The daily cold cold war | Vol. 5
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Mining, Diary, Bitcoin, China

Life of a Miner Diary Series | It’s late and it’s cold, but those machines keep us up

(Figure 1) Feiyang multi-purposing 2020’s must needed fashion accessory whilst in transit.

After an 8-month hiatus, our Life of a Miner diary series is back with more captivating stories from our beloved miner goddess, Feiyang. For those who are new to this series, we introduced one of our most unique personalities in the field and one of the few female miners working at our bitcoin mining farms, Feiyang. Through the eyes of her experiences and stories working on our mining farms located in the depths of rural China, you will be able to see and feel more of the day to day experiences of operating a mining farm. From rockfalls to floods, the lands our mining farms are situated on giving more than just hashrates, but rather adventures to hate or love.

To recap on the past Life of a Miner diary series, click the links below to read and catch up:

In Feiyang’s words

Xinjiang, a place so near and dear in my heart, is also a seemingly media-twisted esoteric faraway place, far far in the western depths of China giving the area an almost mysterious stigma encapsulating a certain part of myself. Whether it is the vast Gobi or the desert that lies within, it is as hazy and open as a dream.

At the end of 2020, due to work mobilization plans, a group of 8 of our mining farm operation and maintenance personnel came to this land near the edge of China’s border, Aksu, which is located in western Xinjiang on the Tarim Basin for perspective.

(Figure 2) Location of Aksu in red.

Galloping on the highway towards this faraway county-level city, the departing city behind continues stretching farther and farther away. What you see is the vastness. A vastness you don’t get while living in one of the major metropolitan cities of China. On this desolate area of the western stretches of the Gobi desert bleeding into the Taklamakan desert, neat rows of factories lined up in such orderly fashion appeared before my eyes, presumably this will be where we will start working.

(Figure 3) A typical snack during break times. Chinese skewers seems to be the choice of selection amongst Feiyang and her personnel colleagues.

On winter nights, a biting cold wind rushes straight from the collar and cuffs down into the body, seeping its way onto your skin despite being covered up. Curled up while walking on the road outside the factory buildings with the head down. A gust of wind blows in front vehemently trembling the personnel team to the point of discouragement. The road to the factory was very close, but at this time it felt endlessly long. The roar from the normal operations of several mining farms up ahead seemed extraordinarily loud in the quiet cold night. Loud but strangely beautiful at the same time. The all-encompassing roaring ensemble, fusing together the harmonious hashing coming from thousands of scorching metal boxed machines whirring as they transfer trapped energy to cryptically secure permission-less transactions, block by block by block, is like the sound of a revolutionary technological symphony. Three hours in, at a certain mining farm there, our operation and maintenance personnel stood up to the shine of the moonlight, enduring the bitter cold, while fighting the wits of the mining machines engaging in technological problems…one after another after another…

“Upgrade the latest firmware version”

“Restart the machine”

“An error code appears here”

“View Log” …

It was finally done, and all the machines that had problems had returned to normal operation! Only then did I have time to check the time, with the long hand pointing at 2:40 in the morning. Another successful battle! Unlike enemies with real swords and guns on the battlefield, the opponents faced by the operation and maintenance personnel are all hiding in the dark. Whether it is a machine disconnection, or a power board, control board, etc., we need to deal with it meticulously, timely processing. Although my eyes were red, I felt a sense of relief knowing that the machines are once again whirring away normally with current problems solved…at least for today. After thinking about it, I didn’t feel so tired. Everyone smiled unconsciously.

(Figure 4) Feiyang and crew returning from their recent trip to the western depths of Xinjiang.

With the birth of digital currency, it means that the process of electronic currency is dawning to begin. As a group of cypherpunks, pioneers of digital currency, or the Bitcoin network’s distributed operation and maintenance personnel, there are no programmers who “live as bachelors, die and write code”. It’s tragic, but there is also a “锄禾日当午，不如运维苦，对着破电脑，一调一下午”的“悲惨”人生”, which translates to: tragic life of “the day of hoeing is noon, it is better to operate and maintain, facing a broken computer, one tune one afternoon”.

There is no normal nine-to-five in the morning, nor does it take five rests and two rests. There is only a 24-hour duty and shift rest system. Mining operation and maintenance personnel are always ready to deal with machine failures. And it’s the life we love.