Mar 19

Ess

It’s amazing how quickly it flipped from “essential jobs” without which the economy would collapse during the pandemic back to “shoulda gone to college.” Almost like it’s MBA types not wanting to pay people what they are worth.

But surely that’s not possible…. 😉

Mar 19

Baby Subnets

I thought I understood subnetting until I saw this.

Ha. This is baby stuff. These are just /24s and /25s. Super duper easy. Not in any way a challenge in my field. I can do this in my head without even a moment’s thought. Wake me up when you get to dynamic NAT and BGP failover.

/24 just means 256 IP addresses, 254 usable.

So for the first one, 192.168.1.11/24, that means addresses 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.1.255 are in this network – as mentioned, 256 total IP addresses. Usable range is 192.168.1.1 – 192.168.1.254 with the network address being 192.168.1.0 and the broadcast being 192.168.1.255. You don’t even need to get into the binary to figure that out.

All a /25 means instead of a /24 is that it’s one more bit off, 128 addresses instead of 256 (that’s how binary works). And depending on which side of the bit mask it’s on determines where the /24 is split. So the third address, 192.168.1.22/25, the first one listed with a /25, it’s also very easy. That just means the /24 is split in half, giving a usable range of 192.168.1.1 – 192.168.1.126 with 192.168.1.0 being the network address and 192.168.1.127 being the broadcast address. If any address is above 192.168.1.127 and is a /25, it’s therefore on the other half of the split /24*.

Anyway, the most upvoted commenter (unusually) is correct so I won’t reiterate that. That’s 100% right.

*You don’t have to think about it as split /24s, but it’s easier in this case. This method starts falling apart when you get to talking about /22s, /21s, /20s, etc.

Mar 19

Ox Input

When you think about it, it’s weird how nearly everyone just bought the Fat Acceptance anti-scientific and anti-reality claims like:

1) That adaptive thermogenesis (so-called “starvation mode”) happens within hours and means you cannot lose weight, even if you consume zero calories.

2) That someone is anorexic if they don’t weigh as much as an adult musk ox.

3) That it’s impossible to lose weight and keep it off, despite all the people who do.

4) That you can be fit and fat.

5) That looking like an unsightly blight upon the landscape shouldn’t matter to anyone, even yourself.

6) That quality of life does not matter.

I realize and understand that there was a significant and well-funded propaganda operation in support of all this by the major food consortiums, etc., but even with their weight (heh) behind the effort, it wouldn’t have taken off if it didn’t flatter the sensibilities of those with fewer brains than a bog lemming. Fat Acceptance isn’t the most consequential issue in the world, but it’s something that harms a lot of people and will harm a lot more in the future. And it’s just so unnecessary.

Mar 19

Mal Growl

Why are so many people so quick to react with aggression and even violence to perceived disrespect by a stranger?

It’s a maladaptive tendency that is not maladaptive if you grow up feral in a place like rural North Florida. There, if you endure disrespect even once you are then shit on constantly forever. Aggression is the correct response there — but not in much of the rest of the world.

I am not naturally a violent person but North Florida made me participate in violence so much that I just got used to it. That (among many other things) is what is so terrible about those kind of places. It’s not North Florida, but if you want to know what a place like that feels like, watch Winter’s Bone. It gets both rural poverty and the violent nature of such places as where I grew up more correct than any other movie I’ve seen.

Mar 18

Cay

The US seems like an actual dystopia.

It is. Compared to a lot of the rest of the world, and nearly all of the Western world. A conversation I’ve had with more than one person:

Them: I sent them an email two weeks ago and I haven’t heard back yet.

Me: They’re in Germany, right? And it’s August. They’re probably on a month-long vacation to the Med or the Azores. You won’t hear back any time soon.

Them: But surely it’s not that long? That’s not allowed, right? Who can take a vacation that long?

Me: Everywhere is not like the US. Suffering is not de rigeur. Many countries pretty much shut down for a month or so in late summer, like Germany and France.

Them: How am I supposed to get the project done if I don’t hear back from the Program Manager? Won’t they be checking email?

Me: No, they won’t be checking. Just wait. It’s not the end of the world. Everyone’ll live.

Them: grumbling vaguely about the unfairness of it all now that they’ve realized not everyone gets treated like American workers