How to allow a client to bypass pi-hole blocking

Credit to https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/exclude-certain-lan-addresses-from-filtering/2014/6

With the help of reddit, I managed to find a way to bypass the pihole straight to google 8.8.8.8 , It is set up by mac address.

Find the mac address and place this in your /etc/dnsmasq.d/ directory 394.

cd /etc/dnsmasq.d/

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deathbybandaid/piadvanced/master/piholetweaks/dnsmasqtweaks/04-bypass.conf

nano 04-bypass.conf
(replace mac address)

dnsmasq --test
(tests the configuration)

sudo service dnsmasq restart
Or
sudo reboot

It would be awesome to do something like this via the webui!

Force Safari history to sync on macOS Catalina

In order to force safari history syncing between your iPad/iPhone and Mac, you will need to first enable the “debug” menu.. This is not to be confused with the “Develop” menu, which you can enable in Safari’s settings. Make sure you have also selected “safari” within your iCloud account settings on all devices you want to sync.

1st, close safari completely with Command-Q (or whatever your preferred method is)

2nd, go to ‘System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access’ and add Terminal.

3rd, within Terminal, execute ‘defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu 1′ (without the quotes’

4th, launch Safari, and on the newly created “Debug” menu, choose ‘Sync iCloud History’

You should know see your synced history between that Mac and your iOS devices!

VMware Fusion Export VM to OVA

Credit to the source of this article

There’s no GUI option to export an OVA (Open Virtual Appliance) format VM in VMware fusion, but there is a command-line method. Use the OVF tool. The following provides a command-line synopsis.

$ cd /Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/VMware\ OVF\ Tool/

$ ./ovftool –acceptAllEulas \
> /Users/me/Documents/Virtual\ Machines.localized/TheVM.vmwarevm/TheVM.vmx \
> ~/Desktop/TheVM.ova

Opening VMX source: […]

Opening OVA target: […]

Writing OVA package: /Users/me/Desktop/TheVM.ova

In the middle of a New England winter

I have a hard time with ‘global warming’ when we have winters like this.. Already the snow banks are up to my shoulders, and in the middle of a cold snap with overnight lows well below zero, and daytime highs barely reaching double digits!

Its so cold, that for the first time since I purchased it, I actually used the hand warmers on my Arien’s snow blower!

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Spent some time in the garage this weekend.

Admittedly, I have not had the time to spend in the garage so far this summer as I would like.. Unfortunately, as happens too often, life gets in the way.

But this past weekend I finally got to spend some ‘me’ time doing what I love the most, wrenching on real musclecar’s. My brother in law needed a little work on his 69 Nova.. He needed a ball joint replaced and had a problem in the charging system.

When it comes to GM muscle cars, I have always believed in replacing all 4 at the same time (unless of course any have been recently replaced). Turns out the one that was worn to the point of being a safety concern, was an aftermarket unit.. the other 3, which were showing only a minor amount of wear, were the factory joints! I was shocked to say the least!

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Hennessey VR1200 runs 220.5 MPH!

If you read my previous post (Titled “Not your grandfathers Caddy!”) about the Hennessey VR1200, you should understand the respect I have for this machine. Rather than just running on a dyno, they hit the open road to unleash this monster. You really cannot help but respect this machine! Pay close attention to the speedometer, and its value when he shifts.. Simply amazing!

The great New England earthquake of 2012!

I am really not making fun of earthquakes. This is more a post about how social networking has changed how we receive news..

Within seconds of the quake, I had at least 20 or 30 people sending updates. I read about it on the USGS website. Then someone created a page on Facebook, and had 19,000 likes before there was even a hint of it on the local news channel 45 minutes later.

Social networking really has changed how we as a society receive news of important events.. Its an interesting topic..