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Dictionary.com Deletes User Accounts, Leaving Logophiles Devastated

2025-07-18
Dictionary.com Deletes User Accounts, Leaving Logophiles Devastated

Dictionary.com abruptly deleted all user accounts and their associated data, including years' worth of saved words, sparking outrage among users. The company, which previously offered a paid ad-free version with extra features like offline dictionaries, removed these features and rendered saved data inaccessible. While Dictionary.com claims the change was for app improvement, they offered no adequate explanation or compensation for lost data, leading to widespread criticism and unanswered questions.

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(arstechnica.com)
Tech paid services

Optimizing the Separating Axis Theorem with Gauss Map Traversal

2025-07-10
Optimizing the Separating Axis Theorem with Gauss Map Traversal

This article presents an optimized collision detection algorithm for convex polyhedra. Reframing the Separating Axis Theorem (SAT) as a sphere-based optimization problem, the author reveals that the minimum lies at the intersections of great circles on a Gauss map. A graph traversal algorithm avoids repeated support function calculations, requiring only one full evaluation initially. The algorithm then efficiently updates the support point by traversing the Gauss map, resulting in significant performance gains. Tests show a 5-10x speedup over traditional SAT.

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(cairno.substack.com)
Development collision detection separating axis theorem Gauss map

Claude Chappe's Optical Telegraph: The World's First Cyberattack?

2025-05-08
Claude Chappe's Optical Telegraph: The World's First Cyberattack?

This article recounts the story of Claude Chappe and his optical telegraph, the world's first long-distance communication system. Chappe, a French engineer whose clerical career was derailed by the French Revolution, invented a system using towers and movable arms to transmit visual signals. The system saw widespread use during Napoleon's era but was eventually superseded by the electric telegraph. The article also details an early 'cyberattack' exploiting the system, and Chappe's tragic end.

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(parisianfields.com)
Tech History of Technology Communication Technology

Arctic Glacier Melt Uncovers 1500 Miles of Coastline, Posing Risks and Rewards

2025-03-28
Arctic Glacier Melt Uncovers 1500 Miles of Coastline, Posing Risks and Rewards

A study in Nature Climate Change reveals that melting Arctic glaciers have exposed approximately 1500 miles of coastline since 2000, primarily in Greenland. The retreating ice unveils valuable mineral deposits, but also creates vulnerability. Newly exposed coastlines, lacking the stabilizing effect of ice, are susceptible to erosion and landslides. A dramatic example occurred in September 2023, when a thinning coastal glacier in eastern Greenland collapsed, triggering a 350-foot tsunami that registered globally. This highlights the significant risks and challenges posed by climate change.

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(e360.yale.edu)
Tech glacier melt geological hazards

Dutch Parliament Votes to Ditch US Tech, Prioritize National Sovereignty

2025-03-20
Dutch Parliament Votes to Ditch US Tech, Prioritize National Sovereignty

The Dutch parliament unanimously passed eight motions urging the government to replace US-made technology with homegrown alternatives. Driven by concerns about data sovereignty and the potential for US tech giants to exert political pressure, the motions call for a range of actions, including halting migrations to American cloud services, creating a Dutch national cloud, and repatriating the .nl top-level domain. MP Barbara Kathmann argued that over-reliance on US tech weakens the Netherlands' digital sovereignty and expertise. While non-binding, the overwhelming support for these motions puts significant pressure on the government to act, potentially setting a precedent for other European nations.

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(www.theregister.com)
Tech tech decoupling Netherlands

The Grug Brained Developer: A Guide to Fighting Complexity

2025-06-17

This humorous guide to software development, written from the perspective of a "Grug" developer, offers practical strategies for combating complexity. Complexity is likened to a demonic force invading the codebase. The author advocates for saying "no" to unnecessary features and abstractions, emphasizing the 80/20 rule (delivering 80% of value with 20% of code). Key strategies include proper code factorization, strategic refactoring, effective testing, and tooling. The article is a witty and insightful read offering valuable lessons for developers of all levels.

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(grugbrain.dev)
Development Complexity

Website Data Collection and User Privacy Notice

2025-05-21
Website Data Collection and User Privacy Notice

This website uses technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information to provide the best user experience. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent may adversely affect certain features and functions. Technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. Technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. The technical storage or access is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.

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(magazine.atavist.com)
Misc

Agora Protocol: Secure, Anonymous National Deliberation

2025-07-20

This paper proposes the Agora Protocol, a technological solution to the problem of societal division created by authoritarian regimes. Leveraging Telegram, the protocol establishes a secure, anonymous, multi-stage deliberation process allowing citizens to discuss and vote on national issues. A meritocratic filtering system ensures the most resonant ideas rise, culminating in a transparent national consensus visible to all participants. Remarkably efficient, it can distill the views of 100 million people into a core group of 100 within six weeks.

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(simurgh-beau.github.io)
Tech Agora Protocol Anonymous Deliberation National Consensus

HALO Deals: A New Acquisition Model in AI

2025-07-19
HALO Deals: A New Acquisition Model in AI

A novel deal structure has emerged in the AI industry: the HALO deal. Unlike traditional acquisitions or simple hiring, HALO deals involve a company hiring a startup's core team while simultaneously licensing its IP. The startup receives significant licensing fees distributed to investors and employees, and continues operating under new leadership. These deals are fast, expensive, and (currently) exclusive to AI. While sparking debate, HALOs attempt to preserve the social contract between founders, investors, and employees, offering a swift, certain way to acquire AI talent in an increasingly scrutinized M&A landscape.

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(kwokchain.com)
AI talent acquisition

Altman's New Brain-Computer Interface Venture: Gene Editing and Ultrasound

2025-08-16
Altman's New Brain-Computer Interface Venture: Gene Editing and Ultrasound

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is involved in a brain-computer interface company, Merge Labs, exploring a novel approach combining gene therapy and ultrasound. The method involves genetically modifying brain cells and using an implanted ultrasound device to detect and modulate activity in these cells. This differs from Elon Musk's Neuralink, which uses electrical signals. Altman aims to use this technology to control ChatGPT with his thoughts. The project is in early stages, seeking $250 million in funding at an $850 million valuation.

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(finance.yahoo.com)
Tech

WWII: German Ace Escorts Damaged US Bomber

2025-03-30
WWII: German Ace Escorts Damaged US Bomber

On December 20, 1943, during WWII, a severely damaged US B-17 bomber, the "Ye Olde Pub," was unexpectedly escorted to safety by a German Luftwaffe ace, Franz Stigler, after a bombing run over Bremen. Stigler, despite having the opportunity to shoot down the crippled aircraft, chose not to, instead guiding it through enemy territory. This incredible act of chivalry, kept secret for decades, was only revealed years later when the two pilots reunited, forming a lasting friendship until their deaths in 2008. The story highlights an extraordinary moment of humanity amidst the brutality of war.

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(en.wikipedia.org)
Misc air combat humanity

Sorting Fractions Under Uncertainty & Estimating the Number of Buses: Bayesian vs. Likelihood Approaches

2025-08-18

This article tackles two statistical problems: sorting fractions under uncertainty and estimating the number of buses based on limited observations. For fraction sorting, Bayesian (using Beta distribution) and likelihood approaches are presented and demonstrated in R. For bus estimation, a probability density function based on the multinomial distribution is constructed, and a likelihood approach is used to derive a confidence interval for the number of buses. Both problems cleverly combine statistical modeling and computational methods, showcasing the flexibility and practicality of statistical inference.

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(emiruz.com)
Development Bayesian methods likelihood methods statistical modeling

American Cardinal Elected Pope Leo XIV

2025-05-08
American Cardinal Elected Pope Leo XIV

On May 8th, Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, a Chicago native, was elected the 267th Pope, taking the name Pope Leo XIV. He is the first North American to hold the papacy and was a leading contender before the conclave. The announcement was met with jubilant celebrations in St. Peter's Square. Pope Leo XIV, a long-time missionary in Peru holding dual US-Peruvian citizenship, is known for his work promoting church unity and combating clericalism. While facing past allegations of mishandling sexual abuse claims, investigations concluded there was insufficient evidence. His election marks a significant moment in Catholic Church history.

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(catholicreview.org)
Misc Catholic Church North America

Hackintoshing: A Surprisingly Green Computing Practice

2025-03-11
Hackintoshing: A Surprisingly Green Computing Practice

In today's rapidly evolving tech landscape, Hackintoshing—installing macOS on non-Apple hardware—is emerging as an unexpectedly eco-friendly computing solution. By extending the lifespan of existing computers, Hackintoshing significantly reduces e-waste, minimizes resource depletion, and lowers carbon emissions associated with new device production. The article details the environmental benefits and provides a beginner's guide to getting started, encouraging readers to embrace this sustainable approach to technology.

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(opengears.medium.com)
Tech Eco-friendly Computing

Slow SSD Mystery: Unmasking a Fake Kingston Drive

2025-08-22

The author purchased a supposedly 960GB Kingston SSD, but its speed was far below expectations. Tests revealed it was actually a 128GB drive, likely a counterfeit with modified firmware. Despite realistic packaging, poor back sticker printing gave it away. The author contacted the online retailer and received a full refund. This experience serves as a cautionary tale: even when buying from large online marketplaces, careful verification is crucial to avoid scams like the "fulfilled by Amazon" trick.

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(andrei.xyz)
Hardware Counterfeit SSD eCommerce Fraud

Engineering Manager - Payments Platform at Modern Treasury

2025-01-08
Engineering Manager - Payments Platform at Modern Treasury

Modern Treasury, a FinTech company building modern payment infrastructure, is hiring an experienced Engineering Manager for its payments platform. The role requires leadership experience managing engineering teams and a deep understanding of payment platform architecture and technologies. This is a fantastic opportunity for passionate FinTech professionals looking for leadership roles in a fast-growing company.

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(jobs.ashbyhq.com)
Development Engineering Manager Payments Platform

Gleam: A First Impression – Friendly Community Meets Efficient Development

2025-01-25
Gleam: A First Impression – Friendly Community Meets Efficient Development

The author learned and used the Gleam programming language to complete a project before going on paternity leave. He was drawn to Gleam's friendly community, concise design, robust type system, and its compilation support for both Erlang and JavaScript. While encountering minor issues, such as redundant type name typing, he was overall pleased with Gleam and plans to continue learning and using it. He hopes Gleam will one day support WebAssembly/WASI and a Python backend.

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(snarky.ca)
Development

UUSEC WAF: A Free, High-Performance Web Application Firewall

2025-03-16
UUSEC WAF: A Free, High-Performance Web Application Firewall

UUSEC WAF is a free, high-performance, and highly scalable web application firewall (WAF) and API security protection product that leverages AI and semantic engines. It boasts a three-layered defense mechanism (traffic, system, and runtime layers). Employing machine learning for anomaly detection, it intercepts 0-day attacks without needing extra rules. Its self-developed cache cleaning surpasses commercial nginx versions, offering regex matching for enhanced flexibility. Built-in HIPS and RASP provide powerful dual-layer defense. Advanced semantic engines and Lua scripting allow for highly flexible rule creation. Installation is straightforward, with host and Docker options. Benchmark tests show accuracy exceeding 99%, significantly outperforming comparable free WAFs.

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(github.com)
Tech

Ditching Disqus: Building Blog Comments with Mastodon

2025-02-23

Tired of Disqus ads and tracking, the author sought an alternative and chose to build a Mastodon-based comment system using the Mastodon API. The article details the process: obtaining the Mastodon post ID, fetching comment data via the API using JavaScript, generating and embedding HTML into a static site, handling media attachments, and implementing a blacklist. The author also explains their static site generator and how they embed the Mastodon post ID into the HTML. This is a practical guide on building a personalized blog commenting system using open-source technology.

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(beej.us)
Development

Aquariums for Cats: Mental Stimulation and Stress Relief

2025-09-14
Aquariums for Cats: Mental Stimulation and Stress Relief

An aquarium isn't just a pretty addition to your home; it's a fantastic tool for improving your cat's mental and physical well-being. The calming movement and visual stimulation of the fish provide endless entertainment, engaging your cat's senses and reducing stress. Watching the fish encourages curiosity and exploration, enhancing cognitive function and preventing destructive behaviors. The soothing aquatic environment promotes relaxation, improves sleep quality, and offers a natural stress reliever. Discover the perfect blend of feline playfulness and aquatic serenity.

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(cataquariums.com)
Misc aquarium pet wellbeing

Bash INI Parser: A Robust Shell Script Library

2025-04-04
Bash INI Parser: A Robust Shell Script Library

A powerful Bash shell script library, `lib_ini.sh`, provides a comprehensive set of functions for parsing and manipulating INI configuration files. It supports reading, writing, adding, updating, and removing sections and keys, handling complex values, arrays, and environment variables. The library also features robust error handling, a debug mode, and configurability. An interactive online demo allows for easy testing.

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(github.com)
Development Configuration Files

100% Unemployment: The Looming Threat of Automation

2025-01-24

Software engineer Mike expresses concern about the potential for widespread unemployment due to automation. He argues that AI and automation will soon replace many, if not all, jobs susceptible to automation, challenging the notion that technological advancements will create new jobs. He raises the critical question of how to define personal worth in a future where most people lack economic value, prompting reflection on societal structures and individual value.

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(hyponymo.us)
Tech Unemployment

Behind the Scenes of Ventoy: Building a Cross-Platform Bootable USB Creator

2025-08-06
Behind the Scenes of Ventoy: Building a Cross-Platform Bootable USB Creator

Ventoy, an open-source tool for creating multi-bootable USB drives, involves extensive cross-compilation. This code snippet shows a portion of the Ventoy build script, covering various architectures such as x86, ARM64, and MIPS64, along with the building and integration of tools like BusyBox, cryptsetup, and FUSE. The process requires pre-downloading some dependencies and configuring and compiling accordingly for different target architectures and operating systems. The final output is an image supporting multiple boot methods, making it user-friendly across diverse hardware platforms.

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(github.com)
Development build multiboot

Optimizing UTF-8 Decoding with a Lookup Table: Branchless Approach

2025-09-06
Optimizing UTF-8 Decoding with a Lookup Table: Branchless Approach

This article explores optimizing UTF-8 decoding by using a lookup table to avoid branch prediction overhead. The author details creating a 256-byte lookup table that maps the lead byte of a UTF-8 sequence to its length. This replaces branching with simple array access, improving decoding efficiency. While adding a 256-byte memory cost, this approach can significantly boost performance in many scenarios.

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(nemanjatrifunovic.substack.com)
Development Decoding Lookup Table

Shingles Vaccine Linked to Lower Dementia Risk

2025-03-23
Shingles Vaccine Linked to Lower Dementia Risk

Studies published in summer 2024 revealed a surprising correlation: individuals vaccinated against shingles showed a reduced risk of developing dementia. Research from Stanford University, analyzing data from Britain and Australia, suggested the original shingles vaccine could prevent roughly one-fifth of dementia cases. Further studies by GSK and British academics indicated that a newer, recombinant vaccine offered even greater protection against dementia. This unexpected finding opens exciting new avenues for dementia prevention.

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(www.economist.com)
Tech Shingles Vaccine Prevention

Generative Search: How AI Is Rewriting the Rules of Internet Search

2025-01-07
Generative Search: How AI Is Rewriting the Rules of Internet Search

This article explores the transformative impact of generative AI on internet search engines. From keyword searches to conversational AI-powered searches, the shift is towards AI generating answers based on real-time web data, rather than simply providing links. Giants like Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft are vying for dominance, but challenges like copyright infringement and AI hallucinations remain. The future of generative search is rife with both opportunity and risk, promising to reshape how we access information and the very fabric of the internet.

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(www.technologyreview.com)
Tech Search Engines

Adélie Linux 1.0-BETA6 Released: Enhanced Compatibility and Richer Features

2024-12-16
Adélie Linux 1.0-BETA6 Released: Enhanced Compatibility and Richer Features

Adélie Linux has released its 1.0-BETA6, supporting 32-bit and 64-bit ARM, POWER, and x86 architectures, spanning smartphones, game consoles, and supercomputers. This release boasts over 35 new packages, updates to GCC 13, LLVM 18, Rust 1.80, and Linux kernel 6.6 LTS, along with improved GRUB and Wayland support. Numerous bugs have been squashed, and the user experience has been enhanced. While some known issues remain, the Adélie team is actively working on solutions and welcomes bug reports and feedback.

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(blog.adelielinux.org)
Development Linux distribution

The Truth About Antidepressants: Beyond the 'Chemical Imbalance'

2025-02-28
The Truth About Antidepressants: Beyond the 'Chemical Imbalance'

Antidepressants have long been understood as correcting a 'chemical imbalance' in the brain to treat depression. However, a vast body of research reviewed here reveals this explanation to be overly simplistic. The article summarizes numerous studies on the relationship between serotonin and depression, demonstrating that it's not a simple linear relationship and the mechanism of action of antidepressants is far more complex than the 'chemical imbalance' theory suggests. While antidepressants are effective to a degree, their mechanisms of action and long-term effects require further investigation, and public understanding of the causes of depression needs a more nuanced scientific approach.

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(www.nature.com)
Tech antidepressants serotonin

The Last Months with Patricia Highsmith: A Young Assistant's Memoir

2025-06-15
The Last Months with Patricia Highsmith: A Young Assistant's Memoir

The author recounts their experience as Patricia Highsmith's assistant during the novelist's final months, a time filled with suspense and complex emotions. Beginning with a chance encounter in Zurich, the author is drawn into Highsmith's unique world in Tegna, Switzerland. Highsmith's eccentric personality, frugal nature, and ambivalent treatment of the author create a sense of unease. Yet, through the mundane tasks and interactions, the author gradually uncovers the deep loneliness and yearning for love within the legendary writer, alongside her struggles with self-acceptance. This brief but profound experience provides a deeper understanding of the acclaimed author and offers fresh insight into the complexities of life and human nature.

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(yalereview.org)
Misc author Patricia Highsmith
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