Does anyone have a good resource (I’ve seen several bad ones, but not a great reference) that explains how to set up a free L2TP/PPTP VPN on a consumer-level OS X workstation? I’m not talking OS X server, because that ships with server out of the box with a nice GUI configuration tool. OS X workstation ships with the vpnd executable, but the manpage for it is a little sparse. It seems to require an undocumented XML plist configuration file.

The ultimate goal here is to get a VPN tunnel from the iPhone to a machine at home working. From the laptop to talk to home, I have a very hacky implementation of PPTP-over-SSH implemented. I’d like to have something less hacky, using the vpnd executable because I can reliably believe that it will get security updates with OS X dot-releases, and it just seems like “the right way to do it.”

I keep hearing murmurings of a LiveJournal content strike. I understand the reasons behind it (dropping the “Basic” accounts without really telling anyone), but have yet to see what the exact rules of the strike are. Can someone point me to the terms of the strike?

Is it “don’t post on the 21st?” If so, I see it working exactly the same as the gas station strikes you keep getting email about. There will just be double the emo on the 22nd, including overly dramatic complaints of how difficult it was to spend 24 hours away from the precious JiveUrinal.

Or is it more like the writers’ strike where people continue to not post until they get their $0.04 per DVD (or Basic accounts get reinstated or whatever.)

’cause, if it’s the former, then I laugh in your general direction. And if it’s the latter, it’ll be far more interesting. It’ll be nice to have less whining and less emo crying as immediate results. As people lose their self control and start posting to LJ anyway, it’ll be fun to see the drama arise in comments like “OMG, you posted and broke the strike!” and “OMG, you commented on a post–that’s like generating content, like making a new post, so YOU broke the strike, too!” Hilarity ensues. We all laugh. End scene.

Me? I don’t give a rat’s arse. They had two free account levels, the one without ads was losing them money (WTF, REALLY?!), which wasn’t being subsidized by the other account levels, so they dropped it. They’re a business. They are here primarily to make money, with the community as a secondary goal. If you want to blog for free, you can go to MySpace, wait no, that has ads… WordPress?, um, no…. Blogger?… not really… FaceBook? … nuh, uhu… Well, then, I guess you can scribble in your paper journal and pass it around detention hall, because that’s about the only place you can blog for free without ads. Sheesh. You’d think people hadn’t ever heard of ad blockers or something.

At any rate, can someone please link me to the terms of the strike? I’d like to know more.

So I have been watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and something has been bugging me. If you can only bring flesh (or technology wrapped in flesh) and not straight-up technology through a time portal, then how did that bare terminator head get flung out of the bank vault and into the current-day storyline???