link dump #16

I follow a number of RSS feeds to make it easier to find interesting articles without having to regularly visit my entire list of interesting blogs, many of which aren't updated often.  As you can see, I find a dizzying array of topics interesting.

We live on former farmland which gives us some lovely views of the sky.  Here's a particularly nice sunset from a few days ago.

 

My second job in the computer industry was as a field engineer at a company which maintained systems built around the DEC PDP-11.  During the 7 weeks of training, I found that I loved the instruction set of the DEC PDP-11.  At other jobs, I discovered the Motorola 680x0 series of CPUs which had a very similar instruction set.  Both machines have orthogonal instruction sets.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/03/a-brief-tour-of-the-pdp-11-the-most-influential-minicomputer-of-all-time/

I was surprised to read that Apple AirPods may cause cardiovascular implantable devices such as pacemakers to malfunction.  Apparently AirPods create a magnetic field strong enough to affect pacemakers and other implantable devices.
https://www.engadget.com/2193554/airpods-pacemakers-magnet-interference/

Stronger magnets are also harmful to other types of electronic devices.  Since I've been working with computers for so long that I keep my devices away from magnets primarily out of habit.  Apparently there's good reason to do so with some types of devices.
https://hackaday.com/2026/05/21/magnets-are-bad-for-hardware-again/

I enjoy watching Rick and Morty because their humorous takes on science and science fiction make me laugh.  One of their episodes features a lightsaber which was dropped with the point down and which proceeded to burrow its way through the Earth.
https://laughingsquid.com/dropping-light-saber-vertically/

I've been finding the growing number of terms which end with "maxxing" such as "sleepmaxxing" annoying.  I'm glad to see others feel the same way.  I ignore the output of influencers but it becomes hard to do when it gets embraced by popular culture.
https://www.joanwestenberg.com/p/just-be-normal-about-st

I've been a fan of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings books since high school 50+ years ago.  That caused me to find the fact that a newly discovered species of cricket has been named after the Balrog amusing.
https://thedebrief.org/you-shall-not-pass-scientists-identify-new-balrog-cricket-species-in-greek-island-tunnel/

I'm not at all surprised that listening to music promotes mental health.   I find listening to music while I'm working helps me to achieve a deeper level of concentration particularly when audio distractions are present.  It only works that way if the music is something I'm quite familiar with.  I also watch videos of live musical performances regularly.
https://www.aesthetics.mpg.de/en/newsroom/news/news-article/article/is-there-a-link-between-listening-to-music-and-mental-health.html

In modern military conflicts, GPS jamming and spoofing is becoming increasingly common.  It's also being used as a form of economic warfare since it's so disruptive.
https://boingboing.net/2016/08/04/spoofing-gps-is-surprisingly-e.html

I've long felt that most technical interviews are a terrible way of choosing talented engineers.  Bad technical interviews are something I'm happy that I'll never face again since I'm so close to retirement. 
https://fagnerbrack.com/technical-interviews-reject-the-wrong-engineers-a8e78ca04b2e?gi=46f57f353ef1 

There's a new proposed theory for how the objects commonly known as black holes form.  I'm not sure I can get used to the term gravastar.
https://thedebrief.org/black-holes-arent-real-astronomers-propose-elusive-formation-mechanism-for-gravastar-alternative-that-is-easier-to-accept/

link dump #15

I follow a number of RSS feeds to make it easier to find interesting articles without having to regularly visit my entire list of interesting blogs, many of which aren't updated often.  As you can see, I find a dizzying array of topics interesting.  This leaf with water droplets on it is one of the things which caught my eye while walking the dog around the yard.

 

Apparently craft beer continues its sales decline.  The competition from hard ciders, hard seltzers, and THC infused beverages has continued making this a tough business to be in now.  I'm particularly worried about Firestone Walker which is my favorite brewery.  I love them for their barrel-aged imperial stouts and other styles I find interesting.
https://www.beervanablog.com/beervana/2026/6/5/are-big-craft-breweries-viable-anymore

I found this article about Edward R Murrow's reporting during WWII fascinating.  I'm too young to have watched his reporting but I enjoyed the play Good Night, and Good Luck written and performed by George Clooney about Murrow's clashes with Joseph McCarthy.
https://ww2ondeadline.com/2020/04/11/edward-r-murrow-cbs-berlin-orchestrated-hell/

Bumblebees are capable of solving problems in ways similar to how humans and primates do.  Given their small brain size, it makes me curious about how they accomplish these feats.
https://www.npr.org/2026/06/07/nx-s1-5846947/bumblebees-problem-solving-research

Ant colonies seem to have a collective memory and intelligence which is more capable than any individual member of the colony.  I find collective intelligence fascinating since it's so different from human intelligence.
https://aeon.co/ideas/an-ant-colony-has-memories-that-its-individual-members-dont-have

It's a bit hard to believe someone stole the transmission line from an FM radio station which was still transmitting.  That's extraordinarily dangerous and it's a wonder that the thief wasn't killed or severely injured.
https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/an-ohio-valley-100000-watt-fm-signal-is-severed-in-broad-daylight

Scammers have started showing up at people's offices in person to steal data and install ransomware.  I can't believe it's necessary as it's not uncommon for people to insert a USB flash drive which they find into their computer to see what's on it.
https://www.theregister.com/cyber-crime/2026/06/05/if-you-dont-fall-for-these-extortionists-calls-theyll-show-up-with-usb-sticks/5251891

There's danger of GoPro going bankrupt because memory chips have become difficult to obtain and expensive to boot.  I've heard some car companies are having similar difficulties with procuring electronic components.
https://thenextweb.com/news/gopro-going-concern-ai-memory-crisis-default

I've had a soft spot for AC Cobras since I first caught a glimpse as a kid.  They're loud and fast which is what used to catch my attention.  Since my knees started bothering, I've started preferring comfort over sportiness.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/ac-cobra-gt-coupe-puts-a-fixed-roof-on-the-classic-for-the-first-time
 
Apparently photons behave strangely when someone tries to cut them into smaller pieces.  I was surprised that they can be divided into pieces at all.
https://thedebrief.org/physicists-tried-cutting-a-photon-in-half-then-things-got-really-weird/

I've encountered floppy disks which degraded while in storage before.  Here is a guide to what it might take to restore one which has stopped working.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/floppy-disk-data-preservation-archives

I've long suspected that many CEOs gained their lofty position thanks to the Peter Principle.  Many of them seem to have little knowledge about their company's industry aside from a few buzzwords.  This theory about them suffering from AI psychosis isn't hard for me to believe.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/27/tech-ceos-are-apparently-suffering-from-ai-psychosis/

Speaking of AI psychosis, hearing that AI technologists are talking about having virtual children strikes me as somewhat unhinged.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/31/are-mind-children-the-future-of-reproduction

Choosing a new surge protector

We had a severe thunderstorm this weekend which caused the power to flicker quite a bit for a few minutes.  We had a number of branches come down as a result.  Here's a picture of the biggest one which fell.

I've got surge protectors protecting my computer, our Internet router, and our TV, satellite TV box, and other entertainment equipment.  I shut off all the surge protectors once the power starting flickering as that can be very bad for electronic equipment.  Once the storm ended, I found 2 circuit breakers had been tripped and 2 of our surge protectors had died.  One expired in spectacular fashion, throwing some sparks when I tried turning it back on.  The one which failed was an Anker surge protector with a 4000 joule rating which had lasted 7 years.  Given the fact that it had survived a number of other storms during that time, I thought it had done its job admirably.  As you can see below, our dog found the smell of burnt electronic components interesting.

 

That could have been worse had we not had whole house surge protectors installed when we first moved into this house 12 years ago.  That was primarily intended to protect larger appliances where it's not feasible to use individual surge protectors.  Computers and entertainment equipment contain electronic components which are more susceptible to damage from power spikes which make it through the whole house surge protectors.

So I quickly needed to choose a few replacement surge protectors.  Fortunately, my RSS reader had picked up a story about surge protectors a few months ago.  As a temporary measure, I picked up a GE model which was available at Walmart.  Its joule rating was lower than the Anker model it was replacing which will only suffice as a temporary measure.  I've ordered a new Anker surge protector and will move the GE model to replace the other failed surge protector once that arrives.
https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-check-surge-protector/

link dump #14

I follow a lot of RSS feeds to make it easier to find interesting articles without having to regularly visit my entire list of interesting blogs which aren't updated often.  As you can see, I find a dizzying array of topics interesting.  For example today while taking the dog outside over my lunch break, looking up treated me to this interesting halo around the sun.  Apparently it's caused by ice crystals interacting with the sun's rays.

Ronny Chieng, who you might know from The Daily Show or movies, gave one of the more amusing commencement speeches I've seen recently.  It was better received than the speech Eric Schmidt gave where he got booed for his comments about AI.  There have been a number of other recent commencement speakers telling graduates that they'll have a hard time finding employment thanks to so many CEO's obsession with AI.  I think that shows how out of touch these speakers, often members of upper management of various companies, are with their workers or potential employees.
https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/tracewilliamcowen/ronny-chieng-ai-speech-harvard

Apparently some of the Tesla staff members charged with reviewing video footage of their "Full Self Driving" feature in order to improve its performance don't trust Tesla's self driving technology.  I can't say I blame them.
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/why-teslas-ai-trainers-dont-trust-its-self-driving-tech-or-its-safety-stats-2026-05-28/

I love cool cars so I found this story about how hot rodders are using 3-D printing to help build parts for their cars interesting.  I've heard people are doing the same thing to restore old computers.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/old-school-hot-rodders-are-using-high-tech-3d-scanners-to-make-custom-parts

This proposed Lego kit for building a model of the CROCUS reactor looks very cool.  The instructions and parts are already available if you'd like to build it yourself.
https://beta.ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/e235fbd0-8ab8-4575-bd1c-37a25625f118

I found this article about the history of Digital Research's DR DOS interesting.  I used DR DOS in the late late 1980s when it was first released.  I even submitted a bug report to Digital Research when I found a program which didn't behave properly under DR DOS.  The bug was caused by a system call which behaved differently than the same system call on MS-DOS did when passed a string containing wildcards instead of an actual filename.  I even included a TSR (terminate and stay resident) program to work around the bug.
https://dfarq.homeip.net/dr-dos-revenge-of-cp-m/

This article about how people discovered someone they knew was super intelligent was interesting.  I used to work for a boss down at the Washington Navy Yard who would type long assembly language source files on the old CRT terminals we were stuck with on mainframes back in the late 1980s.  You could even ask him questions while he was typing and he would answer you with only a minor slowdown in his typing.  After typing these long programs, he would use the assemble and run option and his programs worked.  I was amazed that he could remember variable names he had used several pages of source code ago.  He was also amazingly effective with his explanations.  He's start out explaining at his level of understanding and if he saw you weren't understanding him, he'd adjust his explanation until you understood him and did it so you didn't feel insulted by the simpler explanation.
https://pleated-jeans.com/2026/05/22/people-share-the-moment-they-knew-they-were-in-the-presence-of-a-truly-massive-intellect/

Some of you may have build kits from Heathkit in the past.  I built two computer kits, an H-89 which ran CP/M and an H-151 which ran MS-DOS.  I also built one of their dot matrix printer kits.  Here's a video tour of their factory back in the day.
https://hackaday.com/2026/05/15/inside-the-heathkit-factory/

I found the news that plants react to anesthetics in a similar fashion to humans both fascinating and a little disturbing.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11586303/

If you've never seen the TV series Halt and Catch Fire, it's definitely worth watching.  It focuses on the early days of personal computing which sounds as if it would be boring but this show manages to keep it entertaining.  The title refers to the mythical HCF op code which causes the CPU to catch fire.
https://unstack.io/halt-and-catch-fire

Reading about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon reminds me of how much I enjoyed watching it the couple times I've seen it.  I think I may be due to watch it again.
https://yusufaytas.com/why-crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon-is-a-masterpiece

If you've heard this story which Kurt Vonnegut told a few times, it illustrates why I like him so much as an author.  I think I would have enjoyed meeting him as well.  His books will both entertain you and lead you in directions you would have never expected when you started reading it.
https://chrisglass.com/2024/11/01/kurt-vonnegut-buys-an-envleope/ 

Before I became a father, I would have been skeptical about how much the experience changes someone.  When I held my daughter for the first time, it completely changed me.  Those changes were for the better although I would have doubted that a few years before.
https://www.sciencealert.com/fatherhood-dramatically-rewires-your-brain-scans-reveal

I've managed to clear out some of my backlog of interesting links with this link dump.  I hope you find something in here to inform or entertain you. 

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

I've started re-reading The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters.  I last read it 13 years ago and wanted to revisit it because I've been on an apocalyptic book kick lately.  I had remembered liking it a lot but I'm finding that the writing is even better than I remembered.  Here's a better review of it than I can write.
https://fantasyliterature.com/reviews/the-last-policeman/

The Last Policeman is an entertaining and slightly depressing (as apocalyptic books tend to be) blend of SciFi and mystery.  It won an Edgar Award when it was published in 2012.  It starts with an apparent suicide that the investigating police office thinks is suspicious.  That coupled with a predicted strike by an asteroid bends the story into science fiction territory.

The focus of this book is how people continue functioning when they know the end of life as we know it is coming.  In that respect, it reminds me of On the Beach by Nevil Shute which is another favorite book of mine in this same category.  Other similar books I've also enjoyed in this genre include The Postman, Earth Abides, Alas, Babylon, and I Am Legend.

It makes me wonder how humanity would really behave under similar circumstances.  Perhaps I'm cynical but I tend to think things would be more chaotic than those portrayed in The Last Policeman and On the Beach.

I enjoyed reading Garth Ennis' comic series The Boys which was adapted into a streaming series.  Call me cynical but to me, it highlights inherent flaws in human psychology which I believe is more realistic than the altruistic service to mankind portrayed in Superman comics.

Fortunately, my cynical beliefs don't prevent me from enjoying the more optimistic tone of The Last Policeman and I am.

A favorite beer

Tonight I'm celebrating the end of the work week with a Firestone Walker Paraboloid.  This beer isn't readily available on the east coast so I have to order it directly from Firestone Walker in California.  This brewer was founded by a couple guys with experience in wine making.  They make some amazing beers with all the complexity of a fine wine.

Sipping on the Paraboloid made me remember the first time I had its little brother, a beer called Parabola, about 11 years ago at a restaurant in Leesburg called Leesburg Public House.  LPH had been opened by a friend and quickly became one of our favorite weekly happy hour venues.  I had been reading about this legendary beer for a few years but had never seen it available nearby.  Jay, one of the servers at LPH, was very knowledgeable about craft beer and had a few connections in the beer world.  He was able to get a few highly rated beers such as Parabola to sell at the restaurant.

When we arrived at LPH that night, Jay told us that they had just received the Parabola.  I managed to convince Dave, a friend I had worked with at 5 different companies, to split a bottle with me.  Jay brought us the Parabola and served it with the flourish fitting such a special beer as you can see in the photo below.  Dave loved the beer as much as I did but he never let me forget that it was me who got him hooked on more expensive beers.  Each year when it was released we'd compare notes on where to find it in nearby stores.

 

This rambling train of thought caused me to remember that it's almost the 1 year anniversary of my buddy Dave's untimely death.  It would be difficult to express how much I miss him.  One of the things I miss most about Dave is how we both enjoyed talking about low level programming.  If he were still around I'd be telling him about the pointer math I had to do in a C program today.   I was doing that to solve the problem of a device at work occasionally misplacing its timestamp from the usual location at the start of a buffer to somewhere in the middle of the buffer.  Knowing where the timestamp ended up could provide clues about what's causing the problem.  This timestamp takes the form of a 64-bit integer.  This wouldn't normally be a problem to find that given the fact that the upper 16 bits of the timestamp contain an easily identifiable value but on ARM CPUs, 64-int integers are stored in little endian format.  So having found the correct 16 bits somewhere within the buffer, it was necessary to back up by 6 bytes to get the entire timestamp before the timestamp could be displayed in all its glory.  Pointer math is always fun.

Well, my celebratory beer is nearly gone now and that low level programming tired me out.  I think I'll sign off for now. 

 

 

link dump #13

 

I follow a lot of RSS feeds which makes it easier for me to discover interesting web pages without having to visit my entire list of interesting blogs which aren't updated often.  As you can see, I find a lot of topics interesting.

It's difficult for experts to fully explain the innate knowledge which makes them so good in their fields.  Experience can be impossible to pass long when trying to create new experts.  I think this may make it impossible to train AI systems to replace experts.
https://cekrem.github.io/posts/the-tacit-dimension/

I'm generally not keen on AI use but if you can hide prompts to force LinkedIn recruiter bots to entertain you with their unwanted spam, it seems like a win to me.
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/linkedin-recruitment-spam-becomes-olde-english-prose-after-user-hides-ai-prompt-injection-in-bio-bots-also-also-manipulated-to-address-user-as-my-lord

When I first switched from Windows PCs to Macs 25 years ago, I found that I loved Mac OS X.  It reminded me of the software environment I enjoyed on the Sun 3/80 Workstation I had on my desk while working at Sprint International (the division which developed the computer networking hardware and software for Sprint's packet switching network) in 1990.  That Sun was the machine which caused me to love Unix.  The combination of Unix, X Windows, and that fast Sun hardware was the most productive environment for software development I had seen at that time and I still have fond memories of it.  Lately Apple's software seems much buggier than it used to which frustrates me at time.  It's reassuring to see that I'm not the only one who has noticed this steady decline in software quality.
https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2026/05/18/1320

Someone has created an animated version of Vincent van Gogh's painting The Starry Night and I found it entertaining to interact with various parts of the painting.
https://stillnight.joshua-garcia.com/

A study has found that playing the didgeridoo can help counteract the daytime sleepiness caused by sleep apnea.  I can't imagine many offices would be open to this type of therapy to treat affected employees.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1360393/

Finally there's  evidence for why the T-Rex had such tiny arms.  Sometimes evolution plays cruel tricks...
https://nautil.us/we-finally-have-the-answer-for-t-rexs-tiny-arms-1280997

There's no way I would agree to join a mission commanded by a billionaire rather than a fully trained astronaut/pilot.  Making an insane amount of money doesn't imply the ability to solve problems in stressful situations like a long space flight.  I'm curious to see how the radiation affects humans on this longer mission as it will be hard to shield the crew capsule adequately.  Shielding materials are heavy and extra weight is always hard to justify.
https://gizmodo.com/spacex-taps-crypto-billionaire-to-lead-first-crewed-mission-to-mars-2000762451

The Super El Niño predicted to form by winter could have devastating effects on both the world economy as well as our ability to keep the world's population fed.
https://respublicamgz.substack.com/p/a-super-el-nino-is-coming-the-last

It strikes me as horribly inefficient to have unique terms for groups of birds of different species.  Things like this make the English language both rich and difficult to master.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2024/01/04/brian-wildsmith-birds-company-terms/