Notices by Laren (laren@infosec.exchange)

@silverwizard @pare I dunno. I'll admit I miss the 3e days.

Maybe I just miss prestige classes.

Anyhow, I think the biggest fault in play is that Magic is practically subsidizing Hasbro, which is largely, to my understanding, getting the ass beaten off them in every other market. So they say, well, magic is making money hand over fist. Why can't D&D do that?

Nevermind that investors back in 2022 more or less told Hasbro that they're going too hard. Source: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/12/08/hasbro-defends-magic-the-gathering-strategy.html

Anyhow. Trying to capitalize on D&D like this feels like a fundamental misunderstanding of the game and the community behind it. D&D will never sell like MTG. Full stop. It's like comparing apples to iPads.

The sooner they figure this out, the better off the entire thing will be.

#dnd #dnd5e #ttrpg

@pare It's partially a problem of monetization, but it's also a content quality and quantity problem.

3.5 had a *plethora* of books. Wanna do forgotten realms? Here's a full sourcebook on it (a pretty good one, if I recall), and a pile of splat books and paperbacks for it, for example. Nowadays, you get one book, maybe two *if you're lucky.*

Granted, more books is not necessarily the way out, yes - but when even the current books make 'anemic' look good? Plus the AI art fiasco, the OGL fiasco, the whole Hadozee thing. And then part of their solution is to lay off a ton of their most senior, experienced people!

They may be stuck in a field of rakes, but. Bluntly? They put most of those rakes there themselves.

Pro tip: A UPS on your main desktop is nice.

A secondary UPS on your network infra might be something to do as well.

How to immediately raise my eyebrows to Mars:

I have a network-level ad blocker that I also loaded with domains and such for malware. (Yay pihole.)

So I walk into the home office, and my partner on her computer goes "I couldn't download an executable so I grabbed it on my phone and uploaded it to my computer.

Me: "I'm sorry YOU FUCKING WHAT"

It was, apparently, just her ad blocker getting in the way, but... yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes.

Add that /AE on my call. ?????

#hamradio #amateurradio #amateurextra

There are times I wonder just how much havoc a browser with the eicar test string as a custom agent string would wreak if used for regular browsing.

I'm not enough of an ass to try it, but I wonder.

So, networking folks -

I'm looking to swap out my current gateway for a something... better.

I've been using google wifi, whose shortcomings have been *wildly* obvious lately. Been debating something to the effect of one of these: https://shop.netgate.com/products/2100-base-pfsense Lack of ongoing licensing charges, pfsense features, etc make it look pretty damned good, to say nothing of cost effective.

That said, I'm definitely open to other options!

#networking #SOHONetworking #firewall

I backed the Flipper Zero on Kickstarter and got mine some months ago.

Now, initially, I did some pretty basic things with it - loaded all my remotes into it, tinkered with NFC, opened a Tesla's charge door. You know, the usual. I've even gotten pretty good at Snake on it, because I can.

Then I started seeing TikTok videos and reading the comments on them, and man, this thing is wild. They told me about all the cool shit it can do, so naturally I started experimenting!

To date, I've:

- Overridden drone controls and organized a dozen stolen drones into a bomber wing to harass local wildlife.

- Taken over a Tesla entirely. I didn't keep it. Just drove it around the parking lot like a really expensive remote control car. Then I changed the horn to the theme song from the old Flipper TV show, for science.

- Discovered the human 'off switch.' I didn't realize such a thing existed until I saw a TikTok video that pointed out the app on GitHub. Download it and put it on the Flipper. Run it, point the IR window at the person in question and click! Human off. There is the very minor detail that this is generally referred to as, in TikTok parlance, unaliving them. Don't recommend doing this to people regularly.

- Found the AI function, but then shit got weird. It stole my car. I don't mean I stole a car with it, I mean *it* stole *my* car. I drive stick. How the fuck does something without arms, let alone hands, drive stick? How does it even see!?

- After I got it back, I figured out the right frequency to tap into those mind control chips they put in the COVID vaccine. Problem is the Flipper AI realized what I was doing, and I don't think I'm the one forming the mind controlled army anymore. Send help, before it's too late. I don't think the tinfoil is working anymore...

10/10. Would back again.

#satire #FlipperZero #IReadTheComments

@hexorg I wish I could watch Johnny Mnemonic like I used to.

Nowadays I watch it and just think "Dude, a flash drive that size is like $40, order it next day on Amazon."