A SysAdmin's lot is not a happy one

There is a new Win32 virus doing the rounds, which sends email purporting to be a UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email, AKA SPAM) complaint. Two of my sites have already been added to RBLs by trigger-happy admins.

You who are about to be deluged in crud, we salute you:

When a cracker’s not engaged in his employment
or maturing his felonious little code
his capacity for innocent enjoyment
is just as great as any other toad.
Our feelings we with difficulty smother
when administory duty’s to be done
taking one consideration with another
a SysAdmin’s lot is not a happy one.
When administory duty’s to be done, to be done
a SysAdmin’s lot is not a happy one.
When the enterprising scripter’s not a-scripting
When the black-hat isn’t occupied in crime
He loves to hear the little brook a-gurgling
And listen to the merry village chime
When the cracker’s finished 0wn3r1ng on your mother
He loves to lie a-basking in the sun
Taking one consideration with another
A SysAdmin’s lot is not a happy one
When administory duty’s to be done, to be done
A SysAdmin’s lot is not a happy one
When the hard-disk shows no sign of where the data went
We nobly bid all future hope farewell
When the juvenile delinquent to the clink went
He hung his mother’s picture in his cell
When the h4x0r’s finished wiping out our data
He buys a rattle for his little son
Taking one consideration with another
A SysAdmin’s lot is not a happy one
When administory duty’s to be done, to be done
A SysAdmin’s lot is not a happy one

Sung to the original of this tune.

Comments

every-application-is-part-of-a-toolkit at work

I have a LibreOffice Impress slideshow that I wish to turn into a narrated video. 1. export the slideshow as PNG images (if that is partially broken — as at now — at higher resolutions, Export Directly as PDF then use ‘pdftoppm’ (from the poppler-utils package) to do the same). 2. write a small C program (63 lines including comments) to display those images one at a time, writing a config file entry for Imagination (default transition: ‘cross fade’) based on when the image-viewer application (‘display,’ from the GraphicsMagick suite) is closed on each one; run that, read each image aloud, then close each image in turn. 3. run ‘Imagination’ over the config file to produce a silent MP4 video with the correct timings. 4. run ‘Audacity’ to record speech while using ‘SMPlayer’ to display the silent video, then export that recording as a WAV file. 4a. optionally, use ‘TiMIDIty’ to convert a non-copyright-encumbered MIDI tune to WAV, then import that and blend it with the speech (as a quiet b

new life for an old (FTX) PSU, improved life for one human

the LEDs on this 5m strip happen to emit light centred on a red that does unexpectedly helpful things to (and surprisingly deeply within) a human routinely exposed to it. it has been soldered to a Molex connector, plugged into a TFX power supply from a (retired: the MoBo is cactus) Small Form Factor PC, the assorted PSU connectors (and loose end from the strip) have been taped over. the LED strip cost $10.24 including postage, the rest cost $0, the PSU is running at 12½% of capacity, consumes less power than a laptop plug-pack despite running a fan. trial runs begin today.

boundaries

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Plantagenet Penguinista

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