Some IT guy, IDK.

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 5th, 2023

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  • One thing that was recommended to me by someone a while ago, is that, unless you need it for something specific, mount your media in Plex as read only.

    Plex has functions where you can delete content from the library from their UI. If you need that for some reason, obviously don’t make it read only. If you’re hoarding the data, and therefore never delete it, or use an external system for deleting files, then RO all the way.

    The only caveat to this is if you’re using a local disk on the Plex system, which then shares out the drive/folder for adding new content, in which case, you’re screwed. It has to be rw so the OS can add/remove data.

    In my case, as I think may be common (or at least, not rare), my back end data for Plex Media is on a NAS, so it’s easy to simply have the system running Plex, mount that network share as RO, and you’re done. The data on the NAS can be accessed and managed by other systems RW, direct to the NAS.

    Since Plex is exposed to the internet, if anyone with sufficient rights is compromised, in theory, an attacker could delete the entire contents of your media folder with it. If you limit RW access to internal systems only, then that risk can be effectively mitigated.



  • APC makes low end offline UPS units, which are cheap garbage.

    They also make line interactive and online ups units, which are decidedly not completely garbage.

    I pick up line interactive APC units from used locations like eBay, and go buy off label replacement batteries. Haven’t had any problems with them so far.

    To date, over the last ~10 years of running a homelab, I have used mainly SMT 1500 units, one was a rack mount. I’ve recently upgraded to an SMX2000. I’ve replaced batteries, but never a UPS, and never any server components due to power issues. I’ve run servers ranging from a Dell PE 2950, to a full c6100 chassis, plus several networking devices, including firewalls, routers and PoE switches. Not a single power related issue with any of them.




  • Yup. One that got me was the one about shooting two guns.

    “Aiming at two targets is hardly possible”… It’s absolutely possible. You can aim at two things all day long. If you’re firing two guns at two targets, having to aim at them isn’t really the issue.

    The issue is that any aim you have one either target is going to suck. Combined with the difficulty of simply holding a several pound hunk of metal at arm’s length, and having it violently shake around every time a round is discharged because you don’t have adequate control over it to keep it from shaking every which way.

    No sir. Aiming is not the problem. Actually hitting the target is the problem.


  • Putting aside the wtf of it all, looking at the house subjectively, it would be a decent, possibly great, starter home.

    The layout isn’t entirely insane, there’s a ton of space inside. It looks like the framing isn’t half bad… To my untrained eye, it has good “bones”. The interior design and aesthetic choices are questionable at best, even for the most “normal” looking areas, but buy a case of beer and invite your friends over for a weekend and get most of the interior ripped down, and drywall installed and painted, and you’re off to a good start.

    Don’t get me wrong, it would be a monster task. 4000 sq ft of siding to rip out and replace? Hell. That sucks.

    Replace a lot of the fixtures, mainly all the stupid ceiling fans, especially the ones so high up they won’t do anything, install some forced air HVAC or at least upgrade the Air conditioner situation and you would be having a grand time living in this place.

    I’d probably rip off most of the external siding too and replace that with something a bit more interesting too, but with all the money you’ll save by this being so inexpensive (compared to more palatable houses that are similar in size) and you’d get yourself a pretty nice place.

    That being said, as is, this place is at best, a lot of questionable choices, at worst, pure nightmare fuel.

    My partner thinks it’s a converted chicken coop. I can’t say that they don’t have a point on that one.



  • See, this was one of my first thoughts, either some kind of cult-like-thing, or it’s one of those weird multigenerational homes where four+ generations of people lived, and the parents rooms are close enough to eachother that they can hear when babies are being made.

    When someone dies, everyone “upgrades” to their parents living space, and the normal-ish bedrooms, aka “nice” bedrooms (compared to the other bedrooms in this horror show), are reserved for the oldest family members.

    The question I have, aside from… You know, everything, is… How many ceiling fans do you really need? Jesus.



  • Not really, but it makes sense to me.

    I learned the phonetic alphabet partly because of the fact that I obtained my amateur radio operator qualification. I’m a “ham” radio person.

    Hearing these on the radio, which isn’t super clear to begin with in most cases, it’s much easier to use this way and almost trivial to understand others when they spell anything over the radio. Given this is the NATO alphabet, it’s used by all kinds of people, from ham operators like me, to government/military. Often in conjunction with some kind of communications system, often but not always radio communications, where the signal might be poor.

    I think the original intent was to ensure that all letters sounded as unique as possible, so even if you only catch part of the word (maybe the rest is obfuscated by static), you still understand the what was said.


  • https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/6879/a-number-one-egg-bread/

    There’s also cake that uses yeast/leavening:

    https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/215136/drozdzowka-polish-yeast-plum-cake/

    So I’m pretty sure the ingredient angle is out, unless you want to go by proportion of sugar/flour/whatever, which is a much more involved discussion, but IMO, will also be a fruitless one…

    I don’t think ingredients are the dividing line here between cakes/breads, IMO, it might be texture/consistency of the loaf, but even that’s a hard sell. There are some very dense breads and some very airy cakes.

    I’m more leaning towards “cake” being a label we put on bread products when we deem it appropriate.

    The fact that a lot of this was defined by medieval standards, where people did some pretty strange things, especially with naming, IMO, is the root of the problem. Today, as we create new things we have specific terms for them that defines that thing and limits on what the thing is and isn’t. A lot of scientific naming has been refined in the last century because of the bad/inaccurate naming of things, mainly because they were named and defined well before we had the technology to properly understand what we were looking at.

    Culinary arts, which can be scientific, but the naming certainly isn’t, is not an exact science. If you take either of the above recipes and add an extra quarter cup of flour or something to either, it probably won’t ruin the product. It might make it taste different than intended, but probably not ruined.

    In all the difference between cake and bread is blurry at best. At worst, cake is just a specific type of bread product, which is defined fairly loosely by how we feel about it.

    As a related fact, muffins and cupcakes have been in a war for which one is better for you. Cupcakes can have fewer calories, but muffins seem to have better marketing, so people feel like they’re better/more healthy, than eating cupcakes.

    I dunno, I’m just some guy.




  • You can do whatever you want. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s “wrong”. A big part of homelabbing is to try stuff. If it doesn’t work, that’s fine, you learned something, and that was the point.

    For me, I don’t see a UPS as essential. It’s generally a good idea, but not strictly essential. My servers are on 24/7, because I have services that do things overnight for me. I also know that some people access my lab when I’m not awake, so I just leave it on so it can be ready for anything at any time. It poses some unique challenges sometimes when running stuff that’s basically 24/7/365.

    Be safe, have fun, learn stuff.