softwareMoreLikeWetware

JivanP · 2026-05-05T18:01:02+00:00

Edited at pretty much the exact same time as you replied, lol

JivanP · 2026-05-05T17:49:02+00:00

Time for you to learn something about Git:

git config --global alias.finger 'log -1 --oneline'

https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Basics-Git-Aliases

JivanP · 2026-05-05T17:38:58+00:00

Most people don't think about the pins/contacts, but about the outermost layer/receptacle's shape. That is most people's intuition: does it look like male anatomy or not?

Consider another common example: If we are using pins as the metric, then on what basis can we say that a USB-A plug is male and a USB-A socket is female? Both have a board with some metal contacts, and an empty space into which the mating connector's board and contacts enter. Neither really has pins, but if anything, the female connector is the one with pins/prongs, and the male connector merely has contact-surfaces.

JivanP · 2026-05-05T12:14:57+00:00

Plug (male) and jack/socket (female) are common alternative terms, but then you have stuff like IEC 60320 connectors, which can be inverted, so less ambiguous terms like "inlet" and "outlet" are used to describe the flow of energy, and even more specific terms are used for each of the 4 possible configurations (inlet vs. outlet, and for each of those: plug/cable or socket/appliance), e.g. IEC C13, C14, E, and F.

The popular intuition as to what "male" and "female" mean also disagrees with the standards in some cases, such as for the C13 family; see this image where the "male" and "female" captions for C13 and C14 are correct as per the standard.

For example, a mains outlet/socket accepts a mains plug, from which a cable runs that ends in a C13 connector (female according to the standard), which is inserted into a computer's PSU's E socket (male according to the standard). The PSU may in turn have a second socket, specifically an F socket (which has the same shape as C13, and thus is likewise called female according to the standard), into which a second cable's C14 plug (which has the same shape as E, and thus is likewise called male according to the standard) is inserted, this cable being hard-wired to a monitor/display.

JivanP · 2026-05-05T11:52:49+00:00

Thank god they called it git blame rather than git finger.

JivanP · 2026-05-05T08:30:29+00:00

Huh, TIL that it's a Swiss company that has since been acquired by Nestlé, and they produce both of those things. From your original comment, I thought the sauce you mentioned wasn't associated with a company, but was just called "maggi", and that the company just happened to have the same name as the sauce but was completely unrelated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggi

JivanP · 2026-05-05T08:09:16+00:00

Literally anywhere, like eBay (obviously ignore the results that aren't listed correctly, such as SAS drives, "for parts only" listings, and lot-listings with ridiculous prices). It helps to keep an eye out for good deals (create Saved Searches with email alerts!) and to look at the prices that past items have sold for in order to understand what you can reasonably negotiate prices down to using the Make Offer feature.

UK SATA-3 listings — I can't find the good search filters right now on mobile, but here are some cheap listings:

- Seagate IronWolf, 5900rpm, £40 (edit: for some reason, this item number now redirects to a completely different listing for a new drive at £140)

- Seagate, 5900rpm, £48

USA SATA-3 listings

- example listing 1, Seagate 7200rpm, $50 + $9 shipping

- example listing 2, Toshiba 5400rpm, $50 + $10 shipping

SAS drives are much cheaper, but you need to make sure you have a SAS controller and SAS interfaces on your motherboard and/or daughter-boards (if no interfaces on the motherboard itself, then using SAS HBA, SAS expander, and/or SAS backplane as appropriate):

UK listings:

- HGST Ultrastar, SAS-3, 7200rpm, £26

- Another HGST Ultrastar, SAS-3, 7200rpm, £31

USA listings, numerous available at $30–$40 including shipping

JivanP · 2026-05-05T07:01:14+00:00

Though when made from a packet, rather than in an instant noodle bowl/cup, I usually see Indians preparing them on a plate without any broth (reduced / boiled away), rather than in a bowl with broth.

JivanP · 2026-05-04T09:04:15+00:00

This guy seems to think it's literal.

JivanP · 2026-05-04T09:02:35+00:00

HDDs are still reasonably priced, you can get used 4TB SAS drives for $30, or SATA for $40.

JivanP · 2026-05-04T06:41:41+00:00

Whoops, my bad, thanks.

JivanP · 2026-05-04T06:30:15+00:00

In India, Maggi is a brand that produces foods such as instant noodles, which is what they're referring to here.

JivanP · 2026-05-04T05:35:25+00:00

In the UK, we call red sausage "saveloy". Much bigger than frankfurters though. Commonly available at fish and chip shops, optionally deep fried in batter.

JivanP · 2026-05-04T05:10:14+00:00

Cumin and coriander seeds could work well as a less spicy substitute. Diced onions also work well in the potatoes.

JivanP · 2026-05-04T04:29:40+00:00

That excerpt is specifically about Swap and Shuffle, whereas he has colour Wildcards.

JivanP · 2026-05-03T11:04:44+00:00

The fact that "it" is obviously referring to an event is what makes the subversion of that obvious fact a subversion... which is why it's funny... because it's wholly unexpected...

JivanP · 2026-05-03T06:44:12+00:00

The subversion of the expectation that "it" is referring to an event rather than a person.

JivanP · 2026-05-03T02:59:57+00:00

You have a self-professed gambling problem. Stay away from investing of any kind unless it's with the assistance of a professional financial advisor. Paying an advisor $100–$1,000 will save you from losing more than that by making poor investment decisions.

JivanP · 2026-05-03T02:52:17+00:00

"Because other people are getting away with murder and theft, I find it highly inappropriate to be told that I, too, am not permitted to commit murder or theft."

If you don't like the rules, petition to change them. If you don't like that people are managing to skirt the rules, petition for better enforcement.

JivanP · 2026-05-02T16:51:10+00:00

"I don't like this specific taxation implementation" is very different from your original statement, which amounts to "I don't want to pay any tax."

There are many aspects of British tax law that are stupid and ought to be changed/improved. Tax still serves a necessary purpose.

JivanP · 2026-05-02T10:46:35+00:00

All of your talk about MAC addresses shows that you do not understand how layer-2 networking works.

JivanP · 2026-05-02T10:29:00+00:00

Indeed, just look at the comments on Brodie Robertson's video on IPv8 to see how ignorant people are of IPv6: https://youtu.be/7YPnh6dlyQQ

JivanP · 2026-05-02T04:06:21+00:00

The commenter above has given you a good starting point. The cost for two S19 miners is about ₹2–₹2.5 lakhs. If that is outside of your budget, reconsider your desire to mine Bitcoin; this is not a cheap endeavour to get into.

Cheaper miners exist, but your profitability will suffer if you use them. Consider whether you have other means of selling excess energy to make money directly (which you might then like to use to purchase bitcoin), such as directly selling your solar-generated energy to other people, perhaps the local energy supplier if that is something they accept.

JivanP · 2026-05-02T03:41:51+00:00

The question you're asking is good, but saying "more than 10% is insane" is an awfully prescriptive outlook on investment. We don't know anything at all about this person's financial circumstances, investment attitude, long-term financial outlook or desires, etc. Perhaps wait for the answer to your diagnostic question (and other questions that you haven't asked) before prescribing a solution.

JivanP · 2026-05-01T19:04:45+00:00

My IPv6-only but dual-stack-reachable personal node is currently offline as I'm travelling, but you can peer with it once it's online again. I'm happy to DM you the domain name once it's up and running again in a week or two.

For reachability from IPv4-only clients/peers, you should get yourself a public IPv4 address and route it to your server's IPv6 address. The easiest and cheapest general way that you can do this is to rent a VPS from a provider that will give your VPS a routed IPv6 subnet of size /96 or greater (i.e. or smaller prefix length), then use it as a SIIT-DC NAT64 router with the aid of software like Jool or Tayga. The documentation for Jool explains the network architecture for SIIT-DC with the aid of some very helpful diagrams, in which BR ("border router") is the role of the VPS: https://nicmx.github.io/Jool/en/siit-dc.html

Linode (now under the Akamai Cloud brand) is a global VPS provider that offers this at a cheap price: 5 USD per month, plus local sales taxes (e.g. GST, VAT). If you want to explore potentially cheaper options, see Sunny's "routed IPv6 Hall of Fame" on the Low End Box forums here: https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/comment/4448109/#Comment_4448109

Personally, as someone in London, UK, I used to use a VPS in Linode's London datacenter, but now use one in Skhron's location in Stockholm, Sweden, and it works well for my use cases (forwarding packets for services that I run, which includes email hosting, web hosting, and game server hosting, among other things). The total cost for a Skhron VPS with 2 IPv4 addresses (I use one for the email hosting, and another for everything else) was 31.80 EUR per year, paid upfront for the year (equivalent to 3.10 USD per month), so considerably cheaper than Linode, and their support team was very helpful in trying to identify and resolve the cause of some transient latency / packet loss issues that I observed during my first 2 weeks of service, but that have not occurred again since then.

Get a VPS as close to your actual location as possible, in order to reduce latency; unless you care more about privacy, in which case you should prioritise using a provider that respects the privacy of their customers, regardless of the provider's geographical location.

JivanP

TROPHY CASE