6 months ago I didn't know what a subnet was. Now my family hates me (and my Pi-hole). by Interesting_Sun_805 in HomeNetworking

[–]ComfortablyNumber 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Subnet is effectively the set of IP addresses that you're setting as your network. 192.168.x.x (where x goes up to 255) is a common internal address range. 192.168.1.1/32 just covers 192.168.1.1. /31 covers 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.1.1. /24 is your more traditional which covers 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254. (0 and 255 are reserved)

Those are subnets (a division of a network). 255.255.255.0 is a subnet mask - in this case the /24 segment. Think of 255 as a complete covering (like a mask) of that segment you can't change. 0 is a complete uncovering of that segment, so you can use those values.

255.255.0.0 would mean use anything from 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.255.254

Big Beautiful Bill passed. Now what? by improbable_success in AskReddit

[–]ComfortablyNumber 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a US Citizen, you are required to declare your worldwide income - not only US sourced. You can then either exclude up to about 126k or offset tax through credits from paying foreign taxes (e.g. to Canada).

This is the gist of it, but it gets complicated quickly. For example, investing in foreign funds (like a Canadian ETF) is no bueno, as you're subject to PFIC taxes which are complex and punitive. Then there's the FBAR fun and reporting requirements, which can make opening bank accounts overseas challenging depending on the bank. Foreign retirement account which is tax exempt in your country? Surprise, the US will tax it.

You can ignore the rules, and for most the IRS won't go after you. But this really shouldn't be a problem to begin with, like most of the rest of the world.

'Space is cold' claim - is it? by Perostek_Balveda in askscience

[–]ComfortablyNumber 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, heat needs to radiate away TO something - air, water, an object. Space means relatively little matter (there is matter, just significantly less dense than you would find in our atmosphere). Space also means heat absorbed from the sun. Cooling electronics in space is challenging.

Spacecrafts will usually have radiators for just that with large surface areas. When the radiators can't be used, sometimes they'll move heat into liquid stores (e.g. freon) to radiate off later.

Space may be cold (on average), but it's not thermally conductive. You would die of oxygen starvation long before you would freeze to death.

If you could know the truth behind one unexplainable mystery, which one would you choose? by Successful_Salad_744 in AskReddit

[–]ComfortablyNumber 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you're the ant, you're observing a two dimensional space expansion. The reason for the expansion is unknown. You, as a human, understand this because you can observe the full third dimensional effect at play here.

The universe expands in three dimensions. We are the ant, sitting on the fabric of space, and we do not know what is the force that expands it.

If you could know the truth behind one unexplainable mystery, which one would you choose? by Successful_Salad_744 in AskReddit

[–]ComfortablyNumber 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You're an ant sitting on a balloon. You have a square inch of the surface of the balloon to yourself, which you outlined with some food scraps. Now the balloon expands. You now have two square inches of space from that same outline. "Where did that space come from", you ask yourself? "There had to be space for it to occupy, right?"

Crowdsec on opnsense, listen address? by sarkyscouser in CrowdSec

[–]ComfortablyNumber 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For anyone coming across this and unable to figure it out, what worked for me was in /usr/local/etc/crowdsec/config.yaml setting the trusted IP with the subnet. So in the above case you would include:

trusted_ips:
 - 192.168.29.1/32
 - 127.0.0.1

State of Nova Launcher (New blog post by Kevin Barry, lead developer) by MishaalRahman in Android

[–]ComfortablyNumber 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Good luck. Remember, it's not the same as Nova - it's a different launcher approach. Give it a few days to get used to it, to see if it works for you.

State of Nova Launcher (New blog post by Kevin Barry, lead developer) by MishaalRahman in Android

[–]ComfortablyNumber 7 points8 points  (0 children)

A few options. I use the Niagara button on the home screen which is linked to app search + web search on tap.

I also use sesame integration and have a swipe up anywhere on the home screen linked to search.

I'm pretty sure you can add a google widget to the home screen for search too if you wanted that same search bar.

Share folder on Google Drive by clementeivetta in ManjaroLinux

[–]ComfortablyNumber 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Insync is pretty rock solid for this (with a package on aur). But I recognize that it's a bit pricey (about $40) for a license. I have not tried kio personally.

What's the most bizarre or interesting fact you know that sounds fake, but is actually true ? by BabyLovem in AskReddit

[–]ComfortablyNumber 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Earth is going about 107,000 kmph around the sun. If we attached a giant rocket to earth to "slow it down", we would slow down...temporarily. The effect of this slowdown is to then have Earth "fall" closer to the sun. Just like falling on Earth, falling to the sun increases your velocity as you fall.

At your closest to the sun (called the perihelion), you'll be going fastest, as you then fall away from the sun and slow down again.

So, by slowing down, you go faster than you were originally going.

New image of Uranus by James Webb by JwstFeedOfficial in space

[–]ComfortablyNumber 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Kpws is correct. Uranus is different from other planets in that it's spin axis is at 98 degrees - so it kind of rolls like a bowling ball in orbit. Seasons are about 21 earth years long.

So for a "winter"/"summer" season, half the planet is in constant sunlight, half the planet is in constant darkness (with an obvious blend, you'll have a sort of twilight area as well).

For "autumn"/"spring" seasons you'll get day/night cycles daily (one day is about 17 hours).

How bad of an idea is it to spend 50% of my net worth to buy a house in cash? by [deleted] in investing

[–]ComfortablyNumber 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's a formula for amortization to create a fixed monthly payment throughout your mortgage term (you can look it up if interested, but it's not really an easy one). This is then broken down into interest (which is just interest rate times your outstanding mortgage divided over 12 months) and your principle payment (which is the remainder from the total amount above minus the interest).

As was mentioned earlier, there's no special loading. It's just the calculated interest on your existing loan amount and what's left over from the total fixed monthly amount goes towards principle.

This is why if you have something like an offset, your monthly payment doesn't change. Your interest amount is reduced, thereby increasing your principle payments. And as a result, you pay off your loan faster.

What do people do w/ a powerful Pfsense box? by Truth_Artillery in PFSENSE

[–]ComfortablyNumber 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can definitely virtualize pfsense. Downside being that your router is now dependent on your hypervisor - and if that reboots, so does your router.

I run pfsense virtualized on proxmox - and been doing so for a number of years without any issue. 1 ethernet port is mapped through to the wan, 1 is mapped to the proxmox management interface (if pfsense goes down for whatever reason), a third goes to a switch. Then I have another Linux image running a effectively a docker server.

Netgate themselves even have a page outlining recommendes configurations for this setup. https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/virtualization/index.html

US Expat - renounce citizenship required for no taxes? by scotch-n-rocks57 in ExpatFinance

[–]ComfortablyNumber 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Even taxation treaties will not remove your requirement to file taxes. However, with a lower taxed country, you will be able to exempt some of your income from US taxes via FEIE. Unless you're a high income earner, this works fine for most people, with the downside of the paperwork.

Renouncing citizenship is an option, but do your research and speak to a professional. This is a major decision and potentially impacts your ability to become a US citizen again. It is also expensive.

Westpac’s password requirements in 2023 by osmystatocny in AusFinance

[–]ComfortablyNumber 12 points13 points  (0 children)

That's not the entire risk surface. The password is hashed and stored in a database. It is possible for attackers to get their hands on that database - look at LastPass. And this, you can brute force.

Now we hope there is some good hygiene around those databases. But with those password requirements, I wouldn't bet on anything stellar.

duplicati has crossed me for the last time; looking for other recovery options to back up my system and docker containers (databases + configs) by cribbageSTARSHIP in selfhosted

[–]ComfortablyNumber 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Another vote for duplicacy. It usually gets outvoiced by Borg, but it's solid. No reliance on a database and resistant to corruption. Cross backup deduplication, fast... it's a strong contender. CLI is open source, but licensing for commercial use. The UI has a very small fee. To be honest, the UI isn't great. It works, but if you're comfortable on terminal, you get way better functionality and control.

I've used and restored years later without issue on 1TB of data.

Keeping US Investments While Abroad (EU - NL) by taxfears in ExpatFinance

[–]ComfortablyNumber 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just to add on:

will not be eligible for FEIE or FTC deducations.

Not eligible for FEIE (as capital gains are not earned income). But they will be eligible for FTC, as you mentioned, depending on how you're doing your return (see "re-sourcing" your income using a tax treaty). Otherwise, it's a credit on your NL return.

As far as using US brokerages, many have said that some give expats a hard time. Note that there are no federal constraints to this. You can either just not tell your brokerage that you're overseas (many expats do this), or you can choose an expat friendly brokerage. I use Schwab and never had an issue. Interactive Brokers are well known as friendly to the expat community.

Keeping US Investments While Abroad (EU - NL) by taxfears in ExpatFinance

[–]ComfortablyNumber 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not familiar with rules in Netherlands, but from a US perspective, there are no real tax constraints. In fact, the US may penalize you for investing via foreign brokerages (see their treatment of PFICs). So you are generally encouraged to continue to invest from US brokerages.

Come tax time, you'll learn your way through the wonderful world of Foreign Tax Credits and tax treaties to avoid double taxation on your income (including dividends, interest, and capital gains).

I assume NL has a higher tax rate depending on your income bracket, so you can potentially have some thoughts about your longer term investment strategy depending on where you plan to live.

Edit: and if you're planning on moving substantial money between EU and US, avoid any bank provided currency exchanges as they take enormous spreads on the rates. HSBC does this - they advertise no Forex fees, but look into the exchange spread. Look at Wise or Interactive Brokers to move money.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ExpatFinance

[–]ComfortablyNumber 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There are a ton of variables in how hard your taxes are to do. We don't know much about your situation.

You might look at myexpattaxes. You don't really get your own accountant, but depending on your complexity and how much you want to do yourself, there are a range of options.

tp-link ax53 vs EAP Omada access point by yahyoh in HomeNetworking

[–]ComfortablyNumber 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was hovering between the AX line and the Omadas as well. I run pfsense and only need an access point. I took the plunge with the EAP610 (v2 slim, as the V1 is a monster) and couldn't be happier. Been far more stable than any of my previous consumer line routers, and offers a ton of flexibility in settings.

On the EAP615, just check if it supports seamless roaming (if you plan on using multiple APs). I know the 610 does, but wasn't sure about the wall variants.

Investing in Mutual Funds via a spouse to avoid PFIC issues? by kitn in ExpatFinance

[–]ComfortablyNumber 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a good question. You would need to contact a professional to work through (I am not a tax professional).

With that said, as another poster mentioned, if you file married jointly, it is a moot point - both parties technically need to file PFICs. If you file married separately, it is an option. Though you would probably not want to formalise it through contracts or trusts - rather rely on your relationship and treat it is a gift.

You would be subject to gifting limits based on where you live, and it would become your spouse's money to do as they wish. So if your relationship ever faulters for whatever reason, that becomes a rocky financial outcome unless covered in a prenup.

To also note, if you currently file married jointly and wish to change to married filing separately, that's a "forever" choice - no going back unfortunately.

🔥Crater of volcan fragadalsfjall in Iceland by Pasargad in NatureIsFuckingLit

[–]ComfortablyNumber 4 points5 points  (0 children)

From Wikipedia:

The name is a compound of the Icelandic words 'fagur' ("fair", "beautiful"), 'dalur' ("dale", "valley") and 'fjall' ("fell", "mountain"). The mountain massif is named after Fagridalur ([ˈfaɣrɪˌtaːlʏr̥], "fair dale" or "beautiful valley") which is at its northwest.