Getting Classy With Lua

We’re going to talk about working with classes in Lua. I assume you’ve read the basics of Lua and about Object-Oriented Principles. We are going to gloss over some concepts (like metatables) and instead focus on getting the basics down.

To start off, Lua is not really a truly object-oriented language. Classes can be implemented in several ways and there are several libraries and extensions which add classes.… Read the rest

Microservices 101

Microservices aren’t new, but the technology to make them feasible at scale is. A microservice channels the Unix philosophy of “do one thing and do it well” into a conceptual unit of a project. By carving the project up into pieces, each one can function independently of the others and are tied together by the main application or front-end.

Microservices have many advantages over more traditional monolithic application development, but aren’t quite right for every solution.… Read the rest

A Quick Breakdown of CrySIS / Dharma – October 2019

There’s a new variant of CrySIS and Dharma going around. It appears to be very similar to the variant floating around in July, but the toolkit it drops alongside the ransomware payload is a little different. This infection is nasty, and frighteningly efficient.

What Happened

The infection requires a human element which complicates things. Basically, an attacker gains access through a credential exploit, RDP exploit, or similar and works to privilege escalate using the toolkit.… Read the rest

Why STEM Needs the Liberal Arts

I lived down the hall from a group of STEM majors in college. They were great guys, but communication was not their strong suit. I still remember walking into my computer science major friend’s room and watching him have a complete meltdown at the thought of reading something “as hard as” Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This book is taught in some high schools, or even earlier.… Read the rest

Post Workout Meal – Buffalo Cottage Cheese and Chicken

Cottage cheese is a cheap and easy way to get protein. The macro breakdown of cottage cheese is great too. The stuff I get has 12 grams of protein for 3 grams of carbs and 3 grams of fat roughly. Low fat, low carb, high protein, and plenty of other nutrients in it as well. It’s pretty much a guilt-free snack all things considered.… Read the rest

Bluetooth on Debian or Ubuntu

Bluetooth is great for freeing yourself from the tangle of wires (which is great when dealing with kids). It can be a little bit of a pain to setup sometimes. This article covers getting Bluetooth working on Debian or Ubuntu. If you’re on Ubuntu or some other Debian derivative, the necessary packages are probably already installed. This article was originally written using Debian 10 as a base which should correspond to roughly Ubuntu 14.04 to 19.04 (though some package names may change).… Read the rest