Caius Theory

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Opening Streetka Boot without Key
Jun 30, 2026 · original
For the Ford StreetKA 1.6 convertible (first generation), presumably sold anywhere but this one is from the UK. One day you shut the boot and as it clicks home, you realise you ve just locked the only car key you have with you inside the boot. The spare is 80+ miles away at home. The car is otherwise unlocked, but the boot is an electronic release. The handbook lists two ways to open the boot: Double-press the boot button on the key. The usual method. Crud. Unlock and open the cubby hole between the two front seats with the key, then insert the key into the second keyhole inside, turn and hear the boot open. Double Crud. Turns out if the car is unlocked we can utilise the second method without the key, by hand. That lock is in the compartment the roof folds away into, effectively behind the bulkhead behind the front seats. Open the roof cover using the button inside the driver s door jam
jj jj jj jj jj
Dec 23, 2025 · original
In a similar vein to git git git git git , if you re using jj and find you ve accidentally typed one jj too many in the command line, it errors at you. In this case we re trying to pull the id of the current changeset we re editing: $ jj jj show -T 'change_id.short()' error: unrecognized subcommand 'jj' Usage: jj [ OPTIONS ] COMMAND For more information, try '--help' . How annoying. Now we could solve this with a shell alias, but jj also allows us to define alias in the configuration (much like git!), and combined with jj util exec we should be able to have it run the rest of the line nay bother. Thinking it through, the initial jj will be exec d by the shell, so that s gone already. The second jj is then evaluated as the alias, so that s gone too. The remaining arguments passed to the alias are ["show", "-T", "change_id.short()"] so if we just exec those it ll error trying to run show a
Apple Watch Band Mnemonic
Jul 27, 2025 · original
I ve been wearing an Apple Watch pretty regularly for nearly a decade at this point (October 2015), and have picked up a few bands over time that I swap between. Commonly I ll swap from a fabric based band to a rubber/silicone based band when doing DIY or sports as they seem to stand up better over time to those activities. Without fail every single time I swap the band I have to think really hard which way round the new band is going onto the watch body. For the fabric loops is it the single end or the hooped end going on the top of the body? For the two piece bands is it the short or the long band that goes on the top of the body? I finally figured out a mnemonic to help me remember, and having used it for a few weeks it appears to have lodged in my brain. Pretty simple, it s a single word: Longbottom. For the two piece straps the longer one goes on the bottom (and shorter on the top),
Set Up Rails Activestorage With Azure Securely
Oct 2, 2024 · original
Ruby on Rails has built-in support for managing uploaded files with ActiveStorage , which both cleans up your application code and acts as an abstraction over different storage backends. Azure Storage is one of the supported backends, but configuring it securely can take a little figuring out. The most sensible way I ve found to have it configured is with files stored having no public access, but allowing temporary access via signed URLs for both uploads & downloads. ActiveStorage happily generates these URLs for us which makes it easy for developers to use and transparent to users, whilst keeping their data as secure and protected as possible. From a technical point of view, this also allows upload and download between Azure Storage and the user s browser, without proxying all the data through your Rails app. Azure setup We ll be storing the files in Azure as blobs within Azure Blob Sto
Programatically invoke rake task with --trace enabled
Oct 1, 2024 · original
Rake is a Make-like program implemented in Ruby (to quote the website.) It contains tasks written in ruby code you can invoke from the command line. These can run prequisite tasks first too, in this case we configure the setup task to be invoked before the work task is ever invoked. task :setup do puts "Setting up" end task work : :setup do puts "Doing work" end $ rake work Setting up Doing work Rake also supports --trace as an argument which outputs a bunch of debugging information, allowing you to see which tasks have been executed in which order and how often they were invoked. $ rake --trace work ** Invoke work ( first_time ) ** Invoke setup ( first_time ) ** Execute setup Setting up ** Execute work Doing work From the --trace output we can see calling the same task multiple times in the same rake process doesn t execute the task multiple times, but it is invoked the correct number o
Running OmniOS via UTM on Apple Silicon
Jan 5, 2024 · original
Wanted to fire up OmniOS to play with and didn t have any spare x86 hardware to hand so decided to figure out running it in UTM on Apple Silicon, meaning it needs emulation as OmniOS is x86 only. Grab the ISO from the OmniOS downloads page , I used the LTS release but the current stable should work too. Just make sure it s the ISO version, not USB, etc. Open UTM and click Create a New Virtual Machine . Choose Emulate as we need a x86 VM on an aarch64 host. Choose Other for the Operating System, then select the iso file you downloaded above from the Browse… button. Make sure to leave the Hardware Architecture set to x86_64, but adjust the rest to what you require. OmniOS suggests 1GB ram minimum for VMs. Storage is suggested to be 8GB minimum. On the Summary screen check the Open VM Settings and click Save. On the Settings popover that appears, select Display from the sidebar and change t
Upgraded Dekoni Earpads for Sony WH-1000XM3 Headphones
Dec 24, 2023 · original
Back in 2019 I picked up a pair of Sony WH-1000XM3 Headphones for using in the office. Very useful and work well in an office and on public transport. After a while I was finding my ears were getting quite hot when wearing them all day, especially on hotter days in the summer. The original earpads had a shiny synthetic surface, after some research I happened across Dekoni s Synthetic Suede Earpads as a suggested upgrade for the XM3 s. Discovered Electromod are a UK business that imports them for sale here, and ordered them . Arrived promptly, and an unrelated issue around payment was easily resolved by customer services. Would buy from them again without any worries. Fitting the earpads was pretty simple, the old pads lever off and the new pads are pressed into place. From memory I used a plastic spudger to pop the old pads off. The Synthetic Suede seals much better against my head, is c
`asdf install ruby` on macOS
May 10, 2023 · original
Installing ruby through asdf on Apple Silicon Macs 1 will attempt to build a custom OpenSSL for each install because it can t find OpenSSL from homebrew in /usr/local , as that s now installed in /opt/homebrew . This means your brew update no longer pulls in security fixes for your ruby runtimes, as well as wasting disk space. Ruby 2.6.10 & 2.7.x need OpenSSL 1.1, and are unsupported at time of publishing so you should really upgrade to ruby 3! (Tested with ruby 2.6.10 and 2.7.8 at time of publishing.) brew install openssl@1.1 RUBY_CONFIGURE_OPTS = "--with-openssl-dir= $( brew --prefix openssl@1.1 ) " \ asdf install ruby 2.7.8 Ruby 3.0 and higher need OpenSSL 3.0+ so we follow the same override but with a different brew name. (Tested with ruby 3.1.4 and 3.2.2 at time of publishing.) brew install openssl@3 RUBY_CONFIGURE_OPTS = "--with-openssl-dir= $( brew --prefix openssl@3 ) " \ asdf in
@fediverse@twitter via ///
Nov 4, 2022 · original
An amusing idea from @xor@mastodon.xyz for Mastodon instance names (which form part of your username) has been taking three word phrases from Moby Dick and trying to find available domain names, so you could host your instance at famous.whaling.house for example. Parker has since blogged his idea and some examples which is well worth a read and explains it in more depth, as well as explaining how he did and linking to the script if you want a go. Many Mastodon instances are on subdomains, and since the early days weirder new-style TLDs have been de rigueur. (The flagship has always been at a .social!) So I set out to find three-word phrases where the third word is a 4+-letter top-level domain, using as my first source text Moby Dick. Re-reading through the thread on mastodon again, I spotted the following reply from @knowtheory@mastodon.social Ok. Now map them on what three words — https
iLO 4 Firmware Upgrade
Jul 2, 2022 · original
HP Microserver Gen8 machines have a HP iLo 4 built in for remote hands management. These are effectively a separate, embedded computer inside the server 1 , which also means it has its own software (firmware) running on it and needs updating separately. HP are still releasing firmware updates for the iLo 4, and whilst it s possible to update them from inside the host OS on the server, you can also do it by uploading the firmware directly to the iLO. I prefer this method as my servers are almost never running the correct operating system to update from the host 2 . The easiest way to get ahold of the firmware is to extract it from the Red Hat linux host package, we re after a .bin file inside the .rpm package HP make available for downloading. At the time of writing the latest firmware release is v2.8.0, released 2022-04-08, available on HP s support site here (no login required). Click V
Shawbury 10km 2021
Sep 25, 2021 · original
RAF Shawbury host an annual 10km running race, and I entered this time because a friend suggested it as an event to aim for over the summer. Given the run is along runways/taxiways it s going to be one of the flattest courses on offer. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Got there with plenty of time to register, figure out where the important things—coffee & ice cream vans—were and go for a nervous wee. Decided to start a workout on my watch early, set it to 10(km, I thought) and paused it straight away to wait for the gun. Stood around for another ~5 minutes waiting for the gun to go. Unpaused the watch as I went across the line and we were off. Started near the front of the midfield and set out at a pace that I thought was around 10:20/mile, didn t pay too much attention to people coming past me as it was a mass start rather than paced start. Kept pace with some absolute legend runni
Fix Edgerouter DHCP ? entries
Mar 14, 2021 · original
Occasionally I end up with devices on the local network that don t emit their hostname over DHCP, so when listing the current leases on the EdgeRouter s cli, they just appear as ? . 1 These usually just irritate me, but occasionally when I m looking for a machine on the network it means I can t find it and end up poking the different ? IPs using nmap or ssh to discover which machines they are. $ show dhcp leases IP address Hardware Address Lease expiration Pool Client Name ---------- ---------------- ---------------- ---- ----------- 10.0.0.34 a8:1d:16:74:xx:yy 2021/03/14 16:38:27 trusted ? 10.0.0.40 b8:27:eb:c5:xx:yy 2021/03/14 16:36:13 trusted picontrol1 10.0.0.46 a8:1d:16:75:xx:yy 2021/03/14 16:37:48 trusted ? 10.0.0.93 14:f6:d8:53:xx:yy 2021/03/14 16:40:29 trusted ? The EdgeRouter lets me assign static entries in the DHCP subnet, which solves the problem of knowing which hostnames th
Cleaning BODUM Bistro Coffee Grinder
Jan 17, 2021 · original
I ve owned a BODUM Bistro Coffee Grinder for a number of years, and aside from occasionally running rice through to clean the grinding surfaces haven t had any issues with it. Recently bought some new beans which are much oilier than ones I usually get, and after running most of them through ended up with the grinder failing to work. The failure was the mechanism sounding like it was okay for roughly a second, then the motor straining under load before what sounded like plastic gears jumping teeth. At this point I turned it off. Running it with an empty hopper worked fine, adding anything (either beans or ground coffee) to the hopper caused the load issue. On the third attempt it also had stopped self-feeding from the hopper, and trying to gently push beans/grounds through caused the stoppage above. David Hagman has previously torn down his grinder and posted a video on YouTube showing t
Disable Google Autoupdater on macOS
Dec 14, 2020 · original
From reading Chrome is Bad , it seems in some situations the updater (also known as keystone) can chew up CPU cycles. Whilst I m not 100% convinced keystone continuously chews CPU, its launchctl configuration suggests it runs at least once an hour. Given I don t use Chrome as my main browser, this is undesirable behaviour for me. With that in mind, I ve decided to disable the background services rather than delete Chrome entirely. (I need it occasionally.) Stopping/unloading the services and fettling the config files to do nothing achieves this aim (and stops Chrome re-enabling them next launch), whilst leaving Chrome fully functional when needed. Unload the currently loaded services launchctl unload -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.keystone.xpcservice.plist launchctl unload -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.keystone.agent.plist Empty the config files, so if launchd ever tries to
Let's Peek: A tale of finding "Waypoint"
Oct 15, 2020 · original
Following a product launch at work earlier this year, I theorised if someone was watching the published lists of SSL Certificates they could potentially sneak a peak at things before they were publicised. Probably far too much noise to monitor continuously, but as a potential hint towards naming of things with a more targeted search it might be useful. Sites like https://crt.sh/ and https://censys.io/certificates make these logs searchable and queryable. Fast forward to this week, where at HashiConf Digital HashiCorp are announcing two new products, which they ve been teasing for a month or so. Watching Boundary get announced in the HashiConf opening keynote I then wondered what the second project might be called. I ve spent a chunk of the last month looking at various HashiCorp documentation for their projects, and I noticed they have a pattern recently of using nameproject.io as the pr
Tailscale, RFC1918, and DNS Rebinding Protection
Jul 16, 2020 · original
Edit: Originally this post was written to be a workaround for Tailscale routing all DNS traffic over its own link when you configured it to push out existing DNS Server IPs. This turned out to be a bad assumption on my part. Thanks to apenwarr for helping me understand that shouldn t be the case, and encouraging me to debug it properly rather than making assumptions. Naturally it turned out to be a PEBKAC . I d pushed out 162.159.25.4 as the DNS Server IP which is a nameserver rather than a forwarder. This in turn meant people were getting empty answers back to DNS queries, which stopped once they quit tailscale. (Go figure, Tailscale removes the resolver from the network stack when it quits.) The post has been updated to remove that invalid assumption. 🤦🏻‍♂️ Imagine we have a fleet of machines sat in a private network somewhere on a 172.16.20.20/24 IP range, with entries pointing at t
RSpec Given/When/Then with symbols
Apr 22, 2020 · original
Having a need to write some BDD-esque tests without the need of putting them in front of non-technical people, I was recently playing around with rspec feature specs . Where I ve used these previously we ve eventually run into curation issues where the specs are outdated, brittle and require so much maintenance we ve generally ended up lobbing cucumber into the project as a stopgap. This is due to ending up with feature specs like the following, which lead you to having to parse the code mentally to work out what it s testing: RSpec . feature "Admin: Posts" do scenario "Authoring a post" do @user = create :user , :admin login_as @user visit new_admin_post_path fill_in "Title" , with : "RSpec feature specs" fill_in "Body" , with : "Some piffle about feature specs" click_on "Publish!" visit root_url expect ( page ) . to have_content ( "RSpec feature specs" ) end end After some reading arou
curl --resolve
Sep 14, 2019 · original
Sometimes it s useful to be able to craft a request to one server, using a DNS name that s either not defined or currently pointed to a different IP. (Migrating webservers, testing a new webserver config out, etc.) Historically for HTTP calls this was easy, just set the Host header as you make the http request to the IP directly: curl -H "Host: caiustheory.com" http://10.200.0.1/ However, HTTPS throws a bit of a spanner in the works, if we just try to connect using an overridden Host header, we get an error back from the server if it s not configured with a certificate for the IP address: $ curl -H "Host: caiustheory.com" https://10.200.0.1/ curl: (51) SSL: no alternative certificate subject name matches target host name '10.200.0.1' Usually at this point I d just start editing /etc/hosts to add 10.200.0.1 caius.name to it and carry on testing. This is a pain when you re testing more tha
Cheaper Oil for Mini One R50
Apr 2, 2019 · original
My Mini One 2003 R50 1.6 litre petrol engine takes specific BMW 5w30 Longlife-04 oil. (I believe the R52 and R53 models take the same oil too.) The oil is 5w30 fully synthetic made to BMW s exacting standards. The cheapest I ve found to buy currently is a GM (Vauxhall/Opel) manufactured one, made to BMW s specifications. Searching for something like dexos 2 5w30 gm on ebay finds them at about £20 for 5 litres with free delivery in UK. (Comparatively, an equivalent from Castrol is about £50 at time of writing.) Sounds like a small saving, but if your Mini is anything like mine it needs topping up once a month or so, and I do a full oil/filter change every 5k miles as an attempt at longevity. Soon adds up.
Download All Your Gists
Mar 17, 2019 · original
Over time I ve managed to build up quite the collection of Gists over at Github, including secret ones there s about 1200 currently. Some of these have useful code in, some are just garbage output. I d quite like a local copy either way, so I can easily search 1 across them. Install the gist command from Github brew install gist Login to your Github Account through the gist tool (it ll prompt for your login credentials, then generate you an API Token to allow it future access.) gist --login Create a folder, go inside it and download all your gists! mkdir gist_archive cd gist_archive for repo in $( gist -l | awk '{ print $1 }' ) ; do git clone $repo 2 /dev/null ; done Now you have a snapshot of all your gists. To update them in future, you can run the above for any new gists, and update all the existing ones with: cd gist_archive for i in */ ; do ( cd $i && git pull --rebase ) ; done Now

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