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42,047,759 | lopespm | 2024-11-05T01:16:41 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,778 | healsdata | 2024-11-05T01:19:49 | Judge's Investigation into Patent Troll Results in Criminal Referrals | null | https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/11/judges-investigation-patent-troll-ip-edge-results-criminal-referrals | 10 | 0 | [
42047909
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,787 | aarghh | 2024-11-05T01:21:45 | A 'Crazy' Idea for Treating Autoimmune Diseases Might Work | null | https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2024/11/lupus-car-t-immune-reset-autoimmune-disease/680521/ | 12 | 1 | [
42048773
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,795 | tkellogg | 2024-11-05T01:22:49 | A Tool for Researching Candidates | null | https://github.com/tkellogg/election2024 | 1 | 0 | [
42047951
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,806 | samber | 2024-11-05T01:25:22 | Curl -v HTTPS://google.com [video] | null | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atcqMWqB3hw | 7 | 1 | [
42050188,
42047923
] | null | null | no_article | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T05:06:08 | null | train |
42,047,817 | mazahermuraj | 2024-11-05T01:27:20 | Show HN: I built Timelogga so I can generate accurate timesheets quickly | I've been building and shipping products for nearly 10 years now. But not for me. For my employers. So I tried freelancing, to get started for myself.<p>The pain point when it came to freelancing wasn't finding gigs. Thankfully, I found many, and many found me.<p>The REAL pain point was creating a timesheet reflecting the hours I had put in so I could be paid for my time.<p>I initially used tools like Google Sheets but it was too manual. And I found similar products online which were either limited or expensive.<p>So I built my own tool, Timelogga.<p>Now I simply:
1. Click play when I start my task
2. Do what I need to do
3. Click stop<p>...and I have the makings of a timesheet.<p>I can generate my timesheet whenever I want. Not just for one client, but as many as I want.<p>Click on the link, and scroll to the interactive demo to try it out. I'd love your feedback<p><a href="https://www.timelogga.io" rel="nofollow">https://www.timelogga.io</a><p>Thank you! | https://www.timelogga.io | 1 | 3 | [
42049363
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,825 | ngninja | 2024-11-05T01:28:48 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,837 | ngninja | 2024-11-05T01:30:06 | Can Lumen Technologies ($LUMN) Surprise Us in Q3 2024 | null | https://deepvaluereports.com/blog/lumen-technologies-lumn-q3-2024-earnings/ | 1 | 0 | [
42047940
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,842 | geox | 2024-11-05T01:30:52 | Young children distinguish the impossible from the merely improbable | null | https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2411297121 | 4 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,846 | lucasllinasm | 2024-11-05T01:31:39 | Coatue is raising $1B for AI bets | null | https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/04/coatue-is-raising-1b-for-ai-bets/ | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,849 | bookofjoe | 2024-11-05T01:32:32 | An 'Interview' with a Dead Luminary Exposes the Pitfalls of A.I | null | https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/03/world/europe/poland-radio-station-ai.html | 1 | 1 | [
42047854
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,900 | iancmceachern | 2024-11-05T01:43:02 | Warner Bros Is Selling 10 Official Batman Tumblers for $3M Each | null | https://jalopnik.com/warner-bros-is-selling-10-official-batman-tumblers-with-1851687643 | 3 | 2 | [
42047926,
42047919,
42047937
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,905 | Duckyroad | 2024-11-05T01:43:25 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,908 | tomcam | 2024-11-05T01:43:49 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,957 | kyleloomis | 2024-11-05T01:53:39 | Serializing SQL: Building Serializable Data Classes in Kotlin | null | https://kyleloomis.com/articles/serializing-sql-using-kotlin-data-classes | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | no_error | Serializing SQL: Building Serializable Data Classes in Kotlin | Kyle Loomis | null | Kyle Loomis | Serializing SQL: Building Serializable Data Classes in KotlinKyle Loomis · October 16, 2024Earlier this year, I set out to build a new data query system. Previously, I had developed functionality to select
fields, filter, and sort, but I needed a mechanism to apply functions to a table dynamically. The key requirements were:
Serialization and deserialization between JSON and Kotlin data classes.
Basic SQL functions like SUM and COUNT.
Column aliasing: AS field_name.
Nested data structures: SUM(COUNT(*)).
An extensible and flexible design to handle additional functionality in the future.
These requirements might seem straightforward, but encapsulating core SQL functions in a serializable data class is
challenging. Fortunately, Jackson provides a class
annotation that handles the serialization/deserialization to and from JSON. The rest of the code was implemented using
Kotlin data classes—no external libraries required.
Let's start with a sealed class called Expression that will be inherited by all child classes. The Jackson
annotation JsonTypeInfo automatically creates and populates the property field matching the name of the class.
Copied!import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonTypeInfo
@JsonTypeInfo(
use = JsonTypeInfo.Id.NAME,
include = JsonTypeInfo.As.PROPERTY,
property = "descriptor"
)
sealed class Expression
Next, we create two child classes to represent a field and function, respectively. These are useful
to organize and segment the type of sub-expressions.
Copied!sealed class FieldExpression : Expression()
sealed class FunctionExpression : FieldExpression()
Core Expressions
Using these sealed classes, we can build the core data classes to represent fields and functions. Let's create the
straightforward Field and Value data classes.
Copied!
data class Field(
val name: String,
val alias: String? = null
) : FieldExpression()
data class Value(
val value: Any?,
val alias: String? = null
) : FieldExpression()
Nested Expressions
Leveraging the basic FieldExpression child classes, we can build a SingleExpression class that accepts any FieldExpression,
enabling the composition of nested expressions.
Copied!data class SingleExpression(
val parameter: FieldExpression,
val operator: SqlFunction,
val alias: String? = null
) : FunctionExpression()
SqlFunction is an enum class that contains the core set of enums representing the type of functions to apply to the
FieldExpression.
Copied!enum class SqlFunction {
SUM,
AVG,
ABS,
COUNT,
COUNT_DISTINCT,
MIN,
MAX,
MEDIAN,
COALESCE
}
This enables us to build a nested expression representing something like SUM(COUNT(id)):
Copied!SingleExpression(
parameter = SingleExpression(
parameter = Field(
name = "id"
),
operator = SqlFunction.COUNT
),
operator = SqlFunction.SUM
)
Serialization and Deserialization
Serializing the above into JSON yields the following:
Copied!{
"descriptor": "SingleExpression",
"parameter": {
"descriptor": "SingleExpression",
"parameter": {
"descriptor": "Field",
"name": "id",
"alias": null
},
"operator": "COUNT",
"alias": null
},
"operator": "SUM",
"alias": null
}
SQL Engine
The SQL Engine builds on the above to translate the data classes into the SQL query. There are a number of SQL
frameworks, but I opted to use jOOQ for its broad support and ease of use. Let's start
by modifying the FieldExpression to incorporate a toField method which constructs a jOOQ Field.
Copied!import org.jooq.Field as JooqField
sealed class FieldExpression : Expression() {
abstract fun <T : Any> toField(): JooqField<T>
}
Now can modify the Field and Value classes to add the toField logic.
Copied!data class Field(
val name: String,
val alias: String? = null
) : FieldExpression() {
override fun <T : Any> toField(): JooqField<T> {
val field: JooqField<Any> = alias?.let {
DSL.field(name).`as`(it)
} ?: DSL.field(name)
@Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
return field as JooqField<T>
}
}
data class Value(
val value: Any?,
val alias: String? = null
) : FieldExpression() {
override fun <T : Any> toField(): JooqField<T> {
val field: JooqField<Any?> = alias?.let {
DSL.inline(value).`as`(it)
} ?: DSL.inline(value)
@Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
return field as JooqField<T>
}
}
This logic handles both the construction of the field and the field alias, if applicable. The SingleExpression matches
on the operator enum to apply the correct SQL function. Notice how parameter.toField() is executed before the SQL
function.
Copied!import org.jooq.impl.DSL
data class SingleExpression(
val parameter: FieldExpression,
val operator: SqlFunction,
val alias: String? = null
) : FunctionExpression() {
override fun <T : Any> toField(): JooqField<T> {
val functionField = when (operator) {
SqlFunction.SUM -> DSL.sum(parameter.toField())
SqlFunction.AVG -> DSL.avg(parameter.toField())
SqlFunction.ABS -> DSL.abs(parameter.toField())
SqlFunction.COUNT -> DSL.count(parameter.toField<Any>())
SqlFunction.COUNT_DISTINCT -> DSL.countDistinct(parameter.toField<Any>())
SqlFunction.MIN -> DSL.min(parameter.toField())
SqlFunction.MAX -> DSL.max(parameter.toField())
SqlFunction.MEDIAN -> DSL.median(parameter.toField())
else -> throw ValidationException("SingleExpression does not support operator: ${operator.name}")
}
val field = alias?.let { functionField.`as`(it) } ?: functionField
@Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
return field as JooqField<T>
}
}
Conclusion
This framework provides a simple yet powerful mechanism to store SQL functions in a serializable structure. While this
is ready to use, I recommend implementing input/output validation to ensure type safety and prevent SQL injection. | 2024-11-07T20:01:33 | en | train |
42,047,958 | danniescott | 2024-11-05T01:54:14 | null | null | null | 1 | null | [
42047959
] | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,967 | scofiledshaw2 | 2024-11-05T01:56:42 | null | null | null | 1 | null | [
42047968
] | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,982 | pseudolus | 2024-11-05T01:59:57 | Invasive Mussels Recently Spotted in California Mark a First for North America | null | https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/invasive-golden-mussels-recently-spotted-in-california-mark-the-first-for-north-america-180985388/ | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,987 | Vaslo | 2024-11-05T02:01:13 | The Mysterious Fees Inflating Your Grocery Bill | null | https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/food-inflation-mysterious-fees-distributors-ed17bb45 | 3 | 2 | [
42048000,
42047999
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,989 | sanches812 | 2024-11-05T02:01:35 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,047,995 | anerli | 2024-11-05T02:02:09 | Show HN: Langur – consistent, observable LLM agents | Hi HN! I've been working on a new type of LLM agent framework designed with consistency and observability in mind. The agent behavior is represented as a directed graph, you can save/load agents, and the agent representation is JSON so you can store agents or send over the wire. It's also designed to have modular behavior that can be customized, and makes it easy to connect to real-world systems.<p>Would love to hear anyone's thoughts!<p>Repo: <a href="https://github.com/anerli/langur">https://github.com/anerli/langur</a>
There is a Discord as well: <a href="https://discord.gg/wSBSP56V7U" rel="nofollow">https://discord.gg/wSBSP56V7U</a> | https://github.com/anerli/langur | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,003 | mikhael | 2024-11-05T02:04:21 | San Franciscans Are 'Fighting for Their Lives' over One Great Highway | null | https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/04/us/san-francisco-great-highway-proposition-k.html | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,006 | themandarin | 2024-11-05T02:05:44 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,009 | type4 | 2024-11-05T02:06:35 | Meta Permits Its A.I. Models to Be Used for U.S. Military Purposes | null | https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/04/technology/meta-ai-military.html | 110 | 104 | [
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42,048,021 | tkhattra | 2024-11-05T02:09:16 | Netnews: The Origin Story [pdf] | null | https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/papers/netnews-hist.pdf | 60 | 5 | [
42052389,
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] | null | null | is_pdf | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T00:50:57 | null | train |
42,048,023 | todsacerdoti | 2024-11-05T02:10:36 | Text Embedding Benchmark (2022) | null | https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.07316 | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,024 | mgh2 | 2024-11-05T02:10:50 | Samsung to cut 30% of foundry staff, plan 50% line closure by year-end | null | https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20241104VL202/samsung-staff.html | 5 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,032 | auxten | 2024-11-05T02:13:34 | Show HN: ClickHouse on Pandas Dataframe | null | https://auxten.com/clickhouse-on-pandas-dataframe | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,033 | mgh2 | 2024-11-05T02:13:54 | How a Mumbai Drugmaker Is Helping Putin Get Nvidia AI Chips | null | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-10-27/russia-is-getting-nvidia-ai-chips-from-an-indian-pharma-company | 35 | 6 | [
42048391,
42048155
] | null | null | missing_parsing | Russia Is Getting Nvidia AI Chips From an Indian Pharma Company | 2024-10-27T21:00:19.981Z | Andy Lin, Shruti Srivastava, Advait Palepu, Viktoria Dendrinou | October 27, 2024 at 5:00 PM EDTOccupying the top three floors of an unremarkable office building in northern Mumbai, there’s little to distinguish Shreya Life Sciences from the many other commercial businesses that keep the Andheri neighborhood of India’s largest metropolis humming throughout the day.But this inconspicuous pharmaceutical company is part of a lucrative trade in leading-edge technology to Russia that has the US and its European allies worried at India’s burgeoning role as an intermediary in the sales. | 2024-11-08T03:24:51 | null | train |
42,048,054 | logicalxor | 2024-11-05T02:18:52 | Ask HN: How much money do you spend each month? | Someone got into heated argument over comment I made in my another thread when I said we survive well with $60k (post tax) for family of four.<p>Here is the breaddown:<p>Rent: $2400 (East South of Seattle, quiet and safe area 3B2Ba SFH)<p>Groceries: $800 per month<p>Kids school: $200 per month (public school)<p>Kids activities: $200 (for 4-6 months). We play at home.<p>Electricity, Gas, Sewer - $400 per month<p>Gas: $100 per month (I mostly do WFH)<p>Emergency: $300 per month<p>Fun or toys: $100 month<p>Healthcare: $1200 per month (through marketplace)<p>Internet: $50 per month (comcast 2 year deal)<p>Childcare: None since one of the spouse stays at home.<p>My spouse and I don't drink. We play board games at home. We have no TV rule at home since most TV is just brainwashing. We have internet that we use for watching shows. We don't like Netflix since every show is just sex, gore, or violence filled non-sense.<p>We could lower it if we moved to an apartment but we love the place. We live happily and I get to see kids everyday rather than leaving them with strangers with cookie cutter upbringing. You can't outsourced parenting when you decide to have kids. But, most people never grow up. They want to party every weekend. They can't keep up with jonasses. We are different. This is how my family built the wealth.<p>I firmly beleive it is manageable with $60k to $80k. Granted, we are not contributing to retirement but this won't be forever situation.<p>Somehow, people have build expectation that you need $150k - $200k to live descently. It is utmost corporate and media brainwashing one could imagine.<p>I totally understand this is not doable for everyone and your situation might be different. But, please don't deny you are not going to survive on $60k.<p>I am curious how much money do you spend each month and what does the breaddown look like? | null | 11 | 28 | [
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42,048,065 | mgh2 | 2024-11-05T02:20:46 | Nvidia and its partners built a system to bypass U.S. export restrictions | null | https://twitter.com/kakashiii111/status/1853433531260649532 | 324 | 209 | [
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42,048,069 | matt_d | 2024-11-05T02:21:44 | Automated reasoning often makes systems more efficient and easier to maintain | null | https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/an-unexpected-discovery-automated-reasoning-often-makes-systems-more-efficient-and-easier-to-maintain/ | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | no_error | An unexpected discovery: Automated reasoning often makes systems more efficient and easier to maintain | Amazon Web Services | 2024-10-17T06:00:02-07:00 | null |
During a recent visit to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), I mentioned a trend that piqued their interest: Over the last 10 years of applying automated reasoning at Amazon Web Services (AWS), we’ve found that formally verified code is often more performant than the unverified code it replaces.
The reason is that the bug fixes we make during the process of formal verification often positively impact the code’s runtime. Automated reasoning also gives our builders confidence to explore additional optimizations that improve system performance even further. We’ve found that formally verified code is easier to update, modify, and operate, leading to fewer late-night log analysis and debugging sessions. In this post, I’ll share three examples that came up during my discussions with DARPA.
Automated reasoning: The basics
At AWS, we strive to build services that are simple and intuitive for our customers. Underneath that simplicity lie vast, complex distributed systems that process billions of requests every second. Verifying the correctness of these complex systems is a significant challenge. Our production services are in a constant state of evolution as we introduce new features, redesign components, enhance security, and optimize performance. Many of these changes are complex themselves, and must be made without impacting the security or resilience of AWS or our customers.
Design reviews, code audits, stress testing, and fault injection are all invaluable tools we use regularly, and always will. However, we’ve found that we need to supplement these techniques in order to confirm correctness in many cases. Subtle bugs can still escape detection, particularly in large-scale, fault-tolerant architectures. And some issues might even be rooted in the original system design, rather than implementation flaws. As our services have grown in scale and complexity, we’ve had to supplement traditional testing approaches with more powerful techniques based on math and logic. This is where the branch of artificial intelligence (AI) called automated reasoning comes into play.
While traditional testing focuses on validating system behavior under specific scenarios, automated reasoning aims to use logic to verify system behavior under any possible scenario. In even a moderately complex system, it would take an intractably large amount of time to reproduce every combination of possible states and parameters that may occur. With automated reasoning, it’s possible to achieve the same effect quickly and efficiently by computing a logical proof of the correctness of the system.
Using automated reasoning requires our builders to have a different mindset. Instead of trying to think about all possible input scenarios and how they might go wrong, we define how the system should work and identify the conditions that must be met in order for it to behave correctly. Then we can verify that those conditions are true by using mathematical proof. In other words, we can verify that the system is correct.
Automated reasoning views a system’s specification and implementation in mathematics, then applies algorithmic approaches to verify that the mathematical representation of the system satisfies the specification. By encoding our systems as mathematical systems and reasoning about them using formal logic, automated reasoning allows us to efficiently and authoritatively answer critical questions about the systems’ future behavior. What can the system do? What will it do? What can it never do? Automated reasoning can help answer these questions for even the most complex, large-scale, and potentially unbounded systems—scenarios that are impossible to exhaustively validate through traditional testing alone.
Does automated reasoning allow us to achieve perfection? No, because it still depends on certain assumptions about the correct behavior of the components of a system and the relationship between the system and the model of its environment. For example, the model of a system might incorrectly assume that underlying components such as compilers and processors don’t have any bugs (although it is possible to formally verify those components as well). That said, automated reasoning allows us to achieve higher confidence in correctness than is possible by using traditional software development and testing methods.
Faster development
Automated reasoning is not just for mathematicians and scientists. Our Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) engineers use automated reasoning every day to prevent bugs. Behind the simple interface of S3 is one of the world’s largest and most complex distributed systems, holding 400 trillion objects, exabytes of data, and regularly processing over 150 million requests per second. S3 is composed of many subsystems that are distributed systems in their own right, many consisting of tens of thousands of machines. New features are being added all the time, while S3 is under heavy use by our customers.
A key component of S3 is the S3 index subsystem, an object metadata store that enables fast data lookups. This component contains a very large, complex data structure and intricate, optimized algorithms. Because the algorithms are difficult for humans to get right at S3 scale, and because we can’t afford errors in S3 lookups, we made new improvements on a cadence of about once per quarter, due to the extreme care and extensive testing required to confidently make a change.
S3 is a well-built and well-tested system built on 15 years of experience. However, there was a bug in the S3 index subsystem for which we couldn’t determine the root cause for some time. The system was able to automatically recover from the exception, so its presence didn’t impact the behavior of the system. Still, we were not satisfied.
Why was this bug around so long? Distributed systems like S3 have a large number of components, each with their own corner cases, and a number of corner cases happen at the same time. In the case of S3, which has over 300 microservices, the number of potential combinations of these corner cases is enormous. It’s not possible for developers to think through each of these corner cases, even when they have evidence the bug exists and ideas about its root cause—never mind all of the possible combinations of corner cases.
This complexity drove us to look at how we could use automated reasoning to explore the possible states and errors that might be hidden in those states. By building a formal specification of the system, we were able to find the bug and prove the absence of further bugs of its type. Using automated reasoning also gave us the confidence to ship updates and improvements every one to two months rather than just three to four times a year.
Faster code
The correctness of the AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) service is foundational to the security of our customers’ workloads. Across millions of customers, thousands of resource types, and hundreds of AWS services, every API call—every single request to AWS—is processed by the IAM authorization engine. That’s over 1.2 billion requests per second. This is some of the most security-critical and highly scaled software in AWS.
Before any change at AWS goes into production, we need an extremely high degree of confidence that the system remains secure and correct. Using automated reasoning, we can prove that our systems adhere to specific security properties, under an exhaustive number of circumstances. We call this provable security. Not only has automated reasoning enabled us to provide provable security assurance to our customers, it gives us the ability to deliver functionality, security, and optimization at scale.
Like S3, IAM has evolved over 15 years into a time-tested and trusted system. But we wanted to raise the bar further. We built a formal specification that captures the behavior of the existing IAM authorization engine, codified its policy evaluation principles into provable theorems, and used automated reasoning to build a new and more efficient implementation. Earlier this year, we deployed the new proved-correct authorization engine —and no one noticed. Automated reasoning allowed us to seamlessly replace one of the most critical pieces of AWS infrastructure, the authorization engine, with a proved-correct equivalent.
With the specification and proofs in place, we could safely and aggressively optimize the code with a high degree of confidence. At the massive scale of IAM, every microsecond of performance improvement translates into a better customer experience and better cost optimization for AWS. We optimized string matching, removed unnecessary memory allocation and redundant computations, strengthened security, and improved scalability. After every change, we re-ran our proofs to confirm that the system was still operating correctly.
The optimized IAM authorization engine is now 50% faster than its predecessor. We simply would not have been able to make these types of impactful optimizations with such confidence if we didn’t use automated reasoning. For a deeper look at how we did this, see this AWS re:Inforce session.
Faster deployment (of faster code)
Most secure online transactions are protected by encryption. For example, the RSA encryption algorithm protects data by generating two keys: one to encrypt the data, and one to decrypt it. These keys enable secure data transmission as well as secure digital signatures. In the context of encryption, correctness and performance are both essential—a bug in an encryption algorithm can be disastrous.
As AWS customers move their workloads to AWS Graviton, the benefits of optimizing cryptography for the ARM instruction set increase. But optimizing encryption for better performance is complex, which makes it difficult to verify that modified encryption algorithms are behaving properly. Before we started to use automated reasoning, optimizations to cryptography libraries often required months-long reviews to achieve confidence for release into production.
Enter the power of automated reasoning: formal verification made RSA faster, and faster to deploy. We are seeing similar improvements when we apply automated reasoning to elliptic curve cryptography.
The formation of a virtuous cycle
Over the last decade, we’ve increasingly applied automated reasoning techniques within AWS to prove the correctness of our cloud infrastructure and services. We routinely use these methods not only to verify correctness, but also to enhance security and reliability and minimize design flaws. Automated reasoning can be used to create a precise, testable model of a system, which we can use to quickly verify that changes are safe—or learn they are unsafe without causing harm in production.
We can answer critical questions about our infrastructure to detect misconfigurations that might expose data. We can help stop subtle but serious bugs from reaching production that we would not have found with other techniques. We can make bold performance optimizations that we would not have dared attempt without model checking. Automated reasoning provides rigorous mathematical assurance that critical systems behave as expected.
AWS is the first and only cloud provider to use automated reasoning at this scale. As adoption of automated reasoning tools increases, it becomes easier for us to justify ever-larger investments into improving the usability and scalability of automated reasoning tools. The easier it is to use the automated reasoning tools and the more powerful they become, the more adoption we’ve observed. The more we’re able to prove correctness of our cloud infrastructure, the more compelling the cloud is to security-obsessed customers. And, as the examples in this post illustrate, not only are we able to increase security assurance, we are delivering higher performant code to customers faster, translating into cost savings that we can eventually pass on to customers.
My prediction is that we’re in the beginning of an era in which critical properties like security, compliance, availability, durability, and safety can be proved automatically for large-scale cloud architectures. From preventing potential issues with AI hallucinations to analyzing hypervisors, cryptography, and distributed systems, having sound mathematical reasoning at our foundations and continuously analyzing what we build sets Amazon apart.
Learn more
Learn more about automated reasoning on the Amazon Science blog.
Understand how AWS applies automated reasoning to provide provable security.
If you’re interested in an internship with the AWS Automated Reasoning Group, let us know.
If you have feedback about this post, submit comments in the Comments section below. If you have questions about this post, contact AWS Support.
| 2024-11-08T16:09:40 | en | train |
42,048,090 | sandwichsphinx | 2024-11-05T02:27:21 | AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual Volumes 1–5 [pdf] | null | https://www.amd.com/content/dam/amd/en/documents/processor-tech-docs/programmer-references/40332.pdf | 27 | 7 | [
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42,048,091 | prismatic | 2024-11-05T02:27:38 | 19th-Century 'Toy Book' Used Science to Prove That Ghosts Were an Illusion | null | https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-19th-century-toy-book-used-science-to-prove-that-ghosts-were-simply-an-illusion-180985347/ | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
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42,048,105 | diodorus | 2024-11-05T02:33:03 | Gladiators in ancient Anatolia lived to entertain the masses | null | https://archaeology.org/issues/november-december-2024/features/let-the-games-begin/ | 5 | 0 | null | null | null | no_error | Features - Let the Games Begin - Archaeology Magazine - November/December 2024 | null | Tolga İldun is a photojournalist living in Istanbul. |
A relief from Hierapolis depicts a venatio, or wild beast hunt.
A terracotta figurine showing two gladiators in combat dates to the first century a.d. and was found in the city of Aydın.
The sun illuminated the stadium in Ephesus, a wealthy harbor city in western Anatolia, on a day of eagerly anticipated gladiatorial combat. Festive decorations adorned the arena, and the air was filled with the scent of refreshing perfumed water sprayed over the crowd. As the gladiators were announced, they paraded before the spectators to the strains of music, displaying their powerful physiques and their readiness to fight. All eyes were drawn to two combatants in particular: Margarites, known as the “Pearl of the Arena,” and Palumbos, whose stage name was the “Male Dove.” By the time the sun was high overhead, the arena was packed to capacity. A horn signaled the start of the afternoon’s games.
A pair of mounted gladiators featured in the initial spectacle, but the highlight was the duel between Margarites and Palumbos. Margarites, clad only in a small loincloth secured by a wide belt, wielded a net and trident—classic armaments of his type of gladiator, the retiarius, whose light weapons facilitated speed and agility. Palumbos was a formidable murmillo, whose large helmet, wooden shield, and gladius—the style of short sword that lent the profession its name—augmented his imposing stance. As the combat began, Margarites deftly cast his net toward Palumbos, attempting to ensnare him. Palumbos, despite the weight of his armor and shield, skillfully eluded the gambit. Margarites circled the arena searching for an opening, while Palumbos remained patient. The contrast between the retiarius’ speed and the murmillo’s endurance became evident. As time passed, fatigue began to weigh on Margarites. In a final effort, he launched his net once more, but Palumbos evaded him again and countered with a swift sword strike. Recognizing impending defeat, Margarites dropped his weapons, signaling surrender.
The expectant crowd awaited a verdict. Some cried “Iugula!” (Cut his throat!), while others yelled “Missus!” (Reprieved!). Margarites’ dignified composure swayed the games’ patron, who indicated the gladiator’s life should be spared. As the victorious Palumbos departed, Margarites, too, left the arena with the spectators’ respect. Both men would live to fight another day, and this battle would be remembered for years to come.
These grave stelas dedicated to individual gladiators specializing in different fighting styles were found in the city of Aphrodisias.
Gladiatorial games are believed to find their origins in the burial rituals of the Etruscans, who inhabited the Italian peninsula from about the eighth to third century b.c. Frescoes in tombs dating to the fourth century b.c. in the regions of Lucania and Campania in southern Italy depict funeral games held to honor fallen warriors in which captured enemies were forced to fight. Since the beginning, then, these contests were as much ritual as spectacle.
The first recorded gladiatorial contest in Rome took place in 264 b.c. Following the death of the consul Junius Brutus Pera, his sons organized a public event as part of their father’s funeral rites that included clashes between three pairs of gladiators. These games, held in the Forum Boarium, Rome’s ancient cattle market, enhanced the family’s social standing. The first-century a.d. historian Plutarch tells of games held by Julius Caesar in 65 b.c. Over time, the total number of gladiators participating in funeral games increased, and the events became a showpiece for entertaining the populace, honoring the emperor, and forging political careers. Though unquestionably brutal, gladiatorial combat signified the triumph of courage over death for the Romans. “The most common perception of gladiatorial games is that they were violent and gruesome because someone always died,” says archaeologist R. R. R. Smith of the University of Oxford, who directs excavations at the site of Aphrodisias. “This isn’t true. In gladiatorial games, most of the time, both participants left the arena on their feet. The games weren’t about killing, but about the excitement of two men fighting, about showcasing skill, discipline, endurance, strength, tactics, and different weapons.” In the rare cases when gladiators were killed or condemned to death, they had been trained to die theatrically to add to the performance’s impact.
The stadium in Cibyra hosted gladiatorial games called munera and wild beast hunts during the Roman period. Previously, in the Hellenistic era, it had been used only for athletic competitions.
Anatolia’s transition from being ruled by a succession of local empires to becoming part of the Roman world at the start of the second century b.c. involved military conquests, diplomatic maneuvers, and cultural assimilation. Festivals held in honor of Roman emperors, many of which included gladiatorial contests, were key events in this process of Romanization. Anatolia played a significant role in the development and expansion of gladiatorial culture, and the games became a way in which the vast region reinforced its allegiance to Rome.
Ephesus was one of the first Anatolian cities to host gladiatorial games. This important trading hub came under Roman control in 133 b.c. after Attalus III of Pergamon (reigned 138–133 b.c.) bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. Ancient sources indicate that gladiatorial games in Ephesus were organized by the Roman general and statesman Lucius Licinius Lucullus. “While there’s no epigraphic evidence, literary sources do refer to gladiatorial games organized and supported by Lucullus in Ephesus,” says archaeologist Martin Steskal of the Austrian Archaeological Institute. “These are the earliest mentions of gladiatorial games in the city.”
These Roman-style games quickly captured people’s attention. By the late first century a.d., their popularity had spread throughout Anatolia, from the region of Pamphylia in the south to Bithynia in the north, though many people may have been unaware of their roots in sacred religious rites. “It’s an interesting question how distant this cultural practice was for the audience in Anatolia,” says Smith. The games were, however, almost certainly seen as a way to demonstrate locals’ adoption of Roman ways. Adding to the ample literary evidence exploring the world of gladiators, over the last century archaeologists have uncovered figurines, graffiti, friezes, and especially grave stelas depicting gladiators throughout Anatolia. It seems that aristocrats not only from Ephesus but also from cities such as Aphrodisias, Hierapolis, Aydın, Stratonicea, and Cibyra began hosting the lavish spectacles they had witnessed in Rome.
A mosaic from Aydın shows a scene of gladiatorial combat including (center) an arbiter, or referee.
Most of these cities already had theaters and stadiums to hold Greek-style athletic contests including wrestling, boxing, the long jump, and discus and javelin throwing. With some modifications, these venues were suitable for gladiatorial contests as well. “Theaters were seen as places where gladiatorial games could coexist harmoniously with other cultural activities,” says Smith. Wealthy aristocrats and religious officials soon realized that sponsoring games was a faster and more effective way to curry public favor, and thereby amass political power, than, for example, building bathhouses or aqueducts. But it was also expensive. Arranging gladiatorial shows, whether by renting combatants from a lanista—a gladiator school owner—contracting with freelance gladiators, or purchasing an entire gladiatorial family, was very costly. An inscription dating to a.d. 177, for example, records that the price to hire professional gladiators, who were graded according to their skill and experience, was substantial, ranging from 3,000 to 15,000 sesterces. A letter from the emperor Hadrian (reigned a.d. 117–138) to the city of Aphrodisias, inscribed on a slab that was later reused as a paving stone, suggests that high priests, who were required to stage gladiatorial games as part of their official duties, found this an intolerable financial burden. “It’s possible to read the inscription as evidence that, as an incentive to stand for office, potential candidates were permitted to contribute to the construction of an aqueduct instead of the staging of a gladiatorial show, thereby replacing fleeting entertainment with a lasting improvement to the civic infrastructure,” says classicist Kathleen Coleman of Harvard University.
Despite the hefty financial outlay, gladiatorial games attracted a great deal of public interest and were a boon for tourism, with spectators traveling from across the region to watch, purchasing figurines or oil lamps depicting their favorite fighter, and dining and staying in the city.
These grave stelas dedicated to individual gladiators were found in Aphrodisias (left and right) and Ephesus (center). The stela at the center belonged to a gladiator named Palumbos.
Behind a day in the arena was a well-organized professional system. “We know that there were schools where gladiators were coached by experienced trainers and that they were well fed and received medical care,” Steskal says. Sources indicate that gladiator schools even had specialized doctors on call. The physician Galen, who lived in the Anatolian city of Pergamon in the mid-second century a.d., writes that no gladiators died over a five-year period when he provided them with medical care. “Galen likely learned about medicine from, among others, his predecessor, the Ephesian physician Rufus,” says Steskal. “The last thing a school owner wanted was for his gladiator to die. If a gladiator died in his first fight, it would mean all that investment was wasted.”
A common misconception is that all gladiators were slaves forced to fight and die in the arena. “The majority of gladiators across the empire were indeed slaves who were selected and trained,” says archaeologist Şükrü Özüdoğru of Mehmet Akif Ersoy University. Yet, during his excavations in Cibyra, Özüdoğru hasn’t found any direct evidence of enslavement. “There’s no data showing that this person was a slave of this person, bought or sold at a certain price, or that they originated from a specific background,” he says. Özüdoğru adds that there is also no direct evidence of enslavement of gladiators in other cities across Anatolia. “This suggests a more humanistic approach than we see elsewhere,” he says.
A marble relief from Hierapolis depicts two different moments in a fight between the gladiators Pinnas and Odysseus.
Many gladiators—including slaves, former soldiers, and once-enslaved fighters who returned to the games voluntarily—endured long years of combat before being granted their freedom. “Although gladiators were legally regarded as slaves, they were often revered as popular and admired figures,” Steskal says. “Some men, seeking to pay off debts or amass wealth, voluntarily chose the gladiator’s path. In doing so, they faced the peril of forfeiting all legal rights. But, if victorious, they could secure both wealth and the opportunity to live a liberated life.”
Like the Roman Colosseum, the arenas of ancient Anatolia were not solely venues for gladiatorial combat but also hosted animal hunts called venationes. These events began early in the day and could involve hunting a wild boar or bear to showcase participants’ courage and skill and to symbolize the removal of local predators that posed a threat. Some animals were imported from far-off lands, a particularly pricey proposition. Fights involving such wild animals underscored the munificence of the games’ sponsors. Pitting men against exotic beasts from Africa was a testament to their largesse and was intended to broadcast a level of control over the empire beyond the arena. “Gladiators weren’t merely instruments of entertainment, but also complex reflections of social structure, political power, and local identity,” says Smith. “They served as heroes in the eyes of the public while playing a crucial role in a complex social hierarchy.”
After the venationes, at midday, common criminals and political prisoners were executed by crucifixion or mauling by wild animals. This part of the games, too, had a social function, symbolizing the restoration of legal order.
One of the main sources of information about Roman gladiators are grave stelas that have been unearthed across the provinces of Anatolia. Between 1991 and 1995, archaeologists with the Austrian Archaeological Institute working under its then-director Dieter Knibbe excavated along the sacred processional way to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus—one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. There, they uncovered a third-century a.d. stela that reads: “Hymnis had this tomb made for Palumbos, in memory of her own husband.” The image on the stela clearly depicts Palumbos as a murmillo. Although the relatively simple stela isn’t a sign of great wealth, it is evidence that Palumbos and his wife could afford a proper commemoration after his death and have it placed in a prominent location in the city.
Friezes dating to between a.d. 150 and 200 depicting different types of gladiatorial combat were uncovered in Cibyra.
Another stela found in Ephesus was commissioned by the retiarius Margarites and a fellow gladiator named Peritina. It bears the inscription: “Peritina and Margarites in memory of the retiarius Euxeinus.” And a relief discovered amid the stone rubble between the stelas commemorating Palumbos and Euxeinus bears a two-line inscription at the bottom that reads: “From Tyche to her husband, whom she loved above all else.” These two reliefs are so alike in quality, shape, and style of lettering that archaeologists believe they were crafted by the same artist.
Grave stelas belonging to gladiators have been unearthed in other Anatolian cities as well. A stela from Hierapolis, commissioned by a woman named Marcellina for her first-class gladiator husband, Nikephoros, meaning “Bearer of Victory,” depicts the fighter holding a palm branch. An inscription on a grave stela belonging to the murmillo Droseros found in Stratonicea reads: “The man who killed me was once on the stage but now in the arena as Achilles, brought down by the games of Fate herself, Moira.” To mark his victories, Droseros was honored with 17 wreaths, which are shown on the stela. His fellow townsman, the plurimarum palmarum, or winner of many victories, Polydeukes, also known by his stage name, Vitalius, was commemorated with 15 wreaths and a palm branch, symbolizing his victories. His epitaph reads: “Here lies Vitalius, a brave man in boxing; Polydeukes, strong and true to his name, skilled in boxing, slain in the arena by his own hand.”
Graffiti depicting gladiators has been found in a house in Ephesus (left) and on a seat in the theater (right) at Aphrodisias.
Along with the private memorials to gladiators’ lives carved on grave stelas, public inscriptions and artwork provide additional information about both the fighters and the families that sponsored them. For example, a marble inscription erected in the agora of Ephesus in the third century a.d. names one of the Ephesian families who displayed a keen interest in sponsoring gladiatorial games. The inscription is dedicated to Marcus Aurelius Daphnos, who is described as an asiarch, a civil or priestly official who oversaw both religious rites and public games. His affiliation with a gladiator fan club called the Philoploi Philovedioi, or weapon-loving supporters of the Vedii family, is also mentioned. The Vedii family were the wealthiest citizens of Ephesus in the second and third centuries a.d.—and may have sponsored the games in which Palumbos performed. The inscription reads:
He was thrice asiarch of the temples in Ephesus, who held a munus (“games”) in his fatherland with thirty-nine pairs [of gladiators] fighting sharply for thirteen days, and who killed Libyan beasts, and who was favored by the emperors and wore at the front of the procession the golden crown as well as the purple robe. Those in this place who follow the Vedii, who love arms, honor him as their own euergetes (“benefactor”).
An image of a bestiarius, or wild animal fighter, was found in Aphrodisias.
Associations of fans similar to the Philoploi Philovedioi are also known to have existed in the city of Miletus on the western coast of Anatolia, as well as in Hierapolis, where archaeologists have uncovered inscriptions relating to gladiatorial contests, including one that mentions a gladiator fan club known as the Friends of Arms. In the early third century a.d., Hierapolis became a neokoros, a provincial city that was the custodian of a temple dedicated to the imperial cult. At this time, explains Grazia Semeraro, an archaeologist at the University of Salento and director of the Hierapolis Archaeological Mission, the status of the high priest who was responsible for staging games was increasing and the importance of gladiatorial games was growing. Evidence of these developments has been found on the city’s public monuments. Images of venationes on buildings such as the theater and the stoa-basilica attest to the social, cultural, and political significance of these spectacles. On a monument commemorating an event held in the amphitheater, an inscription expresses thanks to the patrons:
With good fortune. In memory of the gladiators’ familia and hunting shows, including the taurokathapsia (“bullfight”) organized by Gnaeus Arrius Apouleios, and son of Aurelianos, legio tribune and high priest, along with his wife, the high priestess Aurelia Melitine Attikiane.
These grave stelas dedicated to individual gladiators were found in Stratonicea (left and center) and Hierapolis (right).
A marble stela from Hierapolis was erected in memory of the high priest responsible for organizing gladiatorial contests, hunts, and bullfights in the city’s amphitheater.
Two inscriptions from Hierapolis provide evidence of how gladiatorial contests were supervised. Gladiators were not, in fact, engaged in the chaotic, savage massacre of many people’s imagination. On the contrary, the games were governed by detailed sets of rules and overseen by arbiters, or referees. These inscriptions, dedicated to local arbiters named Apollonios Menandros and Zosimos, describe the men as secunda rudes, or second umpires. If the city provided gladiators and referees for the games, it’s possible there was a permanent gladiatorial organization in Hierapolis. This interpretation is supported by a grave stela found at the end of the nineteenth century in the village of Karahayıt, three miles north of Hierapolis. The artifact, which was described at the time but is now lost, was dedicated to a therotrophos, or animal trainer, who was responsible for maintaining the wild beasts used in hunts.
An impressive set of reliefs from Cibyra—the most extensive collection of gladiator friezes from antiquity—provides some of the best evidence of how gladiatorial combat was conducted across different regions of the Roman Empire. The majority were discovered during rescue excavations in 2001 and 2002. In 2011, additional blocks thought to belong to the same series of friezes were unearthed on a road running alongside a necropolis and in the foundation of a house in the nearby town of Gölhisar. The friezes were created between a.d. 150 and 200 and depict venationes and battles between gladiators. They may once have adorned the eastern parapets of the city’s stadium. According to Özüdoğru, the period when gladiatorial games were most popular coincided with the city’s peak in wealth, population, and commercial activity. He adds that the vivid details of the reliefs—down to the depiction of the uneven paving stones of the stadium, which archaeologists have unearthed—suggest that the artists observed these contests in person.
Two grave stelas from Aphrodisias bear images of a type of gladiator known as a murmillo, who carried a heavy wooden shield and a short sword called a gladius.
For centuries, in addition to serving vital social and political functions, gladiatorial contests were the preeminent form of entertainment for the Roman populace. From the third century a.d. onward, however, due to an economic crisis and rampant inflation, the number of wealthy sponsors dropped, the games’ popularity began to fade, and the profession lost some of its allure.
By the fourth century a.d., the spread of Christianity—which condemned both the violence of the games and their roots in pagan rituals—further contributed to the games’ decline. Venationes became even more popular at this time, as they were perceived as a more humane alternative. Although tangible symbols of the empire endured—people still traveled, as they do now, on Roman roads, and Roman aqueducts still carried water, as they continue to do—the ubiquity and grandeur of thegames would never return.
| 2024-11-08T02:52:09 | en | train |
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42,048,202 | sandwichsphinx | 2024-11-05T02:54:58 | More than 10k North Korean troops in Russia for Ukraine war, says South Korea | null | https://www.reuters.com/world/more-than-10000-north-korean-troops-russia-ukraine-war-says-south-korea-2024-11-05/ | 8 | 19 | [
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42,048,207 | PaulHoule | 2024-11-05T02:56:49 | High-Speed Light Communication with Event Cameras and Digital Micro-Mirrors | null | https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.14228 | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,215 | thunderbong | 2024-11-05T02:57:52 | GitHub's most-used language isn't JavaScript anymore | null | https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/05/python_dethrones_javascript_github/ | 2 | 5 | [
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42,048,259 | LazyYuuki | 2024-11-05T03:10:36 | Ask HN: Are there any recent startup that do EMG like CTRL-Lab and Thalmic? | With the recent resurgent in EMG human-machine interface tech especially those that do hand pose estimation, I went to look around for possible start-ups that are working on its but got nothing from Google so far. And since I am not in SV, I would love to know of companies who are doing interesting thing in this field, if there are any... | null | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,261 | next_xibalba | 2024-11-05T03:11:24 | Classic Books Updated with Illustrations Using AI | null | https://www.novelminds.ai/ | 1 | 1 | [
42048262
] | null | null | no_error | Novel Minds | null | null | In "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," a whimsical tale set in the 19th century, young Alice follows a talking White Rabbit into a fantastical world where she encounters absurd characters and experiences surreal transformations. Her journey is marked by challenges to her identity as she grapples with her changing size and navigates nonsensical situations, including chaotic tea parties, puzzling conversations, and a farcical trial presided over by the tyrannical Queen of Hearts. Throughout her adventures, Alice's playful curiosity and assertiveness rise in the face of Wonderland's illogical authority, ultimately leading her to declare the royal figures as mere playing cards. The story concludes with Alice awakening from her dream, leaving her sister to reflect on the magic of Alice's adventures and the enduring spirit of childhood imagination.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn the late 19th century, "Around the World in Eighty Days" follows the meticulous Phileas Fogg as he takes on a daring wager to travel around the globe in just eighty days after a challenge from his peers at the Reform Club. Accompanied by his anxious servant Passepartout and the young woman Aouda, whom he rescues from a sacrificial rite, Fogg navigates diverse cultures and landscapes while facing skepticism and numerous obstacles, including the relentless Detective Fix, who wrongly suspects him of robbery. Their journey includes encounters with political unrest in America and challenges such as confrontations with Sioux tribesmen and a maritime crisis. Fogg's unwavering determination ultimately leads him to return to London a day earlier than expected, allowing him to win the wager and find love with Aouda. The story highlights themes of courage, loyalty, and the transformative power of exploration, culminating in Fogg's triumph both in completing his adventure and redefining success through his steadfast character.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn Jules Verne's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth," set in the mid-19th century, young narrator Henry Lawson and his eccentric uncle, Professor Von Hardwigg, embark on a daring expedition to explore the depths of the Earth, starting from the volcanic Mount Sneffels in Iceland. Joined by their skilled guide Hans, the trio navigates perilous terrains, battling harsh weather and dwindling supplies while balancing their thirst for scientific discovery with survival instincts. As they descend into a vast subterranean world filled with extraordinary geological features and a tumultuous underground ocean inhabited by prehistoric creatures, they face intense challenges that test their camaraderie and resilience. Their journey is marked by thrilling encounters and significant paleontological findings, ultimately leading them to the Mediterranean island of Stromboli. Upon their return to Hamburg, Professor Hardwigg gains acclaim, highlighting the transformative impact of exploration against the backdrop of nature's unpredictable forces.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn E.M. Forster's "A Room with a View," set in the early 20th century in Italy and England, the story follows Lucy Honeychurch, a young Englishwoman caught between societal expectations and her own desires. During a stay in Florence with her controlling cousin Charlotte Bartlett, Lucy feels conflicted about her engagement to the conventional Cecil Vyse and her burgeoning love for the free-spirited George Emerson. As she navigates a web of social pressures and familial constraints, Lucy embarks on a journey of self-discovery, exploring themes of individuality, love, and personal fulfillment. Supported by friends like Mr. Beebe and Miss Bartlett, she begins to challenge the societal norms that dictate her life. Ultimately, Lucy learns to prioritize her own happiness and autonomy over external judgments, marking a significant transformation in her pursuit of authentic experiences and relationships.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in early 20th-century Dublin, the story interweaves the lives of various characters grappling with themes of death, longing, societal expectations, and personal conflict amid urban life. It begins with Father Flynn's impending death prompting reflections on memory and childhood, while young characters like the boy in love with Mangan's sister and Eveline seek to escape their constraints. Other storylines highlight the struggles of friendships among young men and a mother advocating for her daughter's career, as well as figures like Mr. Duffy and Little Chandler who confront their isolation and dissatisfaction. As the narrative unfolds, it culminates in Gabriel Conroy's introspective experience during a New Year's Eve gathering at the Morkan household, where tensions arise regarding his Irish identity and his wife Gretta's reminiscences about her first love, Michael Furey. Gabriel's journey through feelings of inadequacy leads to a poignant realization about love, memory, and the intertwined nature of life and loss, encapsulating the complexities of connection and isolation amid the vibrant yet challenging Dublin landscape.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn "Frankenstein," set in the late 18th to early 19th century, Mary Shelley intertwines the lives of explorer Robert Walton and the ambitious scientist Victor Frankenstein, who becomes consumed by his quest for knowledge. Walton's journey to the North Pole leads him to Victor's tragic tale, revealing the catastrophic consequences of Victor's obsessive pursuit of life through the creation of a monstrous being. After the deaths of his loved ones, whom he blames on his unbridled ambition, Victor is left to grapple with guilt and despair, reflecting on his relationship with the isolated creature that longs for acceptance. As Victor relentlessly pursues his creation seeking vengeance across bleak landscapes, the narrative delves into deep themes of isolation, loss, and the moral implications of creation, ultimately exploring the human desire for connection and the tragic legacies borne of ambition. Both creator and creation face profound struggles, unraveling the dark repercussions of their actions against a backdrop of emotional turmoil and intellectual exploration.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn a collection of timeless fairy tales set in various mystical, undefined periods, a rich tapestry of interconnected narratives unfolds, exploring themes of resilience, kindness, ambition, and the consequences of greed. The stories feature a diverse cast of characters, including aging animals aspiring to become musicians, a humble fisherman tormented by his greedy wife, and siblings Hansel and Gretel facing daunting challenges. Protagonists like a brave mother goat, a clever tailor, and a diligent shoemaker, supported by mysterious elves, engage in quests that test their moral integrity and cleverness. Through transformative journeys—such as a simpleton named Dummling who triumphs with unexpected assistance and a sister working to rescue her raven-turned brothers—each tale highlights the virtues of love, loyalty, bravery, and humility while warning against deception and unchecked desire. Ultimately, these enchanting tales celebrate the enduring spirit of hope, the triumph of good over evil, and the profound lessons embedded within fairy-tale folklore.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet during the late 19th and early 20th centuries amid the European colonial ventures in Africa, the story follows Marlow, a thoughtful seaman embarking on a complex journey both physically and philosophically. As he navigates the chaotic waters towards the heart of the wilderness to meet the enigmatic Mr. Kurtz, Marlow encounters a range of characters, including disillusioned colonial agents and oppressed local laborers, each highlighting the moral decay and exploitation central to imperialism. The narrative poignantly explores themes of isolation, existential dread, and the corrupting influence of power, juxtaposing the grandeur of exploration with the grim realities of colonialism. Through his reflections on ambition, identity, and the darker aspects of human nature, particularly encapsulated in Kurtz’s tragic path, Marlow grapples with profound questions about love, loss, and the inherent darkness that shadows civilization. Ultimately, the story critiques the hollow pursuits of greed and highlights the tragic human consequences of colonial endeavors, culminating in a haunting meditation on legacy and the moral ambiguities of existence.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 file"Jane Eyre," set in early to mid-19th century England during the Victorian era, follows the resilient orphan Jane Eyre as she navigates a tumultuous journey filled with hardship, love, and self-discovery. After enduring a harsh upbringing with her aunt and cousins, she faces oppression at Lowood School, where she builds lasting friendships and develops strength. Transitioning to the role of governess at Thornfield Hall, Jane forms a deep but complicated relationship with her employer, Mr. Rochester, which is tested by societal constraints and dark secrets from Rochester's past. Revelations about Rochester's marriage to the mentally ill Bertha Mason force Jane to confront her values of love and autonomy; this dilemma prompts her to flee and find solace with the Rivers family. Ultimately, Jane inherits wealth, challenges societal expectations, and prioritizes authentic connections over status. Her refusal of a loveless marriage proposal from St. John Rivers further underscores her commitment to true love as she reunites and marries Rochester, highlighting her relentless pursuit of independence and personal integrity amidst the oppressive norms of her time.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet during the medieval period of King Arthur's reign, this collection of interconnected tales chronicles Arthur's rise to legendary status and the challenges faced by him and his knights at Camelot. It begins with Arthur's miraculous birth and his claim to the throne by pulling the sword from the stone, marking the start of his quest to solidify his rule against rival kings and internal betrayal. Prominent knights, including Sir Gawaine, Sir Launcelot, and Sir Tristram, navigate personal and external conflicts involving themes of chivalry, love, and rivalry. As they confront foes both magical and mortal, the knights grapple with moral dilemmas that test their fidelity to the knightly code. Through epic battles, romantic entanglements, and the bonds of camaraderie, the tales explore honor, bravery, and the tragic complexities that ultimately shape Arthur’s legacy and his vision of a united England amidst tumultuous adversities.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in early 19th-century France during the Restoration period, Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables" intricately examines the lives of Jean Valjean, a former convict seeking redemption, and Fantine, a desperate mother fighting against poverty. Valjean, after a life-changing encounter with the compassionate Bishop Myriel, commits to a path of moral integrity despite the relentless pressures of a harsh legal system embodied by Inspector Javert. As Valjean reinvents himself as a respected mayor, he confronts his past when accused of theft, ultimately revealing his identity to save an innocent man. Meanwhile, Fantine, abandoned and destitute, struggles for the welfare of her daughter Cosette, facing societal disdain and personal suffering that culminates in her tragic demise. The narrative reveals profound themes of compassion, social justice, and the tension between law and morality, illustrating the human capacity for kindness amid struggle and the relentless search for dignity in a transforming society.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," set in early 20th-century Europe, Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning transformed into a monstrous insect, leading to a devastating disconnect from his family. Once the primary breadwinner, he grapples with the shame and despair of his new form, which renders him unable to fulfill his familial duties. Initially, his sister Grete shows compassion, but as the family's distress mounts, their dynamic shifts towards fear and rejection, particularly from his father. Tensions escalate when guests witness Gregor's grotesque appearance, intensifying the family's desire for normalcy and ultimately leading to Gregor's tragic isolation. As his health declines and his existence becomes a burden, the family experiences a bittersweet mix of grief and relief following his death, highlighting profound themes of alienation, identity, and the complexities of familial relationships amidst societal pressures.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn George Eliot's *Middlemarch*, set in the early to mid-19th century in an English provincial town, the narrative intricately explores the intertwined lives of several characters grappling with societal constraints, personal aspirations, and the implications of their choices. Central figures include Dorothea Casaubon, a young widow striving for independence while caught between her late husband's legacy and her feelings for Will Ladislaw, and Dr. Tertius Lydgate, an idealistic physician facing professional and financial challenges due to his marriage to the socially ambitious Rosamond. The story delves into themes of ambition, love, and moral integrity as characters navigate disillusionment, societal pressures, and the evolving landscape of their community amidst political and social changes. Through the experiences of these characters, Eliot highlights the ongoing struggle for women to assert their identities and find fulfillment within rigid social frameworks.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in the mid-19th century during the peak of the whaling industry, Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick" follows Captain Ahab and his diverse crew aboard the whaling ship Pequod as they embark on a perilous journey to hunt the elusive white whale, Moby Dick. Ahab's obsessive desire for revenge after losing his leg to the whale drives the narrative and creates conflict with his crew, particularly the cautious First Mate Starbuck, who recognizes the dangers of Ahab's fixation. As the crew navigates the harsh realities of whaling, they grapple with themes of humanity's relationship with nature, mortality, and the moral ambiguities of their profession, illustrated through both humorous and dark episodes. The story highlights the complex dynamics among the crew members and the existential struggles they face, culminating in a dramatic confrontation that underscores the fragile nature of human ambition against the indifference of the natural world. Through this tale of obsession and camaraderie, Melville reflects on the deeper philosophical implications of life at sea amidst the tumultuous backdrop of the whaling industry.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in the early 20th century, J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan" revolves around the Darling family, particularly focusing on Wendy as she transitions from childhood into adulthood, reflecting on themes of parental love, nostalgia, and the complexities of growing up. Amidst the backdrop of their domestic life, Peter Pan, a boy who embodies the essence of perpetual youth, intrudes into the children’s lives, whisking them away to Neverland for magical adventures filled with lost boys, mermaids, and pirates. As the Darling children navigate captivating escapades, including confrontations with the villainous Captain Hook, they wrestle with the concept of innocence, loss, and the bittersweet reality of growing up. The narrative intricately portrays the implications of familial bonds and the passage of time, culminating in poignant moments as Wendy, now a mother, must let go of her childhood dreams while her daughter, Jane, is introduced to Peter Pan’s enchanting world. Through whimsical adventures and deeper emotional struggles, the tale ultimately explores the transient nature of childhood and the enduring magic of imagination across generations.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," set in the early 19th century during the Regency era, the story follows Elizabeth Bennet as she navigates the challenges of marriage expectations and social class dynamics within her family. Faced with proposals and romantic advances from characters such as the wealthy Mr. Bingley and the proud Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth initially misjudges Darcy due to his aloof demeanor and perceived arrogance. However, as the narrative unfolds, influenced by Darcy's kindness to her family and the reckless actions of her sister Lydia, Elizabeth undergoes significant personal growth. The novel explores themes of pride, prejudice, family loyalty, and the quest for genuine connections, culminating in Elizabeth's engagement to Darcy, which signifies a deeper understanding of love and the complexities of societal norms in Regency England.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," set in late 16th century Verona, the tumultuous love story of two young lovers, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, unfolds against the backdrop of a violent feud between their families. Their chance meeting at a Capulet ball ignites a forbidden romance, leading them to secretly commit to each other despite the risks posed by their families' animosity. As their love deepens, tragedy strikes when Tybalt kills Romeo's friend Mercutio, prompting Romeo to kill Tybalt in revenge, which results in his exile. In desperation, Juliet seeks Friar Lawrence's aid and takes a potion to feign death, intending to escape her arranged marriage to Paris. However, a series of catastrophic misunderstandings leads Romeo to believe Juliet is truly dead; in his grief, he takes poison, and upon awakening to find him lifeless, Juliet follows suit. Their tragic deaths ultimately awaken remorse in their families, highlighting the destructive consequences of entrenched hatred and the poignancy of love thwarted by familial conflict.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn early 19th-century England, Jane Austen's *Sense and Sensibility* tells the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, who face the dual challenges of love and societal expectations after the death of their father leaves them in precarious financial circumstances. Relocating to Barton Cottage, they seek to navigate their new reality while grappling with romantic entanglements that reflect their contrasting personalities—Elinor's pragmatic approach juxtaposed with Marianne's passionate nature. Elinor harbors feelings for Edward Ferrars, who is secretly engaged to another woman, while Marianne becomes enamored with the charming but unreliable Mr. Willoughby, leading to heartbreak and disillusionment. As they confront social constraints and personal desires, both sisters experience growth and resilience, ultimately underscoring the strength of their bond and the complexities of human relationships within the rigid framework of their society.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in late 19th century London, this collection of Sherlock Holmes stories showcases the legendary detective's extraordinary investigative abilities alongside his close companion, Dr. John Watson. The narratives delve into a variety of captivating cases, including the mysterious disappearance of a fiancé, a murder investigation at Boscombe Pool, and the search for a missing husband ensnared in deception. Holmes employs astute observations and deductive reasoning to tackle these intricate mysteries, which often reflect the social challenges and family dynamics of the Victorian era. The stories touch on themes of deception, love versus duty, and societal pressures, featuring characters like Helen Stoner, who seeks justice for her sister's tragic death, and Lord Robert St. Simon, whose wedding is clouded by his bride's sudden vanishing. Throughout their adventures, Holmes and Watson navigate the complexities of human relationships while unearthing hidden motives and restoring justice in a society marked by intrigue and hidden truths.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn Oscar Wilde's comedic play "The Importance of Being Earnest," set in the late Victorian era, characters grapple with the absurdities of love and societal expectations through sharp wit and humorous misunderstandings. The narrative centers on Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, who both lead double lives—Jack as Ernest in the city to woo Gwendolen Fairfax, and Algernon adopting the fictional persona of Bunbury to avoid social obligations. Their romantic pursuits become complicated when Gwendolen and Cecily Cardew each profess their love for "Ernest," unintentionally embroiling them in a rivalry. As the plot unfolds, Lady Bracknell represents the rigid social norms that scrutinize their engagements, particularly concerning class and lineage. Amid comical misunderstandings, particularly involving Miss Prism's secret about Jack's true identity, the play critiques the superficial values of Victorian society and highlights the contradictions between personal happiness and societal pressures, all conveyed with Wilde's signature satire.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in the late 19th to early 20th century, the story follows Edward Prendick, a survivor of a shipwreck who finds himself stranded on a mysterious island ruled by the mad scientist Dr. Moreau. After battling thirst and hallucinations at sea, Prendick is rescued and taken aboard a ship where he faces disconcerting dynamics, eventually arriving at the island, which is inhabited by grotesque creatures known as the Beast Folk—hybrids of humans and animals created through Moreau's controversial experiments. As he witnesses the unsettling interactions and moral decay surrounding him, Prendick grapples with his own identity and the implications of dehumanization, ultimately confronting the darker side of scientific ambition and the fragile boundaries between humanity and monstrosity. The narrative explores themes of survival, ethical dilemmas of scientific exploration, and a haunting reflection on the primal instincts underlying civilization, culminating in Prendick's struggle to escape both the physical dangers of the island and the psychological turmoil arising from his traumatic experiences.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in 17th-century Puritan New England, Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" narrates the story of Hester Prynne, who faces public humiliation after bearing an illegitimate child named Pearl as a result of her affair with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Marked by a scarlet letter "A" for adultery, Hester's strength and resilience emerge as she raises Pearl and engages in charitable acts, gradually earning some respect from a judgmental community. Meanwhile, Dimmesdale grapples with the intense guilt of their unacknowledged connection, and Hester's estranged husband, Roger Chillingworth, seeks revenge, complicating their lives. The narrative delves into themes of sin, guilt, love, and redemption as the characters navigate societal condemnation, leading to a climax where Dimmesdale confesses his sins publicly before his death. Afterward, Hester confronts her shame and the uncertain future of Pearl, while Chillingworth's obsession exacts a toll on him. The intertwined fates of Hester and Dimmesdale, who are ultimately buried together, symbolize their tragic love and the enduring impact of their sins within the constraints of their harsh society.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileThe narrative offers a historical analysis of the translation and lasting impact of Sun Tzŭ's "Art of War," starting with Joseph Amiot's 1782 French version and evolving through important English adaptations, such as Lionel Giles' 1910 translation. Originating during China's Warring States period in the early 6th century B.C., Sun Tzŭ's teachings have influenced military strategy up to the 3rd century A.D. The text discusses key principles like strategic planning, deception, troop management, and adaptability, drawing parallels between these concepts and the actions of notable historical military leaders. It further explores the ongoing scholarly debate surrounding the text's authenticity and interpretations, while emphasizing the significance of unity and cooperation among troops and the prudent use of espionage. The narrative ultimately bridges ancient military philosophy with contemporary leadership lessons, underscoring the importance of wisdom in governance and a preference for peace over warfare.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in late 19th-century Russia, "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky centers on the Karamazov family's turbulent dynamics, particularly the morally and emotionally fraught relationships among brothers Dmitri, Ivan, and Alyosha, alongside their neglectful father, Fyodor Pavlovitch. The story intricately explores themes of faith, existential dilemmas, and the search for redemption as the brothers confront their personal crises, including Dmitri's tumultuous love life and legal troubles, Ivan's philosophical disillusionment, and Alyosha's spiritual quest inspired by the wisdom of their elder, Father Zossima. As they navigate a sensational murder trial, familial conflicts, and societal judgments, the narrative intricately weaves their internal struggles against a backdrop of moral ambiguity, revealing profound insights into human connection, guilt, and the pursuit of meaning in a world marked by suffering and complexity. The unfolding events highlight how personal traumas and philosophical inquiries impact their relationships and choices, ultimately reflecting on the fragile nature of family bonds and the human spirit’s quest for understanding and redemption.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in the early 20th century, during the winter of 1926-27, the story explores the themes of forbidden knowledge and the horrors of uncovering unsettling truths about existence. Following the mysterious death of Professor George Gammell Angell, his grand-nephew investigates the professor's strange belongings, leading him to cryptic manuscripts and a chilling bas-relief tied to a sculptor, Henry Anthony Wilcox. This journey reveals disturbing links to a monstrous entity, Cthulhu, and a sinister voodoo cult in New Orleans, involved in mysterious disappearances and violence. As Officer Legrasse and his team delve into the swampy depths of the cult's activities, they confront ancient rituals and grotesque beings connected to cosmic horrors, suggesting the terrifying power of Cthulhu lying dormant beneath the ocean. Through various narratives, the characters grapple with madness and the struggle between knowledge and ignorance, ultimately highlighting the existential threat posed by these ancient forces and the peril of uncovering truths that are best left undiscovered. The narrative serves as a chilling reminder of humanity's tenuous hold on sanity in the face of the vast and unknown cosmos.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn the late 19th century, Samuel Butler reexamined the narrative of Homer's "The Odyssey," positing that it was authored by a woman from Sicily. The story is set in ancient Greece after the Trojan War and focuses on Ulysses (Odysseus) as he struggles to return home to Ithaca after a long absence filled with trials and temptations provoked by mythical creatures and vengeful gods. Meanwhile, his son Telemachus is dealing with suitors pursuing his mother, Penelope, and embarks on a journey to learn about his father's fate, evolving from a passive boy into an assertive young man under the guidance of the goddess Minerva. As Ulysses gradually reclaims his home, aided by Telemachus and allied with loyal figures like Eumaeus, the narrative explores themes of loyalty, identity, divine intervention, and the emotional challenges faced by families torn apart by circumstance. Through the lens of Butler's reinterpretation, the tapestry of human experience against the backdrop of mythological elements highlights the enduring nature of hope and the quest for justice.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in late 19th-century England, Oscar Wilde's novel *The Picture of Dorian Gray* tells the story of Dorian Gray, a young man whose obsession with beauty and desire for eternal youth leads him down a path of moral decay. Influenced by the hedonistic ideals of Lord Henry Wotton and the unconditional love of artist Basil Hallward, Dorian wishes that his portrait would age instead of him, allowing him to indulge in a life of excess without facing the consequences of his actions. As he explores this hedonistic lifestyle, marked by shallow pleasures and tragic events—such as the death of his beloved Sibyl Vane—Dorian's internal corruption is reflected in his grotesquely aging portrait. This dark narrative reveals the destructive impact of prioritizing aesthetics over ethics, culminating in Dorian's desperate attempt to destroy the portrait that embodies his sins, leading to his tragic demise. Through Dorian's self-destructive journey, Wilde critiques societal values, highlighting the perils of living without accountability and the superficiality of a purely aesthetic existence.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in late 19th-century London, the story centers on lawyer Mr. Utterson as he becomes entangled in the disturbing relationship between his friend Dr. Henry Jekyll and the sinister figure of Mr. Hyde. Following unsettling events, including a brutal murder linked to Hyde, Utterson investigates Jekyll's will, which inexplicably leaves his estate to Hyde. As Utterson uncovers troubling secrets about Jekyll's experiments with his dual identity—created through a potion that transforms him into the malevolent Hyde—he witnesses the tragic consequences of Jekyll's internal struggle with morality and the darker aspects of human nature. This psychological horror tale showcases the themes of duality, identity, and moral conflict as Utterson grapples with the mysterious forces at play and the ultimate fallout of Jekyll's tragic choices, leading to a chilling climax that underscores the peril of scientific ambition and moral compromise.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileIn H.G. Wells's "The Time Machine," set in the late 19th century, the Time Traveller introduces his friends to the concept of time as the fourth dimension and reveals his invention that enables time travel. His initial leap takes him to the distant year 802,701, where he discovers a future society divided between the delicate, carefree Eloi and the terrifying, subterranean Morlocks. As the Time Traveller navigates this new world, he grapples with feelings of isolation and nostalgia, reflecting on humanity's loss of strength and intelligence in exchange for comfort. Through his adventures, he uncovers remnants of a once-great civilization and engages in a struggle for survival against the Morlocks while forming a bond with Weena, an Eloi. The narrative explores profound themes of evolution, societal division, and the cyclical nature of civilization against a backdrop of decay and stagnation in a dystopian future, ultimately inviting readers to reflect on the implications of technological and social progress.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in the late 19th century, H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" chronicles Earth's first terrifying encounter with Martians, who invade due to their planet's cooling. The story kicks off with a cylinder crash in Woking, England, unveiling horrifying creatures armed with advanced weaponry that incites panic and chaos among the populace. As societal norms collapse, various characters struggle for survival against the overwhelming alien threat, contrasting their mundane lives with the extraordinary peril they face. The narrative unfolds in post-apocalyptic London, where the protagonist recounts his experiences of loss and despair while navigating the ruins with a pragmatic artilleryman. Together, they explore survival strategies and envision a new community, but the narrator becomes increasingly skeptical of these plans as he deals with emotional turmoil. Ultimately, he longs for reconnection, leading to a heartfelt reunion with his wife, symbolizing hope and the potential for humanity to rebuild amidst the devastation and existential challenges posed by the invasion. The tale poignantly underscores both the fragility and resilience of human existence in the face of annihilation.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in the early 1900s, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" follows the adventurous journey of a young girl named Dorothy who, after being swept away by a cyclone from Kansas, lands in the enchanting land of Oz. There, she inadvertently defeats the Wicked Witch of the East and embarks on a quest to the Emerald City seeking help from the Great Wizard of Oz to return home. Along her journey, Dorothy befriends the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion, all of whom seek personal qualities they believe they lack: intelligence, a heart, and courage. Their adventures lead them through a vibrant world filled with challenges, including facing the Wicked Witch of the West. Throughout their trials, they learn valuable lessons about bravery, friendship, and self-discovery. Ultimately, Dorothy finds a way back home through her magical silver shoes, reflecting on the importance of her friendships and the growth they all experienced during their quest. This whimsical tale captures the spirit of early 20th-century children's literature, highlighting themes of adventure, courage, and the magic of believing in oneself.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileThe narrative takes place in the early to mid-19th century and intertwines the lives of notable characters, particularly focusing on the struggles of Edgar Allan Poe, a literary genius contending with personal demons, poverty, and heartbreak during his rise to fame with works like "The Raven." Alongside Poe's journey, the story introduces whimsical adventures, including balloon journeys and treasure quests led by eccentric individuals, reflecting human ambition and a growing scientific curiosity. It contrasts these tales with darker themes of crime and mystery in Paris, as detective C. Auguste Dupin investigates the gruesome murders of Madame L'Espanaye and her daughter, facing societal panic and flawed reasoning from the police. The narrative also touches on the mysterious disappearance of Marie Rogêt and the limits of public perception. A poignant romantic tale of a painter and his suffering wife illustrates the tragic consequences of obsession, culminating in the painter's realization that his devotion to art has cost him his beloved. Overall, the collection reflects the beauty and tragedy of the 19th century, emphasizing resilience, the quest for knowledge, and the interplay of ambition in the face of personal and societal challenges.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet during the early 1920s in the Jazz Age, F. Scott Fitzgerald's *The Great Gatsby* follows narrator Nick Carraway as he navigates the elaborate social dynamics of East Egg and West Egg on Long Island, becoming enmeshed in the life of the enigmatic Jay Gatsby. After serving in World War I, Nick reflects on the moral complexities of wealth and privilege while observing Gatsby’s desperate pursuit of his former love, Daisy Buchanan, who is now married to the wealthy but brutish Tom Buchanan. Through extravagant parties and turbulent interactions, the narrative reveals tensions marked by infidelity, jealousy, and the oppressive nature of social expectations. As Gatsby's dreams clash with the bitter realities of his past and the societal hierarchies around him, themes of disillusionment, loneliness, and the elusive nature of the American Dream emerge, culminating in tragic consequences that expose the hollowness of their affluent lives. Ultimately, the story offers a poignant critique of aspiration and moral decay amidst the glamour of the era, leaving Nick to grapple with the bitter truths of their unattainable desires.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in a fantastical version of the late 19th century, this whimsical story follows young Alice as she embarks on a surreal journey through a dreamlike world, reminiscent of Lewis Carroll's *Through the Looking-Glass*. Encountering an array of eccentric characters such as the Red and White Queens, Humpty Dumpty, and the identical Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Alice navigates absurd situations that explore themes of identity, imagination, and the nonsensical nature of language. Throughout her adventures, including chaotic debates and playful antics with animated objects, Alice reflects on her connections and the complexities of perception while grappling with the delightful and perplexing aspects of her surroundings. Ultimately, her journey underscores the enchanting logic of childhood wonder, celebrating the bittersweet nostalgia of growing up.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 fileSet in early 20th-century Dublin during the summer of 1904, James Joyce's *Ulysses* intricately weaves together the lives of characters primarily focusing on Leopold Bloom, a Jewish advertising canvasser, and the young artist Stephen Dedalus. As they navigate the bustling streets of Dublin, the narrative unfolds through a series of vignettes that delve into profound themes of identity, memory, mortality, and the search for meaning amidst a rapidly changing society. Bloom wrestles with personal loss and societal expectations, reflecting on his past and engaging in both humorous and poignant dialogues with a diverse cast, including Stephen, who grapples with the implications of his Irish identity and the grief of his mother's death. The story captures the richness of urban life and the complexities of human relationships, combining elements of comedy and melancholy while critiquing social norms and imperialism. Ultimately, *Ulysses* offers a vivid portrayal of existential musings and interpersonal connections in a vibrant yet tumultuous Dublin, highlighting the interconnectedness of human experiences against the backdrop of cultural revival and societal strife.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 file"Wuthering Heights," set in the late 18th to early 19th century, delves into the turbulent relationships and emotional turmoil of the Earnshaw and Linton families. It centers on Mr. Heathcliff, whose adoption into the Earnshaw family brings about jealousy and mistreatment from Hindley. Intertwined with his intense love for Catherine Earnshaw, who ultimately marries the refined Edgar Linton, the narrative explores themes of obsessive love, class struggle, and revenge against a bleak rural backdrop. As the characters navigate their complicated feelings and societal expectations, Catherine's bond with Heathcliff intensifies, leading to confrontations and regret. Following the death of Linton, Catherine seeks solace in her relationship with Hareton Earnshaw, pushing through a landscape of pride and social division. The story culminates in Heathcliff's death, prompting reflection on the haunting legacies of unresolved emotions and the complexities of love and betrayal among intertwined lives.Get an EPUB3 file (supports many readers)Get a very abridged (much shorter) EPUB3 file | 2024-11-07T15:01:32 | en | train |
42,048,265 | healsdata | 2024-11-05T03:11:48 | null | null | null | 4 | null | [
42048287
] | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,267 | gx | 2024-11-05T03:11:59 | WriteMapper for Education | null | https://writemapper.com/education/ | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,311 | jason159123 | 2024-11-05T03:22:38 | null | null | null | 1 | null | [
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42,048,317 | gnabgib | 2024-11-05T03:24:18 | Walmart Reports Second Quarter Results [pdf] | null | https://corporate.walmart.com/content/dam/corporate/documents/newsroom/2024/08/15/walmart-releases-q2-fy25-earnings/q2-fy25-earnings-release.pdf | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,333 | edgardjos4 | 2024-11-05T03:27:14 | null | null | null | 1 | null | [
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42,048,362 | pabs3 | 2024-11-05T03:31:41 | Internet Archive Services Update | null | https://blog.archive.org/2024/10/28/internet-archive-services-update/ | 46 | 0 | [
42050731
] | null | null | missing_parsing | Internet Archive Services Update | Internet Archive Blogs | null | View all posts by Chris Freeland → |
Last updated: November 4, 2024
Services Online:
Wayback Machine-Save Page Nowopenlibrary.orgarchive-it.orgVaultscholar.archive.orgInterlibrary loan via RapidILLarchive.org services available:-texts-tv news search and borrow-audio-moving images-institutional uploads-institutional web archiving-access via API
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For latest updates, please check this blog and our official social media accounts: X/Twitter, Bluesky and Mastodon.
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| 2024-11-07T23:17:02 | null | train |
42,048,364 | Farer | 2024-11-05T03:32:07 | Seeking feedback on regional server performance for a virtual ecosystem | Hi HN! I’ve recently launched regional servers for a persistent virtual ecosystem project, and I’d appreciate feedback on performance from users in the US, EU, and KR regions. Here are the URLs:<p>US: https://us-alpha.breathingworld.com/
EU: https://eu-alpha.breathingworld.com/
KR: https://alpha.breathingworld.com/<p>The main server is located in South Korea, so please keep that in mind when providing feedback. If you’re in any of these regions, could you try accessing the ecosystem and let me know how it performs? I’m particularly interested in any network latency issues or lag that could affect the real-time responsiveness of this virtual ecosystem.<p>Any insights or suggestions on improving stability and performance would be incredibly helpful. Thanks so much for your time! | null | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,393 | takakato | 2024-11-05T03:37:49 | CMEのFedWatch ツール – CME Group | null | https://www.cmegroup.com/ja/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,402 | ziofill | 2024-11-05T03:39:17 | Jacob Collier: in the room where it happens | null | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERvd5QjupSU | 4 | 0 | [
42050988
] | null | null | no_article | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-07T22:08:26 | null | train |
42,048,407 | keepamovin | 2024-11-05T03:40:17 | Extensions – loadUnpacked | null | https://chromedevtools.github.io/devtools-protocol/tot/Extensions/#method-loadUnpacked | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,415 | rm2904 | 2024-11-05T03:41:50 | null | null | null | 1 | null | [
42048416
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42,048,423 | denisshilov | 2024-11-05T03:43:02 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,432 | steamboatwillie | 2024-11-05T03:45:14 | Animating videos using CSS transitions and sprite sheets | null | https://www.billybjork.com/how-i-built-this#dynamic-thumbnails | 6 | 0 | [
42050979
] | null | null | Failed after 3 attempts. Last error: Quota exceeded for quota metric 'Generate Content API requests per minute' and limit 'GenerateContent request limit per minute for a region' of service 'generativelanguage.googleapis.com' for consumer 'project_number:854396441450'. | Billy Bjork | How I built this website | null | null |
... a website, inside a website 🙄
For most of my life, my main creative outlet has been making videos. But for the last 9 months, most of my creative energy has gone towards learning to write software.
I've recently completed my second web development project—this website you're currently visiting. I made it from scratch, and the rest of this post is about what I learned doing it.
We'll look at some code snippets in Bash, Python, JavaScript, CSS, and HTML (extended with htmx and Jinja2). I'll do my best to translate them for you (and myself).
Key features you might notice:
Thumbnails animate in response to your scroll
Projects open seamlessly without a page reload
Videos play back smoothly, and don't come from Vimeo or YouTube
1. Dynamic Thumbnails
My previous site in Wix was a list of projects, each with a title, a date, and a thumbnail. That didn't change.
Naturally, I wanted to build something that could not be done in Wix—some element of interactivity. Ideally, one that would work on both desktop and mobile, with little hassle.
I ruled out interactivity based on cursor position / hover state, since that wouldn't apply to mobile. Which led me to consider scrolling as the basis for interactivity.
The lightbulb moment: Why not have the thumbnails react to the visitor's scrolling?
Both ChatGPT and Claude kindly assured me it could be done, and one good way to do it would utilize sprite sheets. Sprite sheets? New to me too.
A sprite sheet, I learned, is a single image file containing a grid of many smaller images. Sprite sheets give you precise control over frame-by-frame playback, such as quickly changing direction or speed, without the need for computationally-expensive video decoding. With a sprite sheet, your 'video decoder' can simply be JavaScript and CSS animations (which, can be GPU-accelerated on most modern devices).
The sprite sheet, or more broadly called a 'texture atlas', was invented to solve performance challenges by combining multiple smaller images into a single file that's more efficient for graphics hardware to process.
These benefits have made sprite sheets a popular approach for character animations in 2D game development:
(source)
Turns out, you can also use sprite sheets to display frames of a video clip:
So how do you make one of those?
Easy task for ffmpeg, the Swiss Army Knife of media transcoding. ChatGPT helped craft the appropriate ffmpeg command based on my specifications for the input video duration, frame rate, output frame resolution, and grid dimensions. After some trial and error, here's the command I used:
for f in *.mp4; do
ffmpeg -i "$f" \
-t 3 \
-vf "fps=20,scale=320:180:force_original_aspect_ratio=increase,crop=320:180,tile=5x12" \
-q:v 5 \
"${f%.*}_sprite_sheet.jpg"
done
Translated:
For each MP4 file in the current directory:
Trim to the first 3 seconds
Convert to 20 fps, and resize each frame to 320x180 px while maintaining dimensions
Arrange the resulting 60 frames (20 fps * 3 sec) in a 5x12 grid
Save as a medium-quality JPG with "_sprite_sheet.jpg" appended to the original file name
With that magical command, I turned my folder of trimmed videos into 50+ sprite sheets, in the blink of an eye.
Now, how do we put these sprite sheets to use?
First, I set up an HTML thumbnail element with specs matching those from the ffmpeg command. Then some JavaScript to wrangle in the CSS property for background-position, and let it dance with the scroll position.
I also wanted some kind of 'easing' to prevent the animation from feeling too rigid, similar to the idea of time remapping in video editing. Achieving that, I'll admit, required some heavy-duty prompting and copy-pasting code, trying to coax the right JavaScript out of ChatGPT and Claude.
Here's a condensed version of the code:
let animationProgress = 0;
let animationSpeed = 0;
let lastScrollTop = window.pageYOffset;
let lastScrollTime = Date.now();
// Update sprite sheet position for each thumbnail
const updateThumbnails = () => {
document.querySelectorAll('.thumbnail').forEach(thumbnail => {
// Get sprite sheet config from data attributes
const { frames, frameWidth, frameHeight, columns } = thumbnail.dataset;
// Calculate current frame position in sprite sheet
let frameIndex = Math.floor(animationProgress) % frames;
const frameX = (frameIndex % columns) * frameWidth;
const frameY = Math.floor(frameIndex / columns) * frameHeight;
// Apply position
thumbnail.style.backgroundPosition = `-${frameX}px -${frameY}px`;
});
};
// Convert scroll speed to animation speed
const handleScroll = () => {
const currentScroll = window.pageYOffset;
const deltaTime = (Date.now() - lastScrollTime) / 1000;
// Calculate scroll velocity and convert to animation speed
animationSpeed = (currentScroll - lastScrollTop) / (deltaTime * 3); // 3 = pixels per frame
animationSpeed = Math.max(-30, Math.min(30, animationSpeed)); // Cap speed
lastScrollTop = currentScroll;
lastScrollTime = Date.now();
};
// Updates frame based on speed
const animationLoop = () => {
// Apply deceleration
const deceleration = 15 + Math.abs(animationSpeed) * 0.1;
animationSpeed *= 0.95; // Simple friction
// Update current frame
animationProgress += animationSpeed * 0.016; // 0.016 = ~60fps
if (animationProgress < 0) animationProgress += 60;
updateThumbnails();
requestAnimationFrame(animationLoop);
};
// Start animation
requestAnimationFrame(animationLoop);
Translated:
Track animation progress and scroll speed.
For each thumbnail:
Get the sprite sheet specs from HTML data attributes
Show the correct frame by adjusting the background-position (to 'move' the visible area of the thumbnail)
Convert scroll speed to animation speed (capped at ±30).
Run a continuous loop to:
Update all thumbnails' positions at 60fps
Apply friction for a gradual deceleration after scrolling stops
Here's what this looks like in action (I've included the background-position, which updates as you scroll):
-1280px -540px
2. Partial Rendering
Another central design goal was to make opening and closing projects seamless. Visitors should be able to peek into a project, then carry on scrolling without feeling like the page ever reloaded.
Designing for indecisiveness :)
While I could accomplish this using a framework like React, I wanted to escape the feeling of unmanageable JavaScript spaghetti code (self-imposed) I felt in when making my first web app, made using React. Plus, I still had so much to learn with plain-old HTML construction and templating. Seemingly, the only drawback, was the limited range of experiences that HTML could deliver.
That's how I arrived at htmx, a library to help build dynamic web interactions using straightforward HTML syntax.
Htmx also comes with great memes
Htmx grants HTML an arsenal of superpowers, including:
The ability to issue HTTP requests from any element, not just <a> and <form> elements
Many different ways to trigger HTTP requests, such as on hover or visibility events, or on a timed interval
Precise control over where the HTML returned by requests is placed
These capabilities made htmx perfect for handling project open/close transitions without full-page refreshes. Here's how I used htmx attributes in my project-header element:
<header class="project-header"
hx-get="/{{ project.slug }}"
hx-target="#details-{{ project.slug }}"
hx-trigger="click"
hx-swap="innerHTML"
hx-push-url="true">
<!-- project-name, project-date, and pinned-icon -->
</header>
Translated:
When a project header is clicked (hx-trigger="click"):
Fetch content associated with the project that was clicked (hx-get="/{{ project.slug }}")
Replace the inner HTML of that project's #details- element with the content returned by the request
Update the URL in the browser's address bar to reflect the project’s page (hx-push-url="true")
With that, project headers now serve as buttons to open projects in place, right into the current page.
But that's only part of the story. Let's explore how those GET requests to /{{ project.slug }} are handled on the backend.
What's notable about this the /{{ project.slug }} API endpoint is that it supports two similar but distinct use cases:
If a project is clicked out of the list (request made by htmx), return partial page content
If a user navigates directly to a project-specific URL (such as https://www.billybjork.com/pennies-from-heaven), return the complete page layout with all the dependencies, in addition to the specific project
While these distinct needs could have been supported by separate endpoints, servicing them with the same /{{ project.slug }} endpoint felt clearest, as both involve requests for specific project content.
Note how this endpoint distinguishes between htmx and non-htmx requests (I used FastAPI as my backend framework):
# Check if the request is an HTMX request
is_htmx = request.headers.get("HX-Request") == "true"
if is_htmx:
if is_open:
# Return the project details
return templates.TemplateResponse("project_details.html", {
"request": request,
"project": project,
"is_open": is_open,
"meta_description": meta_description
})
else:
# Return empty content for closing to prevent thumbnail duplication
return Response(content='', status_code=200)
# For direct navigation, render the page with only the project
# Set a flag to indicate that we're in isolation mode
projects = [project]
isolation_mode = True
return templates.TemplateResponse("index.html", {
"request": request,
"projects": projects,
"open_project": project if is_open else None,
"current_year": datetime.now().year,
"general_info": general_info,
"isolation_mode": isolation_mode,
"page_title": page_title,
"page_meta_description": page_meta_description
})
Translation:
If the request comes from htmx, and the project is in "open" state:
Return the project_details.html template
For direct navigation to a project URL (non-htmx requests):
Return the index.html template to create a project list containing only the requested project
Set isolation_mode to True to indicate we're showing a single project
With a little help from the backend, our project open/close transitions can be easily implemented by sprinkling some htmx attributes on project-header and a few other HTML elements.
Here's an early version, showing the 'hello world' moment for partial rendering with htmx:
2.5. Infinite Scroll
Before we move on, I'll share one more functionality that htmx helped me achieve: infinite scroll.
With over 50 projects and growing, it would not be practical to load the entire project list - thumbnails and all - right when you first load the site. So I needed pagination, but clunky "Next Page" buttons just don't feel right when you're scrolling through videos. Instead, why not follow an infinite scroll patter, in which more projects are loaded whenever the user gets to the bottom of the page, to enable continuous scrolling without full-page reloads.
This was another task well-suited for htmx, along with its partner-in-crime, Jinja2—the templating engine I used to stitch together my HTML components. Implementing an infinite scroll started with my project-list component, which was composed entirely of Jinja2 syntax:
<section id="project-list">
{% set open_project = open_project if open_project is defined else None %}
{% for project in projects %}
{% set is_open = (open_project and open_project.slug == project.slug) %}
{% include "project.html" with context %}
{% endfor %}
{% if not isolation_mode and has_more %}
{% include "infinite_scroll_sentinel.html" %}
{% endif %}
</section>
Translated:
This is a section with the ID project-list
Check if there's an open_project
Loop through all projects in the projects list. For each project:
Check if it's currently "open" by comparing its slug with the open_project's slug
Include project.html to render each individual project
After all projects are rendered, check if NOT in isolation_mode (i.e. direct navigation to a project URL) and there are more projects to load.
If both conditions are true, include infinite_scroll_sentinel.html, which we'll explore below.
Here is infinite_scroll_sentinel.html, which is injected into the project list to carry out the infinite scroll:
<aside
id="infinite-scroll-sentinel-{{ page }}"
{% if has_more %}
data-page="{{ page + 1 }}"
hx-get="/?page={{ page + 1 }}"
hx-trigger="revealed"
hx-target="#infinite-scroll-sentinel-{{ page }}"
hx-swap="outerHTML"
style="height: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 20px;">
<p>Loading more projects...</p>
{% else %}
style="height: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 20px; display: none;">
{% endif %}
</aside>
Translated:
Create a sentinel (observer) element with a unique ID based on the current page number
If there are more projects to load (has_more is true):
Store the next page number
When this element becomes visible on screen (hx-trigger="revealed"), fetch the next page of projects, which will replace this entire sentinel element
While loading, show "Loading more projects..."
If there are no more projects (has_more is false), create a hidden placeholder
With that, additional projects are loaded whenever the viewport reaches the bottom of page:
3. Video Player
As a website consisting mostly of video projects, I knew it needed an exceptional video player. While I previously relied on embeds from YouTube or Vimeo, I always felt the playback experience was slower and clunkier than it needed to be.
Video player in my previous Wix site
When you're so fixated on the new video player that you forget to watch the video
Today's browsers come with highly capable native video players, and using them can be as easy as throwing a link into a <video> element. Initially, I gave it the MP4 files I had readily available, served through the AWS CloudFront CDN.
But to match and exceed the experience of YouTube/Vimeo, simply streaming MP4 files wasn't enough. To ensure smooth playback even with variable or poor connectivity, I had to embrace adaptive bitrate streaming.
In other words, rather than serving one fixed-quality video file, I needed to serve the content in varying quality levels that automatically adjust based on the viewer's connection speed.
How? With HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), a protocol that serves different video qualities based on network conditions.
For a second time, implementing this feature starts with ffmpeg—which allows us to efficiently transcode the the five versions of each video file, broken into chunks. This snippet gives a taste of how it works:
ffmpeg_cmd+=" -filter_complex \"[0:v]split=5[v1][v2][v3][v4][v5]; \
[v1]scale=$(calculate_scale 1080)[v1out]; [v2]scale=$(calculate_scale 720)[v2out]; \
[v3]scale=$(calculate_scale 480)[v3out]; [v4]scale=$(calculate_scale 360)[v4out]; \
[v5]scale=$(calculate_scale 240)[v5out]\""
ffmpeg_cmd+=" -map \"[v1out]\" -c:v:0 libx264 -b:v:0 5000k -maxrate:v:0 5350k -bufsize:v:0 7500k"
ffmpeg_cmd+=" -map \"[v2out]\" -c:v:1 libx264 -b:v:1 2800k -maxrate:v:1 2996k -bufsize:v:1 4200k"
ffmpeg_cmd+=" -map \"[v3out]\" -c:v:2 libx264 -b:v:2 1400k -maxrate:v:2 1498k -bufsize:v:2 2100k"
ffmpeg_cmd+=" -map \"[v4out]\" -c:v:3 libx264 -b:v:3 800k -maxrate:v:3 856k -bufsize:v:3 1200k"
ffmpeg_cmd+=" -map \"[v5out]\" -c:v:4 libx264 -b:v:4 500k -maxrate:v:4 535k -bufsize:v:4 750k"
ffmpeg_cmd+=" -map a:0 -map a:0 -map a:0 -map a:0 -map a:0"
variant_map="v:0,a:0 v:1,a:1 v:2,a:2 v:3,a:3 v:4,a:4"
Translated:
Create 5 video qualities: 1080p (5000kbps), 720p (2800kbps), 480p (1400kbps), 360p (800kbps), 240p (500kbps)
Split the original video, and scale each version to its resolution
Encode each in the H.264 codec and optimized bitrates
Copy audio to all versions
Map everything together for adaptive streaming
This process produces a set of .ts files (video fragments in various sizes) along with various .m3u8 files ('playlist' files to orchestrate the stream). I stored these files in my S3 bucket, in a subfolder for each project.
The master.m3u8 file link is what you ultimately pass into <video> elements, which tells the browser which version of the video to load depending on the network conditions.
Here's what video streaming using HLS looks like, in network requests:
Bonus Preview: CMS
As a replacement of my previous website on Wix, this project involved not only the user interface for browsing projects, it's also become my personal content management system (CMS).
CMS interface from my previous Wix site (sped up to 300% speed)
This website's content is stored in a Postgres database (using Supabase), with media assets hosted in AWS S3. While these are serving me well, neither is practical as a CMS. Instead, I want to be able to create, update, and delete projects (including uploads for media files) all within this website.
So, how hard could it be to just use this website as my CMS?
Not that hard, as it turns out. I've implemented some of this already, which is why I'm currently writing this post at billybjork.com/how-i-built-this/edit, without touching the raw HTML.
Current CMS interface (real time)
Here's what I've accomplished so far on the CMS front:
Simple interfaces to edit my About page, to edit individual projects, and to create new projects
Authenticated API endpoints to render those pages at /edit endpoints, and the accept responses to form submissions in those pages
A rich text editor (using TinyMCE) and code highlighting (using PrismJS)
My to-do list includes:
Pipeline for file uploads and transcodes, to eliminate the need to manually convert files to web-friendly file sizes (including those HLS transcodes) and upload via the S3 console
Simple admin panel to view all hidden/unpublished drafts of projects/posts.
Auto-save functionality in my project text editor.
Personal display for project stats, like view count and number of unique visitors
Once this is all built out, I'll cover how it works a future post.
Building this site took longer than expected (obviously), but it offered plenty of learning moments. I reconnected with an old friend in ffmpeg, and got to meet some new friends: htmx and Jinja2.
Most time-consuming (predictably) was the interaction design—where HTML and CSS interfaced directly with JavaScript. This also produced the most challenges in maintaining consistency across browsers and devices.
While I, admittedly, copy/pasted a lot of code from ChatGPT and Claude, I have a much stronger understanding of web development fundamentals than I did when I set forth on my first web app. Most notably, I now have a much stronger grasp of:
Semantic HTML and templating
CSS selectors and variables
Using browser developer tools to debug errors, inspect HTML elements and CSS styles, and understand network requests
A nice hit of validation: the site now loads over 3x faster than my previous site on Wix (1470 ms → 450 ms). I'll credit this improvement mostly to cutting the enormous bloat of a website builder that serves millions of people (the old site made 152 network requests on the initial load; my current site makes 16).
More validation: the PageSpeed Insights scores...
If you're not long gone by now... you may enjoy peeking into full source code.
Thank you very much for reading this far.
More to come :)
| 2024-11-08T20:28:31 | null | train |
42,048,446 | null | 2024-11-05T03:47:31 | null | null | null | null | null | null | [
"true"
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,456 | joker72 | 2024-11-05T03:50:59 | null | null | null | 1 | null | [
42048457
] | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,464 | fhcxvbdb | 2024-11-05T03:53:11 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,469 | rc00 | 2024-11-05T03:54:42 | GitHub's Octoverse 2024 | null | https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-2024/ | 5 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,510 | perihelions | 2024-11-05T04:05:19 | China reveals a new heavy lift rocket that is a clone of SpaceX's Starship | null | https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/11/chinas-long-term-lunar-plans-now-depend-on-developing-its-own-starship/ | 8 | 3 | [
42051704,
42055358,
42049208
] | null | null | Failed after 3 attempts. Last error: Quota exceeded for quota metric 'Generate Content API requests per minute' and limit 'GenerateContent request limit per minute for a region' of service 'generativelanguage.googleapis.com' for consumer 'project_number:854396441450'. | China’s long-term lunar plans now depend on developing its own Starship | 2024-11-04T16:28:35+00:00 | Eric Berger |
When Chinese space officials unveiled the design for the country's first super heavy lift rocket nearly a decade ago, it looked like a fairly conventional booster. The rocket was fully expendable, with three stages and solid motors strapped onto its sides.
Since then, the Asian country has been revising the design of this rocket, named Long March 9, in response to the development of reusable rockets by SpaceX. As of two years ago, China had recalibrated the design to have a reusable first stage.
Now, based on information released at a major airshow in Zhuhai, China, the design has morphed again. And this time, the plan for the Long March 9 rocket looks almost exactly like a clone of SpaceX's Starship rocket.
This looks familiar
Based on its latest specifications, the Long March 9 rocket will have a fully reusable first stage powered by 30 YF-215 engines, which are full-flow staged combustion engines fueled by methane and liquid oxygen, each with a thrust of approximately 200 tons. By way of comparison, Starship's first stage is powered by 33 Raptor engines, also fueled with methane and liquid oxygen, each with a thrust of about 280 tons.
The new specifications also include a fully reusable configuration of the rocket, with an upper stage that looks eerily similar to Starship's second stage, complete with flaps in a similar location. According to a presentation at the airshow, China intends to fly this vehicle for the first time in 2033, nearly a decade from now.
A translated slide from a presentation on China's latest plans for the Long March 9.
Credit:
Weibo
In related news, last week, a quasi-private Chinese space startup, Cosmoleap, announced plans to develop a fully reusable "Leap" rocket within the next few years. An animated video that accompanied the funding announcement indicated that the company seeks to emulate the tower catch-with-chopsticks methodology that SpaceX successfully employed during Starship's fifth flight test last month.
Let's be real for a minute. These are not the first times Chinese rocket programs have emulated SpaceX, such as when Space Pioneer planned to develop a Falcon 9 clone. Both the state-run rocket agency and the company's private industries are copying the best practices of SpaceX as they seek to catch up. At this point, China's launch industry is basically hanging out in the SpaceX waiting room to see which ideas it should swipe next.
| 2024-11-08T04:40:50 | null | train |
42,048,522 | nafnlj | 2024-11-05T04:09:38 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,525 | ossusermivami | 2024-11-05T04:10:15 | Singapore to increase road capacity by GPS tracking vehicles | null | https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/03/asia_in_brief_nov_4/ | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,547 | SyncfusionBlogs | 2024-11-05T04:14:13 | null | null | null | 1 | null | [
42048548
] | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,552 | thunderbong | 2024-11-05T04:15:27 | Hackers Achieve the Inevitable: They Got Nintendo's Alarmo to Play Doom | null | https://gizmodo.com/nintendo-alarmo-doom-2000520102 | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | Failed after 3 attempts. Last error: Quota exceeded for quota metric 'Generate Content API requests per minute' and limit 'GenerateContent request limit per minute for a region' of service 'generativelanguage.googleapis.com' for consumer 'project_number:854396441450'. | Hackers Achieve the Inevitable: They Got Nintendo’s Alarmo to Play Doom | 2024-11-04T14:58:10+00:00 | Kyle Barr |
The Nintendo Alarmo is nothing more than a 2.8-inch circular screen housed in a big, red, circular computer. That immediately made it a prime target for hardware hackers keen on getting the $100 alarm clock to do their bidding. The first step on this path is, inevitably, forcing the device to run Doom. Unfortunately, it doesn’t try to wake up your neighbors every time you slay a demon, at least not yet. Reverse engineering specialist and YouTuber GaryOderNichts has a video of the Nintendo Alarmo running Doom natively, with no hardware replacement involved. Gary posted a video to his YouTube and Twitter accounts over the weekend showing this in action. The controls use the spinning wheel on the top of Alarmo to aim and move, and the two side buttons let you fire your weapons. The hardware hacker laid out the instructions and code on their GitHub for anybody else who wants to achieve the same feat.
There is no audio, as Gary explained he encountered some “USB loader memory size restrictions.” It’s possible to get sound if you load Doom fully from USB without modifying Alarmo, but that would detract from the spectacle. In this case, Alarmo is running a version of Chocolate Doom, an easily portable version of the 1993 classic shooter. Hackers have been digging into Alarmo since its release in October. Gary cited a fellow hardware hacker and Twitter user, Spinda, who was one of the first to do a teardown and show how one could attach external devices like the Flipper Zero to the Alarmo’s board to start rooting through its internal memory.
Nintendo Alarmo teardown. Contains:– STM32H730ZBI6 ARM MCU– NXP 88W8801-NMD2 Wi-Fi SoC– THGBMTG5D1LBAIL 4GB eMMC storage– SC1233A 24GHz radar sensorUnfortunately I tore the LCD ribbon cable 😅 pic.twitter.com/6hjkgAYfd9 — Spinda 🐲🦊🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (@_spinda) October 12, 2024 Gary has been working on reverse engineering Alarmo over the past few weeks. On their Blog, the hacker described the process of soldering some wires connected to the SWD pins on a Raspberry Pi to read the board’s registers. The Alarmo uses an STM32H7 MCU, which Gary said was a big boon since there’s plenty of example code available for free online.
The long and short of it is that Gary managed to bypass the locks on the device and get a USB mode and the device’s singular USB-C port to run a custom firmware update. This means you can run any custom code on the device without needing to open it up. It still works on the current software version 2.0. Gary also showed the alarm clock displaying an image of a cat, but you can run animations as well. You can port any such visuals you want to it, like a lava lamp effect. However, none of this necessarily allows you to hack the Nintendo Alarmo’s base software for some heretical uses, such as letting God of War’s Kratos yell at you to “wake up, boy” every morning. Nintendo may take the opportunity to update the system to prevent any more shenanigans. For now, this is merely the tip of the iceberg for what is technically possible.
It may not be the Switch 2, but the Alarmo is proving a fine distraction until we eventually see Nintendo’s sequel console in action next year.
| 2024-11-07T23:04:43 | null | train |
42,048,556 | transpute | 2024-11-05T04:15:48 | NetBox Open Source DCIM and IPAM Tool (2018) | null | https://techbloc.net/archives/2391 | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,569 | waveywaves | 2024-11-05T04:18:10 | "Let's hook up " – said every LD_PRELOAD | null | https://vibhavstechdiary.substack.com/p/lets-hook-up-said-every-ld_preload | 8 | 1 | [
42048570,
42050723
] | null | null | no_error | "Let's hook up !" ~ said every LD_PRELOAD ever 🪝⚙️ | 2024-11-05T03:30:45+00:00 | Vibhav Bobade | In the last entry, I explored mirrord on a very surface level. I mirrored a local process into Kubernetes using the `mirrord exec` command and explored the mirrord-agent to get a basic understanding of the environment in which the mirrored process ran. This entry continues from the last time where we left off in trying to understand the inner workings of mirrord. If you would like to catch up on the last exploration, feel free to navigate to the previous entry through the link below.2nd November 2024Last time we ran mirrord in Targetless Mode. We ran a curl command through mirrord for it to get mirrored to the context of a Kubernetes cluster. We were then able to access the ClusterIP echo-server Service which wasn’t exposed. The environment in which the mirrored process (mirrored by mirrord) runs is made possible by Linux Capabilities. We only scratched the surface last time and didn’t get to exactly see how they manifest themselves in a Pod. We learnt a little about the Linux Capabilities through the documentation, but, we didn’t see them in action. To see them in action we need to use mirrord in the Targeted Mode. In this case, mirrord is going to run the process locally and then use mirrord-layer to hook the execution of the libc functions. Then it will listen for the traffic/output of the mirrored process in the mirrord-agent and route the information to the mirrord-layer which will pass the information onto the hooked/replaced/detoured (can be used interchangably) libc functions.Let’s run `ls` with mirrord while defining a target on the Kubernetes cluster. The target here is the process context in which `ls` should run. The first Pod from the given Deployment will be chosen as the target for environment mirroring here. Run the following command.mirrord exec -t deployment/coredns -n kube-system ls --target-namespace kube-systemWe get the below output for the above.When targeting multi-pod deployments, mirrord impersonates the first pod in the deployment.
Support for multi-pod impersonation requires the mirrord operator, which is part of mirrord for Teams.
You can get started with mirrord for Teams at this link: https://mirrord.dev/docs/overview/teams/?utm_source=multipodwarn&utm_medium=cli
* Running binary "/var/folders/v7/yqyq_d6x2996hfnnwvgs5f080000gn/T/mirrord-bin-ghu3278mz/bin/ls" with arguments: ["/"].
* mirrord will target: deployment/coredns, no configuration file was loaded
* operator: the operator will be used if possible
* env: all environment variables will be fetched
* fs: file operations will default to read only from the remote
* incoming: incoming traffic will be mirrored
* outgoing: forwarding is enabled on TCP and UDP
* dns: DNS will be resolved remotely
⠂ mirrord exec
✓ running on latest (3.122.1)!
✓ ready to launch process
✓ layer extracted
✓ operator not found
✓ agent pod created
✓ pod is ready
✓ arm64 layer library extracted
✓ config summary
Applications System Volumes cores etc opt sbin usr
Library Users bin dev home private tmp varIf `ls` ran in the context of the given target, why do I still get the output from my Mac filesystem. This seems to be a bit wrong. But it isn’t. Mirrord’s relative context is always local, but the other bits of the context depend on the libc hooks provided by mirrord-layer. That begs the question, what do we even mean by the context here ?The context of a process is usually considered as the environment (network, filesystem ) it is run in. The environment also contains the dependencies it requires to run the process + the network context it is being run from. Let’s look at the context as different parameters fed into the process for it to execute. The parameters being the dependencies, filesystem and the network itself. But, if this is the case then the context is not completely altered for the processes running with mirrord and that’s why `ls` did not give an output from the container filesystem.What I really trying to understand here is why `ls` does not show output from the container instead of the local machine considering that it is being run in the “context” of the container. I realized this was wrong till I figured out that the process is mirrored, it isn’t relocated for running in any way. We are simulating the environment of the container to the local process with mirrord and that’s about it.I read this blog post while trying to understand the process context a bit more and it really helped understand that mirrord just runs the process as is locally and hooks into it by intercepting/overriding the libc function calls (I am also not covering anything that is already given in the same blog post). Mirrord intercepts the execution of these calls through another component called the mirrord-layer which picks up on the function call before it’s executed so that when these function calls do get executed they will run the detours/hooks/replacements of the libc calls.Mirrord preloads this mirrord_layer before any of the libc functions are loaded by using the LD_PRELOAD (on Linux and DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES on Mac). Skip this section if you don’t want to see how I failed trying to figure out how to use dtrace with Mac before giving up on it. TLDR: I tried using it, disabled SIP after not wanting to disable it, ran dtrace/dtruss and it hung multiple times.Dynamically Linked LibrariesApart from that I just wanted to see which dynamically linked libraries were being loaded onto `ls`. I am using a Mac so instead of `ldd` to check this I used `otool` for checking the dynamically linked libraries.otool -L /bin/ls
/bin/ls:
/usr/lib/libutil.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 1.0.0)
/usr/lib/libncurses.5.4.dylib (compatibility version 5.4.0, current version 5.4.0)
/usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 1336.61.1)We can see that instead of `.so` in Linux, Mac OS uses `.dylib`as the extension for dynamically linked libraries. First one’s short for shared objects and the other is short for dynamically linked library.Mirrord exec execution and Mirrord ConfigurationThis function runs when `mirrord exec` is collecting the context as parameters, and this is the function which actually executes the given process (in this case `ls`) based on the given contextual parameters. One can provide a configuration with mirrord based on which the mirrord components can make the process mirroring work for your use case. For more on mirrord configuration check this page out.I want to understand how the output of `ls` in this case can be given in the context of the relative filesystem of the mirrord-agent. Let’s run a `ltrace` to see what calls `ls` is making. The Mac equivalent of this is `dtrace`. Chose initially not to disable SIPTo run dtrace you will have to boot your Mac into recovery mode and run the following command so you can use `dtrace` to disable the SIP partially on the Mac to allow you to run dtrace. csrutil enable --without dtraceSo that the System Integrity Protection is bypassed for dtrace or if you don’t want to do that copy the ls binary and remove the code signature and then run dtrace on the copied executable.cp /bin/ls .
sudo codesign --remove-signature ./ls-copy`./ls-copy` exits the process without execution.sudo ./ls-copy
[1] 8198 killed sudo ./lsRunning `dtrace` on it gave me the following output.sudo dtrace -c ./ls-copy
dtrace: system integrity protection is on, some features will not be available
Failed to start process notifications for pid -1 (268435459)
dtrace: failed to execute ./ls: Could not create symbolicator for taskLearnt something about SymbolicatorsSymbolicators are a system for managing symbols more efficiently to dereference symbols from data which contains them (eg: raw stack traces). More on this later. Preserving the PID Even after removing the codesign we are still prevented from getting process notifcations. So, I don’t want to stop my SIP protection so, we are going to do something else. I am going to run the following script in one terminal window, find the PID (process id) of the same and run dtrace on it.# ls-loop.sh
#!/bin/bash
# Start a background process with the same PID
( while true; do
ls; # Execute ls command
sleep 1; # Sleep for a second to avoid rapid execution
done ) &
PID=$! # Capture the PID of the subshell
echo "Running ls in a loop with PID: $PID"The above will keep running the command in a loop and help us preserve the PID so that we don’t get a new PID for every run of ls. This did not work. I used dtruss and dtrace, passed the PIDs, ran the process in context and went into unnecessary tangents trying to understand the output of the dtruss command which was trying to tell me how many times the probe encountered a particular syscall which was 0. With the above I went on a tangent for a while trying to get dtrace to work without SIP for a while and decided to … I am a bit sleepy through so I will do it tomorrow.(maybe some other time I will figure out how to use these)Disabling3nd November 2024And now, I have disabled the SIP and the first command I am going to try is the following because that is the one which game me some output yesterday.sudo dtruss -c lsand now my terminal is somehow hung up. I need to restart my Mac now. I am done with this. I am going to check out dtrace and dtruss some other time. I am going to ask the Mirrord community how I can go about tracing these calls to libc a little better.4th November 2024It’s a new day to chase some processes and chase them I will. After getting help from the community, especially from for this who is the maintainer and CEO of MetalBear, the company behind Mirrord, I was able to continue with my exploration without any issues.Let’s enable trace logging for Mirrord with the following command so that we see how the internals are working in the mirrord command, and maybe we will get to see some libc function calls made by `ls`.export RUST_LOG=mirrord=tracewhere Mirrord is the target and trace is the level of logging. I have a minikube cluster already running and upon running the command below I get the trace logs for the command.mirrord exec -t deployment/coredns ls -n kube-system 2> trace-logs.txtUpon checking the logs there are quite a few things that stand out to me.Loading into process: ls invoked as ls.
hooked "close"
hooked "close$NOCANCEL"
mirrord_layer::hooks: found "__close_nocancel" in "libutil.dylib", hooking
mirrord_layer::hooks: hook "__close_nocancel" in "libutil.dylib" failed with err Function already replacedThe above initialisation of mirrord let’s us know that the “close” libc function call has been hooked into by mirrord-layer but the ones after fail to hook into because mirrord is trying to hook into the same cloud_nocancel function call gain which are provided by the other dynamically linked libraries. Then there are more “hooked” log traces like the one below after which we get a log line saying that mirrord-layer has been initialised....
hooked "pwrite"
hooked "access"
hooked "faccessat"
hooked "fsync"
hooked "fdatasync"
hooked "realpath"
hooked "realpath$DARWIN_EXTSN"
hooked "lstat$INODE64"
hooked "fstat$INODE64"
hooked "stat$INODE64"
hooked "fstatat$INODE64"
hooked "fstatfs$INODE64"
hooked "fdopendir$INODE64"
hooked "readdir_r$INODE64"
hooked "readdir$INODE64"
hooked "opendir$INODE64"
Initializing mirrord-layer!Now that all of these libc functions have been hooked into, the executable (ls) is loaded with contextual parameters. The below is from the DEBUG log. I have removed a bunch of entries from the log as well.Loaded into executable executable=Some("/var/folders/v7/yqyq_d6x2996hfnnwvgs5f080000gn/T/mirrord-bin-ghu3278mz/bin/ls") args=Some(ExecuteArgs { exec_name: "ls", invoked_as: "ls", args: ["ls"] }) pid=53099 parent_pid=1950 env_vars=Vars { inner: [("P9K_SSH", "0"), ("_P9K_TTY", "/dev/ttys010"), ("MIRRORD_PROGRESS_MODE", "off"), ("KUBE_DNS_PORT_9153_TCP_PROTO", "tcp"), ("USE_GKE_GCLOUD_AUTH_PLUGIN", "True"), ("KUBERNETES_PORT", "tcp://10.96.0.1:443"), ("PATH", "/Users/vibhav
bobade/miniconda3/bin:/Users/vibhavbobade/miniconda3/condabin:/Users/vibhavbobade/.bun/bin:..., ("KUBE_DNS_SERVICE_PORT_DNS_TCP", "53"), ("KUBE_DNS_SERVICE_PO
RT_DNS", "53"), ("TMUX_PANE", "%10"), ("ZSH", "/Users/vibhavbobade/.oh-my-zsh"), ("KUBE_DNS_PORT_53_UDP_PROTO", "udp"), ("rvmsudo_secure_path", "0"), ("SSH_AUTH_SOCK", "/private/t
mp/com.apple.launchd.12345678/Listeners"), ("TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION", "3.5a"), ("LS_COLORS", "di=1;36:ln=35:so=32:pi=33:ex=31:bd=34;46:cd=34;43:su=30;41:sg=30;46:tw=30;42:ow=30;43
"), ("XPC_FLAGS", "0x0"), ("KUBE_DNS_SERVICE_PORT_METRICS", "9153"), ("MIRRORD_CONNECT_TCP", "127.0.0.1:53938"), ("HOSTNAME", "coredns-5d78c9869d-7dp2c"), ("P9K_TTY", "old"), ("KU
BERNETES_SERVICE_PORT", "443"), ("LC_ALL", "en_US.UTF-8"), ("GOPATH", "/Users/vibhavbobade/go"), ...
}The above are the list of environment variables of the local process which are being passed to the mirrored process. The environment variables which stand out to me among these are the following (even if they are not important to mirrord right now, it’s helpful to understand what parts of the context are also shared by mirrord). ("DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES", "/tmp/12749644993650801669-libmirrord_layer.dylib")Equivalent to LD_PRELOAD("XPC_FLAGS", "0x0")Used for interprocess communication in Macs.("SSH_AUTH_SOCK", "/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.12345678/Listeners")Socket used by SSH agent("SECURITYSESSIONID", "123456")Useful for tracking user authentication and session states.After the above environment variables are loaded into the mirrored remote process we can see how mirrord-layer executes the libc call hooks. We can only see the calls which are hooked in this case....
ThreadId(02) mirrord_layer::file::hooks: path Success(
"/usr/share/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/LC_MESSAGES",
) | open_options OpenOptionsInternal {
read: true,
write: false,
append: false,
truncate: false,
create: false,
create_new: false,
}
ThreadId(02) mirrord_layer::file::hooks: path Success(
".",
) | open_options OpenOptionsInternal {
read: true,
write: false,
append: false,
truncate: false,
create: false,
create_new: false,
}
...In the above are two of the few libc calls intercepted while running `ls`. We can tell that the first one is related reading the locale and the second one is related to reading the local `.` directory. Ok, now I have some idea of how this works (only some idea).Mirrord-layer in this case has a replace macro in this case which is used to replace or hook the libc functions in question.I am not yet done staring at the logs for mirrord-layer execution. In the next one I want to try running some other command with mirrord in targeted mode to see how these different Linux Capabilities and other process features come together. Maybe we can try some file reading from remote and writing locally for that. Looking forward to seeing you in the next one. | 2024-11-08T03:43:02 | en | train |
42,048,601 | vincentchau | 2024-11-05T04:27:08 | An Engineer's Guide to Double-Entry Bookkeeping | null | https://anvil.works/blog/double-entry-accounting-for-engineers | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,609 | kaladin-jasnah | 2024-11-05T04:29:45 | About Brian Bi | null | https://spin0r.wordpress.com/about/ | 1 | 0 | [
42050720
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,616 | featureflowtech | 2024-11-05T04:30:47 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,640 | EhsanEtezad | 2024-11-05T04:36:45 | The average age of U.S. homebuyers jumps to 56 | null | https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/04/homebuyer-average-age-rises-to-56-amid-rising-homeownership-costs.html | 68 | 115 | [
42049161,
42049154,
42049213,
42049310,
42055747,
42049112,
42049315,
42048676,
42049435,
42049287,
42050707
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,645 | abu-matterize | 2024-11-05T04:37:26 | Ask HN: CPU Sharing in a Cluster | Is there a way to share system resources like running `make` across clusters?<p>Say if I've about 20 CPUs from different nodes, can I use all of them while building? | null | 3 | 5 | [
42048806,
42048708
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,647 | The_News_Crypto | 2024-11-05T04:37:35 | null | null | null | 1 | null | [
42048648
] | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,667 | codetoli | 2024-11-05T04:44:01 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,684 | jandeboevrie | 2024-11-05T04:47:45 | C++20 comparison in Qt (even with C++17) | null | https://www.qt.io/blog/c20-comparisons-in-qt | 3 | 0 | [
42050711
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,687 | todsacerdoti | 2024-11-05T04:48:12 | What I wish I had known as a programmer moving to Berlin | null | https://wickedchicken.github.io/post/programmer-in-berlin/ | 5 | 1 | [
42048736,
42050716
] | null | null | no_error | What I wish I had known as a programmer moving to Berlin | 2024-11-05T05:00:00+01:00 | Mike Stipicevic |
Intro
I’ve passed my seven year mark living in Berlin, Germany, and I thought it would be
worthwhile to reflect on it and write down some of the things I wished I had known before
moving from the US.
Building a new life in a different country is a tremendous
amount of work but can also be extremely rewarding.
My goal isn’t to persuade you to move or not to move here, only to give you some
more information to help you make a decision for yourself or better prepare for a move if
you’ve already decided on it.
Background
My viewpoint is of a cis-male white American FAANG1 engineer who moved from the San Francisco
Bay Area to Berlin. I’m mostly speaking from personal experience, but I’ll try to point
out differences and generalities where I can. Of special note, I’ll be mentioning some
American and German law which may not be applicable if you’re not subject to American law
or if you’re planning on moving to a different country in Europe. You may want to find
online forums or groups specific to your situation if you’re thinking of doing something
like this. That said, nothing in this set of documents is financial, tax, or legal advice.
Finally, I’ve been writing this on-and-off since 2022, and the decision to
publish now has everything to do with it being finished and nothing to do with the current US
elections or political climate.
Content
I’ve loosely organized this by theme, with each one getting its own page:
Part 1: Motivation
Part 2: Moving In
Part 3: Finances
Part 4: Culture
Part 5: Language
Shameless Advertisement
I am looking for a job! If you’re in a position to give one, please see
my dedicated page for that.
Conclusion
Thanks for taking the time to read this, it’s taken me literal years to finish it and I
hope it has proven useful or at least entertained you in some way. Thanks as well to
those who read drafts and offered corrections. I’m always open for
more feedback and corrections; my email should be relatively easy to find.
Good luck and have fun!
| 2024-11-08T08:08:49 | en | train |
42,048,704 | thisisroushan | 2024-11-05T04:52:13 | Show HN: Gradienty V2 – Effortlessly Convert 16K+ Color Palettes to Code | Hi HN community,<p>I'm excited to share the latest version of Gradienty – a tool designed to streamline your design-to-development workflow by converting over 16,000 color palettes into code effortlessly.<p>What’s New in Gradienty V2?
Palette Visualizer: Preview your color palettes in real-time on a fully-functional website interface. See how your colors interact across various UI components like buttons, cards, navigation bars, and typography.<p>Extensive Palette Library: Choose from more than 16,000 curated color palettes or create your own. Whether you're looking for pastels, vintage vibes, neon pops, or seasonal themes like spring and autumn, Gradienty has you covered.<p>Seamless Code Conversion: Easily export your selected palette into code formats compatible with popular frontend frameworks such as Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap, Material UI, Chakra UI, and more. Each export includes necessary color variations, dark/light mode support, and accessibility-compliant contrast ratios.<p>Intelligent Theme Switching: Automatically toggle between light and dark modes based on your palette’s luminance, ensuring your designs are both beautiful and accessible.<p>Smart Color Processing: Generate lighter and darker shades of your chosen colors automatically, maintaining harmony and consistency across your designs.<p>Why You'll Love It
Gradienty V2 bridges the gap between designers and developers by providing a seamless way to implement color schemes directly into your projects. Whether you're building a landing page, dashboard, or mobile app, our tool ensures that your color choices are both aesthetically pleasing and technically sound.<p>Explore and Get Started
Check out Gradienty V2 and explore our vast collection of color palettes: <a href="https://gradienty.codes/color-palette-generator" rel="nofollow">https://gradienty.codes/color-palette-generator</a><p>We’d love to hear your feedback and see how you’re using Gradienty in your projects. Feel free to share your thoughts or ask any questions!<p>Happy designing and coding! | https://gradienty.codes | 4 | 0 | null | null | null | missing_parsing | Gradienty - Tailwind CSS Gradient Generator | null | null | Tailwind Gradient GeneratorCreate stunning visuals effortlessly with our Tailwind Gradient Generator. Easily customize gradients, copy the code, and paste it into your project. Perfect for vibrant, eye-catching designs. | 2024-11-08T06:35:45 | null | train |
42,048,709 | AstroCoder768 | 2024-11-05T04:54:13 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,717 | jmmv | 2024-11-05T04:56:26 | Demystifying Secure NFS | null | https://blogsystem5.substack.com/p/demystifying-secure-nfs | 5 | 4 | [
42051799,
42048721,
42050705
] | null | null | Failed after 3 attempts. Last error: Quota exceeded for quota metric 'Generate Content API requests per minute' and limit 'GenerateContent request limit per minute for a region' of service 'generativelanguage.googleapis.com' for consumer 'project_number:854396441450'. | Demystifying secure NFS | 2024-11-04T00:00:13+00:00 | Julio Merino | I recently got a Synology DS923+ for evaluation purposes which led me to setting up NFSv4 with Kerberos. I had done this about a year ago with FreeBSD as the host, and going through this process once again reminded me of how painful it is to secure an NFS connection.You see, Samba is much easier to set up, but because NFS is the native file sharing protocol of Unix systems, I felt compelled to use it instead. However, if you opt for NFSv3 (the “easy default”), you are left with a system that has zero security: traffic travels unencrypted and unsigned, and the server trusts the client when the client asserts who is who. Madness for today’s standards. Yet, when you look around, people say “oh, but NFSv3 is fine if you trust the network!” But seriously, who trusts the network in this day and age?You have to turn to NFSv4 and combine it with Kerberos for a secure file sharing option. And let me tell you: the experience of setting these up and getting things to work is horrible, and the documentation out there is terrible. Most documents are operating-system specific so they only tell you what works when a specific server and a specific client talk to each other. Other documents just assume, and thus omit, various important details of the configuration.So. This article is my recollection of “lab notes” on how to set this whole thing up along with the necessary background to understand NFSv4 and Kerberos. My specific setup involes the Synology DS923+ as the NFSv4 server; Fedora, Debian, and FreeBSD clients; and the supporting KDC on a pfSense (or FreeBSD) box.NFSv3, or usually just NFS, is a protocol from the 1980s—and it shows. In broad terms, NFSv3 exposes the inodes of the underlying file system to the network. This became clear to me when I implemented tmpfs for NetBSD in 2005 and realized that a subset of the APIs I had to support were in service of NFS. This was… a mind-blowing realization. “Why would tmpfs, a memory file system, need NFS-specific glue?”, I thought, and then I learned the bad stuff.Anyhow. Now that you know that NFSv3 exposes inodes, you may understand why sharing a directory over NFSv3 is an all-or-nothing option for the whole file system. Even if you can configure mountd to export a single directory via /etc/exports, malicious clients can craft NFS RPCs that reference inodes outside of the shared directory. Which means… they get free access to the whole file system and explains why system administrators used to put NFS-exported shares in separate partitions, mounted under /export/, in an attempt to isolate access to subsets of data.To make things worse, NFSv3 has no concept of security. A client can simply assert that a request comes from UID 1000 and the server will trust that the client is really operating on behalf of the server’s UID 1000. Which means: a malicious client can pretend to be any user that exists on the server and gain access to any file in the exported file system. Which then explains why the maproot option exists as an attempt to avoid impersonating root… but only root. Crazy talk.All in all, NFSv3 may still be OK if you really trust the network, if you compartmentalize the exported file system, and if you are sharing inconsequential stuff. But can you trust the network? Maybe you can if you are using a P2P link, but otherwise… it is really, really risky and I do not want to do that.NFSv4, despite having the same NFS name as NFSv3, is a completely different protocol. Here are two main differences:NFSv4 operates on the basis of usernames, not UIDs. Each request to the server contains a username and the server is responsible for translating that username to a local UID while verifying access permissions.NFSv4 operates at the path level, not the inode level. Each request to the server contains the path of the file to operate on and thus the server can apply access control based on those.Take these two differences together and NFSv4 can implement secure access to file systems. Because the server sees usernames and paths, the server can first verify that a user is who they claim to be. And because the server can authenticate users, it can then authorize accesses at the path level.That said, if all you have is NFSv4, you only get the AUTH_SYS security level, which is… the same as having no security at all. In this mode, the server trusts the client and assumes that user X on the client maps exactly to user X on the server, which is almost the same as NFSv3 did.The real security features of NFSv4 come into play when it’s paired with Kerberos. When Kerberos is in the picture, you get to choose from the following security levels for each network share:krb5: Requires requests to be authenticated by Kerberos, which is good to ensure only trusted users access what they should but offers zero “on-the-wire” security. Traffic flows unsigned and unencrypted, so an attacker could tamper with the data and slurp it before it reaches the client.krb5i: Builds on krb5 to offer integrity checks on all data. Basically, all packets on the network are signed but not encrypted. This prevents spoofing packets but does not secure the data against prying eyes.krb5p: Builds on krb5 to offer encrypted data on the wire. This prevents tampering with the network traffic and also avoids anyone from seeing what’s being transferred.Sounds good? Yeah, but unfortunately, Kerberos and its ecosystem are… complicated.Kerberos is an authentication broker. Its goal is to detach authentication decisions between a client machine and a service running on a second machine, and move that responsibility to a third machine—the Kerberos Domain Controller (KDC). Consequently, the KDC is a trusted entity between the two machines that try to communicate with each other.All the machines that interact with the KDC form a realm (AKA a domain, but not a DNS domain). Each machine needs an /etc/krb5.conf file that describes which realms the machine belongs to and who the KDC for each realm is.The actors that exist within the realm are the principals. The KDC maintains the authoritative list of principals and their authentication keys (passwords). These principals represent:Users, which have names of the form <username>@REALM. There has to be one of these principals for every person (or role) that interacts with the system.Machines, which have names of the form host/<machine>.<domain>@REALM. There has to be one of these principals for every server, and, depending on the service, the clients may need one too as is the case for NFSv4.Services, which have names of the form <service>/<machine>.<domain>@REALM. Some services like NFSv4 require one of these, in which case <service> is nfs, but others like SSH do not.Let’s say Alice wants to log into the Kerberos-protected SSH service running on SshServer from a client called LinuxLaptop, all within the EXAMPLE.ORG Kerberos realm.(Beware that the description below is not 100% accurate. My goal is for you to understand the main concepts so that you can operate a Kerberos realm.)First, Alice needs to obtain a Ticket-Granting-Ticket (TGT) if she doesn’t have a valid one yet. This ticket is issued by the KDC after authenticating Alice with her password, and allows Alice to later obtain service-specific tickets without having to provide her password again. For this flow:Steps involved in obtaining a TGT from the KDC for a user on a client machine.Alice issues a login request to the KDC from the client LinuxLaptop by typing kinit (or using other tools such as a PAM module). This request carries Alice’s password.The KDC validates Alice’s authenticity by checking her password against the KDC’s database and issues a TGT. The TGT is encrypted with the KDC’s key and includes an assertion of who Alice is and how long the ticket is valid for.The client LinuxLaptop stores the TGT on disk. Alice can issue klist to see the ticket:linux-laptop$ klist
Credentials cache: FILE:/tmp/krb5cc_1001
Principal: [email protected]
Issued Expires Principal
Oct 26 09:04:57 2024 Oct 26 19:05:01 2024 krbtgt/[email protected]
linux-laptop$ █The TGT, however, is not sufficient to access a service. When Alice wants to access the Kerberos-protected SSH service running on the SshServer machine, Alice needs a ticket that’s specific to that service. For this flow:Steps involved in obtaining a service-specific ticket from the KDC for a user on a client machine.Alice sends a request to the Ticket-Granting-Service (KDS) and asks for a ticket to SshServer. This request carries the TGT.The TGS (which lives in the KDC) verifies who the TGT belongs to and verifies that it’s still valid. If so, the TGS generates a ticket for the service. This ticket is encrypted with the service’s secret key and includes details on who Alice is and how long the ticket is valid for.The client LinuxLaptop stores the service ticket on disk. As before, Alice can issue klist to see the ticket:linux-laptop$ klist
Credentials cache: FILE:/tmp/krb5cc_1001
Principal: [email protected]
Issued Expires Principal
Oct 26 09:04:57 2024 Oct 26 19:05:01 2024 krbtgt/[email protected]
Oct 26 09:05:11 2024 Oct 26 19:05:01 2024 host/[email protected]
linux-laptop$ █At this point, all prerequisite Kerberos flows have taken place. Alice can now initiate the connection to the SSH service:Accessing a remote SSH server using a Kerberos ticket without password authentication.Alice sends the login request from the LinuxLaptop client to the SshServer server and presents the service/host-specific ticket that was granted to her earlier on.The SshServer server decrypts the ticket with its own key, extracts details of who the request is from, and verifies that they are correct. This happens without talking to the KDC and is only possible because SshServer trusts the KDC via a pre-shared key.The SSH service on SshServer decides if Alice has SSH access as requested and, if so, grants such access.Note these very important details:The KDC is only involved in the ticket issuance process. Once the client has a service ticket, all interactions between the client and the server happen without talking to the KDC. This is essential to not make the KDC a bottleneck in the communication.Each host/service and the KDC have unique shared keys that are known by both the host/service and the KDC. These shared keys are created when registering the host or service principals and are copied to the corresponding machines as part of their initial setup. These keys live in machine-specific /etc/krb5.keytab files.Kerberos does authentication only, not authorization. The decision to grant Alice access to the SSH service in Think is made by the service itself, not Kerberos, after asserting that Alice is truly Alice.As you can imagine, the KDC must be protected with the utmost security measures. If an attacker can compromise the KDC’s locally-stored database, they will get access to all shared keys so they can impersonate any user against any Kerberos-protected service in the network. That’s why attackers try to breach into an Active Directory (AD) service as soon as they infiltrate a Microsoft network because… AD is a KDC.Enough theory. Let’s get our hands dirty and follow the necessary steps to set up a KDC.The KDC’s needs are really modest. Per the discussion above, the KDC isn’t in the hot data path of any service so the number of requests it receives are limited. Those requests are not particularly complex to serve either: at most, there is some CPU time to process cryptographic material but no I/O involved, so for a small network, any machine will do.In my particular case, I set up the KDC in my little pfSense box as it is guaranteed to be almost-always online. This is probably not the best of ideas security-wise, but… it’s sufficient for my paranoia levels. Note that most of the steps below will work similarly on a FreeBSD box, but if you are attempting that, please go read FreeBSD’s official docs on the topic instead. Those docs are one of the few decent guides on Kerberos out there.The pfSense little box that I run the KDC on.Here are the actors that will appear throughout the rest of this article. I’m using the real names of my setup here because, once again, these are my lab notes:MEROH.NET: The name of the Kerberos realm.jmmv: The user on the client machine wanting access to the NFSv4 share. The UID is irrelevant.router.meroh.net: The pfSense box running the KDC.nas.meroh.net: The Synology DS923+ NAS acting as the NFSv4 server.think.meroh.net: A FreeBSD machine that will act as a Kerberized SSH server for testing purposes and an NFSv4 client. (It’s a ThinkStation, hence its name.)x1nano.meroh.net: A Linux machine that will act as an NFSv4 client. While in reality this is running Fedora, I’ll use this hostname interchangeably for Fedora and Debian.Knowing all actors, we can set up the KDC. The first step is to create the krb5.conf for the KDC which tells the system which realm the machine belongs to. You’ll have to open up SSH access to the machine via the web interface to perform these steps.Here is the minimum content you need:[libdefaults]
default_realm = MEROH.NET
[realms]
MEROH.NET = {
kdc = router.meroh.net
admin_server = router.meroh.net
}
[domain_realm]
.meroh.net = MEROH.NETWith that, you should be able to start the kdc service, which is responsible for the KDC. All documentation you find out there will tell you to also start kadmind, but if you don’t plan to do administer the KDC from another machine (why would you?), then you don’t need this service.pfSense’s configuration is weird because of the read-only nature of its root partition, so to do this, you have to edit the /cf/conf/config.xml file stored in NVRAM and add this line right before the closing </system> tag:<shellcmd>service kdc start</shellcmd>If you were to set this up on a FreeBSD host instead of pfSense, you would modify /etc/rc.conf instead and add:kdc_enable=YESThen, from the root shell on either case:kdc# service kdc start
kdc# █It is now a good time to ensure that every machine involved in the realm has a DNS record and that reverse DNS lookups work. Failure to do this will cause problems later on when attempting to mount the NFSv4 shares, and clearing those errors won’t be trivial because of caching at various levels.Once the KDC is running, we must create principals for the hosts, the NFSv4 service, and the users that will be part of the realm. The client host and service principals aren’t always necessary though: SSH doesn’t require them, but NFSv4 does.To create the principals, we need access the KDC’s administrative console. Given that the KDC isn’t configured yet, we can only gain such access by running kadmin -l on the KDC machine directly (the pfSense shell), which bypasses the networked kadmind service that we did not start.Start kadmin -l and initialize the realm:kdc# kadmin -l
kadmin> init MEROH.NET
... answer questions with defaults ...
kadmin> █Next, create principals for the users that will be part of the realm:kadmin> add jmmv
... answer questions with defaults ...
... but enter the desired user password ...
kadmin> █Then, create principals for the hosts (server and clients, but not the KDC) and the NFSv4 service:kadmin> add --random-key host/think.meroh.net
... answer questions with defaults ...
kadmin> add --random-key host/x1nano.meroh.net
... answer questions with defaults ...
kadmin> add --random-key host/nas.meroh.net
... answer questions with defaults ...
kadmin> add --random-key nfs/nas.meroh.net
... answer questions with defaults ...
kadmin> █And finally, extract the host and service credentials into the machine-specific keytab files. Note that, for the servers, we extract both the host and any service principals they need, but for the client, we just extract the host principal. We do not export any user principals:kadmin> ext_keytab --keytab=think.keytab host/think.meroh.net
kadmin> ext_keytab --keytab=x1nano.keytab host/x1nano.meroh.net
kadmin> ext_keytab --keytab=nas.keytab host/nas.meroh.net nfs/nas.meroh.net
kadmin> █You now need to copy each extracted keytab file to the corresponding machine and name it /etc/krb5.keytab. (We’ll do this later on the Synology NAS via its web interface.) This file is what contains the shared key between the KDC and the host and is what allows the host to verify the authenticity of KDC tickets without having to contact the KDC. Make sure to protect it with chmod 400 /etc/krb5.keytab so that nobody other than root can read it.If scp is unsuitable or hard to use from the KDC to the client machines (as is my case because I restrict SSH access to the KDC to one specific machine), you can use the base64 command to print out a textual representation of the keytab and use the local clipboard to carry it to a shell session on the destination machine.At this point, the realm should be functional but we need to make the clients become part of the realm. We also need to install all necessary tools, like kinit, which aren’t present by default on some systems:On Debian:Run apt install krb5-user nfs-common.Follow the prompts that the krb5-user installer shows to configure the realm and the address of the KDC. This will auto-create /etc/krb5.conf with the right contents so you don’t have to do anything else.On Fedora:Run dnf install krb5-workstation.Edit the system-provided /etc/krb5.conf file to register the realm and its settings. Use the file content shown above for the KDC as the template, or simply replace all placeholders for example.org and EXAMPLE.ORG with the name of your DNS domain and realm.On FreeBSD:Create the /etc/krb5.conf file from scratch in the same way we did for the KDC.All set! But… do you trust that you did the right thing everywhere? We could go straight into NFSv4, but due to the many pitfalls in its setup, I’d suggest you verify your configuration using a simpler service like SSH.To do this, modify the SSH server’s (aka think’s configuration) /etc/ssh/sshd_config file and add GSSAPIAuthentication yes so that it can leverage Kerberos for authentication. Restart the SSH service and give it a go: run kinit on the client (x1nano) and then see how ssh think works without typing a password anymore.But… GSSAPIAuthentication? What’s up with the cryptic name?GSS-API stands for Generic Security Services API and is the interface that programs use to communicate with the Kerberos implementation on the machine. GSS-API is not always enabled by default for a service, and the way you enable it is service-dependent. As you saw above, all we had to do for SSH was modify the sshd_config file… but for other services, you may need to take extra steps on the server and/or the client.And, guess what, NFSv4 is weird on this topic. Not only we need service-specific principals for NFS, but we also need the gssd daemon to be running on the server and the client machines. This is because NFSv4 is typically implemented inside the kernel, but not Kerberos, so the kernel needs a mechanism to “call into” Kerberos. And the kernel needs to do this to map kernel-level UIDs (a Unix kernel doesn’t know anything about usernames) to Kerberos principals and vice-versa—and that’s precisely what gssd offers. So:On the Synology NAS:Do nothing. The system handles gssd by itself.On Linux:You shouldn’t have to do anything if you correctly created the prerequisite /etc/krb5.keytab early enough, but make sure the service is running with systemctl status rpc-gssd.service (and know that this command only shows useful diagnostic logs when run as root).Run systemctl start rpc-gssd.service if the service isn’t running.On FreeBSD:Add gssd_enable=YES to /etc/rc.conf.Run service gssd start.It’s time to deal with NFSv4, so let’s start by configuring the server on the NAS.The Synology Disk Station Manager (DSM) interface—the web UI for the NAS—is… interesting. As you might expect, it is a web-based interface but… it pretends to be a desktop environment in the browser, which I find overkill and unnecessary. But it’s rather cool in its own way.Navigating the Synology DSM menus to configure the NFS file service with Kerberos.The first step is to enable the NFS service. Roughly follow these steps, which are illustrated in the picture just above:Open the File Services tab of the Control Panel.In the NFS tab, set NFSv4 as the Minimum NFS protocol.Click on Advanced Settings and, in the panel that opens, enter the Kerberos realm under the NFSv4 domain option.Click on Kerberos Settings and, in the panel that opens, select Import and then upload the keytab file that we generated earlier on for the NAS. This should populate the host and nfs principals in the list.Finish and save all settings.That should be all to enable NFSv4 file serving.Navigating the Synology DSM menus to configure the properties of a single shared folder over NFS.Then, we need to expose shared folders over NFSv4, and we have to do this for every folder we want to share. Assuming you want to share the homes folder as shown in the picture just above:Open the Shared Folder tab of the Control Panel.Select the folder you want to share (in our case, homes), and click Edit.In the NFS Permissions tab, click either Create or Edit to enter the permissions for every host client that should have access to the share.Fill the NFS rule details. In particular, enter the hostname of the client machine, enable the Allow connections from non-privileged ports option, and select the Security level you desire.In my case, I want krb5p and krb5p only so that’s the only option I enable. But your risk profile and performance needs may be different, so experiment and see what works best for you.Now that the server is ready and we have dealt with the GSS-API prerequisites, we can start mounting NFSv4 on the clients.On Linux, things are pretty simple. We can mount the file system with:x1nano# sudo mount nas:/volume1/homes /shared
x1nano# █Or persist the entry in /etc/fstab if we want to:nas:/volume1/homes /shared nfs sec=krb5p 0 0And then we should be able to list its contents assuming we’ve got a valid TGT for the current user (run kinit if it doesn’t work):x1nano$ ls -l /shared
total 0K
drwxrwxrwx 1 nobody users 0 Sep 27 21:11 admin
drwxrwxrwx 1 jmmv users 0 Nov 2 20:41 jmmv
drwxrwxrwx 1 nobody users 0 Oct 8 16:59 manager
x1nano$ █Easy peasy, right? But wait… why do all directories have 777 permissions?This is rather unfortunate and I’m not sure why the Synology does this. Logging onto the DS923+ via SSH, I inspected the shared directory and realized that it has various ACLs in place to control access to the directories, but somehow, the traditional Unix permissions are all 777 indeed. Not great.I used chmod to fix the permissions for all directories to 755 and things seem to be OK, but that doesn’t give me a lot of comfort because I do not know if the DSM will ever undo my changes or if I might have broken something.There might be one more problem though, which I did not encounter on Debian clients but that showed up later in Fedora and FreeBSD clients:x1nano$ ls -l /shared
total 0K
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody nogroup 0 Sep 27 21:11 admin
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody nogroup 0 Nov 2 20:41 jmmv
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody nogroup 0 Oct 8 16:59 manager
x1nano$ █Note how all entries are owned by nobody:nogroup which is… not correct. Yet the right permissions are in effect: accessing the jmmv directory is only possible by the jmmv user as expected. Which means that the user mapping between Kerberos principals and local users is working correctly on the server… but not on the client, where stat isn’t returning the right information.I do not yet know why this issue happens, especially because I see no material differences between my Fedora and Debian configurations.We now have the Linux clients running just fine so it is time to pivot to FreeBSD. If we try a similar “trivial” mount command, we get an error:think# mount -t nfs nas:/volume1/homes /shared
mount_nfs: nmount: /shared: Permission denied
think# █The error is pretty… unspecific. It took me quite a bit of trial and error to realize that I had to specify -t nfsv4 for it to attempt a NFSv4 connection and not NFSv3 (unlike Linux, whose mount command attempts the highest possible version first and then falls back to older versions):think# mount -t nfs -o nfsv4 nas:/volume1/homes /shared
mount_nfs: nmount: /shared, wrong security flavor
think# █OK, progress. Now this complains that the security flavor we request is wrong. Maybe we just need to be explicit and also pass sec=krb5p as an argument:think# mount -t nfs -o nfsv4,sec=krb5p nas:/volume1/homes /shared
mount_nfs: nmount: /shared, wrong security flavor
think# █Wait, what? The mount operation still fails? This was more puzzling and also took a fair bit of research to figure out because logs on the client and on the server were just insufficient to see the problem.The reason for the failure is that we are trying to mount the share as root but… we don’t have a principal for this user so root cannot obtain an NFSv4 service ticket to contact the NAS. So… do we need to create a principal for root? No! We do not need to provide user credentials when mounting an NFSv4 share (unlike what you might be used to with Windows shares).What Kerberized NFSv4 needs during the mount operation is a host ticket: the NFSv4 server checks if the client machine is allowed to access the server and, if so, exposes the file system to it. This is done using the client’s host principal. Once the file system is mounted, however, all operations against the share carry the ticket of the user requesting the operation.Knowing this, we need to “help” FreeBSD and tell it that it must use the host’s principal when mounting the share. Why this isn’t the default, I don’t know, particularly because non-root users are not allowed to mount file systems in the default configuration. Anyhow. The gssname=host option rescues us:think# mount -t nfs -o nfsv4,sec=krb5p,gssname=host nas:/volume1/homes /shared
think# █Which finally allows the mount operation to succeed. We should persist all this knowledge into an /etc/fstab entry like this one:nas:/volume1/homes /shared nfs rw,nfsv4,gssname=host,sec=krb5p 0 0Color me skeptical, but everything I described above seems convoluted and fragile, so I did not trust that my setup was sound. Consequently, I wanted to verify that the traffic on the network was actually encrypted.To verify this, I installed Wireshark and ran a traffic capture against the NAS with host nas as the filter. Then, from the client, I created a text file on the shared folder and then read it. Inspecting the captured packets confirmed that the traffic is indeed flowing in encrypted form. I could not find the raw file content anywhere in the whole trace (but I could when using anything other than krb5p).Content of an NFS reply packet with Kerberos-based encryption. The packet contents are not plain text.And, as a final test, I tried to mount the network share without krb5p and confirmed that this was not possible:# mount -t nfs -o nfsv4,gssname=host,sec=krb5i nas:/volume1/homes /shared
mount_nfs: nmount: /shared, wrong security flavor
# █All good! I think…That’s about it. But I still have a bunch of unanswered questions from this setup:Kerberos claims to be an authentication system only, not an authorization system. However, the protocol I described above separates the TGT from the TGS, and this separation makes it sound like Kerberos could also implement authorization policies. Why doesn’t it do these?The fact that Fedora and FreeBSD show nobody for file ownership even when they seems to do the right thing when talking to the NFSv4 server sound like a bug either in the code or in my configuration. Which is it?Having to type kinit after logging into the machine is annoying. I remember that, back at Google when we used Kerberos and NFS—those are long gone days—the right tickets would be granted after logging in or unlocking a workstation. This must have been done with the Kerberos PAM modules… but I haven’t gotten them to do this yet and I’m not sure why.The fact that the shared directories created by the Synology NAS have 777 permissions seems wrong. Why is it doing that? And does anything break if you manually tighten these permissions?And the most important question of all: is this all worth it? I’m tempted to just use password-protected Samba shares and call it a day. I still don't trust that the setup is correct, and I still encounter occasional problems here and there.If you happen to have answers to any of the above or have further thoughts, please drop a note in the comments section. And…Credit and disclaimers: the DS923+ and the 3 drives it contains that I used for throughout this article were provided to me for free by Synology for evaluation purposes in exchange for blogging about the NAS. The content in this article is not endorsed has not been reviewed by them. | 2024-11-08T13:43:38 | null | train |
42,048,740 | sandwichsphinx | 2024-11-05T05:03:46 | Windows infected with backdoored Linux VMs in new phishing attacks | null | https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/windows-infected-with-backdoored-linux-vms-in-new-phishing-attacks/ | 15 | 0 | [
42050703
] | null | null | no_error | Windows infected with backdoored Linux VMs in new phishing attacks | 2024-11-04T10:53:06-05:00 | Bill Toulas |
A new phishing campaign dubbed 'CRON#TRAP' infects Windows with a Linux virtual machine that contains a built-in backdoor to give stealthy access to corporate networks.
Using virtual machines to conduct attacks is nothing new, with ransomware gangs and cryptominers using them to stealthily perform malicious activity. However, threat actors commonly install these manually after they breach a network.
A new campaign spotted by Securonix researchers is instead using phishing emails to perform unattended installs of Linux virtual machines to breach and gain persistence on corporate networks.
The phishing emails pretend to be a "OneAmerica survey" that includes a large 285MB ZIP archive to install a Linux VM with a pre-installed backdoor.
This ZIP file contains a Windows shortcut named "OneAmerica Survey.lnk" and a "data" folder that contains the QEMU virtual machine application, with the main executable disguised as fontdiag.exe.
When the shortcut is launched, it executes a PowerShell command to extract the downloaded archive to the "%UserProfile%\datax" folder and then launch the "start.bat" to set up and launch a custom QEMU Linux virtual machine on the device.
Start.bat batch file installing the QEMU Linux virtual machineSource: BleepingComputer
While the virtual machine is being installed, the same batch file will display a PNG file downloaded from a remote site that shows a fake server error as a decoy, implying a broken link to the survey.
Image showing fake errorSource: Securonix
The custom TinyCore Linux VM named 'PivotBox' is preloaded with a backdoor that secures persistent C2 communication, allowing the attackers to operate in the background.
Since QEMU is a legitimate tool that is also digitally signed, Windows does not raise any alarms about it running, and security tools cannot scrutinize what malicious programs are running inside the virtual machine.
LNK file contentsSource: Securonix
Backdoor operations
At the heart of the backdoor is a tool called Chisel, a network tunneling program that is pre-configured to create secure communication channels with a specific command and control (C2) server via WebSockets.
Chisel tunnels data over HTTP and SSH, allowing the attackers to communicate with the backdoor on the compromised host even if a firewall protects the network.
For persistence, the QEMU environment is set to start automatically after the host reboots via 'bootlocal.sh' modifications. At the same time, SSH keys are generated and uploaded to avoid having to re-authenticate.
Securonix highlights two commands, namely 'get-host-shell' and 'get-host-user.' The first spawns an interactive shell on the host, allowing command execution, while the second is used to determine the privileges.
The commands that can be executed then include surveillance, network and payload management actions, file management, and data exfiltration operations, so the attackers have a versatile set that enables them to adapt to the target and perform damaging actions.
Threat actor's command historySource: Securonix
Defending from QEMU abuse
The CRON#TRAP campaign isn't the first occurrence of hackers abusing QEMU to establish stealthy communications to their C2 server.
In March 2024, Kaspersky reported another campaign where threat actors used QEMU to create virtual network interfaces and a socket-type network device to connect to a remote server.
In that case, a very light backdoor hidden inside a Kali Linux virtual machine running on just 1MB of RAM was used to set up a covert communications tunnel.
To detect and block these attacks, consider placing monitors for processes like 'qemu.exe' executed from user-accessible folders, put QEMU and other virtualization suites in a blocklist, and disable or block virtualization in general on critical devices from the system BIOS.
| 2024-11-08T08:42:44 | en | train |
42,048,743 | phil_k | 2024-11-05T05:05:39 | Jax is useful ML framework | null | https://jax.readthedocs.io/en/latest/quickstart.html | 4 | 0 | [
42050700
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,765 | vpt | 2024-11-05T05:10:49 | Why the database version [of Logseq] and how it's going? | null | https://discuss.logseq.com/t/why-the-database-version-and-how-its-going/26744 | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,786 | denisshilov | 2024-11-05T05:18:06 | null | null | null | 1 | null | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,795 | arihantparsoya | 2024-11-05T05:20:04 | null | null | null | 6 | null | [
42048885
] | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,796 | null | 2024-11-05T05:20:33 | null | null | null | null | null | null | [
"true"
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
42,048,808 | ms7892 | 2024-11-05T05:23:12 | First woman to die in 'suicide pod' may have been strangled to death: report | null | https://www.hindustantimes.com/trending/first-woman-to-die-in-suicide-pod-may-have-been-strangled-to-death-report-101730708423241.html | 2 | 0 | [
42050691
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
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