woohoo, just pushed an update to the zphinx* server to build with #zig v0.16 - due to the #iocalypse this is quite a substantial patch: https://rad.ctrlc.hu/nodes/rad.ctrlc.hu/rad:z2Rncctq4pLrY1Kp7NgQkcejBsiza/commits/86d8dc72f391cbedd9994a76fa67e29b3f631b22
but quite worth it, as i got rid of a lot of posixisms/linuxisms (not all though) so making it portable should be easier.
next up the klutshnik** server.
* wtf zphinx: https://sphinx.pm
** wtf klutshnik: https://klutshnik.info
🎤 “I’m Mr. Mercury” — By Frank Styles at Wembley Park in London, England 🇬🇧
Freddie Mercury Is Still Everywhere (13 Photos): https://streetartutopia.com/2026/09/04/freddie-mercury-is-still-everywhere-12-photos/
aiohttp is downloaded 600M+ times a month. Its maintainers just recapped a year of security work, including the 10 issues (8 CVEs) we reported through Patch the Planet.
Every fix shipped days later in 3.14.1. https://aio-libs.org/news/2026/security-at-aio-libs/
Please be careful with those illegal passwords everyone! Courtesy of a Supermicro IPMI interface.
With the recent increase in Russian sabotage in Europe, this post is again relevant. Our society is not robust, many things fail out of their own accord. And then prove hard to repair. We are NOT ready for any kind of conflict, and everyone should get on that: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/cyber-security-pre-war-reality-check/
"This is a Unix system, I know this."
[ minutes later ]
"Oh, uh, so, I guess killall on Solaris is pretty different actually."
[ credits ]
AI/Agentic attacks have made headlines recently, but agents are highly "suggestible", allowing us to easily detect (or derail) them.
Our new "Agent Provocateur" deploys in minutes & works.
Read more here, including how to ask agents for reverse shells https://blog.thinkst.com/2026/09/getting-agents-to-tell-on-themselves.html
Functional PCB art from the 60s. It's likely a 3 decade count from 0 to 999. I assume it was for lab equipment but I'm not sure. I only know it's made in France, likely by someone who worked at Intertechnique.
Apologies for the hasty pictures, there will be better ones once the board is installed in a museum (spoiler alert?).
Out of context work quote: "we should find these machines, take their CPUs, and mount them on a stick as a warning to the others"
Adblockers are killing the advertisement industry. Install uBlock Origin today to kill it faster.
Machine Speed is a lie: stop trying to fight AI with AI
Marketing departments are screaming that attackers are moving at "machine speed" and only AI-powered defenses can stop them. But cyberattacks have always been automated, and proactive defense beats reactive AI.
https://malwaretech.com/2026/09/machine-speed-is-a-lie-stop-trying-to-fight-ai-with-ai.html
In the second half of the legend, Cormac sets out on a quest to find his family. He travels to the otherworld and is tested by Manannan Mac Lir, admitting his mistake, and regaining his family. It is a long and hard quest, and he returns to his kingom wiser for it.
It just strikes me that masking everything with an easy solution and paying for it with people's lives is... a very timely metaphor. And the way back is gonna be difficult.
3/3
The visitor gives Cormac the branch and leaves. For a year Cormac uses the enchanting music to deal with every problem in his kingdom. Instead of listening and dispensing justice, he just shakes the branch.
In one year the stranger comes back for the first installment of the payment: Cormac's daughter.
The next year, he takes his son.
Then his wife.
Cormac is left alone. He uses the branch to dull the pain, but he eventually realizes the mistake he'd made, swapping people for easy magic.
2/3
I just realized that I have the perfect anti-AI story:
King Cormac and the Silver Branch
It's an Irish legend about a wise king who is visited by a mysterious otherworldly stranger bearing a silver branch with golden apples. Shaking the branch produces such a wonderful music that people immediately forget their pain and sorrows and daily worries.
King Cormac covets the branch, and is willing to pay whatever price the stranger sets for it.
1/3
This weekend, No Starch is running a 35% off promo with code TOOMANYTABS. This is probably the last chance to preorder "The Secret Life of Circuits" at a discount:
https://nostarch.com/secret-life-of-circuits
If you do, you get PDF right away, then full-color hardcover in the mail. Preorders may or may not include exclusive horse armor DLC (proof of horse required).
ToC: https://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/electronics/full_toc.pdf
Sample chapter: https://nostarch.com/download/samples/secret-life-of-circuits_chapter-9.pdf
Certified organic AI-free.