Some quick notes on setting up a shared folder between a host computer and a virtual machine, using Debian 13 for both host and guest. This is great if you're working with untrusted files and want a safe place to work with them. (Another option is something like magic-wormhole, if network access is permitted.)

The only really unintuitive thing is the virtiofs "target". I thought this was supposed to be a path, but elsewhere it is called a "tag" -- it turns out you just need some agreed-upon string between host and guest. This may just be a VMM UI bug.

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I don't have a smartphone, so I run Signal Desktop on my laptop. Signal does not really want you to do this, and you have to run some unofficial third-party stuff for this to all work. Yes, that's a little sketchy, especially for a secure communications tool, but this is where Signal leaves us when they refuse to give us first-class desktop support. Here, I document what I've had to do to get this working.

Note that this blog post is specific to Debian Linux. You also still need some kind of phone where you can get SMS or voice calls and where you will have access to that phone number long-term.

(This blog post brought to you by Signal Desktop kicking me out of my account and deregistering it, forcing me to go through the registration process again.)

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A few years ago I decided to get a routine skin checkup (you know, check out all my weird bumps and spots to see if any of them are trying to kill me). My doctor recommended a nearby location, Mystic Valley Dermatology, which is apparently a branch of APDerm, some kind of regional dermatology network. Honestly, it was just the closest place.

...but today I'm recommending that you find a more trustworthy dermatology practice.

You're not going to see anything totally egregious in this post, but there's a pattern of not-great and even downright shady behavior with APDerm. You can probably find a different practice that's more respectful, and more focused on medicine than on selling you shit.

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After my fourth Bontrager bike headlight died too soon, I've made the switch to Fenix. While it's too early to have personal experience with the durability of Fenix, I'm really happy with the switch, and I wish I had done it sooner—it's clear that Fenix stands behind their products in a way that Bontrager/Trek does not.

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