Rubenerd

Or why you shouldn’t attempt package manager installs before coffee.

$ brew cask search virtualbox
==> Exact match
virtualbox
==> Partial matches
virtualbox-extension-pack
 
$ brew cask install virtualbox-extensions-pack
Error: No available Cask for virtualbox-extensions-pack
Error: nothing to install
$ echo "HUH!?"
HUH!?
$ brew cask install virtualbox-extension-pack
==> Satisfying dependencies
==> Installing Cask dependencies: virtualbox
[..]
complete
$ cowsay -e "><"  "Mumble grumble"
 ________________ 
< mumble grumble >

location: sydney

        \   ^__^
         \  (><)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\

location: sydney

                ||     ||

While attempting to find information on, of all things, nginx http2:

Sorry, your request can not be served. For security reasons, it was blocked and logged.

If you think that was a mistake, please contact the webmaster and enclose the following incident ID:

[ #2773066 ]

These ninjas are so fast, they block you before you even do anything malicious! They’ve moved up from cutting you five times before you hit the ground into pre-crime heuristics.

Even if this false positive error included contact details, me thinks it’ll be easier to just source this information elsewhere.

I registered for an OfficeWorks account recently. A risky move for an online Australian store, but I like to live on the wild side.

After entering my 64 characters of pseudo-random gibberish, I got this:

Correct the following before you can continue You cannot use the same character 4 or more times.

Sailor Moon were able to for four seasons, and heaven knows how many times Shonen Jump characters have been reused.

Still, it seems like a pretty arbitrary and silly restriction, especially when it will hash to the same size. If you have a very short password, or one that just utilises a single character, this would make sense. Otherwise, it doesn’t.

As a former university student performing some long term budgeting and forecasting, I learned something I should probably have known already. Things are about to get much more expensive:

From 1 January 2017, the Australian Government will remove the upfront HECS-HELP discount of 10 per cent for eligible students that pay their student contributions upfront and the voluntary HELP repayment bonus of five per cent.

People who have a HELP debt and make a voluntary repayment of $500 or more towards that debt currently receive a bonus of 5 per cent. The amount of the bonus is an additional credit against the student’s outstanding HELP debt.

Regrettable, but not surprising. This flippant justification was though:

It is an amount never recovered by the Government.

Fire stations and hospitals don’t “recover” investments either; that’s the entire point of public services. Otherwise, we may as well get it over with and implement American-style student loans. Wait, don’t give them ideas.

This from a Government of ministers who had free education.

Podcast: Play in new window · Download

42:00 – A previously-unreleased episode from a late January 2016 night. Topics include science, microwaves, air, Australia Day, sandpits and dirt, rectangular rubbish receptacles, the lamp shade iMac, superfluous design, poorly placed park benches, Paul Simon, light pollution, and identifying sounds under my feet.

Recorded in Sydney, Australia. Licence for this track: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. Attribution: Ruben Schade.

Released March 2016 on The Overnightscape Underground, an Internet talk radio channel focusing on a freeform monologue style, with diverse and fascinating hosts.

This originally appeared on the Annexe, when I documented inconsiderate drivers parked illegally on Mascot footpaths. It used to bug me no end!

A coworker and I were discussing Netflix, and how he didn’t even need it now given all the weird and wonderful stuff on YouTube. I love serialised stuff (and anime!) too much to give up streaming services, but there are certainly some gems out there.

Via @AlanJLee and; judging from the insipid comments; Reddit.

Here’s a neat trick I learned today, entirely by accident. Say you were to open a tar file with Vim:

$ vim firewall-team.tar

You can view its contents and even edit the files inline!

" tar.vim version v26
" Browsing tarfile [..]/firewall-team.tar
" Select a file with cursor and press ENTER
firewall-team/
firewall-team/shinonono.houki
firewall-team/mizuno.ami
firewall-team/ayanami.rei
firewall-team/stadtfeld.kallen
firewall-team/littner.yoko

By comparison, nvi on FreeBSD and NetBSD will return fireworks. For certain times of the year this may be desirable, but may not be legal in certain juristictions. It’s also likely not what you’re after when browsing tar files.

firewall-team/^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
[..]

Emacs can also be used to read tar files, if your pinkie isn’t prone to repetitive stress injuries.

This originally appeared on PenguinCoffee, Clara’s and my old shared weblog.

Partners for life! (nawww! >w<)

The Overnightscape Central is a fun weekly podcast hosted by the illustrious PQ Ribber. Hosts and listeners of The Overnightscape Underground participate in a topic each week, and you’re welcome to join.

01:57:23 – Shambles!! Frank!! Clara!! Doc!! Ruben!! A look at the world of internet transmissions outside of ONSUG!! PQ Ribber is your host!!

You can view this episode on the Underground, listen to it here, and subscribe with this feed in your podcast client.