Fred's Blog

So, is my new dream bag, the CT21+, the perfect 1-2 day travel bag?

Earlier this month, I attended ClueCon 2026 in Chicago.

Shocking as it may sound, I have a new backpack.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are solely my personal views and opinions.

It's Deja Vu All Over Again — Yogi Bera All the way back in 2021, APIBAN provided a method of integrating with IPset.

I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. — Tennessee Williams AnneMarie has always wanted to have a lemonade stand.

Join me in Chicago for ClueCon2024 ClueCon2025 ClueCon2026!

Artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships, and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean.

tl;dr: Same venue as last year, amazing people, very well run, good food, great content.

Last month, when we discussed my favorite bags of 2026, I mentioned… This said... if ctactical could make the ct-21 with just a bit more capacity or, let's say they did a version of it like their recent ct-14 plus, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

Where’s the best place to celebrate 25 years of Kamailio SIP Server development?

Back in November 2024, I said that the Tom Bihn Synik 30 was “my favorite backpack… ever.”

Looks like I took last year off from the Thanksgiving message.

Upfront bias: I prefer MariaDB.

Last week, I attended ClueCon 2025 in Chicago.

As I’ve said before, I love backpacks.

Join me in Chicago for ClueCon2024 ClueCon2025!

On parenting: The days are long, but the years are short.

A moment of patience in a moment of anger prevents a thousand moments of regret. — Ali ibn Abi Talib

tl;dr: Another new venue, more amazing people, very well run, good food, great content.

If you think all the way back to April, I mentioned I bought a new (Tom Bihn) bag and just before that I had talked about how my Tom Bihn Synik 30 was “my favorite backpack… ever.”

Just a bit ago, I was talking about my new favorite bag, the Tom Bihn Synik 30.

The news today is rampant with a discussion of Signal; mostly because of an idiotic use by the Federal Government.

Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you. — Unknown

Next stop, Berlin!

Story time… When Yeni and I were first dating (in the mid 2000’s), we lived in different states.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are solely my personal views and opinions.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are solely my personal views and opinions.

Avinash Chopde, back in 2005 (or so), wrote an incredible python script: blockhosts.py.

TL;DR: This is what I did to recover a drive (raid array mirrored) from QNAP hardware failure: apt install mdadm lvm2 lvscan vgscan vgchange -ay vg288 lvs mkdir /mnt/recover mount /dev/vg288/lv1 /mnt/recover -o ro,user cp -R /mnt/recover/share_folder /bac…

Just over two years ago, I left twitter and joined Mastodon and Bluesky.

I love backpacks.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are solely my personal views and opinions.

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see — Mark Twain

For some reason, I started believing that good quality headphones were worth a hefty price.

May not be good as I once was But I'm as good once as I ever was — Toby Keith

Storm’s over.

Latest update reduced the wind forcast for our area as the storm has stayed south.

It's like deja vu all over again — Yogi Bera Another day, another hurricane.

Storm’s over.

This isn’t a discussion on “what is STIR/SHAKEN”… for that I refer you to Wikipedia, Transnexus, the FCC, and google.

Ridin' the Storm Out — REO Speedwagon Another day, another hurricane.

I still remember when I first saw OBIHAI… at a ClueCon well over 10 years ago.

Over my many years in politics and business, I have found one thing to be universally true: The kindest person in the room is often the smartest.

Be kind whenever possible.

Thank you to the FreeSWITCH/SignalWire team for posting my ClueCon 2024 presentation, Kamailio and FreeSWITCH at Scale, to YouTube.

I figured it was time to check in on APIBAN before Labor Day… Over the summer APIBAN SIP honeypots received traffic from (on average) 130-150 unique IP addresses a day.

ClueCon has ended (or is about too… I had to leave a few hours before it ended).

I love git.

I tell you what… phishing attempts are getting better than ever.