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<whitequark>
no, the winter is roughly the same for three months of it
<wpwrak>
it defeated napoleon, hitler, and who knows how many others. what's a little postman to do :)
<whitequark>
you're partly correct in that each damned year there's a headline that our public services (the ones which should clean roads) "were not ready for winter"
<whitequark>
each. single. year.
<whitequark>
and indeed there's crap all over the streets
<whitequark>
first you were drowning in mud
<wpwrak>
"it came as a total surprise" :)
<whitequark>
now you're drowning in snow
<whitequark>
YES EXACTLY
<whitequark>
1 meter piles of snow on walkways--check
<wpwrak>
well, here we're having blackouts. government proudly announced some weeks ago that the electrical system was ready to brave the summer
<whitequark>
1.5 meter piles of snow besides walkways after so-called cleaning--check
<whitequark>
transparent ice on roads--check
<whitequark>
tons of salt destroying your shoes in half a season--check
<whitequark>
and it doesn't even always melt the ice
<wpwrak>
two weeks later, on the first hot day this spring, there was a MAJOR failure. the whole buenos aires area went dark. the lucky ones (me included) had electricity some 4-5 huors later.
<whitequark>
some genius building the house I live in decided it's a good idea to lay smooth, probably ceramic, tiles on the entrance
<whitequark>
where people with ice on boots go
<wpwrak>
the unlucky ones (like the folks across the street from my place) had to use candles for the next three days
<whitequark>
you know what happens, right?
<wpwrak>
yesterday, we had some 37 C at 70% humidity. again lots of air conditioning went online. bang. again quite a number of places are still dark.
<wpwrak>
freestyle skating !! ;-)
<whitequark>
well, I felt. it was really painful. and dirty. and I had something fragile in my bag. fuck.
<whitequark>
I just wish to break every single bone in the body of the person who came up with this idea.
<whitequark>
with my bare hands
<wpwrak>
maybe he tried it and what you wish already happened ;-)
<whitequark>
also there's fun with elevator
<whitequark>
sometimes the stupid thing (made in russia. yes. OBVIOUSLY.) thinks it's actually one floor higher than it actually is
<whitequark>
and it persists across calls
<whitequark>
so in order to retrieve it you need to either:
<whitequark>
1) somehow get in and then go to last, 17th (sic!) floor where it hits a switch and fixes itself
<wpwrak>
what happens if you send it to the bottom floor ?
<whitequark>
top
<whitequark>
that was the first thing I tried when I ran fast enough to get in
<whitequark>
it closes in EXACTLY the time you need to get to the floor above you were calling it from
<wpwrak>
that switch is cheating :)
<whitequark>
like they were tuning
<whitequark>
or 2) communicate with another person to call the elevator and then goto 1
<whitequark>
which a) feels like you're a mouse in a test chamber
<whitequark>
it REALLY feels like it
<wpwrak>
;-)
<wpwrak>
no such problems here
<whitequark>
b) while they wait for me to go to 17th floor and back, they usually give up and go up themselves
<whitequark>
which probably angers them
<whitequark>
which probably means that this won't work the second time
<whitequark>
I could just as well not fix the elevator
<whitequark>
"fix"
<whitequark>
or there was a circuit breaker which sometimes turned itself on by god knows what parameter
<whitequark>
it was definitely not peak current, but it was current-related
<wpwrak>
maybe the elevator company could program the 17th floor as the idle position ?
<wpwrak>
then it would reset itself after a while
<whitequark>
wpwrak: if the elevator company would give even a single fuck about it, there won't be such a problem
<kristianpaul>
whitequark: scary indeed
<whitequark>
I'll illustrate with the second example
<whitequark>
the circuit breaker
<whitequark>
so
<wpwrak>
kristianpaul: it would be more fun without that switch. or with the switch not working :)
<whitequark>
it was a combined one which breaks either by too much current, or by some current leaking. a differential breaker it's called I think. not sure about correct english term
<whitequark>
so I turned on my electric convection air heater, the reason to use which (we have central heating) is an entirely different topic, and after some time the breaker breaks
<whitequark>
("the shrieker shrieks"...)
<whitequark>
if I turn the heater off and then reduce load to a minimum (fridge only)
<whitequark>
it STILL breaks
<whitequark>
after some time
<whitequark>
after which I'm probably asleep
<whitequark>
so fridge is staying 8 hours without power
<whitequark>
PERFECT
<kristianpaul>
wpwrak: lets wait and see :_)
<whitequark>
I've no idea how exactly could you make a breaker which works that way without putting some clever electronics inside, but it's so
<whitequark>
it was also pretty random.
<whitequark>
next, I thought: "I can replace it, and I would even take the cost by myself!"
<wpwrak>
maybe it's some unrelated effect ? like humidity getting into the system
<whitequark>
(because you can never squeeze a penny from an utility company)
<whitequark>
wpwrak: but it only happens after I turn on some high-current load, like an (electric) oven or air heater
<wpwrak>
i had troubles with that. after a strong rain my differential breaker often triggered. took me years to figure out what it was ...
<whitequark>
so, I tried to find a replacement.
<whitequark>
it's installed on a DIN rail and takes exactly three positions
<whitequark>
and there's a metal case for the four breakers for four flats on the floor, with holes for 3 positions over a DIN rail
<wpwrak>
i suppose the correct russian approach would have been to buy a bit of wire ... :)
<whitequark>
wpwrak: I try to avoid "russian" approach as much as it is realistically possible.
<whitequark>
so, I'm searching for one
<whitequark>
it turns out that ABB and other proper companies make either a 2-position breaker, but it's not differential
<whitequark>
or 4-way differential breakers, which obviously won't fit
<whitequark>
er, 4-position
<whitequark>
(there also were some 3-position ones, but they differed by other parameters, I don't exactly remember which)
<whitequark>
then it turns out that here, these breakers are made by exactly one russian company
<whitequark>
the one which, coincidentally, installed electricity meters and the cases
<whitequark>
and not only it stopped making these breakers a year ago (probably due to them being utter crap)
<whitequark>
they do not even have them in stock anymore.
<whitequark>
well, a guy on a market offered to deliver four such breakers
<whitequark>
after a MONTH of waiting
<whitequark>
in a factory package
<whitequark>
probably gonna steal them somewhere
<whitequark>
ah
<whitequark>
the house was built in 2010.
<whitequark>
since then, it stopped malfunctioning somehow
<whitequark>
also
<whitequark>
ABB's version of this differential breaker costs something like $250 or so
<whitequark>
russian version with exactly same parameters (except size) costs... $10
<whitequark>
(ten bucks)
<whitequark>
what the flying fuck. no wonder it fails to actually work.
<whitequark>
also, the reason for having an own air heater despite having central one
<whitequark>
I have nice windows with plastic frames here, and they're mostly good, except for one thing
<whitequark>
at some point, I noticed that it's quite hold inside, and at night, you can hear air whistling through something
<whitequark>
turns out that some dumbfuck, obviously without a clue of what he was doing, thought it is a perfectly good idea to make huge intricate holes inside the frame, then cut the sealing rubber band at the inside of a window and basically let the outside air in
<wpwrak>
(breaker) well, at that price you can't complain ;-))
<whitequark>
the supposed reason is "to allow for natural ventilation, like legacy wooden window did by design, naturally having grooves in them"
<whitequark>
next it says that:
<whitequark>
1) it won't cool the inside air too much (bullshit)
<whitequark>
2) it won't let the dust inside (bullshit)
<whitequark>
it is a fucking giant hole where air is whistling so loud I can't even sleep!!
<whitequark>
so I just took two bars of hot glue and filled it.
<whitequark>
er
<whitequark>
you know what I mean, probably
<wpwrak>
yeah. i would have used silicone. but it's the same concept
<whitequark>
who on earth could just think this is a good idea?!
<whitequark>
in a country where -20 deg. C winter is perfectly normal (right now in fact)
<wpwrak>
maybe he's been bribed by the heating company :)
<whitequark>
for this person, I hope the hell would consist of liquid nitrogen, and they would continually enjoy the awesome feeling of fingers breaking off due to extreme coldness, then being heated back to feel the wound
<whitequark>
wpwrak: (heating company) no. the heat is not metered here.
<whitequark>
by the electricity company, maybe.
<whitequark>
oh, and also neighbours, from either side
<whitequark>
the people who think that drilling their fucking walls with a fucking perforator, continually, every day, including weekends, for roughly two months already, is a fucking good idea
<whitequark>
I personally wish to every single one of them to have several nails being hammered into their heads
<whitequark>
on some days, they do it from 7-30 (7:30!!!) to like 20:00
<whitequark>
or even 22:00
<whitequark>
the point is, it is LEGAL to do this 8h to 23h!!
<whitequark>
if those assheads won't be also quite easily scared (when, after knocking on the heat radiator pipes (which are an usual means of communication) I come out of my flat, they instantly stop their actions), I'd locate them
<whitequark>
and at the very least turn their life into hell by turning off the circuit breaker randomly in the most inconvenient time
<wpwrak>
you must be quite exhausted when all the day's hating is done and you can finally go to bed :)
<whitequark>
which is probably illegal (hooliganism?), but I don't fucking care.
<whitequark>
wpwrak: unfortunately, you are pretty correct.
<whitequark>
try programming with someone making not entirely periodic, very loud, and very distracting sounds with their equipment.
<whitequark>
once in a while, said perforator enters a mode where it, I dunno, resonates with something, and at that point your life quite literally turns into hell
<whitequark>
I'm tired of waking up with an intense headache
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<whitequark>
there's also an ISP
<whitequark>
more precisely six competing ISPs
<whitequark>
because of which I wonder if they all work like that
<whitequark>
they're mostly nice: very cheap, provide 5e ethernet with 40mbit for smth like $20
<whitequark>
but there was a period of a week when only this particular house lost its uplink, and each day they always were "fixing it right now"
<whitequark>
(on the plus side, they understand the phrasing "Hi. I'm Firstname Lastname, contract #XXXXX. No uplink. When will it be fixed?" without requiring me to emulate a Windows XP machine in my head)
<whitequark>
that can be understood
<whitequark>
what can't
<whitequark>
is why during this weeklong blackout
<whitequark>
they TWICE put their adversitement flyer on my door?!
<whitequark>
not before it, not after, but precisely during that week
<whitequark>
I wonder if they actually connected someone, took money, and then were like "oh, we'll fix this soon, enjoy your non-working uplink"
<whitequark>
oh, and also for some reason I'm unable to comprehend, this particular side of the house is a blank spot for all three major cellular operators in our moscow cartel they form
<whitequark>
the other side works fine.
<whitequark>
they put a tower each 5km or so alongside the Moscow-St. Petersburg road, which would be 800-1000km depending on how you'd measure it
<whitequark>
and I mean it
<whitequark>
EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM BUILT THEIR OWN TOWER
<whitequark>
within 200m of each other
<whitequark>
each 5km
<whitequark>
because, I dunno, they're so stubbornly stupid as to be unable to meaningfully communicate
<whitequark>
to explain you what the word "cartel" means here:
<whitequark>
I have an unlimited data plan, which is somewhat expensive
<whitequark>
and after a few megabytes a day they limit you to 64 Kbit/s
<whitequark>
and if you simply HAVE a running torrent-client--not downloading any torrents, they just check for announcement packets--they instantly drop the connection
<whitequark>
then, after a few times, send you an SMS basically mandating you to pay $2/hour just to get your 64 Kbit/s on your supposedly unlimited plan
<whitequark>
and you don't even get 64K, because the equipment is vastly overloaded, because they never bothered to upgrade it
<whitequark>
of course, the SMS doesn't mention torrents.
<whitequark>
in civilized countries, that's called racket.
<whitequark>
so, here they just don't work at all. all three. I mean, if you're near the window and lucky enough, you might talk for three minutes before the call drops.
<whitequark>
actually it was so bad that I just found a VoIP service with bidirectional SIP<>POTS gate. which costs a lot ($1/day, $0.1/minute calls), but at least it works. mostly.
<whitequark>
POTS gateways sometimes randomly fail.
<wpwrak>
communication is overrated anyway :)
<whitequark>
for comparison, there's an LTE service which offers 500Kbps to 11Mbps with costs from $12 to $50/mo, flat rate, no strings attached, and you can change your rate at any moment without any additional incurred costs
<whitequark>
they technically do not have coverage here too
<whitequark>
but the LTE modem I have kinda connects to it with SINR of 2dBm (which is sufficient for 2Mbps. compare with not-so-64K above)
<whitequark>
... and works for half a hour until it overheats and SINR drops to 0dBm
<whitequark>
at which point it slowly ceases to function properly
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<whitequark>
oh, and it only works because I duct-taped it to my window, and it only works when turned one particular side to the street, with 20 degree inclination
<wpwrak>
did you consider cryostasis ? :)
<whitequark>
i just need to open my window
<whitequark>
also wanna a fun fact about that company?
<wpwrak>
ther's the solution :)
<whitequark>
several years ago, when they were just starting their business
<whitequark>
they were WiMAX rather than LTE
<whitequark>
so, some military dumbfuck came and demanded to give up the frequencies
<whitequark>
and they sent a courier to every single customer with a new LTE modem, and did that within three days.
<whitequark>
of course, all costs paid by the company
<wpwrak>
not bad :)
<whitequark>
I wonder how did they ever survive
<whitequark>
it also gives you a clue over how the frequencies are managed here, and why the cartel is still alive
<wpwrak>
maybe they're zombies and thus can't die ?
<whitequark>
they keep one (nice) cellular operator Tele2 out of Moscow for, like, 12 years straight
<whitequark>
using various legal and illegal ways to prevent them from getting a license
<whitequark>
oh, also did you know that we now officially have internet censorship?
<whitequark>
every ISP must install a Deep Packet Inspection appliance (which makes me think that it was lobbied by Cisco) and filter unwanted URLs
<whitequark>
of course, 95% of ISPs don't have money for that
<whitequark>
so they block by IP
<whitequark>
and the IP is provided by the government
<whitequark>
you see where it leads, right?
<whitequark>
yeah, google was nuked, youtube was nuked, livejournal was nuked. collateral damage.
<wpwrak>
sweet :)
<whitequark>
of course it was already been used as an oppression tool
<whitequark>
not as much as everyone expected, through
<whitequark>
*has
<wpwrak>
don;t worry about that :)
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<whitequark>
rougly a year ago, I found out that for some reason only to be known to themselves, cellular operators block IPsec VPNs
<whitequark>
and, for even more strange reason, not for every BTS but just for some cells
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<whitequark>
I hate every single thing about this country. Especially the weather, through. It couldn't be fixed even with mass shootings.
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<whitequark>
Not that other things realistically could.
<wpwrak>
yeah, i'd hate the weather too :)
<kristianpaul>
wpwrak: what antispam software do you use for your MTA?
* kristianpaul
doing server end of year clean up and fixing
<wpwrak>
i filter on retrieval, with spamprobe
<whitequark>
kristianpaul: I highly recommend spamassassin
<whitequark>
it works almost ideally for me
<kristianpaul>
need to evaluate
<kristianpaul>
thanks
<kristianpaul>
ah tricky
<kristianpaul>
wpwrak: guess once in a while some false positive arrices :-)
<whitequark>
kristianpaul: I never got a false positive with SA
<whitequark>
(I look through them once in a while)