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A Rust Program That Runs for 10↑↑15 Steps

2025-04-16

A Rust Program That Runs for 10↑↑15 Steps

This article explores the creation of an exceptionally long-running Rust program. Starting with the fundamental operation of addition (increment), the author meticulously builds up to multiplication (multiply), exponentiation (exponentiate), and finally tetration, culminating in a program that calculates the gargantuan number 10↑↑15. The emphasis is on in-place operations, avoiding memory copies and temporary variables to ensure the program executes for the designed number of steps. The article clearly explains the implementation details with concise code examples, making it valuable for learning algorithm design and Rust programming.

(medium.com)

Development Large Number Computation

evolved.lua: A Fast and Flexible ECS Library for Lua

2025-05-21

evolved.lua: A Fast and Flexible ECS Library for Lua

evolved.lua is a fast and flexible Entity-Component-System (ECS) library for Lua. It uses an archetype-based approach for storing entities and components, employing a Structure of Arrays (SoA) for efficient iteration and processing. The library supports queries, deferred operations, batch operations, and features like an entity builder for streamlined complex system creation. Install via luarocks or clone the repository; documentation includes an overview, examples, and a cheat sheet.

(github.com)

Development

Reverse Engineering a 90s Tektronix 5Gsps Oscilloscope

2025-05-05

This blog post details a reverse engineering effort on a Tektronix TDS684B oscilloscope, renowned for its impressive 5Gsps sample rate in the 1990s. By examining the internal components and taking measurements, the author discovered a key component: an unidentified ADG286D chip, likely an analog CCD FIFO memory. This chip captures analog signals at extremely high speed before digitizing them at a much slower 8MHz rate. Despite significant noise on the ADC input, the final displayed waveform is remarkably clean, hinting at sophisticated signal processing techniques. The analysis reveals the ingenious design that achieved such high sampling rates with the technology available at the time.

(tomverbeure.github.io)

Hardware oscilloscope high-speed sampling

SteamOS Expands Beyond the Steam Deck: A New Compatibility Label Arrives

2025-05-14

SteamOS Expands Beyond the Steam Deck: A New Compatibility Label Arrives

Valve is expanding its Linux-based SteamOS beyond the Steam Deck to other handheld PCs like the Asus ROG Ally. To prepare, Steam is introducing a "SteamOS Compatible" label indicating whether a game and its middleware are supported on SteamOS, including game functionality, launcher functionality, and anti-cheat support. Over 18,000 titles will initially be labeled compatible. While Proton technology has greatly improved compatibility, not every Windows game will run flawlessly. This signifies a major step towards broader SteamOS adoption.

(arstechnica.com)

Game

Earth's 60-Year-Old Secret Companion: A New Quasi-Moon Discovered

2025-09-22

Earth's 60-Year-Old Secret Companion: A New Quasi-Moon Discovered

Astronomers have discovered a near-Earth asteroid named 2025 PN7, a quasi-moon that has been orbiting Earth unnoticed for about 60 years. This roughly 30-meter-diameter space rock is smaller than any previously known quasi-moon and its orbit shifts between a near-Earth orbit and a horseshoe orbit. Researchers hypothesize it may originate from the Arjuna asteroid belt, or even be a fragment of the Moon. While in close proximity to Earth, it poses no threat and offers valuable opportunities for solar system research and testing planetary exploration technologies.

(www.cnn.com)

Tech near-Earth asteroid

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.

(martinfowler.com)

Development API changes codemod

Is the World Becoming Uninsurable? Climate Change and Systemic Risk

2025-01-17

Is the World Becoming Uninsurable? Climate Change and Systemic Risk

This article explores the increasing possibility of the world becoming uninsurable due to rising global risks. The author begins with their personal experience of being unable to obtain hurricane insurance, highlighting the increasing frequency of extreme weather events due to climate change, forcing insurance companies to withdraw from high-risk areas or raise premiums dramatically. The article criticizes the reliance on solely political or technological solutions, arguing that government mandates forcing insurers to provide coverage are unsustainable and will ultimately lead to taxpayers bearing massive losses. Historical precedents of climate-driven societal upheaval are reviewed, emphasizing how the current 'limitless possibilities' mindset ignores the constraints imposed by nature. The article concludes that the world is becoming uninsurable because many things taken for granted are no longer financially viable, and rising systemic risks are beyond the reach of purely political or technological solutions.

(charleshughsmith.substack.com)

Tech systemic risk

Literate Programming: Making Code More Readable

2025-06-19

Literate Programming: Making Code More Readable

Literate programming, a paradigm invented by Donald Knuth, prioritizes code readability for humans over immediate machine execution. This allows programmers to develop programs in a more natural, thought-driven order. Literate programs interweave natural language explanations with code snippets, enhancing understanding and collaboration. The Literate tool, described here, aims to simplify and extend Knuth and Levy's original CWEB system. It supports multiple languages, syntax highlighting, pretty-printing to HTML, Markdown-based authoring, and offers a command-line interface for compiling code and generating HTML documentation. The project is open-source and welcomes contributions.

(github.com)

Development Literate Programming

Killer Whales Offer Food to Humans: A Study of Prosocial Behavior

2025-07-06

Killer Whales Offer Food to Humans: A Study of Prosocial Behavior

A new study reveals the surprising behavior of wild orcas sharing food with humans across the globe. Researchers documented 34 incidents spanning two decades, where orcas approached humans and offered them food. This prosocial behavior highlights the intelligence and social nature of orcas, suggesting an attempt to build relationships with humans. The study, published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, provides new insights into the social behavior of marine mammals.

(www.sciencedaily.com)

Tech Orcas Animal Behavior Prosocial Behavior

Humanoid Robots: The Gap Between Showmanship and Practicality

2025-04-26

Humanoid Robots: The Gap Between Showmanship and Practicality

The humanoid robot field is booming, with startups and established companies pouring hundreds of millions into development. While robots like Boston Dynamics' Atlas can perform impressive feats of athleticism, their practical utility remains questionable. The article argues that dexterity, not flashy movements, is the key. Current robots can perform simple tasks in controlled environments, but struggle with complex, variable situations and fine manipulation. The author lists 21 dexterity-demanding tasks easy for humans but difficult for robots, highlighting the gap. Challenges in hardware, software, and data acquisition are explored. The article concludes with cautious optimism about the future, suggesting humanoid robot development may follow a path similar to self-driving cars: slow, painstaking progress.

(www.construction-physics.com)

AI Dexterity

12,795 Objects: A Photographer's Intimate Inventory

2025-01-01

Belgian photographer Barbara Iweins meticulously documented 12,795 objects in her home over four years, creating the project 'KATALOG'. From her daughters' socks to her anxiety medication, the project transcends a simple inventory, becoming a deeply personal exploration of her life, emotions, and memories. It reveals a unique perspective on the profound meaning hidden within everyday belongings.

(www.katalog-barbaraiweins.com)

Art photography self-exploration

Thunderbird 140 Released: Dark Mode, Easy Setting Sync, and Exchange Support

2025-07-09

Thunderbird email client version 140 is out, boasting several new features. A standout is "dark message mode," adapting message content to dark themes. It also features easy transfer of desktop settings to the mobile Thunderbird client, experimental Microsoft Exchange support, and global controls for message threading and sort order. This is an extended-support release (ESR) with 12 months of support, though Thunderbird encourages users to switch to the monthly Release channel. A staggered rollout to existing users helps catch bugs before widespread deployment, but manual upgrades are available via Help > About. Check the release notes for a complete changelog.

(lwn.net)

Development email client

College Board's Million-Dollar Salaries Don't Fix Their Broken Digital Exams

2025-05-23

College Board's Million-Dollar Salaries Don't Fix Their Broken Digital Exams

The College Board, administrator of the SAT and AP exams, boasts hefty executive compensation—$2.38 million for the CEO in 2023, and hundreds of thousands for senior VPs. Ironically, their transition to digital-only exams for 28 AP courses has been plagued with issues. A nationwide outage of the Bluebook testing app during the AP Psychology exam left thousands of students stranded, forced to wait in freezing gymnasiums for a fix. The incident sparked outrage on Reddit, highlighting a glaring disconnect between lavish executive pay and inadequate technical preparedness.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech Exam System Technical Failure

My $91 PowerMac G4 MDD Repair Odyssey: A Tale of Woe and Triumph

2025-04-14

The author acquired a cheap PowerMac G4 MDD, only to find it missing RAM, HDD, and a PRAM battery. After a frantic parts hunt and assembly, the machine booted, but the noise was deafening. Attempting a fan replacement, the author broke the original fan, forcing the purchase of a high-performance replacement. While the noise issue was solved, the new fan roared. The entire journey was a hilarious mix of unexpected problems and eventual success, offering a valuable lesson in vintage hardware repair.

(loganius.org)

Hardware Repair

Veteran Open-Source Driver Developer Resigns Over Inclusivity Concerns

2025-02-17

Longtime Nouveau driver developer Karol Herbst resigned as a maintainer of the open-source NVIDIA Linux graphics driver due to disagreements with the upstream Linux kernel community regarding inclusivity and respect. In his resignation, Herbst stated his belief that the open-source community should operate on principles of equality and respect, expressing his disapproval of statements made by other maintainers perceived as exclusionary. He cited the phrase "we are the thin blue line" as a particular concern, highlighting the harm such statements cause. While Red Hat developers Lyude Paul and Danilo Krummrich will continue Nouveau maintenance, Red Hat is also developing NOVA, a new Rust-based open-source NVIDIA kernel driver.

(www.phoronix.com)

Development Nouveau driver

Iranian Software Engineer's Online Odyssey: Sanctions and Censorship

2025-09-23

Iranian Software Engineer's Online Odyssey: Sanctions and Censorship

An Iranian software engineer recounts his experiences with Microsoft deleting his app, Notion wiping his data, and other website bans due to sanctions. He emphasizes that these companies aren't malicious but are simply following the rules. However, he pleads for more empathy, urging consideration of the human impact of these regulations. He concludes by expressing his dissatisfaction with the current situation in Iran and supporting movements for freedom.

(gist.github.com)

Development

Triangular Grids: A Fresh Perspective on Tactical Game Design

2025-09-03

Square and hexagonal grids are commonplace in strategy games, but triangular grids remain largely unexplored. This article delves into the advantages of triangular grids in game design, highlighting their visual flexibility in representing both straight lines and curves, and their unique tactical possibilities. Unlike square grids with 4 directions and hexagonal grids with 6, triangular grids, when allowing diagonal movement, offer up to 12 directions, significantly increasing tactical options. The article details coordinate representation, conversion methods, and various distance calculation formulas for triangular grids, providing a small open-source library for developers. While few games currently utilize triangular grids, their potential is vast, promising a fresh take on strategy game mechanics.

(kvachev.com)

Game Grid Systems

ChatGPT's 'Prefrontal Cortex Problems': A Curious Experiment in AI Cognitive Testing

2025-01-12

ChatGPT's 'Prefrontal Cortex Problems': A Curious Experiment in AI Cognitive Testing

The author administered a series of cognitive tests, including the clock drawing test, to ChatGPT, revealing symptoms akin to those exhibited by humans with prefrontal cortex damage, such as poor spatial organization and planning deficits. While ChatGPT can programmatically generate correct clock images, it consistently fails when directly drawing or describing them textually. This leads the author to ponder AI cognitive abilities, supervisory mechanisms, and the ethical risks of endowing AI with higher cognitive functions. The conclusion is that current AI models struggle with human tasks, prompting suggestions for AI governance and legislation.

(solresol.substack.com)

AI AI cognitive testing prefrontal cortex

The Forgotten Syntax of Salt and Gold: How Ifriqiya's Merchants Coded Commerce Before Silicon

2025-04-19

The Forgotten Syntax of Salt and Gold: How Ifriqiya's Merchants Coded Commerce Before Silicon

This article unveils the story of the Sifraniyah, a merchant guild in Ifriqiya (modern-day southern Tunisia), who used a unique trade language, Al-Khatt al-Tujjari (The Commercial Line), centuries before the silicon age. Resembling an early programming language, this cryptic system employed conditional statements, looped inventory management, and error-checking mechanisms, executed through wax-sealed scrolls, knotted scripts, and rhythmic chants. Their decentralized autonomous protocol-like system operated across various trade nodes. However, with the rise of empires and more modern accounting, Al-Khatt al-Tujjari was eventually forgotten, leaving behind fragments that remind us logic isn't solely born of silicon, but can also grow from sand, salt, and stories.

(medium.com)

Misc commerce

SchemeFlow: Full-Stack Engineer Wanted (Y Combinator Backed)

2025-06-12

SchemeFlow: Full-Stack Engineer Wanted (Y Combinator Backed)

SchemeFlow, a Y Combinator-backed AI startup in London, is seeking a highly skilled Full-Stack Engineer. The company uses AI to streamline the bureaucratic process of building projects, aiming to accelerate infrastructure development in the West. The ideal candidate will have strong full-stack experience (Vue.js, FastAPI, Google Cloud, Supabase, etc.) and a deep understanding of user needs. Competitive salary, equity, and potential relocation to San Francisco are offered.

(www.ycombinator.com)

Development

Evaluating LLMs in Text Adventures: A Novel Approach

2025-08-12

This article proposes a novel method for evaluating the capabilities of large language models (LLMs) in text adventure games. The approach involves setting a turn limit and defining a set of in-game achievements to measure how well an LLM can progress within those constraints. Due to the high degree of freedom and branching in text adventures, this method isn't designed to provide an absolute performance score, but rather to offer a relative comparison between different LLMs. The LLM is given a series of achievement goals and a limited number of turns to achieve them; the final score is based on the number of achievements completed. Even powerful LLMs struggle to explore all branches within the turn limit, making the score a reflection of relative capability rather than absolute gaming skill.

(entropicthoughts.com)

AI Text Adventure Games

bewCloud: A Lightweight Open-Source Cloud Solution

2025-02-21

Tired of the complexity and limitations of cloud platforms like Nextcloud and ownCloud? bewCloud, a modern, open-source cloud solution built with TypeScript and Deno, offers unparalleled simplicity and efficiency. It addresses the resource-intensive nature of Nextcloud and ownCloud, boasting a lightweight and fast design. Currently featuring file, photo, and note functionalities, calendar and contact integration may not be prioritized. Developed and maintained by Bruno, contributions and donations are welcome.

(bewcloud.com)

Development open-source cloud Nextcloud alternative

Open Source, Self-Hostable Bookmark Manager: Your Privacy, Your Choice

2025-05-01

This open-source, self-hostable bookmark manager prioritizes your privacy. It features a responsive design for all screen sizes, powerful search capabilities for easy content retrieval, a browser extension for seamless web page saving, and supports bulk actions, import/export, and dark/light mode toggling. Crucially, it promises never to sell your data to third parties and offers secure API integration for creating custom solutions. Experience this privacy-focused and powerful bookmark manager today!

(linkwarden.app)

Development bookmark manager

HeH+ Reaction Rate in Early Universe Challenges Previous Theories

2025-08-07

HeH+ Reaction Rate in Early Universe Challenges Previous Theories

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics have recreated the reaction of HeH+ with deuterium under early universe conditions using the Cryogenic Storage Ring (CSR). Contrary to previous predictions, the reaction rate remains nearly constant at low temperatures, implying a much greater role for HeH+ and H2 in the formation of the first stars than previously thought. This finding revises our understanding of early universe chemistry and significantly advances our knowledge of early star formation.

(www.sciencedaily.com)

Tech Molecular Reaction Early Star Formation

ZFS Compression Paradox: Logical vs. Physical Blocks

2025-04-17

A 256KB zero file created with `dd` on a ZFS filesystem with compression enabled exhibits a puzzling behavior: `ls -l` shows its size as 256KB, but `ls -s` and `ls -slh` show a much smaller size, almost zero. This is due to ZFS's efficient compression resulting in a minimal number of physical blocks. The article explores three ways to measure file size: logical size (in bytes), physical block count, and logical block count. It points out that the POSIX `st_blocks` field doesn't specify which size to report, leading to potential changes in `st_blocks` value when moving files between filesystems, and even potential file size expansion exceeding the capacity of the new filesystem.

(utcc.utoronto.ca)

Development

SpaceX Starship Debris Rains Down on Turks and Caicos

2025-02-01

SpaceX Starship Debris Rains Down on Turks and Caicos

The upper stage of a SpaceX Starship rocket exploded over the Atlantic Ocean near Turks and Caicos after its seventh test flight, scattering debris across the islands. While no injuries were reported, residents discovered wreckage near homes and on beaches, prompting concerns about safety and environmental impact. SpaceX's rapid iterative development strategy and its response to the incident have drawn criticism, with locals demanding cleanup and environmental assessment. The event highlights the potential risks of large rocket launches near populated areas.

(www.cnn.com)

Tech rocket debris

Solo Music Listening Boosts Social Well-being, Study Finds

2025-04-04

Solo Music Listening Boosts Social Well-being, Study Finds

Research from the University at Buffalo reveals that listening to music alone can act as a 'social surrogate,' improving social well-being. Two experiments demonstrated that listening to favorite music reduced feelings of loneliness and buffered against the negative effects of social exclusion. Unlike previous research focusing on music's social aspects in group settings, this study highlights the benefits of solo listening. It suggests music fosters connection with artists, immersion in the musical world, and reminders of others, fulfilling the fundamental human need for belonging.

(phys.org)

Misc music therapy social well-being

Conquer the 'Moat of Low Status': Embrace Awkwardness, Achieve Excellence

2025-07-05

Conquer the 'Moat of Low Status': Embrace Awkwardness, Achieve Excellence

This post explores the concept of the 'Moat of Low Status,' where the fear of temporary low status prevents people from achieving more. The author uses personal anecdotes, including learning to sing, playing poker, and entering new fields, to illustrate the importance of learning by doing. While the process involves embarrassment and shame, the author encourages embracing this 'awkwardness' to ultimately overcome the 'moat' and achieve growth and success.

(usefulfictions.substack.com)

Misc overcoming fear

Kotaemon: Open-Source RAG Tool for Chatting with Your Documents

2025-01-02

Kotaemon: Open-Source RAG Tool for Chatting with Your Documents

Kotaemon is an open-source Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)-based tool that lets you chat with your own documents. It features a clean and user-friendly interface, supporting various Large Language Models (LLMs) such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, and local LLMs. Whether you're an end-user performing document QA or a developer building your own RAG pipeline, Kotaemon provides convenient tools and a customizable UI. It supports multiple file types and offers advanced features like multi-modal QA, complex reasoning, and configurable settings.

(github.com)

Development

YC-backed AI-Native QA Platform Seeking Backend Engineer

2025-04-26

YC-backed AI-Native QA Platform Seeking Backend Engineer

GPT Driver, a seed-stage AI-native QA solution startup founded by mobile app veterans, is hiring a remote Backend/Platform Engineer. Their product focuses on end-to-end automated testing for mobile apps, with plans to expand to web, desktop, and non-functional testing. The role requires 3+ years of experience, familiarity with cloud-based backend systems, and experience (or strong interest) in running mobile emulators/simulators and headless browsers. Competitive compensation ($4,000-$7,000/month), remote work, and equity are offered.

(www.ycombinator.com)

Development

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