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20190226.txt

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+63 Reabrook Ln.
+---------------
+
+A whisper, and it was gone before I knew it had arrived. None of the dust
+disturbed on decade old photo frames. Once frozen nostalgia on-demand,
+replacements for our own memories. None of your ornaments re-arranged - I was
+never allowed to so much as suggest alterations - everything in its place on
+shelves suggesting exotic expeditions where we haggle with locals at market
+stalls, gladly accepting our foreign money; the right time and the right place,
+just what we needed; seaside towns and their endless provision of authentic
+antique stores, each as well established as the last to close its doors. None
+of our important papers, stuffed away in obscure drawers rarely opened, even
+so much as noticed. Life stories told in bank statements, payslips, pensions,
+letters from the solicitor, passports, and Christmas cards from names I don't
+remember... I don't remember you. I know you like a doctor might know his
+patient, or a teacher his student, or a murderer his victim. You are a name on
+legal documents; a caricature from memories conjured by statues and paintings;
+a face in blurry photographs that I've studied long hours into lonely nights,
+waiting for fleeting sensations that I can never quite grasp onto.
+

20190301.txt

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+Corrosion
+---------
+
+Tendrils of smoke from a cigarette stub curl their way through the stale air
+of her apartment building, caught in rays of burning city light through
+half-closed blinds. Displays above her desk show an IRC session and a network
+map - a spider's web of rings and sprawling lines - her next paycheck. The
+cigarette is dropped into a nearly empty mug of coffee, and both her hands
+return to the keyboard.
+
+<zdm> Update on the nginx exploit?
+
+Sections of the network map attempt to give some order to the digital chaos.
+IP addresses from entirely separate AS numbers sit together in their neat
+boxes for Payroll, Customer Relations, Sales, IT Support, Development - the
+interesting one.
+
+<aphyr> nearly there, it crashes 1/3 of the time
+<aphyr> not sure why
+
+Nobody owns servers these days, not really. Since the late 20s, a few
+companies have owned most of the hardware on the net. Easier management, they
+said. Now you rent what you need, leave the legwork to them. Who needs bare
+metal?
+
+<zdm> The exploit or the service?
+<aphyr> service
+<aphyr> my codes written into its memory by this point
+
+Containers for your services makes them more secure; that was always the
+marketing behind them. People jumped ship quicker than the manufacturers could
+keep up, and it put a few out of business. If you weren't in the Cloud game
+already, you were too late to even think about catching up. For the crackers,
+it was business as usual.
+
+<aphyr> okay the new version is up on the sftp
+<zdm> Fixed?
+<aphyr> yeah, some canary check i needed to get round
+<zdm> Good. I hope you tested it, we start tomorrow.
+* zdm (~zdm@null.host) has quit #kotec
+
+She gets up and walks across a smoky room, to the bathroom and a blindingly
+bright artificial light that blinks into existence as she enters. A couple of
+sleeping pills from the cabinet washed down with tap water from a glass,
+slowly replacing the caffeine in her system with a new drowsiness as she lays
+on top of her sofa, staring at the lights on the ceiling shifting and changing
+colours with the city outside. When she wakes up tomorrow it will look the same.
+