The Flag's a Plus

Many years ago, I started giving out a different email address to every places that asked for one. To do this, I had to own a domain and set up email hosting. When I first set this up, I accepted email addressed to any address at my domain. Since then, email security has improved a lot. To use security features like DMARC , I had to stop accepting all addresses and had to only accept mail from a list of valid addresses. A few years ago, a guy by the name of Troy Hunt started collecting the lists of compromised databases and passwords that were floating around the internet. He put together a site called Have I Been Pwned  (HIBP) and after proving your ownership of a domain, you can request a list of all of the accounts at that domain that have been compromised. You can also do the same thing for a single email address if you don't own a domain. It's important to remember that this isn't a list of ALL compromised accounts -- only the ones that have made their way to ...

This is somewhat technical, and it's aimed at people who use Linux and are comfortable editing files from the command line. I was looking for a quick fix, but discovered that most of the documentation out there is wrong. So, I had to research what it all meant, figure out what the correct settings were, and write it all down. For the Impatient If you use Linux, and you're just looking for a quick way to make your sound better, add these lines to /etc/pulse/daemon.conf or $HOME/.config/pulse/daemon.conf   default-sample-format = s32ne default-sample-rate = 192000 high-priority = yes default-fragments = 8 resample-method = speex-float-10 I've tested this on Fedora and Ubuntu with no problems. Also, if you're using an external DAC (if you're not sure, then you're not using one), be sure that it has sufficient power (either plugged directly into the computer or into a powered USB hub. DO NOT plug it into an unpowered hub or dongle. A...

There's a new-ish connector on modern computers called USB Type C (often shortened to USB-C). It uses a small oval connector . It can do all of the things that existing USB connectors can do and more. Most significantly, it can send quite a bit of power, so it can be used to power laptops, monitors, etc. and it's a lot faster, so it can be used to send data, video, etc. So, it can replace literally every other connector on the back of a modern computer. Oh, and it's also reversible, so you don't have to worry about plugging it in backwards or upside down. Right now, it's going through the awkward chicken-and-egg phase that any new technology faces. Most people still have old USB printers, external disks, keyboards, etc., so computer makers are reluctant to switch entirely to USB-C. They leave a few old style USB connections, just in case. And since old computers and new still include a few old USB connectors, accessory makers stay with the old style of USB. In c...

I recently purchased a Schiit Fulla 2 . I was on the fence about it for a long time, but it's held up well, and I'm pretty happy with it. So, here's a small product review. I should probably mention that I'm generally skeptical about "audiophile" anything. I've known too many people who spend way too much money on voodoo like "oxygen-free speaker cables". This makes me reluctant to trust reviews or spend money on anything that I can't test for myself.  I've heard good audio. I go to concerts. I know what music is  supposed to  sound like, and it wasn't what I was getting from any of my computers, even with decent headphones, lossless audio codecs, etc. On the other hand, we have some  Sonos speakers , and with those speakers and a good audio source, music can sound really good. Since I wasn't getting that level of quality at the computer, it meant that there was something between the computer and my ears that was part of ...

My adventures in bureaucracy, continued ... While I was contacting various agencies and embassies, Laura reached out to the appropriate people at her office and got yet another contradictory set of information. It also caused a spotlight to be shined on us from the great heights of an international corporate legal department. It turns out that Our visa renewal was not directly tied to the criminal background check. It was just a case of both needing to be redone at the same time, so all of the letters went out the same day. We received our new visa with an expiration date of... April 2018, which was a problem. It turned out to be nothing more than a typo. Someone entered the wrong date into a form somewhere. We visited the Kreisburo on Friday and they were apologetic and embarrassed. It's uncommon to see those things here, especially from the normally quite competent government officials. Apparently, the problem had already been detected and new visas were on the way. The cor...

Musical score for this post: I've been in Switzerland for nearly two years, and my visa expires next month. I have to get a different kind of visa, which basically means doing all of the paperwork over again. The big problem: US bureaucracy. To renew my visa, I need to provide a letter from my government showing that I'm not a criminal. In most countries, that's a relatively simple process. But in the US: The FBI website says that I have two options: I can submit a paper form, or I can apply online. The website for applying online doesn't work. It gives an error as soon as I try to connect. Both the paper form and the electronic form require a copy of your fingerprints on an FBI fingerprint card. How do you get fingerprints? Just drop by your local FBI field office. Where's the nearest field office? Boston. After contacting the US embassy, they told me that the Swiss police can make fingerprints for me, but I need to bring a printout of the FBI fingerpri...

One of the key concepts behind network security is segmentation. In short, if two devices don't need to talk to each other, they shouldn't be allowed to talk to each other. That way, if one device causes problems, you can contain it and keep the problem from spreading to other devices. These days, many home WiFi routers include a "Guest WiFi" network. To use this, you create a separate WiFi network with a separate password, and your guests use that. There are a few reasons to do this: You can create a really good, really long password for your "real" network, and a short password that you change every time you have company over. Most routers keep the devices on the guest network separate not just from the main network, but from each other. This means that if one of your guests has a phone or laptop with a virus on it, everyone else is (relatively) safe. I realized, though, that there's a different, and perhaps better way to use this guest netw...

I'm living in a place that's known for it's cheese. There are hundreds of kinds of cheese at my local grocery store. I try something different every time I go shopping, and I've still barely scratched the surface of what's available. There's one kind of cheese that deserves special mention: Raclette . Raclette is strange for a few different reasons. Most notably, it's almost always served cooked, and there's a bit of a ritual around cooking it. You will never be offered raw raclette. Why? Raw raclette is pungent stuff. It's hard to describe the smell, but I've heard it described as a cross between sweat socks, vomit, and curdled milk. To say that it stinks is a polite understatement. So, why on earth would anyone eat it? Because when you cook it, you somehow cook the stink out of it, and what's left is sublime. It's a sort of oily cheese, and you get something like the best pizza or nacho cheese you've ever had. I've hea...