read banned books

late 20s ☆ "I thought libraries were supposed to be quiet?" - "They also say that about young ladies... but the best ones rarely are."

[vortexsophia-deactivated2022110]

[geekygothgirl]

I don’t know what we did to deserve Mr. Rogers but I’m so glad we had him. 

[hope-and-joy-detector]

Hope and Joy Detected!!

[hibi-flower]

sources: unknown // unknown // maplepecanpastry on tumblr // ashmanathletics on tiktok // i saw the tv glow (2024) // pray for me by kendrick lamar // unknown // what are you waiting for? by derald cannon jr. // unknown // unknown // drunk drivers/killer whales by car seat headrest // polekingrasputin on instagram

on waiting / on saving yourself

[hope-and-joy-detector]

Hope and Joy Detected!!

[aleshakills]

At some point in your life, you were taught that being slightly annoying is an unforgivable sin. Maybe it was by your parents or a teacher or a friend or a bully or an older sibling. But someone taught you that being slightly annoying is a crime punishable by death.

You must unlearn this.

You must accept that all people will be annoying at some point or another in their lives, maybe all of their lives, and that this is okay. It is okay for strangers on the bus, it is okay for children in the grocery store, it is okay for people on social media, and it is okay for you.

If you ever want to truly love your fellow humans, if you ever want to truly love yourself, you must have forgiveness for being annoying.

[hope-and-joy-detector]

Hope and Joy Detected!!

[iamrockqueen]

[zawmbikilla]

every time i see this image it makes me happy

[emo-oreos]

or this one

[hope-and-joy-detector]

Hope and Joy Detected!!

[psilocervidae]

Green + yellow + orange is a highly underrated colour combo

[psilocervidae]

Look at her don't you love her

[picsthatmakeyougohmm]

[anonymousedward]

[shamebats]

The (European) sun is a deadly laser, stay safe everyone

[ms-demeanor]

Okay so my actual assigned-by-my-boss potentially revenue generating job for today was supposed to be updating a simple quote and sending it to the client.

Reader, it was not simple.

[ms-demeanor]

The rest of this post needs a dramatis personae:

UPS - Uninterruptable Power Source

SR(1-6) - Server Rooms 1-6

LSF - Another server room but with a different name

PSA - Software that includes client management and hardware management tools, plus ticket tracking and history

RMM - Software that includes remote management tools

Documentation Platform (DP) - software that hosts documentation about client passwords and other information

IP address - location of a device on a network

Serial Number - Unique hardware ID, in this case it must be noted that the manufacturer serial number includes the device production date.

There are seven UPSs, SR1-UPS, SR2-UPS, SR3-UPS, SR4-UPS, SR5-UPS, SR6-UPS, and LSF-UPS. The names should, in theory, correspond to the Server Rooms they are placed in and the documentation in the PSA, RMM, and Documentation platform should match.

[ms-demeanor]

We need to quote replacement batteries for any devices that are reaching about three years of age.

We don't have a documented inventory of UPSs for this client (bad). SR6-UPS, SR2-UPS, and LSF-UPS are not visible in our RMM or on the network, but have records on the PSA and the DP.

We have been attempting to define a "source of truth" for our equipment (this has been a very big part of my job recently due to lifecycle management) and the way this is SUPPOSED to work is that the RMM gathers information from a device, which syncs with the PSA to create a Configuration Item (CI), which syncs with the DP to create a record. The PSA is supposed to be the source of truth, because it can be updated from muliple RMMs but we can manually create CIs if we have to.

The PSA can *only* be updated via the RMM if something called Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is enabled on the devices. It has, historically, not been standard for us to enable SNMP on most devices.

Because we weren't able to see everything about these devices via the RMM, I sent a tech to the site to find all of these a few months ago.

[ms-demeanor]

Immediate, instantaneous problem: the first UPS is showing an assigned name that doesn't match any of the other devices, and is displaying two serial numbers. One serial number indicates that the device was manufactured in 2017 and the other indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.

This is NOT the device I'd sent the tech to document - the device I'd sent the tech to document was not connected to the network.

[ms-demeanor]

The device that has two serial numbers is supposed to be LSF-UPS. Instead the device shows "NND-1" as its description.

The device not connected to the network is SR6-UPS, it appears to be functional and plugged in but does not have SNMP enabled. It is also nine years old at a minimum, and (according to the tickets in our PSA) had the battery replaced in 2020. This is, as far as I know, the only actual device that is in the network that was manufactured in 2017.

The next device is SR2-UPS, which is not showing as connected to the network in our RMM, but is visible from other management devices.

The tech takes photos of:

The serial number

The product number

The MAC address

The IP Address

He does not photograph each of these identifiers for each machine. It's sort of a grab bag of what he documented for each one.

[ms-demeanor]

The tech documents spotty information on SR1-6 and LSF-UPS.

I find this information unsatisfactory. I go to the manufacturer management portal and export the list of devices we've got registered on the portal. That list includes:

SR1-SR5 UPS.

It does not include LSF-UPS

It DOES include Stand-55 UPS. Which I do not have documented by the tech.

Neat. It also says that SR2 and Stand-55 have lost connection, but provides IP addresses for all devices and also has location descriptions for most devices.

I decide I need more info. I go to the RMM.

[ms-demeanor]

The RMM has no serial numbers. It has only one MAC address. It has IP addresses that don't match the IPs from the photos or from the vendor.

It is showing two devices offline, they are not the same two devices that the vendor showed as offline. Some of the devices that show as last connected a year ago in the RMM show online from the vendor.

My ears start ringing.

The RMM shows one device created in 2015. The vendor serial number from that device indicates that it was manufactured in 2022.

I require documentation. I go to the documentation platform.

[ms-demeanor]

I have 8 UPSs (SR1-6, LSF, and Stand-55).

The documentation platform has twelve configuration items labeled as UPSs.

Each item has a linked server room and a unique identifier that is synced from our PSA.

The document for LSF has a note that it was edited in 2018. The serial number for LSF indicates that it was manufactured in 2022. The ticket I have for installing it is from 2023.

[ms-demeanor]

The document for another device has no name, in place of the name is an IP address that doesn't match any of the other IPs that I've collected thus far.

[ms-demeanor]

The documentation platform has three ID documents for S1-UPS, each of them has a different unique ID (which is supposed to correspond to the unique ID from our PSA). One of the unique IDs includes the vendor MAC address of the device with the same name as part of the unique ID. All three documents have different create dates, on of which is from 2017. The vendor serial number indicates this UPS was manufactured in 2023. The document from six years before the hardware was manufactured is the only one that lists a physical location.

I need to check the documentation platform against the PSA, so I have to search the unique IDs in the PSA.

[ms-demeanor]

Surprise! It's bad!

[ms-demeanor]

Okay so apparently the reason that the UPS had two serials in the photos that had two different create dates is because apparently from 2015 until 2023 we've been using hand-me-down NIC cards in new hardware (even when the cards are past support age).

But also: for some reason SR2-UPS and the UPS that has just an IP address for a name are the same device and the of the 6 IPs associated with these two records only one matches the IP that's the document name.

[paintpencilink]

I'm so glad I didn't go into networking. This can't POSSIBLY be secure. Management probably goes "oh it's just the backup power, it's not like they store data haha" but anyone with a lick of sense knows you mostly keep a network secure by keeping everything as neatly organized and WELL-DOCUMENTED as possible, setting up basic structure around who's allowed to access what and how they prove it, monitoring stuff so you get alerts if unauthorized access gets through (meaning *again* there should be software that knows where everything is), then just trying to avoid stupid mistakes like letting the wrong person in the building or falling for phishing tactics.

But if nobody knows where all the devices even are or *what* they are, or you're Frankensteining unsupported old cards into new hardware and not even leaving notes about it, how is anyone *possibly* supposed to defend this network? That's like trying to put fences up around a river that changes course every time it floods ☠️

I don't even know much about security and I'm pretty sure that some idiot with script kiddie tools who got mad at the company for whatever reason could crack this like an egg.

Like, even if getting access to one or more of the rando power supplies doesn't give you a toehold into the rest of the network, it WOULD most likely give you a way to cut emergency power to the servers before cutting the actual power to the building. (Physical security is no joke either, but it's often treated like one.) And if this is the state of their power supply backups, I don't wanna know the state of their filesystem backups. It's very possible that even just losing server state would hurt. On top of the downtime.

(for legal reasons this post is purely about white hat concerns—we readers don't know what company this is and this is not an endorsement of illegal security breaking activities or destruction of property, etc etc)

If the professional you've hired, whom you've ostensibly given all the relevant info you know, is struggling to even FIND all your devices, then you have devices on your network that nobody is watching. Not your employees, not your software. ????????

I shouldn't be surprised by this kind of thing anymore... I sat next to the guy who insisted on naming his variables like int A, int B, int C and so on... but like am I crazy?? am I 3am brained rn??? again networking & cybersec were not my department and I was never very well taught in those, I was more on the software design side when I was studying, but 😰 there's no way this can be remotely acceptable, right?????

[smallercommand]

The problem with this sort of thing is multilayered, but: insecure, because nothing's being managed. Hard to manage, because all the documentation is wrong. Hard to fix, because everything's fucked, it's always been this way, and (possibly a little, depending on their contract) because fixing it depends on the MSP OP works for, which may be billing them hourly to fix it. (I don't know their setup, but I've seen the aftermath of hourly-billed IT, and I think they ended up wipe-and-reloading everything on site.) Add in to that that this just what OP has found to be fucked up by looking at the UPSs, and this place has at least seven server rooms.

[onecells]

Daniel Sloss SAID IT THANK YOU DANIEL SLOSS

[shy-retiring-oxford-chaps]

Reblogging again now that Russell Brand's ugly mug is back in the news to remind everyone that in the 2023 Times expose on his abusive behaviour, Daniel Sloss was the only male comedian willing to be named and quoted like "yeah that dude's a scumbag and women have been warning each other about him for years."

[shamebats]

The political polarization of health outcomes in the USA - Nature Human Behaviour

Using individual-level medical data and death records, this study finds that conservatives in the USA experienced worse health and higher mo

New study from the US that looked into differences in health outcomes between left and right leaning people and linked this to concervative people's ideological mistrust of doctors and medicine.

We have presented evidence that, by a number of measures at the individual level, conservatives in middle adulthood steadily became less healthy than their liberal peers over the course of the 2010s. They also began dying at higher rates. [...] During the COVID-19 pandemic, this relationship persists even after accounting for their demographics and local contexts. Using a large survey, we offer evidence consistent with a potential explanation for this growing gap: even after the pandemic and for matters beyond COVID-19, right-leaning Americans are less likely to seek medical care and follow medical advice.

[shamebats]

Nearly every group became less healthy (that is, a higher comorbidity score) over time, as respondents aged between 2008 and 2016. But this change was not equal across groups: respondents who identified as liberals in wave 4 but ‘became conservative’ by wave 5 (Fig. 2, second plot) were slightly less healthy than other liberals in wave 4, but they became much less healthy than liberals (and indeed other conservatives) by wave 5. Meanwhile, people who became liberal between waves were healthier in wave 4 and became, if anything, more healthy by wave 5. This suggests that small differences in health in wave 4 predicted changes in ideology—and magnified differences in health—by wave 5.

By 2020–2022, conservative Americans were less healthy and more likely to die than their liberal peers. Although demographics and place-based characteristics explain some of this gap, a substantial share remains unexplained. We propose one explanation for this persistent divide: political beliefs increasingly shape consumption of healthcare and thus health outcomes. This notion has been readily applied to COVID-19-related healthcare (for example, vaccines) and outcomes (for example, infection and death rates). But what if those on the political right are less likely to visit, trust and follow the advice of their doctor on health matters entirely unrelated to COVID-19? Existing research shows that while confidence in medicine was once non-partisan, Republicans began to show less confidence than Democrats during the pandemic. At the same time, as liberals have come to trust more in scientific experts, they may have become more compliant with medical advice. Lower trust and adherence to medical advice correlate with worse health outcomes, so a broader gap in health could follow.

[shamebats]

Yeah, I too been wondering about that.

Also, just because something is "alternative", doesn't mean it can't have side-effects or cause health issues, especially on the long-term or at high doses. Many of the health products & services promoted in those spaces are either understudied or known to cause harm, it's just that the consumers aren't aware of the risks or don't take them seriously.

Taking excessive amounts of even vitamins and herbs can be bad for you, if it's more than your liver can handle, and unregulated supplements can also have little undisclosed surprises in them — like heavy metals, molds, pesticides, other mystery substances... You can never know for sure what's in them because again, it's all unregulated and sketchy as fuck.

Ashwagandha is actually one of the herbal supplements that's most likely to be associated with liver toxicity.

10 Popular Supplements Linked to Serious Liver Injury​

​Discover six widely used supplements linked with liver toxicity, see why age can increase vulnerability and view steps to reduce risk when

Traditional herbal blends can become even more complicated because they often contain multiple active compounds, concentrated extracts or ingredients that may not always match the product label, Planells says. “In some cases, contamination with heavy metals, pesticides or undeclared pharmaceutical agents has also been identified,” he adds. Many people take several supplements at once, further complicating the issue. “This is why it becomes increasingly important for individuals to discuss all supplements and herbal products they consume with their health care team,” Planells says.

So when you have one group that goes to the doctor and takes their regulated pharmaceuticals and does medical treatments as instructed and another that's just like mega-dozing a dozen random supplements of dubious origin and efficacy, drinking raw milk and cutting out fruits because they were told they have too much sugar, it wouldn't be surprising if that would result in... slightly different health outcomes between the two groups.

In part because, you know, group 1 is actually managing their health issues, while group 2 is mainly just throwing dry dogshit at the wall and torturing their liver in an endless addictive pursuit the placebo effect — which is always temporary.

[doomtemparts]

one of my friends in a discord server was talking about how they were nervous about their first scheduled acupuncture appointment. another friend offered to do a tarot reading for them. sent this picture.

[earnedmagic]

feeling extremely lustful about this house

Portland, OR | 6 beds 4 baths

[earnedmagic]

pictures of the art studio with apartment on premises 🤤

[ymutate]

Filippo Palizzi (Italian painter 1818–1899)

Excavations in Pompeii, 1870

Oil on Canvas

119.5 × 86 cm.

Private Collection

[rabid-transcendentalist]

@anthropologist-on-the-loose get peer-reviewed because your shared experience with the subject of the painting really heightened the emotional impact of this artwork for me ( An impact which was already high tbh. The idea that Pompeii was built by generations, buried by generations, uncovered by generations. What if I just started screaming and never stopped. )

[anthropologist-on-the-loose]

"Built by generations, buried by generations, uncovered by generations" is ruining me, thanks

[depsidase]

[ahsoka-in-a-hood]

Apparently some people still need to hear this so: using an 'ai checker' is still using ai. If you are feeding someone's fic to one of these checkers, you will still not be sure their fic is ai because they are not 100% accurate, but you can be 100% sure that you are using ai. For fic. Furthermore you are doing the work of an ai scraper for them. You are, personally, feeding the machine. There is no actual excuse for using an ai checker on fanfic as a hobby. YOU are the problem.

If you think a fic is ai, mute it and move on. That's it. That's all you do.

[ahsoka-in-a-hood]

Um. Yikes

[sometiktoksarevalid]

[creatingblackcharacters]

The drama! The skill! The cinematography! It's ART! IT'S ALL ART!!

[chilewithcarnage]

[teaboot]

Caught Ollie scratching at my laundry basket so now he has his own

So far every time I set it in front of him now he's jumped straight in, no questions asked, and upon further investigation he seems to enjoy being carried in it from room to room