y.st./source/pages/en/weblog/2015/10-October/07.xhtml

<?php
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$xhtml = array(
	'title' => 'The Kyrgyz Republic, Iceland, and Isle of Man',
	'body' => <<<END
<p>
	I did some research, and I now understand how reverse $a[DNS] works.
	Reverse $a[DNS] isn&apos;t really as reversed as I thought, and is actually implemented over forward $a[DNS].
	There&apos;s far less address space in $a[IPv4] and $a[IPv6] combined than in $a[DNS], so they set aside a chunk of $a[DNS] space just for use in reverse $a[DNS].
	I though that that section of $a[DNS] used for reverse lookups were among the <a href="https://www.iana.org/assignments/special-use-domain-names/special-use-domain-names.xhtml">special-use names</a> reserved for use outside global $a[DNS], but that&apos;s not the case at all.
	The reserved domains related to reverse $a[DNS] are only the ones that correspond to reserved $a[IP] address blocks! That means that the rest of the reverse $a[DNS] domain space is not reserved, and is probably allocated to the companies that control the $a[IP] addresses.
</p>
<p>
	Having a better idea of how things work, I wanted to make the most of the features available to me.
	Specifically, the two other main usable parts of this reserved name space are <code>//onion.</code> and <code>//local.</code>.
	I already have an onion address (though I often seek to generate more onion names), so I wanted to set up a local domain using multicast $a[DNS].
	My research on how to set this up was at first highly unsuccessful.
	Nothing relating to Debian or Debian-like systems seemed to be available, the information was all geared toward Windows and OS X.
	Finally, I found a hint as to why no information was available for my system.
	It&apos;s enabled by default! My laptop has been listening for the name <code>//newdawn.local.</code> for several months now, and I didn&apos;t even know it.
	This would have been helpful to know for working with the server too, as I could have been reaching it as <code>//chicken.local.</code> instead of <code>//chicken.hn.y.st.</code>.
	I can&apos;t seem to find a way to make the machines respond to subdomains of their multicast domain, but if I do find a way later, I&apos;ll probably shorten up my names to increase my namespace footprint just because I&apos;m a geek like that.
	I tried using a CNAME record in the domain I&apos;m not using to point to a multicast domain name, but that didn&apos;t work, just like how CNAME records pointed at onion addresses do not work.
	I&apos;m beginning to wonder if CNAME resolution doesn&apos;t occour client-side, but somewhere in one of the recursive $a[DNS] servers.
</p>
<p>
	I tried testing the $a[mDNS] setup from both my machine and the only Windows machine in the house (my mother&apos;s machine), and found an odd anomaly.
	From my machine, I can ping any  of the other three Debian machines in the house, but I cannot ping the Windows machine.
	My machine can&apos;t even find the $a[IP] address of the Windows machine using the multicast address.
	Likewise, the Windows machine is able to ping itself by its multicast address, but it translates any other address using the <code>//local.</code> $a[TLD] to the wrong $a[IP] address.
	Whether the local domain is valid or invalid, Windows treats it as resolving to <code>198.105.244.24</code>.
	I checked Windows&apos; host file to see if its own local domain was being stored there, which if it was, would signify that $a[mDNS] was probably not functioning at all, and the reason its own local domain was working was because of the hosts file entry.
	However, no entry, not even one for <code>localhost</code>, was present.
	Whatever Windows is doing is not compatible with what Debian is doing.
</p>
<p>
	I went it to speak with a potential employer this morning as I was asked too, but instead of the boss opening shop as the lady I spoke with on Monday said she would, that same lady was again opening the shop.
	She apologized and said that she had ended up covering the shift for the boss.
	Supposedly, the boss will be in tomorrow, so hopefully she will actually be there this time.
	I don&apos;t mind the extra trip, but what I fear is that the boss won&apos;t be there again and that I will be asked to come in again on Friday; I will be out of town on Friday.
	I&apos;d have to turn down the meeting at that point and try to get a later meeting set up.
</p>
<p>
	On the way to the job site, I had fifteen minutes to kill, so I stopped at a discount store in the area.
	They had $a[LED] light bulbs for only a dollar each! Not knowing if they would work in our light bulb sockets, and not wanting to carry a large box of light bulbs in for a potential interview, I only bought one.
	Getting it home, I see that most (if not all) sockets that take this size of light bulb already have florescent lights in them.
	Florescent bulbs are not as efficient as $a[LED] bulbs, but they are a lot better than incandescent ones.
	My bedroom has two empty bulb sockets, so I tried the bulb there.
	It didn&apos;t work.
	Swapping bulbs though, I found that the issue wasn&apos;t the bulb, but the sockets! I had though that the landlords had left two bulbs out for a dimmer lighting effect, but they really did it because those sockets do not work.
	I don&apos;t really mind though.
	I told my mother about the problem and she didn&apos;t seem happy about the broken sockets, so she came to take a look.
	She couldn&apos;t get them working either, it wasn&apos;t like I was using the sockets incorrectly or something.
</p>
<p>
	I&apos;m not feeling up to a test today either, so I&apos;ll put off the test another day if not even longer.
	Instead, I worked on setting up my old server as a desktop machine.
	I tried to set it up in my bedroom, but I found that neither the Wi-Fi card that I bought for my mother&apos;s machine nor my $a[USB] Wi-Fi dongle that supposedly does not require nonfree firmware would work.
	The dongle doesn&apos;t work on my laptop either, so I&apos;m guessing it requires nonfree firmware after all.
	I brought the machine downstairs to install the system using a direct Ethernet connection, but the install got caught 52% of the way through loading the partitioner and I eventually had to abort the installation.
	I&apos;ll try again tomorrow, and if it works, bring the machine back upstairs where it won&apos;t have network access, but can be used for some things still.
</p>
<p>
	Before turning in for the night, I looked into some $a[TLD]s.
	The $a[ccTLD] of the <a href="/en/URI_research/ccTLDs.xhtml#kg">Kyrgyz Republic</a>.
	They have a broken setup right now that requires modifying the Web browser&apos;s copy of the webpage before it will show or accept the $a[CAPTCHA] text.
	Aside from that, the registry looks like a good option for usable domains.
	<a href="/en/URI_research/ccTLDs.xhtml#is">Iceland</a>&apos;s registry also looks reasonable to deal with.
	They do not require a telephone number ans will even conceal your contact information if you want them to for no additional charge.
	The <a href="#im">Isle of Man</a>&apos;s registry doesn&apos;t require any telephone number either.
	They do not offer $a[DNS] servers by default, but for an extra fee, they will supply you with them.
</p>
<p>
	eNom has now canceled <a href="http://wowana.me/">wowaname</a>&apos;s last domain that resides in $a[gTLD] space.
	I urged her before to transfer her remaining names that are in eNom&apos;s care to another registrar before this happened, but it&apos;s soon going to be too late.
	<code>//wowana.me.</code> is still registered with eNom, and if that name is taken next, I don&apos;t think it is replaceable.
</p>
<p>
	My <a href="/a/canary.txt">canary</a> still sings the tune of freedom and transparency.
</p>
END
);