Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:Kvetching, not complaining.
Writes books. Pet rats. Martial arts. Punch Nazis & terfs. If it wasn't on Industrial Records it's not industrial music, it's just sparkling noise. He/him. Bangpath old. Detroit, MI, US. Gelato!
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:My latest novel: a spoof of a bad 70s movie and a satire of the 1980s, Laserblasted.
https://mwl.link/laserblasted.html
My latest tech book: Run Your Own Mail Server, about... uh... running your own mail server. Yes, it can be done.
https://mwl.link/run-your-own-mail-server.html
List of all my publications, in date order: https://mwl.io/book-index
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:If I have to tell you I'm a "safe person" or "an ally" or whatever, I'm doing it wrong.
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:If we've ever met in person and you've wondered "Gee, how did he get this way," I finally have a solid answer.
(source: https://www.tumblr.com/ejlandsman/135780556301/i-dont-feel-like-this-is-done-but-im-posting-it)
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:I'm a full-time professional writer, but you can get free stuff from me.
Sign up for my nonfiction mailing list and get a free tech book. https://mwl.io/about/mailing-lists
Sign up for my fiction mailing list and get seven free stories. https://mwl.io/about/mailing-lists
I also have an assortment of free fiction on various retailers, including:
a short SF novel "Forever Falls." "There's no grounds for murder. There's no ground at all." Alien universes! Junior redshirt detective! A death that couldn't be accidental, couldn't be murder, and couldn't have even happened.https://mwl.io/fiction/freebies#foreverfalls the first Prohibition Orcs tale. Bootlegging in 1927 Detroit! Cold feet and hot lead! Elves that need a good punch in the throat! https://mwl.io/fiction/freebies#orc "Butterfly Stomp," the story that made people threaten me until I wrote the novel "Butterfly Stomp Waltz." Robin Hood meets Die Hard. Robbery! Explosions! Everyone's favorite bad guy! "Wednesday's Seagulls," the first story from the collection "Vicious Redemption." The only thing worse than living with a zombie is surviving without one. https://mwl.io/fiction/freebies#ws
There's also my blog at https://mwl.io, my Letters column for the FreeBSD Journal https://freebsdfoundation.org/our-work/journal/, and assorted tidbits scattered all around the web.
Or you can browse my whole catalog at https://mwl.io.
(Yes, the freebies are offered in the hope that you'll buy things. I'm exactly like Costco, except without money or power or market share.)
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:I write books to pay the bills. No consulting, no leeching off family members, no paid teaching or speaking: only writing books.
How do I pull it off?
1) Understand cashflow - https://mwl.io/nonfiction/biz-craft
2) Treating it as a business - https://mwl.io/archives/4557
More on publishing, writing, etc at my FAQ - https://mwl.io/faq#publishing
The big secret: MAKE MOAR WORDS! 
50 books out as of 2022, shooting for 100 by 2032.
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:ICYMI: #openzfsmastery sponsorships are now open. #sysadmin #zfs
https://sponsor.mwl.io
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:Cashel makes magnificent whiskers look easy. Don't be fooled, it's not. #petRats #rats
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:My latest novel: a spoof of a bad 70s movie and a satire of the 1980s, Laserblasted.
https://mwl.link/laserblasted.html
My latest tech book: Run Your Own Mail Server, about... uh... running your own mail server. Yes, it can be done.
https://mwl.link/run-your-own-mail-server.html
List of all my publications, in date order: https://mwl.io/book-index
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:Substack is implementing their writer lock-in right now.
https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/substack-changes-frustrate-publishers-one-option-is-terrible-for-us-the-other-is-terrible-for-our-readers-/s2/a1274464/
Writers, leave while you can.
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:Updated all my book pages on https://mwl.io so that each book has a separate page with a description and buy links. That lets me clean up the book's main description.
I want to reduce the main mwl.io catalog down to just titles and book covers. If you click on the book, you get the detail page.
I was planning to do that with a popup.
This morning, thinking that a popup is too heavy. I could just link to the per-book page and give that page a "return to catalog" link near the top and bottom.
Thoughts?
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:Inspired a conversation I'm tagged in: a Wordpress host getting hammered by crawlers hosted by AWS.
For an average web site, is there any reason to have AWS-hosted systems reaching your site? My site is for end users, not for servers.
My web site might initiate connections to AWS hosts, sure.
Pondering a script to load AWS IPs into my packet filter, blocking ports 80 and 443.
Ditto for Vultr, Hetzner, etc. But AWS is an easy place to start.
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:"This paper presents implementations that match and, where possible, exceed current quantum factorisation records using a VIC-20 8-bit home computer from 1981, an abacus, and a dog.
We hope that this work will inspire future efforts to match any further quantum factorisation records, should they arise."
Note that this is three attempts to match current quantum computing records, not a single attempt utilizing all three tools.
(The IACR is a legit cryptology organization. Been around for years and years.)
https://eprint.iacr.org/2025/1237.pdf
(h/t @cstross@wandering.shop )
so, #sysadmin sorts: chill your quantum computing worries
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:I smell a new edition of #sshMastery https://www.openssh.com/pq.html
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:Yes, I have been informed.
https://www.theverge.com/microsoft/717965/microsoft-crocs-windows-xp-bliss-wallpaper-theme
Michael W Lucas :flan_on_fire:For the record:
Nazi hackers really can fuck off.