Tim W RESISTS

I am an admin of The Union Place, and a proud AWU-CWA Local 9009 #Union member.

I'm a Staff SRE at Google, but all opinions are my own, and this account and instance are in no way sponsored by or associated with Google.

I'm always open to answering questions, so just ask!

#Labor and #Union Starter Pack: https://fedidevs.com/s/NTMy/

Tim W RESISTS (npub1ldj…5q07)">https://justmytoots.com/Tim W RESISTS (npub1ldj…5q07)

#MastoAdmin #FediAdmin #DNS #InfoSec #AMA #AWU #CWA #Boston #RedSox #Celtics #fedi22 #searchable #AvGeek

Brought to you by: https://www.laborunionnetworking.org/
Pronouns: he/him/his
Affiliation: AWU-CWA
Signal: krellis.42

Public Key

npub1ldjqwdnfew3tndfvyna3pc2n49d3q6khz58gcm0w5205x9san8sq955q07

NIP-05 Address

tim_at_union.place@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs0keq8xe5uhg4ek5kzf7csu9f6jkcsdtt32r5vdhh2986rzcwencqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dszzt8q6

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1ldjqwdnfew3tndfvyna3pc2n49d3q6khz58gcm0w5205x9san8sq955q07

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Published at

2026-04-18T05:42:26Z

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Event JSON

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Last Notes

2026-03-14 20:33:10 UTC

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I mean, they voted for him and the Orange Man, so: very?

2026-03-10 01:31:37 UTC

Solidarity to my union siblings at CWA Local 9413, aka the United Brothel Workers, organizing at Sheri's Ranch, "one of America's oldest brothels". They're organizing against extreme demands from Sheri's regarding their likeness and scheduling, among other things.
Sex work is work, and these workers deserve organization just like we all do. Sign their petition to show your support!
https://unitedbrothelworkers.org/
:solidarity:
#SexWorkIsWork #Union #Unions #UnionStrong #Solidarity

2026-01-28 00:54:09 UTC

https://iceout.tech/ spread the word (I'm apparently the last to know, so maybe everyone already knows)

2026-01-11 03:42:05 UTC

I should go to bed and stop playing "I Am Future". If you like cozy, automation-ish, techie / futuristic games, highly recommend. A few grindy bits but overall very well paced, nice coziness settings, A+ would recommend. Currently on sale for $9.99 on Steam.

2025-12-30 19:55:08 UTC

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out of curiosity, what kinds of topics/questions are you having? I've not at all had that experience, so I'm curious how we're holding it differently.
(Saying you're not interested in engaging is totally fine as well; asking in my personal capacity and not as a Googler, I don't work directly on Gemini so I couldn't help in that capacity anyway).

2025-12-11 02:56:30 UTC

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A very warm welcome!

2025-12-07 02:30:54 UTC

RE: https://infosec.exchange/@Em0nM4stodon/115675905532949740
Let's throw in personal executive liability while we're at it. #EndBillionaires
#note1c4s…ydst

2025-12-01 21:42:34 UTC

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is the story of SpaceHost's demise interesting / public / one I can find somewhere?

2025-11-10 16:08:00 UTC

#MastoAdmin, what are we thinking on 4.5.0? Is it safe after 4 days without a patch release, or am I just playing with fire? 😂

2025-11-02 17:01:00 UTC

It's so sad to me that it's essentially easier to pirate ebooks than it is to get them from non-Amazon sources, it seems.

2025-10-26 18:46:35 UTC

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we AL East losers have to get some satisfaction that we didn't lose for nothing! 😂

2025-10-26 18:41:57 UTC

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probably more than one golf course!

2025-10-26 18:35:38 UTC

Did you know there's a Labor & Unions Mastodon Starter pack? Check it out!
https://fedidevs.com/s/NTMy/
Got suggestions? I promise I didn't leave anyone out on purpose, just let me know who I'm missing and I'll be happy to take a look!
#Unions #Labor #LaborMovement #UnionStrong

2025-10-26 18:04:20 UTC

The Defense Department (I refuse to call them by the new name) doesn't want you to watch Netflix' "Boots", calling it "woke garbage", so you obviously should be watching it.
I cannot speak to its accuracy, etc, but I certainly found it entertaining. And sad, because I know if anything they probably underplayed what LGBTQ+ service members have gone through over the years (and still go through to this day).
If you've got Netflix, it's worth checking out IMO. #Boots

2025-10-23 23:57:59 UTC

Dear world: I'm tired. Can you please stop for a few minutes?

2025-09-22 21:06:17 UTC

Sorry Disney/ABC, you can backpedal all you want but you've already shown us your spinelessness. You ain't getting me back.

2025-06-21 18:22:22 UTC

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but has it been discussed with a journalist on Signal yet?

2025-04-18 15:37:01 UTC

Appomattox Court House: not actually where the Civil War ended.
That's at the McLean house, behind me as taking this photo. This was in fact the court house, now the visitor center, and of no consequence during the surrender.
Ironically the Civil War started on the same McLean's farm.
I wonder if Civil War II will start and end on McLean property too...
#CivilWar #EndTrump #NoKings
https://media.union.place/media_attachments/files/114/359/705/063/766/309/original/013493c5bf250849.jpg

2025-04-09 21:15:24 UTC

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and DOGE has fired anyone who could or would have tried to do anything about it. (Have they touched SEC yet? Not that I have any faith in the courts upholding or the DoJ enforcing anything anyway...)

2025-04-06 19:26:04 UTC

Is an 8GB USB-A flash drive even worth having anymore?

2025-04-05 14:35:56 UTC

#HandsOff #Unions #EndBillionaires
https://media.union.place/media_attachments/files/114/285/850/924/545/320/original/0c74e5c3255f50ba.jpg

2025-04-05 01:45:26 UTC

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what's your stance on high viz vests?

2025-04-05 00:22:00 UTC

Ready for tomorrow! #HandsOff #EndBillionaires
https://media.union.place/media_attachments/files/114/282/494/452/920/979/original/cab79fe17e001feb.jpg

2025-04-04 01:53:59 UTC

#EndBillionaires
https://media.union.place/media_attachments/files/114/277/194/578/292/572/original/62f4e57a68f49bce.png

2025-03-20 15:02:40 UTC

Authors: please do whatever you can to make your books available on alternative ebook stores like bookshop.org. I don't want to give Amazon any more ebook money. But I want to buy your books!
#EndBillionaires

2025-03-05 02:16:45 UTC

Non-Amazon eink reader: Kobo, Boox, or something else?
Boox Palma seems interesting. I can't understand their claim of 128G of "ROM" though. I can't believe they actually mean ROM. But I can't find anyone explaining what they do mean.
#DropAmazon #EndBillionaires

2025-03-03 15:40:00 UTC

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Ah, simple searching found it quickly, https://www.ourrei.com/2025-rei-board-elections

2025-03-03 15:36:30 UTC

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do you have a link to the ask from the union? It might have been your original link before you switched it to the election link, IIRC?

2025-03-03 15:17:10 UTC

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what a travesty that even in a co-op our capitalist hellscape can't/won't field any #labor friendly candidates. 😞
:solidarity:
#EndBillionaires #UnionStrong

2025-02-08 18:18:48 UTC

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yeah, people who are underwater and stuck in leases are in a rough spot. I don't have any specific good advice, unfortunately. Other than for everyone else to remember situations like this and have a little grace for Tesla owners.
Now if the site you're thinking about had tips for folks in that kind of situation as well, maybe places willing to buy out leases / underwater Teslas with some sort of subsidy, that'd be awesome! @npub1g8l…vwtm

2025-02-03 00:31:30 UTC

If you feel you can do so safely, the Trump Slump 2.0 might be a good time to take advantage of a slack firearms market - deals may be out there now that all the right-wing 2A nuts feel safe.
They haven't put an ideological test in yet but I am worried it's not far down the list...
Then again I'm also not sure a well armed populace can possibly be well-enough armed against a modern military.

2025-02-03 00:27:37 UTC

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in THEORY they're also trained that they may (and indeed must) disobey an unlawful order. The question is how blindly they believe the "law"...

2025-02-03 00:24:11 UTC

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Maybe a better question: do the soldiers on the line have the will and support they need to disobey unlawful orders? Will US troops enforce unjust laws on US citizens?

2025-02-03 00:20:46 UTC

Terrifying thought: are there any generals or admirals left who believe more in the rule of law than the Cult of the Carrot?

2025-01-25 21:59:58 UTC

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I know less about anything specialty today, bit I know (or at least used to know) a lot about the landscape of 20 years ago! 😀

2025-01-25 16:49:15 UTC

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Next time on #DynDNSHistory I'll talk about credit card processing - it was so much more complicated than just getting a Stripe account those days.
The hoops and shenanigans we had to go through as a small start-up doing online card processing in those early days were wild.
7/7

2025-01-25 16:47:11 UTC

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I don't remember if we ever turned any of them into actual customer domains for our free services - I don't THINK any of them happened to be good for that purpose.
Credit card fraud was a huge pain back then (not that it isn't now) - there wasn't nearly the range of intelligent analysis and risk assessment that's out there today. And as I recall we got chargebacks via fax (or had to respond via fax, maybe both). The bad old days...
6/?

2025-01-25 16:40:59 UTC

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This one led to some of the most interesting things about abuse - getting surprising new domain names! When someone bought a domain with a stolen credit card, there was usually no way for us to cancel the registration (eventually we could if we caught it fast enough, but by the time there was a chargeback it'd for sure be too late).
So, we figured - we paid for these, I guess they're ours now! I don't remember any specifics, but there was definitely some weird ones in there.
5/?

2025-01-25 16:39:16 UTC

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Once we started doing paid services, the credit card fraud really picked up - in some cases it just seemed like they were using us to check stolen cards before using them for something bigger, other times they were really trying to get services.
I never quite understood the logic of the second one - you have to know it's not gonna last for long when you're using someone else's card. But maybe people don't notice and report the fraud?
4/?

2025-01-25 16:37:23 UTC

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We eventually got plugged into the InfoSec community, though, and were able to build systems to detect this and both take action (blocking accounts, etc) and also collect information to help security researchers.
I take my users' security and privacy seriously, but if you're doing malfeasance, it all goes out the window - you're not a user anymore, you're an abuser. And don't worry, we put that in our ToS too.
3/?

2025-01-25 16:30:11 UTC

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The next one, which also started surprisingly early, was using #DynDNS hostnames for botnet command and control. That's what actually got me involved in the #infosec community (and where I met @npub1hrh…jqnu !)
DynDNS was good for C&C because they could move it around quickly, and have the bots follow. If the C&C got taken down, boom, switch to a new one. We were unintentionally helping them keep their control going.
2/?

2025-01-25 15:55:34 UTC

Today's #DynDNSHistory brought to you by @npub1hrh…jqnu , who asks about early or interesting abuse-related issues.
There's lots here so this one will be a thread...
The first one that jumps to mind is credit card fraud. This isn't really surprising/interesting in the later days, but what surprised me was that people used stolen credit cards even when we were just taking donations.
Like, really? You're going to abuse some kids who are just trying to run a free service? Not cool.
1/?

2025-01-13 15:52:24 UTC

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yeah, it's slave labor by another name. Nothing "voluntary" is truly voluntary when you're incarcerated.
Do they have better outcomes? Sure. But which is the cause and which is the effect? We need to end the prison-industrial system.

2025-01-03 22:59:33 UTC

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We shouldn't browbeat random strangers about it, that's just being a dick yourself, but I absolutely will tell anyone I actually know who owns a Tesla what I think it says if they ever purchase another one.
2/2

2025-01-03 22:59:17 UTC

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responding specifically to your clarification: I disagree completely.
Collective action is essential to effecting change. We absolutely **must** say "you shouldn't buy a Tesla because Musk is a dick" and broadcast that to our social circles if we want to actually effect change in Musk's behavior (impossible as that might seem).
1/2

2024-12-27 16:18:58 UTC

The Orange Man's second term seems like an ideal time to break the Tubman stamp back out... Just a little re-inking of the pad needed and we're off to the races. #Resist
https://media.union.place/media_attachments/files/113/725/689/412/462/108/original/89e7df53805abc67.jpeg

2024-12-05 14:46:30 UTC

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you would think, of all people, we'd want our doctors and surgeons to have access to good mental health care.
(And also: everyone else. But jeez!)

2024-12-05 03:12:35 UTC

If you're thinking about how to manage your personal #opsec (operational security) under a fascist regime, you can do worse than to start out with @npub1fdr…lvhs 's Little Brother, as great today as the day it was written. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Brother_(Doctorow_novel)

2024-12-05 02:28:11 UTC

Fun fact: this was DynDNS' first "real" datacenter (meaning: not my bedroom attached to a modem). It was in a basement of an office building on one of Ithaca's hills, with a small local wireless ISP that also did small colo. #DynDNSHistory
(Don't miss the alt text for details of what you're seeing!)
https://media.union.place/media_attachments/files/113/597/837/411/780/970/original/7a2fedc89ab0182e.jpeg

2024-12-04 18:20:38 UTC

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unless they've managed (or worse, conspired with DJI) to turn off that broadcasting. 😞

2024-12-04 16:22:10 UTC

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(and apparently a given fedi user can only do that 10 times per day)

2024-12-04 16:21:18 UTC

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you can DM the account that you follow to enable bridging with a bsky handle and it'll send them a (hopefully only once and not too obtrusive?) "hey there's this bridge thing and someone wants to follow you" ping.

2024-12-04 16:19:34 UTC

Does anyone know if Bridgy Fed will send you a notification after someone you've used their "ask them to sign up" feature actually signs up?

2024-12-04 15:46:09 UTC

Also wtf BlueSky is like completely identical to Twitter's UI. Same colors and everything. Really?

2024-12-02 01:21:53 UTC

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wow, are they TRYING to hasten the end of broadcast TV entirely?

2024-12-01 02:36:03 UTC

What critical online infrastructure is begging for disruption, either via decentralization or just giving non-megacorp alternatives? We've got Fedi, we've got Signal, we've got Tor (all of which also need/deserve support, of course). What do we need next?
Akamai/Cloudflare replacement? Facebook/LinkedIn? (Are they worth replacing? Does Fedi already do enough?) Something else? #ResistBigTech

2024-11-30 23:01:07 UTC

Sorry folks, "mastodon apps" and "this instance looks interesting" aren't going to cut it as sign-up reasons. They didn't fly when there wasn't a huge ongoing spam wave, they certainly don't when there is! #MastoAdmin

2024-11-29 16:22:25 UTC

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My natural cynic also says that just deferring purchases until Tuesday helps no one (except Amazon, if you lose out on a sale price), and that seems like the most likely actual outcome, rather than the ideal outcome of shifting the sales to somewhere better / more deserving. 😞

2024-11-29 16:18:10 UTC

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It seems entirely reasonable to assume "don't shop at Amazon"... but I really don't prefer to assume.

2024-11-29 16:17:27 UTC

So, this whole #MakeAmazonPay thing is great and I want to support it... but nowhere I can find do they actually have a call to action for supporters?
Everyone is posting don't cross the picket line, etc, but... what is the picket line? The people doing the strike haven't told us. We learned with the NYT Tech Guild strike that they didn't actually want us going as far as we thought.
Is there actually a statement from them I'm missing? https://makeamazonpay.com/ has no supporter CTA. #Union

2024-11-07 15:51:12 UTC

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honestly I think the main blocker here is that it'd take a constitutional amendment, and those are ~impossible under the current system. I hope.

2024-11-07 15:37:43 UTC

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unless he changes the rules for himself...

2024-10-27 20:03:50 UTC

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I've spent a lot of time thinking about this and I genuinely believe billionaires provide no incremental value to society for their wealth. We need to #EndBillionaires and put that money to uses that are productive to society.

2024-10-27 00:31:24 UTC

Are any of the various handheld retro game consoles on the market legit? Thinking about one for our nephew but they seem too good to be true, and like they must be violating copyrights left and right...

2024-10-11 18:54:48 UTC

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this is great advice for avoiding all sorts of scams, really. "Police" need money to get your relative out of some foreign jail? Take a breath, say you'll call them back, and do it from a trusted source. Etc.

2024-09-28 17:36:56 UTC

Look at this little guy coming home today!!
Welcome Orbit to the family! #DogsOfMastodon
https://media.union.place/media_attachments/files/113/216/385/268/549/543/original/347360855b6f9a0f.jpg

2024-09-21 20:31:13 UTC

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it's the only thing that talks in today's USA :(

2024-08-08 17:26:40 UTC

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we blocked the instance after additional information came to light before they bothered to reply to me, so I have no idea if they even have at this point, and don't particularly care.

2024-08-03 20:15:33 UTC

@npub1etd…lfkc would you be open to a non-shouty conversation about the issue (DM or public, up to you), or are you entirely fried/uninterested in discussing it?

2023-04-17 21:50:00 UTC

Support for The Union Place comes from Fediverse users like you! Please consider a donation if you're able - every little bit counts.
https://www.laborunionnetworking.org/donate
Labor Union Networking, Inc. (LUNI), the parent of The Union Place, is a US 501(c)3 non-profit. The Union Place is LUNI's only project, so don't worry, and all donations go directly to keeping the site up and running!
#UnionPlace

2022-11-11 02:30:25 UTC

I guess I should have an #introduction here...
I'm a Staff #SRE at #Google by day (opinions my own). Been in the tech biz for >20 years now. Back in '98 I started DynDNS. I have forgotten almost everything I knew about #DNS.
I love making things work. Finding problems and solving them. Bringing people together, especially online where it's inexplicably less terrifying than in person.
And of course I love the #solidarity, #community, and support of #union organizing!