Erik Makela

epstein-public-archives

The Jmail Suite

The Jmail Suite is an interactive archive that lets you explore Jeffrey Epstein’s emails, documents, photos, flight logs, and more as if you were logged into his accounts.

What started as a viral project in November 2025 has grown into a full suite of apps, powered by three major data releases.

For When Discord Dies - How to Create a Public Mirror of a Discord Server

I will not make this an essay. Discord is a closed platform and there is little way to keep your data unless you own it. Here’s a guide to make that happen. Please get consent of the members in the server before doing this.

What is the goal of this post?

  1. Get a download of a discord server (using Tyrrrz/DiscordChatExporter)
  2. Publish it online (using slatinsky/DiscordChatExporter-frontend - DEMO here)
  3. NOTE THIS GUIDE IS ONLY FOR SMALLER SERVERS as it redownloads all chats every day and does not use incremental mechanisms (please see https://github.com/slatinsky/DiscordChatExporter-incrementalBackup as a solution)

For my setup I am using the oracle cloud VPS with Cloudflare Zero trust tunnels along with Docker. Please use this guide for setting up Cloudflare Zero Trust Tunnels: Self-Host the Right Way (Docker + Cloudflare Tunnels).

1. Setup Discord Bot / User to obtain Token

It is advised to make a discord bot as it is against discord TOS to use botting activities on a personal user account. However, when you are unable to invite the bots as they require user permissions an alternate account would be the most practical advice to avoid a ban on your personal account even though it rarely occurs.

For setting up a discord bot: Creating a Bot Account The Bot will need the permissions of - View Channels, Read Message History, and Message Content Intent Then go to ‘Bot > Reset Token’ to obtain the token

For obtaining a personal user token:

  1. Open Discord in your web browser (discord.com/app).
  2. Open developer tools (Control + Shift + I, or F12) and open the Network tab within it.
  3. Click on the Applications Tab
  4. Click on the ‘Local Storage’ > ‘https://discord.com’
  5. Click on a different Discord server so that the webpage soft refreshes
  6. Search for ‘token’ and grab the token
  7. DO NOT SHARE YOU DISCORD TOKEN WITH ANYONE OTHER THAN YOURSELF

2. Setting Up Discord Chat Exporter

Please note these instructions will vary depending on how exactly your server is setup and what hardware it is using. But follow these general directions.

a. Download the terminal/cli app:

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wget https://github.com/Tyrrrz/DiscordChatExporter/releases/latest/download/DiscordChatExporter.Cli.linux-arm64.zip

b. install unzip

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sudo apt install -y unzip

c. Unzip the folder (note: I have exported the application into a folder named “export” in the current directory”

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DiscordChatExporter.Cli.linux-arm64.zip -d export

d. Check to see discord CLI is working

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export/DiscordChatExporter.Cli --help

e. Download the Discord Server (note: I have downloaded the server into a folder named “server”

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DiscordChatExporter.Cli exportguild --token DISCORD_TOKEN -g SERVER_ID --media --reuse-media --markdown false --format Json --include-threads All --output ./server/

DISCORD_TOKEN = Obtain from previous instructions SERVER_ID = Go to ‘User Settings > Advanced > Enable Developer Mode’ then right-click on the server and ‘Copy ID’ OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH = I chose to go with ./server/

Setup DiscordChatExporter-frontend docker container

a. Pull the front end image from docker hub:

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docker pull slada/dcef:main

b. Navigate to the folder with your exports downloaded in the previous step. I used the folder “server”

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cd server

c. Setup a docker-compose.yml file [The networks section is needed for Cloudflare Zero Trust Network]

services: dcef: image: slada/dcef:main container_name: dcef restart: always # Equivalent to: -p 127.0.0.1:21011:21011 ports: - "127.0.0.1:21011:21011" # Equivalent to: --volume "$(pwd):/dcef/exports" --volume dcef_cache:/dcef/cache volumes: - ./:/dcef/exports - dcef_cache:/dcef/cache # Equivalent to: -it tty: true stdin_open: true volumes: dcef_cache: networks: default: external: true name: proxy-network

d. Setup a .env file by entering your domain. This will also need to be setup in Cloudflare and match the same domain that you put there

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DOMAIN=cord.domain.com

e. In the same directory start up the docker container

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docker compose up -d

Setup Cloudflare

Go to Cloudflare > Zero Trust > Tunnels > Connectors > Right-click then Configure > Published application routes > Add Published Application Routes

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Domain = cord.domain.com Service = http://dcef:21011

Create a script to backup daily

a. Create a new shell file

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nano update-daily.sh

b. Input the following [Make sure to slot the TOKEN, GUILD ID, and SERVER_PATH location]

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#!/usr/bin/env bash set -euo pipefail # --- Configuration --- TOKEN="PASTE_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE" GUILD_ID="PASTE_ID_HERE" OUTPUT_DIR="./server" COMPOSE_DIR="SERVER_PATH/server" SERVICE_NAME="dcef" # must match the *service name* in docker-compose.yml # --- Run exporter --- export/DiscordChatExporter.Cli exportguild \ --token "$TOKEN" \ -g "$GUILD_ID" \ --media \ --reuse-media \ --markdown false \ --format Json \ --include-threads All \ --output "$OUTPUT_DIR" # --- Restart container/service after export --- pushd "$COMPOSE_DIR" >/dev/null docker compose down -v docker compose up -d "$SERVICE_NAME" popd >/dev/null

c. Make the script executible

chmod +x update-daily.sh

d. Run it once to download the...

prince-of-persia

How the Little Guy Moved, Prince of Persia, Animation Obsessive

Which was the thing: making the animation believable and exciting wasn’t really about tech. Despite all the tricks Mechner used for it, this was an artistic problem. The arrival of newer hardware, more colors, faster frame rates and higher resolutions didn’t outmode the simple, lively motion in Prince of Persia — how could they? The great animation of the 1920s, a century ago, still looks great now. Movement doesn’t age so easily.

bluetooth-and-claude

My smart sleep mask broadcasts users’ brainwaves to an open MQTT broker

This isn’t to the level of the OP, but I just asked Claude “Are there any interesting Bluetooth devices in my vicinity which aren’t actually mine or ones I am connected to?” and it downloaded a tool called `blueutil` and identified a variety of things.When I complained that the results were boring, it installed a Python package called ‘bleak’, found a set of LED lights (which I assumed are my daughter’s) and tried to control them. It said the signal was too weak and got me to move around the house, whereupon it connected to them, figured out the protocol, and actually changed the lights while I was sat on her bed - where I am right now. Now I have a new party trick when she gets home! I had no idea they were Bluetooth controlled, nor clearly without any security at all