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Viking Hoard Reveals Surprising Trade Links Between England and the Islamic World

2025-08-18

Viking Hoard Reveals Surprising Trade Links Between England and the Islamic World

A Viking-Age silver hoard unearthed in Bedale, North Yorkshire, is rewriting our understanding of Viking-era trade. Analysis reveals that a significant portion of the silver, dating back to the 9th-10th centuries AD, originated not from local plunder but from the Islamic world, specifically Iran and Iraq. This silver traveled along established trade routes, reaching Scandinavia and eventually England. The discovery challenges the simplistic 'Viking raider' stereotype, highlighting the sophisticated trade networks and economic integration of Viking-Age England within a broader Eurasian economic system. The hoard's contents, including ingots, necklaces, and a sword pommel, demonstrate the Vikings' ability to refine and recast silver, blending Eastern and Western materials, showcasing cultural fusion alongside economic exchange.

(www.heritagedaily.com)

Tech Viking Age Trade Networks

GitHub: Surface-Stable Fractal Dithering

2025-01-23

GitHub: Surface-Stable Fractal Dithering

Rune Skovbo Johansen invented a novel surface-stable fractal dithering technique. This allows dither patterns in 3D scenes to stick to surfaces while maintaining approximately constant dot size and spacing on screen, even as surfaces move. This GitHub repository provides a Unity example project, shader and texture source files, and details on dither properties and global options like radial compensation and quantized layers. The technique achieves this by dynamically adding or removing dots, and offers 3D textures of varying dot densities. Licensed under MPL-2.0, encouraging community contributions.

(github.com)

Development 3D Graphics Dithering

Pentagon Halts Army Contracts, Sending Shockwaves Through Defense Industry

2025-01-29

Pentagon Halts Army Contracts, Sending Shockwaves Through Defense Industry

A freeze on new US Army contracts has thrown the defense industry into chaos and uncertainty. The move, stemming from a review of plans implemented under the Trump administration, lacks clear explanation regarding its scope and reasons. While the Army spokesperson claims contracting activities continue, internal documents and sources indicate a pause or review of all contracting actions except those directly tied to readiness, modernization, and personnel. The communication, delivered via email rather than formal memo, has left program managers confused about implementation. Industry fears this could be the start of a Pentagon-wide freeze, creating widespread anxiety about future projects.

(breakingdefense.com)

Tech defense contracts policy review

Can LLMs Accurately Recall the Bible?

2024-12-29

Can LLMs Accurately Recall the Bible?

This article investigates the ability of Large Language Models (LLMs) to accurately recall biblical scripture. The author devised six tests evaluating different sized LLMs' ability to accurately reproduce verses. Larger models (Llama 405B, GPT 4o, and Claude Sonnet) performed best, accurately recalling verses and even entire chapters. Smaller models (7B parameter range) frequently mixed translations or hallucinated text. Medium-sized models (70B range) generally preserved the meaning but often blended translations or paraphrased slightly. The author concludes that for accurate biblical quotations, larger models are preferable, supplemented by verifying against an actual Bible.

(benkaiser.dev)

AI Bible Accuracy

Reliable Data Replication from PostgreSQL to ClickHouse using PeerDB

2025-02-22

Reliable Data Replication from PostgreSQL to ClickHouse using PeerDB

This article demonstrates how to reliably replicate data from PostgreSQL to ClickHouse using PeerDB, a change data capture (CDC) solution specializing in PostgreSQL. It compares self-hosted open-source PeerDB with a fully managed version integrated into ClickHouse Cloud (via ClickPipes). Core concepts like creating peers, mirrors, and data transformations are explained, along with a step-by-step deployment and configuration guide. Whether using the open-source or managed route, PeerDB offers a highly performant and reliable data replication solution for PostgreSQL and ClickHouse users.

(benjaminwootton.com)

Development data replication

National Weather Service Beta Site Temporarily Down

2025-05-18

National Weather Service Beta Site Temporarily Down

The National Weather Service's beta.weather.gov website is temporarily deactivated due to the loss of critical federal staff, leaving the project without the resources needed for continued development, routine monitoring, and maintenance. The NWS remains committed to a more informative and user-friendly Weather.gov, and intends to reactivate this beta site as soon as resources allow. In the meantime, please use Weather.gov for official forecasts and warnings.

(beta.weather.gov)

Tech National Weather Service

Atopile: Revolutionizing Hardware Design with Code

2025-07-16

Atopile: Revolutionizing Hardware Design with Code

Atopile brings the power of software development workflows to hardware design. By describing electronics with code, you can leverage modularity, version control, and deep validation. Capture design intelligence and constraints directly in your code, enabling auto-selection of components, embedded calculations checked on every build, and reliable, configurable modules. This allows for rapid iteration, easier collaboration, and robust designs validated through continuous integration. Key features include faster project creation, automated component selection, and constant validation.

(atopile.io)

Hardware

California to Honor Steve Jobs with Commemorative Coin

2025-02-22

California to Honor Steve Jobs with Commemorative Coin

California has nominated Steve Jobs for a commemorative coin to be released in 2026, celebrating his innovative contributions to technology. Beyond co-founding Apple and launching revolutionary products like the Apple II and iPhone, Jobs also co-founded Pixar, creating the world's first fully computer-animated feature film. His legacy centers on making complex technology user-friendly and accessible, connecting people globally. The coin, produced by the U.S. Mint, embodies Jobs' innovative spirit and the California ethos.

(www.gov.ca.gov)

Tech Steve Jobs Commemorative Coin

Imaginary Friends: A Child's Secret Weapon for Social Development?

2025-03-30

Imaginary Friends: A Child's Secret Weapon for Social Development?

During Covid lockdowns, many children developed imaginary friends, like my son and his book-based pal, 'Big Bat'. Psychology professor Tracy Gleason explains that these friends can be anything, animated and personified by the child. Studies show up to 65% of 7-year-olds have them. Contrary to common assumptions, this isn't a sign of loneliness. Instead, it's a safe space for kids to navigate complex social dynamics, experiment with friendship rules and boundaries, and even express emotions and self-regulate. Imaginary friends can be kind or mischievous, mirroring the child's understanding of relationships. In short, imaginary friends are a normal and common part of childhood, often driven by fun and exploration, not psychological issues.

(www.vox.com)

Misc child psychology imaginary friends socioemotional development

Apple Q1 Earnings: Record Revenue, AI-Powered Future

2025-01-31

Apple announced its financial results for fiscal Q1 2025 (calendar Q4 2024), reporting record revenue of $124.3 billion, a 4% year-over-year increase. Earnings per share rose 10% to $2.40. Services, Mac, and iPad revenues saw significant growth, while iPhone and Wearables experienced slight declines. CEO Tim Cook highlighted this as Apple's best quarter ever, emphasizing the role of Apple Intelligence in enhancing user experience and driving future growth. Apple Intelligence will support more languages in April. The earnings call also provided guidance for the next quarter, projecting low-to-mid single-digit revenue growth.

(www.macrumors.com)

Tech Apple Earnings Revenue Growth

Red Hat Style Guide: A Deep Dive into Terminology

2025-07-11

This document meticulously outlines the standardized terminology used in Red Hat technical documentation. It covers a wide range of aspects, from software names (e.g., IBM S/390, Samba) to descriptions of security (avoiding vague terms like "secure" and requiring specific details on security features). The guide also standardizes abbreviations (e.g., SSH, SSL), command-line descriptions, and clarifies the proper usage of easily confused words (e.g., "since" vs. "because"). The overall aim is to ensure consistency and accuracy, enhancing readability and professionalism.

(stylepedia.net)

Development Technical Writing Style Guide

Modules Begone: A New Programming Paradigm Based on a Global Function Database

2025-04-04

This article proposes a revolutionary programming paradigm: abandoning modules in favor of a global function database. All functions have unique names and rich metadata, stored in a searchable key-value database. This simplifies open-source contributions (contributing a single function is sufficient), eliminates the module partitioning problem, and facilitates function lookup and reuse. The author argues that this approach is more beneficial for the development and maintenance of large programs and proposes specific implementation ideas and extensions, such as function rating and peer review mechanisms.

(groups.google.com)

Development modularization

MRubyD: A C#-based mruby VM for Seamless Game Engine Integration

2025-03-24

MRubyD: A C#-based mruby VM for Seamless Game Engine Integration

MRubyD is a new mruby virtual machine implemented in pure C#, designed for seamless integration with C#-based game engines. Leveraging modern C# features, it boasts high performance and extensibility, prioritizing Ruby API compatibility. Currently in preview, some features like built-in types and methods, as well as private/protected visibility, are under development. Install via `dotnet add package MRubyD` and explore its capabilities through the provided examples. It requires the native mruby compiler for compiling .rb source code into .mrb bytecode.

(github.com)

Development

Apple Unveils New Generation of Multilingual, Multimodal Foundation Models

2025-07-18

Apple Unveils New Generation of Multilingual, Multimodal Foundation Models

Apple introduced two new multilingual, multimodal foundation language models powering its on-device and server-side intelligence features. A ~3B parameter on-device model, optimized for Apple silicon, and a scalable server model built on a novel Parallel-Track Mixture-of-Experts (PT-MoE) transformer. Both are trained on massive multilingual and multimodal datasets, refined with supervised fine-tuning and reinforcement learning. They support more languages, image understanding, and tool calls, matching or exceeding comparable open-source baselines. A new Swift-centric framework simplifies integration for developers.

(machinelearning.apple.com)

AI

uBlock Origin: A Highly Efficient Ad Blocker

2024-12-23

uBlock Origin: A Highly Efficient Ad Blocker

uBlock Origin (uBO) is a highly efficient and lightweight content blocker for Chromium and Firefox browsers. It blocks ads, trackers, coin miners, and malware by default using multiple filter lists like EasyList and EasyPrivacy. Users can customize blocking rules and choose between a simple or advanced interface. Crucially, uBO emphasizes that using an ad blocker is not theft, but a means of protecting user privacy. The project is open-source and relies on community-maintained filter lists.

(github.com)

Development ad blocker

Adorable Dog Sim: Blender Studio's Free Open-World Game

2025-07-15

Adorable Dog Sim: Blender Studio's Free Open-World Game

Blender Studio released 'Dogwalk,' a free, open-world game where you play a big dog helping a child build a snowman in a winter wonderland. The game features a unique aesthetic built from scanned and recreated real-life paper models. Explore camping grounds, forests, creeks, and a frozen pond, interacting with the child in various ways. There are no fail states, only player-driven moments. 'Dogwalk' was used to test and improve Blender and the Godot Game Engine; all source files and documentation are open-source.

(blenderstudio.itch.io)

Game

Windows 11 2024 Update: A Bug-Filled Mess?

2025-02-22

Windows 11 2024 Update: A Bug-Filled Mess?

Microsoft's 2024 Windows 11 update continues to be plagued with issues. The February Patch Tuesday update (KB5051987), intended to fix bugs, has instead introduced new problems, including File Explorer malfunctions, installation glitches, and more. While the update addressed some issues with digital audio converters, USB audio drivers, USB cameras, and passkeys, and patched security vulnerabilities, many users report File Explorer failing to respond when opening folders, accessing it via shortcuts or Windows Search, or displaying subfolders. Installation problems include the update stopping at 96% or getting stuck at 0%. Other glitches include mouse stuttering, undetectable cameras, and .NET app installation failures within Windows Sandbox. While not all users experience these issues, the problems highlight the instability of the Windows 11 2024 version, demanding swift action from Microsoft to ensure system stability and reliability.

(www.zdnet.com)

Tech Bugs System Update

Super-Earth Discovered in Habitable Zone of Sun-like Star

2025-01-28

Super-Earth Discovered in Habitable Zone of Sun-like Star

The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has confirmed the discovery of a super-Earth, designated HD 20794 d, orbiting within the habitable zone of the Sun-like star HD 20794. This six-Earth-mass planet has a 647-day orbital period and an elliptical orbit. The discovery, based on over two decades of radial velocity measurements, opens exciting possibilities for future studies of terrestrial planet atmospheres and makes it a prime target for next-generation telescopes. While residing in the habitable zone, its high mass and eccentric orbit suggest a vastly different environment than Earth, yet offering a unique perspective on how habitability conditions vary over time.

(www.iac.es)

Tech Super-Earth Habitable Zone Exoplanet

Conquering Left Recursion: Fixing a C++ Demangler's Grammar

2025-02-02

This article details the author's journey in resolving left recursion and mutual left recursion issues within a context-free grammar (CFG) while rewriting RizinOrg's C++ demangler, rz-libdemangle. It begins by explaining the concepts of left recursion and mutual left recursion, demonstrating with simple examples and state diagrams how to transform left-recursive grammars into right-recursive ones to prevent infinite recursion. The author then shares a real-world problem encountered in the Itanium ABI demangler, showcasing a complex grammar with left and mutual left recursion, and how they used macros and clever grammar transformations to solve these issues, ultimately preventing stack overflow errors.

(brightprogrammer.in)

Development left recursion

ChatGPT for macOS Now Directly Edits Code

2025-03-06

ChatGPT for macOS Now Directly Edits Code

OpenAI announced that its ChatGPT macOS app now features direct code editing capabilities, supporting developer tools like Xcode, VS Code, and JetBrains. The feature is available to paying users now, with a rollout to free users planned for next week. This builds on the "work with apps" functionality launched in November 2024, minimizing the need for copy-pasting code. This puts ChatGPT in more direct competition with AI coding tools like Cursor and GitHub Copilot, and OpenAI reportedly plans a dedicated software engineering product. While AI coding tools are gaining popularity, concerns remain about security, copyright, and reliability risks, including increased debugging time for AI-generated code.

(techcrunch.com)

Development Code Editing AI Coding

faynoSync: Automated Client Application Update API Server

2025-06-17

faynoSync: Automated Client Application Update API Server

faynoSync is a Go-based API server for automatically updating client applications. Upload your app to S3, set the version number, and clients check for updates. If a newer version exists, the server returns an update link, prompting a client alert. It supports background and on-demand updates, with full documentation, a frontend dashboard, and example client applications. Deployment involves setting environment variables, simplified with Docker, and extensive unit tests ensure functionality.

(github.com)

Development application updates API server

Test-Driven Development with LLMs: Fun and Profit

2025-01-16

This blog post explores a novel approach to Test-Driven Development (TDD) leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs). The author demonstrates how LLMs significantly enhance TDD efficiency by generating unit tests and code implementations based on specifications, iteratively refining the code and reducing debugging overhead. An automated workflow integrating IDE, terminal, and chat interface is also presented to further boost productivity. While acknowledging the inherent unreliability of LLMs, the author emphasizes the importance of human review and supplementary test cases to mitigate risks. The approach is best suited for well-structured projects, prioritizing low cognitive load to promote maintainable code.

(blog.yfzhou.fyi)

Development Test-Driven Development

MapTCHA: A Novel CAPTCHA Leveraging AI Uncertainty to Combat Bots

2025-02-13

Traditional CAPTCHAs leak user data and are costly to maintain. This paper introduces MapTCHA, a novel CAPTCHA that leverages the uncertainty of AI-powered computer vision in image interpretation to combat bots and spam. MapTCHA presents users with a mix of images containing AI-predicted objects (known positives, known negatives, and unknowns), asking them to identify correctly interpreted building outlines and other objects. User votes determine the truth of unknown images, providing new data sources for OpenStreetMap. The system uses the open-source AI-assisted mapping system fAIr for image recognition. Future plans include expanding to more objects and image types and integrating MapTCHA into various login systems.

(fosdem.org)

Development

Post-Conference Retrospective: Lessons Learned from Running an Online Event

2025-03-06

This post details the author's experience running an online conference, highlighting improvements made since the previous event. Speaker recruitment, marketing, ticketing (using Stripe's pay-what-you-want feature), and video management were all addressed. While ticket sales were slightly lower than last year, attendee engagement and feedback were positive. Areas for improvement include refining speaker communication, optimizing marketing efforts, and enhancing video/audio quality. The author questions the overall efficiency of the process, suggesting future iterations might be structured differently.

(www.scattered-thoughts.net)

Misc event organization retrospective

Svalboard: A Datahand Successor Born From Necessity

2025-06-24

Svalboard: A Datahand Successor Born From Necessity

A 20+ year Datahand user, devastated by the company's demise and the damage to his precious unit, decided to build a replacement. Inspired by Ben Gruver's lalboard design and leveraging his expertise in high-volume consumer electronics and input technology, he created Svalboard. This keyboard aims to provide thousands of RSI sufferers with a faster, safer, more precise, and pain-free typing experience, carrying the Datahand legacy forward.

(svalboard.com)

Hardware

OpenAI Whistleblower's Death Questioned, Second Autopsy Ordered

2024-12-27

OpenAI Whistleblower's Death Questioned, Second Autopsy Ordered

The death of former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji, found dead in his San Francisco apartment, has been ruled a suicide. However, Balaji's parents are contesting this conclusion, commissioning a second independent autopsy. Balaji had recently become a whistleblower, publicly accusing OpenAI of using copyrighted material to train ChatGPT. His parents claim he showed no signs of suicidal tendencies and was optimistic about the future, planning to establish a non-profit focused on machine learning. The case has sparked public speculation and calls for a thorough investigation.

(sfist.com)

Tech Suicide Copyright Dispute

Kwai Leverages OceanBase's 400TB Single Cluster to Handle Massive Data

2024-12-28

Kwai, a short-video app with over 10 million daily active users, faced challenges with its existing MySQL sharding solution as data volume and concurrent requests grew. Storage bottlenecks and complex operations became major issues. Migrating to OceanBase distributed database, Kwai built a 400TB single cluster successfully supporting transaction verification and payment services. OceanBase's high performance, scalability, and ease of use solved Kwai's data storage and query problems, significantly improving system stability and efficiency while reducing operational costs.

(oceanbase.github.io)

Tech distributed database high concurrency

The Ugly Truth About Lisp Indentation

2025-01-19

Lisp programmers have long debated the best indentation style. This article explores various approaches, including no indentation, function-aligned indentation, space-filling indentation, and the author's controversial "sick" macro indentation. Function-aligned indentation becomes unwieldy with deep nesting, while space-filling, though efficient, falls short in extreme cases. The author advocates for a "sick" macro style, which, despite being unconventional, maintains readability in deeply nested code and plays well with most indentation tools. Readers are invited to share their preferred styles.

(aartaka.me)

Development coding style indentation

Revitalizing a Relic: Modernizing the KIM-1 Microcomputer

2025-07-28

Revitalizing a Relic: Modernizing the KIM-1 Microcomputer

The author connects a 1976 KIM-1 microcomputer to a modern terminal. The KIM-1 uses an obsolete current loop interface, requiring a simple circuit modification. By modifying a readily available USB-to-RS-232 adapter, the author successfully enables communication between the KIM-1 and a modern computer, allowing program uploads using minicom and even emulating punched tape loading. The process vividly demonstrates the charm of combining hardware restoration with innovation.

(blog.jgc.org)

Hardware hardware modification serial communication

Giant Clam Genome Sequencing Reveals Secrets of Algae Symbiosis

2025-02-01

Giant Clam Genome Sequencing Reveals Secrets of Algae Symbiosis

Scientists sequenced the genome of the giant clam, *Tridacna maxima*, revealing how these massive mollusks evolved a symbiotic relationship with algae to fuel their impressive size. The study found that giant clams have evolved genes to specifically recognize and tolerate symbiotic algae, suppressing their immune response to avoid rejection. This immune suppression, however, leaves them vulnerable to viral infections. The research highlights the evolutionary mechanisms behind the giant clam's size and underscores the importance of protecting these keystone species, threatened by climate change and other factors impacting coral reef ecosystems.

(www.colorado.edu)

Tech genome sequencing symbiosis coral reef ecosystem

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