23 hrs
volsano
One Y2K remediation I worked on had systems from the 1960s -- crucial systems that ran the whole show.

We easily (for some definitions of the word) fixed their 1980s and 1990s stuff that used 2-digit years.

But we did not touch the 1960s and 1970s stuff that had a specialised date storage format. It was 16-bit dates. 7 bits for year. 9 bits for day of year.

It was too assemblery, too unstructured, too ancient.

And, anyway, 9-bit year counting from 1900 (as they did) was good until the unimaginably far future.

The unimaginably far future is nearly with us: 1900 + 127 = 2027.

I am waiting for the phone to ring so I can apologise, - and quote them an unimaginably large number to finish the job.

After some time, the VAX crashed. It was on a service contract, and Digital was called. Laura Creighton was not called although she was on the short list of people who were supposed to be called in case of problem. The Digital Field Service engineer came in, removed the disk from the drive, figured it was then okay to remove the tape and make the drive writeable, and proceeded to put a scratch disk into the drive and run diagnostics which wrote to that drive.

Well, diagnostics for disk drives are designed to shake up the equipment. But monkey brains are not designed to handle the electrical signals they received. You can imagine the convulsions that resulted. Two of the monkeys were stunned, and three died. The Digital engineer needed to be calmed down; he was going to call the Humane Society. This became known as the Great Dead Monkey Project, and it leads of course to the aphorism I use as my motto: You should not conduct tests while valuable monkeys are connected, so "Always mount a scratch monkey."

Laura Creighton points out that although this is told as a gruesomely amusing story, three monkeys did lose their lives, and there are lessons to be learned in treatment of animals and risk management. Particularly, the sign on the disk drive should have explained why the drive should never have been enabled for write access.

In a separate opinion, justice Kenneth Lee accused California of misleading residents in smaller counties — where the open-carry ban does not apply — about how they can lawfully carry firearms. “Our constitutional rights,” Lee wrote, “should not hinge on a Where’s Waldo quiz,” The Hill reported.

The Big Apple firefighter’s union is steaming mad over the sudden discovery of 68 boxes of Ground Zero health data following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks — files they were told never existed.

The recently surfaced boxes contain thousands of pages of information on possible toxins at the Lower Manhattan site that union members said could be used to add new ailments to the list of covered 9/11-related illnesses.

Some 343 FDNY firefighters lost their lives at the World Trade Center site on 9/11 with hundreds more having lost their lives since from health-related maladies.

“They should have used that evidence and those tests to prepare for the long term health care of the people that were down there,” Andrew Ansbro, president of the FDNY United Firefighters Association said at a press conference Monday. “The decision they made was to just hide it. //

The FDNY and advocates for other first-responders have been battling for years to get more data on possible toxins at the Lower Manhattan site, which has killed about 400 people since the attacks.

Any gas can be converted into a liquid by simple compression, unless its temperature is below critical. Therefore, the division of substances into liquids and gases is largely conditional. The substances that we are used to considering as gases simply have very low critical temperatures and therefore cannot be in a liquid state at temperatures close to room temperature. On the contrary, the substances we classify as liquids have high critical temperatures (see table in §
).

All gases that make up the air (except carbon dioxide) have low critical temperatures. Their liquefaction therefore requires deep cooling.

There are many types of machines for producing liquid gases, in particular liquid air.
In modern industrial plants, significant cooling and liquefaction of gases is achieved by expansion under thermal insulation conditions.

Rockall is an uninhabited – and uninhabitable – granite islet in the North Atlantic Ocean, covering 784 sqm and claimed by the United Kingdom, despite beings some 300 miles off the west coast of Scotland.

It is perhaps most well known, of course, for giving its name to one of the sea areas named in the British Met Office shipping forecasts.

Over the years, plenty of local Cinderella stamps have appeared for British islands with a dubious postal requirement and, in some cases – such as Stroma or Staffa – no population at all.

However, when we recently came across a stamp bearing the name of Rockall – a location once described as “no place more desolate, more despairing, more awful to see in the world” – we were suitably intrigued about who might be behind such a stamp, and why.

A charity expedition
It turns out that Rockall’s sole stamp issue to date related to a charity expedition to the island in 2005, under the name “Rockall Ho!”, where a team raising funds for Mental Health Media’s MEdia initiative successfully landed on the rock on 16 June and raised the flag of the “Peoples’ Republic of Rockall”.

In doing so, they joined the fewer than 20 people who are ever confirmed to have set foot there. //

Incidentally, the Latin used in the cancellation – “Ultra Mare Usque Nusquam” – translates as “Beyond the Sea Nowhere”. A fitting motto, perhaps, for this “awful” yet intriguing lump of rock in the Atlantic, and a place now immortalised in philatelic history thanks to its sole Cinderella stamp issue.

In philately, the abbreviation signifies a postage stamp that has never been hinged or mounted, retaining its original gum. Such a stamp is considered to be in perfect, unused condition, as issued by the postal authority. An example would be a stamp carefully preserved in pristine condition since its purchase.

Stamps in this superior condition are often more valuable to collectors, particularly for older or rarer issues. Maintaining original gum is a key factor in assessing a stamp’s quality and potential appreciation. Historically, hinging was a common practice, making unhinged examples from earlier periods relatively scarce and thus more desirable. This careful preservation contributes significantly to a collection’s overall worth and prestige.

Minecraft Bedrock Edition is the version of Minecraft that powers the iPhone / Android versions (formerly Minecraft Pocket Edition), the Xbox / PlayStation / Nintendo Switch editions and the free Windows 10 Minecraft edition.

Mojang has released a dedicated server which is considered to be in alpha testing.  I have found it to be very stable and able to run on a wide variety of hardware.

This script and guide are written to help you get a robust Minecraft Bedrock dedicated server up and running in only a few minutes!

This is the standalone version.

Sets up a Minecraft Bedrock dedicated server on Ubuntu / Debian with options for automatic updates, backups and running automatically at startup.
View installation instructions at: https://jamesachambers.com/minecraft-bedrock-edition-ubuntu-dedicated-server-guide/

Bedrock Dedicated Servers allow Minecraft players on Windows and Linux computers to set up their own server at home, or host their server using a cloud-based service.

Let’s take a look at how to setup a basic local Minecraft server both with and without mods.

Commands, also known as console commands and slash commands, are advanced features activated by typing certain strings of text.

There are two ways to make a Minecraft server allow list only. The first is through the chat box in-game, using the command "/allowlist on" (Bedrock edition) or "/whitelist on" (Java edition) and then "/allowlist add username" or "/whitelist add username" depending on which edition. The other way is to make a whitelist.json file at the root of your server, and add the username and UUID of a player to the file. //

This is one step that I forget far more often than I'd like to admit. Becoming an op on your server is crucial. With op powers, you can do just about anything in the Minecraft world.

To make yourself an op, simply type "/op username" in-game, or edit the ops.json file at the root of your Minecraft server.

Crafty Controller is a free and open-source Minecraft launcher and manager that allows users to start and administer Minecraft servers from a user-friendly interface. The interface is run as a self-hosted web server that is accessible to devices on the local network by default and can be port forwarded to provide external access outside of your local network. Crafty is designed to be easy to install and use, requiring only a bit of technical knowledge and a desire to learn to get started. ///

Java Minecraft only

Minecraft servers can run on just about any hardware, and even a Raspberry Pi can work for smaller servers.

The solution? Lock up the screens and read to your kids
.

A group of Singaporean researchers who studied a cohort of 168 children for more than a decade found that those exposed to screens in infancy (before two years of age) showed accelerated maturation of brain networks involved in visual processing and cognitive control. That faster specialization, the researchers suggest, was associated with slower decision-making in childhood, and in turn, higher anxiety symptoms in adolescence.

"During normal development, brain networks gradually become more specialised over time," according to the study's lead author Dr. Huang Pei. "However, in children with high screen exposure, the networks controlling vision and cognition specialised faster, before they had developed the efficient connections needed for complex thinking."

The result, Huang said, is limited brain flexibility and mental resilience, leaving children less adaptable later in life, as evidenced by higher anxiety scores in cohort kids who had more screen time before age 2.

Streamline your meal prep with the 3-in-1 Multifunctional Peeler & Slicing Knife, an innovative kitchen tool designed to peel, slice, and julienne a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Featuring a spring-adjustable blade system, it allows you to switch between cutting modes effortlessly and customize thickness for precise results.

Meet the 18-in-1 Snowflake Multi-Tool, your new favorite everyday carry gadget. Shaped like a snowflake but tough as steel, this compact multi-tool packs a powerhouse of functionality into a sleek, palm-sized design. Whether you’re hiking, biking, fixing, or just cracking open a cold one, this is the ultimate EDC (Everyday Carry) tool you’ll want at your side.

Jou (Mxyzptlk)Silver badge
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Re: The real reason nobody wants to use it

Not sure why they thought that would be a good idea.

Actual I think multiple addresses is a good idea.

1. The FE80::/7 is the former 169.254, always active, used for "same link" things, to some extend it replaces ARP, prevents ARP storms by design. Has the MAC coded into the address.

2. The FEC0::/10 (usually subnetted in /64 packets), similar to 192.168.x.x, but no "default gateway" for Internet desired, only clear other LAN destination routes.

3. The FC00::/7 (usually subnetted in /64 packets), similar to 10.x.x.x, but no "default gateway" for Internet desired, only clear other LAN destination routes.

4. The FD00::/8 DO NOT USE (usually subnetted in /64 packets), similar to 172.16.x.x, but no "default gateway" for Internet desired, only clear other LAN destination routes. This got removed from the standard somewhere in the last 20 years and replaced by FC00::/7 which included FD00::/8, therefore better avoid.

5. The FF00::/8 is multicast, similar to the 224.x.x.x

6. Finally the actual internet address, usually 2001:whateverfirst64bits:your-pseudo-static-part. Depending on the provider your prefix might be /56 /48 as well. The yourpseudosstaticpart is, on many devices, optionally with privacy extensions, so they are random and change over time even if your provider does not force-disconnect-reconnect. How much "privacy" that offers is a discussion for another decade.

Normal homes have 1 and 6. Über-Nerd homes or companies with somewhat clean ipv6 adaption have 1, 2 or 3 (not both please!), and 6 to organize their WAN/LANs. Enlightened Nerds include 5 too.

2 and 3 have the advantage that they are DEFINETLY not to be used for internet, no gateway to the internet, and therefore safe for LAN. I am nerd, but don't give a s, so I have 1 and 6, and my fd address is there for historic reasons since I played with ipv6 over a decade ago but not active in use.

My gripe is a lot of the things around it which makes ipv6 a hassle, especially when your prefix from 6 changes, all you adapters, and I mean ALL ACROSS YOUR WHOLE LAN, have to automatically follow suit. Which means: When connected to the Internet a lot of formerly static ipv4 configuration cannot be static any more - unless your provider gives you a fixed ipv6.

KurganSilver badge
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Re: The real reason nobody wants to use it
My gripe is a lot of the things around it which makes ipv6 a hassle, especially when your prefix from 6 changes, all you adapters, and I mean ALL ACROSS YOUR WHOLE LAN, have to automatically follow suit. Which means: When connected to the Internet a lot of formerly static ipv4 configuration cannot be static any more - unless your provider gives you a fixed ipv6.

This is one of the worst parts of it. And even if your provider gives you a static assignment, what happens when you change provider? Or if you failover on a multi wan connection? Or even try to load balance on a multi wan connection?

The only way IPV6 can be used with the same (even better) flexibility of v4 is when you own you v6 addresses and use a dynamic routing protocol, which is not what a small business usually does. A home user even less.

Then there is the security nightmares v6 can give you. I can't even imagine how many ways of abusing it are simply yet to be discovered, apart from the obvious ones like the fact that even if you don't use v6 to connect to the internet, you LAN has FE80 addresses all around and you have to firewall the hell out of it unless you want someone that penetrated the LAN to use them to move laterally almost for free.

12 hrs
Nanashi
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Re: The real reason nobody wants to use it
fec0::/10 is long deprecated, and it's a bit odd to tell us to avoid fd00::/8 in favor of fc00::/7 when the latter includes the former. fc00::/8 is intended for /48s assigned by some central entity (but none has been set up, since there doesn't seem to be a pressing need for one) and fd00::/8 is for people to select their own random /48s from, so if you want to use ULA then you'll be picking a /48 from fd00::/8.

It's not exactly hard to hand out a new prefix to everything. Your router advertises the new subnet, and every machine across your whole LAN receives it and automatically configures a new IP from it.

Anything that assumes your IPs are never going to change is already broken. Maybe we should focus a teeny bit of the energy we spend complaining about it into fixing the brokenness?

//

Most of your first questions can be broadly answered by a mix of "you advertise a /64 from the prefix that the provider gives you" and "you can use multiple addresses". And it doesn't sound like your use of v4 is very flexible if it can't handle your IPs changing sometimes.

less than half of all netizens use IPv6 today.

To understand why, know that IPv6 also suggested other, rather modest, changes to the way networks operate.

"IPv6 was an extremely conservative protocol that changed as little as possible," APNIC chief scientist Geoff Huston told The Register. "It was a classic case of mis-design by committee."

And that notional committee made one more critical choice: IPv6 was not backward-compatible with IPv4, meaning users had to choose one or the other – or decide to run both in parallel.

For many, the decision of which protocol to use was easy because IPv6 didn't add features that represented major improvements.

"One big surprise to me was how few features went into IPv6 in the end, aside from the massive expansion of address space," said Bruce Davie... //

Davie said many of the security, plug-and-play, and quality of service features that didn't make it into IPv6 were eventually implemented in IPv4, further reducing the incentive to adopt the new protocol. "Given the small amount of new functionality in v6, it's not so surprising that deployment has been a 30 year struggle," he said. //

While IPv6 didn't take off as expected, it's not fair to say it failed.

"IPv6 wasn't about turning IPv4 off, but about ensuring the internet could continue to grow without breaking," said John Curran, president and CEO of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN).

"In fact, IPv4's continued viability is largely because IPv6 absorbed that growth pressure elsewhere – particularly in mobile, broadband, and cloud environments," he added. "In that sense, IPv6 succeeded where it was needed most, and must be regarded as a success." //

APNIC's Huston, however, thinks that IPv6 has become less relevant to the wider internet.

"I would argue that we actually found a far better outcome along the way," he told The Register. "NATS forced us to think about network architectures in an entirely different way."

That new way is encapsulated in a new technology called Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC), that doesn't require client devices to always have access to a public IP address.

"We are proving to ourselves that clients don't need permanent assignment of IP address, which makes the client side of network far cheaper, more flexible, and scalable," he said.