Linux nerd and consultant. Sci-fi, comedy, and podcast author. Former Katsucon president, former roller derby bouncer. http://punkwalrus.net/

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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 22nd, 2023

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  • When I was in theater camp as a pre-teen, one of our actors was a very enthusiastic foot guy. I had heard of foot fetishes, but never understood them. But this guy was like an overexcited fan boy of feet. My curiosity triggered this guy into a huge brain dump, and one of the things he went on about about how feet were the “true expression of a person’s feelings.” Feet turned towards you? They like you. One foot pointed away? They don’t. He then showed me how girls’ feet would match their mood, so no matter what parts they were rehearsing, he could tell their underlying mood: anxiety, sadness, anger, happiness, etc… I have no idea if he was right, but that was my first exposure to another person’s fetish. I could only understand it abstractly, but I found it fascinating.



  • Basic setup for me is scripted on a new system. In regards to ssh, I make sure:

    • Root account is disabled, sudo only
    • ssh only by keys
    • sshd blocks all users but a few, via AllowUsers
    • All ‘default usernames’ are removed, like ec2-user or ubuntu for AWS ec2 systems
    • The default ssh port moved if ssh has to be exposed to the Internet. No, this doesn’t make it “more secure” but damn, it reduces the script denials in my system logs, fight me.
    • Services are only allowed connections by an allow list of IPs or subnets. Internal, when possible.

    My systems are not “unhackable” but not low-hanging fruit, either. I assume everything I have out there can be hacked by someone SUPER determined, and have a vector of protection to mitigate backwash in case they gain full access.