Category Archives: Philosophy

The best notebook – iPad 1

Hello, dear reader! In this post, I want to tell you about my new purchase, an Apple iPad 1!

We all write notes sometimes, and we often need to remember things like recipes from our grandmas or dosage instructions from the doctor. Many of us use paper and pen for that, while some use their smartphones. However, I find it inconvenient, and I believe it’s better to have a dedicated device for such tasks! For most people, that would be a paper notebook and a pen, but why settle for that when we’re living in 2023 and not in 1600? Why not replace paper with a device like the iPad 1?

The iPad 1 is incredibly convenient and simply the best notebook, and even more! You can write notes on it, set reminders, and use it as your digital calendar. For instance, I always keep it turned on with my calendar displayed, standing right under my monitor. No need for a paper calendar anymore! Additionally, you can watch movies, listen to music, read books, and do whatever you wish!

Short Review

The iPad 1 is fully made from aluminum, comes in gray, has a 10″ screen, a “home” button for control, and, of course, a touchscreen. The speakers are really good, and the display is great for watching movies or videos. The sound from headphones is also of excellent quality! Naturally, it has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities. It’s a convenient tablet, old but still good. It runs iOS 5, and it works really well. Its design is awesome, and anyone will like it.

Why iPad 1?

It’s cheap, very cheap. Of course, you don’t have to specifically choose the iPad 1; it’s just my opinion that it would be the best option. You can use whatever you wish.

Why not use paper? I am an old-school person!

Getting paper involves chopping down trees, which is horrible.

Remember, being old-school doesn’t mean we can’t adapt. Let’s cherish nature and consider eco-friendly options. Join me in embracing sustainable choices for a greener future!


Written by Luna Lunaris.

Please send any comments to unixcat (at) anche (dot) no.

Should we love our enemy?

Hello, dear reader! In this philosophical post, I want to discuss the phrase “You should love your enemy” that many religious people often use.

Should we?

The short answer is no, but it’s not as simple as it sounds.

The most important thing is that we should never do bad things to our enemies. Revenge is bad and only perpetuates evil. We should never answer evil with evil or hate our enemies or anyone else. Hating will never help you, just like revenge. It will only hurt you more.

What should we do then?

It depends on you and what the person did. You have to choose for yourself.

First, you can do something good for that person and show them kindness. Remember, evil will never help you, and maybe that person will change themselves. Remember to never hate!

The other option is to exclude that person from your life if you are able to and just forget them and never see them again. That works too.

Sometimes, your worst enemy can become your best friend.

Why is revenge never good?

Because revenge never helps anyone. It only perpetuates more pain and evil for more people. How do you think it will end? Do you think you will feel better?

For example, if you hurt someone as revenge, then they will hurt you as revenge, and the cycle will never end. It will never make you or that person happy.

Another thing, especially popular in movies, is when someone kills an important person to you, and you want to kill them in return. But ask yourself, do you really think it will help you? It won’t bring back that person to life. You will only do a very bad thing that will likely make things worse.

That is my opinion.

Please send any comments to unixcat (at) anche (dot) no.

 

What is the sense of life?

Hello, dear reader. In this post, I want to discuss the sense of life.

What is the sense of life?

I think there’s no right answer for everyone; it depends on the person. I believe that the sense of life is to do things that make you happy, to live a happy and fulfilling life.

How can you find the sense of life?

First of all, you shouldn’t dwell on it too much. There’s no need to “search for the sense of life.” You should just live and enjoy your life. However, it can take years to find the sense to live, to find yourself, to find what you really like. It can be anything, such as playing music, cooking, being a philosopher, or something else.

The most important part is that you should enjoy what you are doing. Think about what you want to do for a while, try it, do it, enjoy it, live by it. Just remember that it shouldn’t hurt anyone else or you. No one deserves to be hurt.

What if you can’t find anything you like, even after trying everything? Maybe it’s just not the right time, or you’re just too young and will understand later. Don’t be upset because of this. Searching for yourself can take months, years, or a lifetime. Eventually, you will find what you like. For now, do what you want, can, and enjoy.

And, remember to always be yourself. Don’t try to be someone else unless it hurts someone. If you’re “not like everyone” and society doesn’t accept you, don’t try to change yourself because of society. Just say to yourself, “Why should I care?” You can be strange, weird, but you should be yourself. If you like white, but the rest of the world likes black, you shouldn’t force yourself to like black.

Your life is yours.

Thank you for reading. Written by Alexa Hattori.

Please send any comments to unixcat (at) anche (dot) no.

 

My IT Infrastructure at Home #0

Hello, dear reader! In this post, I want to tell you about my server and the infrastructure it runs.

What?

This infrastructure is a collection of self-hosted services aimed at providing a secure, privacy-respecting, and versatile platform for various media and network-related tasks. It consists of several categories of services:

Why?

I prefer not to use most cloud services because they are often non-free, do not respect privacy, sell user data, display ads, and have other issues. I want to get rid of most of the cloud services I currently use, and I also plan to host my own email in the future.

Infrastructure of the RLOC Network

First, what is RLOC?

RLOC is the name of my local network, RLOC stands for Rainbow LOCal, why? Because I like rainbow!

What services do I run?

Critical:

  • PiHole + Unbound – For blocking ad, trackers, and more!

Media:

  • Emby – Media server, for movies, cartoons, anime, and music.
  • qBittorrent – For downloading media.

Free/Libre:

  • SearXNG – A privacy-respecting, open metasearch engine
  • Invidious – A privacy-respecting YouTube frontend.

Tools & Management:

  • OpenSpeedTest – Free & Open-Source HTML5 Network Performance Estimation Tool.
  • SpeedTest Tracker – Automatically run a speedtest every hour.
  • Uptime Kuma – Self-hosted website monitoring tool like “Uptime Robot”.
  • Portainer – Web UI for managing docker containers.

It’s not a full list since I am still testing some services and am unsure if I will use them. Additionally, there are some services I plan to host later. I am also running an i2p node to support i2p.

Planned:

  • Briefkasten – Modern app for saving and managing your own bookmarks. Includes a browser extension.
  • Blink – Easy-to-host, SSO-integrated, CDN-powered link shortener (+decoupled analytics) for teams.
  • Focalboard – An open source, self-hosted alternative to Trello, Notion, and Asana.
  • dpaste – Simple pastebin with multiple text and code option, with short url result easy to remember.
  • And more.

Dell PowerEdge T610 – Main Server

This server is running everything except for DNS.

Hardware

  • CPU: Intel Xeon L5640
  • RAM: DDR3-1333 ECC, 48 GB

Storage:

System Drives for TrueNAS:

  • SSD SATA Transcend 32 GB [ mirror ]
  • SSD SATA Transcend 32 GB [ mirror ]

System Drives for Virtual Machines:

  • HDD SATA Western Digital RE 160 GB [ mirror ]
  • HDD SATA Western Digital RE 160 GB [ mirror ]

System Drives for Jails:

  • HDD SATA Western Digital RE 160 GB [ mirror ]
  • HDD SATA Western Digital RE 160 GB [ mirror ]

Storage Drives for Data:

  • HDD SATA Western Digital Red 2 TB [ mirror ]
  • HDD SATA Western Digital Red 2 TB [ mirror ]

Total: 8 Drives.

Software

  • Host OS: TrueNAS Core
  • vm0 OS: CentOS 7 GNU/Linux

Author’s note:

Self-hosting everything I need has been a long-time dream of mine, and it’s finally becoming a reality. Of course, there’s still a lot of work to be done, and this is just the beginning of my project. My goal is to replace almost everything I use online with self-hosted services, including email.

This is my first post, and there will be more to come. Thank you for reading.

Written by Alexa Hattori.

Please send any comments to unixcat (at) anche (dot) no.

 

 

 

Why I don’t use Cell Phones

Hello, dear reader!

Today, I want to write about why I don’t use cell phones and why I dislike smartphones.

A brief history

I grew up in a village without internet, and we only used phones for calls and only rarely. To be honest, it was great in some ways. If you wanted to talk to someone (or schedule a meeting, etc.), you had to walk to their house, knock on the door, or call them. Then, you would go somewhere and talk to each other, discussing various topics. Meeting in person was quite common, and it was really great.

Also, I would visit my grandma in another village every summer. As you can imagine, we had no cell phones at all. We would play outside, come up with games, and have a lot of fun! Sometimes, we would play card games or board games like Monopoly. But, after a few years, we all started to have smartphones. And, this all ended up with sitting indoors most of the time, playing games on our phones…

And what now? Many people communicate with each other using their phones and the internet, without meeting in person. Instead of meeting in person, walking outside, etc, people spend their days staring at their phones, watching short videos, scrolling through Instagram, or messaging others.

If you look at kids outside, there are many of them playing with their phones while sitting somewhere outside. Or, one kid will be playing a game while a few others stand or sit around, watching them play. It’s so pointless.

Of course, I am not talking about everyone, but there are really many people like this. I would write more, but most likely, you already know how smartphones have changed our society. Just look around.

Reasons why I don’t use cell phones

My reasons include:

  • Distraction: Smartphones are designed to be highly engaging and can easily distract people from their surroundings, making it difficult to focus on important tasks or engage in meaningful conversations with others.
  • Addiction: The constant access to social media, games, and other apps can lead to addiction, making it hard for people to put their phones down and engage in other activities
  • Isolation: Constant use of smartphones can lead to social isolation as people spend more time interacting with their screens than with other people.
  • Lack of privacy: Smartphones collect a lot of personal data and can be used to track users’ locations and activities, leading to a loss of privacy.
  • Sleep disruption: The blue light emitted from smartphone screens can disrupt sleep patterns, leading to fatigue and other health problems.
  • Mental health: Studies have shown that excessive smartphone use can be linked to poor mental health, including depression, anxiety, and stress.
  • Lack of physical activity: Smartphones can lead to a sedentary lifestyle, as people spend more time sitting and staring at screens instead of engaging in physical activities.
  • Decreased creativity: Smartphones can lead to a decrease in creativity, as people spend more time consuming information rather than generating new ideas.
  • Most smartphones are created to make money, not for the benefit of the user. Companies only care about making money.
  • And more.

If I need to call someone (which may happen once a year), I ask someone else to make the call. Phones are good for quickly taking photos, but I don’t use them because of many reasons. If I really need to take a photo, I would ask someone else to do that. I want to buy a digital camera for taking photos of nature and other interesting things I come across, to post on my site.

Also, you can read more about why cell phones are harmful on these sites:

Send comments to unixcat (at) anche (dot) no