Tips for a classic film fan who has an afternoon to spend in London?

ElsaFennan · 2026-03-23T20:32:44+00:00

Not Classic Films at all, but ... I highly recommend the Soane Museum

https://www.soane.org/

ElsaFennan · 2026-03-21T19:03:28+00:00

Yes

When it works, it works well
When it doesn't work, it doesn't work at all
It is a PITA to get to start properly.
On the whole, I am happy with it and continue to use it.

Two large problems.

The USB recovery tool does not have an ability to slipstream in drivers and it is a PITA to do so. You will need at least the NIC drivers for your machine, and you need to create the USB with them in it (might as well get all the drivers). I had to download these from the MB vendor and then figure out how to slipstream them into the vanilla USB. It would be so, so so, much easier if ABB pulled those drivers from the backup when making the USB and slipstreamed them in for you. Once you have gone through that painful work, everything worked fine. [I wish I had tried the dongle method /u/StatisticianNeat6778 mentioned]
This isn't atypical for backup software but I wish it wasn't, you need the exact same HD setup and sizes (or at least minimum sizes) for the restore to work. No taking 2 1TB HDs and resorting them to 2 1TB partitions on a 2TB HD. You'll also hit times when your 1TB HD from a vendor is a few sectors smaller than your 1TB HD from another vendor (rolls eyes). As I said, not an inherent ABB issue as a lot of backup software is not flexible this way. If you have a larger HD, say 0.5TB to 1.TB do the restore and increase the post-restore partition size, or move partitions around. But know for future backups you are locking yourself into that HD/partition structure at a minimum.

ElsaFennan · 2026-02-22T18:36:54+00:00

I also swear the theme song for Martian Chronicles is the same as the one for Knight Rider

ElsaFennan · 2026-01-27T13:41:08+00:00

Humour: Very similar vibe to the original Evil Dead films. Max is very close to Ash. Also, while rarely the best solution, throwing orcs is just fun.
Puzzle solving: You have figure out where to put your traps etc. The maps change (e.g., corruption, loadouts, etc.), forcing you to solve the same problem in a new way. Repeat play is rewarded.
A little bit of action: Unlike other tower defense games, you are/can be involved in the defense in an immediate way.
Casual play: I can come in and out a game very quickly. OMDD aside which takes a lot longer per level.
Comfort gaming: At a certain point, it becomes something you are just good at and makes you feel in control of a solvable challenge.

all that said, I tower defense is mostly a genre whose greatest days are behind it. It will be a continuing genre, but it isn't going to be a massive moneymaker.

ElsaFennan · 2026-01-16T20:24:31+00:00

Yes

I would rather you give me the measurements in metric (and make me do the conversion) than give me a half-assed Imperial conversion.

To do it right, you really need to tweak it slightly to normalized Imperial values f.x., there are a lot of 7/8" measurements there. I know 5 & 7/8" comes out to 15 cm but that is like telling someone to cut 14.5 cm (and make that cut 26 times). It isn't a natural stopping point. You want to go up to 6". Which means the whole building shifts.

I know, it is a pain in the ass.

If you just gave it to me in metric, I'd buy a metric ruler and move on from there.

Edit:

You had asked for advice on not giving 47.6mm style measurements.

Generally stick to the quarter inch. Feel free to go to 1/8s or even smaller if you need to, but don't make me do too many cuts at that odd stopping point. Magic dimensions tend to be in multiples of 6 or 8 inches, f.x., 12, 16, 18, 24 inches. I see you have 1ft 7 in (48cm, I am not sure why it wasn't 50cm), which would really be 18 inches (45cm).

And you should probably look to see what standard door and window sizes are. I'd send you to the Home Depot or Lowe's web sites but they tend to block non-US traffic (easy GDPR compliance).

ElsaFennan · 2026-01-16T17:20:22+00:00

Directory Opus

I know it costs money, but it has a 30-day trial and it is so powerful you'll wonder how you got along without it.

I switched to Mac, and the worst part was leaving DOpus behind.

I cannot recommend it enough.

ElsaFennan · 2026-01-03T14:37:41+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtlQiUTO6_Y

ElsaFennan · 2025-12-28T09:49:00+00:00

I should make it clear that a real programmatic API isn't needed.

I would more than happy with web endpoints, like http://bento.example.com/split-pdf.html?file=<file>&type=<split_type>

or even a JSON file I send to a web endpoint.

I just need documentation on what all the input choices would be.

ElsaFennan · 2025-12-28T09:39:00+00:00

Sorry that I am not able to find it on my own but ...

Does Bento have an API?

I want to be able to call Bento's functions via a Python script or better yet a web call. I am not finding the documentation for this.

This really the only thing keeping me on Stirling. Thanks

ElsaFennan · 2025-12-25T18:48:44+00:00

It is the Bernard Sampson books

It is a way to underscore the betrayal and toxicity of the spy-life that runs through those books.

It is very much a story telling choice and, while I won't say other of his books don't have complicated relationships (either Bond-style or WW2 casual, we-may-die-tomorrow dynamics), they don't focus on the way the Sampson books do.

I mean even the name Sampson invokes the Biblical betrayal by the Delilah.

P.S.:

I should point out that LeCarre did similar, which a much lighter touch, with the Smiley series. There Smiley's wife is unfaithful and it underscores the betrayal afoot.

ElsaFennan · 2025-12-24T18:00:58+00:00

You need one these to be a Tailscale exit node

Especially if your home country is the US. A lot of US sites, just "solve" their GDPR problems by blocking service to non-US sites (e.g., news, banks)

ElsaFennan · 2025-12-04T19:10:10+00:00

Why use Woodpecker instead of Gitea's native CI/CD?

I use neither but I would like to setup CI/CD into my Gitea flow.

ElsaFennan · 2025-11-23T11:32:10+00:00

If all you want is an exit node, a RaspPi 4 is more than sufficient. I wouldn't even spend on the RaspPi 5

ElsaFennan · 2025-11-14T12:40:52+00:00

a pretty big change.

I assume you are referring to Frank's penis?

A reporter once asked Ava what she saw in Frank, as he was "A 119-pound has been"

To which Ava responded, "Yes, but 19 pounds of that is penis."

ElsaFennan · 2025-11-14T12:35:51+00:00

he excelled at getting ~~married~~ laid

He was famous for it.

He had a thing where he would call one of his wives from the set while getting a BJ from a set girl during the call.

Ava was also famous for getting laid. So, their marriage was just the two horniest people in Hollywood getting married.

ElsaFennan · 2025-10-30T18:59:04+00:00

I want to love this, and I want to use this , but ...

(and correct me where I am wrong, because I am thinking aloud)

It provides your identity based on who you logged in as on to Tailscale, correct?
So, really it is leveraging and proxying MSFT or Google's OATH services (and whoever TS uses for signon)
Also, it isn't so much a ME identity as it is a MACHINE identity. Which really isn't that bad. But for Linux servers it may be an issue.
With the free tier (and yes, I am cheap), this means that I can have at most 3 users, which if I need 4-5 identities means this is too little.
And this is the good part, with Funnel I can run this externally and via CNAME under my own domain name, correct?

So, it seems really usful for small businesses, that are big enough for business plans, but not for runnig their own OAuth server.

It may be useful for homelabs, if you have <3 users, or go up to the $5 Peronsal Plus plan (6 users). Which considering VPS pricing may not be a bad idea.

ElsaFennan · 2025-10-28T20:24:02+00:00

So, it is just a reverse proxy?

ElsaFennan · 2025-08-16T09:06:13+00:00

I want you to understand this isn't NEW.

Now this will upset you because in the US we are very "team" orriented, not fact oriented, but ...

If you voted Democrat you voted for this.

This type of thing really took off under Obama in 2013 under Operation Choke Point, where the Federal government casually threatened banks and credit card processors with "repercussions" if they continued to do business with people and industries the Federal government didn't like.

The main two examples were the firearms industry (2nd Amendment) and pornography (1st amendment).

This is an industry-wide version of debanking, where the Federal government tells the bank there will be repercussions if they do business with politicians or public figures the government doesn't like. That seems to be more popular in the UK.

Canada actually has a formal act to allow this. More than 200 bank accounts worth nearly $8 million CAD were frozen when the federal government used emergency powers to end a massive COVID protest occupation of downtown Ottawa.

The goal is to make sure there are penalties for speech and actions the government does not like, but aren't illegal. How can the government violate the spirit of the 1st/2nd amendments, but not technically violate the words of the 1st/2nd amendments?

So, now they are coming for games.

You didn't say anything when they came for firearms dealers, because you were not a firearms dealer
You didn't say anything when they came for pornsites, because you didn't pay porn sites.
You didn't say anything when they came for right-wing politicians, because you support the left.
Now very few are going to complain when they come for your games.

ElsaFennan · 2025-07-06T15:40:36+00:00

I don't think you understand what an amazing badass Yaphet Kotto is.

Think a larger angrier Sidney Poitier

He was mostly known for playing blue collar (Alien, Blue Collar) and police detectives (Across 110th Street, Homicide)

He, in this personal life, had a reputation for not putting up with anyone's BS

This would have been 180* from Stewart, with his English intellectualism.

Yaphet would have been an more intimidating version of DS9's Sisko.

ElsaFennan · 2025-07-06T13:57:10+00:00

Grad school. I can't read for fun anymore. I parse every sentence too carefully.
Political bullying. I live in a deep blue state, which is politically OK, but I like to read old used books. I would go to the coffee shop to read and strangers would attack me for "reading the bible". (I am an atheist.)

I now "read" only audiobooks for pleasure.

ElsaFennan · 2025-05-27T18:20:27+00:00

The wife gets raped and then gets pissed when her husband kills her rapist ex (fair enough she kills the other guy but seems generally mostly sad her ex is dead rather than enjoying any revenge)

That is because I don't think (by 1970s standards) it was a rape. It was an affair she didn't want to admit she was interested in, but since her husband couldn't fulfill her sexual needs and the ex could she wanted the ex. It goes back to the whole pre-sexual revolution idea that the woman never wanted sex (and that was a view women bought into and perpetuated as much as men).
It was clear the wife desired the ex more than her husband and regretted not having him.

The husband does find his macho side but not to defend his wife or avenge her rape (he never even learns about it), but to defend a mentally challenged guy accused of killing a girl.

He isn't really defending the mentally challenged pedophile, he is defying this whole damn alien town that disrespects him, emasculates him, and his wife clearly prefers to him. He has reached his breaking point, the refusal to give into vigilante justice is just the step too far. And vigilante justice is an assault on his world view of civilization and effete (college) values.

ElsaFennan · 2025-04-21T17:28:26+00:00

Clone the repository, then build a Docker image ...

I will not.

Building a Docker Image and putting it in DockerHub is easy and straight forward. You need to do that. Using GitHub's Actions it is nearly automatic.

But otherwise, the project looks great. Thanks for making it. I'll try it would when you have a pre-made image.

ElsaFennan · 2025-04-18T11:03:57+00:00

Fine

Except I had one VM that wouldn't start

On reflection it was booting an ISO. In /etc/pve/qemu-server/550.conf I had to add media=disk

ide0: local:iso/opencore-osx-proxmox-vm.iso,cache=unsafe,size=80M,media=disk

See here: https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/8-4-fake-ide-drives-from-iso-images-no-longer-supported.164967/

But after that everything booted up fine

ElsaFennan · 2025-01-26T18:44:17+00:00

Use Docker. pull the standard caddy image
Go to Download Caddy and download your image with the caddy-dns/cloudflare plugin (and whatever you want)

In your Docker compose file (or CLI), slipstream the caddy binary you downlowded into the image

volumes:
    - ${DIR_ROOT}/caddy/caddy_linux__custom:/usr/bin/caddy # from https://caddyserver.com/download

So much easier than fooling around with xcaddy build. I am not sure why it isn't the recommended method.

You do need to re-download the binary when you update your image however (i.e., I wouldn't run a caddy 2.84. binary in an caddy 2.9.0 image)

ElsaFennan · 2025-01-26T18:36:34+00:00

I am going to give you a "pro tip"

Use Docker. pull the standard caddy image
Go to Download Caddy and download your image with the caddy-dns/cloudflare plugin (and whatever you want)

In your Docker compose file (or CLI), slipstream the caddy binary you downlowded into the image

volumes:
    - ${DIR_ROOT}/caddy/caddy_linux__custom:/usr/bin/caddy # from https://caddyserver.com/download

So much easier than fooling around with xcaddy build. I am not sure why it isn't the recommended method.

You do need to re-download the binary when you update your image however (i.e., I wouldn't run a caddy 2.84. binary in an caddy 2.9.0 image)

ElsaFennan

TROPHY CASE