| Bluesky | https://bsky.app/profile/txrattler.bsky.social |
| Blog | https://medium.com/@txrattler |
I started a YouTube channel for a side project.
Original stories read by a real human. Like and subscribe!
https://www.youtube.com/@Rooksdarktales
🎙️ Original stories
🌲 Appalachian & Southern Gothic tones
🔥 Campfire crackles, wind in the trees
👁️ Perfect for headphones, night walks, and liminal hours
New stories posted regularly.
Light the lantern. Mind the woods.
#Folklore #ASMR #Storytelling #DarkTales #GothicAudio #NarrativePodcast #MythicFiction #FediFolk #IndieCreator #sleep #stories
I signed up for the US Cyber Games.
Not a coder.
Not a netsec pro.
Just a solo OSINT learner trying to level up.
I hit a wall — fast.
XOR, stego, packet captures. Not my arena.
So I stepped back.
Not a ragequit. A redirect.
This wasn't a failure — it was clarity.
I'm here for footprints, metadata, pivots, and pattern recognition.
If you're on the same road, you're not alone.
You're not broken — you're forging a different weapon. ⚔️
— TXRattler
#OSINT #CyberGames #CTF #Infosec #LearningInPublic #CyberSecurity #SoloLearner #PivotNotQuit #CTFReflections #MastodonOSINT #TraceLabs #DigitalForensics
My drum and bass DEF CON 32 live set is finally out on my YT channel for you to enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cet7dqEPkU
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Miss Jackalope Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/MissJackalope
DEF CON Music: https://www.youtube.com/@DEFCONMusicOfficial
DEF CON Music Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/defconorg_entertainment
@ahasty That makes sense, and I don’t disagree. I’ve been studying hard—solo, no class, no cohort, just me and the internet. I dig through write-ups, practice where I can, and try to reverse-engineer my way forward. But these live CTFs still feel like I’m being tested on material I didn’t even know existed. That’s the frustrating part—not the challenge itself, but feeling like I’m doing it in the dark.
I’d honestly welcome collaboration or just swapping notes with others. Feels like I’m building a ship while sailing it, and a crew would help.
@mathaetaes I get the comparison to bug hunting, but looking for a solution when you're not even sure one exists? That’s not training—that’s madness.
There’s a difference between a challenge and a wild goose chase. One sharpens you. The other makes you question if you were ever meant to succeed.
If I’m still learning, I need some signal that I’m on the right path. That's how education works. Otherwise I’m just spinning my wheels and calling it grit. Real-world pentesting might have unknowns, but real-world jobs also have tools, teams, documentation, and goals.
CTFs without a learning curve or direction aren’t “realistic”—they’re just chaos wrapped in a leaderboard.
https://medium.com/@txrattler/dont-call-it-training-if-you-ve-hidden-the-keys-92d157219869
Grinding CTFs lately. Here's the truth:
If I'm trying to get into cyber to make a living, the keys shouldn't be hidden.
CTFs aren't training—they're filtering. No hints, no structure, just “guess what I’m thinking.”
That’s not teaching. That’s gatekeeping.
#CTF #InfoSec #CyberSecurity #Hacking #OSINT #Gatekeeping #CyberJustice #TXRattlerWrites
George Takei 
🏳️🌈🖖🏽
Galactic Stone
MissJackalope