David Collantes on David's Notes

Email Forwarding Broken on iCloud

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 20:28:25 -0400

I have been getting occasional bounces from an iCloud+ Custom Domain email filter I have, which forwards certain emails I receive to wife. The first one I got looked like this:

<wife.email@mydomain.com>: host mx01.mail.icloud.com[17.57.156.30] said: 554 5.7.1
   [HM07] Message rejected due to local policy. Please visit
   https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204137 (in reply to end of DATA command)

I sent an email to the iCloud Postmaster, stating:

I am getting this more often that I would want to, as a result of a rule I have which forwards certain emails I receive to my partner. Both of us, that’s partner and I, have our email on iCloud+ Custom Domain. This shouldn’t be happening.

Not Too Active Here

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 22:09:53 -0400

As you can see, I am not too active around here. I am elsewhere writing notes, which are short, silly, but fun. I am keeping this around for, mostly, two reasons. Old stuff, though bad, is part of me, a record of my past. I also may decide to come by, eventually, and write something in a longer format.

So, here I leave this blog—which I insisted on calling “weblog” for a while—frozen in time.

It Has Been a While

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 14:43:26 -0400

It has been a while since I last came by. Much has changed since, and I feel as if my draw to write, or babble, has been drained. I have a cold (I think?) as I write this. The first in the last six years. I should have kept using masks.

I have no much to say. I am not sure what will I do with this. Perhaps I will wait four more years or so, and see how I feel then.

Of All Things

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 07:50:07 -0400

Of all the things we might celebrate each year, whether new year, religious and secular holidays (depending on the country one lives in, etc.), there is one I consider extremely special, and worth of celebrating: one’s birthday.

Birthdays do not only mark a milestone in one’s life, they are the true new year, the most important new year for each one of us. A new year begins right after your birthday. The one everybody celebrates at year’s end is alright, but the new year you start at the sunset of your birthday is the one that truly counts.

Julienne Franus

Thu, 13 Jun 2024 15:03:40 -0400

It has been over 8 years since Kent stopped learning how to play the violin. I remember how sad I felt having to tell his violin teacher, Julie, that he didn’t want to continue learning.

I tried getting in touch with Julie months after, to see how she was doing. I still felt bad, because she was so sweet, and such a good teacher to our child. I wanted to know if she needed anything. Our family was ready to help her. For as much as I tried, I didn’t get a reply from her.

On Wisdom

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 20:49:45 -0400

We come across much “wisdom” throughout our lives. Inherited from people from old, past years, or from religious books and teachings, or from our parents—for those, like me, lucky enough to had had good ones. It seems that just about everyone, from yesterday to today, has some wisdom to convey: from world leaders, religious leaders, and the common folk amongst us. Some of their “wisdom”, depending on the nation, or ethnic group, or religion, or another myriad of small factors, tends to contradict itself.

Everyone is gone

Sun, 28 May 2023 19:43:33 -0400

I am the youngest of my siblings. Having been born when my parents were in their late forties has a few meanings. It means my parents are gone. It also means all my aunts and uncles, all the people around my parents age in my native neighbourhood, they are all gone.

Today I spent some time remembering them. In my memories I searched house by house in my neighbourhood (or my block, rather), remembering—and often trying to remember—their names, and their faces. It is horrible how memory fades away, and becomes a blur.

Twosday

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 16:22:42 -0500

Because today is 22-2-22, or 2-22-22, or 2022-2-22, it makes it worth for me to come here, after so many months of silence, to mark the event. So, happy Twosday, everyone!

Alone, scared, and lonely

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 17:58:57 -0400

Our vehicle was towed away earlier this week because I parked it on the street momentarily during the day, and completely forgot to move it back to the driveway at dusk. Our neighbourhood strictly enforces a no street parking from 00:00 to 06:00, so we paid the consequences of an old mind’s oversight.

Other than having to pick it up, spending time, and money–it cost $125 to get it back–we worried about the poor automobile. It was alone, scared, and lonely, in an unknown territory. We wondered if it had thoughts like “Where are they taking me?” – “What is this dirty place?” – “What am I doing here?” – “What have I done to deserve this?” – “I am so scared!” and so on. 😢

Horses don't lie

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 09:15:44 -0400

A horse is a straight forward animal. When you look at a horse’s eyes you know it is telling you the truth, even before it mutters a word—not that it can, but you get the gist. A horse is sincere, forthcoming, warm, and above all faithful.

My wife is a Horse 😂 ❤️. Let it be noted.

Adobe Flash Player EOL

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 14:49:17 -0400

After ten years since Steve Jobs expressed his thoughts on Flash, effectively banning Flash from ever existing on iOS, Adobe has finally decided to announce that as of 31 December 2020 they will stop distributing, and updating, the Flash Player. Why, they say, they are doing this?

Open standards such as HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly have continually matured over the years and serve as viable alternatives for Flash content. Also, the major browser vendors are integrating these open standards into their browsers and deprecating most other plug-ins (like Adobe Flash Player). By announcing our business decision in 2017, with three years advance notice, we believed that would allow sufficient time for developers, designers, businesses, and other parties to migrate existing Flash content as needed to new, open standards.

Dreelix, King of Gears

Thu, 04 Jun 2020 18:51:34 -0400

Dreelix is a goblin, and he is 130 years old. A young goblin, as goblins can live for many, many years. Dreelix lives in a tidy, relatively small house, in the little town of Enter Town Name Here near the Enter geographical reference here. He is a tinker by nature and by heritage, as his parents, and parents’ parents were all tinkers, and very proud of it.

The title he holds, King of Gears, was given to his great-great-great-great-great grandfather by the Trade Excellency Tenlix VI himself, as a reward for fixing His Excellency’s transport in a time of danger. No one else in all Insert Name of Town/Country Here holds such title. Dreelix, as you can imagine, is very proud of it—even though he has done nothing to deserve it. Yet.

Automatically scheduled bank payments

Fri, 02 Aug 2019 16:40:20 +0000

So, you sign up for a gym, or another service, that gives you a small discount for paying using an automatic scheduled withdraw from your bank’s checking account. Things go well for a while, then they go sour—or you simply change your mind—and you want to sever that agreement, to disconnect the link between them and your bank account. Guess what? You can’t. Not through your mobile banking app, nor through a bank’s web site, call, or in-person visit. It is a long process, not a simple action.

Elections 2020

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 16:48:09 -0400

Election time is always an important time. We, the people, get to vote for the person that will be our nation’s president for at least four years—and with any luck, eight. The presidential election of 2020 is going to be an interesting one. I know, I know, we could say the same for every election. This time, though, it’s easy to understand why the upcoming election holds an extra weight.

Using Gnupg and openssl for encryption

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 13:15:56 -0400

I have used Gnupg to encrypt my private files, specially those that I upload to the clouds, for a long time. I used to encrypt to self, using my own key, then later moved to symmetric encryption only. The command is easy:

Using Gnupg

To encrypt:

gpg --cipher-algo aes256 --symmetric file.txt

Adding the option --armor to the above will produce an ASCII armoured encrypted file.

To decrypt:

gpg --output file.txt --decrypt file.txt.{gpg,asc}

Use asc ending to decrypt, if encrypted with the --armor option.

There is always a first time

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 17:04:16 -0400

For eleven years I have used iPhones exclusively. More than half of that time, I have used them without any cover. My rationale? It is a beautifully crafted device, why to hide its beauty behind a cover? I never had an issue with it, until today. I am coming here to mark the first time my iPhone screen has ever shattered. I didn’t drop it, but placed it in a way that, after a few vibrations, made it fall to a tiled floor. RIP!

Closing LinkedIn

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 11:48:32 -0400

Not long ago—not even a year now—I re-created a LinkedIn account, mostly following an invitation to join from one of my friends. I did it against my will, because for whatever reason I have hated LinkedIn even since before it was acquired by Microsoft. Yet, I joined, filled very little information, set privacy settings to fully closed—or so I thought—and moved on.

Soon after I started receiving UCE from medical, or pharmaceutical related companies. As many as ten emails per day. I called one, who happened to be local, mostly out of curiosity (although I was annoyed too). I got a hold of someone who told me in the last 15 years or so of him sending those emails, I was the first person to contact him via phone. He explained to me to the AI program he was using would compile information about people working in the medical field (his business is a collection agency, by the way), which he would, in turn, use to advertise his business. Did I mention I had set my LinkedIn privacy settings to be fully closed?

Close my account, Robinhood!

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 18:23:05 -0400

On 23 April, 2019 I sent an email to Robinhood, using their on-line help tool, because I couldn’t find a phone number to call on their website.

Couldn’t find […] a proper choice under “support issue,” so picked something that is close to what I want, but not quite. I would like to close, and delete my account (not just deactivate). Thanks!

The reply promptly arrived the same day, stating, along other things:

I am sorry I was late

Thu, 25 Apr 2019 18:38:42 -0400

I can explain why I was so late, I swear.

I woke up this morning after a brilliant two hours of sleep and went to milk the cow. She did not really have much, so the cereal kinda blew. Anyways, as I turned on my red 1993 Chevy Malibu I realised the garage was not opening. Great, the power was down! I went upstairs with a broom and woke up the hamster, which must have fallen asleep on the job. It took some deliberation, taking a full three minutes to get the power working again.

My friend

Mon, 11 Feb 2019 20:22:10 -0500

Friends are not easy to come across. They are made, just like good wine, after many years of ageing. At a certain point they cease to be just friends and become family. They give you the best advise, uncompromisingly, unabashedly, unreservedly. They praise your virtues and take pride on them, but are quick to call out the stupid things you are bound to do. They are patient, they forgive, they forget. They listen, and they are always available.

What is happiness?

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 10:54:11 -0400

After questioning myself on the meaning of life—something I still do, by the way—I long settled that, regardless of what it might be, living a happy life and aiming to be happy is what life is all about. Happiness, though, isn’t a fixed thing. Just like the many avatars of gods, their many incarnations, happiness comes from many sources, and is often found in subtle contexts throughout life. It is not absolute, and its definition may vary from person to person: what brings me happiness might be different to what brings you happiness.

Someone is in trouble when...

Sun, 25 Mar 2018 18:02:05 -0400

You know a company is in trouble when they have to take a full page advertisement on several major newspapers in the U.S., and the U.K., with an apology from their chief. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg did just that.

Simplicity

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 13:34:10 -0400

That is a screenshot of my macOS desktop. It could be simpler, but as it is it does what I need, and want. When I need to use an app, I simply hit command (⌘) space and start typing the app name to launch it. That is, I use Spotlight.

Wouldn’t it be great that iOS could be customized like that too? Preferably it would be a setting, that would allow to turn off the visibility of all, or any app on the phone. Then, to open an app, one would use the Spotlight as well.

Another meltdown

Sat, 17 Mar 2018 21:19:21 -0400

Someone is having another meltdown.

The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!

😂

Now, there is a background for his latest fit.

Yesterday, 16 March, Jeff Sessions fired Andrew McCabe, the FBI deputy director. McCabe, like his former boss, James B. Comey, “kept contemporaneous memos detailing his fraught conversations with the president.” That explains it as “the danger for Trump is that those memos could help corroborate McCabe’s witness testimony and become damaging evidence in Mueller’s investigation of whether Trump has sought to obstruct justice.” Which in my eyes, based on what I have seeing, and read, he has.

Flowers will follow

Sat, 17 Mar 2018 18:17:46 -0400

To the untrained, this image will have little meaning. Who could imagine that those “ugly sticks,” as the child called them, will soon bloom into hundreds of beautiful yellow flowers? Yet, as it has happened each year, flowers will follow!

Searching for the car

Sat, 17 Mar 2018 17:15:18 -0400

A year ago, Kent got his learner’s permit. With the help of John, and a little from me, he practiced driving for over 250 hours. A year later — more or less — on 9 March, he got his driver’s license, passing the practical test with a 96, out of 100 points, score. And so the asking for a car began.

What car should we get for a 17 year old? New, or used? We want it to be safe, reliable, one he would like, but one not too expensive. Which will it be? A Toyota Corolla, a Corolla IM? A Mazda 3? A Honda Civic? A Ford Focus? Today we visited three dealers, Mazda, Honda, and Toyota, to test drive. It was just the beginning, more to follow.

Mueller goes after the Trump Organisation

Thu, 15 Mar 2018 19:50:42 -0400

I have disliked other presidents in the past, for actions taken while they were in the office that I—and many others—considered stupid, crazy, or just plain wrong. My dislike for the current president eclipses any of my previous. I voted for Hillary, and wrongly predicted that she would win the presidency.

Today news, although perhaps inconsequential, brings joy to an otherwise political nightmare.

The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has subpoenaed the Trump Organization in recent weeks to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter. The order is the first known instance of the special counsel demanding records directly related to President Trump’s businesses, bringing the investigation closer to the president.

On the market for a camera

Sun, 04 Mar 2018 21:12:22 -0500

We have gone through quite a few cameras. The very first one we recall was a Canon EOS D30, with an amazing 3.2 megapixel — sarcasm aside, it took amazing photos. After that we had had many Sony Cyber-shots, a Canon Powershot A640, a couple of Canon Powershot Gs, and another bigger Canon, the EOS 6D. In between we have used the camera that comes with the iPhones, starting with the iPhone 2G.

Now, the iPhone camera isn’t too bad, and since we already carry the phone, it also means we carry a camera everywhere we go. Yet, neither wife nor I fully enjoy the photos that come out of it. In a bind, the iPhone camera does a decent job, but when looking for higher resolution, to blow up photos, or when greater details are needed, it simply doesn’t cut it. For that we need a dedicated camera. It is that need which have brought us, inexorably, here.

About the impermanence of things

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 11:13:50 -0500

Thinking about the impermanence of things is a reoccurring theme for me. It usually happens if I get mad at something I don’t like, which used to be quite often no long ago. I still notice situations that are less than desirable for my point of view, but I no longer get mad every single time. I am trying my very best not to get upset for anything, or with anyone. Yet, the thought of everything being temporary still surrounds me. The last time it came to mind was when grandfather died.

Grandfather has left us

Sat, 13 Jan 2018 14:40:14 -0500

Grandfather died today.

Kim was very close to him because she lived with her grandparents since she was young, until we got married. Back in Vietnam, when she was in elementary school, grandpa took her and her siblings to school, and picked them up in his bicycle every day. He was more than a grandfather to her. He was, throughout her life, a father figure.

Grandpa was a soft spoken man. I never heard him raise his voice, never saw him mad. He was also a man of little wants; always giving, always sharing the little he had. His grandsons, granddaughter, daughters… the entire family benefitted from his selflessness.

Unalloyed irony

Fri, 08 Dec 2017 13:14:44 -0500

Soon to be ex-Senator Al Franken announced, on an emotional speech, his resignation yesterday. He is leaving the Senate after been accused of sexual misconduct.

“I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party.”

On AT&T fibre

Sun, 08 Oct 2017 12:42:10 +0000

Had to chat with an AT&T employee, as a result of an order I placed yesterday. This is the feedback I left (with minor spelling corrections), after concluding the chat:

The chat experience was excellent (chat agent, Marry). AT&T experience thus far, not quite so.

I had an AT&T sales agent visit me yesterday. I signed up for Internet 1Gbps (Internet 1000 on AT&T lingo), and phone service (transferring my current number). I have a signed form, with all one time service charges waived. The appointment was set for Saturday, 21 October, 2017, from 11 to 13 hours.

A downright moron

Thu, 05 Oct 2017 05:57:14 +0000

Henry Louis Mencken wrote an article on the Baltimore Sun, on 26 July, 1920, that amongst other things read:

As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

The Uber affair

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 11:53:37 +0000

Using Uber for the first time, in France, was a delightful experience. We were able to summon a relatively cheap minivan within minutes, the drivers were nice, nothing found to complain. Then, once back home, I decided that I might want to occasionally drive for Uber, for fun. That is when the real affair started.

To begin with, the rider photo I had on my profile no longer met their requirements. Then, the driver’s application asked me for information that I did not have handy, making me change my mind. I did no longer wanted to drive, but when I went to set my old profile photo back, it was no longer possible, because there was a driver’s application pending. Got a hold of Uber on chat, and they told me that to accomplish what I needed, they would have to delete my account. “Don’t worry,” I was told, “you can re-create it again without much problem.” So, I gave the go ahead.

Comey's sacking

Thu, 11 May 2017 16:56:28 +0000

This is, at least for me, completely surreal. It is not only that Trump sacked the FBI director — who arguably helped him getting elected President — while he was conducting an investigation on Trump’s presidential campaign, but the way he wrote the sacking letter (I emphasised):

Dear Director Comey:

I have received the attached letters from the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States recommending your dismissal as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I have accepted their recommendation and you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately.

A few technical changes

Sun, 05 Mar 2017 19:28:16 -0500

A few things have happened on my current server setup. The biggest one was my move from FreeBSD to Ubuntu. I do not have complains about FreeBSD — how could I? — but I wanted to play with more recent stuff, and it was becoming very hard to do under BSD. I also wanted a refresh, since I had been running that VPS for a while and it was starting to feel “dirty.”

An intelligent person

Mon, 27 Feb 2017 19:59:15 -0500

From Twitter:

The most amazing thing about the Trump presidency is that it’s made GWB look like a reasonably intelligent person.

— Derek Powazek (@fraying) February 27, 2017

And from The New York Times:

Former President George W. Bush said Monday “we all need answers” on the extent of contact between President Donald Trump’s team and the Russian government, and didn’t rule out the idea that a special prosecutor could be necessary to lead an investigation.

The silence of the hacks

Sat, 18 Feb 2017 21:32:59 -0500

There is a reason why I subscribed to the digital edition of The New York Times. Its journalists are superb; it is a paper I trust, and have found to be veridical after cross referencing the news they post with other major, equally trusted, news sources.

From yesterday’s edition (some emphasis mine):

The story so far: A foreign dictator intervened on behalf of a U.S. presidential candidate — and that candidate won. Close associates of the new president were in contact with the dictator’s espionage officials during the campaign, and his national security adviser was forced out over improper calls to that country’s ambassador — but not until the press reported it; the president learned about his actions weeks earlier, but took no action.

Incapable of serving

Tue, 14 Feb 2017 05:49:38 -0500

From the opinion pages of The New York Times yesterday, 13 of February, 2017, also appearing in print today. Some emphasis mine.

Mr. Trump’s speech and actions demonstrate an inability to tolerate views different from his own, leading to rage reactions. His words and behavior suggest a profound inability to empathize. Individuals with these traits distort reality to suit their psychological state, attacking facts and those who convey them (journalists, scientists).

Cleaning the plate

Sun, 12 Feb 2017 11:04:35 -0500

My wife has always told me, “don’t eat everything in your plate, leave something!” It is her believe, and her culture’s, that only poor people eats everything, and that if I do so, it will show I am dying of hunger, and thus, poor. If it were so, what’s wrong with being poor? Why will I leave food on the plate, food that I really like, to pretend what I am not? I am poor, poor, poor!