Reviving running and new goal

I’ve been slacking in my running for a fair bit, and not doing my usual distances.

This last week, I’ve been through the painful process of saying goodbye to my uncle from the viewing in the mortuary, to the final viewing, the funeral, and the internment of the ashes.

Cancer is a horrible condition, indiscriminate and relentless. But it doesn’t always mean death. Research has allowed cancer patients a good quality of life compared to a few decades ago and it continues to grow as research progresses.

In 2014 I did the Royal Parks Half Marathon (completion post here). It was a painful experience, but one I’m going to attempt to go for again. I’m going to train up for another Half Marathon and this time nominate a cancer charity. The current primary charity I’m thinking of is Cancer Research UK.

Why everyone is so convinced Facebook is spying on their conversations

Bipul Lama believes Facebook is spying on him.

And he’s got proof, sort of. Lama performed a test. For two days, all he talked about was Kit-Kats.

“The next day, all I saw on my Instagram and Facebook were Kit-Kat ads,” Lama said.

After his Kit-Kat experiment, he successfully repeated it with chatter about Lysol. The 23-year-old musician is now more convinced than ever that Facebook is listening to his conversations through his phone’s microphone.

“It listens to key words. If you say a word enough times, the algorithm catches those words and it sets off targeted ads,” Lama theorized.

Lama is far from alone. The belief that Facebook is actively listening to people through their phones has become a full-on phenomenon. Facebook has, of course, denied it does this. That has done little to dampen the ongoing paranoia around the theory.

Because it is just a theory… right?

Source: Why everyone is so convinced Facebook is spying on their conversations

TMOUT – Auto Logout Linux Shell When There Isn’t Any Activity

Something new I learned today — doing

export TMOUT=120

Will auto logout your current shell/login session after that many seconds.

Very useful if you hook this into the root account’s profile or as a default to all users so people can’t leave terminals open

Source: TMOUT – Auto Logout Linux Shell When There Isn’t Any Activity

How to Install Multiple Linux Distributions on One USB

As someone who has tinkered with multiple distributions, this will be a great way to try out multiples

This tutorial shows you how to install multiple Linux distributions on one USB. This way, you can enjoy more than one live Linux distros on a single USB key.

Source: How to Install Multiple Linux Distributions on One USB

Petition · Save Your Uber in London #saveyouruber · Change.org

Save Your Uber in London #saveyouruber

I’ve signed the petition.

Source: Petition · Save Your Uber in London #saveyouruber · Change.org

Dharni – Check it out! Phantom Of The Opera Beatbox with Edyta…

Rarely I post stuff from Facebook due to my bad history with them, but this (via Mashable) is pretty damn good

‘Star Trek Discovery’ premiere review: Smart, serious sci-fi on a slow burn

Another female captain to add to the diverse list of captains of Star Trek vessels. And I’m actually happy it’s finally someone from the East. Even more so, someone with a history of action films. Patrick Stewart had a history of films behind him too, but not all were action, and is mostly famous for his  Shakespeare work.

Source: ‘Star Trek Discovery’ premiere review: Smart, serious sci-fi on a slow burn

App That Paid Users to Exercise Owes Nearly $1 Million for Not Paying Users to Exercise

In the capitalistic nightmare we live in, everything has to be a transaction. So, when Pact launched its fitness app that let you make money for working out—or else pay a fee for failing to do so—it seemed to be the perfect motivational tool. There was just one problem: The company apparently wasn’t that great at paying up, and was it too good at collecting fees.

Hah, I remember this app. I actually did try it for a while but failed to see its appeal, or how it could make me continue to exercise. People would only be interested in this if they were really seriously wanting to meet a goal. People demotivated enough, would just cancel the pact/goal and continue on.

Source: App That Paid Users to Exercise Owes Nearly $1 Million for Not Paying Users to Exercise

CCleaner malware outbreak is much worse than it first appeared | Ars Technica

The malware backdoor in this story is quite intriguing. They are targeting specific companies (Samsung, Akamai, Cisco, Microsoft amongst them) and only attempting the second level attack if they are detecting they are being installed there.

The advice mentioned in the article is that anyone who installed the software on their system should REFORMAT THEIR DRIVE. Quite an extreme recommendation. My suggestion – stop using Windows.

Source: CCleaner malware outbreak is much worse than it first appeared | Ars Technica