Bytes and Borscht

.. never telling my friends about anything ever again.

Things I did not have on my bingo card for 2026: Reading a murder mystery set in Berlin during WWII which contains an autistic agent of the Gestapo who provides (accidental) comic relief.

.. but the book *was* good, so there's that.

so many great responses to this article! if you're still hesitating, hit up your public library. i promise you switching is a lot easier than you think, and you will thank yourself for it.

I wrote a post about the shortage of "skilled" personnel in cybersecurity: bytesandborscht.com/demand-witho...

My friends and I collectively share a single brain cell in our group chat. And I'd still prefer bouncing ideas off of them rather than asking an LLM.

The answers might be equally useless, but at least my friends have their meme game locked down.

So .. if all of the authors out there could stop writing about anything related to Russia, I would deeply appreciate it. I can't keep up. This is my collection of unread books that I already own, and there are more out there that I don't. Please stop, I am begging you.

they don’t tell you when you buy a christmas tree at the christmas tree farm that you could take it home, decorate it, and then be relaxing in your living room seven nights later when A BAT suddenly flies out and starts CRASHING AROUND YOUR HOUSE

If you pay attention to any large industry long enough and follow it to its logical conclusion you eventually end up sounding like a communist even if you started off testing CPU case fans. youtu.be/cUrJVdF2me0?...

(via @bushidotoken.net)

My local bodega has better security measures in place than some major companies.

I wrote a short-ish post on CTI reports: bytesandborscht.com/your-reporti...

The Many Arms of the MSS: Why Provincial Bureaus Matter in China’s Cyber Operations Provincial bureaus of the Chinese Ministry of State Security likely operate with their own tasking priorities, resources, and local ecosystems for cyber operations

In this post, @euben.bsky.social and the Natto Team assess that provincial bureaus of the Chinese Ministry of State Security likely operate with their own tasking priorities, resources, and local ecosystems for cyber operations.

nattothoughts.substack.com/p/the-many-a...

There will come a day where I won't laugh about "MILF" being a terrorist group. Today is not the day.

Russlands Botschafter einbestellt – Behörden bestätigen CORRECTIV-Recherche zu Einflussoperation CORRECTIV hatte die Fake-Kampagne „Storm-1516“ aufgedeckt. Jetzt hat die Bundesregierung den russischen Botschafter einbestellt.

New: The German government summoned the Russian ambassador and accused Moscow of playing a "central role" in an influence operation that targeted the German elections earlier this year, which we uncovered. correctiv.org/hybride-krie...

How a Manosphere Star Accused of Rape and Trafficking Was Freed

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/u...

When your owner reads weird books again so you're using the chance to educate yourself on the military tactics of Daesh in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt.

Enter license key to activate Windows.
Get obscure error message.
Disconnect from the Internet.
Enter license key to activate Windows.
Windows activates.
mfw

I'm not sure it's in the self interest of America's tech bro billionaires to suggest that we bring back public executions to punish the most destructive people in our society.

The image depicts a bile troll from the videogame Warhamer Vermintide II. It shows a large, monstrous humanoid creature standing in a dim, candle-lit stone chamber. It has pale, rough skin, distorted facial features, and prominent tusks. Skulls hang from its armor and belt, giving it a grim, ritualistic appearance. The scene has a dark fantasy or dungeon-like atmosphere, with scattered bones and candles illuminating the creature from below.

How it feels standing next to my partner while she introduces me to someone.

Pentesters: *complex, technically sophisticated attacks*
Threat actors: haha http-request go brr

Be me.
Spend afternoon to write a script to translate "Разведчик" into English.
Realize *after* I'm finished that the SVR is releasing English versions.
mfw.

Screenshot of the Microsoft Word 2007 interface

nostalgia is so weird because i used to loath microsoft office 2007 but now i have it installed on my computer and i'm like... yeahhhh. yeah this is the good shit. i miss this.

A whole week off. I have three half-finished articles, a plethora of books and around two dozen miniatures that are in dire need of painting. Given these circumstances I don't like the tempting looks Battlefield 6 is throwing my way.

my two ADHD states are:

1. slacking off, playing video games, complaining that society makes me work and wear pants sometimes

2. doing anxiety-fuelled pomodoros under deadline pressure; you should Fear what I can output in 4x25 + 3x5 minutes

Listening to an audiobook about Alexei Navalny, and the more I learn about his (hi)story, the more I am surprised he survived for that long. Guy was basically talking shit about / to the entire Russian establishment for a decade straight.

I respect the shit out of that, but still .. woah.

As I was looking for malware (like you do on a quiet Friday afternoon 😂) I found a classic fake “your system is infected” page. After the fake scan, the Renew Now button goes straight to Avast through an affiliate link🤣🤣

TAs doing a 180, selling AV to get their commission LOL

All in all a terrible day to be literate

Just installed a printer on a little table next to my desk. My boomer-ification continues.

Screenshot of Tweets that say: "Once at my granny's house my uncle excitedly said a James Bond film was on the tv. My Da said "sure they're all the same, a load of lads shooting at one lad then a mountain blows up." My uncle got really mad at how reductive that was then became furious when the mountain blew up. My Da, of course, knew it was the one where the mountain blows up at the end. This was a foundational lesson which illustrated to me that walking the path of the hater means knowing more about something that people who profess to like it."