Ciro Santilli's hardware House 2018-01 Kitchen tap Updated 2025-07-16
Looks a lot like: Bristan Monza EF Sink Mixer Chrome www.bathroomsensations.co.uk/Bristan-Monza-EF-Sink-Mixer-Chrome.html
How to open: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHTpOG1Uhzw
Ciro Santilli's hardware Skullcandy Smokin' Buds 2 Updated 2025-07-16
2023-07: one of the sides broke near center, rebuying.
2021-07: wire half broke near connector, only works in some positions. The funny thing is: only voices seem to be blocked out! Rebuying.
2021-06: a small bottom piece of the left earpiece broke. Wire seems find, that is like a little extension to protect wire. Let's see for how long.
2020-20: wires at one of ears broke, not sure how.
Look they looked exactly like: "Skullcandy Smokin' Buds 2 In-Ear Audio Earbud Headphones with In-Line Microphone - Black".
Re-buying that one 10 pounds:
Tech specs:
Connection Type: 3.5mm AUX CableImpedence: 32 ohmsDriver Diameter: 9mmSound Pressure Level: 95 dB (1mW/500Hz)Frequency Response: 20kHz - 20HzHeadphone Type: In-Ear
Ciro Santilli's hardware Skullcandy Ink'd+ with Microphone Updated 2025-07-16
Bought: 2022.
Noticeably worse than the Skullcandy Smokin' Buds 2 for a similar price.
Ciro Santilli's hardware Toshiba MK1059GSM Updated 2025-07-16
Ciro Santilli's hardware Polytechnique USB flash drives Updated 2025-07-16
~8GB,
lsblk reports 7796176 * 1KB = 7983284224 bytes.They are shaped like bicornes, which is super cool, but also super impractical!
Markings: "AX ÉCOLE POLYTECHNIQUE PROMOTION X2009"
From Ubuntu 20.04 on an ext4 formatted one:With Linux Unified Key Setup + ext4 the results are similar, maybe hdparam bypasses it?
/dev/sdb:
Timing cached reads: 28656 MB in 1.99 seconds = 14421.31 MB/sec
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]: 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Timing buffered disk reads: 42 MB in 3.03 seconds = 13.88 MB/sec/dev/sdb:
Timing cached reads: 28326 MB in 1.99 seconds = 14251.55 MB/sec
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]: 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Timing buffered disk reads: 38 MB in 3.11 seconds = 12.23 MB/secgnome-disks LUKS + ext4 benchmark with default params also gives about 14 MB/s. Ciro Santilli's hardware Cycling clothes temperature guide Updated 2025-07-16
In degrees Celsius:
- 25+
- 18-25
- "dhb Aeron Short Sleeve Jersey"
- XGC Men's Cycling Shorts
- 2020-04 Giro Rumble VR Off Road Shoe
- 15-18:
- "dhb Aeron Short Sleeve Jersey"
- "dhb Lightweight Mesh Long Sleeve Base Layer"
- XGC Men's Cycling Shorts
- 2020-04 Giro Rumble VR Off Road Shoe
- 10-15:
- dhb Classic Thermal Bib Tights 10 and under. TODO this is a bit too warm for the upper range, need something more intermediate
- "dhb Lightweight Mesh Long Sleeve Base Layer"
- Castelli Perfetto RoS Long Sleeve - Cycling jersey. TODO this is a bit too warm for the upper range, need something more intermediate
- "Karrimor X Lite Run Black Headband"
- "Nike academy hyperwarm gloves"
- "Nevica Skuff". A bit too hot on upper range, but easy to take off.
- 0-10:
- dhb Merino Long Sleeve Base Layer
- Castelli Perfetto RoS Long Sleeve - Cycling jersey
- dhb Classic Thermal Bib Tights 10 and under
- dhb Dorica MTB Shoe (2020-12)
- "Karrimor X Lite Run Black Headband". Head a bit cold on lower range.
- "dhb Neoprene Nylon Overshoes". Feet a bit cold on lower range.
- "Extremities XDRY gloves". Hands a bit cold on lower range.
- "Nevica Skuff"
Ciro Santilli's hardware dhb Dorica MTB Shoe (2020-12) Updated 2025-07-16
Bought SM-SH56 cleat to accompany.
When it arrived, it felt a bit too long, around 2cm maybe free space after toe, and when I walk and the front part touches ground, heel comes off a bit, which is annoying. But I was too lazy to give it back and take the risk of a second try, also it felt correctly tight on sides. During first test ride it felt good.
Ciro Santilli's hardware 2020-04 Giro Rumble VR Off Road Shoe Updated 2025-07-16
2021-01-28: used this show for the first time after wearing dhb Dorica MTB Shoe (2020-12) exclusively for a while. It felt much much more comfortable, the Dorica is too narrow. Also this one is much more recessed, and walking with it is much easier. Also, I notice that the intentional asymmetry I had put on cleats is not necessary anymore now that my saddle height is not way too high
At 5C feet are too cold. Compatible overshoes are basically impossible to find: bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/73589/what-kind-of-overshoes-can-i-use-with-a-large-touring-spd-cycling-shoe-such-as-t
It is not possible to do long walks with this, unlike some websites suggests, especially on hard surfaces like rock, that would be very dangerous because the cleat area will slip. But it is good for shorter walks on grass/mud, and that does open up some good short walk exploration possibilities compared to a road shoe.
Color "Black/Red 20" (but it's actually orange), size 46 www.wiggle.co.uk/giro-rumble-vr-off-road-shoe (archive). Manual says to use Loctite 243 medium strength, first 2.4 Nm bolt torque to test it out and find good position, and then final bolt torque 5-6 Nm unless cleat says less. Starting with Shimano SM-SH56 cleats (archive), which also says provisional torque 2.5 Nm, tightening torque 5-6 Nm.
High budget movies are shit Updated 2025-07-16
Movies that are very expensive to make tend to be bad, because they have to make returns and thus appeal to a large amorphous population without any specialization, i.e. the lowest common denominator but in TV Tropes terminology rather than mathematics: tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LowestCommonDenominator.
Looking down the largest flops of all time list didn't help much, only Heaven's gate appears reasonable from the top 20.
Good film Updated 2025-07-16
- There will be blood (2007). Business and cynicism. Also great music.
- Don't Look Up (2021). Politics.
Bad film Updated 2025-07-16
The best cycling map app Updated 2025-07-16
- Google Maps download offline maps. This works very reliably, you can select the area you want to download. The only downside is that Google maps can't reliably show a route offline, and it does not contain national cycle route routes. Or those features are impossible for a software engineer to get working after trying for about 2 hours.
- OpenStreetMap on browser with cycling layer: www.openstreetmap.org/#map=5/49.582/1.934&layers=C This is the best visualization of cycling routes I've found so far, contains both National Cycle Network and National Byway and a few others, and they are shown extremely clearly. But as a website it doesn't reliably work offline
- the OsmAnd app for Android is the best offline free-ish OpenStreetMap viewer I've found so far. You only have to pay after reaching 5 region downloads, and it is very cheap if you want to do so. The cycle route view is not amazing, the routes are not so clearly marked and mixed with very similarly colored big roads, but with a bit of effort you can make them out. No routing though
- I've heard Komoot can keep a predefined route (possibly auto planed) reliably offline, but haven't used it myself. I was not able to see National Cycle Route clearly marked anywhere on it
Try to fix your own bike before taking it to the shop Updated 2025-07-16
Sometimes you get annoyed to death with your bike not breaking or changing gears perfectly as you would like, and the people at the bike shop never do the job well enough.
The problem with bike shops is that the employees are already swamped with work, and they don't get paid any extra for doing more work.
As a result, paradoxically, they are often happier, and respect you more if you are trying to get them to help you to fix your own bike!
Also, for the same reason, they don't have the time to go for a quick test ride after a fix to ensure that the bug was actually fixed.
So they ignore things that would obviously be huge ridability benefits (although they might not be obvious to newbie customers), for which customers would gladly pay more money for.
But you start to learn how to do stuff yourself and it feel amazing when you finally get there (after infinite trial and error).
Ciro dreams of a bike shop that actually calls you for the appointment and then teaches you how to fix the thing.
How to take your bicycle on the plane Updated 2025-07-16
Ciro Santilli's 2021 cycling accident Updated 2025-12-25
Ciro had a small accident in 2021. It wasn't ultra serious, a few cuts, but could have been worse. Here's a post mortem.
Ciro was going to cycle 120 km between two locations he had never cycled before. Ciro had cycled this distance before many many times, so he thought he could do it.
What went wrong:
- on both ends were cities, larger than those Ciro is used to
- on the start, was a port city. You do not want to cycle in port areas, ever! Lots of trucks, narrow side-walks, bad road, danger danger!
- on both sides, endless suburbia. This means you have to check your map every 3 seconds to know which little stress to turn, which is very hard without a way to attach your map to your bike. Ciro had his on his pocket. You lose a lot of time like that!
- there wasn't a lot of sunlight at the time of the year. Not critical, but still, less than ideal.
- during the ride, part of the "well documented and safe cycle route" was closed off for repairs. It was unclear what the best alternative would be. Ciro went down a path, but it turned to be horrendous countryside, he had to pull his bike over fences
- by then, Ciro was tired and a bit late. He had only eaten sweets all day long. They give you calories, but there's always something missing in them.
- Ciro arrived at the very very large target city, and it was getting dark, and it was rush hour, lots of cars. This was already back on the official bike path, but even those paths are tortuous in suburbia
- also, Ciro was meant to meet his wife later, and he was in a rush, worried that she would be worried about him
- at one point, Ciro took the wrong turn for a few hundred meters
- he realized, and turned back
- when coming back, now extra impatient because o the wrong turn, the place he had come from was actually one way street for a very short while until the right turn, so Ciro went against the correct direction...
- a car came. It was relatively slow, because the road was slight uphill for the car, and a turn. The slight downhill also meant Ciro was going a bit faster than he realized
- Ciro tried to go into the sidewalk anyways to make sure he was clear off the car (he was already). When he tried, the wheel stuck, and he flew forward, hitting a wall slightly
You have to know when you are tired and hungry and impatient. This is where huge danger lies.
Breadboard Updated 2026-08-21
This is how electronic circuits are normally prototyped!
Once you validate them like this, the next step is usually to move on to printed circuit boards for more reliable production setups.
Point-to-point constructions on woden boards
. Source. Predecessors to breadboards from where the name came. A thing of beauty, so vintage. You could actually write stuff on those with a pencil!Breadboards - Trash or Treasure? by Keysight (2020)
Source. Printed circuit board Updated 2025-07-16
Point-to-point construction Updated 2025-07-16
Solder Updated 2025-07-16
Pipa Updated 2026-08-21
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