ShellInABox is a tidy little app that works well, but when you configure it to connect via SSH directly instead of using its internal shell, it throws up a couple minor errors when logging in: command-line line 0: unsupported option "rhostsrsaauthentication" command-line line 0: […]
Upon glimpsing the unicorn of Riemann's missing one half while awakening
I just now, minutes ago, was drifting between awake and asleep. slowly becoming aware of the lightly falling rain outside, while also in a half-dream state, contemplating random mathematical ideas, when I caught a glimpse of the 1/2 which completes the sphere of infinity. I have glimpsed it […]
Installing ShellInABox on Debian, Ubuntu, Devuan, etc and configuring for white-on-black GUI
You can install shellinabox with your Debian-flavored package manager with a single command: sudo apt install shellinabox White text on black screen The default setting is a white screen with black text. You can right-click to switch it, but if you're like me you'll want to set it to black screen […]
Configure one-time-password (a.k.a. 2FA or MFA) in Apache using mod_authn_otp and FreeOTP
I did this on a Devuan system, which is basically Ubuntu without systemd. This not a well-known distro, so your mileage may vary, but I think it will all work as described on vanilla Ubuntu or similar Debian-based flavors. At the end of this article is a list of URLs I used while putting this all […]
Configure one-time-password (a.k.a. 2FA or MFA) in SSH using libpam-oath and FreeOTP
I did this on a Devuan system, which is basically Ubuntu without systemd. This not a well-known distro, so your mileage may vary, but I think it will all work as described on vanilla Ubuntu or similar Debian-based flavors. At the end of this article is a list of URLs I used while putting this all […]
In which I realize my life now is a fractal of a beautiful idea from 24 years ago
The following quote brings a compelling moment of perception into clear view. Dinah is keen that I not misquote her by writing something as sentimental and clichéd as "being at one with the universe." So she describes a process in which there was a "dissolution of the self" and a […]
Installing Mx Linux or Ubuntu, Debian, etc. on MacBook Air
I was oddly not able to find quick hits on this topic when I searched, so I finally just tried it, and it worked so easily I was quite surprised. As a long-time attempter-of-things-so-new-that-they-often-fail, I remember when it was a hassle to install Linux on Mac. For years it was frustrating. I […]
How many fragments of infinity does it take to make one complete infinity?
A fragment of infinity happens when we count "one, two, three, four," or any sequential series of numbers, and conclude it by saying "and so forth, unto infinity." Note, this not infinity, it is only a fragment of it, which represents it. We symbolize this repeated iteration with […]
Accessing OPNSense Web UI running within Proxmox on the WAN interface by disabling reply-to
After I migrated from pfSense to OPNSense for my firewall embedded within a Proxmox lab, I was stumped for two days looking for this obscure setting. It was a problem right out of the box: After I got the interfaces configured and assigned static IPs for the two network interfaces, I tried and tried […]
Insight into Time and its relationship to Good and Evil
In a series of meditations on the nature of infinity while in the process of developing a larger concept of a new kind of mathematical infinity -- a super-infinity which contains all possible infinities in an intuitively-coherent way -- I have been bumping into the relationship between time and […]
In the "Sense of an Ending" is a sense of equilibrium
Reading D.G. Leahy's writing is to me an experience that feels like reading Isaiah. It is obviously densely packed with meaning, but so inscrutable, it's like reading hieroglyphs must have been before the Rosetta Stone was found -- glimpses of meaning percolate up through the text in iridiscent […]
Perambulating the moon should be a playful thing
Getting to the moon will happen in stages. The new contract just awarded to SpaceX is for the most critical stage, which has 3 steps: 1. Dropping out of moon orbit to land on the moon, 2. exploring the moon for a week, 3. departing from the moon. The contract is for one test flight with no one […]
The origin of synarché and why it is an infinity greater than all infinities
The word infinite is from the Latin roots for "un-limited" or another way to say it: "without-end." Structurally, this word is similar to Greek a-perion, Hebrew ein-sof, Chinese tai-ji, and many others, all referring to the same underlying concept: that which is so great it is […]
The Point of Grace
I subscribe to a number of techy innovation-rich groups via social media, and every now and then a real gem of the genre comes scrolling past on my newsfeed. A few days ago, social media linked me to a curious article recently posted on Vice Motherboard. I have no interest in astral travel, but the […]
On the rather curious "Analysis and Assessment of Gateway Process" and its long-lost page 25
Consider the following sentence without any context, except that it was written in 1983: "Then I found it necessary to delve into various sources for information concerning quantum mechanics in order to be able to describe the nature and functioning of human consciousness." Think about it […]
Mathematical infinity at the beginning instead of at the ends
The following is a "thinking-out-loud" kind of thought experiment which sort of went off the rails... and then got righted again. The simplicity of emptiness We accept the simplicity of emptiness as a reliable foundation upon which to establish all of mathematics without question. The […]
Imagining the Riemann Sphere rotated for new insights
This article is related, and a little similar, to another recent article. While researching, I was simultaneously reading through both a Wikipedia entry and a Better Explained discussion on a subject I know fairly well (Imaginary Numbers). The articles were saying the same things from different […]
How to set default opening folder for Nautilus file manager
There are several answers given to this question at AskUbuntu.com. What worked for me was the simplest of them, and what I did was one step simpler than what was given. So here's what works for me using PopOs 20 (which is just Ubuntu 20 with some elegant UI, drivers, and useability improvements). […]
If i² = -1, what's happening inside i² to get it to -1?
[I wrote the following while I was learning about how the imaginary realm works. It looks like I didn't yet understand how i is a rotation, and was still thinking of it as a vertical-only movement. So it's a lot of kerfuffle about nothing, but I'm keeping here as a reference point on the journey to […]
The famous Expert comedy sketch illustrates the scapegoat mechanism in play
If you have not already seen the famous 'Expert' comedy sketch, you're in for a treat. It's had 26 million views so far, so maybe you already know it. The sketch illustrates in a very funny way how badly an expert can be treated by a team of non-experts who all depend on his expert knowledge, but […]