Nelson's WeblogOccasional blog, powered by Blosxomtag:somebits.com,2001:/Blosxomhttp://www.somebits.com/favicon.ico2024-02-05T21:44:00Ztag:somebits.com,2024:/tech/good/resticRestic2024-02-05T21:44:00Z2024-02-05T21:44:00ZNelson Minarhttps://www.somebits.com/weblognelson@monkey.org
<p>
<img class="rimg" src="/~nelson/weblog-files/rightimages/restic.jpg" width=100>
<a href="https://restic.net/">Restic</a> is good backup software.
It’s a command line tool for backing up filesystems to <a href="https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/stable/030_preparing_a_new_repo.html">various
local and remote options</a>. It is <a href="https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/stable/index.html">well
documented</a>, easy to set up, secure, and quite fast. It’s a very
professional product. I am now backing up all my Linux systems with it.
Note it’s a sysadmin tool; I don’t think there’s a friendly consumer
GUI.</p>
<p>The underlying <a href="https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/v0.2.0/Design/">data model</a> is
its genius. Backups are stored in a repository, some complex hash-index
blob store that I don’t understand at all. But it seems able to quickly
store blocks of data and de-duplicate them so incremental backups are
efficient. It’s encrypted and the blobs in the repository are stored in
a simple filesystem. That makes it easy and safe to backup to all sorts
of places including untrusted remote stores. I’m doing remote backups to
BackBlaze’s S3-like filesystem for about $1/month.</p>
<p>The repo format means you need a working copy of restic to restore
your files. I’m OK with that, it’s open source. And the tool is great.
It has options for bulk restore, individual file restore, interactive
restore via a FUSE filesystem. Also a <a href="https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/v0.2.0/Manual/#check-integrity-and-consistency">check</a>
command you can use to verify subsets of the backup on your own
schedule.</p>
<p>The basic command line tool is good but limited. I’m using <a href="https://github.com/creativeprojects/resticprofile">resticprofile</a>
as a frontend. You set up a single config file and it takes care of
running restic for you, even scheduling itself in cron. It’s a bit
idiosyncratic but seems to work fine once set up. <a href="https://github.com/garethgeorge/backrest">backrest</a> is another
frontend, I haven’t tried it.</p>
<p>Shout out to <a href="https://rsnapshot.org/">rsnapshot</a>, I’ve
been backing up with it for <a href="https://www.somebits.com/weblog/tech/good/backups.html">18 years
now</a>. Time for something new. rsnapshot is pretty slow on lots of
little files and remote backups were awkward. Years ago I said 5 minutes
to do an incremental backup of 165GB was good; that takes more like 5
seconds in Restic now.</p>
tag:somebits.com,2024:/tech/good/proxmoxProxmox2024-01-18T19:51:00Z2024-01-18T19:51:00ZNelson Minarhttps://www.somebits.com/weblognelson@monkey.org
<p><a href="https://www.proxmox.com/en/">Proxmox</a> is good software
for a home datacenter. It’s an OS you install on server hardware that
lets you easily run multiple virtual machines and LXC containers. It
also manages disk storage and has some more complex support for high
availability in a cluster, distributed storage via Ceph, etc. But even
with a single <a href="https://nelsonslog.wordpress.com/2023/12/08/bosgame-b100-thoughts/">small
server</a> running a single VM Proxmox offers advantages.</p>
<div class="cimg"><img width=600 alt="my home server" class="cimg" src="/~nelson/weblog-files/centerimages/server-kawaii.webp"></div>
<p>I’ve had a Linux server in my home for 20+ years now. Every few years
I have to rebuild it, often from the ashes of failed hardware, and it’s
always a tedious <a href="https://nelsonslog.wordpress.com/2022/08/15/new-ubuntu-22-04-homelab-server-notes/">manual
process</a>. Now my server is truly virtualized, a nice tidy KVM/QEMU
virtual machine with a disk I can snapshot and back up. And <a href="https://nelsonslog.wordpress.com/2024/01/17/proxmox-moving-to-a-new-server/">migrate</a>
an exact copy to new hardware in minutes.</p>
<p>Right now I’m mostly running my stuff in one big VM under Proxmox
that I <a
href="https://nelsonslog.wordpress.com/2023/12/30/proxmox-physical-to-virtual-take-two-qcow2-and-tar/">migrated</a>
from the old server.
But I’m slowly moving services to separate VMs and LXC containers. So
now my SMB server for Sonos lives in one container, and my Plex server
in another, and my Unifi router manager in a third. All running isolated
from each other. This feels tidier, more manageable.</p>
<p>Proxmox does a lot of nice things for home-scale servers. It handles
ZFS for filesystems, including snapshots and backups. It has a nice web
GUI for managing things, even graphical consoles where needed. And I
like how it supports both VMs and containers as a first class things.
There’s other ways to manage guest systems, like Docker (containers
only) or VMware ESXi (proprietary, VMs only). Proxmox feels the right
scale for me. I’ve spent about a month <a href="https://nelsonslog.wordpress.com/?s=proxmox">tinkering with it</a>
and like the software quite a bit. It’s usable, well documented, and
seems well designed.</p>
tag:somebits.com,2023:/politics/my-racism-at-accents-nprMy racism at accents2023-12-17T21:33:00Z2023-12-17T21:33:00ZNelson Minarhttps://www.somebits.com/weblognelson@monkey.org
<p>Interesting NPR segment today: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/12/17/1219882748/a-powerful-eruption-on-the-sun-disrupted-radio-signals-on-earth">A
powerful eruption on the sun disrupted radio signals on earth</a>.
What’s remarkable is it’s a PhD candidate talking to an NPR host about
solar flares, completely in two Southern Black accents. Two women, at
that.</p>
<p>I am dismayed at my own involuntary racist reaction to these voices.
I do not expect educated people to speak this kind of English. A crystal
clear example of my prejudice. I know and respect Ayesha Rascoe’s work
on NPR. India Jackson is a <a href="https://news.gsu.edu/magazine/fall2019/stars-align">PhD
candidate</a> and clearly a <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/india-jackson-641a9354/">domain
expert</a>. The segment is good, detailed at the right level for the NPR
audience. But I hear the accent and my knee-jerk reaction is negative.
In my defense I was <a href="https://www.somebits.com/weblog/politics/white-supremacist-indoctrination-from-my-grandmother.html">raised
to be like this</a> and I am trying to be better.</p>
<p>My favorite moment is about 2 minutes in, discussing the threats to
humanity from a solar flare:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>RASCOE: Do we have any way to prevent that?<br>
JACKSON: Oh, God, no.
(LAUGHTER)<br>
RASCOE: No, no.<br>
JACKSON: No, no, no.<br>
RASCOE: That’s not…<br>
JACKSON: We cannot…<br>
RASCOE: We don’t want to hear that, India.<br>
JACKSON: We cannot prevent the sun from doing what she goin’ to do.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The way she delivers that last line, stretches “sun” to two syllables
with an intense diphthong. It’s delightful! And effective. She’s
discussing a complex topic in astrophysics and the frightening threats
it poses to humanity. But then she uses a vernacular phrasing, “doing
what she goin’ to do”, to highlight our impotence. She makes the topic
relatable, almost friendly, a perfect tone for an NPR’s more casual
weekend programming.</p>
<p>I hate this prejudice in me, that certain kinds of accents read as
ignorant. I know I’m not alone in having it. I am glad this NPR segment
challenged me.</p>
tag:somebits.com,2023:/politics/trumps-plans-for-second-presidency-project-2025Trump's plans for his second presidency2023-11-11T22:19:00Z2023-11-11T22:19:00ZNelson Minarhttps://www.somebits.com/weblognelson@monkey.org
<p>The Trump campaign and his braintrust have been very clear and open
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/07/5-ways-trump-allies-plan-more-authoritarian-second-term/">about
their planning for a second presidency</a>, mostly under the umbrella of
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025">Project 2025</a>.
There’s been a lot of good journalism about it. Some examples:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/11/us/politics/trump-2025-immigration-agenda.html">Sweeping
Raids, Giant Camps and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump’s 2025
Immigration Plan</a>. Stephen Miller talking about plans to detain and
deport millions of people living in America.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/05/trump-revenge-second-term/">Trump
and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second
term</a>, the plan to turn the Department of Justice into an instrument
of revenge against Trump’s enemies.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html">Trump
and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025</a>, a
strategy to increase the President’s authority and ignore the
traditional checks and balances of US government.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-2025-radical-plan-second-term">A
radical plan for Trump’s second term</a>, details of how Trump would
completely clear house in the executive branch and replace non-political
civil servants with loyalists.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/09/19/project-2025-trump-reagan-00115811">Inside
the Next Republican Revolution</a>, more details of staffing
control.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/01/trump-jan-6-rioters-pardon/">Trump
vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if elected</a>, a
statement of support for the people who attempted the armed overthrow of
the US government at Trump’s urging.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/11/donald-trump-authoritarian-second-term">Donald
Trump Isn’t Even Trying to Hide His Authoritarian Second-Term Plans</a>,
a quick cultural and political analysis.</li>
</ul>
<p>None of these articles are speculation or alarmist inflation. They
are direct reporting of what they themselves are saying they plan to do.
Not only does the Trump camp feel free to be so open in their extremism,
they see it as an election asset.</p>
tag:somebits.com,2023:/politics/no-more-talking-to-politiciansNo more talking to politicians2023-11-01T15:40:00Z2023-11-01T15:40:00ZNelson Minarhttps://www.somebits.com/weblognelson@monkey.org
<p>I am no longer talking to politicians. I have been
aggressively filtering my email, a constant battle. Now I will no longer
accept their calls. Unfortunately my home phone number is ruined.
Between scams and politicians I never answer my phone unless I recognize
the caller ID.</p>
<p>I’m an <a href="https://www.somebits.com/weblog/politics/political-donations-2020.html">active political donor</a>, particularly for US Congress. But once you
get seen as a mark who is willing to give $$$$ to a candidate, you get a
<em>lot</em> of personal communications. Congresspeople call me several
times a month. The email is overwhelming. I do not want to talk to
people who pretend to be my friend for two minutes and then ask me for
$3300.</p>
<p>The worst are the few politicians who’ve succeeded in making a
connection with me. They’re personal on the phone, they took good notes, it
feels like we have a conversation. But of course it’s all in service to
their fundraising campaigns. They’re just good at pretending a polite
social connection.</p>
<p>I’ve <a href="https://www.somebits.com/weblog/politics/helping-avoid-political-donation-spam.html">protected
myself</a> from spam by withholding my email address and phone number.
But I started too late, that data is already out and widely shared.
Candidates buy this information and abuse me. It’s mild corruption but
worse it’s obnoxious. I am done with it.</p>
<p>I might still donate based on my own research. Toying with the idea
of not donating to anyone who spams me too much.</p>
<p>Bonus: NGP VAN, the company that enables a lot of Democratic Party
spam, is <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/05/democrats-ngp-van-collapse-00120184">collapsing</a>.
Ever since <a href="https://www.apax.com/">Apax Partners</a> bought them
they’ve been laying off people and their meagre services are
deteriorating. This is terrible for the Democrats, they don’t have a
good alternative. It may make the spam problem worse too.</p>
tag:somebits.com,2023:/culture/tv/the-sandbaggersThe Sandbaggers2023-10-25T14:07:00Z2023-10-25T14:07:00ZNelson Minarhttps://www.somebits.com/weblognelson@monkey.org
<img class="rimg" src="/~nelson/weblog-files/rightimages/sandbaggers.jpg">
<p>I just finished an extraordinary late-70s TV show, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandbaggers">The
Sandbaggers</a>. It’s British spy TV. While the show name-checks
James Bond frequently the soul of it is more of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_le_Carr%C3%A9">Le
Carré</a> thing. Intelligence as a series of dismal political battles
between underpaid civil servants at the home office. Occasional forays
into the field where everything is squalid or ambiguous and nothing
grand is ever achieved.</p>
<p>The show hangs on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Marsden">Roy Marsden</a>’s
performance as Burnside, the Director of Operations at a British
intelligence agency. The titular Sandbaggers are field agents, vaguely
like the Bond 00 agents, but there’s never any swashbuckling action or
romance. Occasional gritty affairs and some grim minor violence, all
done on a low budget and with precious few location shots. If you ever
enjoyed Blake's 7 or early Doctor Who the low production values will be
familiar. So will the excellent quality of the writing and characters,
there’s a lot of complexity and subtlety and more than a few
surprises.</p>
<p>Mostly the show has aged well. It’s firmly set in late Cold War,
there’s no hint of the extraordinary transition that happens in the 80s
as the Soviet Union fell apart. Unfortunately the show is
unimaginatively sexist with a lot of “men hitting on women in the
workplace” nonsense. There’s one good female character in part of the
show and Burnside’s secretaries are both good actresses with some sharp
writing. But it feels dated even for its time.</p>
<p>I appreciated watching something at a slower and more thoughtful
pace. I think the show is ripe for a reboot. Keep it set in the Cold War
with roughly the same stories. But update the show: write better women
and modernize the production. Then branch out and tell some new stories
in Asia or South America or Africa.</p>
<p>You can <a href="https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-sandbaggers">watch a
licensed copy in the US</a> on <a href="https://www.britbox.com/">britbox</a>.</p>
tag:somebits.com,2023:/culture/travel/spain-transcantabrico-trainThe Transcantábrico Train2023-10-22T17:16:00Z2023-10-22T17:16:00ZNelson Minarhttps://www.somebits.com/weblognelson@monkey.org
<p>We recently took the <a
href="https://eltrentranscantabrico.com/en/">Transcantábrico</a>, a week
long luxury train trip across Northern Spain. It was great! Like a
cruise but on a train. We did <a href="https://www.the-maharajas.com/">something similar</a> in India in
2015 and it’s an interesting way to travel. Some <a href="https://tech.lgbt/@nelson/111150728512610969">photos here</a>.</p>
<p>The Transcantábrico goes across a part of Spain a little off the
usual tourist track. From Santiago de Compostela through the mountains
south of the coast to Donostia / San Sebastián. Along the way we saw
towns I never would have gone to on my own: <a href="https://www.danflyingsolo.com/things-to-do-in-gijon-spain/">Gijón</a>,
<a href="https://www.podtravels.com/2016/12/20/medieval-town-potes-cantabria/">Potes</a>,
and <a href="https://www.thegeographicalcure.com/post/santillana-del-mar-cantabria-s-time-warp-medieval-village">Santillana
del Mar</a> were particularly memorable. Also some beautiful nature
including <a href="https://www.turismo.gal/que-visitar/destacados/praia-das-catedrais?langId=en_US">Cathedral
beach</a> in Gallegos and <a href="https://fascinatingspain.com/place-to-visit/what-to-see-in-cantabria/desfiladero-de-la-hermida-hermida-gorge-a-place-as-big-as-its-history/">Hermida
Gorge</a> in the Picos de Europa. The excursions from the train were
well organized with a very nice bus and guides.</p>
<p>The hospitality on the train was terrific. Our “cruise director”
Cristina was particularly amazing, friendly and knowledgeable. All the
staff were great and very accommodating. Maybe 12 people helping 25
guests. Meals on the train were excellent and comfortable. Most days
breakfast and dinner were on the train, lunch was out. The restaurants
were all high quality but variable and honestly just too much food. The
highlight was <a href="https://elcorraldelindianu.com/">El Corral del
Indianu</a>.</p>
<div class="cimg"><img width=600 class="cimg" src="/~nelson/weblog-files/centerimages/transcantabrico.webp"></div>
<p>Living on a train has its limitations. The private shower was very
nice with lots of hot water but you’re still washing in a telephone
booth. The queen size bed was comfortable but in a very tight space, we
wished we’d booked two single beds. And getting around the train was
difficult (you have to move sideways in the corridor), particularly when
the train was moving. After a week I was ready to be back in a normal
hotel. OTOH it was beautifully furnished and it was great being unpacked and taken care of so well.</p>
<p>I’d definitely do another luxury train. But maybe fewer days. The key
thing is the itinerary, the places to go. That was amazing in India, a
week long trip from Delhi to Mumbai. Spain was beautiful and I
appreciated going slowly through a place off the beaten track with
knowledgeable local guidance. Rewarding trip!</p>
<p>PS: if you want to see more, <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g24fM-pxeAk">Mighty Trains S04E02</a>
is about the Transcantábrico.</p>
tag:somebits.com,2023:/life/overhead-shower-dripsOverhead shower drips
2023-09-22T16:20:00Z2023-09-22T16:20:00ZNelson Minarhttps://www.somebits.com/weblognelson@monkey.org
<p>Do you have an overhead rain shower? Does it drip cold water on you
when you’re not using it? It may be water trapped in the pipes. A
plunger will temporarily fix it.</p>
<p>We have a fancy shower with an overhead rain shower and a ordinary
wall sprayer both controlled by the same thermostatic valve. There’s a
diverter to control which head gets the water. Every time we used the
sprayer the overhead would drip a tiny bit of cold water on us.
Annoying!</p>
<p>We assumed it was a leaky diverter valve, had it replaced. Didn’t
help. There’s a zillion websites wanting to sell you plumbing parts that
suggest a valve is the problem. But <a href="https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4093001/rain-shower-head-drips-when-other-heads-are-turned-on-ideas">this
discussion</a> explained the real culprit.</p>
<p>There’s water trapped in the pipe leading to the overhead shower.
Weirdly there’s some water <em>above</em> the tiny holes in the
showerhead, held there by air pressure. Running a hot shower in the same
area changes the air pressure / flow enough that a little cold water
manages to leak out.</p>
<p>You can test this theory by running your finger over the holes in the
overhead showerhead; for me that was enough to express 10mL of water or
so. To really get the water out I took a plunger to the shower head. No
tight seal needed, just want to force air in and water out. I think I
got 200+mL out that way.</p>
<p>It’s a temporary fix, next time I use the overhead the pipe will fill
again. I wonder if someone sells a showerhead with some sort of
permanent fix? A release valve would work but be fiddly.</p>
tag:somebits.com,2023:/tech/good/obsidianObsidian2023-09-12T17:28:00Z2023-09-12T17:28:00ZNelson Minarhttps://www.somebits.com/weblognelson@monkey.org
<p><a href="https://obsidian.md/">Obsidian</a> is good software for
taking and organizing notes. There are many apps for this task, Obsidian
is my current favorite. In the past I’ve used a text file, SimpleNote,
Standard Notes, Joplin. I never used emacs <code>org-mode</code> nor
Evernote. Obsidian works reliably and is simple yet powerful.</p>
<p>The core Obsidian data model is “a folder of markdown files”. That’s
it, really basic, and the files are easily usable as ordinary files.
There’s natural support for links between notes. There’s also a <a href="https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Properties">metadata</a>
option I don’t use. I appreciate it’s easy to move files in and out of
Obsidian.</p>
<p>But where Obsidian really shines is the <a href="https://obsidian.md/plugins">plugin ecosystem</a>. I don’t
actually use many plugins, just <a href="https://obsidian.md/plugins?id=obsidian-enhancing-export">HTML
export</a> and <a href="https://obsidian.md/plugins?id=tray">system
tray</a>. But I appreciate the power. If you check <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/">the reddit</a> you’ll find
an enthusiast community that does a lot more complicated stuff, turning
their Obsidian archives into 1000+ article infobases. Me, I just write
grocery lists and blog posts.</p>
<p>Obsidian is <a href="https://forum.obsidian.md/t/open-sourcing-of-obsidian/1515/11">not
open source</a>. They’re thoughtful about why not. (<a href="https://logseq.com/">Logseq</a> is a popular open source
alternative). The core product is free and works great. I am paying <a href="https://obsidian.md/sync">$96 per year</a> for syncing. It’s pricy
but it works well and I want to support the company. You can do your own
<a href="https://help.obsidian.md/Getting+started/Sync+your+notes+across+devices">free
sync</a> but none work as easily.</p>
<p>I want to give a shout-out here to <a href="https://simplenote.com/">Simplenote</a>, an excellent and
venerable free product. And after a brief lull <a href="https://simplenote.com/2020/02/25/simplenote-is-back/">development
started again in 2020</a>. Kudos to Matt and Automattic for supporting
that tool. I like Obsidian’s fanciness but Simplenote is pretty
great.</p>
tag:somebits.com,2023:/tech/good/cronometer-food-diaryCronometer is a good food diary2023-09-10T16:53:00Z2023-09-10T16:53:00ZNelson Minarhttps://www.somebits.com/weblognelson@monkey.org
<p>Recently I switched to a new calorie counting app, <a href="https://cronometer.com/">Cronometer</a>. I’m quite happy with it.
It’s a huge improvement over MyFitnessPal (MFP) or Lose It and is not <a href="https://www.somebits.com/weblog/tech/bad/noom.html">exploitative
like Noom</a>.</p>
<p>The key improvement with Cronometer is <a href="https://nelsonslog.wordpress.com/2023/09/06/cronometer-tech-details-data-accuracy/">accuracy</a>,
particularly good <a href="https://support.cronometer.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018239472-Data-Sources">data
sources</a> for nutrition information. MFP offered <a href="https://tech.lgbt/@nelson/111007147484574200">obviously wrong</a>
entries from random people, sapping my confidence. Also it’s quicker to
log things from a trusted database.</p>
<p>And the app works well. Cronometer’s UI is modern and easy to use. It
doesn’t display extra distractions. MFP’s insistence on scolding me
about things I don’t care about was a bummer. The data sync is fast. And
they have a good data export, something <a href="https://nelsonslog.wordpress.com/2023/09/04/myfitnesspal-data-exfiltration/">MFP
won’t do</a>.</p>
<p>I have some minor complaints. Cronometer is very excited to track
macros and every single obscure nutrient (threonine, selenium?!). I
really only want to track calories. Fortunately the other things don’t
take up too much space. They also <a href="https://forums.cronometer.com/discussion/5924/why-are-calories-in-the-diary-displayed-with-improbable-precision">display
ridiculous calorie precision</a> in the diary. But that feels like a
rare UI mistake, not a general design ethos.</p>
<p>The free version is pretty complete. The $55/year <a href="https://support.cronometer.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028026971-Subscription-Types">paid
plan</a> adds a bunch of stuff, the one I care about is dividing your
diary up into individual meals.</p>
<p>I have a <a href="https://www.somebits.com/weblog/life/calorie-counting.html">long
history</a> with food diaries, more off than on. Having a good app that
I trust and is easy to use is important.</p>