jc blog - tales of a modern-day nomadic hunter-gatherer

Follow jcomeau_ictx on Twitter This is the weblog of Intrepid Wanderer. You never know what you might find here; graphic descriptions of bodily functions, computer programming secrets, proselytizing for the antichrist, miscellaneous ranting and kvetching, valuable information on living off the land... if you don't share my rather weird interests you may want to try slashdot instead.

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2017-01-30-1242Z

it always happens. once I get into Programming Mode, I start getting all kinds of wild ideas how to optimize stuff. one of these is related to pipelining CSV output between programs, and I'm thinking about ways to reduce the overhead of packing and unpacking the data, keeping its type, i.e., string, float, integer, etc., specified explicitly in the encoding.

not that I've done any research to see if CSV packing and unpacking is even significant... bleah.

one idea is using VLQ encoding, with a tag byte before each quantity indicating its type. table headers would also have their own type byte, as would table rows, so I could probably leave off the type bytes within the row altogether, by including them in the table headers just after the name. for example, let's say the table header type byte is 0xf0, table row 0xf1. string is 0, int is 1, and a float with scale of 2, a common financial spreadsheet format, is 2. here's some sample CSV:

id,dept,amount
1,shoes,1.37

and its equivalent (thanks to the WP article giving me the encoding for 137):

\xf0id\x00\x01dept\x00\x00amount\x00\x02\x00  # final \x00 marks end of header
\xf1\x01shoes\x00\x81\x09

rows need no end marker because their length is known from the header. a final \xff byte can mark the end of the table. [comment]

2017-01-28-2318Z

I don't know if I was fired or not, but I don't see much hope for getting paid, so just for shits and grins I decided to abandon Spark, and even Pandas, for a couple days and see if I could duplicate the client's scripts with some simple Python using the csv module. turns out it wasn't that difficult, and though it's not fast yet, its output is equivalent to the Pandas scripts it was based on, except it doesn't add the gigabytes of duplicated rows the original scripts do (due to there being duplicated rows in the input data).

and it's not a memory hog.

I believe I can make it fast, too. I haven't really started optimizing yet. [comment]

2017-01-27-1922Z

streaming between local computer and s3 buckets using aws s3 cp: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/s3/cp.html. make sure to use the --expected-size parameter on uploads if you expect a final size over 5GB. [comment]

2017-01-27-1533Z

this past couple of weeks (or so... one day runs into another and I lose all track of time) I've been fighting to hold onto a job that could be big money if I don't get lost in the woods. the client's client is using Pandas to sling data around, but his scripts are all single-threaded and only utilize a single processor. so he wants it ported to Spark. but Spark is buggy -- version 2.0.2, which is what Amazon offers by default on their EMS clusters, has a bug in dataframe.join() which breaks any left outer joins (at least) given certain parameters of which I haven't tracked down yet, but certainly my code (ported directly from his) triggered it. and 2.0.2 is only about 5 months old. so we're talking really basic stuff not working only 5 months ago -- hardly a mature platform. 2.1.0 fixes that, but there's still a bug in that that makes calculated columns (dataframe.withColumn(...)) disappear on a following join. so you have to write the data out to disk and read it back in before you do the join! that forces the calculations to actually be performed. I'm sure there's an easier way, but that's the way the client's client did it and I'm just learning it as I go.

but stepping back, getting in the cockpit and flying over the problem at ten miles up, I'm looking at all this shit and shaking my head. this isn't programming. I've been saying for a while now that all these frameworks are an impediment to getting work done. people go from storing data in flat files to SQL databases, then on to NoSQL and S3. over a period of several decades, we've gone full circle! instead of using the filesystem to store and reference data, we're now using key-value stores, which accomplish the same thing! even the pseudo-file structure of keys on S3 match a POSIX file pattern.

some user on StackOverflow (I think it was abarnert but can't find the thread at the moment) that simple Unix pipelining makes the best use of all processors and RAM. string together a bunch of scripts that each do one thing and do it well, feeding the output to the next script. if this client gives me the leeway, I can do that with this problem. for example, all a "left outer join" does is copy all columns from one table to another (appending them to the end) if a certain condition applies (such as, in this case, having the same value for the same key column name). I can script that using just a few lines of Python with the CSV module. for that matter, I could pipeline all the input CSV files through a filter first that changes the separator character to something that is close to 100% certain not to appear in business spreadsheets (such as this?), and just split on that in all downstream pipes, eliminating that module.

one advantage of this pipeline approach is that you can, by various methods, set the process name to something that indicates exactly what the script does, like convert_cp1252_to_utf8 or left_outer_join. so when you start up top, instead of a hundred lines of java or python, you see exactly what's going on!

my inner tinfoil-hat-conspiracy-nut thinks that these frameworks are simply a big scam. I'm guessing they're being pushed by colleges to CS majors, and by big corporations, whose decision-makers are being wined and dined by the companies who stand to make big money training and supporting these bloated pieces of bug-ridden software. they probably hook them at conferences and conventions and such... I don't know, I've been out of the loop for almost 2 decades already.

but what I do know is, most of my coding now isn't coding at all, it's trying to figure out what the fuck the framework is doing to my data, and trying to find a workaround for it. I want to get back to programming. [comment]

2017-01-24-0419Z

well, that was easy enough. Googled and found it at https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/asm/asm/3.2/, downloaded it and moved it to ~/.m2/repository/asm/asm/3.2/. now it's attempting to load files over s3n:// instead of summarily complaining that the filesystem was unsupported. [comment]

2017-01-24-0408Z

oh yeah, I beat that cold. 3 days of massive probiotic use, with just an occasional scratchy throat, no coughing or sneezing to speak of. then another day with the yogurt and brine just to make sure. and now a day or two on the normal regimen. I love this shit. [comment]

2017-01-24-0403Z

spark-submit isn't ready for prime time yet. I keep getting this verbose error reporting when specifying --packages org.apache.hadoop:hadoop-aws:2.7.1:

:: USE VERBOSE OR DEBUG MESSAGE LEVEL FOR MORE DETAILS
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.RuntimeException: [download failed: asm#asm;3.2!asm.jar]
at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmitUtils$.resolveMavenCoordinates(SparkSubmit.scala:1078)
at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmit$.prepareSubmitEnvironment(SparkSubmit.scala:296)
at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmit$.submit(SparkSubmit.scala:160)
at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmit$.main(SparkSubmit.scala:126)
at org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmit.main(SparkSubmit.scala)

and Googling doesn't give any results intelligible to a non-Hadooper. it's failing a download. so now what? what a load of crap. [comment]

2017-01-23-1919Z

just had an epiphany. sometimes I need really verbose debugging messages when testing, but don't want to see all that crap when running the program with full data. so I took an idea I had years ago for JavaScript and adapted it for Python:

COMMAND = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(sys.argv[0]))[0]
logging.debug('COMMAND: %s', COMMAND)
DOCTESTDEBUG = logging.debug if COMMAND == 'doctest' else lambda *x: None

that lambda x: None construct simply creates a no-op that accepts any number of args. now I can sprinkle DOCTESTDEBUG('array is: %s', listing) statements in my routines and know they'll only be executed during doctests. neat, huh?

what I used to use for JavaScript stopped working a few years back. it switched between alert(something) and console.log(something). but now if console.log isn't working I just put in alerts until I find the broken statement. rarely necessary any more, which is good, because I've forgotten the exact syntax I used and don't know if I ever figured out what in the ECMAScript changes broke it. [comment]

2017-01-21-2329Z

Python doctests seem to ignore changing global variables, even if you set them using:

>>> globals()['INFER_SCHEMA'] = True

though INFER_SCHEMA was recognized as True in the doctest, the called routine still saw it as False. so I instead added a 3rd arg to the routine to indicate whether to treat the columns as string or double values, and the doctest works. sooner or later, even the program may work. the deadline has been moved up to Tuesday. I'm hopeful. [comment]

2017-01-21-1759Z

[blues progression]

if it's potable, pote it!
if it's notable, note it!
if it's floatable, float it!
you may not get another chance again.

if it's edible, edit!
if it's credible, credit!
if it's beddable, bed it!
you may not get another chance again.

[chorus]
you could die tomorrow...
I could die today...
there's no need for sorrow,
if we just don't let life get in the way.

if it's flappable, flap it!
if it's mappable, map it!
if it's crappable, crap it!
you may not get another chance again.

[etc., etc., ad nauseam] [comment]

2017-01-17-0233Z

some virus is attempting to take me down, but I've so far been thwarting it with probiotics: yogurt and brine pickled garlic and Brussels sprouts. but I've got to lay off the coffee, wine, and beer, something that's very difficult for me. been minimizing it, about the best I'm willing to do. but if the sickness catches up with me, I'm going to wish I'd done better. [comment]

2017-01-14-1834Z

Big Data: the domain of Hadoop, Pandas, and now Apache Spark, is something I've been studiously avoiding until lately, but my current #1 client offloaded me some work in it so I'm grudgingly getting caught up. apparently his client, a Data Scientist, is too busy sciencing data to write code. but it pays well, so I'm riding that learning curve to prosperity. or at least to covering next month's bills. [comment]

2017-01-11-2100Z

sea almond or, as I've referenced it here before as coast almond, is Terminalia catappa. I'm surprised I've never posted its botanical name before.

about to go on a nature hike and I've written down about 30 species I hope to encounter. if I could make a living as a nature guide, I'll drop programming for a living in a heartbeat. [comment]

2017-01-11-0559Z

for a couple of days I was remembering long conversations with a big, dark-skinned guy but couldn't remember a name, the subject of the conversations, or a place where these happened. I finally remembered earlier today that the face was that of a Petaluma post office clerk, the big Samoan-looking guy. but I never had any deep conversations with him. I must have dreamt it.

seeing a lot of Waltheria indica, the fake "marijuana substitute" sold online for big bucks with claims that it is "rare". it's all over the place down here. more than once I saw it and thought I'd found Damiana (Turnera diffusa) because the leaves and flowers are so similar.

the arroyo out by Home Depot is lush with growth right now. a lot of sandia, watermelon vines, growing, plenty of amaranth, "wild" tomatoes, and a lot more, some of which I knew and many I didn't. [comment]

2017-01-06-1941Z

maybe you noticed the other day that I couldn't get the silicone flap back into the snorkel I took apart. you can't push it through, you have to pull it, because pushing makes it compress, and then the tang won't go through the hole. but because the piece is curved, and only about 3/4" inner diameter, I couldn't get any pliers through from either the mouthpiece or the intake.

but yesterday it hit me: just bend the flap, push the plier tip in through the exit, and pull the tang through by pushing on the plier handles. so simple. it took about 2 seconds to get it once I tried in this manner.

that's the problem with most software I've seen. it's not thought through enough. developers go through all these hoops to create a special set of curved needlenose pliers, when if they come at the problem from a different angle, they could solve it with existing tools for a fraction of the cost. [comment]

2017-01-06-1717Z

I jogged up to the molinito today and the roadblock was gone. I don't know the story. the truckers could have given up; there may have been a negotiation; or the government could have sent police and/or military force to break it up. if that was the case, then it's far from over.

getting the banks to hand out 10 peso coins is like pulling teeth, but today I pulled 500 pesos worth. maybe going early is key.

I can see why they don't like handing them out. they probably don't get issued very many because they're no doubt expensive to make. and I'm sure they don't want people hoarding them, which in fact is my intent, but it never works out that way. I always end up spending them when my income isn't coming in fast enough. [comment]

2017-01-06-1137Z

very loud boom a few blocks away, followed by engines revving. hmmm... [comment]

2017-01-06-0256Z

truckers protesting, as I understand it, an increase in the price of gasoline have blocked ports and land routes in Baja California, and perhaps all of Mexico, I haven't investigated much yet. in any case, things could get ugly. I just went and stocked up on a couple months' worth of whole wheat flour, and will go out tomorrow and get some other staples. panic buying hasn't yet hit La Paz in any noticeable amount. [comment]

2017-01-06-0138Z

this Mexican-made hand truck shows some smart engineering. instead of grinding down 3/4 inch round steel stock to make an axle, as I did, they used 5/8" square stock. much less milling to do to reach the 17mm diameter of the most common bearings you find down here. then they turn the ends down to 1/2" and cut threads to hold the wheel on with a 1/2" nut and lockwasher.

I got better measurements to drill the holes in the next pulley: 69mm through the axle, and about 48.6mm point to point along the square. but the sun angle was already too low by the time I got around to it, so I'll have to drill it tomorrow. [comment]

2017-01-05-1740Z

all this time I've been pronouncing gmail as "jee-mail", but it just occurred to me that the Russian pronunciation of 'g' would be more apt. [comment]

2017-01-05-0532Z

watched First Blood again, and confirmed that Rambo's arm is still not in a sling after his jump off the cliff. so I guess I'll remain in this sector of the multiverse. I wish I could find someone who remembers it the way I do. it's just weird.

I can't figure out how this whole thing works. if I died in one timeline, how is it that the "I" that remains remembers how things were in that one? wouldn't this John Comeau only remember what happened in this branch of spacetime? [comment]

2017-01-05-0059Z

today I jogged the 4-miles-plus out to Home Depot, stopping along the way at that newish hardware store before Chedraui, and again at the Mega shopping center. at the hardware store I found really cheap welded 3- and 4-way corner braces for making structures out of 3/4" EMT, and really cheap, about 2 to a little over 3 dollars each. keeping those in mind for future projects. at Mega I dropped my spent batteries in the bin at Telcel, and then got the $20 peso (dollar) meal deal at Mega. today it was fried fish and red cabbage. the amount was equivalent to about 3 fish tacos, of course without the tortillas, so I got a decent meal for my dollar. at Homer's I got some stainless and zinc plated hardware and some other stuff for my vehicle and snorkel ideas.

my latest stab at an entry for the KGC is bolting pulleys to hand truck wheels. I found a bunch of cast pot metal pulleys, made in the good old USA, at Ace hardware for about $100 pesos each, so about 5 bucks. added some 1/4" couplings, and some longer bolts, and after a few botched attempts at drilling holes in the pulleys, have one attached. I'll see if I can do a better job on the other one tomorrow. since I found some longer spacers at the Depot, maybe I won't have to cut off the bulge with the set screw (I know there's a name for that part, but I'm blanking on it now) like I did with the first one.

I can use the pulleys both for propelling the thing by hand, kinda like a wheelchair, and if I can make a rig for a motor, can run a belt to run it by solar power. I have an idea for mounting my solar panel up top, but haven't tested it yet. I bought a bunch of 1/4" threaded rod to make custom U-bolts, because buying the premade ones is so expensive, and they're rarely the right size for what I want.

belt drive is superior in some ways because it's more tolerating of misalignment than sprockets and chains. I can use low-tech slippage instead of high-tech freewheels. and maybe the pulley can double as the disc for a disc brake.

also, when I reached the big arroyo before Walmart, I jogged it as far as the first crossing road. at the Home Depot end I found a couple of those wild tomato plants, the ones shaped like Roma tomatoes, that I've seen for years. debating whether to wait until one ripens and harvest it for seed, or just go with my trowel, dig one up, and attempt to transplant it. [comment]

2017-01-04-1529Z

my last 2 batches of boiled city water have tasted sweetish, nutlike. I don't know if it's something tainted from the city supply or leached from the plastic gallon container into which I poured it both times, still hot, after boiling. but when I switch back to RO water in a couple days, my liver will probably appreciate it. [comment]

2017-01-04-0439Z

"are you bringing any weapons?"

"of course not."

"you're not changing anything."

watching one of the Rambo series I've never seen. kind of funny coming from a proponent of citizen disarmament. [comment]

2017-01-03-0244Z

ah, so it can probably use other ports. thanks, Google.

I'm not ready to block the ports yet. right now, function over security. but once I get a good way to view the cams that is secure, gonna start tweaking the iptables. [comment]

2017-01-03-0221Z

OK, so I'm seeing some UDP traffic, but not nearly enough to account for video uploads:

03:23:29.885091 IP 192.168.13.102.51880 > 101.1.17.22.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 0000 4000 4011 f67f c0a8 0d66  E..H..@.@......f
	0x0010:  6501 1116 caa8 caa8 0034 0a5c 0107 caa8  e........4.\....
	0x0020:  c0a8 0d66 bd79 0a00 7271 c9ef 2f62 8027  ...f.y..rq../b.'
	0x0030:  6849 8cb1 769d be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  hI..v...........
	0x0040:  542f 85bf 9303 2f00                      T/..../.
03:23:29.887982 IP 192.168.13.102.51880 > 218.30.35.92.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 0000 4000 4011 6f1c c0a8 0d66  E..H..@.@.o....f
	0x0010:  da1e 235c caa8 caa8 0034 82f8 0107 caa8  ..#\.....4......
	0x0020:  c0a8 0d66 bd79 0a00 7271 c9ef 2f62 8027  ...f.y..rq../b.'
	0x0030:  6849 8cb1 769d be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  hI..v...........
	0x0040:  542f 85bf 9303 2f00                      T/..../.
03:23:29.888179 IP 192.168.13.102.51880 > 220.231.142.137.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 0000 4000 4011 0126 c0a8 0d66  E..H..@.@..&...f
	0x0010:  dce7 8e89 caa8 caa8 0034 1502 0107 caa8  .........4......
	0x0020:  c0a8 0d66 bd79 0a00 7271 c9ef 2f62 8027  ...f.y..rq../b.'
	0x0030:  6849 8cb1 769d be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  hI..v...........
	0x0040:  542f 85bf 9303 2f00                      T/..../.
03:23:29.888361 IP 192.168.13.102.51880 > 146.0.227.241.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 0000 4000 4011 f6a4 c0a8 0d66  E..H..@.@......f
	0x0010:  9200 e3f1 caa8 caa8 0034 0a81 0107 caa8  .........4......
	0x0020:  c0a8 0d66 bd79 0a00 7271 c9ef 2f62 8027  ...f.y..rq../b.'
	0x0030:  6849 8cb1 769d be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  hI..v...........
	0x0040:  542f 85bf 9303 2f00                      T/..../.
03:23:29.960728 IP 218.30.35.92.51880 > 192.168.13.102.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 6dcd 4000 7711 ca4e da1e 235c  E..Hm.@.w..N..#\
	0x0010:  c0a8 0d66 caa8 caa8 0034 ebf9 0207 caa8  ...f.....4......
	0x0020:  0000 0000 bd79 0a00 7271 c9ef 2f62 8027  .....y..rq../b.'
	0x0030:  6849 8cb1 769d be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  hI..v...........
	0x0040:  0000 0000 0000 0000                      ........
03:23:30.100237 IP 146.0.227.241.51880 > 192.168.13.102.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 2f89 4000 7411 931b 9200 e3f1  E..H/.@.t.......
	0x0010:  c0a8 0d66 caa8 caa8 0034 7382 0207 caa8  ...f.....4s.....
	0x0020:  0000 0000 bd79 0a00 7271 c9ef 2f62 8027  .....y..rq../b.'
	0x0030:  6849 8cb1 769d be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  hI..v...........
	0x0040:  0000 0000 0000 0000                      ........
03:23:30.171686 IP 101.1.17.22.51880 > 192.168.13.102.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 1396 4000 7511 ade9 6501 1116  E..H..@.u...e...
	0x0010:  c0a8 0d66 caa8 caa8 0034 735d 0207 caa8  ...f.....4s]....
	0x0020:  0000 0000 bd79 0a00 7271 c9ef 2f62 8027  .....y..rq../b.'
	0x0030:  6849 8cb1 769d be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  hI..v...........
	0x0040:  0000 0000 0000 0000                      ........
03:23:30.878257 IP 192.168.13.102.51880 > 101.1.17.22.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 0000 4000 4011 f67f c0a8 0d66  E..H..@.@......f
	0x0010:  6501 1116 caa8 caa8 0034 a90a 0107 caa8  e........4......
	0x0020:  c0a8 0d66 bd79 0a00 8966 00a1 e65c a176  ...f.y...f...\.v
	0x0030:  a177 ade0 57a1 be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  .w..W...........
	0x0040:  542f 85bf 9303 2f00                      T/..../.
03:23:30.878457 IP 192.168.13.102.51880 > 218.30.35.92.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 0000 4000 4011 6f1c c0a8 0d66  E..H..@.@.o....f
	0x0010:  da1e 235c caa8 caa8 0034 21a7 0107 caa8  ..#\.....4!.....
	0x0020:  c0a8 0d66 bd79 0a00 8966 00a1 e65c a176  ...f.y...f...\.v
	0x0030:  a177 ade0 57a1 be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  .w..W...........
	0x0040:  542f 85bf 9303 2f00                      T/..../.
03:23:30.879865 IP 192.168.13.102.51880 > 220.231.142.137.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 0000 4000 4011 0126 c0a8 0d66  E..H..@.@..&...f
	0x0010:  dce7 8e89 caa8 caa8 0034 b3b0 0107 caa8  .........4......
	0x0020:  c0a8 0d66 bd79 0a00 8966 00a1 e65c a176  ...f.y...f...\.v
	0x0030:  a177 ade0 57a1 be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  .w..W...........
	0x0040:  542f 85bf 9303 2f00                      T/..../.
03:23:30.880060 IP 192.168.13.102.51880 > 146.0.227.241.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 0000 4000 4011 f6a4 c0a8 0d66  E..H..@.@......f
	0x0010:  9200 e3f1 caa8 caa8 0034 a92f 0107 caa8  .........4./....
	0x0020:  c0a8 0d66 bd79 0a00 8966 00a1 e65c a176  ...f.y...f...\.v
	0x0030:  a177 ade0 57a1 be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  .w..W...........
	0x0040:  542f 85bf 9303 2f00                      T/..../.
03:23:30.952986 IP 218.30.35.92.51880 > 192.168.13.102.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 7f74 4000 7711 b8a7 da1e 235c  E..H.t@.w.....#\
	0x0010:  c0a8 0d66 caa8 caa8 0034 8aa8 0207 caa8  ...f.....4......
	0x0020:  0000 0000 bd79 0a00 8966 00a1 e65c a176  .....y...f...\.v
	0x0030:  a177 ade0 57a1 be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  .w..W...........
	0x0040:  0000 0000 0000 0000                      ........
03:23:31.095703 IP 146.0.227.241.51880 > 192.168.13.102.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 4492 4000 7411 7e12 9200 e3f1  E..HD.@.t.~.....
	0x0010:  c0a8 0d66 caa8 caa8 0034 1231 0207 caa8  ...f.....4.1....
	0x0020:  0000 0000 bd79 0a00 8966 00a1 e65c a176  .....y...f...\.v
	0x0030:  a177 ade0 57a1 be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  .w..W...........
	0x0040:  0000 0000 0000 0000                      ........
03:23:31.156689 IP 101.1.17.22.51880 > 192.168.13.102.51880: UDP, length 44
	0x0000:  4500 0048 1faf 4000 7511 a1d0 6501 1116  E..H..@.u...e...
	0x0010:  c0a8 0d66 caa8 caa8 0034 120c 0207 caa8  ...f.....4......
	0x0020:  0000 0000 bd79 0a00 8966 00a1 e65c a176  .....y...f...\.v
	0x0030:  a177 ade0 57a1 be04 0000 0000 0900 0000  .w..W...........
	0x0040:  0000 0000 0000 0000

the IP addresses are all registered to Chinese entities. two were APNIC and one was RIPE.

jcomeau@aspire:~$ whois 218.30.35.92
% [whois.apnic.net]
% Whois data copyright terms    http://www.apnic.net/db/dbcopyright.html

% Information related to '218.30.32.0 - 218.30.55.255'

inetnum: 218.30.32.0 - 218.30.55.255 netname: CHINANET-US-POP descr: Chinanet POP in American descr: 201 S. Lake Ave. Suite 604, Pasadena, CA 91101 country: CN admin-c: CH93-AP tech-c: CH93-AP mnt-by: MAINT-CHINANET changed: hostmaster@ns.chinanet.cn.net 20020221 status: ALLOCATED NON-PORTABLE source: APNIC

so it looks like all I need to do is block outgoing port 51880 to stop it, unless it has a sneaky backup mechanism (such as disguising the uploads as DNS queries or something). [comment]

2017-01-03-0208Z

enabled jffs2 on the old Linksys and tried to install tcpdump. 650KB, what? not enough space. so I extracted the ipk file, which is just a tar.gz, and gzipped the binary, and saved it in /jffs/usr/lib, along with the libpcap libraries that did install.

then I created /jffs/usr/sbin/tcpdump:

#!/bin/sh
[ -f /tmp/tcpdump ] || zcat /jffs/usr/lib/tcpdump.gz > /tmp/tcpdump
chmod +x /tmp/tcpdump
exec /tmp/tcpdump "$@"

maybe ugly, but it works. of course you have to chmod +x the above script as well.

now to track down how the Sricam/Floureon cameras are uploading the video data. [comment]

2017-01-01-0045Z

well, I've already started drinking as of about an hour ago, so it's safe to say I didn't and won't accomplish any of my goals for 2016. I didn't pay down my debts any significant amount; I didn't get a "kinetic sculpture", or really any human-powered vehicle built; and kybyz is still unusable for anybody but me.

however, I did manage to live on my $9/day budget, with $3 each going towards food, regular non-food (COSF dues, server fees, gym membership, etc.), and miscellaneous (supplies, tools, personal non-food) expenses. and I wasn't a burden on taxpayers, only on my long-suffering lady.

not sure I'll make any goals for the upcoming year. I never seem to accomplish them anyway. maybe I'll just keep my list of projects, and hack away at them as I find the ambition. [comment]

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