Jim Stitzel

Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of Words

Excerpts from Life

Of Code, Security, Hackers, & Malware

Of Code, Security, Hackers, & Malware

A few days ago, I wrote on Facebook that I'd invested a significant amount of time in scraping malware hackers off several websites that I run and operate. I had found, through a Google search, a shell script that someone had developed to scan through your site's...

Little Windows of Mental Unwellness

Little Windows of Mental Unwellness

It’s weird. Almost every night before I fall asleep, I experience these moments of emotional chaos that are some combination of depression, anxiety, and snippets of other emotions that all coalesce into a slurry that makes my nerve endings stand on end. I know this is...

Psychopharmacology

Psychopharmacology

It's been a minute since I've shared an update on my mental health. I feel like I've been chasing the anxiety spectre for a long time, ever since I discovered eight years ago that anxiety was part of my mental health diagnosis. I've been hospitalized twice and had...

Fiction

Portal

Portal

My toilet bowl is a portal to another dimension. Ask me how I know this. Great! I'm glad you asked. You know how I know it's a portal? It swirls when I flush it, and I'm not just talking about the water. That swirls, too. No, when I flush, there is purple and lavender...

Wind Chimes

Wind Chimes

They dangle from the eaves and make beautiful music in the wind. Long, slender bits of metal jangling against each other. They are tied to the bottom of a dreamcatcher, twirling and dancing and spinning. And the music they produce -- such a thing has never been heard....

The Way Out

The Way Out

The tunnel was the only way out. And it was guarded by enormous... squirrels? These mutated little fuckers were the size of small dogs with long, sharp teeth and razor claws. Where they came from we don't know, but suddenly the trees were full of them, and they chased...