revivinglaziness's recent activity
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Comment on Solar with grid connectivity, but no networking? in ~life.home_improvement
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Comment on Solar with grid connectivity, but no networking? in ~life.home_improvement
revivinglaziness Link ParentWelp. I just checked Enphase's inverter warranty and they're probably disqualified. From the 2026 doc:Welp. I just checked Enphase's inverter warranty and they're probably disqualified. From the 2026 doc:
The Covered Products should be continuously connected to the internet during the warranty period, except where interrupted by causes outside of the Covered Owner's reasonable control.
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Comment on Solar with grid connectivity, but no networking? in ~life.home_improvement
revivinglaziness Link ParentThe latter. We're okay with automatic checks for updates, remote connections for troubleshooting, and extra fancy monitoring while connected. But we're not okay with automatic installation of...The latter. We're okay with automatic checks for updates, remote connections for troubleshooting, and extra fancy monitoring while connected. But we're not okay with automatic installation of updates, because that's already caused problems with one major manufacturer.
To your second case, we're not sure either, but if there's no warranty without a connection then we're automatically suspicious. So putting those things together, we've been phrasing it as "must support continuous operation without Internet access" when we contact installers.
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Comment on Solar with grid connectivity, but no networking? in ~life.home_improvement
revivinglaziness Link ParentThanks! For enphase specifically, I've seen varying reports across the Intarwebz that they may have removed local-only monitoring through firmware updates in ~2024, but trying to track down patch...Thanks! For enphase specifically, I've seen varying reports across the Intarwebz that they may have removed local-only monitoring through firmware updates in ~2024, but trying to track down patch notes has proven difficult. Is your setup recent, with up-to-date firmware?
We have asked the two installers who gave bids what happens in that scenario; both evaded the question as 'too technical' for sales, but also haven't connected us with an expert. We're definitely capable of isolating, selectively blocking, or fully blocking the network traffic, but to Minithra's point, we're concerned about the side effects.
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Solar with grid connectivity, but no networking?
Spouse and I are trying to get bids from local solar installers and we'd appreciate some crowdsourced knowledge from Tilderinos. Questions first, then some context... In the current market, is...
Spouse and I are trying to get bids from local solar installers and we'd appreciate some crowdsourced knowledge from Tilderinos. Questions first, then some context...
- In the current market, is "no, your equipment can't talk to the Internet" actually an unreasonable demand?
- Is there a term or phrase we should be using to look for, or guide installers towards, solar setups that fully function without Internet access?
- Are there any equipment types -- microinverters, for example -- that definitely will not work due to architecture?
- Are there battery controllers, or central inverters, that are known to play nicely (read: can be expanded later) with batteries from other manufacturers?
For each installer, we start the conversation with "it's essential that the system work entirely offline, without Internet." We're flexible on nearly everything else: system size (probably ~15kW), number of panels, battery, etc. Our first concern is making sure that a 25-year investment is not dependent on some company's cloud servers; secondly, that we're not inverting our dependency graph by making our electric power reliant on the whims of our ISP. There's also the privacy angle. But we're not looking for a totally off-the-grid setup, just trying not to lock ourselves into a bad purchase.
So far, one third of the installers (3/9) have immediately told us we're unreasonable and to just go away. Two others said "sure!" and ghosted us afterwards. One was a little more forthcoming, saying that the equipment requires periodic connections to the manufacturer for monitoring and they couldn't provide a warranty without it. The last two provided bids, but it's difficult to tell if they're telling the truth given the conflicting info we've seen.
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Comment on Which Linux distro do you use, and why? in ~tech
revivinglaziness (edited )Link ParentYessir -- 7900 XTX. Also AMD for the processor, Ryzen 9 9950X . Was running a 2080 Ti up until last year though. EDIT: misread this as CPU, sorry. Rephrased.Yessir -- 7900 XTX. Also AMD for the processor, Ryzen 9 9950X . Was running a 2080 Ti up until last year though.
EDIT: misread this as CPU, sorry. Rephrased.
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Comment on Which Linux distro do you use, and why? in ~tech
revivinglaziness Link Parent+1 to this. I am also thoroughly in favor of Debian maintainers stripping out telemetry where they can, regardless of upstream's opinions. Arch was interesting but it got old having to constantly...+1 to this. I am also thoroughly in favor of Debian maintainers stripping out telemetry where they can, regardless of upstream's opinions. Arch was interesting but it got old having to constantly check release notes for breaking changes, and my setup broke through 'normal' updates within a month. Endeavour was finicky and not really any faster on my hardware for all the extra tweaking.
For folks who are on the fence ... I've been successfully gaming with Debian as my primary OS for years; from 2016-2023 with virtualized Windows (VFIO/passthrough) and since early 2023 without any Windows installation at all. It's not the absolute pinnacle of performance, but I'll happily tolerate a ±5% gap against the bleeding edge distros when it gets me such great stability. I also moved my (less technical) spouse over to Debian this last year when Win10 support ended. He has yet to have any issues, though I did have to help a little with the initial setup of a few games in Lutris.
The only downside so far has been Debian trixie getting a little cranky with my old (2012) Macbook Air. I have to recompile and relink WiFi drivers after every kernel upgrade; not sure why that stopped happening automatically when it's downloading all the right packages each time, and it worked fine under bookworm. I'm just glad to get a few more years of life out of the machine.
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Comment on Spaceballs: The New One | Coming to theaters April 23, 2027 in ~movies
revivinglaziness LinkI'm glad the video addresses my immediate misgivings about the title! They certainly have a lot of new source material to make fun of. I really hope they don't fuck this up.I'm glad the video addresses my immediate misgivings about the title!
They certainly have a lot of new source material to make fun of. I really hope they don't fuck this up.
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Comment on Android to debut "advanced flow" for sideloading unverified applications in ~tech
revivinglaziness Link ParentIf there were actual review of apps, then enforcement of this might be a positive. But we've seen for years now that Google is happy to collect fees while these developers flood their various...Devil's advocate: It means that if someone sends out a malware-riddled app outside established storefronts and their dev account gets shut down, it's much harder for them to just spin a new one back up, and if they were sloppy might even directly tell you who they are so you can shut them down entirely.
If there were actual review of apps, then enforcement of this might be a positive. But we've seen for years now that Google is happy to collect fees while these developers flood their various marketplaces with malicious code. They don't even take down most browser extensions that are unambiguously stealing URL history, cookies, and session tokens. So after witnessing failure after failure, why should anyone trust that this new restriction would be better for customers?
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Comment on Job hunting absolutely sucks right now in ~life
revivinglaziness LinkSpouse was laid off almost three years ago and doesn't have much of a network for a lot of reasons. Still gets an occasional interview, but the overall response rate is <1% (n=3200, yes,...Spouse was laid off almost three years ago and doesn't have much of a network for a lot of reasons. Still gets an occasional interview, but the overall response rate is <1% (n=3200, yes, seriously). Doing my best to hold up sanity for them, but it's tough.
Evil pays (at least, in our area) so it's mostly the Amazons and Palantirs and Oracles of the world posting new openings. If you do get an interview, a lot of companies really love making you face AI interview bots, though of course they don't want you using AI tools yourself. And you have to deal with LinkedIn all the time, which is its own source of despair about the state of humanity.
My own workplace has done stupid layoffs touting AI, though it's obvious that was an excuse. I feel trapped, playing nice with people who were responsible for causing that wholly unnecessary misery, but only have a few hours each week to look elsewhere. Even then, I'm in a more desirable market field, so I get interviews at a higher rate than my spouse, and it's hard not to feel a little guilty. But so far my only 'success' was a lowball offer, where the company tried to tell me I should accept because I'm somehow unqualified for the role I've been in for years.
Keep your head up, folks. Everyone has their own best coping strategies, but for me it's helped to remind myself that we humans are resilient things. I've lived through a few market crashes at this point, and was homeless during one of them, but I'm still here and still learning. In the immortal words of my favorite AI bot, just keep trying 'til you run out of cake.
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Comment on What are people using instead of VS Code? in ~comp
revivinglaziness Link Parent+1 to Sublime Text; also a happy customer for >10 years. Some of my key considerations: Speedy, while not forcing me into terminal usage Decent pace of updates and bugfixes Cross-platform (Win,...+1 to Sublime Text; also a happy customer for >10 years. Some of my key considerations:
- Speedy, while not forcing me into terminal usage
- Decent pace of updates and bugfixes
- Cross-platform (Win, Mac, Linux)
- Allows commercial use, so I can BYOL with my work laptop
- Hasn't ever broken my customizations
- Opens multi-GB files without making other windows unresponsive, 'cuz it's not Electron
- Decent plugin ecosystem: good options for most use cases, while not too much junk either
It's not cheap, but to me it's been worth every penny. I'm a little less thrilled with Sublime Merge, but that's mostly because their UI decisions for representing git objects don't resonate with my typical workflows.
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Comment on SQ Swing: Live A Live Megalomania (RF Remix) (2025) in ~music
revivinglaziness LinkThanks for posting! Always great to see others enjoying video game music. Unfortunately, beyond missing a lot of songs from each release, it doesn't look like Square included any of the tracks...Thanks for posting! Always great to see others enjoying video game music.
Unfortunately, beyond missing a lot of songs from each release, it doesn't look like Square included any of the tracks from the bonus releases either. To be a little charitable, I know it can be difficult to negotiate or re-negotiate distribution rights in multiple countries, but Square isn't exactly a small indie company. So I'm not sure why this release is so fragmented.
As just one example, Cafe SQ's Tower Records-exclusive bonus includes a remix of Coin Song from FF6 that is my particular favorite. That remix also appeared on the Village/Vanguard bonus, and later on the Last SQ compilation album that Square concluded the SQ series with in 2015 (as well as a Tribute album in 2012). Sadly, that track is not included on the Steam list at all. Here it is on YouTube.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Survival in ~games
revivinglaziness Link ParentI haven't had time this last week to play much, but if this is desirable for other reasons I'd be happy to help. I wouldn't extend the line just for me, though!I haven't had time this last week to play much, but if this is desirable for other reasons I'd be happy to help. I wouldn't extend the line just for me, though!
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Comment on MITRE support for the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program will expire tomorrow in ~comp
revivinglaziness LinkCurrent infosec worker; discussed with my chunk of the organization today. What we're losing will hurt security professionals' ability to rapidly, correctly triage and prioritize risks. In turn,...Current infosec worker; discussed with my chunk of the organization today. What we're losing will hurt security professionals' ability to rapidly, correctly triage and prioritize risks. In turn, that will cause delays and gaps in incident response. We believe the likeliest consequences are:
- Vulnerability information fragmentation. There are always vendors who really wanted to do things their own way: RedHat, for example, has always preferred its own homegrown vulnerability identifiers. Microsoft has like three of their own ID systems at this point. But these were all tied together with CVEs, which really helped the folks doing the work to do things like correlate which patches from which vendors fixed the same OpenSSL critical bug. Security practitioners will have to spend more time doing data lookups and correlation for no real benefit.
- Slow rot of the NVD. NVD is run by NIST, which is part of the Department of Commerce rather than the Department of Homeland Security. But between the staffing cuts across all agencies, plus this new wrinkle, it seems unlikely that the NVD will maintain its present status as the most-usually-correct source of information. NIST already had problems last year keeping up with scoring. Beyond making things worse for the future, it'd be tremendously annoying and disruptive if the NVD were to go offline eventually, even though it's all backed up elsewhere.
- Minor increase in zero-days. Major companies who could already assign their own CVEs ("CNAs"), like Microsoft and the Linux Foundation, will likely continue to do so ... at least for awhile. But if there's no new central clearinghouse or replacement ID assigning authority rapidly identified, a lot of smaller software vendors will go back to what they used to do: nothing, because it's a lot less work. So there probably won't be any report of those vulnerabilities until we're all learning about the exploits.
Lastly and more personally, I am expecting a barrage of disinformation -- specifically, disingenuous bloviating about CVE creep, CVSS inflation, and similar subjects. I fully expect a bunch of bootlickers to say 'good riddance' and blame everything on MITRE. Yes, no one likes having to handle a gazillion CVEs and many are kinda stupid. Yes, CVSS v3 and v4 scores are generally higher across the board than they used to be in earlier versions. But no one is arguing these systems are perfect. Throwing the (ugly) baby out with the bathwater, and then celebrating it like I've already seen a few folks online doing? That's just bad attempts at deflecting from the obvious parallels where other public agency data sources (NOAA, NWS, etc.) are being trashed for no good reason.
I'd like to hope that sanity prevails before tomorrow, but my pessimist side has been feeling right a lot lately.
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Comment on Introductions | March 2025 in ~talk
revivinglaziness Link ParentI explore music more by artist than by album, so recognizing the who is just part of my normal listening experience. I'll find an artist whose work seems interesting, buy as much of their back...I explore music more by artist than by album, so recognizing the who is just part of my normal listening experience. I'll find an artist whose work seems interesting, buy as much of their back catalogue as I can, and then look for collaborations they did. Works in reverse, too: the composers and arrangers whose songs I don't like on one album tend to be stuff I don't enjoy in general. Most of the time this works well, but sometimes I learn the hard way that -- for example -- Kumi Tanioka did two whole albums where her primary instrument was the accordion. ._.
I actually just started listening to the Pokémon Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet soundtracks. If you have any songs I should look out for as I work through those, please suggest track names.
Congratulations on completing your masters! You mention focus; I also like soundtracks for that. But it's interesting that wordless vocals don't distract you: they're immensely distracting to me, along with songs that are more formless or ambient, because I find myself trying to unconsciously anticipate the next part of the song's pattern when it goes off in a different musical direction.
By "darker tone", did you mean the presence of more discordance and minor keys, or something else like heavier bass lines?
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Comment on Introductions | March 2025 in ~talk
revivinglaziness Link ParentIf you like what Sakimoto did on FF12's soundtrack, I recommend checking out the OSTs from Valkyria Chronicles 1-4, particularly 2 and 4. The pianist (Casey Ormond) who did FF12's piano...If you like what Sakimoto did on FF12's soundtrack, I recommend checking out the OSTs from Valkyria Chronicles 1-4, particularly 2 and 4. The pianist (Casey Ormond) who did FF12's piano arrangement album also did a piano arrangement album for VC1-3. Sadly, VC4 has not seen an official soundtrack release, but it's easy to find a gamerip online. I haven't played any of those games.
Katamari Damacy is really excellent too, yes! Very unique and quirky -- and so is the gameplay. It's something you could beat in a day or two if you'd like, and could probably get working on a PS2 emulator without much trouble.
Your comment reminded me that I should download Witcher 3's soundtrack from GOG and give it a proper listen. What puts it in your top echelon? I mostly recall it being very string-heavy, particularly cello. (My unpopular opinion is that the game itself felt mostly like a grimmer and more misogynist Skyrim.)
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Comment on Introductions | March 2025 in ~talk
revivinglaziness Link ParentApologies for the delay. Measured subjectively: Chrono Cross (Yasunori Mitsuda) Super Mario RPG (Yoko Shimomura) Final Fantasy 12 (Hitoshi Sakimoto) As runner-ups: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles...Top 3 favorite game soundtracks? Go!
Apologies for the delay. Measured subjectively:
- Chrono Cross (Yasunori Mitsuda)
- Super Mario RPG (Yoko Shimomura)
- Final Fantasy 12 (Hitoshi Sakimoto)
As runner-ups: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (Kumi Tanioka), Guild Wars 2 (Jeremy Soule), Castlevania Lament of Innocence (Michiru Yamane) ...
I like exploring new artists, would love to hear yours as well!
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Comment on Introductions | March 2025 in ~talk
revivinglaziness Link ParentWell, there was this article a few days ago -- which is probably true. But if I had to put everything I've learned over two decades into a short list? You'll get paid to do the most stupid things...If you work in IT and have any career advice I'd love to connect and hear what you have to offer!
Well, there was this article a few days ago -- which is probably true. But if I had to put everything I've learned over two decades into a short list?
- You'll get paid to do the most stupid things ever. Nearly every job is 80% being a gofer (where's that document I was looking for? how do I do X again?), 20% keeping the lights on, and <1% solving challenging technical problems.
- Channel your ennui into a useful hobby. Learn a different operating system, programming language, set up a home network from scratch, whatever. But don't do it to check a box: do it to solve a problem or make your life better somehow. You'll remember it better that way.
- Have a sense of pride and care, but not too much. Your co-workers will be how you get better jobs in the future if they remember you fondly, and they are also best positioned to make your life miserable if they don't like you. So reserve most of your empathy for the people on your team, but remember to keep some empathy for yourself: you matter, and so does your mental health.
- Politeness costs nothing. Smile, nod, quietly make a note of who the annoyance was, and vent to your friends later. You should do this even when someone is talking utter nonsense about Gartner quadrants, blockchains, quantum, and AI. (Sorry if that's your manager, though. Find a different one.) The exception is real verbal abuse: don't stand for it, don't let it slide, and don't let bullies go unchallenged.
- Layoffs happen. They're not your fault and you should never feel bad about them -- whether you're caught up, or feeling survivor's guilt for having escaped. (Unless you're an executive. Then it was your fault, and you should feel bad.)
- Don't worry about perfection. 99% of the time, you're not actually a rocket scientist, saving real human lives, or making the world a better place. Most IT work is really the equivalent of duct-taping things together, and there is a never-ending pile of tickets waiting for your attention. Learn when something is "good enough" and when to invest extra time fixing annoyances.
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Comment on Introductions | March 2025 in ~talk
revivinglaziness LinkHow long have you been on Tildes? How did you find out about us? I've been lurking since 2021-ish; I saw a thread on Reddit, read more, and thought the ethos was intriguing, but wanted to observe...How long have you been on Tildes? How did you find out about us?
I've been lurking since 2021-ish; I saw a thread on Reddit, read more, and thought the ethos was intriguing, but wanted to observe for awhile. I joined in mid-February (thanks @TheMeerkat).
How did you choose your username?
I used a password manager to generate it. This one felt amusingly paradoxical.
What are your interests?
I enjoy learning more about the cool things that science makes possible, from space rockets to microphotography. I'm fond of speculative fiction, because exploring new and remixed literary worlds is one of the few guaranteed ways to get myself out of a thinking rut. I like some video games for that same reason, but I like games even more for their amazing soundtracks -- and I collect those, too.
I'd like to learn more about how to make software development more sustainable and secure, especially when it comes to the squishy human side of things. This usually means everything from usability studies to database query optimization.
I'm especially grateful to the folks who continue to share, but also write, about all of their hobbies and interests too. Keeping the original 'spirit' of the Internet alive, even if it's off the beaten path of the Top 1000 sites, never fails to make me feel more hopeful about life in general.
Do you want other users to PM you from this thread?
Only if they think I'll be charming, rather than tedious. (Thanks, Oscar!)
Give us a fun fact or link!
"Things you're allowed to do" -- this article helped me realize, as an adult, that I could go beyond what my upbringing taught me was 'acceptable' to do and pay for help with. I still won't write in my books, though.
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Comment on Life altering PostgreSQL patterns in ~comp
revivinglaziness LinkThank you for sharing this! I'd seen many of these but not all in one place. This is my first time seeing enum tables, but I like the idea of that pattern a lot. It matches well with the liberal...Thank you for sharing this! I'd seen many of these but not all in one place.
This is my first time seeing enum tables, but I like the idea of that pattern a lot. It matches well with the liberal (and justified, IMO) use of FK constraints they suggest. But I think it could also help avoid the need for some schema migrations, which are always a little bit nerve-wracking no matter how well you automate them.
Thank you, this helps a lot. Do you use the provided monitoring information often, or at all?
Between the folks I've asked in person, its usefulness seems equally divided by folks who never monitor the installation ("it just works") and those who check it obsessively to optimize every last appliance. The optimizer camp is mostly fellow nerds at work, but I don't know that I want to develop my inner nerd in that direction.