Windows 11, HybridCoE, Covert Comms, DNSSEC, Bubblewrap, USB-PD

1. Windows 11, task bar covers input fields when ever there are notifications, etc. Again zero usability, just extremely frustrating and annoying to users. - Thank you for that. It also grabs focus and, oh well. - I personally like straight out aggressive statements, because then there's nothing to hide. Playing long game with passive aggressive jokes is even more enraging. Ok? Maybe that was just your design goal. It would have been possible to say that we recommend migrating to other platforms, but instead they choose to play stupid and extended the suffering? - Only conclusion I can draw from these issues is that nobody uses Windows or at least uses full screen Windows with Windows. - After a while, I figured out that you can manually hide the offending taskbar by double tapping on Windows key.

2. Confirmed the extremely annoying issue with log rotation and a . (dot) in the log filename is fixed in Python 3.10.7 - Finally. Now the backupCount retention counter works again and old logs get deleted.

3. HybridCoE (@ Wikipedia) had excellent talk about the gas pipeline explosions, good reasoning and getting directly to the point.

4. I really like the fact that Samsung implemented the idea I had about the notifications flashing on screen when screen is off, so users can see new notifications even when phone is silent and locked.

5. Donated again some money for generally beneficial internet privacy projects. Not naming the projects this time.

6. Read the national National Security Overview report 2022. Primary threats cyber attacks and Russian & Chinese espionage.

7. Helped a friend with code signing stuff.

8. We did consider setting up V2Ray / VMess / m KCP networking nodes, but didn't do that yet. Maybe later, still studying the details in the documentation.

9. CIA covert communication websites revealed by CitizenLab (@ citizenlab.ca). Also read long artile by the Reuters about CIA's sloppy handlers in Iran.

10. Lot's of tuning with DNSSEC (@ Wikipedia) configured a DNS server for a friend and there were a long discussion about trust anchors, glue and signature algorithms being used. Well, obvious choice is ECDSA/SHA-256 (13) which is required by standards anyway. Newer ED25519 (@ Wikipedia) option is recommended, but unless tinfoil security is required, it's better to stick just with one well known signature.

11. Some Tweets by some famous persons were so strange that I came to only one conclusion. If they're blackmailing you, just confess and it's done. And if you've done something so bad, you can't open confess... Why did you even do it? Actively avoiding and steering clear from bad things, will make life a bit more boring, but much safer and you'll sleep a lot better. Topic: Life, tips and values.

12. Ubuntu 22.04 doesn't have install candidate for libssl1.1 yet it works if you install it from Debian repositories. Bit annoying but done. Of course it won't get automatically updated if and when necessary.

13. Spent quite a while configuring bubblewrap sandboxing for a few server applications. But finally got it all right. Now the processes have only read access to the files necessary, and only write access to the files necessary. Everything else is containerized and isolated out.

14. USB-C chargers declared as the only charger standard in EU for consumer electronics. Kind of silly, the connector doesn't solve it. I'm pretty sure that the manufacturer specific cables and chargers will be out there. Practically running the benefits of this concept. Yes, you can quick, turbo, super, flash charge the devices, when you use the device specific charger AND cable. Otherwise the charging will be using some extremely low charging current, which might cause the device to even run out of power while charging it constantly. Ref: USB-PD (@ Wikipedia) 

15. Watched hour long documentary how badly Bitcoin adoption in Salvador is going and what are the reasons behind it.

16. New Executive Order on US Surveillance unlikely to satisfy EU law (@ noyb.eu). Not surprising at all. This is exactly why US cloud services (messengers, mail, storage, whatever, all) shouldn't be used by foreign powers because only US citizens have any rights. kw: CJEU, PRISM, Upstream, Court, GDPR

17. Something different? Checked Sky Sabre / Land Ceptor air defense system.

2023-11-19