@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

marshray

@marshray@infosec.exchange

Mostly computer and technical stuff. Radical listener. Tries to be a good person.
#Rust #UA

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

jerry , to random
@jerry@infosec.exchange avatar

I need recommendations on where to go to get my mom some help. She is in what I would call rapid memory decline, but the neurologist says she does not have Alzheimer’s or dementia. She does not sleep due to some undiagnosed issue for many years, but has managed it a bit with some uncommon sleeping meds (not anything I’ve ever heard of).

The doctors are basically like 🤷and meanwhile things continue to get worse. Do y’all have any recommendations on even the type of doctor that she should go see?

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@jerry It sounds like you've seen a neurologist.
Are there more options to pursue for a sleep clinic/specialist?

jerry , to random
@jerry@infosec.exchange avatar

The migration from one database to another went well, though took about an hour longer than I expected. That's just processing time to dump and then reload a 500GB database.

Once it was complete and I tried to start the instance, I kept getting timeouts. It looks like the problem was with the web processes. I spent way too long debugging them. kept timing out. Nothing I did would fix it.

then I looked at the new database server. all 96 cores were pegged. wtf?

restart the database server, goes right back to being pegged. I stop the mastodon processes, and the load falls to zero.

then I wondered.... surely I wouldn't need to run an "analyze" command on a brand new database?

So I try it. kind of at my wits end. and sure enough the load drops to near zero and everything magically starts working.

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@jerry My vague understanding is that a core function of ’analyze’ is gathering the statistics that it needs to optimize queries.

Without up-to-date statistics, it may be “optimizing” queries in highly pathological ways.

marshray , to random
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

I got to know Adam Shostack 12 years ago. He was one of the first people I got to know on the west coast. We’ve had many discussions, meetings, conversations, and lunches.

Now my anecdote may not mean the same as some, but he’s always been a highly decent guy around me, no red flags. I never saw him talk bad behind backs, even given the opportunity. He’s someone I’d trust when no one is watching.

I’ve lost count of the number of times people whispered warnings to me about this-or-that prominent infosec scene person. Most of them, probably. Perhaps you’ve had that experience too. But never about Adam. I’ve never heard anyone speak ill of him in any way.

Exactly the opposite, in fact. I have seen him publicly harassed, unprovoked, by some coward literally hiding in a crowd who obviously just wanted to be a jackass. It made zero sense to me. But Adam handled it with grace, and I remember that, and admire him.

This harassment is some real bullshit, and it needs to stop.

marshray OP ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@jerry @chort Just the other day, I was helping someone just getting into data security thinking. They were reading Adam’s book and they were like “Hey, you’re in here!” in the Acknowledgments and I was like “Wow, cool!” 😆

benroyce , to random
@benroyce@mastodon.social avatar

This post is not a joke.

There are proudly talking about wearing diapers, and wearing Trump branded diapers themselves:

https://www.dispatchesfromtrumpland.com/post/more-trump-diapers-at-pennsylvania-rally

To contextualize, his fixer confirms Trump sh**s his pants and journalists at his trial have complained about a certain smell.

Dear World:

I deeply apologize, as a mentally competent American.

This, uh, man?, has a real chance of running our country again.

The stupidity in the is beyond my comprehension.

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@benroyce Making fun of an old person’s medical condition is disguising.

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@benroyce Yes, I read it, and I told you what I think about it.

Of all the things one could criticize Trump and his supporters for, this one is the worst choice.
It trivializes the serious crimes and validates the “TDS” narrative.

It’s bullying worthy of Trump himself.
I’m not going to judge these people for pushing back on it.

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@littletree Two wrongs don’t make a right.

DejahEntendu , to bookstodon group
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow.

This was a great book! Graeber and Wengrow integrate new archeological discoveries with anthropology and turn common belief on its side. In the same way that we used to think that evolution was a progressive march to new and improved species, we also thought that human development was on an upward arc to better things, with capitalism and

🧵

@bookstodon

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@DejahEntendu @bookstodon It’s on audio as well.

jeffowski , (edited ) to random
@jeffowski@mastodon.world avatar

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@jeffowski No, not everyone needs to “smoke weed”, particularly children.

It has very negative psychoactive effects for many people.

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@jeffowski @marshray Already did.

Have a good one 👋

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@jeffowski You don’t even know that I don’t. It’s legal where I live.

I think that kind of stupid slogan gives cannabis a bad name.

No one would say “everyone needs to drink alcohol”, or “everyone needs smoke tobacco”.

It’s not for everybody. Respect personal choice.

flexghost , to random
@flexghost@mastodon.social avatar

The teens of america are uniting!

To end war? No

To solve world hunger? Nope

To stop congress from banning TikTok? Yep

After the spyware… (ahem) after the app supplied users with numbers to call, one teen threatened “I promise you do not ban TikTok. If you want a January 6th riot, that's what's going to happen. Don't do it”

…this, after giving their full name and address at the start of the call
(Via Politico)

And the calls keep coming

We’re about to see the wackiest uprising ever 🇺🇸

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@eljefedsecurit @mozz @flexghost @infosec_jcp @maynarkh Framing the issue with TikTok as one of malware makes it no different than any old Android flashlight app.

Assume it obeys app model permissions.

The problem is what its AI learns about you from the moment you scroll past each video, and the consequent influence it has on the >50% of young Americans who use it daily.

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@infosec_jcp @eljefedsecurit @mozz @flexghost @maynarkh
What’s your point?

You don’t think “Meta” is a concern ?

You don’t think the implications of another “Meta” controlled by PRC CCP is a legitimate thing for people in democracies to discuss ?

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@mozz @flexghost @infosec_jcp @maynarkh @eljefedsecurit Yeah, I had almost this exact same conversation with someone yesterday.

I don’t understand why people seem to think that pointing out some aspect of irony to a situation is some kinda mic-drop argument that magically negates all other concerns.

I suspect the Greek Tragedy framing used all the time in “serious journalism” has destroyed our ability to reason about relative risks.

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@infosec_jcp @mozz @flexghost @maynarkh @eljefedsecurit I think we're all aware that El Reg publishes articles critical of the world's largest tech companies. Some of us are fans too.
But you can't just handwave at that as if it supports some specific claim you're trying to make.
I know plenty of flat earthers who make more coherent and substantive arguments than that.

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@infosec_jcp @mozz The reason that you feel you "could go on and on and on" is because you don't actually have any specific point and aren't supporting it with any rational argument from evidence or theory.

Get back to me if you decide you want to try doing that.

Otherwise, have a nice day.
:blobcatwavereverse:​

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@mozz @flexghost @maynarkh @eljefedsecurit Recall the goals of the classic chaos agent: to derail productive discussion, distract from unwanted conclusions, and to drive away any potentially-credible participants.

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@infosec_jcp @mozz @flexghost @maynarkh @eljefedsecurit You checking up on threads you weren’t on

emilymbender , to random
@emilymbender@dair-community.social avatar

Big Tech likes to push the trope that things are moving and changing too quickly and there's no way that regulators could really keep up --- better (on their view) to just let the innovators innovate. This is false: many of the issues stay stable over quite some time. Case in point: Here's me 5 years ago pointing out that large language models shouldn't be used as sources of information about the world, and that doing so poses risks to the information ecosystem:

https://x.com/emilymbender/status/1766634514946945414?s=20

marshray ,
@marshray@infosec.exchange avatar

@emilymbender
@futurebird
Other things in my lifetime I've been told "shouldn't be used as sources of information":

  • Social media
  • Wikipedia
  • Web search engines
  • YouTube
  • The Internet
  • Web pages
  • Anything you see on TV or film
  • Anything from a politically affiliated source
  • Anything from an astronaut
  • Anything from a Freemason
  • Anything from an interested party
  • Anything from a detached academic (particularly economists)
  • Anything from a corporation
  • Anything from any elected official
  • Anything from any government agency
  • Anything from any Western medicine doctor or Big Pharma
  • Anything from an advocate of [economic system]
  • Anything from a [gender]
  • Anything from a [race]
  • Anything from a [nationality]
  • Anything from a believer of [specific religion]
  • Anything not in [ancient text]
  • Anything from a believer of any religion
  • Anything from an atheist
  • Everything you read
  • Everything you hear

The point here is that such advice is generally non-actionable, and that people are almost always better served by practical risk- and harm-reduction strategies than abstinence-only advocacy.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • test
  • worldmews
  • mews
  • All magazines
    •