h2g2bob @h2g2bob@mastodon.dbatley.com

Finally got around to writing a story about the i-SOON data leak (as opposed to just madly tooting about how interesting it is). Probably my favorite part of this leak shows an i-SOON employee proudly telling his boss that they successfully hacked one of the universities on the govt's target list, only to be told that university wasn't actually on the list. Whoops:

"A new data leak that appears to have come from one of China's top private cybersecurity firms provides a rare glimpse into the commercial side of China's many state-sponsored hacking groups. Experts say the leak illustrates how Chinese government agencies increasingly are contracting out foreign espionage campaigns to the nation's burgeoning and highly competitive cybersecurity industry."

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/02/new-leak-shows-business-side-of-chinas-apt-menace/

Ending today by discovering the mysterious GPO telephone numbers station that vanished overnight was created by a friend

Here’s a cautionary tale about digitisation of #archives

For the WW1 centenary, the National Library of Wales created cymru1914.org, to pull together scans of primary sources relating to the period. By all accounts it was brilliant.

Naturally, like all such projects, the site disappeared once the money ran out, taking everything with it. Rip.

Today in "Daylight Savings Chaos Monkey"

If you have backups but you have never tried to restore them, you do not have backups. This is true.

I made a MySQL oopsie, and tried to restore a table from my voluminous backups of same, and was met...
https://jwz.org/b/ykM4

I feel like nobody is writing blog posts about python packaging at the moment. Fortunately I've stepped in to fill the void. https://chris48s.github.io/blogmarks/posts/2024/python-package-manifest-files/

The secret map of where the good weather is in the UK. Note the Yorkshire Riviera, where I am.

The names and colours for the separated Overground lines are out.

No doubt lots of people will moan about them. So here's my piece on how Tube names happen, collective memory, and why visibility matters. #history #london #transport
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2024/the-big-split-overground-line-names/

DIY enthusiasts, you too can transform your home into a ninja warrior catstacle course

@catioguy

#Caturday

If you install FOSS apps from F-Droid, upgrade to version 1.19.0 because it finally adds support for Android's unattended updates API introduced in Android 12. This means F-Droid can update apps in the background (so long as you first installed those apps through F-Droid).

The update also adds Themed Icon support, which is nice. Here's F-Droid's blog post on the release: https://f-droid.org/en/2024/02/01/twif.html

Guess what day it is https://youtu.be/gj_aHCpZl4k?si=WxAC86fOG8gv1deY

@h2g2bob I call the same day pancake-and-a-half day

Before 1918, general elections in the UK were spread over multiple weeks, as each constituency's returning officer could choose their own nomination and polling days.

Pleased to share a short piece by me on the long life (and quiet death) of the long #generalelection

Somewhat ironically, the article is only free to read for a week...

@histodons
#histodons

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/end-britains-weeks-long-general-elections

Rowley: What’s new in the Postgres 16 query planner / optimizer https://lwn.net/Articles/961545/ #LWN

*** New blog post *** where I listen to the difference between two different types of asphalt.

https://therantyhighwayman.blogspot.com/2024/02/taking-rough-with-smooth.html

Interesting: Reading QR codes without a computer!

https://qr.blinry.org/

#37C3