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Reality TV Show 'The Traitors' Offers a Surprisingly Useful Economics Lesson

2025-01-19
Reality TV Show 'The Traitors' Offers a Surprisingly Useful Economics Lesson

The Economist highlights the surprisingly insightful economics lesson embedded within the popular reality TV show, 'The Traitors'. The show, filled with deception and betrayal, provides a real-world example of game theory in action. Participants must make decisions under conditions of incomplete information, mirroring many real-life economic scenarios. The article uses the presenter, Claudia Winkleman, as a relatable example to explain the game theory principles at play, showcasing how the show illuminates the complexities of uncertainty and information asymmetry in economics.

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(www.economist.com)
Misc game theory reality TV

Spinning Globe on a Commodore PET: A Retro 8-bit Dev Story

2025-01-11
Spinning Globe on a Commodore PET: A Retro 8-bit Dev Story

This post details the creation of a spinning globe animation demo on a Commodore PET, written in 6502 assembly. The author cleverly uses PETSCII characters and bit vector techniques to cram a 32x32 pixel world map into 4.8KB of memory, achieving surprisingly smooth animation. The article dives into the data structure design, projection algorithm, and optimization strategies, showcasing impressive programming skills and a passion for retro game development.

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(www.masswerk.at)
Game 6502 assembly

Deep Earth Life: More Diverse Than We Thought

2025-01-20
Deep Earth Life: More Diverse Than We Thought

New research is reshaping our understanding of life's distribution on Earth. Scientists have discovered that the diversity of microbes deep beneath the surface rivals, and sometimes surpasses, that of rainforests and coral reefs. These microbes thrive in extremely low-energy environments, flourishing even at depths where energy supply is far lower than for surface organisms. Researchers suggest subsurface ecosystems may host more than half of all microbial cells. This finding not only deepens our understanding of Earth's life forms but also offers new perspectives on the search for extraterrestrial life.

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(arstechnica.com)
Tech deep life microbial diversity

Mirascope MCP Server: Securely Integrating LLMs with Local Services

2025-02-01
Mirascope MCP Server: Securely Integrating LLMs with Local Services

Mirascope's MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server lets you expose resources, tools, and prompts to LLM clients via a standardized protocol. This article demonstrates building a simple book recommendation server using MCP, showing how to register tools, resources, and prompts. It details two definition styles: decorator and function-first. MCP Server supports various features, including synchronous and asynchronous functions, flexible configuration options, and compatibility with standard Mirascope tools and prompts, enabling secure and reliable integration between LLM clients and local services.

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(mirascope.com)
Development

Supabase: Remote-First Open Source Firebase Alternative Hiring Now

2025-01-06
Supabase: Remote-First Open Source Firebase Alternative Hiring Now

Supabase, a fully remote and asynchronous open-source alternative to Firebase, is hiring globally! They offer excellent benefits including a hardware budget, full health coverage, and annual off-sites. Supabase values open collaboration and boasts a globally distributed team and large community. If you're passionate about open source and want to work in a vibrant and diverse team, apply for a position at Supabase.

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(supabase.com)
Development

Getty Center: A Fortress Against the Flames

2025-01-12

During the 2019 Getty Fire, the Getty Center proved its mettle as the safest place for art and archives. Built with fire-resistant stone, concrete, and steel, its design incorporates wide-open plazas and meticulously landscaped grounds to slow fire spread. Inside, state-of-the-art air filtration and fire separations ensure internal safety, while a one-million-gallon water tank provides ample fire suppression. Year-round fire safety drills and preparedness ensured the protection of both art and personnel.

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(www.getty.edu)
Tech fire safety art preservation Getty Center

Kirin's Electric Salt Spoon: A CES 2025 Taste of the Future?

2025-01-11
Kirin's Electric Salt Spoon: A CES 2025 Taste of the Future?

At CES 2025, Kirin Holdings unveiled an electronic spoon that uses a weak electric current to enhance the salty and umami flavors of food, particularly low-sodium options. Based on research that won a 2013 Ig Nobel Prize, the spoon has already launched in Japan and Kirin aims for global distribution. The device aims to help reduce salt intake, especially relevant in Japan's high-sodium diet culture. While TechCrunch didn't sample it, the enthusiastic crowd at CES Unveiled suggests it's a hit.

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(techcrunch.com)
Tech Electric Salt Spoon Low-Sodium Diet

Clive Sinclair: The British Microcomputer Maverick

2025-01-23
Clive Sinclair: The British Microcomputer Maverick

Clive Sinclair, a mathematical prodigy, revolutionized the UK and European personal computer market with his affordable and innovative designs, including the ZX80 and ZX Spectrum. His relentless pursuit of low-cost hardware brought computing to the masses, despite later setbacks like the Sinclair QL. His story is a captivating blend of genius, disruptive innovation, and entrepreneurial risk-taking, showcasing the transformative power of technology.

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(www.abortretry.fail)
Tech Personal Computing British Tech

OpenAI's o1 Model Aces Codenames

2025-01-25
OpenAI's o1 Model Aces Codenames

OpenAI's o1 model played Codenames against itself, and the results were surprisingly impressive. Over 20 games, o1 consistently demonstrated strong reasoning and a vast knowledge base, both as clue-giver and guesser. Researchers noted o1's superior general knowledge compared to humans, cleverly connecting seemingly unrelated words. Examples included using "007" as a clue, and linking "mail," "lawyer," "line," and "log" with the single word "paper." This showcases the potential of large language models in strategic games, hinting at future applications in diverse game environments.

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(suveenellawela.com)
Game

The Essence of Successful Abstractions: Isolating Complexity

2025-01-22
The Essence of Successful Abstractions: Isolating Complexity

In software development, complexity is unavoidable, but it can be contained. Chris Krycho argues that the key to successful abstractions lies in confining complexity to well-defined areas. He uses examples like Rust's borrow checker, which isolates the complexity of memory safety within its type system, and TypeScript, which illuminates and manages existing complexity through types. This mirrors the philosophy of microservices, where individual services remain simple while overall complexity is managed. The author posits that successful abstraction isn't about eliminating complexity, but effectively isolating and controlling it, thus improving development efficiency and code quality.

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(v5.chriskrycho.com)
Development Complexity Management

CA AG Sues OMB to Block $3 Trillion Federal Funding Freeze

2025-01-28
CA AG Sues OMB to Block $3 Trillion Federal Funding Freeze

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with 22 other state attorneys general, filed a lawsuit against the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to block a directive that would freeze up to $3 trillion in federal funding. The directive threatens to halt crucial funding for disaster relief (including California's wildfire recovery), public health, education, and public safety programs. Bonta argues the directive violates the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act, and seeks a temporary restraining order to prevent immediate and irreparable harm.

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(oag.ca.gov)
Tech federal funding public safety

The One and Only Supersonic Concorde Photo

2025-01-26
The One and Only Supersonic Concorde Photo

This article recounts the incredible story behind the only known photograph of a Concorde flying at supersonic speed. In April 1985, a Royal Air Force Tornado jet rendezvoused with a Concorde over the Irish Sea, briefly matching its Mach 2 speed to capture the iconic image before fuel constraints forced a separation. The feat required precise coordination and multiple attempts, as the Tornado could only sustain supersonic flight for a few minutes. The article also explores the Concorde's legacy as the fastest commercial airliner in history, its technological marvels, and its eventual retirement.

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(petapixel.com)
Tech Concorde Supersonic Flight Photography

Apache DataFusion: A Powerful and Extensible Query Engine in Rust

2025-01-16

Apache DataFusion is an extensible query engine written in Rust that uses Apache Arrow as its in-memory format. It offers SQL and DataFrame APIs, boasts excellent performance, and provides built-in support for CSV, Parquet, JSON, and Avro. DataFusion features a full query planner, a columnar, streaming, multi-threaded, vectorized execution engine, and partitioned data sources. It's highly customizable, allowing additions of data sources, query languages, functions, custom operators, and more. Related subprojects include DataFusion Python (Python bindings), DataFusion Ray (distributed version), and DataFusion Comet (Apache Spark accelerator).

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(datafusion.apache.org)
Development Query Engine

Game Devs Revolt Against Boss's AI Schemes

2025-01-21
Game Devs Revolt Against Boss's AI Schemes

A survey reveals growing unease among game developers concerning AI's impact on the industry. Nearly half of the 3,000 respondents expressed concern about AI's negative effects, with 30% voicing outright negativity. While AI offers potential benefits in coding, art, and 3D modeling, many developers see limited practical applications and report increased workloads and job insecurity. Long hours and layoffs are rampant, leading to widespread frustration. Developers attribute these problems to post-pandemic overexpansion, unrealistic expectations, and poor management.

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(www.wired.com)
Game Industry Crisis

Society for Technical Communication (STC) Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

2025-01-29
Society for Technical Communication (STC) Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

The Society for Technical Communication (STC), a long-standing organization, has announced its closure due to insurmountable financial liabilities and declining membership. Despite years of cost-cutting measures and revenue generation attempts, the organization's debt and operational expenses exceeded its income. STC will cease all operations, including membership renewals, educational programs, certification courses, and all chapter and SIG activities. A bankruptcy trustee will manage the closure process and communicate with creditors.

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(www.stc.org)
Misc Technical Communication Organization Closure

California AG: Nearly Everything AI Companies Do Might Be Illegal

2025-01-29
California AG: Nearly Everything AI Companies Do Might Be Illegal

A legal memo from California's Attorney General's office warns that many business practices in Silicon Valley's booming AI industry are potentially illegal. The memo highlights various legal violations, including using AI to create disinformation, falsely advertising AI capabilities, and the discriminatory impact of AI systems on certain groups. This underscores the significant legal risks facing the AI industry, with many companies potentially facing lawsuits; OpenAI, for instance, is currently being sued for copyright infringement. The memo effectively puts AI companies on notice to self-regulate or face potential legal action.

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(gizmodo.com)
Tech AI legal risks discrimination

A Surprisingly Rich History of Calculators

2025-01-31
A Surprisingly Rich History of Calculators

This article traces the surprisingly rich history of calculators, from ancient abacuses and counting rods to modern electronic devices. Using a personal collection of antique calculators, the author details the evolution from mechanical marvels like Pascal's adder and Leibniz's multiplier, through slide rules, hand-cranked calculators, and finally, the electronic calculator. The story highlights key technological advancements and limitations at each stage, culminating in the miniaturization and widespread adoption of handheld calculators, even integrated into wristwatches. However, the rise of smartphones ultimately relegated the standalone calculator to a niche product.

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(lcamtuf.substack.com)
Tech calculator history mechanical calculators electronic calculators

Automating API Changes with Codemods: A Refactoring Revolution

2025-01-11
Automating API Changes with Codemods: A Refactoring Revolution

This article explores how codemods automate large-scale code changes, especially when dealing with breaking API changes. Leveraging Abstract Syntax Trees (ASTs), codemods precisely automate code transformations, significantly reducing the burden of manual refactoring. The article uses examples like removing stale feature toggles and refactoring complex React components, detailing the process using jscodeshift, and discusses potential pitfalls and solutions when scaling codemods. It highlights codemods' role in improving code quality and maintainability, showcasing a real-world case study of refactoring an Avatar component.

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(martinfowler.com)
Development API changes codemod

Pharaoh's Tomb HD: A Classic Adventure Reimagined

2025-01-18
Pharaoh's Tomb HD: A Classic Adventure Reimagined

Pharaoh's Tomb HD is a remastered adventure game that takes players back to the mysterious land of ancient Egypt to explore the secrets of a pharaoh's tomb. The game boasts significantly improved graphics, with more realistic environments and detailed models for an immersive experience. Players must solve ancient puzzles, avoid deadly traps, and ultimately uncover the pharaoh's treasure. This game is perfect for fans of puzzle and adventure games, offering a chance to revisit a classic while enjoying enhanced visuals.

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(pt-hd.iocaihost.me)
Game adventure game HD remaster

DEF CON Security Chief Faces Massive Medical Bills After Neck Injury

2025-01-08
DEF CON Security Chief Faces Massive Medical Bills After Neck Injury

Marc Rogers, DEF CON's head of security, is facing tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills after a neck injury left him temporarily quadriplegic. Initially experiencing minor symptoms, delayed MRI scans due to insurance issues worsened his condition. He underwent emergency surgery and is now recovering. Despite the substantial medical costs, he's partially regained function and continues his cybersecurity work. Friends have launched a fundraiser to help cover the expenses.

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(www.theregister.com)
Tech medical emergency fundraiser

Keyboard Company Halts US Shipments Due to Trump Tariffs

2025-02-06
Keyboard Company Halts US Shipments Due to Trump Tariffs

Mechanical keyboard company Qwertykeys has temporarily suspended all shipments to the US due to President Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods. The 45% tariff increase, coupled with DHL's new requirement for a 50% prepayment of declared value plus a $21 processing fee per package, makes shipping unsustainable. Qwertykeys is pausing shipments for 72 hours to negotiate with DHL and other logistics providers for fairer solutions. The company also faced temporary delays in sending replacement parts due to a now-reversed US Postal Service suspension of packages from China.

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(www.theverge.com)
Hardware trade war

Refactoring Pitfalls: When Not to Refactor

2025-02-06
Refactoring Pitfalls: When Not to Refactor

This article explores the pitfalls of code refactoring, highlighting that not all code needs refactoring. The author presents several scenarios where refactoring is inappropriate, such as attempting to fix bugs or adapt to third-party changes through refactoring; introducing unnecessary abstraction leading to code complexity; tackling multiple code smells simultaneously; refactoring untested code; and refactoring unchanging code. The article emphasizes that refactoring should be incremental, behavior-preserving, and involve small, reversible changes with test coverage. It advocates for pausing refactoring when understanding is lacking or new requirements emerge. Refactoring frequently changing and complex code yields the best results.

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(thoughtbot.com)
Development best practices

CERN Engineer Locks 1950s Pendulum Clock to Atomic Clock for Unprecedented Accuracy

2025-01-04

A CERN engineer acquired a vintage Elektročas HH3 pendulum clock from the 1950s, boasting an accuracy of 0.1 seconds per day. To push the limits further, he embarked on a project to synchronize it with CERN's cesium atomic clock. The innovative solution involved a Chain Controlled Oscillator (CCO) which subtly alters the pendulum's center of gravity, controlled by a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) to maintain synchronization. Tests demonstrated remarkable improvement in accuracy, even detecting the perturbation caused by the recent Turkey earthquake. This project showcases a blend of meticulous engineering, ingenious innovation, and a quest for extreme precision.

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(dvaluch.web.cern.ch)
Tech precision engineering atomic clock phase locked loop

Disney+ Loses Subscribers After Price Hike

2025-02-06
Disney+ Loses Subscribers After Price Hike

Disney's Q1 2025 earnings report revealed a loss of 700,000 Disney+ subscribers globally in recent months, attributed to price increases implemented in the fall. The ad-supported version rose from $7.99 to $9.99, while the ad-free tier jumped from $13.99 to $15.99. Simultaneously, Disney's crackdown on password sharing, introducing a paid sharing plan in select regions, likely contributed to the decline. Despite the loss, CEO Bob Iger stated the churn was less severe than anticipated. Conversely, Hulu gained 1.6 million subscribers, reaching 53.6 million. Disney's overall revenue saw a 4.8% increase, largely driven by the box office success of Moana 2, exceeding $1 billion in revenue.

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(www.macrumors.com)
Tech subscriber loss

Preserves: A More Expressive Data Language

2025-01-29

Preserves is a data model and serialization format comparable to JSON, XML, and others. It features a syntax-neutral data model and semantics, enabling lossless conversion between various syntaxes. The project provides specifications, tutorials, implementations in multiple languages (Python, Rust, JavaScript, etc.), and tools for developers seeking a more powerful and flexible data representation. It also offers schema and query capabilities for efficient data manipulation. Compared to JSON, Preserves offers richer expressiveness and better scalability.

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(preserves.dev)
Development data language data model

From Devil's Pact to Skeletal Remains: The Evolving Perceptions of Alcohol's Harm

2025-02-01

This article traces the evolution of perceptions surrounding alcohol's dangers in Western societies from the 17th to 19th centuries. Early views linked excessive drinking to supernatural consequences like pacts with the Devil and physical transformations. By the 18th century, the focus shifted to alcohol's physical damage, portraying it as a cause of premature aging, disease, and death, fueling temperance movements. However, the article also highlights a counter-narrative questioning the validity of these claims and the possibility of moderate alcohol consumption.

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(theappendix.net)
Misc history of alcohol temperance movement social perceptions

Mountain Biking Spinal Cord Injuries Surpass Hockey and Other High-Risk Sports

2025-01-08
Mountain Biking Spinal Cord Injuries Surpass Hockey and Other High-Risk Sports

New research from UBC's Faculty of Medicine reveals a shockingly high number of spinal cord injuries from mountain biking, exceeding those from hockey and other high-risk sports. Between 2008 and 2022, 58 people in British Columbia sustained spinal cord injuries while mountain biking, compared to only 3 from ice hockey. In recent years, mountain biking-related injuries have been seven times higher than those from skiing and snowboarding. The annual number in BC rivals or surpasses those from amateur football across the entire US. The study, published in *Neurotrauma Reports*, found most injured were healthy young men (93% male, average age 35.5). 77.5% were injured after going over their handlebars. While most wore helmets (86.3%), this didn't eliminate risk. The estimated lifetime cost of these injuries to BC is $195.4 million. The study calls for increased awareness and a discussion on safety improvements.

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(www.med.ubc.ca)
Tech mountain biking spinal cord injury

Challenging the CAP Theorem: A Partial Progress Conjecture Under Asynchrony

2025-01-08
Challenging the CAP Theorem: A Partial Progress Conjecture Under Asynchrony

A new paper challenges the well-known CAP theorem. The authors conjecture that partial progress is possible under network partitions, meaning the system can remain responsive to a subset of clients and achieve non-zero throughput during failures. They present the design of their CASSANDRA consensus protocol, allowing partitioned replicas to order client requests, potentially offering a path to systems that are both consistent and available to some degree, even during partitions. This research offers a novel approach to building more robust distributed systems.

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(arxiv.org)
Development CAP theorem consensus protocol

Supercharging Vector Search with ColBERT Reranking in PostgreSQL

2025-01-24
Supercharging Vector Search with ColBERT Reranking in PostgreSQL

Traditional vector search relies on sentence embeddings, potentially losing fine-grained details. ColBERT overcomes this by representing text as token-level multi-vectors, retaining nuanced information and improving accuracy. However, token-level interaction is computationally expensive. This blog post demonstrates combining sentence-level vector search with ColBERT token-level reranking using the PostgreSQL extensions VectorChord and pgvector. This approach performs a fast initial search using sentence embeddings, followed by reranking with ColBERT for improved results. Significant improvements were observed on several BEIR datasets.

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(blog.vectorchord.ai)
Development vector search
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