If bitcoin keeps rolling like it has than a 3% increase in CG (15% of 20%) isn't going to mean dick for me. That's like stepping on a penny.

Best strategy is tit for tat: Start out being nice, then do unto them what they do unto you.

Works like a charm.

Kind of like saying the sun rises in the East or tires fall in potholes.

Well overall not a bad trip to Vega$. Defcon wasn't bad but the "crypto village" was 100% Monero and Ethereum. Need to have a WO table with a flamethrower and cookies or something like that.

Everyone did mask up pretty well, to be honest the whole city is being pretty careful. I was impressed, it's possible all of the idiots are up at Sturgis this weekend....

Despite that I felt no real desire to play craps, gamble otherwise, smoke cigars, wench with women, or even get seriously drunk. Must be the residual stress, but still did spend time looking at nice watches and enjoying the hotel.

We need to have a gathering here sometime. Maybe land our black helicopters in the desert outside the city in a circle around a big bonfire...

Well this is an annoying step back: The boards ran, but would still drop out from time to time, always with the same chips. So chip replacement time which means I needed a new testing unit. Picked one up and asked for the T17+ firmware but instead got the T17 firmware for a 48 chip unit.

Warning: This is bad. When I plugged it into the boards it kept coming up finding zero chips, which wasn't making a whole lot of sense. Then when I plugged the board back into the Braains controller it refused to recognize the boards saying the checksums were wrong. Apparently the tester changes the firmware on the board, which is not good. More annoying, the code for the T17+ testing suite has errors in it that cause it to not work at all.

Back to the drawing board. Now I need to re-flash the chips which is a pain if you don't have the code. If the T17+ tester code doesn't work I'm going to have to send these into a repair center. Boo!

I'm starting to remember why I stopped fixing Antminers at the S9 level. So many versions, so many quirks, and not great assembly quality. Ah well...

However a warning for listeners: Make absolutely sure you have the right testing code running on your miner, don't trust the seller or anyone. The wrong test code can trash the boards.

Sure man, I'll do my best to leave it out going forward. It is what it is.

Meantime Not sure about bitcoin. No real major news between 30k and 41k, just seems to be walking around a bit like a drunk on speed. I still think 60k is a reasonable base price, and it if it stabilized around that level we'd be in pretty ok shape for awhile.

This is the perfect example of what I like to call the "Invisible Dragon" argument. It goes like this:

I have an invisible dragon sitting next to me.
Prove it does not exist.

Any argument made will result in a simple explanation that expands the powers of the invisible dragon. It doesn't displace air because it has no mass. You can't touch it because matter bends around it. And so forth and so on. The root of the problem is the person making the assertion is demanding that other people *disprove* the assertion when the responsibility for proving the assertion is that of the asserter.

The only way to handle this argument is to walk away.

Same thing here: The virus will kill people in a month by the millions. Then a year. Then 10 years. Then "infertility". Always things that can't be tested, can't be proven, and when they do fail you just slip in another argument.

It's a lot like the Millerites in the 1830's. This nutcase bunch attracted thousands by saying the world would end in 1843. When that didn't happen a "mistake" was found and it was 1844. Then it became "soon" and the sect split into the 7th day Adventists (nutcakes) and Jehovah's Witnesses. And they roll along to this day, saying the end of the world will be "soon". After all, try to prove the world "won't" end next week.....

Annoying that people still fall for this crap.

There we go! We are off the bottom for good!

Given that Delta can re-infect I think we can say herd immunity is not going to happen for awhile. I just got back from FL a week or two ago and have a cough now. Tested negative, but now concerned and will probably be going back to the P100 respirator.

On the positive side vaccines seem to prevent severe symptoms, but if vacced people can spread it you're going to wind up with a bunch of people who are suffering colds and a bunch of others who are dying. That will eventually solve the problem, still sucks to have a cold.

The hot question on my mind is "Should I go out to Vegas next week for Defcon/BH". Currently you can't get into Defcon without an original vacc card (good idea) and I could just walk around everywhere with the P100 on, might just do that...

Anyone else going to Vegas next week? Want to meet up and say hi?

Those of us "in the know" have had the aluminum foil surgically implanted under our scalps. Far less noticeable, easier to deal with, and the crinkly sound when we brush our hair is pretty neat!

Well, I just got back from a trip to the Southern US, and let me say I am very glad I've been vaccinated. These people are idiots, and with a 30-40% vaccination rate I could hear the coughing around. Stay out of enclosed spaces with them, and keep your P100 handy if needed....

I think the US is going to be kind of funny in the next month. So far I seem to be fine, but am watching my temps closely.

Christ, Biden is not a Hologram, these are the Holograms...

Look like S9's and their ilk.

First thought was "man, that's kind of chilly".

Yeah, I was the one wearing the P100 respirators and I'm not really wearing a mask right now. Might pack the respirator on my next trip to FL, those Republican states are quickly becoming hotbeds of disease and infection. But other than that living near sane people helps a lot.

I spent the 4th doing a really nice cookout, followed by some serious mortar fireworks that I picked up in Tennessee. That's the one state in the union that seems to allow *ANYTHING* and damn those shells were pretty much professional grade. They go up about 200 feet with a 100 foot blast radius so it's <500 feet and safe to launch without FAA notifications.

Meantime, while we wait *endlessly* for Bitcoin to do something here's a picture of a Lambo towing a Lambo.

Meantime I've been watching the logs on this T17 and noticed that board 1 will occasionally throw this error:


Looks like the chip after 14 is having an intermittent connection. Great, I love intermittent connections. So took the board out, put it on the preheater, took off the heat sink and here's a few pics:

On the preheater with the sink for chip 15 removed:


Close up of the chip. The side closest to the intake fans had crud on the pads and of course solder balls from a bad factory flow. Bad factory!


After a reflow: The pads no longer have solder balls as the solder is adhered to both the chip *and* the board. Preheat will do that...


And now the board is back in and running with 44 chips. I'm letting it tune as all three board are now in good shape.

Hm, a lot of miners are gonna need repairing....

My question is who the hell would keep the boxes?

Edit ah: I see someone answered. So this is probably assembly of a mine, not the shipping out of a mine. Makes sense with S9's.