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The End of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum: 4000 Banned Books and Their Stories

2025-08-13

In 1948, the Catholic Church published the final 32nd edition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, a 508-page catalog that, since its first edition in 1559, listed nearly 4000 books banned for heresy, moral deficiency, sexual explicitness, political incorrectness, and more. Notable figures like Erasmus, Voltaire, and Sartre were included, alongside philosophers who believed in God, such as Descartes and Kant. Primarily intended for priests, this index reflects the Church's long history of controlling ideas and restricting intellectual freedom.

(historyofinformation.com)

Misc Index Librorum Prohibitorum

Trump's Unprecedented Assault on the First Amendment

2025-03-31

Following his re-election, the Trump administration has launched an unprecedented attack on the five pillars of the First Amendment: the right to petition, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. Through actions such as firing those processing FOIA requests, threatening sanctions against lawyers suing the government, defunding universities, suing news organizations, restricting government employee language, and rescinding protections for religious sites, the administration systematically erodes these fundamental rights. This mirrors the repressive tactics of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, raising serious concerns about the future of American democracy.

(krebsonsecurity.com)

Tech

ESP32 Pomodoro Timer: A Hardware and Software DIY Project

2025-03-29

ESP32 Pomodoro Timer: A Hardware and Software DIY Project

A software engineer, driven by a quest for productivity enhancement and a desire to help a friend, designed an ESP32-based Pomodoro timer. This timer uses an e-paper display and a rotary encoder, prioritizing a physical device, fun, and intuitive usability. The project encompasses hardware selection (ESP32, e-paper display, rotary encoder, LED, etc.), software development (C++, Arduino framework, GxEPD2 library), and 3D-printed case design. The author shares lessons learned throughout the design process, such as display selection, input method design, LED indicator implementation, and software code management. The final product combines practicality and fun, incorporating Easter eggs.

(github.com)

Hardware Pomodoro Timer Hardware DIY

PG-MCP: Enhanced PostgreSQL Model Context Protocol Server

2025-03-30

PG-MCP: Enhanced PostgreSQL Model Context Protocol Server

PG-MCP is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for PostgreSQL databases, offering enhanced capabilities for AI agents. Building upon the reference Postgres MCP implementation, it adds multi-database support, rich metadata including PostGIS and pgvector extensions, query plan analysis tools, and robust connection management. Deployable via Docker or a virtual environment, developers can interact with PG-MCP using the provided Python client, even leveraging large language models like Claude for natural language to SQL conversion.

(github.com)

Development

AI-Powered Development: No More Fear of Large, Complex Projects

2025-03-09

A seasoned programmer has noticed a profound change over the past year: he's no longer intimidated by large or complex projects, nor unfamiliar technologies or programming languages. This is thanks to advancements in AI. The author cites two past projects he abandoned due to complexity, contrasting them with the significantly increased efficiency using AI-assisted programming today. He completed a project in an hour that previously took six weeks, and expresses excitement about the future, calling it a golden age for programmers.

(rodyne.com)

Development

Implementing State Machines in PostgreSQL for Data Integrity and Advanced Analytics

2025-05-08

This article demonstrates how to implement a finite-state machine (FSM) in PostgreSQL to manage order statuses. By creating an order events table, a state transition function, and a custom aggregate function, the author builds a system that ensures valid order state transitions and prevents invalid operations. Critically, this approach also unlocks advanced analytics capabilities, such as tracking order state history and generating daily order status reports, which is invaluable for applications with large datasets. The author uses an order management system as an example, detailing the implementation steps and showcasing how to leverage the system for data analysis. The resulting system offers both data integrity and powerful analytical tools.

(felixge.de)

Development

It's DE9, Not DB9: A Tale of Misnamed Connectors

2025-07-26

For years, we've incorrectly called the 9-pin serial connector a DB9, but its correct name is DE9. This article explains the naming discrepancy. D-SUB connector naming follows a pattern: the first letter 'D' represents the D-shaped metal shield, the second letter specifies the shell size, and the following number indicates the pin count. DB denotes a 25-pin shell, while DE denotes a 9-pin shell. While DB9 has become the de facto name, it's technically wrong. SparkFun's new product uses the correct name, DE9, to correct this longstanding error and educate users on the proper technical terminology.

(news.sparkfun.com)

Hardware electronic components connectors

Why Are Coffee Stains Darkest at the Edges?

2025-05-13

Halldór Svavarsson, associate professor at the School of Technology and Engineering at the University of Reykjavik, Iceland, posed the question of why coffee stains are darkest at the edges when they dry. The provided text doesn't offer an explanation, only presenting the question and author information, suggesting a scientific answer is needed, beyond simple observation.

(www.why.is)

Misc coffee physical phenomenon

From Java Skeptic to Advocate: 25 Years of Java Development

2025-07-23

From Java Skeptic to Advocate: 25 Years of Java Development

This article recounts a 25-year journey with Java, transforming from initial skepticism to ardent advocacy. The author details Java's evolution, highlighting how new features reduce development complexity and improve code readability and maintainability. The supportive Java community, and Java's importance in the age of AI and cloud-native development, are also emphasized. The author encourages readers to learn Java and provides a learning roadmap.

(empatheticdeveloper.wordpress.com)

Development

Watson vs. Jeopardy!: The Unfair Fight That Predicted Our AI Anxiety

2025-09-13

Watson vs. Jeopardy!: The Unfair Fight That Predicted Our AI Anxiety

In 2011, IBM's AI, Watson, famously beat Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, sparking both celebration and controversy. This article delves into the behind-the-scenes story, revealing how Watson's superhuman buzzer speed and strategic adjustments during the televised matches raised questions about fair play. The win, while a technological triumph, foreshadowed the anxieties surrounding AI's capabilities and its impact on human competition and collaboration. The article also explores the lingering debate among Jeopardy! fans and contestants about whether the match was truly fair.

(slate.com)

AI Human-Computer Competition Jeopardy!

Windows 11 & Copilot+ PCs: AI-Powered Productivity Boost

2025-05-06

Windows 11 & Copilot+ PCs: AI-Powered Productivity Boost

Microsoft unveiled significant updates to Windows 11 and Copilot+ PCs, leveraging AI to enhance user experience. Copilot+ PCs will integrate improved search, Recall, and Click to Do, alongside a new settings agent allowing users to adjust settings via natural language. Click to Do expands with more actions, including list creation and Microsoft 365 Copilot content generation. Photos, Paint, and Snipping Tool gain AI-powered features like dynamic lighting control in Photos, a sticker generator in Paint, and object selection in Paint. Accessibility improvements include rich image descriptions in Narrator. These updates will roll out gradually to Windows Insiders.

(blogs.windows.com)

Tech

Microsoft to Shutter Skype? The End of an Era?

2025-02-28

Microsoft to Shutter Skype? The End of an Era?

Reports suggest Microsoft is preparing to shut down its long-standing communication app, Skype, in the coming months. A hidden string in the latest Skype for Windows preview hints at a May shutdown, prompting users to switch to Teams. Once a dominant VoIP platform, Skype has faced stiff competition from newer apps like Telegram and WhatsApp. Despite integration attempts within the Microsoft ecosystem, Skype has struggled to maintain relevance. The move appears to be a strategic shift towards consolidating users on the Teams platform.

(www.windowscentral.com)

Tech Communication App

US Military Fights for the Right to Repair

2025-06-12

US Military Fights for the Right to Repair

The US Navy is pushing for the right to repair its own equipment, citing the case of the USS Gerald R. Ford, where oven malfunctions caused major logistical problems due to contractual restrictions. Secretary Phelan emphasized the need to regain control of intellectual property and ensure sailors can fix hardware, particularly during combat. The Army also faces similar issues, prompting a directive from the Secretary of Defense to include right-to-repair provisions in future contracts. This bipartisan effort aligns with the Servicemember Right-to-Repair Act currently under consideration by Congress. Experts believe this move will reduce costs and improve efficiency while demonstrating trust in military personnel's capabilities.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech right to repair contracts

Agentic Coding: Practical Tips and Tricks

2025-06-12

This post details the author's experience with agentic coding using Claude Code, focusing on maximizing efficiency. Key strategies include using the cheaper Sonnet model, disabling permission checks, optimizing tool usage, and choosing Go for its simplicity and efficient testing. The author emphasizes writing simple, stable, and parallelizable code, and refactoring strategically. While the field is rapidly evolving, core principles like simplicity, stability, observability, and smart parallelization remain crucial for success.

(lucumr.pocoo.org)

Development agentic coding

ContextGem's DocxConverter: Going Beyond Open-Source Limitations

2025-05-06

ContextGem's DocxConverter: Going Beyond Open-Source Limitations

ContextGem introduces a robust DOCX converter transforming DOCX files into LLM-ready ContextGem document objects. Unlike other open-source tools, it extracts often-missed elements like misaligned tables, comments, footnotes, textboxes, headers/footers, and embedded images. It preserves document structure with rich metadata for superior LLM analysis. Built as a custom native converter directly processing Word XML with zero external dependencies, it excels where others fall short. While some limitations exist (e.g., character-level styling and chart extraction are skipped), it significantly outperforms open-source alternatives in handling complex DOCX structures, providing richer data for LLM applications.

(contextgem.dev)

Development DOCX conversion

Felix Baumgartner, Daredevil and Record-Breaking Jumper, Dies in Paragliding Accident

2025-07-19

Felix Baumgartner, Daredevil and Record-Breaking Jumper, Dies in Paragliding Accident

Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian extreme athlete renowned for his record-breaking stratosphere jump in 2012, died Thursday in a paragliding accident in Italy. Baumgartner, 56, reportedly suffered a sudden illness mid-flight, losing control and crashing into a hotel pool. The accident also injured a hotel employee. Baumgartner's death comes as a shock, given his history of pushing boundaries with daring stunts. His legacy, however, remains a testament to human courage and the pursuit of extraordinary feats, though also marked by controversial public statements and legal battles.

(www.theinternational.at)

Misc paragliding accident Felix Baumgartner

FSF's 40th Anniversary Merch Drop: Limited Time Only!

2025-06-30

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is having a limited-time sale of its 40th-anniversary merchandise in its GNU Press shop. This includes a summery yellow anniversary shirt, restocked favorites like the popular book 'Ada & Zangemann', a GNU baseball cap, and a webcam guard. Purchases support the FSF's mission to empower the world through free software. They're also running a summer membership drive, with new members getting a 20% discount in the GNU Press shop. Shipping is delayed due to volunteer-based fulfillment.

(www.fsf.org)

Misc Merchandise

Soaring Electricity Bills Leave Florida Residents Struggling

2025-08-17

Soaring Electricity Bills Leave Florida Residents Struggling

Florida residents Ken Thomas and Al Salvi are grappling with soaring electricity bills, reaching $400 and $500 a month respectively, due to the intense summer heat and rising prices. Florida Power & Light's application for a rate increase sparked public outrage. Nationally, electricity prices have doubled the rate of inflation, fueled by the surge in energy demand from AI data centers and increased natural gas exports. Experts point to clean energy as a solution, but insufficient subsidies leave low-income households vulnerable to power shutoffs.

(www.npr.org)

Misc rising electricity prices low-income families

Early Bird Gets the Worm: Pre-order App & Get Exclusive Early Access

2025-08-17

Pre-order now and receive all minor updates during the pre-sale period, including bug fixes, performance improvements, and minor feature tweaks—completely free! After the pre-sale, larger features and major upgrades will be developed, available to pre-sale buyers at a special discounted price. Join early for immediate access, influence development with your feedback, and secure the lowest price.

(fallinorg.com)

Development app pre-order early access discounted price

Goldman Sachs CIO: Managing AI Employees Will Be the Challenge of 2025

2025-01-22

Goldman Sachs CIO: Managing AI Employees Will Be the Challenge of 2025

Goldman Sachs CIO Marco Argenti predicts that managing AI employees will be a major challenge in 2025. AI models will mature to handle complex tasks, leading to hybrid human-AI teams. This will require corporate HR to manage both human and machine resources, potentially including AI 'layoffs'. Argenti also forecasts that top AI models will be akin to PhD graduates with specialized industry knowledge, thanks to advancements in retrieval-augmented generation and fine-tuning. Furthermore, the convergence of AI and robotics will enable AI to better understand and interact with the physical world.

(www.zdnet.com)

AI AI employee management AI trends Goldman Sachs prediction

The Linux Binary Compatibility Nightmare: Deconstructing and Rebuilding GLIBC

2025-04-01

This article delves into the deep-seated issue of binary compatibility on Linux, pinpointing the root cause as the monolithic design of GLIBC (GNU C Library). It critiques containerization solutions like Flatpak and AppImage for their shortcomings, proposing an alternative approach using static linking and older system libraries to improve portability. Ultimately, the authors advocate for a radical restructuring of GLIBC, breaking it into smaller, more focused libraries—libsyscall, libdl, libheap, libthread, and libc—to achieve Windows-like robust binary compatibility and finally solve this longstanding Linux problem.

(jangafx.com)

Development binary compatibility

Nixon's Memoirs: A Surprisingly Intimate Look at a President

2025-07-27

Nixon's Memoirs: A Surprisingly Intimate Look at a President

This post reviews the first volume of Richard Nixon's memoirs. The author challenges preconceived notions of Nixon as an outsider, revealing a surprisingly sensitive individual who valued both power and approval. The review highlights Nixon's perspective on his relationship with Eisenhower, painting a picture of a complex political landscape. The piece also touches upon the momentous events of the 1960s and 70s, including Nixon's presidency, and concludes with a poignant reflection on his career, culminating in his final book, *Beyond Peace*.

(justismills.substack.com)

Misc Nixon Memoirs

FTC Staff Ordered to Stop Calling Agency 'Independent'

2025-03-28

FTC Staff Ordered to Stop Calling Agency 'Independent'

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has instructed its staff to stop referring to the agency as 'independent' in complaints, marking another move by the Trump administration to assert greater control over the historically independent body. This follows President Trump's executive order allowing the White House to review independent agencies and the firing of two Democratic commissioners, leading to a lawsuit. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson publicly supports Trump's actions, claiming the President's authority will be upheld. This highlights the ongoing challenges to the independence of US government agencies and the influence of political interference.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech

Cat Origin Story Rewritten: Tunisia, the Unexpected Cradle of Domestic Felines

2025-04-22

Cat Origin Story Rewritten: Tunisia, the Unexpected Cradle of Domestic Felines

Two large-scale studies are rewriting the history of domestic cat origins. By analyzing genetic data and archaeological evidence, researchers found that cats didn't accompany early farmers into Europe as previously thought. Instead, Tunisia is pinpointed as the origin point, with cats arriving in Europe in multiple waves starting around the 1st century CE. Religious and cultural factors played a crucial role, with the veneration of cats in ancient Egypt and their representation in Greco-Roman and Norse mythology driving their spread. The research also reveals competition and hybridization between domestic cats and native European wildcats, leading to a decline in wildcat populations. This discovery significantly alters our understanding of one of humanity's most familiar companions.

(phys.org)

Misc cat origins genetic research

IBM's PC: An Open Secret to its Downfall?

2025-09-14

IBM's PC: An Open Secret to its Downfall?

Launched in 1981, the IBM PC quickly set the standard for personal computing. However, the PC wasn't entirely an IBM creation; key components like the CPU and OS came from Intel and Microsoft respectively. This openness fueled the PC's success, but also sowed the seeds of IBM's downfall. While IBM controlled the BIOS and manufacturing, it lacked control over the PC ecosystem. Ultimately, IBM sold its PC business to Lenovo in 2005. This article argues that IBM's failure wasn't due to its open approach, but rather a strategic underestimation and internal cultural resistance towards the PC, coupled with a failure to leverage its strengths, leading to the loss of market dominance.

(thechipletter.substack.com)

Tech

AI Chatbots' Inaccurate URLs: A New Opportunity for Criminals

2025-07-04

AI Chatbots' Inaccurate URLs: A New Opportunity for Criminals

Netcraft's research reveals that AI chatbots like GPT-4.1 frequently provide incorrect website addresses for major companies, achieving only 66% accuracy. This creates an opportunity for cybercriminals to leverage these inaccuracies for phishing attacks by creating fake websites. Researchers found that scammers are even exploiting AI-generated results, creating fake code repositories, tutorials, and social media accounts on GitHub to boost the ranking of malicious sites in chatbot results, enabling supply-chain attacks such as the one targeting the Solana blockchain API. This highlights the risk of solely relying on AI chatbots for information, particularly sensitive data like login URLs, emphasizing the need for careful verification.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

The Puzzling Performance of Generational Garbage Collection

2025-02-09

The author conducted experiments to verify the performance benefits of generational garbage collection. Surprisingly, the results showed that generational garbage collection took longer than whole-heap garbage collection in various benchmarks. The article explores several potential causes, including write barrier overhead, nursery size selection, benchmark representativeness, and collection frequency. The author concludes that further investigation is needed to determine the root cause.

(wingolog.org)

Development

Coinbase Tightens Security Amid Growing North Korean Hacking Threat

2025-08-24

Coinbase Tightens Security Amid Growing North Korean Hacking Threat

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed that the company has been forced to tighten its remote-first work policy to combat a growing threat from North Korean hackers. North Korean IT workers have been exploiting Coinbase's remote work policy to infiltrate the company's systems and steal sensitive information. In response, Coinbase is requiring all employees to attend in-person onboarding in the US and is implementing stricter background checks, including US citizenship requirements and fingerprinting, for those with access to sensitive systems. The company has also strengthened internal security measures to mitigate insider threats and bribery attempts.

(www.businessinsider.com)

Tech

Interactive Web App: An Orwellial

2025-03-02

This post describes a heavily interactive web application requiring JavaScript. The author rejects the term 'Bluetorial,' instead dubbing it an 'Orwellial' and including a humorous GIF. This suggests the app is complex and interactive, far beyond a simple HTML interface.

(bsky.app)

Development Interactive

Cryogenic Computing: Potential and Bottlenecks of High-Frequency Cores

2025-06-09

Cryogenic Computing: Potential and Bottlenecks of High-Frequency Cores

This paper explores cryogenic semiconductor computing and superconductor electronics as alternatives to traditional semiconductors. Facing challenges like increased leakage current and performance degradation at higher temperatures, these technologies offer high-performance, low-power computation. The study uses gem5 to model in-order and out-of-order cores at high clock frequencies, evaluating performance using real-world applications (NPB, SPEC CPU2006, GAPBS). Results reveal potential speedups but also highlight limitations imposed by cache bandwidth.

(arch.cs.ucdavis.edu)

Tech cryogenic computing superconductor electronics high-frequency cores

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