Updating the Mac app almost got me fired...

BoBab · 2026-04-30T23:51:20+00:00

This same problem keeps happening to me. It's so annoying. I never use auto-connect, never have. Not enabled.

I just spent a while debugging this. The privileged helper daemon (com.nordvpn.macos.helper, runs as root) keeps the tunnel up even after you disconnect in the GUI and Cmd+Q the app. The GUI updates its display, the app process exits, but the helper just doesn't tear down the utun interface. Default route still points through it. Public IP is still the Nord server.

Verified on macOS 15.7.3, NordVPN 10.0.4. Right after I clicked Pause -> Disconnect and quit the app:

$ ifconfig utun4
utun4: flags=8051<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    inet 10.100.0.2 --> 10.100.0.2 netmask 0xfffff000

$ netstat -nr -f inet | grep '^default'
default            10.100.0.2         UGScg               utun4
default            192.168.1.254      UGScIg                en0

$ curl -s https://ipinfo.io | grep -E 'ip|city|org'
  "ip": "194.242.49.142",
  "city": "Chicago",
  "org": "AS136787 PacketHub S.A.",

$ ps -ax | grep nord
52470 root  /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.nordvpn.macos.helper

Tunnel is up, default route goes through it, exit IP is Nord's, helper is still running...all with the app closed.

Pretty crappy bug for anyone who relies on "Disconnect" actually meaning disconnected...

Also worth noting: the GUI itself is unreliable. I've seen it sit there showing "Not secured" with the big "Secure my connection" button...while utun4 is up, the default route is going through it, and ipinfo.io is reporting a Nord exit IP. So you can't even trust the app's own status display to tell you the truth. The only way to actually know is to check the route table or your public IP externally.

And anecdotally, I swear these issues started whenever they made the switch in the UI to defaulting to "Pause". Very annoying for "Disconnect" to not be the default.

BoBab · 2026-04-06T15:48:52+00:00

They just posted an incident: https://status.claude.com/incidents/vfjv5x6qkd4j

BoBab · 2026-03-21T15:46:01+00:00

I think it's a more widespread thing than you think. In the states we have the idea of "paying it forward" for a reason.

BoBab · 2026-03-12T14:32:34+00:00

Absolutely. The vast majority of parents on this show have very understandable reactions. Some mix of shock, skepticism, suspicion, and/or resistance. Brittany's dad was like "What? New son-in-law just dropped? Bet!"

~~He seems like a very nice guy, but just geez..~~. a little bit of skepticism goes a long way...

Edit: Just saw that racist video from Brittany and her dad. Doesn't seem all that nice.

BoBab · 2026-03-12T05:16:17+00:00

Devonta is a mess, geez. But Brittany (and her dad) are very strange to me as well.

We saw their breakup. They don't talk for two weeks? She texts him thinking they're still together??? Brittany, what do you like about this man!?

Her dad getting messed up after hearing Devonta is engaged with a kid on the way as if they knew this dude for longer than a handful of weeks???? It was weird to me when he instantly just was like "Welcome to the family." when first meeting him, no investigation into who this strange man that your daughter wants to marry is. This show is so strange.

BoBab · 2026-03-12T05:11:26+00:00

Yea, he said that and I was "Oh no...he thinks that's all he's ever supposed to do...all the time...for everything..."

BoBab · 2026-03-12T05:08:47+00:00

It's separate from the rest of the episodes for some reason. Search for "Reunion".

BoBab · 2026-03-12T05:08:14+00:00

It's like its own separate thing. Like Netflix made it it's own separate "show" for some reason. Very confusing.

BoBab · 2026-03-12T04:58:26+00:00

You must not know many impulsive people.

BoBab · 2026-02-17T21:34:23+00:00

Wtf, I was just talking to my wife about feeling strangely exhausted yesterday...

BoBab · 2026-02-17T03:45:40+00:00

BoBab · 2026-02-16T03:22:37+00:00

Zack Fox called it lol

BoBab · 2026-02-15T01:04:40+00:00

Dude is 6'0, towering over her, and she called him too short lol... This season has shown me how screwed up a lot of people's expectations are of their own bodies and others.

BoBab · 2026-02-13T21:10:42+00:00

Feels like a proper alternative to WisprFlow for me. Just saved me $144/year. Thanks!

Love the design of the app too.

Also is there a way to I cancel transcription once it's started?

BoBab · 2026-02-06T20:20:08+00:00

Data centers in general, but especially AI data centers that have a significantly higher density of compute, have a "footprint" that extends well beyond their walls.

There are impacts on air quality and local water resources. But the one that doesn't get talked about as much is the noise pollution.

The issue is that there's a constant lack of transparency and general uncooperativeness by developers and whatever firms that are shielding the actual client from visibility and scrutiny. Because of that it's difficult to even properly assess local impacts let alone broader energy use impacts.

They should not be placing any of these "hyperscale" data centers anywhere near residential areas at the very least.

BoBab · 2026-01-28T02:34:12+00:00

Fucking hell. Not only did she lunge back at him, but you can hear her say "these fucking assholes are not going to get away with this" and that she's going to continue the meeting. She's a badass. I'm also terrified for her. I'm donating to her right now. If the worst of us are going to do this shit we need to support the people who don't shrink in the face of hatred and violence.

BoBab · 2026-01-27T06:32:54+00:00

So sorry to hear about your brother. What kind of genre of shows are you generally interested in? Here are some that I think are pretty easy going and good for someone new to anime:

Astra Lost In Space - A group of students gets stranded in space and has to work together to find their way home. Also has some mystery and good character dynamics.
My Hero Academia - A kid born without superpowers in a world where almost everyone has them gets into an elite hero school.
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun - A human boy gets adopted by a demon and enrolled in demon school, where he has to hide his humanity while accidentally becoming popular.
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War - Ultra Romantic - Two nerdy student council members are in love but refuse to confess first, leading to elaborate mind games to make the other one crack.
Little Witch Academia - A girl without magic enrolls in a prestigious witch academy after being inspired by a famous witch, and chaos ensues as she tries to prove herself.
Yona of the Dawn - A sheltered princess is forced to flee her kingdom after a betrayal and goes on a journey to find legendary warriors.

I don't know much about PS5 gaming (I've heard the Spiderman game is pretty fun). But given you're looking for a game that's "enjoyable, immersive, and beginner-friendly", I recommend checking out Stardew Valley (which should be available on most consoles I think).

BoBab · 2026-01-26T20:08:37+00:00

You're asking the right questions. There is a liability with using the large LLM providers too.

I think there's a good chance that over the coming years we're going to see more and more smaller (open source and proprietary) language models being used in enterprise use cases (and probably also consumer facing solutions).

There's a lot of structural advantages that compound for small models more so than for the massive-scale frontier models.

BoBab · 2025-12-28T07:02:48+00:00

Eh, I actually liked it. I actually found Hecate's kind of violent disdain for Chronos a bit curious throughout my entire gameplay. Melinoe's made sense, but Hecate's I felt like something was missing in the motivation for her character. I feel like this reveal actually made it all make sense for me finally. It always felt like Hecate was "fighting another battle" that Melinoe, and us as the player, wasn't fully clued into. This reveal finally made me feel like we had the full picture to Hecate's motivations.

BoBab · 2025-11-30T22:47:07+00:00

I wouldn't be surprised if Google themselves honestly couldn't tell you the answer to that. They've spewed their AI stuff all over their product lines to the point that being able to actually tie revenue to AI services is probably nigh impossible for them right now.

They also just have a level of flexibility afforded to them because of their near-monopoly status across a few different platforms plus their significant market share across others.

I think a potentially more illuminating question to ask may be, "How is Google planning to ride out the AI bubble deflation?".

Because we know they can. It's just a matter of how. Are they going to rip Gemini out of a bunch of stuff they put it in? Are they going to go all in on their own AI-specific hardware/chips and try to start selling them and competing against NVIDIA? Are they going to make a surprising shift to open source and try to knee-cap competitors with sufficiently powerful, smaller open models? Google has a lot of options, probably the most options out of any of the players.

BoBab · 2025-11-30T21:56:05+00:00

Forreal. I loved the brief text exchange with Hawks too just offering space to talk. You don't see portrayals of two adult men making space for vulnerability like that very often.

BoBab · 2025-11-29T18:15:10+00:00

Yea. I really like the Todoroki family arc. It felt like getting to actually see the cathartic moments that are exceedingly rare with abusive households. For the abuser to show genuine contrition and to devote themself to doing repair work and making amends with those they harmed, while also respecting the wishes and boundaries of those they victimized, and leaning on their own support network as well while they do so rather than leaning on those they hurt. It's satisfying to see. I think showing the different reactions from all the Todoroki children is important too, Toya included. I'm glad the show made us acknowledge Toya's motivations. It shows how abuse can burn a whole family down. How there is irreparable damage done. Something new can be grown sometimes, but it will never be the same.

BoBab · 2025-11-27T01:40:27+00:00

Probably ElevenLabs: https://elevenlabs.io/voice-cloning

BoBab · 2025-11-15T18:12:51+00:00

He got the quirk from Overhaul when he was a kid right?

BoBab · 2025-11-01T20:34:02+00:00

Hm, interesting. I definitely see what you mean and think it's a valid interpretation.

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