The DMZ

Anonymous

10:01 PM

@MechMK1 Yeah, that is my biggest fear and why I have avoided it; a bad trip.

MechMK1

@J-- As I said, never happened to me

Anonymous

To me, it is a risk not worth taking. Perhaps I am exaggerating in my mind how bad it will be. I probably am.

MechMK1

That OD was pretty weird though, I think I even told the story here once

Anonymous

But personally that is the line I won't cross. Among a few other things.

MechMK1

Basically threw up, my mom called an amulance, they just had me sleep there, next day I was fine

Anonymous

10:02 PM

That wasn't quite 45 minutes, but I am getting frustrated with this exercise.

MechMK1

@J-- Interesting, that's how I feel about MDMA

Anonymous

I don't think I have ever OD'd on anything, now I think about it.

Anonymous

@MechMK1 Absolutely fair enough :)

Anonymous

I think everyone has some things which we perceive in a certain way.

Anonymous

Either rationally or sometimes irrationally.

Anonymous

10:03 PM

I am likely thinking irrationally about psyches. But it has always been my personal stopping point, I guess.

Anonymous

Maybe one day I'll overcome the fear or create an environment I feel I could do them in :)

Anonymous

I like to experience things, for sure.

MechMK1

Maybe. If you do, definitely take them with someone there who is sober and who can help

Anonymous

Oh yeah, for sure.

MechMK1

One thing I heard about bad trips is that sugar helps, like, a lot

Anonymous

10:04 PM

That is always the case! When I take anything.

MechMK1

So if you are worried about a bad trip, drink some sugary drinks

Anonymous

I always have someone sober with me, always.

Anonymous

@MechMK1 Oh nice, that is good advice. I will for sure remember that.

Anonymous

It is a shame drugs are so demonized, really.

MechMK1

Also it's best to start with a low dose

Anonymous

10:05 PM

Oh yeah, of course.

MechMK1

Especially if you don't know how you'll react

Some people will just jump in being like "I wanna hallucinate!" and then have a bad time

Anonymous

Yeah, no, I am always pretty smart when it comes to this stuff. With the exception of the abuse period.

MechMK1

For example, truffles are a relatively good starting point, because they can be bought legally in many parts of the EU

Anonymous

Oh nice, didn't know that.

Anonymous

That's interesting.

MechMK1

10:07 PM

"truffle" is a kind of psychedelic mushroom, but it's not botanically a mushroom

zamnesia.com/4506-magic-truffles-valhalla.html

Anonymous

I actually don't know what my law is around these.

Anonymous

I think they're class B so, not legal.

MechMK1

These are the ones I like to buy

Truffles and shrooms may be different

I don't know

Anonymous

Yeah, perhaps, I would have to look into it.

Anonymous

As far as I know, the only legal highs here are Poppers and NOS.

Anonymous

10:09 PM

We pretty much outlawed everything else.

MechMK1

Well, I can't offer legal advice, but I can offer advice with trips

Anonymous

Of course :D

MechMK1

So for example, I'm 80kg heavy, and 15g of Valhalla is what I personally would onsider to be a very pleasant trip

Anonymous

Similar weight to me. I'm 76 :D

MechMK1

So you could try with 5g, see how you react, then up the dose to 10g a few days later

Yeah I used to be 105kg :D

Anonymous

10:11 PM

Hey that's a huge difference!

MechMK1

God I was a fat fuck

Anonymous

I don't know how long ago that was

Anonymous

But that is impressive.

MechMK1

Now I am a slightly less fat fuck

Anonymous

Like, really.

Anonymous

10:11 PM

Most people only get bigger, in my experience.

Anonymous

To go from 105 to 80 is awesome.

Anonymous

The most I ever weighed was 82.

Anonymous

I fluctuate between 72-78, mostly.

Anonymous

I have a very fast metabolism so for me to actually gain weight

Anonymous

I have to eat a DUMB amount

Anonymous

10:13 PM

And there was a time I was eating 6000 calories a day easily

Anonymous

And I still didnt get past 82kg

MechMK1

Well, I just eat a dumb amount

Anonymous

Yeah, I like food a lot too :D

MechMK1

I just ate because eating was one of the few pleasant things in my life

Anonymous

It doesn't help that my girlfriend is middle eastern, so much fucking bread.

Anonymous

10:13 PM

Everything with bread.

Anonymous

Makes you fat as fuck eating bread with every meal.

MechMK1

Having a gf who cooks for you

Man you are lucky as fuck :D

Anonymous

Damn, I am really stuck with this exercise. WinDbg is so daunting compared to like immunity

Anonymous

@MechMK1 oh I know!

MechMK1

I would still be with my ex if she would have cooked for me

Anonymous

10:14 PM

I shouldn't complaina boutt he bread

Anonymous

i shoiuld just let her make me fat

MechMK1

Like honestly, abuse me all you want as long as I can eat a lovely dinner at least

Anonymous

^ haha :D yeah food fixes a lot ill be honest...

MechMK1

Yeah seriously

You could be the most awful piece of shit to me, I wouldn't care as long as I get tasty dinner.

I believe that cooking for someone is a sign that you love them.

That's why I cooked for my ex, and that's why she never cooked for me.

Anonymous

Oh, I agree.

Anonymous

10:16 PM

Perhaps what you need is a cook rather than another girlfriend :D

Anonymous

Unfortunately I cannot imagine that a personal chef is a cheap investment, if you can even call it that.

MechMK1

No, food is the most delicious when cooked with love

Which make restaurants a form of prostitution, in a way...

Anonymous

Hahha :D

MechMK1

But honestly, a woman who cooks for me with love will end up with a ring on her finger.

Anonymous

Yeah, don't give my girlfriend any ideas.

Anonymous

10:20 PM

She comes over to my computer some times, if she sees this then I'll never hear the end of it...

Anonymous

I actually like to cook myself, to be honest.

Anonymous

I am not good at it. But its fun.

Anonymous

SOmething to do away from the computer.

MechMK1

@J--'s girlfriend: If you want to keep him, keep cooking for him!

Anonymous

I can only cook like 3 dishes though but I like them /shrug

Anonymous

10:22 PM

@MechMK1 lol :D

MechMK1

I'm getting better at cooking too, but I'll be honest, I'm really lazy to cook for myself

Anonymous

Yeah, me as well. That is why if I cook for myself it is only things which are super fast.

Anonymous

Steak, chicken, etc.

Anonymous

Because I like eating more than cooking...

MechMK1

If I cook for someone else: "How about salmon filet with italian herbs, lovely wild rice or couscous on the side, with grilled cherry tomatoes?"

Anonymous

10:24 PM

Oh I am not that good :D

Anonymous

Sounds like you're a SEASONED vet.

MechMK1

:DDDDDD

If I "cook" for myself....well, I recently just ate a can of beans

With red wine vinegar added

As long as it sustains my biological processes and delays my decomposition, it's good enough for me

Anonymous

Hah, I just had chicken and rice since it was quick.

Anonymous

this error is really starting to piss me off

Anonymous

"TrY hArDeR" <- offsec.

MechMK1

10:26 PM

Well, the solution is to try harder

Anonymous

Haha, yes :D

MechMK1

The Offsec OSCP song Try Harder

►

Anonymous

HAHAHAHAH wait

Anonymous

how do I not know about this

Anonymous

oh my god this is great

Anonymous

10:27 PM

reggae

Anonymous

oh my

Anonymous

ive never heard something better than a caribbean accent saying "penetration"

MechMK1

YOU DID NOT?!?!?!

HOW DID YOU NOT KNOW!?!??!

Anonymous

Hahaha, no.

Anonymous

No idea!!!

Anonymous

10:29 PM

This is fucking awesome though, lmfao.

Anonymous

if i could have any accent

Anonymous

it would be carribbean

Anonymous

its so fucking smooth

MechMK1

Yeah, it's a really cool one

Anonymous

theyre just like...original gangsters

Anonymous

10:30 PM

and when they go full carribbean slang mode

Anonymous

they say some hilarious shit

Anonymous

even though theyre not meant to be funny, it is

Anonymous

i have a friend whos dad is a rasta man, hes also from the carribbean

MechMK1

Yeah, reminds me of that one rasta guy in GTA IV

Anonymous

and when you talk about the internet he goes

MechMK1

10:31 PM

Nice, nice

Anonymous

"mi no plug into the matrix man"

Anonymous

:D

Anonymous

so funny :D

Anonymous

@MechMK1 yeah jacob!

MechMK1

Yeah, jacob

my man

Anonymous

10:32 PM

I fucking loved that game.

Anonymous

GTA IV was one of the best story lines if you ask me.

MechMK1

I just loved driving around with a bike

Anonymous

I really liked Vice City too, but IV was my favourite, I think.

Anonymous

GTA V story was such a let down.

Anonymous

When you compare it with the old GTAs...

Anonymous

10:33 PM

@MechMK1 Hahhaha that reminds me do you remember how stupid the turning was on cars in IV?

Anonymous

YOu had to always drift because they couldnt turn unless you used handbrake :D

Anonymous

So dumb but it was funny

MechMK1

Yeah, absolutely

Driving was so wonky

But that's what made it fun

Anonymous

Yeah, ahahah.

MechMK1

I did the same in Cyberpunk 2077

Anonymous

10:34 PM

TO be fair for a 2008 game it was very impressive.

MechMK1

The game was such a fucking mess

Anonymous

I haven't played that!

MechMK1

But honestly, the ending was really really good

Are you planning to?

Then I won't spoil anything

Anonymous

I wanted to, but I just got distracted.

Anonymous

I probably won't play it so you can share the ending :)

MechMK1

10:35 PM

Okay, so there are actually multiple

Do you know roughly what the story is about?

Anonymous

No, not at all, actually. Just saw the trailer and seemed like a sick game.

MechMK1

Okay, so there's this dude called Johnny Silverhand, and he reminds me a bit of you

And I don't mean that in a negative way

But he had this really anti-authoritarian vibe. Like,a lot

He was part of a rockband called Samurai, back in 2020, and they blew up the office of a mega-corp called Arasaka with a fucking nuke

So he gets caught by Arasaka, they basically rip his "soul" from his body and seal it in a digital cage. Because then he literally cannot die and suffers for all eternity

Anonymous

Hahahahahah, of me? :D

MechMK1

You do give off a bit of an anti-authoritarian vibe :D

He's also rather reckless

Anonymous

@MechMK1 I mean, yeah, fair :D

MechMK1

10:40 PM

He didn't care at all about his own well-being

Anonymous

I am anti-authoritarian :)

Anonymous

Oh right, I see the correlation now...

Anonymous

:D

MechMK1

He had a bit of a nihilistic outlook

So anyways, one thing leads to another, and suddenly you have a chip in your brain with Johnny's "soul" on it

And it begins overwriting "you"

You start seeing Johnny, you start talking to him, etc...

And most of the time, he is either cynical, an asshole or a cynical asshole :D

But then his plotline happens

And he meets up with his former band members

And they jam one last time

And the woman he used to love (and still loves) recognizes him

In you, I mean.

"Out of all the people in the world, I would never have imagined to see Johnny Silverhand ever again"

Anonymous

Oh wow, okay.

Anonymous

10:43 PM

This seems like an interesting story... A chip in your brain with his soul on? haha.

MechMK1

Yes, and you want to get rid of it to save yourself

Anonymous

Don't think I've ever heard such a plot but I like it so far.

MechMK1

So anyways, after that, Johnny and you have a more deep conversation, and Johnny talks about how he regrets how he treated so many people like an asshole, and how awful and self-absorbed he was

He confesses that he still loves her, but he accepts that more than half a century have passed, and that he can't just pretend like nothing has changed

Which, for someone like him, is a very mature view to hold

So anyways, there are now multiple endings, and no matter which one you choose, someone close to you will always die

Except...

If you say some very specific things to Johnny, and then wait for a certain amount of time, a unique dialogue starts to play, in which Johnny says it must be tough to decide which one of your friends gets to die, but he has a different plan, if you want

His plan is to basically replay the scene from Matrix, where they go save Morpheus (remember, Johnny is played by Keanu Reeves)

And you're like "You know what, fuck it. I'm a dead man walking anyways" and you just fucking kick the door in and blast your way through

Anonymous

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Anonymous

THATS WHY KEANU REEVES IS FEATURED

MechMK1

10:47 PM

Which is ironic, given that you could have done that from the very beginning. This entire "ending" makes the whole main story completely pointless

Anonymous

I never got that bit...

Anonymous

I just assumed it was a culture thing

MechMK1

Yeah, Keanu is Johnny

Anonymous

I didn't realise he was the story in some sense :D

Anonymous

Ah okay

MechMK1

10:48 PM

He's like the main character

Anonymous

Got it

Anonymous

that makes sense now.

MechMK1

So anyways, you actually make it, and then you basically also rip your soul out in the end

You're now entirely digital, and you meet with Johnny's hacker friend, Alt.

Alt explains to you the news

The good news is, your souls are not entangled anymore

The bad news is, your body is already beyond repair. If your "soul" is written into your body again, your body would reject it as "foreign" and you would die within 6 months give or take

So you have 2 options:

a.) Go back to your body, live however much time you have and then die

Or b.) Live "beyond the black wall" as an AI construct, somehow, and give Johnny your body

I chose b.) and the ending cutscene is...SO...FUCKING...GOOD!!!

Okay, so Johnny, now in your body, wakes up, having been given life that he never expected to get. A second chance for the undeserving, so to say

He talks to the neighbor kid, asks him if he could give him a ride, and asks him about his black eye. He says his dad had beaten him for not waking him up in time, and the two have a conversation about how punishment must fit the transgression

You go outside, and his dad is sitting there on the stairs, drunk as hell, and he beats his son again. You step in, and tell him that if you touch him once more, you'll personally ensure he'll flatline. His dad backs off, and you get in the car

The boy confesses to you that he wishes he was as strong as you, so he could beat up his dad, and you tell him that revenge really doesn't fix anything (a common theme in many plotlines throughout the game), and that it will only leave you bitter

You drive to a guitar store, and johnny buys an "old school" guitar, one from the 2020's, for massive amounts of cash

Anonymous

Wow, this story is sad :( but I like it.

MechMK1

The boy says your playing style is really strange, sounding exactly like Johnny Silverhand. You tell him that indeed "you knew him well", and he asks how that works, given how johnny died long before you were born

You say that some things are just difficult to explain, and you talk about playing guitar

The boy says he has tried to come up with his own songs, but he feels like they're not good enough

Johnny tells him that if he tries to "act hardcore" and writing songs about killing people when he has never done so, he's just a poser, and people will see him as such

But if he writes songs about things that are "real", things he really experienced, people will feel that it comes from the heart. He says that that is really the duty of a musician, to give people something "real", especially in times like these where everything, from politicians, to food, to even our own bodies, is fake.

Anonymous

10:58 PM

I really like this story. This is actually awesome.

MechMK1

They buy the guitar, and then head to the cemetary. Cemetaries are weird in this setting, since people die so frequently, that only the rich can afford a small locker, more or less, in which they store something that belonged to the dead

So Johnny buys one for you, even though your body is still alive, and places an amulet inside, which held a bullet which was used to shoot you in the head (which kind of triggered this whole chain of events)

And he stands there, and recollects how since the moment he met you, he thought you were a naive idiot, who had to be taught how the world works. But unbeknowns to him, he was the idiot, and you taught him how the world works. And he finishes by saying wherever you are, whatever you are now, he hopes you have found your peace

He leaves the cemetary and catches the boy lighting a cigarette. He smashes it out of his hand, and tells him not to start with that bullshit (Johnny has been pestering you as the character to smoke throughout the story)

The bus arrives which will take Johnny to another city. You wish the boy good luck, and tell him that no matter what happens, he should always remain true to himself and not bow to anyone

You get on the bus and he says you left your guitar (which is worth more than the whole apartment complex he is living in) in his car, and you tell him it's his now, and it's his duty to use it

Then your just head into the distance and leave the city behind you

Anonymous

You know, this writing reminds me of uh, David Cage.

MechMK1

And honestly, this whole sequence is so above and beyond anything else this game has to fofer

Anonymous

The guy who wrote Heavy Rain and Fahrenheit.

MechMK1

Never played Fahrenheit. I have the PC version, but it kept crashing so I didn't bother

Anonymous

11:05 PM

I LOVE that game.

MechMK1

You know what really pisses me off?

The fact that the ending is this fucking good

Because the rest of the game is just 99% filler

Just so fucking barebones

Anonymous

Yeah I might have to buy this and play it now. I really like the story, it is actually so awesome.

MechMK1

"Go there, kill everyone" quests

Anonymous

Yeah thats a bit of a shame

Anonymous

Reminds me of assassins creed in a way

MechMK1

11:06 PM

It really is

There is this quest in the beginning

Anonymous

good story, terrible gameplay.

MechMK1

It's called "the HeistT

Anonymous

(the first games not the new ones)

MechMK1

It's called "The Heist"

And the heist is the only one which actually made me feel like I was roleplaying in a way

The rest was just boring, unintersting open-world shooter

forest

@MechMK1 Candy flipping is not that dangerous.

Because there's not much MDMA.

MechMK1

11:08 PM

@forest Still, I'm not into synthetic drugs

forest

ah

MechMK1

I can't explain why

Anonymous

Alright, well, I am going to come back to this exercise because I am baffled. Gonna go focus for a few hours since I can't figure this out anyways. Back later :)

MechMK1

I know it's not "Logical"

@J-- Sure thing, good luck!

forest

I hate when I write a simple answer and it hits HNQ: crypto.stackexchange.com/q/88692/54184

MechMK1

11:11 PM

It's a good answer though

forest

Yeah but it's a very simple answer that could have been found with only trivial research.

A quick web search of "chacha vs aes" would provide a better answer.

MechMK1

That doesn't matter

forest

Yeah but I wish my better answers hit HNQ instead. :(

MechMK1

If you deleted all the questions on SE that could have been cleared up with a quick Google search, 90% of SE would be gone.

forest

heh

MechMK1

11:12 PM

@forest The problem is that what you define as a "good" answer is one that would satisfy your own curiousity.

forest

I think of a good answer as one that's detailed and took effort to produce.

I've written some good answers, but this one I just smashed together.

MechMK1

But I will be frank and say that your knowledge is extremely niche compared to the overwhelming majority of people

Hell, I don't even understand some questions you ask here

forest

In crypto? I doubt it. I'm quite a novice to cryptography.

MechMK1

Not necessarily crypto, but infosec as a whole, yes

forest

ah

MechMK1

11:13 PM

Look, for once in my life I can claim to be an authority on someone, because I have written more HNQ questions than anyone else here

forest

Like this I'd love to have hit HNQ: crypto.stackexchange.com/a/68462/54184

MechMK1

What makes a question hit HNQ is a short, punchy title that peaks curiousity in someone

forest

Even though it's simple, it took a lot of time to write.

MechMK1

Yeah, and it's amazing for people like you and me

But do you think Joe Shmoe will even know what RC2 is?

forest

Or what RC4 is for that matter. :D

MechMK1

11:15 PM

Do you want to know why the other question hit HNQ?

Because "ChaCha" is a funny name

forest

heh probably

I love the paper called "New Features of Latin Dances" or whatever.

For Salsa20, ChaCha, and Rumba.

MechMK1

:DDD

forest

eprint.iacr.org/2007/472.pdf

MechMK1

Gotta make my own cipher called "Waltz" now

forest

Not a Latin dance though is it?

So @MechMK1, what's your opinion on orenlab.sise.bgu.ac.il/p/PP0? :P

Excited?

MechMK1

11:32 PM

I hope not yet another ting I must keep in mind

forest

@MechMK1 Possible tl;dr is CSS can be used to read RAM.

(It's a bit more complicated than that, but that's the gist)

In the past it was thought that you'd need to run code natively, then people found out how to do it in JS, but JS engines were modified to make that more practical. But now... in native CSS.

MechMK1

Man fuck...

forest

@MechMK1 Hey do you have any servers that you would want to try to break via software? I have an idea that might be able to brick them entirely in software, without tampering with firmware.

But I have nothing that fits the bill.

MechMK1

Why do you ask?

Also reading handwritten hiragana is the fucking worst

forest

Because I need to find someone with a server that they don't mind breaking. :D

MechMK1

11:44 PM

That depends on what you mean by breaking

As in "May need to reinstall OS?"

Or as in "Hardware catches fire?"

forest

As in "will no longer boot without soldering on a new cmos chip"

MechMK1

I see

forest

(Although in CSM mode it should still boot, but not true UEFI)

MechMK1

Sorry, my server isn't up for it :D

forest

Basically breaking it by writing to NVRAM (/dev/nvram) which often uses flash instead of true battery-backed CMOS memory. Enough writes should theoretically kill it (since flash writes are destructive), and UEFI requires NVRAM to boot (but not in "legacy" CSM mode).

MechMK1

11:49 PM

Basically you're just wearing it out, right?

forest

Yeah. It's only 144 bytes with no wear leveling or overprovisioning space.

So it'll probably die after 100,000 or so writes. Maybe less.

(On the older systems with true battery-backed CMOS, it'd survive unlimited writes)

MechMK1

What do you need to write to it?

Root on the server?

forest

Depends on /dev/nvram permissions. On default configs, root.

But you could in theory do: chown nvram:root /dev/nvram && chmod 0660 /dev/nvram

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