Mind Dump

How cats teach us how to live

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:56:46 +0100

Live like a cat.

Be cute.

Chill whenever you want.

Sleep whenever you want. Close to 16hrs a day if possible.

Eat whatever you want anytime you find something, otherwise it might be a while till you find something to eat.

Drink plenty of water.

Hiss at annoying people.

Have sex all the time (Predominantly in Spring as the weather is really nice then)

Avoid big tech and fight capitalism in general.

Yeah, live a cat, stay pawwwesome.

Self hosting with Yunohost

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 13:57:01 +0100

It's 30+ degrees here in London as I'm writing this. Sweats and tears my friends. But anyYunohoo.

So yes, it's time to get that old super duper machine out. I'm referring to my old laptop with 32GB RAM and 2TB SSD. I know, plenty of RAM and drive storage to bring world peace etc..I must admit that it went better than expected and seriously better than first time. You may ask why bother in the first place. You had Syncthing all along and it worked perfectly. And it did. Honestly, I don't know. I felt bored one day and saw somewhere someone mentioning self hosting on Fediverse, so I got a bit FOMO.

I was a bit worried about my ISP blocking ports etc. but at the end it was only port 25 (the email one, you know) which I wouldn't really use anyway, so I'm like okkkk let's go. I fired up the old laptop (the Beast, as I call it due to its aforementioned specs), and formatted it with Debian 12 (stable). Remember, it was my back up laptop in the previous Syncthing configuration and it run Linux Mint (great distro btw!). For some reason, I tried to install Yunohost directly without installing Debian first, but for some reason the .iso file was corrupted and installation failed. Weirdly, I remember this happening in the first time me trying Yuno. Hmmmm.....

Here I was then with Debian in the Beast. I then used the terminal in the laptop to install Yunohost which only took a few minutes, and voila, my server is up. Well, with all the usual errors and warnings, but locally it's up. I followed the Yuno website instructions to initially configure my server. I opened the necessary ports in my ISP's router's webpage (the classic 192.168.0.1). 80 and 443 are the magic numbers and most basic ports you need to port forward in order to have a viable and reachable server. I didn't bother with the rest, which was email-related anyway. I figured I already have Proton and Tuta for my everyday mail, and re the server emails etc. I wouldn't probably get much from the system, as I'm aiming for a minimal server setup with only the essentials. Famous last words I know. Re port 22, I had opened initially for ssh access but then got some unusually BOT-related traffic so closed it almost immediately. Unnecessary risk in the first place.

I logged in my Yunohost server's page and met with the expected web admin page. All the DNS configuration was handled by Yunohost automatically and beautifully, so I didn't really have to do anything myself. I also got my Let's Encrypt certificate. I finally run the diagnostic tool. I got some warnings, and only a few errors. I ignored the ones that were irrelevant to my case, and everything looked green.

I went on to install my favourite apps. I chose the ones below:

Nextcloud for my personal Cloud storage
Monitorix for monitoring various aspects of my server
Bludit for blogging
Httpsh on ttyd for having a usable terminal on my main laptop (rather than having to constantly use my server laptop)
Unattended-upgrades so I can go on being lazy and don't manually update all the time

My server is now fully operational. I put the server laptop aside somewhere in the living room and connected to the router via an Ethernet cable (don't even bother with WiFi). And here I am now self hosting my own piece of garden in the Internet!

Give it a try, whether you are techie or not. The documentation on the Yunohost website is more than enough and the installation guide is simple and well explanatory. Happy hosting...

A Christmas Miracle

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 12:19:38 +0100

Jack had just woken up. It was the middle of the night. But first and foremost, it was Christmas Eve. His anticipation was so high that he couldn’t sleep. Jack loved Christmas. He found excitement in everything about the holidays, from the decorations and the music to the special roast. And of course, the presents under the Christmas tree.

This year’s Christmas was different though. His dad passed away last year and since then, the entire house felt different. Mostly silent. There were no laughs. Jack’s mother did her best to stand strong and keep Jack’s spirit high. But she was still mourning. The man she loved with everything she had, was no longer with them. Jack was also in grief. But his grief was different. He felt more numb than sad. Whys and hows were storming his mind every night, and since the accident, his sleep was less than ideal. This year’s Christmas would be the first without his dad. So yes, this year’s Christmas was very different.

“Would Santa visit him this year? Would he remember Jack? Would he remember to look after his dad in heaven? Santa must know if his dad is doing alright. He’s a saint after all isn’t he?” Jack kept thinking. He turned his head to face the alarm clock. 3 am. Perhaps it’s time. Or maybe, Santa has already delivered Jack’s presents. He hasn’t heard anything all night from downstairs. But then, Santa’s job is to deliver the presents in silence.

Suddenly, Jack heard a small crack on the wooden floor. “Did that come from downstairs?”he whispered to himself. He quickly got out of bed and approached the door to his bedroom. He leaned over and touched the door with his ear. Nothing.

And then came a big bang. Like someone had just dropped a big sack on the floor. It must be him! Jack finally got Santa! He quickly run downstairs, almost stumbling at the stairs, and then he stopped. Right next to the Christmas tree. He was there. Jack was looking at his back. He was dressed exactly like the fairy tales. He was tall, with broad shoulders and thick hips. Jack was scared and excited at the same time. He shouted “Santa!”

The man turned around, revealing a long white beard and graceful wrinkles on his face. He gave Jack a broad smile. “Oh my, my…” His voice sounded as old as his looks. “I might have just done it, didn’t I?” Jack remained silent, with his eyes glued to the man’s face. “I’m sorry, kid. The sack slipped from my hands and my reflexes are not as sharp as they used to be. I hope I didn’t scare you.”

“Santa! It’s really you!” Jack shouted. “Shh now boy. We don’t want to wake up the entire street now, don’t we.” the man said by holding his finger up to his lips. “Come on, help me gather the rest of the presents that slipped out of the sack. But don’t peek for yours, okay?” The man said and smiled again at Jack.

Jack nodded and returned the smile. He helped him with the rest of the presents in silence. When the sack was again tidy and full, Jack started asking “How old are you Santa? Where’s Rudolph and the rest of the reindeer? How did you fit through the chimney, what about…” Santa interrupted him by putting his hand gently on Jack’s shoulder. “No time for questions Jack. I have to go. More presents to be delivered tonight. More smiles to keep smiling, you see” The tall man responded. His eyes met Jack’s. Jack noticed their colours. Green eyes, like his father’s. He then noticed his smile. A smile as warm and kind as his father’s. Jack broke the silence by saying with a cracking voice “Dad…?”

The man smiled and said “Look at the tree.” Jack turned his gaze and noticed how the lights had just started their dancing pattern, changing their colours that Jack had never seen before. The twigs were moving up and down in such joy and harmony. And the star on the top started bowing to both of them, like wishing them happy holidays in its own weird way. Jack turned to look at the man once again, this time in shock. The man gave out a big laugh and said “Merry Christmas Jack!”

That was when Jack opened his eyes. The morning sun was sneaking his way in through the blinds. “Was this just a dream? Was it Santa? Or… dad? Was he really here?” Jack thought. He immediately run to the door. He opened it and ran down the stairs. Once he reached the living room, a certain warmth embraced him. His mum was there. Right next to the tree. She turned around to face him and said to him “Jack, come closer, come and see.”

Jack approached the Christmas tree. The lights were not dancing anymore. Their colours were of simple white. The twigs and star stayed still. No Santa or presents stood there. Only a simple Christmas card. Jack opened the card, which had the following written in it:

“It was nice to see you again my son. Take care of your mum. Merry Christmas,

Dad”

About

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 19:49:32 +0100

Welcome to my site. I'm Mr. Simoto and this is my personal space for every random thought that comes to my mind throughout our daily grinds. From random essays to short stories. Feel free to tag along :)