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Fixing qBittorrent in Docker, swallowing RAM and locking up the host

IntroI’ve had qBittorrent running happily in Docker for over a year now, using the linuxserver/qbittorrent image. I run the docker container and others on an Ubuntu Server host. Recently, the host regularly becomes unresponsive. SSH doesn’t work, and the only way to recover is to power cycle the server (running on a small NUC). The symptoms were: RAM usage would climb and climb, the server would become sluggish, and then it would completely lock up.

ryansouthgate.com · EN

Self-hosting and surviving the front page of Hacker News

IntroLast October, my post “Why I Ditched Disqus for My Blog” unexpectedly reached the #1 spot on Hacker News - and stayed on the front page for more than 11 hours. Overnight, a blog I usually run quietly from an old laptop-turned-server at home was under the kind of scrutiny I never prepared for. For context, a couple of years ago, I migrated from Ghost to Hugo, and started self-hosting in a truly DIY way - a setup that could reliably handle my modest regular traffic.

ryansouthgate.com · EN

AI is a Race Car, Not Autopilot

AI-assisted coding feels a bit like being handed the keys to a race car. In the right hands, it’s quick, precise and capable of covering a lot of ground in a very short amount of time. In the wrong hands, it’s still quick - and more likely to end badly. Speed is not the whole storyThe obvious comparison is speed. A race car is built to go fast. AI-assisted coding tools are also built to make software development faster.

ryansouthgate.com · EN

Dorohedoro and other TV notes

Posting has been a little light lately. A lot going on in real life. But I have managed to sneak in some TV time in the last few months. I read the book Project Hail Mary several years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m a bit late in watching the movie, but I caught it … Continue reading Dorohedoro and other TV notes →

SelfAwarePatterns · EN

For All Mankind and Star City

I was leery of the show For All Mankind for a long time. The promotional material made it sound more like a political drama than a space adventure. And sure enough, the first time I tried to watch it a few years ago, I largely ran aground on all the domestic soap opera. But the … Continue reading For All Mankind and Star City →

SelfAwarePatterns · EN

Buying a new TV

My ancient Sony Bravia had developed a low grade hum that seemed to be showing up with increasing frequency. Googling around revealed that it likely indicated the power supply was nearing the end of its life. I can’t complain. The set was 16 years old. I mentioned to someone the other day that I was … Continue reading Buying a new TV →

SelfAwarePatterns · EN

Disclosure Day and other TV notes

I was eleven when Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind came out. In the days after seeing it, I spent a substantial chunk of my allowance on UFO magazines. Reading them, it seemed undeniable that we were being visited by extraterrestrials. My fascination with UFOs didn’t last long. Most of the stories in … Continue reading Disclosure Day and other TV notes →

SelfAwarePatterns · EN

The Orphans trilogy

One of the ideas explored in Sean Williams and Shane Dix’s Orphans trilogy is how an early version of uploading might be superseded by later designs, and the attitude the later versions have toward the earlier ones. In this series, the early versions are referred to as “engrams.” Echoes of Earth, the first book, starts … Continue reading The Orphans trilogy →

SelfAwarePatterns · EN

Exodus: The Helium Sea

Peter F. Hamilton’s Exodus: The Helium Sea is the second part of a duology that began with Exodus: The Archimedes Engine. It continues the story of humans trying to survive in a star cluster dominated by numerous posthuman species known as Celestials. The Celestials are descendants of the first settlers in the cluster, who arrived … Continue reading Exodus: The Helium Sea →

SelfAwarePatterns · EN

Lanterns and other TV notes

Still alive. I haven’t been posting lately, or been around much online, mainly due to being busy with real life issues, issues which have crowded out most reading. But I have managed to watch a little TV. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, starts off with a man in a goofy getup walking into a … Continue reading Lanterns and other TV notes →

SelfAwarePatterns · EN

Voting 2026

I have to admit I often have trouble summoning the motivation to vote in the midterms. Usually the polling in my state is so lopsided that it seems pointless. However, it turns out that the two senate candidates this year are within five points of each other. Realistically, the MAGA candidate is probably going to … Continue reading Voting 2026 →

SelfAwarePatterns · EN

In the Steps of the Samurai

In an era of rigid hierarchies, Odano is said to have made the comment “all humans are equal when their bodies are dissected”.

Peter Tasker · EN

Edo Erotica: Shunga in Shinjuku

Even now official Japan is dubious about the worth of Shunga

Peter Tasker · EN

‘Straight to Hell’: The Extraordinary Life of Kazuko Hosoki

As to the value of her predictions, she got the big one right...

Peter Tasker · EN

The Geopolitics of Football: Japan 7 China 0

What China badly needs is love, love of the game as exemplified by one remarkable Japanese player.

Peter Tasker · EN

How Japan Can Bring the Money Back Home

Thanks to a ruthless and increasingly powerful China, David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage is off the menu for the foreseeable future...

Peter Tasker · EN

The Katsu Curry Index Looks Quite Tasty!

You can tell quite a lot about a person by the way they eat their curry rice...

Peter Tasker · EN

THE WEALTH OF NATIONS IN THE 21st CENTURY

Top of the class is South Korea with an amazing increase in average wealth of 63% since 2020.

Peter Tasker · EN

THE OZU DIARIES: A PERSONAL LOOK AT THE GREAT DIRECTOR

This summer I spent some time in a small town of fifteen hundred people in southwest France. As you might expect from the country that pioneered the art of cinema, it had a movie theatre. More surprising was the film that was screened, a 1933 silent classic called “I Was Born But…” directed by Yasujiro ... THE OZU DIARIES: A PERSONAL LOOK AT THE GREAT DIRECTOR

Peter Tasker · EN

Zöllner Illusion

What: The Zöllner Illusion (pronounced TSOLL-ner, or just “zollner” if you’re not feeling fancy) is one of those delightfully old illusions that still gets me every time. It was discovered way back in 1860 by Johann Zöllner, a German astrophysicist who was probably just trying to look at fabric patterns and got thoroughly distracted [1]. Once you start playing around with the controls, the effect will be pretty clear… and it’s at least a little bit more fun to me knowing that the diagonal lines are causing my brain to glitch out.

Optical Toys · EN

Watercolor Illusion

What: The Watercolor Illusion is one of those gorgeous ones where your brain is just… painting things that aren’t there. The thing about this thats beautiful, is that it’s easily paintable (water colors obviously) with your own watercolors, on physical paper. You should effectively be able to look at this illusion and figure it out (it seems to work for me in greys/blacks/whites so its color blind-independent?) … the lines drawing the shapes have a subtle shading to them in one direction, not too dissimilar to water color painting.

Optical Toys · EN

Spinning Point Silhouette

What: Assuming that you’ve sat with this for a bit before going straight to the reading, there’s about a 50/50 chance that the “effect” happened, which is essentially your brain switching the rotation direction (even though on our side it’s the same way the entire time). There’s a similar experiment on the site, the Spinning Duck, which is based on the silhouette illusion [1], the same trick as the famous spinning dancer.

Optical Toys · EN

Müller-Lyer Illusion

What: The Müller-Lyer illusion (pronounced roughly MEW-ler LEER) is one of the absolute classics, you’ve probably seen it in a textbook at some point. Two lines, exactly the same length, one with arrowheads pointing out and one with tails pointing in… and the one with the tails looks noticeably longer. Here they’re animated, so the fins swing back and forth and you can watch the lines seemingly grow and shrink, even though they never change at all.

Optical Toys · EN

Flashed Face Distortion

What: The Flashed Face Distortion is one of the creepier ones on the site, and honestly one of my favorites. As you focus on the cross in the middle, the faces on the left and right start to warp… jaws get huge, eyes go a little alien, foreheads stretch, and these are some of the most famous (and good looking) faces on the planet. The moment you look straight at one though, it’s totally normal again.

Optical Toys · EN