Transitioning Away From Google

In my attempt to transition as far away from google as I can, I have come up with a list of alternative services that I have tried using:

Gmail: ProtonMail (https://protonmail.com/)

Google Drive: Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com/)

Google Search: DuckDuckGo (https://duckduckgo.com/)

Google Maps: OpenStreetMap (https://www.openstreetmap.org/)

Google Photos: Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/) or Dropbox

Google Docs/Sheets/Slides: Microsoft Office Online (https://www.office.com/) or Dropbox

Google Translate: DeepL Translator (https://www.deepl.com/translator)

Google Keep: Standard Notes (https://standardnotes.org/) or Evernote (https://evernote.com)

Google Chrome: Mozilla Firefox (https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/)

Google Hangouts/Chat: Zoom (https://zoom.us)

Google Analytics: Matomo (https://matomo.org/) or Clicky (https://clicky.com)

Google Adsense: There is no getting away from this. No matter what other publisher you use, you are tied into google adsense in some way

Google News: Feedly (https://feedly.com/)

Google Forms: Typeform (https://www.typeform.com/)

Google Sites: WordPress (https://wordpress.org/)

Google Authenticator: Microsoft Mobile Authenticator (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/mobile-authenticator-app)

Want to be humbled?

Want to be humbled?

Be in a position of power. Managerial Position, President, CEO.

You’ll be quickly surprised at how many problems are just the results of your own miscommunication.

How to mess with spammers for SEO and profit

In today’s digital age, websites are bomarded with people trying to hack,spam,bruteforce their way into your websites. These threats not only harm the website’s reputation but also compromise the security of the user’s personal data. It is essential for website owners to take appropriate measures to protect their sites and users.

One of the most common ways to deal with spamming and hacking attempts is to implement robust security measures such as firewalls, SSL certificates, and regular software updates. Other measures include monitoring the website’s traffic, using anti-spam plugins, and limiting the number of login attempts.

Instead of doing it that way why not take advantage of these people for SEO, profit and fun?

For instance maybe you have someone who is trying to crawl your website excessively. Instead of rate limiting them and sending 403 status codes, try doing an HTTP redirect to google with some keywords that will benefit your site. E.g. if you have a site that sells golf shoes at golfshoes.com redirect them to google with the keyword: “best site to buy golf shoes golfshoes.com”.

"https://www.google.com/search?&sclient=psy-ab&site=&source=hp&btnG=Search&q=where+to+buy+golfshoes.com",

Don’t do it excessively though! You want to make them confused! Try doing it 60% of the time:

if random.random() > 0.6:

Maybe they still dont get your message? Try redirecting them to a different set of sites so that they get the message:

if random.random() > 0.6:
    list_of_websites = [
                    'https://www.pornhub.com/gayporn',
                    'https://gaymaletube.com/',
                    'https://xhamster.com/gay',
                    'https://redtube.com/gay',
                    'https://www.gayporn.fm/',
                    'https://www.gaytube.com/',
                    'https://www.gayboystube.com/',
                    'https://www.gayforit.eu/',
                    'https://www.gayporn.com/',
                ]
                

    return HttpResponseRedirect(random.choice(list_of_websites))

How to Save A Life When You Are Wealthy

1. Have a doctor friend or a set of concierge doctors in different timezones

2. Buy a fancy EKG machine

• You’ll want one that can interpret the rhythm well or just send it to your group of doctors. Next time you or a family is having chest pain get an EKG
• Newer ones can be hooked up with a spare laptop and have better algorithims

3. Buy an AED

• A good one can be had for a thousand dollars and you’ll have to replace every couple of years but can be the difference between life and death. Recommended brand: Philips

4. Become BLS certified

• (Good) CPR saves lives

5. Learn how to put in an IV and have spare IV Fluids on hand

• Sometimes something as simple as fixing dehydration when you are ill can prevent a hospital visit (where you are bound to experience some sort of medical error)
• IVF costs about 200$/Liter online (good website: https://www.mountainside-medical.com)

Adding Captcha to Django project

1. add django-recaptcha to requirements.txt

2. Add ‘captcha’ to your installed apps in settings.py

3. Create your own custom login form. I usually have a custom folder for forms that I am subclassing so project_name/overrides/login/forms.py

    from django.contrib.auth import forms as auth_forms

    from captcha.fields import ReCaptchaField

    from captcha.widgets import ReCaptchaV2Checkbox


    class ProjectLoginForm(auth_forms.AuthenticationForm):
        captcha = ReCaptchaField(
            public_key=captcha_public_key,
            private_key=captcha_private_key,
            widget=ReCaptchaV2Checkbox(
                attrs={
              }
           )
    )

        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
           super().__init__(**kwargs)

3. Create your own custom login view

project_name/overrides/login/views.py

from django.shortcuts import redirect
from django.contrib.auth import views as auth_views


class ProjectLoginView(auth_views.LoginView):

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super().__init__(**kwargs)

        

5. Go to urls.py and add in your new subclasses

from project_name.overrides.login.views import ProjectLoginView
from project_name.overrides.login.forms import ProjectLoginForm

6. Create a new /account/login url as so

url(r'^account/login/$', ProjectLoginView.as_view(template_name='project_name/login.html', form_class=ProjectLoginForm), name='login')

All done!

Wash Trading Mousepads

I love Icemat glass mousepads. I’ve bought about 5 of them (only because I’ve broken a couple with phones falling on them or having them fall off my desk). Prior to Covid, I only owned 2 so have acquired about 3 more since then. For those not familiar with the icemat, it is a glass mousepad that was popular among gamers and computer enthusiasts in the early 2000s. It was known for its smooth and durable surface, which provided excellent tracking for optical and laser mice. However, the icemat was eventually discontinued and became a rarity in the market. Refer to my blog post here Finding a replacement icemat

As a big fan of the icemat, I started buying a large number of them around 2 years ago. I then relisted them on ebay.com at absurdly high prices, hoping to capitalize on their rarity and nostalgia factor. I sold one to a friend of mine at and absurd price and then managed to sell 1 at these inflated prices to someone else. This ended up catching the attention of other buyers.

The news of these high sales seemed to have spread. People started listing icemats at several hundreds of dollars but in reality I think I was the only person purchasing them. Realistically, the icemat is probably only worth around a hundred dollars at most. The inflated prices are a result of my artificial manipulation of the market, which created a false sense of the actual price of the icemat. Here you can see some of the absurd prices the icemat is going for: