CupcakeOfSpice

Silly ideas in my silly mind

This may sound like fedposting, so feel free not to respond. I'm asking if people knowledgeable about cybersecurity, penetration testing, etc. could help me learn either through advice or more personal guidance. I'm familiar with Maia Crimew's blog post, but as with most of this stuff it's just vague enough to be difficult for me to push off from. I am really good with computers when using them as intended, but going off the beaten path and finding flaws or footholds is where I struggle. If you have advice or want to guide more closely, you can leave a comment here, a DM, or you can get me on Matrix @cupcake-of-spice:matrix.org

The site hackthebox dot com has battlegrounds with two teams hacking each other's virtual machines while hardening their own. If anyone wants to start a team for that, I'd be up for joining, though at my current state I may not be so much help...

The way she trots around the house

I guess just a few days ago the ISS did a thing where their ham radio repeater was transmitting SSTV images of what looked like might be Soviet propaganda? I can't read it, unfortunately. There's a gallery of people submitting what they received. ARISS SSTV

I went to church today for the first time in a few years (I may have attended other Easters, I don't remember) and I was not exactly impressed. I started noticing the hypocrisy more and more. And I know Christians are fond of the whole "Seeing hypocrites at a church is like seeing out-of-shape people at a gym," but it's more like meeting your new personal trainer, and they're really unhealthy, however that looks for them. There's one member who if there's an -ism or -phobia associated with it, he's on the wrong side of it. Yeah, they went and made him a deacon. They all just pick and choose which bits of scripture are literal and which are just metaphorical. Like helping the poor? Well, they mean the poor in spirit, which means I just have to spread Jesus, not actually materially help them. And there's no idea that the concept of capitalism as we know it was not even conceived of during the time of the Biblical stories. Or a good chunk of the church's history. They're worshipping a god they made up that is only tangentially related to the Bible. I almost wish I could go back to not seeing this, but that is no longer an option. It's just sad becoming disillusioned with something that was a huge part of my life for so long.

I would like to transition to eating vegan and have tried to find substitutes for some of the things I'd miss the most. (Mostly cheese and maybe honey) But both buying and making these substitutes appears to be rather pricey. I figure there must be a way to go vegan without spending everything I have, so does that mean I just have to forgo the substitutes and completely change my diet? That'll be tough, but I want to try. Any advice for getting away from animal products?

My grandpa is old and til now has always done things with paper copies including legal paperwork, taxes, and all that. Recently he's said the tax people don't want him using paper to file them and has sent him online resources to do so. Problem is his most recent computer runs Windows 7, and most web pages refuse to load. The only problem I have been able to determine is that the computer is wildly out-of-date, no longer receives security updates, and the internet doesn't like that.

Solutions I can think of are trying to prolong the life of the computer with Linux, getting a newer computer that has the hardware to run Windows 10/11, or taking him to the library to fill out info there. I am always glad to convert people to Linux, but for him it would have to run very similarly to the Windows 7 he's used to. He would have to be able to run EXEs easily and not have to configure anything. I know of low-to-no configuration distros, but I don't know if they can run his applications as easily. A new computer would be a pretty easy fix, but not exactly cheap either. The library, I'm not 100% sure they would allow you to do that paperwork there for security reasons, especially if the patron doesn't know how to log out and secure themselves. Even then, my grandparents have been reluctant to use our local library since they moved here from out of town, probably because they're old and don't like change.

So this is my predicament; if anyone has any suggestions regarding these or with different options, I'd appreciate them. If there is a way to use his current computer, that'd probably be ideal for him, but I do understand that's nowhere near ideal generally.

I remember a post a while ago about an OS someone on here made, but when I search for it, I can't find it. I was not able to look at it when I saw it, but I'd still like to check it out. Does anybody remember/can anybody find it? I think it might have been called Snowball OS?

I have schizoaffective disorder which comes with such lovely features as psychosis, which is a physical symptom that causes it to be difficult for me to distinguish between reality and fantastical things my brain makes up. (or other people's brains think up for that matter) Often I have difficulty even recognizing the thing isn't real, simply assuming it's part of the real world other people are used to, ignoring, or unaware of.

The experience I want to talk about is with ghosts. I don't think belief in ghosts is a very Materialist belief, but my experiences with them have been real enough that I don't think it matters that much. One prevalent ghost is that of a cousin of mine. I never met her, all I know is that she fell victim to suicide very shortly before I was born. I think that's partly why my mom has been more supportive of me through my mental illness journey, so in a way her shadow has affected my whole life. But in more recent years, I've noticed when suicidal thoughts creep in, she appears and will just sit with me. She doesn't say much other than to assure me she doesn't condemn me for my feelings. She just sits there with me through it. Having someone who has experienced the feelings I'm having sitting with me through them is a comforting feeling.

I'm not sure why I felt the need to post this. Maybe to just give some insight into the psychotic experience? Maybe to show not all psychotic encounters are negative? Maybe I just wanted to vent about it. In any case, take this as you will.

I'm a little unclear on how the furry identity works. Is it like an LGBT+ thing where you just are this thing regardless of your feelings or desires, or does wanting to be a furry make you one? Like, I've fought against being trans much of my life, but now I see I pretty much always was. But I don't know if liking the puppygirl idea makes me a furry, or if that's something I have to have always been? (this is not a reaction to a recently popular puppygirl, I've meant to ask this for a while) I also may be terribly misunderstanding furries; that's a taboo subject where I live, so I don't know much.

Hopefully I'm preaching to the choir and the main response from everybody is that this is obvious and didn't need to be said.

I read a few comments from some gross cishets about how angry they are about the female Custode. They prop up the Imperium of Man as though they are some paragon of morality and not the picture of everything wrong with imperialism. Naturally this perfectly moral force would have only men in its ranks, clearly! They don't seem to realize that if women are left out we have a sexist/mysogynist system which is not worth praising, and if they include women then it's the imperialist machine trying to keep up appearances. Frankly, I've always figured the Imperium didn't care about gender or race because everyone is suitable to die in combat and be ground into food for the starving populace.

tl;dr Men are upset that women exist and missed the whole satire

I notice a lot of people use terms like "psychotic" or "psychopath" as insults and negative descriptions on here. These are clinical terms that are used to describe real people with difficulties, not boogeymen! I don't disagree with the sentiment that these people are doing wrong, but if you wouldn't use the r-slur or "autistic" as an insult (which you shouldn't) then you shouldn't use these words either. And I get the idea of calling someone delusional, but take care that you don't just mean "I disagree with them." Though by posting on neurodiverse I imagine I'm preaching to the choir.

Sincerely, a casual schizoaffective disorder haver.