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Once Upon A Time On The Internet

I mentioned this one in an earlier blog, but it could definitely use some more exposure! Three weeks to go and it's still just over halfway to the funding goal... and it wasn't that different the last time I checked it.

Seems there was an influx of funding initially but then... standstill.

I wonder if NG's time is waning.

I wonder if they're making decisions that'll impact their legacy negatively - or reduce their support, with for example their recent focus on online safety, when they've been known as the rebels for so long, when their main selling point has been their community - comprised of the most diverse and amazing but also at times pretty mental individuals, and how they've embraced not just freedom of speech and expression, but all faults and flaws too, with both individuals and with the world in whole.

The tagline used to be The problems of the future, today FFS!

I'm not a fan of the changes... but then again I'm not a fan of how the Internet is changing as a whole either, and it seems like some of these changes on their behalf are inevitable, to cope with bigger changes in regulation and legislation elsewhere.

I'm not a fan of restrictions either.

And that, if anything, is a good reason to fund this documentary! To give the makers unrestricted potential to tell their story!

And to tell tales of how the Internet used to be, and how it can be once again! Of how one particular rebel managed to create a venue for artists all over the world, and impact the creative culture of said world for decades to come. And they're still impacting. We're still impacting!

I really hope the unnecessary legislation that's being passed around the globe lately, trying to keep teenagers off of the Internet; from pursuing their possible optimal paths in life, limiting access to any form of 'indecent' content, is just a temporary whim of woke culture and what-not.

Safety's important, sure. Integrity too. The ability to connect to people also.

Yet we're making all facets of collaboration and communication more difficult to arrange and manage when we try to control and monitor other things, and how weak have we really become? You don't think teens can handle a little violence or indecency anymore? Aren't we past that yet?

I turned out alright didn't I? You did too right? But hey I'm rambling.

I'm glad I'm not running a social media site myself right now, cause I wouldn't want to be the one forced to make these choices or changes either, and I shall stick with this ship till the end, no matter where it's going...

The world would be a different place without NG, as would my life for that matter, so it's worth at least that much.

Hopefully it keeps leading the charge, and both innovating and influencing the world in the best way for lifetimes to come.

GO FUND THAT DOCUMENTARY!

Meet Me In The Middle...

Meet me in the middle, says the right-leaning man. The left-leaning man takes a step towards him, the right-leaning man reciprocates. Meet me in the middle, says the right-leaning man. The left-leaning man takes a step towards him, the right-leaning man reciprocates. Meet me in the middle, says the right-leaning man...Meet me in the middle, says the right-leaning man. The left-leaning man takes a step towards him, the right-leaning man reciprocates. They are finally close enough to handshake, reach a compromise on their differences, and go about amicably in their one ways. Then the observer woke up, realizing it was just a dream.

Almost restoring my faith in humanity one calibration at a time! Props.

Caseins, Capsaicins & Coughs

What do these three things have in common?

Not much at all for but two thirds of them, but I've been dealing with a pretty irritating cough for a few days now, and I'd planned to write a story about a habanero pepper I recently chopped up, so I figured I'd get to all three of these at once. Plus, if you have a cough: best avoid caseins!

Casein is a protein found in all strains of everyday mammalian milk.

Capsaicin is the oil you can find in certain spicy things, like chili peppers.

Capsaicins are notoriously hard to get rid off, and actually cannot be washed off with water, as I was made aware a while back, when I bought a couple fresh habanero peppers.

They had them on discount price, and I like a little spice, and thought it'd be nice with some of that fresh stuff instead of the typical dried.

So I bought some, brought 'em home, and prepared 'em.

I removed the seeds (with my fingers), chopped 'em up (holding said peppers with my fingers as I did), stuffed 'em in a couple of small jars (still with my fingers), and then - peppers in freezer, and hygiene in handling food thus less important, carelessly stifled a sneeze - with my fingers.

Oh boy.

There's a certain delay in the onset of the pain you feel when capsaicin comes into contact with some of the less ideal membranes of the human body, like the inside of a nose.

As I felt the heat building I realized my mistake, and went to the bathroom to wash away said capsaicin oil (I did not yet know it was in fact called capsaicin oil), with water and soap, and I don't know if some types of soap work better than others, but this type of soap did not!

What I managed to do with said water and soap was more so to further spread the oil, and thus the pain, rather than rinse it away.

It's apparently so that water not only has no effect on capsaicin, but actually amplifies the painful sensation you get from it.

So I Googled. I learned that alkaline things (like for example vinegar, lemon and bicarbonate) can reduce the potency of said capsaicin, as well as regular dairy, due to the casein proteins in the milk! I poured up a glass of milk, and dipped my nose in it, and it was notably better.

I washed my hands with bicarbonate, too, but that seemed less efficient. Lemon was alright, but the skin under my fingernails burned for pretty much the rest of the day regardless... the nose pain on the other hand subsided entirely within an hour or so.

Turns out hand-sanitizer (and other forms of alcohol) may have a similarly helpful effect, which is odd considering they're more acidic than they are alkaline. Maybe it actually removes the capsaicin, rather than neutralize it?

I'll try that next time.

That and regular oil. Oil dilutes oil, and oils are generally soothing.

Though it's strange I actually did not feel the burn on my hands as much, despite generous capsaicin distribution there.

Also interesting: Though you may perceive a burning sensation from capsaicin, it actually does not burn the skin at all. On the contrary, it's pretty good at increasing blood circulation. It helps. It heals.

Maybe that's why you can potentially kickstart a heart with a large dose of cayenne pepper in case of a heart attack - alternative emergency remedy if you're ever in such a situation and there's no other assistance nearby. Not recommended in lack of an attack though! You can buy concentrated cayenne oil, for example, to ingest a high dose easily.

The cough? It's troublesome. Every hour or so I get up and cough up some phlegm, my nose is still running, and yet I have a trip to and hotel booked in Halmstad this weekend. The train ride's 4-5 hours...

Really hope I can get rid of this before then.

One day to go.

Meet Me In The Middle...

Meet me in the middle, says the unjust man. The fat man takes a step towards him, he takes a step back. Meet me in the middle, says the unjust man. The fat man takes a step towards him, he takes a step back. Meet me in the middle, says the unjust man. .... Meet me in the middle, says the unjust man. The fat man takes a step towards him, he takes a step back. "Congratulations! How about another round?" The unjust man says as the fat man completed a lap around the track. So what?? The unjust man can still do honest work as a physical trainer on the side.

Restoring my faith in humanity one athelatization at a time! Props.

One One One One!1111

I had some troubles with my Internet the other day.

I ran a podcast on YT, and that podcast kept playing, but nothing else would load. And the YT connection was slow. Occasionally other sites would work again, momentarily, but just as I was about to send an email, or save something somewhere, the connection gave up on me again...

What was the issue? DNS, yes. It seems to always be DNS.

I thought I'd try using Google's public DNS resolver, as I have in the past, but I used the wrong IP.

Theirs is 8.8.8.8. For some reason I remembered it as 666.666.666.666.

I tried 600.600.600.600 too. Didn't work. Tried 1.1.1.1 and it did! But was that really theirs? Had to check, and so I found this.

1.1.1.1

In the words of Cloudflare: 1.1.1.1 is a public DNS resolver operated by Cloudflare that offers a fast and private way to browse the Internet. Unlike most DNS resolvers, 1.1.1.1 does not sell user data to advertisers. In addition, 1.1.1.1 has been measured to be the fastest DNS resolver available.

FAST!

It does not mine user data. Logs are kept for 24 hours for debugging purposes only. It's integrated into Cloudflare’s network - which spans 330 global cities, and if you're on a cellphone they even have an app for it with over a million positive reviews.

How had I not heard of this service before either?!

I've been a big fan of Cloudflare for a while now, not least since I learned that you can manage domains there at no extra cost at all, only the price they pay the domain registry. And they give you fair warning on registry price increases well in advance, so you can renew said domains for any number of years (or is it up to 10 years? Maybe there was a limit after all?) before said price increase comes into play.

They offer free DNS services with every domain you keep, not to mention free CDN services for personal sites, that by the way are used to cache and speed up some - if not most - of the biggest sites on the Internet. And unless you want priority services, and DDoS protection, or any other numbers of perks they offer, they pretty much give you all the tools you need to drastically optimize, speed-up and manage your site save for actual hosting at no cost at all.

So in my book they're pretty much one of the greatest companies out there. Making the Internet a better place one site at a time, or service and server innovation on the roadmap...

I wouldn't be surprised if they start offering a free plan for hosting too, though maybe that'd give them a problematic monopoly on website infrastructure. Maybe that wouldn't be so wise.

But this? This DNS resolver worked perfectly, everything started loading again right away, and it is fast. Faster than my ISP default on a good day.

Turns out there may actually be other benefits to using a resolver outside of the default too. It's not a security issue - unless you're with an unreliable resolver host, of course - but rather a benefit! It's kind of like a proxy really. It hides your connection. But that's a post for another day...

For now I'm surfin'! Blazing speeds. Up up and away.

Meet Me In The Middle...

Meet me in the back, says the unjust man. Both the middleman and unjust man take steps forward to the back. The unjust man gives 10% of the drug deal revenue to the middleman. Unfair, but what was the middleman going to do? He was just a middleman. He could be replaced in a heartbeat. And the only way out of this business is six feet under. *spooky Mafia trumpet noir music plays*

Not really restoring my faith in humanity one shady interaction at a time! But props.

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