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Using ed(1) as My Static Site Generator: A Quirky Experiment

2025-05-31

Artyom Bologov shares his unusual journey of building a static website using the ancient text editor ed(1). He's tried various methods, from Lisp to the C preprocessor, finally settling on ed(1) as his static site generator. While ed(1) has limitations, lacking features like file inclusion, its flexibility allows for custom syntax and processing of older preprocessor formats. He uses ed(1) scripts for preprocessing and format conversion, supporting multiple output formats (txt, gmi, 7, tex, etc.). While not a best practice, the article showcases the unexpected potential of ed(1) and the author's unique approach to text processing.

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(aartaka.me)
Development

Athena Moon Lander's Demise and the Lessons Learned

2025-03-15
Athena Moon Lander's Demise and the Lessons Learned

Intuitive Machines' second lunar lander, Athena, tipped over during its March 6th landing near the moon's south pole, prematurely ending its mission. Despite the setback, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured images of Athena and its landing site, providing valuable data for future missions. While the mission was unsuccessful in its primary goals, the attempt in the harsh polar environment offers insights paving the way for future exploration of the region, particularly in the search for water ice.

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(www.space.com)
Tech lander

Mirror Bacteria Research Raises Significant Risks, Scientists Warn

2024-12-13
Mirror Bacteria Research Raises Significant Risks, Scientists Warn

Synthetic biologists have achieved remarkable breakthroughs, such as creating bacteria with chemically synthesized genomes. However, two synthetic biologists recently joined other scientists in calling for a halt to research that could lead to the creation of "mirror bacteria." These bacteria are composed of the same components as natural cells but with opposite stereochemistry in all biopolymers. Because mirror bacteria might lack natural predators and evade immune systems, they pose a catastrophic risk. The article emphasizes that while scientific research should be open, certain research, like mirror bacteria research, is too risky given the potential for devastating consequences. Therefore, it should be stopped.

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(www.the-scientist.com)
Tech synthetic biology mirror bacteria biosafety

Pixel-Based Local Sound OLED: The Screen Becomes the Speaker

2025-05-29
Pixel-Based Local Sound OLED: The Screen Becomes the Speaker

A POSTECH research team has unveiled the world's first Pixel-Based Local Sound OLED technology, enabling each pixel to emit distinct sounds, effectively turning the display into a multi-channel speaker array. Successfully demonstrated on a 13-inch OLED panel, this breakthrough eliminates the need for external speakers, offering immersive audio directly from the screen. Published in Advanced Science, this technology addresses the limitations of traditional displays by enabling truly localized sound experiences. Imagine a car where the driver hears navigation while the passenger enjoys music, all from the same screen. This innovation promises a revolution in mobile, automotive, and VR displays.

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(www.sciencedaily.com)
Tech Display Technology

The Soul of a New Machine: A Timeless Tale of Engineering

2025-04-05
The Soul of a New Machine: A Timeless Tale of Engineering

Tracy Kidder's 'The Soul of a New Machine' recounts the intense race against time at Data General in the late 1970s to develop the Eclipse MV/8000, a rival to DEC's VAX. Kidder immerses the reader in the 'rebel' engineering team's struggles, showcasing their dedication and clashing personalities as they push the boundaries of what was possible. This gripping narrative offers a compelling look at the human cost of technological innovation and remains surprisingly relevant decades later.

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(thechipletter.substack.com)
Tech

41,000 Years Ago: How Homo Sapiens Survived a Geomagnetic Reversal

2025-05-10
41,000 Years Ago: How Homo Sapiens Survived a Geomagnetic Reversal

A new study suggests that a cataclysmic geomagnetic reversal 41,000 years ago (the Laschamps excursion), which weakened Earth's magnetic field, exposed our ancestors to harmful solar radiation. Homo sapiens adapted by seeking shelter in caves, creating clothing, and using ochre pigments as sunscreen. Neanderthals, however, seemingly failed to adapt, potentially contributing to their decline. The study proposes a novel hypothesis linking this event to the rise of Homo sapiens and the demise of Neanderthals, though further research is needed to confirm the correlation.

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(newatlas.com)
Tech geomagnetic reversal homo sapiens neanderthals

Beyond Reality: From Jordan Algebras to the Leech Lattice in an Exotic Spacetime

2025-03-17
Beyond Reality: From Jordan Algebras to the Leech Lattice in an Exotic Spacetime

This article explores the deep connections between Jordan algebras, octonions, and the Leech lattice. Starting with Pascual Jordan's work in the 1930s on the algebraic properties of Hermitian matrices, it introduces formally real Jordan algebras and their classification, including a special 27-dimensional exceptional Jordan algebra. Building on this, the article explains how projective spaces are constructed from Jordan algebras, focusing on the octonionic projective plane generated by the exceptional Jordan algebra. Finally, it delves into an exotic spacetime constructed from octonionic Hermitian matrices and a unique integral unimodular lattice within it—the Leech lattice. A surprising finding is that this lattice exhibits two distinct orbits under the action of the E6 group, unlike typical understanding.

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(cp4space.hatsya.com)
Math Jordan algebras octonions Leech lattice

Practical Process Control: Mastering PID Control

2025-03-18

This comprehensive guide delves into the practical aspects of process control, focusing on PID controller design, tuning, and advanced control architectures. Starting with process dynamic modeling (including case studies on heat exchangers, gravity-drained tanks, and jacketed stirred reactors), it systematically explains proportional, integral, and derivative control, along with the role of various filters. The guide also covers handling integrating processes, cascade control, feedforward control, and advanced control strategies in real-world applications like distillation columns, providing a complete practical handbook for engineers.

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(controlguru.com)
Development process control PID control

Ditch Wi-Fi Lag: How Ethernet Cables Can Supercharge Your Internet

2025-04-06
Ditch Wi-Fi Lag: How Ethernet Cables Can Supercharge Your Internet

Tired of unreliable and slow Wi-Fi? This article explores Ethernet cables—a way to boost internet speed and stability through a physical connection. Ethernet cables directly connect your computer to your router, bypassing Wi-Fi signal interference from walls and other objects, resulting in faster speeds and lower latency, especially beneficial for gamers. While some newer laptops lack Ethernet ports, USB adapters provide a solution. Furthermore, network switches allow you to hardwire multiple devices simultaneously for enhanced network efficiency.

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(www.businessinsider.com)
Tech Network Connection

Medusa Ransomware: Triple Extortion and Exploding Infections

2025-03-16
Medusa Ransomware: Triple Extortion and Exploding Infections

A joint advisory from the FBI, CISA, and MS-ISAC warns of the escalating threat of Medusa ransomware, a RaaS operation exploiting vulnerabilities like CVE-2024-1709 and CVE-2023-48788, and phishing campaigns. Medusa employs a double extortion tactic, now evolving into a 'triple extortion' scheme where attackers demand further payments after receiving the initial ransom. Victims span critical infrastructure sectors, including healthcare, education, and legal, with at least 300 infections in the first two months of 2025. The advisory recommends multi-factor authentication, prompt patching, and other security measures to mitigate the risk.

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(www.theregister.com)
Tech

AI Research Update: Reinforcement Learning and Interpretability Take Center Stage

2025-05-26
AI Research Update: Reinforcement Learning and Interpretability Take Center Stage

Sholto Douglas and Trenton Bricken from Anthropic join Dwarkesh Patel's podcast to discuss the latest advancements in AI research. The past year has seen breakthroughs in reinforcement learning (RL) applied to language models, particularly excelling in competitive programming and mathematics. However, achieving long-term autonomous performance requires addressing limitations such as lack of contextual understanding and difficulty handling complex, open-ended tasks. In interpretability research, analyzing model "circuits" provides insights into the model's reasoning process, even revealing hidden biases and malicious behaviors. Future AI research will focus on enhancing model reliability, interpretability, and adaptability, as well as addressing the societal challenges posed by AGI.

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(www.dwarkesh.com)
AI

Merliot Hub: Your Private AI-Powered Device Hub

2025-05-17
Merliot Hub: Your Private AI-Powered Device Hub

Merliot Hub is an AI-integrated device hub allowing natural language control (via LLMs like Claude Desktop or Cursor) over your self-built devices using Raspberry Pis, Arduinos, and other components. Its distributed architecture ensures data privacy; no third-party access or data exploitation. A web app (no phone app needed), it's Docker-deployable and runs on free Koyeb cloud VMs. Build your own private smart home ecosystem!

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(github.com)
Hardware

The Death and Undying Life of Letters: A Century of Dialogue on Words and Emotion

2024-12-25
The Death and Undying Life of Letters: A Century of Dialogue on Words and Emotion

In "Voices from the Dead Letter Office," Cynthia Ozick explores the death and enduring legacy of letters with a unique perspective. From the passionate correspondence between Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb to Ozick's own playful epistolary pursuit of philosopher Sidney Morgenbesser under the guise of Lady Caroline, the essay reveals the multifaceted nature of letters. Letters serve as vehicles for romance, inspiration for literary creations, and genuine confessions of personal emotions. Ozick traces the significant role of letters in literary history, highlighting how classics like *Frankenstein* and *Pride and Prejudice* utilize epistolary structures. She examines the evolution of letters across different eras, from traditional handwritten letters to emails and social media, emphasizing that while the form changes, the emotions and values they carry persist. Ozick concludes with a poignant reflection on letters, expressing nostalgia for past emotions and eras while contemplating the future of human communication.

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(harpers.org)
Misc letters emotion

LA General's John Does: A Healthcare Crisis of Unidentified Patients

2025-06-18
LA General's John Does: A Healthcare Crisis of Unidentified Patients

Los Angeles General Medical Center annually admits tens of thousands of unidentified patients, most of whom are quickly identified. However, some, like a man found unconscious in February, remain for months or years due to a lack of identifying information. The hospital attempts to locate relatives by releasing photos and limited details, with mixed success. This presents not only administrative challenges but also patient safety concerns and strains healthcare resources. Multiple similar cases highlight the difficulties posed by unidentified patients, underscoring the need for societal attention to vulnerable populations.

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(www.latimes.com)
Misc Healthcare Crisis Unidentified Patients Social Issues

arXivLabs: Experimenting with Community Collaboration

2025-05-21
arXivLabs: Experimenting with Community Collaboration

arXivLabs is a platform enabling collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on the website. Participants, both individuals and organizations, embrace arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only partners with those who share them. Have an idea to enhance the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

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(arxiv.org)
Development

Minimum Effective Dose: The Kaizen Approach to Life

2025-02-05
Minimum Effective Dose: The Kaizen Approach to Life

Recovering from a root canal, the author explores the concept of the 'minimum effective dose' for exercise and learning. This leads to a reflection on the all-or-nothing approach and an embrace of Kaizen, the philosophy of continuous improvement. Even 8 minutes of reading a day accumulates significant knowledge; even a 5-minute daily sketch builds a meaningful visual record. The author argues that finding one's minimum effective dose for various activities allows for consistent progress and avoids burnout from overly ambitious goals.

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(winnielim.org)
Misc Minimum Effective Dose Continuous Improvement

Wikipedia's Fundraising: A Closer Look at the Millions

2024-12-16
Wikipedia's Fundraising: A Closer Look at the Millions

Wikipedia, known for its free information, conducts aggressive fundraising campaigns. This article reveals the Wikimedia Foundation has amassed hundreds of millions of dollars, far exceeding the site's operational needs. The vast sums aren't used to compensate volunteer editors but instead fund a large staff (550 employees) and high executive salaries, leading to discontent among volunteers. The article urges readers to reconsider donating, questioning the efficiency and transparency of funds and highlighting potential political biases.

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(unherd.com)
Misc fundraising financial transparency

1000 Days Sober: A Victory Over My Past Self

2025-06-30

The author celebrates 1000 days of sobriety, reflecting on their past struggles with alcohol abuse and sharing insights into their recovery journey. They believe true recovery begins with forgetting past pain and no longer understanding the logic of their past self's actions. The author likens their past self to a fair match, ultimately defeated by their sober self.

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(andrew-quinn.me)
Misc sobriety self-recovery

Meta Secretly Leaks Private AI Chats: A Privacy Nightmare

2025-06-06
Meta Secretly Leaks Private AI Chats: A Privacy Nightmare

The Mozilla community accuses Meta of secretly using private AI chat conversations as public content, unbeknownst to many users. They demand Meta shut down the Discover feed until real privacy protections are in place; make all AI interactions private by default with no public sharing option unless explicitly enabled; provide full transparency on how many users unknowingly shared private information; create a universal, easy-to-use opt-out system preventing data use for AI training; and notify all users whose conversations may have been made public, allowing them to permanently delete content. Meta is blurring the lines between private and public, jeopardizing user privacy.

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(www.mozillafoundation.org)
Tech AI Privacy

Steam Linux User Share Hits All-Time High

2025-06-02
Steam Linux User Share Hits All-Time High

May 2025 saw Steam's Linux user share reach its highest point in years, a record not seen since at least 2018. This growth comes despite Steam's overall user base continuing to expand, indicating healthy Linux adoption. Windows held a 95.45% share in May, while Linux reached 2.69% and macOS 1.85%. Interestingly, this increase wasn't driven by SteamOS 3; popular distros included SteamOS Holo, Arch Linux, and Linux Mint. The decrease in Simplified Chinese language options, which usually impacts Linux numbers, didn't prevent this growth.

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(www.gamingonlinux.com)
Game

AI Coding Agents: From Helpful Assistants to Essential Partners

2025-06-16

The author recounts a transformative shift in their workflow due to autonomous AI coding agents. Initially viewed as a neat curiosity, these agents have become indispensable, dramatically changing how software is shipped. The author details using tools like Claude and Codex to complete tasks ranging from bug fixes to code generation, resulting in significant productivity gains. While acknowledging limitations, such as the potential for getting stuck in local optima, the author believes AI coding agents represent a new era in software development, augmenting rather than replacing developers.

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(blog.singleton.io)
Development

China's Digital ID: A Giant Leap in State Control

2025-07-03
China's Digital ID: A Giant Leap in State Control

China will launch national digital IDs on July 15th, shifting online verification from private companies to the government. This represents a massive shift in state control over citizen data, drastically altering how the digital lives of its citizens are managed and surveilled. The move has implications for the distribution of profits in the online economy and could even reshape the future of AI in China. This builds upon the existing national ID card system introduced in 1984.

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(www.economist.com)
Tech digital ID data control

The Two Child Problem: Intuition vs. Reality in Probability

2025-08-28
The Two Child Problem: Intuition vs. Reality in Probability

A family has two children, and at least one is a girl. What's the probability both are girls? Intuition might suggest 1/2, but the correct answer is 1/3. This article uses probability trees and sample space to explain the counter-intuitive solution, highlighting the pitfalls of relying on intuition and neglecting problem details. It advocates for computer simulation to verify probability results, emphasizing the importance of precise problem definition, stating assumptions clearly, and avoiding reliance on 'common sense'.

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(blog.engora.com)
Misc conditional probability paradox

Generative AI's Limitations: A Critique by Gary Marcus

2025-02-15

Cognitive scientist Gary Marcus is a prominent skeptic of generative AI, arguing that the current technological path suffers from technical and ethical flaws. He points out that Large Language Models (LLMs) excel at function approximation but fall short in learning functions, prone to "distribution shift" issues, and unable to understand abstract concepts or reliably follow instructions. Marcus contends that LLMs lack understanding of the real world, leading to logical errors and biases. He proposes integrating neural networks with classical AI methods to address these shortcomings. He introduces a new evaluation benchmark—the "comprehension challenge"—where an AI system should be able to understand a movie plot and answer related questions, measuring true comprehension.

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(cacm.acm.org)
AI AI limitations

The 100 USB Device Nightmare: Bottlenecks and Engineering Challenges

2025-03-17
The 100 USB Device Nightmare: Bottlenecks and Engineering Challenges

Connecting 100 USB devices isn't trivial! The article highlights the severe congestion caused by USB's hub-like architecture, making it impossible for a single controller to handle the load. The solution requires a custom PCB with up to 100 USB controllers and a high-speed network interface (e.g., 100Gb fiber optics), along with complex drivers and server-side software to manage the massive data flow. A cheaper but less efficient alternative is also suggested: using small computers like Raspberry Pis, with efficient power management and Ethernet connections. In short, this is a monstrously complex engineering project.

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(forum.level1techs.com)
Hardware Performance Bottleneck

AI Image Generation: Ten Diverse Scenes

2025-04-30

Using a series of text prompts, AI successfully generated ten diverse images, ranging from a modern minimalist living room to a futuristic cyberpunk street, and to the desolate red landscape of Mars, showcasing AI's powerful image generation capabilities. These images encompass various styles, including photorealistic, cartoon, and pixel art, demonstrating AI's versatility across different artistic styles and opening new possibilities for AI art creation.

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(worldgen.github.io)
AI

A Programmer's Cat Turds and Self-Redemption

2025-09-23
A Programmer's Cat Turds and Self-Redemption

A programmer, witnessing a colleague consume cat turds disguised with mints at a bar, falls into deep thought. He reflects on years of encountering 'cat turds' in his programming work: pointless code changes, cumbersome processes, and his past impatience and lack of understanding towards others. He realizes he once prided himself on his expertise, even using it to judge others, but now feels weary and lost. The article explores the struggles programmers face in their careers and how to maintain passion and creativity, ultimately concluding with him seeking AI assistance to solve problems and reflecting on his own attitude, showcasing a journey of self-redemption.

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(www.scottsmitelli.com)
Development

A Concise Rust Kernel Driver: The AX88796B Ethernet Controller Example

2025-06-28

This article details the experience of writing a Linux kernel driver for the AX88796B embedded Ethernet controller using Rust. The author contrasts the Rust version with its C counterpart, highlighting differences in syntax, types, and APIs. The Rust version is remarkably concise, at just over 100 lines, leveraging macros to simplify driver registration and using traits and the `#[vtable]` macro for seamless integration with existing C code. The article clearly explains the advantages of Rust in kernel driver development, such as memory safety guarantees through references and simplified error handling using `Result` and the `try` operator, providing valuable insights for Rust kernel driver development.

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(lwn.net)
Development Kernel Driver

Unpublished Memoir of CP/M Creator Gary Kildall Released

2025-07-18
Unpublished Memoir of CP/M Creator Gary Kildall Released

A portion of an unfinished memoir by Gary Kildall, the creator of the CP/M operating system, has been released by the Computer History Museum. Written before his death in 1994, the excerpt details Kildall's early life and entrepreneurial journey, emphasizing his values of invention and a love of life over profit. Later chapters, detailing his struggles with alcoholism, will remain unpublished.

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(spectrum.ieee.org)
Tech
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