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1. Setup postfix to handle mail for catch.example (Note: getting mail for catch.example to be delivered to your server in the first place is beyond the scope of this) by adding these lines to /etc/postfix/main.cf:
   # Aliases for virtually hosted domains
virtual_alias_domains = catch.example
virtual_alias_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/virtual.aliases

2. Create /etc/postfix/virtual.aliases mapping file that tells postfix what to do with mails for the catch.example domain with these contents:
   @catch.example bob@real.example
bad@catch.example null
unwanted@catch.example null
   Note: there should be no : between the two entries on each line, this is not the /etc/aliases file format.
3. Add a null alias to your /etc/aliases file:
   null: /dev/null
4. Update the mapping and alias database files, and reload postfix’s configuration:
   postmap /etc/postfix/virtual.aliases
postalias /etc/aliases
postfix reload


And that’s it. Any mail to catch.example that’s not to one of the specified unwanted email addresses will be forwarded to your real email account, and the rest will be silently dropped. Voila.

***Update***
Actually, i’ve just noticed that if you want more control over what happens to the exceptions, you can use check_recipient_access, which allows you to specify desired actions such as accept, reject, discard etc. That said, i’d be a lot more wary about using check_recipient_access as its extra power includes more own-foot-removal capabilities.

• revolvers are not a subset of pistols (from poking around later, it turns it, as usual, it depends on where you are)
• what single-action and double-action means (single-action means the trigger only releases the hammer. double-action means it can also raise the hammer)
• .50 cal bullets are 13mm in diameter (yikes).

When it was finally time to have a go, i braced myself for the sound. I’d be warned not 5 minutes beforehand by a friend who’d had army experience that it was going to be louder than i expected. So i expected Loud. It was much louder than that. I was very grateful for the ear protection -) Here’s what i can remember firing, in order of calibre:

• SIG Sauer P226 (pistol, 9mm)
• HK USP (pistol, .45)
• Desert Eagle (pistol, .50)
• Super Redhawk (revolver, .44 magnum)

and another .45 pistol. I shot 25 rounds with the glock, and 5 rounds each with the others. My favourite has to be the USP, it was so easy to shoot, and deadly accurate. The recoil on the .50 cal firearms was enormous, more so for the revolver, as it doesn’t have the semi-automatic mechanism to absorb some of the force. Those around the desert eagle got blasted by the shockwave, even if you were 3m away. Scary stuff.

After all my years of playing FPSes, i was curious to see how well (or not) that might translate to real life. As it turns out, i was a natural at it, surprising the instructors. On my last go (which was 5 rounds with the desert eagle), the instructor put up a clean target for me (previously we’d just patch up the exist targets with stickers to cover the holes). When i managed ot put all 5 rounds through the center of the target, he asked if i’d like to take it home, which i happily accepted -) So, here’s the evidence:

Coincidentally, 7m happens to be the longest range required as part of the Swiss gun license practical exam. I’d just chosen that as it seemed about the right distance to stretch myself a bit, but still be possible to be accurate.

So deeply was i engrossed in this conversation that, while cutting myself some bread, i failed to realise until Too Late that the knife was going to end up removing a significant portion of my left index finger’s exterior. The knife was efficiently sharp, so i didn’t notice until about 1cm of my skin was hanging off (shuddering as i type this. I hate that memory). The doctor has told me “in a year’s time, you won’t even see a scar”. I’m guessing that was meant to be reassuring. I’m not convinced it had its intended effect however.

Still, my finger now looks like it’s dressed up for a black-tie event, with a very tasteful bow keeping the outer layers of cladding in place. And boy was i glad to have noirin only one floor away when the incident happened, as her first-aid skills (and general Competence) were put to good effect.

It’s, of course, typical that i was getting back into guitar playing. Here’s hoping i don’t have to wait all of the 6-8 weeks of healing before i can go back to that.

Filled this under the things-i-wish-i-had-been-paying-more-attention-to-so-i-could-have-avoided category.

aug: you know the decommission script we have, since forever?
diamond: oh yeah, i wrote the first version
aug: oh! then it’s your fault!
diamond: eh?
aug: in all that time, it’s been misspelt. there were 3 s’s in it. no-one noticed until last week, when ciaran went “wtf?”
aug: and when we renamed it, we discovered that its (misspelt) name was all through the documentation
aug: so we had to update all of that as well
diamond: oops. that certainly sounds like me

I wrote that script a year ago. Sigh.

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -activate -configure -access -on -restart -agent

As usual, trying to find documentation is like pulling teeth.

This marks a major milestone in our whole relocation saga. Tomorrow we are due to receive our airfreight shipment (which took a week longer than expected) which was meant to contain essentials to tide us over until we found a place and our main (surface) shipment arrived. Now, of course, we’re suddenly in need of things like crockery and towels and bed linen etc, and it could well be weeks before that stuff arrives. I guess that’s our fault for getting accommodation sorted so quickly ,-) We’re off to ikea afterwards to try and buy the bare essentials in furniture to start with. Coming from a country where all rental accommodation is furnished, it’s quite a shock when you have to buy things like light fittings and curtains as everyone is expected to supply their own.

Anyway, we have an early start as the shipment is being delivered at 07:30 tomorrow morning (it was a choice between that and wait another 10 days), so i’d better head off to bed.