insecurity-engineer-8478670fef9c

I hear the government is doing IoT cybersecurity labels? They're welcome to reuse mine from a while back.

deceit levels are currently at 80% but fluctuating wildly

(80%) ■■■■■■■■□□

Jump around. Jump up, jump up, and get down #caturday

@Sheencr Thanks v much for linking Independent SAGE stuff here - that's great. I think probably lots of folk who have moved across miss seeing the notifiations and posts on twitter (oops, X-thingy). And, of course, there's also whole new communities of folk here, too, who I'm sure will equally appreciate the insights, info and discussion. 👍
#covid #science #medicine #vaccine #LongCovid #uk

WoolfWorks: possibly the best 2 pages of Orlando, where he meets Queen Elizabeth for the first time.

'By the same showing, the Queen herself can have seen only a head. But if it is possible from a hand to deduce a body, informed with all the attributes of a great Queen, her crabbedness, courage, frailty, and terror, surely a head can be as fertile, looked down upon from a chair of state by a lady whose eyes were always, if the waxworks at the Abbey are to be trusted, wide open.'

#VirginiaWoolf

Call for International Week of Solidarity with #AnarchistPrisoners
"Extreme right, conservative and authoritarian politics are increasing all around the world. Some use it to start Wars and kill thousands of people, some build fences and guard what they think is their property and others use it to arm up in the digital world. Surveillance is increased and the states are leaping more and more into our private spaces, analyzing our private conversations and collecting data about us with a depth of detail we could never have imagined. The tools of the states to crush resistance, crush even the idea of fighting the system, are sharpened with every minute. Many anarchists, anti-authoritarians, environmental activists, and antifascist around the world face repression because acting anonymous in a digitalized world is as difficult as never before.
With all the obstacles put into our way during the struggle for a better world, anarchist ideas and values remain important. In times of crisis methods of collective organizing, mutual aid and the principle of solidarity start to shine. The system will fall apart and we should get ready to take back a world that was stolen by companies, yacht owners and the war industry."
https://darknights.noblogs.org/post/2023/08/05/call-for-international-week-of-solidarity-with-anarchist-prisoners-2023-23-30-august/
#Anarchism #Prison #freeThemAll #abolishprisons

Virginia Tech has announced they're ending not just legacy admission preference, but also early decision. (Early decision applicants get admitted at higher rates at many schools than regular decision applicants, and they're an easier path for families wealthy enough not to need to compare financial aid offers.) They''ll continue to offer nonbinding early action: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2023/08/01/virginia-tech-ends-legacy-admissions-and-early-decision

I have just been requested to commute three days a week 135 miles away each way from my home (I have not moved) to an office I was never required to attend before the pandemic starting end of September.

If anyone needs remote product/infrastructure/platform engineering or backend developer who has 15 years cloud deployment experience and data center to cloud migration experience, email me on spotter@referentiallabs.com.

#haskell #PureScript #Deno #typescript

With my advancing age, I like to keep my mind active by plotting revenge

> You see, if somebody robs a store, it's a crime and the state is all set and ready to nab the criminal. But if somebody steals from the commons and from the future, it's seen as an entrepreneurial activity and the state cheers and gives them tax concessions rather than arresting them. We badly need an expanded concept of justice and fairness that takes mortgaging the future into account.

- Ursula M. Franklin, The Real World of Technology

Get a sense of scale for computer storage...

Byte of data: a grain of rice
Kilobyte: a cup of rice
Megabyte: 8 bags of rice
Gigabyte: 3 container lorries
Terabyte: 2 container ships
Petabyte: covers Manhattan
Exabyte: covers the UK (3 times)
Zettabyte: fills the Pacific Ocean

The super rich are extremely greedy and drunk with power. We have to abolish billionaires. We can't be subject to the whims of random assholes.

Hydric Acid has been found in our water supply. Hydric Acid is an odorless acid with a pH of 7 (higher than any other acid!). Inhalation of this substance can cause suffocation, and under cetain conditions, the vapors can cause blistering of the skin.
If you are concerned about the presence of Hydric Acid in our water supply, please call your Congressperson and tell them we need more funding for public education. Together, we can beat this.

I've seen a number of people who make valuable contributions to the #Fediverse say that they are leaving or at least considering leaving due to a "toxic reply guy culture" (as it was worded in one case). I think generally those who are cis-het white guys (or plausibly read as such) don't get as much of this, but anyone who visibly isn't one (or more) of those things seems to get it. And I think the Fediverse is poorer for the resultant loss.

I wonder what can be done about this. As opposed to a lot of abusive behavior, I would assume a lot of this doesn't really break any articulable rule, and as opposed to trolling I suspect that many of the people doing it have no ill intent. So I'm not sure what sort of approach would ensure a more reasonable experience for people without excessive unintended consequences.

#moderation #diversity #DEI #DEIA #trustAndSafety

Klein, K. & Wienand, J. (2022). City of Caesar, City of God: Constantinople and Jerusalem in Late Antiquity. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110718447 #OpenAccess #OA #History #Histodon #Histodons #Book #Books #Ebook #Ebooks #Bookstodon #Academia #Academic #Academics #Byzantine #Byzantium #Antiquity #Ancient #AncientNearEast @antiquidons @histodon @histodons @bookstodon (23)