Ubuntu 23.10 Mantic Minotaur Desktop, showing network settings
We released Ubuntu 23.10 Mantic Minotaur on 12 October 2023, shipping its proven and trusted network stack based on Netplan. Netplan is the default tool to configure Linux networking on Ubuntu since 2016. In the past, it was primarily used to control the Server and Cloud variants of Ubuntu, while on Desktop systems it would hand over control to NetworkManager. In Ubuntu 23.10 this disparity in how to control the network stack on different Ubuntu platforms was closed by integrating NetworkManager with the underlying Netplan stack.
Netplan could already be used to describe network connections on Desktop systems managed by NetworkManager. But network connections created or modified through NetworkManager would not be known to Netplan, so it was a one-way street. Activating the bidirectional NetworkManager-Netplan integration allows for any configuration change made through NetworkManager to be propagated back into Netplan. Changes made in Netplan itself will still be visible in NetworkManager, as before. This way, Netplan can be considered the single source of truth for network configuration across all variants of Ubuntu, with the network configuration stored in /etc/netplan/
, using Netplan s common and declarative YAML format.
/etc/netplan/
. This way, the only thing administrators need to care about when managing a fleet of Desktop installations is Netplan. Furthermore, programmatic access to all network configuration is now easily accessible to other system components integrating with Netplan, such as snapd. This solution has already been used in more confined environments, such as Ubuntu Core and is now enabled by default on Ubuntu 23.10 Desktop.
/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/
will automatically and transparently be migrated to Netplan s declarative YAML format and stored in its common configuration directory /etc/netplan/
.
The same migration will happen in the background whenever you add or modify any connection profile through the NetworkManager user interface, integrated with GNOME Shell. From this point on, Netplan will be aware of your entire network configuration and you can query it using its CLI tools, such as sudo netplan get
or sudo netplan status
without interrupting traditional NetworkManager workflows (UI, nmcli, nmtui, D-Bus APIs). You can observe this migration on the apt-get command line, watching out for logs like the following:
Setting up network-manager (1.44.2-1ubuntu1.1) ...
Migrating HomeNet (9d087126-ae71-4992-9e0a-18c5ea92a4ed) to /etc/netplan
Migrating eduroam (37d643bb-d81d-4186-9402-7b47632c59b1) to /etc/netplan
Migrating DebConf (f862be9c-fb06-4c0f-862f-c8e210ca4941) to /etc/netplan
In order to prepare for a smooth transition, NetworkManager tests were integrated into Netplan s continuous integration pipeline at the upstream GitHub repository. Furthermore, we implemented a passthrough method of handling unknown or new settings that cannot yet be fully covered by Netplan, making Netplan future-proof for any upcoming NetworkManager release.
secnet
- VPN.hippotat
- IP-over-HTTP (workaround for bad networks)userv ipif
- user-created network interfacesHippotat is a system to allow you to use your normal VPN, ssh, and other applications, even in broken network environments that are only ever tested with web stuff . Packets are parcelled up into HTTP POST requests, resembling form submissions (or JavaScript XMLHttpRequest traffic), and the returned packets arrive via the HTTP response bodies.It doesn t rely on TLS tunnelling so can work even if the local network is trying to intercept TLS. I recently rewrote Hippotat in Rust.
userv ipif
userv ipif
is one of the userv utilities.
It allows safe delegation of network routing to unprivileged users. The delegation is of a specific address range, so different ranges can be delegated to different users, and the authorised user cannot interfere with other traffic.
This is used in the default configuration of hippotat packages, so that an ordinary user can start up the hippotat client as needed.
On chiark userv-ipif is used to delegate networking to users, including administrators of allied VPN realms. So chiark actually runs at least 4 VPN-ish systems in production: secnet, hippotat, Mark Wooding s Tripe, and still a few links managed by the now-superseded udptunnel
system.
userv
userv ipif
is a userv service. That is, it is a facility which uses userv
to bridge a privilege boundary.
userv
is perhaps my most under-appreciated program. userv can be used to straightforwardly bridge (local) privilege boundaries on Unix systems.
So for example it can:
sudo
can do this too but it has quite a few gotchas, and you have to be quite careful how you use it - and its security record isn t great either.hippotat
client is a program you can run from the command line as a normal user, if the relevant network addresses have been delegated to you. On chiark, CGI programs run as the providing user - not using suexec
(which I don t trust), but via userv.I have just filed a complaint with the CRTC about my phone provider's outrageous fees. This is a copy of the complaint.I am traveling to Europe, specifically to Ireland, for a 6 days for a work meeting. I thought I could use my phone there. So I looked at my phone provider's services in Europe, and found the "Fido roaming" services: https://www.fido.ca/mobility/roaming The fees, at the time of writing, at fifteen (15!) dollars PER DAY to get access to my regular phone service (not unlimited!!). If I do not use that "roaming" service, the fees are:
I have no illusions about this having any effect. I thought of filing such a complain after the Rogers outage as well, but felt I had less of a standing there because I wasn't affected that much (e.g. I didn't have a life-threatening situation myself). This, however, was ridiculous and frustrating enough to trigger this outrage. We'll see how it goes..."We will respond to you within 10 working days."
Dear Antoine Beaupr : Thank you for contacting us about your mobile telephone international roaming service plan rates concern with Fido Solutions Inc. (Fido). In Canada, mobile telephone service is offered on a competitive basis. Therefore, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is not involved in Fido's terms of service (including international roaming service plan rates), billing and marketing practices, quality of service issues and customer relations. If you haven't already done so, we encourage you to escalate your concern to a manager if you believe the answer you have received from Fido's customer service is not satisfactory. Based on the information that you have provided, this may also appear to be a Competition Bureau matter. The Competition Bureau is responsible for administering and enforcing the Competition Act, and deals with issues such as false or misleading representations, deceptive marketing practices and collusion. You can reach the Competition Bureau by calling 1-800-348-5358 (toll-free), by TTY (for deaf and hard of hearing people) by calling 1-866-694-8389 (toll-free). For more contact information, please visit http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/00157.html When consumers are not satisfied with the service they are offered, we encourage them to compare the products and services of other providers in their area and look for a company that can better match their needs. The following tool helps to show choices of providers in your area: https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/comm/fourprov.htm Thank you for sharing your concern with us.In other words, complain with Fido, or change providers. Don't complain to us, we don't manage the telcos, they self-regulate. Great job, CRTC. This is going great. This is exactly why we're one of the most expensive countries on the planet for cell phone service.
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2022 10:10:00 -0400 From: Fido DONOTREPLY@fido.ca To: REDACTED Subject: Courriel d avis d itin rance Fido Roaming Welcome Confirmation Fido Date : 13 septembre 2022I found that message utterly confusing (and yes, I can read french). Basically, it says that some user (presumably me!) connected to the network with roaming. I did just disabled airplane mode on my phone to debug a Syncthing bug but had not enabled roaming. So this message seemed to say that I would be charged 15$ (per DAY!) for roaming from now on. Confused, I tried their live chat to try to clarify things, worried I would get charged even more for calling tech support on
Num ro de compte : [redacted] Bonjour
Antoine Beaupr ! Nous vous crivons pour vous indiquer qu au moins un utilisateur inscrit votre compte s est r cemment connect un r seau en itin rance.
Vous trouverez ci-dessous le message texte de bienvenue en itin rance envoy l utilisateur (ou aux utilisateurs), qui contenait les tarifs d itin rance
applicables. Message texte de bienvenue en itin rance Destinataire : REDACTED Date et heure : 2022-09-13 / 10:10:00
Allo, ici Fido : Bienvenue destination! Vous tes inscrit Fido Nomade alors utilisez vos donn es, parlez et textez comme vous le faites la
maison. Depuis le 1 mars 2022 le tarif cette destination pour 15 $/jour (+ taxes) et valide tous les jours jusqu' 23 h 59 HE, peu importe le fuseau
horaire dans lequel vous vous trouvez. Bon voyage! Des questions? Consultez fido.ca/m/itinerance ou composez +15149333436 (sans frais). Besoin d aide?D tails
- PLANIFIEZ UN VOYAGE AVEC Fido NomadeMC
D couvrez nos options d itin rance et restez en contact l tranger sans vous soucier de votre
facture.D tails Ce courriel est produit automatiquement; veuillez ne pas y r pondre. Ce courriel (et toute pi ce jointe) est confidentiel. Si vous n tes pas le destinataire,
- G rez votre compte
G rez vos produits et services Fido la maison ou sur la route gr ce Mon
Compte.
veuillez supprimer le pr sent message et en d truire toute copie. FIDO SOLUTIONS 800, RUE DE LA GAUCHETI RE OUEST
BUREAU 4000 MONTR AL (QU BEC) H5A 1K3
Fido
*611
. This is a transcript of the chat:
F: Hi! What are we doing today? Type in your question or choose from the options below: * Track my Equipment Order * View Bill Online * Payment Options * iPhone 14 Pre-Order A: i received a message about roaming while abroad but i did not enable roaming on my phone, will i be charged anyways? F: I think I know what you re asking for. Select the topic that best matches your request or try rephrasing your question. A: no F: Thank you, this will help us to improve! Would you like to chat with a specialist? Chat with a specialist I'll get a specialist to help you with this. It appears that you're not signed in. Your session may have timed out. To save time and identify your account details, please sign in to My Account.[... delay ...]Have any questions specific to your Fido account? To service you faster, please identify yourself by completing the form below. A: Personal info Form submitted F: Thank you! I'll connect you with the next available specialist. Your chat is being transferred to a Live Chat agent. Thanks for your patience. We are here to assist you and we kindly ask that our team members be treated with respect and dignity. Please note that abuse directed towards any Consumer Care Specialist will not be tolerated and will result in the termination of your conversation with us. All of our agents are with other customers at the moment. Your chat is in a priority sequence and someone will be with you as soon as possible. Thanks! Thanks for continuing to hold. An agent will be with you as soon as possible. Thank you for your continued patience. We re getting more Live Chat requests than usual so it s taking longer to answer. Your chat is still in a priority sequence and will be answered as soon as an agent becomes available. Thank you so much for your patience we're sorry for the wait. Your chat is still in a priority sequence and will be answered as soon as possible. Hi, I'm [REDACTED] from Fido in [REDACTED]. May I have your name please? A: hi i am antoine, nice to meet you sorry to use the live chat, but it's not clear to me i can safely use my phone to call support, because i am in ireland and i'm worried i'll get charged for the call F: Thank You Antoine , I see you waited to speak with me today, thank you for your patience.Apart from having to wait, how are you today? A: i am good thank you
- Sign in
- I'm not able to sign in
A: should i restate my question? F: Yes please what is the concern you have? A: i have received an email from fido saying i someone used my phone for roaming it's in french (which is fine), but that's the gist of it i am traveling to ireland for a week i do not want to use fido's services here... i have set the phon eto airplane mode for most of my time here F: The SMS just says what will be the charges if you used any services. A: but today i have mistakenly turned that off and did not turn on roaming well it's not a SMS, it's an email F: Yes take out the sim and keep it safe.Turun off or On for roaming you cant do it as it is part of plan. A: wat F: if you used any service you will be charged if you not used any service you will not be charged. A: you are saying i need to physically take the SIM out of the phone? i guess i will have a fun conversation with your management once i return from this trip not that i can do that now, given that, you know, i nee dto take the sim out of this phone fun times F: Yes that is better as most of the customer end up using some kind of service and get charged for roaming. A: well that is completely outrageous roaming is off on the phone i shouldn't get charged for roaming, since roaming is off on the phone i also don't get why i cannot be clearly told whether i will be charged or not the message i have received says i will be charged if i use the service and you seem to say i could accidentally do that easily can you tell me if i have indeed used service sthat will incur an extra charge? are incoming text messages free? F: I understand but it is on you if you used some data SMS or voice mail you can get charged as you used some services.And we cant check anything for now you have to wait for next bill. and incoming SMS are free rest all service comes under roaming. That is the reason I suggested take out the sim from phone and keep it safe or always keep the phone or airplane mode. A: okay can you confirm whether or not i can call fido by voice for support? i mean for free F: So use your Fido sim and call on +1-514-925-4590 on this number it will be free from out side Canada from Fido sim. A: that is quite counter-intuitive, but i guess i will trust you on that thank you, i think that will be all F: Perfect, Again, my name is [REDACTED] and it s been my pleasure to help you today. Thank you for being a part of the Fido family and have a great day! A: you tooSo, in other words:
*611
, and
instead on that long-distance-looking phone number, and yes, that
means turning off airplane mode and putting the SIM card in, which
contradicts step 3+1-514-925-4590
) is different than the one provided in the email
(15149333436
). So who knows what would have happened if I would have
called the latter. The former is mentioned in their contact page.
I guess the next step is to call Fido over the phone and talk to a
manager, which is what the CRTC told me to do in the first place...
I ended up talking with a manager (another 1h phone call) and they
confirmed there is no other package available at Fido for this. At
best they can provide me with a credit if I mistakenly use the roaming
by accident to refund me, but that's it. The manager also confirmed
that I cannot know if I have actually used any data before reading the
bill, which is issued on the 15th of every month, but only
available... three days later, at which point I'll be back home
anyways.
Fantastic.
Apr 9 22:17:39 octavia hostapd: wlan0: DFS-CAC-START freq=5500 chan=100 sec_chan=1, width=0, seg0=102, seg1=0, cac_time=60s
Apr 9 22:17:39 octavia hostapd: DFS start_dfs_cac() failed, -1
... and/or this:
Sat Apr 9 18:05:03 2022 daemon.notice hostapd: Channel 100 (primary) not allowed for AP mode, flags: 0x10095b NO-IR RADAR
Sat Apr 9 18:05:03 2022 daemon.warn hostapd: wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Configured channel (100) not found from the channel list of current mode (2) IEEE 802.11a
Sat Apr 9 18:05:03 2022 daemon.warn hostapd: wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Hardware does not support configured channel
Here, it clearly says RADAR
(in all caps too, which means it's
really important). NO-IR
is also important, I'm not sure what it
means but it could be that you're not allowed to transmit in that band
because of other local regulations.
There might be a way to workaround those by changing the "region" in
the Luci GUI, but I didn't mess with that, because I figured that
other devices will have that already configured. So using a
forbidden channel might make it more difficult for clients to connect
(although it's possible this is enforced only on the AP side).
In any case, 5GHz is promising, but in reality, you only get from
channel 36 (5.170GHz) to 48 (5.250GHz), inclusively. Fast counters
will notice that is exactly 80MHz, which means that if an AP is
configured for that hungry, all-powerful 80MHz, it will effectively
take up all 5GHz channels at once.
This, in other words, is as bad as 2.4GHz, where you also have only
two 40MHz channels. (Really, what did you expect: this is an
unregulated frequency controlled by commercial interests...)
So the first thing I did was to switch to 40MHz. This gives me two
distinct channels in 5GHz at no noticeable bandwidth cost. (In fact, I
couldn't find hard data on what the bandwidth ends up being on those
frequencies, but I could still get 400Mbps which is fine for my use
case.)
Checking the "Allow b rates" affects what the AP will transmit. In particular it will send most overhead packets including beacons, probe responses, and authentication / authorization as the slow, noisy, 1 Mb DSSS signal. That is bad for you and your neighbors. Do not check that box. The default really should be unchecked.This, in particular, "will make the AP unusable to distant clients, which again is a good thing for public wifi in general". So I just unchecked that box and I feel happier now. I didn't make tests to see the effect separately however, so this is mostly just a guess.
A Wizard of Earthsea (1971) Ursula K. Le Guin How did it come to be that Harry Potter is the publishing sensation of the century, yet Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea is only a popular cult novel? Indeed, the comparisons and unintentional intertextuality with Harry Potter are entirely unavoidable when reading this book, and, in almost every respect, Ursula K. Le Guin's universe comes out the victor. In particular, the wizarding world that Le Guin portrays feels a lot more generous and humble than the class-ridden world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Just to take one example from many, in Earthsea, magic turns out to be nurtured in a bottom-up manner within small village communities, in almost complete contrast to J. K. Rowling's concept of benevolent government departments and NGOs-like institutions, which now seems a far too New Labour for me. Indeed, imagine an entire world imbued with the kindly benevolence of Dumbledore, and you've got some of the moral palette of Earthsea. The gently moralising tone that runs through A Wizard of Earthsea may put some people off:
Vetch had been three years at the School and soon would be made Sorcerer; he thought no more of performing the lesser arts of magic than a bird thinks of flying. Yet a greater, unlearned skill he possessed, which was the art of kindness.Still, these parables aimed directly at the reader are fairly rare, and, for me, remain on the right side of being mawkish or hectoring. I'm thus looking forward to reading the next two books in the series soon.
Blood Meridian (1985) Cormac McCarthy Blood Meridian follows a band of American bounty hunters who are roaming the Mexican-American borderlands in the late 1840s. Far from being remotely swashbuckling, though, the group are collecting scalps for money and killing anyone who crosses their path. It is the most unsparing treatment of American genocide and moral depravity I have ever come across, an anti-Western that flouts every convention of the genre. Blood Meridian thus has a family resemblance to that other great anti-Western, Once Upon a Time in the West: after making a number of gun-toting films that venerate the American West (ie. his Dollars Trilogy), Sergio Leone turned his cynical eye to the western. Yet my previous paragraph actually euphemises just how violent Blood Meridian is. Indeed, I would need to be a much better writer (indeed, perhaps McCarthy himself) to adequately 0utline the tone of this book. In a certain sense, it's less than you read this book in a conventional sense, but rather that you are forced to witness successive chapters of grotesque violence... all occurring for no obvious reason. It is often said that books 'subvert' a genre and, indeed, I implied as such above. But the term subvert implies a kind of Puck-like mischievousness, or brings to mind court jesters licensed to poke fun at the courtiers. By contrast, however, Blood Meridian isn't funny in the slightest. There isn't animal cruelty per se, but rather wanton negligence of another kind entirely. In fact, recalling a particular passage involving an injured horse makes me feel physically ill. McCarthy's prose is at once both baroque in its language and thrifty in its presentation. As Philip Connors wrote back in 2007, McCarthy has spent forty years writing as if he were trying to expand the Old Testament, and learning that McCarthy grew up around the Church therefore came as no real surprise. As an example of his textual frugality, I often looked for greater precision in the text, finding myself asking whether who a particular 'he' is, or to which side of a fight some two men belonged to. Yet we must always remember that there is no precision to found in a gunfight, so this infidelity is turned into a virtue. It's not that these are fair fights anyway, or even 'murder': Blood Meridian is just slaughter; pure butchery. Murder is a gross understatement for what this book is, and at many points we are grateful that McCarthy spares us precision. At others, however, we can be thankful for his exactitude. There is no ambiguity regarding the morality of the puppy-drowning Judge, for example: a Colonel Kurtz who has been given free license over the entire American south. There is, thank God, no danger of Hollywood mythologising him into a badass hero. Indeed, we must all be thankful that it is impossible to film this ultra-violent book... Indeed, the broader idea of 'adapting' anything to this world is, beyond sick. An absolutely brutal read; I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Bodies of Light (2014) Sarah Moss Bodies of Light is a 2014 book by Glasgow-born Sarah Moss on the stirrings of women's suffrage within an arty clique in nineteenth-century England. Set in the intellectually smoggy cities of Manchester and London, this poignant book follows the studiously intelligent Alethia 'Ally' Moberly who is struggling to gain the acceptance of herself, her mother and the General Medical Council. You can read my full review from July.
House of Leaves (2000) Mark Z. Danielewski House of Leaves is a remarkably difficult book to explain. Although the plot refers to a fictional documentary about a family whose house is somehow larger on the inside than the outside, this quotidian horror premise doesn't explain the complex meta-commentary that Danielewski adds on top. For instance, the book contains a large number of pseudo-academic footnotes (many of which contain footnotes themselves), with references to scholarly papers, books, films and other articles. Most of these references are obviously fictional, but it's the kind of book where the joke is that some of them are not. The format, structure and typography of the book is highly unconventional too, with extremely unusual page layouts and styles. It's the sort of book and idea that should be a tired gimmick but somehow isn't. This is particularly so when you realise it seems specifically designed to create a fandom around it and to manufacturer its own 'cult' status, something that should be extremely tedious. But not only does this not happen, House of Leaves seems to have survived through two exhausting decades of found footage: The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity are, to an admittedly lesser degree, doing much of the same thing as House of Leaves. House of Leaves might have its origins in Nabokov's Pale Fire or even Derrida's Glas, but it seems to have more in common with the claustrophobic horror of Cube (1997). And like all of these works, House of Leaves book has an extremely strange effect on the reader or viewer, something quite unlike reading a conventional book. It wasn't so much what I got out of the book itself, but how it added a glow to everything else I read, watched or saw at the time. An experience.
Milkman (2018) Anna Burns This quietly dazzling novel from Irish author Anna Burns is full of intellectual whimsy and oddball incident. Incongruously set in 1970s Belfast during The Irish Troubles, Milkman's 18-year-old narrator (known only as middle sister ), is the kind of dreamer who walks down the street with a Victorian-era novel in her hand. It's usually an error for a book that specifically mention other books, if only because inviting comparisons to great novels is grossly ill-advised. But it is a credit to Burns' writing that the references here actually add to the text and don't feel like they are a kind of literary paint by numbers. Our humble narrator has a boyfriend of sorts, but the figure who looms the largest in her life is a creepy milkman an older, married man who's deeply integrated in the paramilitary tribalism. And when gossip about the narrator and the milkman surfaces, the milkman beings to invade her life to a suffocating degree. Yet this milkman is not even a milkman at all. Indeed, it's precisely this kind of oblique irony that runs through this daring but darkly compelling book.
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (2014) Claire North Harry August is born, lives a relatively unremarkable life and finally dies a relatively unremarkable death. Not worth writing a novel about, I suppose. But then Harry finds himself born again in the very same circumstances, and as he grows from infancy into childhood again, he starts to remember his previous lives. This loop naturally drives Harry insane at first, but after finding that suicide doesn't stop the quasi-reincarnation, he becomes somewhat acclimatised to his fate. He prospers much better at school the next time around and is ultimately able to make better decisions about his life, especially when he just happens to know how to stay out of trouble during the Second World War. Yet what caught my attention in this 'soft' sci-fi book was not necessarily the book's core idea but rather the way its connotations were so intelligently thought through. Just like in a musical theme and varations, the success of any concept-driven book is far more a product of how the implications of the key idea are played out than how clever the central idea was to begin with. Otherwise, you just have another neat Borges short story: satisfying, to be sure, but in a narrower way. From her relatively simple premise, for example, North has divined that if there was a community of people who could remember their past lives, this would actually allow messages and knowledge to be passed backwards and forwards in time. Ah, of course! Indeed, this very mechanism drives the plot: news comes back from the future that the progress of history is being interfered with, and, because of this, the end of the world is slowly coming. Through the lives that follow, Harry sets out to find out who is passing on technology before its time, and work out how to stop them. With its gently-moralising romp through the salient historical touchpoints of the twentieth century, I sometimes got a whiff of Forrest Gump. But it must be stressed that this book is far less certain of its 'right-on' liberal credentials than Robert Zemeckis' badly-aged film. And whilst we're on the topic of other media, if you liked the underlying conceit behind Stuart Turton's The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle yet didn't enjoy the 'variations' of that particular tale, then I'd definitely give The First Fifteen Lives a try. At the very least, 15 is bigger than 7. More seriously, though, The First Fifteen Lives appears to reflect anxieties about technology, particularly around modern technological accelerationism. At no point does it seriously suggest that if we could somehow possess the technology from a decade in the future then our lives would be improved in any meaningful way. Indeed, precisely the opposite is invariably implied. To me, at least, homo sapiens often seems to be merely marking time until we can blow each other up and destroying the climate whilst sleepwalking into some crisis that might precipitate a thermonuclear genocide sometimes seems to be built into our DNA. In an era of cli-fi fiction and our non-fiction newspaper headlines, to label North's insight as 'prescience' might perhaps be overstating it, but perhaps that is the point: this destructive and negative streak is universal to all periods of our violent, insecure species.
The Goldfinch (2013) Donna Tartt After Breaking Bad, the second biggest runaway success of 2014 was probably Donna Tartt's doorstop of a novel, The Goldfinch. Yet upon its release and popular reception, it got a significant number of bad reviews in the literary press with, of course, an equal number of predictable think pieces claiming this was sour grapes on the part of the cognoscenti. Ah, to be in 2014 again, when our arguments were so much more trivial. For the uninitiated, The Goldfinch is a sprawling bildungsroman that centres on Theo Decker, a 13-year-old whose world is turned upside down when a terrorist bomb goes off whilst visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, killing his mother among other bystanders. Perhaps more importantly, he makes off with a painting in order to fulfil a promise to a dying old man: Carel Fabritius' 1654 masterpiece The Goldfinch. For the next 14 years (and almost 800 pages), the painting becomes the only connection to his lost mother as he's flung, almost entirely rudderless, around the Western world, encountering an array of eccentric characters. Whatever the critics claimed, Tartt's near-perfect evocation of scenes, from the everyday to the unimaginable, is difficult to summarise. I wouldn't label it 'cinematic' due to her evocation of the interiority of the characters. Take, for example: Even the suggestion that my father had close friends conveyed a misunderstanding of his personality that I didn't know how to respond it's precisely this kind of relatable inner subjectivity that cannot be easily conveyed by film, likely is one of the main reasons why the 2019 film adaptation was such a damp squib. Tartt's writing is definitely not 'impressionistic' either: there are many near-perfect evocations of scenes, even ones we hope we cannot recognise from real life. In particular, some of the drug-taking scenes feel so credibly authentic that I sometimes worried about the author herself. Almost eight months on from first reading this novel, what I remember most was what a joy this was to read. I do worry that it won't stand up to a more critical re-reading (the character named Xandra even sounds like the pharmaceuticals she is taking), but I think I'll always treasure the first days I spent with this often-beautiful novel.
Beyond Black (2005) Hilary Mantel Published about five years before the hyperfamous Wolf Hall (2004), Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black is a deeply disturbing book about spiritualism and the nature of Hell, somewhat incongruously set in modern-day England. Alison Harte is a middle-aged physic medium who works in the various towns of the London orbital motorway. She is accompanied by her stuffy assistant, Colette, and her spirit guide, Morris, who is invisible to everyone but Alison. However, this is no gentle and musk-smelling world of the clairvoyant and mystic, for Alison is plagued by spirits from her past who infiltrate her physical world, becoming stronger and nastier every day. Alison's smiling and rotund persona thus conceals a truly desperate woman: she knows beyond doubt the terrors of the next life, yet must studiously conceal them from her credulous clients. Beyond Black would be worth reading for its dark atmosphere alone, but it offers much more than a chilling and creepy tale. Indeed, it is extraordinarily observant as well as unsettlingly funny about a particular tranche of British middle-class life. Still, the book's unnerving nature that sticks in the mind, and reading it noticeably changed my mood for days afterwards, and not necessarily for the best.
The Wall (2019) John Lanchester The Wall tells the story of a young man called Kavanagh, one of the thousands of Defenders standing guard around a solid fortress that envelopes the British Isles. A national service of sorts, it is Kavanagh's job to stop the so-called Others getting in. Lanchester is frank about what his wall provides to those who stand guard: the Defenders of the Wall are conscripted for two years on the Wall, with no exceptions, giving everyone in society a life plan and a story. But whilst The Wall is ostensibly about a physical wall, it works even better as a story about the walls in our mind. In fact, the book blends together of some of the most important issues of our time: climate change, increasing isolation, Brexit and other widening societal divisions. If you liked P. D. James' The Children of Men you'll undoubtedly recognise much of the same intellectual atmosphere, although the sterility of John Lanchester's dystopia is definitely figurative and textual rather than literal. Despite the final chapters perhaps not living up to the world-building of the opening, The Wall features a taut and engrossing narrative, and it undoubtedly warrants even the most cursory glance at its symbolism. I've yet to read something by Lanchester I haven't enjoyed (even his short essay on cheating in sports, for example) and will be definitely reading more from him in 2022.
The Only Story (2018) Julian Barnes The Only Story is the story of Paul, a 19-year-old boy who falls in love with 42-year-old Susan, a married woman with two daughters who are about Paul's age. The book begins with how Paul meets Susan in happy (albeit complicated) circumstances, but as the story unfolds, the novel becomes significantly more tragic and moving. Whilst the story begins from the first-person perspective, midway through the book it shifts into the second person, and, later, into the third as well. Both of these narrative changes suggested to me an attempt on the part of Paul the narrator (if not Barnes himself), to distance himself emotionally from the events taking place. This effect is a lot more subtle than it sounds, however: far more prominent and devastating is the underlying and deeply moving story about the relationship ends up. Throughout this touching book, Barnes uses his mastery of language and observation to avoid the saccharine and the maudlin, and ends up with a heart-wrenching and emotive narrative. Without a doubt, this is the saddest book I read this year.
Turns out, Valessio has just spent a week staying at my house AndSo with that backdrop I would urge fellow Debianities to take up the slogans LONG LIVE THE DPL ! LONG LIVE POLLITO ! LONG LIVE POLLITO THE DPL ! The first step to make Pollito the DPL is to ensure he has a @debian.org (pollito@debian.org) We also need him to be made a DD because only then can he become a DPL. In solidarity and in peace
in any case, if somebody in Debian knows about Pollito s
childhood That is me. Pollito came to our lives when we went to Congreso Internacional de
Software Libre (CISOL) in Zacatecas city. I was strolling around the
very beautiful city with my wife Regina and our friend Alejandro
Miranda, and at a shop at either Ram n L pez Velarde or Vicente
Guerrero, we found a flock of pollitos. http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/22.77111/-102.57145 Even if this was comparable to a slave market, we bought one from
them, and adopted it as our own. Back then, we were a young couple Well, we were not that young
anymore. I mean, we didn t have children. Anyway, we took Pollito with
us on several road trips, such as the only time I have crossed an
international border driving: We went to Encuentro Centroamericano de
Software Libre at Guatemala city in 2012 (again with Alejandro), and
you can see several Pollito pics at: http://gwolf.org/album/road-trip-ecsl-2012-guatemala-0 Pollito likes travelling. Of course, when we were to Nicaragua for
DebConf, Pollito tagged along. It was his first flight as a passenger
(we never asked about his previous life in slavery; remember, Pollito
trust no one). Pollito felt much welcome with the DebConf crowd. Of course, as
Pollito is a free spirit, we never even thought about forcing him to
come back with us. Pollito went to Switzerland, and we agreed to meet
again every year or two. It s always nice to have a chat with him. Hugs!
Works online (fast) or offline (no roaming charges when you are abroad)
So armed with a full battery I started the journey which took about an hour and half even though technically it was a holiday. On the way back, got a different route and recorded that as well. The app. worked flawlessly. I was able to get the speed of the vehicle and everything. The only thing I haven t understood till date is how to select waypoints but other than that I got the whole route on my mobile.
What was cool to see that on most roads, at least through the app. there were speed limits. Now I don t know from where the data was getting there. Most city roads had 65 and some roads had 55 at the maximum. I am assuming that it was at km/hr as also shared later.
Just for fun I also looked at the gpx file after copying it from mobile to hdd (an extract) https://paste.debian.net/853231/
While it s not a complete extract, What was interesting for me to note here is the time was in UTC . What was also interesting is that in the gpx tracks I also saw some entries about speed as can be seen in the paste above. Although it doesn t say whether it was in km/hr or mph, I believe it probably is km/hr. as that is the unit I defined in the app.
Anyways, the next step was trying to see which tool was good enough to show me the tracks with tiles underneath and labels of places, paths etc.
I tried three tools
1. jmapviewer this didn t work at all. [shirish@debian] - [~/osmand] - [10149]
[$] gnome-maps 2016-10-01_08-11_Sat.gpx
(gnome-maps:21017): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: gtk.css:63:28: The :prelight pseudo-class is deprecated. Use :hover instead.
(gnome-maps:21017): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: gtk.css:73:35: The :prelight pseudo-class is deprecated. Use :hover instead.
(gnome-maps:21017): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: application.css:14:30: The style property GtkButton:image-spacing is deprecated and shouldn't be used anymore. It will be removed in a future version
(gnome-maps:21017): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: application.css:15:31: The style property GtkWidget:interior-focus is deprecated and shouldn't be used anymore. It will be removed in a future version
(gnome-maps:21017): Gdk-WARNING **: /build/gtk+3.0-Tod2iD/gtk+3.0-3.22.0/./gdk/x11/gdkwindow-x11.c:5554 drawable is not a native X11 window
(gnome-maps:21017): Gdk-WARNING **: /build/gtk+3.0-Tod2iD/gtk+3.0-3.22.0/./gdk/x11/gdkwindow-x11.c:5554 drawable is not a native X11 window
(gnome-maps:21017): Gdk-WARNING **: /build/gtk+3.0-Tod2iD/gtk+3.0-3.22.0/./gdk/x11/gdkwindow-x11.c:5554 drawable is not a native X11 window
(gnome-maps:21017): Gdk-WARNING **: /build/gtk+3.0-Tod2iD/gtk+3.0-3.22.0/./gdk/x11/gdkwindow-x11.c:5554 drawable is not a native X11 window
(gnome-maps:21017): Gdk-WARNING **: /build/gtk+3.0-Tod2iD/gtk+3.0-3.22.0/./gdk/x11/gdkwindow-x11.c:5554 drawable is not a native X11 window
(gnome-maps:21017): Gdk-WARNING **: /build/gtk+3.0-Tod2iD/gtk+3.0-3.22.0/./gdk/x11/gdkwindow-x11.c:5554 drawable is not a native X11 window
(gnome-maps:21017): Gtk-WARNING **: GtkClutterOffscreen 0x4c4f3f0 is drawn without a current allocation. This should not happen.
(gnome-maps:21017): Gtk-WARNING **: GtkImage 0x4ed4140 is drawn without a current allocation. This should not happen.
Now I m not sure whether all of those are gtk3+ issues or me running them under Debian MATE. I know that there are issues with mate and gtk3+ as had been told/shared a few times in p.d.o.
Anyways, one of the issues I encountered is that gnome-maps doesn t work in offline-mode, saw https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=708799 . Also saw ~/.cache/champlain/osm-mapquest and the listing underneath is gibberish in the sense you don t know what it meant to do
[shirish@debian] - [~/.cache/champlain/osm-mapquest] - [10163]
[$] ll -h
drwx------ 6 shirish shirish 4.0K Jun 11 2015 10
drwx------ 26 shirish shirish 4.0K Oct 24 2014 11
drwx------ 10 shirish shirish 4.0K Jun 11 2015 12
drwx------ 11 shirish shirish 4.0K Jun 11 2015 13
drwx------ 12 shirish shirish 4.0K Jun 11 2015 14
drwx------ 12 shirish shirish 4.0K Jun 11 2015 15
drwx------ 27 shirish shirish 4.0K Oct 24 2014 16
drwx------ 25 shirish shirish 4.0K Oct 24 2014 17
drwx------ 4 shirish shirish 4.0K Mar 4 2014 3
drwx------ 5 shirish shirish 4.0K Mar 4 2014 8
drwx------ 9 shirish shirish 4.0K Mar 29 2014 9
What was/is interesting to see things like this
As I was in a moving vehicle, it isn t easy to know if the imagery is at fault or was it app. , sensor of my mobile ?
Did see http://learnosm.org/en/josm/correcting-imagery-offset/ but as can be seen that requires more effort from my side.
The last tool proved to be the most problematic
3. JOSM Getting the tracks into josm which was easily done. While firing up josm came across https://josm.openstreetmap.de/ticket/13735 which I subsequently filed.
One of the other first things which has been a major irritant for a long time is JOSM is, for a lack of better term, ugly. See the interface, especially the one having preferences, all cluttered look and specifically see the plugins corner/tab
The part about it being ugly, I dunno but have seen most java apps are a bit ugly. It is a bit generalist I know but that has been my experience with whatever little java apps. I have used.
I don t know what the reasons for that are, maybe because java is known/rumoured to use lot of memory which seems true in my case as well OR it doesn t have toolkits like gtk3+ or qt quick, although have to say that the looks have improved from before when I used it last some years ago
[shirish@debian] - [~] - [10340]
[$] ps -eo size,pid,user,command awk ' hr=$1/1024 ; printf("%13.6f Mb ",hr) for ( x=4 ; x<=NF ; x++ ) printf("%s ",$x) print "" ' grep josm
0.324219 Mb /bin/sh /usr/bin/josm
419.468750 Mb /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/bin/java -Djosm.restart=true -Djava.net.useSystemProxies=true -jar /usr/share/josm/josm.jar
This is when I m just opening josm and have not added any tracks or done any work.
Now I wanted to explore the routing in good amount of detail on josm. This was easily said than done. When trying to get imagery I got the Download area too large issue/defect . Multiple tries didn t get me anywhere. Then hunting on the web came across the continous-download plugin which is part of the plugin infrastructure . This I found to be a very good tool. It downloads the tiles and puts them in ~/.josm/cache/tiles
[shirish@debian] - [~/.josm/cache/tiles] - [10147]
[$] ll -h
total 28M
-rw-r--r-- 1 shirish shirish 28M Oct 2 02:13 TMS_BLOCK_v2.data
-rw-r--r-- 1 shirish shirish 290K Oct 3 12:59 TMS_BLOCK_v2.key
-rw-r--r-- 1 shirish shirish 4 Oct 3 12:59 WMS_BLOCK_v2.key
-rw-r--r-- 1 shirish shirish 4 Oct 3 12:59 WMTS_BLOCK_v2.key
While unfortunately I cannot see this/make sense of it I m guessing it is some sort of database with key and data files.
What did become apparent is that the OSM needs lots more love if it is to become something which can be used everyday. At the end I had to change the open-source gpx track file to a Google map kml file to be able to make sense as there are whole areas which need to be named, numbered etc.
One of the newbie mistakes that I did was trying to use the slippy map in josm (using Openstreetmap/Mapnik at the back-end) to move/pan using the left-hand mouse button. It took me quite sometime to figure out that it is with right-hand mouse button that you can make the slippy map pan. This is different from almost all maps, gnome-maps uses the traditional left-hand button, Google maps also uses the same. I have filed it in upstream as https://josm.openstreetmap.de/ticket/13751 .
So at least, in these rounds it is gnome-maps which has kind of won even though it doesn t do any of the things that josm claims to do.
I am sure there might be some interesting tricks and tips that people might have to share about mappingSeries: | Mage Winds #2 |
Publisher: | DAW |
Copyright: | August 1993 |
ISBN: | 0-88677-563-9 |
Format: | Mass market |
Pages: | 475 |
auto eth0 iface eth0 inet dhcpWoe no. 1: In combination with systemd, this results in a 120sec delay at system startup.
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