link dump #5

I follow a lot of RSS feeds which makes it easier for me to discover interesting web pages without having to visit my list of interesting blogs which aren't updated often.  I hate to send these interesting links via email since it feels too much like a teacher giving homework... here, go read all of these web pages and report back to me.  Instead I think collecting them in a blog post is a friendlier way to pass links along.

For a while, Turbo Pascal was my favorite programming language.  The IDE it used was fast and made me more productive than other compilers available in the mid 1980s by showing me the cause of any compilation errors immediately.  This web page shows how small it was which seems weird in an age of phone applications are quite large.  It was also much, much faster than other compilers of that time.
https://prog21.dadgum.com/116.html

Somone has used AI to disassemble Turbo Pascal to better understand how it achieved such a small size.
https://simonwillison.net/2026/Mar/20/turbo-pascal/

Apparently it can dangerous to fill your SSD devices too full.  I knew this was the case on some of the low level flash memory devices used on embedded systems but thought SSD controllers would be able to handle this more gracefully.
https://www.makeuseof.com/why-never-fill-ssd-past-80-and-you-shouldnt-either/

This research into how fireflies stay in sync is fascinating.  I wonder whether this is similar to how starling murmurations work?
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/the-science-of-how-fireflies-stay-in-sync/

MIT has a study which suggests that the use of AI may lead to cognitive decline.  This rings true to me.  I know anytime I've had a break from programming, it's hard to jump back in and be nearly as productive as I am when I do it regularly.  The same thing happens to software developers who move into management and completely leave programming behind.  An extreme case of this was a CEO at a small company where I used to work.  He liked to ingratiate himself to engineers by telling us about having started out as an ALGOL programmer.  From his performance as a CEO, it was not obvious he had ever possessed any technical skills.
https://publichealthpolicyjournal.com/mit-study-finds-artificial-intelligence-use-reprograms-the-brain-leading-to-cognitive-decline/ 

A number of bloggers are bemoaning the changes heralded by widespread use of AI in software development.  I'm glad I'll be retiring before management tries to force me to use it.  Programming and debugging are like solving puzzles for me and I'd hate to give that up.
https://nolanlawson.com/2026/02/07/we-mourn-our-craft/ 

link dump #4

I follow a lot of RSS feeds which makes it easier for me to discover interesting web pages without visiting a lot of favorite blogs which haven't been updated.  I hate to send these interesting links via email since it feels too much like a teacher giving homework... here, go read all of these web pages and report back to me.  Instead collecting them in a blog post seems like a friendlier way to pass links along.

I watched Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan again a few nights ago.  I had forgotten that they used old maintenance panels from a GE-635 mainframe computer to serve as controls for one of the Enterprise's systems.  I recognize panels from Honeywell and GE computers since I serviced both as a field engineer nearly 50 years ago.  It's not uncommon to see old maintenance panels used in this capacity since they usually have lots of lights and switches.  Here's a few other movies and TV shows which have used parts of the GE-635.
https://www.starringthecomputer.com/computer.html?c=427 

Apparently RAM kits are now being sold with one real RAM stick and a fake one due to the RAM shortage created by AI datacenters.
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/ram/fake-ram-bundled-with-real-ram-to-create-a-performance-illusion-for-amd-users-1-1-value-pack-offers-desperate-psychological-relief-as-the-memory-shortage-worsens

Here's an interesting article about how how Lego goes about creating a new set.
https://www.theverge.com/c/23991049/lego-ideas-polaroid-onestep-behind-the-scenes-price

This article about how snakes manage to get up to 70% of their body length into the air is interesting but I found the picture a bit disturbing.
https://nautil.us/heres-how-snakes-defy-gravity-to-stand-up-1278914 

Scientists have figured out how to revive frozen mouse brains.  This might be a step towards allowing longer spaceflights.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00756-w

Iranian physicists have estimated that technological civilizations probably only last 5,000 years at most.  This could explain why we haven't encountered aliens yet.
https://boingboing.net/2026/03/03/iranian-physicists-estimate-advanced-civilizations-last-5000-years-or-less.html

Swiss watchmakers continue fighting back against accurate clocks from Japan.  It's got to be hard competing against both cheap accurate models and smart watches like the Apple Watch which can offer more features.
https://worksinprogress.co/issue/watch-men/

This article about how taxing the use of AI can be on users' brains makes me glad that I'll be retiring before being forced to use it at work.
https://www.the-independent.com/tech/ai-brain-fry-artificial-intelligence-b2934903.html

C versus C++

Last week at work, I was helping a colleague with some low level code.  That's because I'm the firmware guy responsible for the bootloader, OS, device drivers, and other low level code.  I wrote a couple functions for him to access capabilities he needed to use.  Since I've been writing C for over 40 years, I write in the classic (or perhaps archaic) style of the first edition of the K&R book.  This involves always returning an integer value (where appropriate) to indicate success or failure and using pointers to return any values which need to be returned.  The next day, he asked if I could help him figure out why it was crashing.  It turns out he didn't understand pointers very well.  To be fair, this engineer is much better at C++ than I am and pointers are a kind of a holdover from the days when C was more like a portable assembly language.  He's also a top notch signal processing engineer.  I ended up fixing his code to access my functions for him because my explanation of pointers didn't click with him.

About 6 months ago I had experienced something similar with another younger engineer.  To be fair, what I call the younger engineers in my group are mostly in their 40s and are all extremely competent.  Anyway, I had written a device driver for him to control the 2 LEDs we have on one of our devices.  Since I come from the days when storage was precious, I had compressed the parameter to control both LEDs and their blink rate (if not solid on or off) into a single 32-bit word.  Doing so involved bit shifting and masking which is second nature to me as I had been trained in simplifying Boolean expressions many years ago.  Engineer #2 didn't understand this code and wanted to reverse it to read what state the LEDs were currently in.  Our company has been pushing an internal version of GPT so he gave it my code and asked for code to reverse my operations to compress all that information into a single word.  It crashed his GPT session and which apparently took several days to clear up.

I think both problems stem from the fact that C++ is heavily object oriented but manages to fool old-timers like me into thinking it's just a fancier version of C.  The problem is being slowly solved as more of the greybeards like me end up retiring which I'm most definitely looking forward to.

link dump #3

I follow a lot of RSS feeds which makes it easier for me to discover interesting web pages without visiting a lot of favorite blogs which haven't been updated.  I hate to send these interesting links via email since it feels too much like a teacher giving homework... here, go read all of these web pages and report back to me.  Instead collecting them in a blog post seems like a friendlier way to pass links along.

Nathan Fillion has been dropping hints lately which make are making fans suspect that some type of Firefly sequel might be in the works.  If I had the power to bring back a single show, it would definitely be Firefly.
https://www.ign.com/articles/nathan-fillion-is-getting-firefly-fans-all-sorts-of-excited-over-20-years-after-the-show-was-canceled 

I find a lot of anti-AI sentiment among techies and artistic types in various places.  I've lost the link, but I recently saw a CTO complaining that he got the axe because his company was replacing some executives with AI.  There's a company I definitely wouldn't want to work for or to reply upon as a customer.  I'm lucky because I'm very close to retirement with more than enough work to keep me busy until I pull the ripcord.  I feel sorry for younger engineers who have to deal with the instability AI is causing.
https://www.scottsmitelli.com/articles/you-dont-have-to/

NASA's DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) just managed to nudge a binary asteroid system.  There may be hope if we manage to detect a killer asteroid early enough to launch a mission.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/nasas-dart-mission-shifted-the-orbits-of-two-asteroids/

The news that younger males are clinging harder to outdated gender roles than older generations do depresses me.  One can only hope that they alienate partners before managing to reproduce.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/05/gen-z-men-baby-boomers-wives-should-obey-husbands

Videos of launching small cars via trebuchet are entertaining but I really wish they has stuck to launching Yugos or other worthless cars.  A classic Austin Mini seems too valuable to waste this way.
https://www.jalopnik.com/2117130/watch-cars-launched-by-trebuchet/

link dump #2

I follow a lot of RSS feeds which allows me to find a lot of interesting web pages.  I hate to send them via email since it feels too much like a teacher giving homework... here, go read all of these web pages and report back to me.  Instead collecting them in a blog post seems like a friendlier way to pass links along.

When I was a kid, my favorite cartoon by far was The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, which started airing as repeats when I was 7 years old.  I found it refreshing because unlike other cartoons of the time, it never talked down to kids.  I knew some of the humor escaped me but that made me love it all the more.  Thanks to the more sophisticated humor, I continue to love it even now.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-bullwinkle-taught-kids-sophisticated-political-satire-180964803/

Who knew that deaths due to car crashes spike around the release of pop albums?  Seeing the way some people drive on my 40 mile commute, it doesn't surprise me as much as it should.
https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/23/pop_album_fatal_car_accidents/

I've enjoyed Jason Lee's acting in Kevin Smith's movies as well as My Name is Earl.  Here's an interesting interview with him which he was not happy with.  I can see his point since it appears the interviewer misrepresented what type of questions would be asked.
https://defector.com/a-complimentary-profile-of-jason-lee-that-was-surprisingly-difficult-to-publish 

Cory Doctorow gave a speech 15 years ago about the coming war on general computation which looks increasingly plausible given what AI companies have been doing lately.  If you enjoy realistic near future SciFi which is both entertaining and a bit frightening in its likely accuracy, check out his website craphound.com.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Coming_War_on_General_Computation

I was surprised to read that tire pressure sensors have enough range to be considered a privacy risk.
https://boingboing.net/2026/02/27/tire-pressure-sensors-are-a-huge-privacy-risk.html

An asteroid passed pretty close to Earth and apparently we didn't see it until it had already passed by.
https://boingboing.net/2026/02/24/an-asteroid-passed-428-km-from-earth-and-no-one-saw-it-coming.html

A computer formed of chips containing 800k human neurons has been taught to play Doom.  I find this disturbing on a lot of levels.
https://boingboing.net/2026/02/26/living-human-brain-cells-are-now-playing-doom.html

This article about the steady loss of deep knowledge is something which worries me.
https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/the-slow-death-of-the-power-user/

link dump #1

I follow a lot of RSS feeds which allows me to find a lot of interesting web pages.  I hate to send them via email since it feels too much like a teacher giving homework... here, go read all of these web pages and report back to me.  Instead collecting them in a blog post seems like a friendlier way to pass links along.

I'm fascinated by miniatures so I find these very realistic RC trucks very cool.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/custom-rc-shop-recreates-real-life-work-trucks-that-are-fully-functional-just-mini

Speaking of miniatures, these models of classic computers remind me of my days as a field engineer in mainframe and mini computer data centers.
https://www.miniatua.com/work/ibm1401/ 

Someone took the time to recreate the Top Gear studio using Lego.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/someone-recreated-the-top-gear-studio-in-lego-and-so-can-you 

Did you ever wonder where the expression 'peanut gallery came from?  It's older than I thought.
https://theconversation.com/the-complicated-origin-of-the-expression-peanut-gallery-148897 

This sliderule simulator teaches you how to use one for calculations.  I should use it remember how to use one of my small sliderule collection. 
https://hackaday.com/2026/02/18/sliderule-simulator-teaches-you-how-to-do-calculations-the-old-fashioned-way/

Legacy hardware persists

I develop firmware for small embedded devices with ARM CPUs.  Most of these devices run some flavor of Linux.  An important device for Linux machines is the console interface.  Older PCs had physical serial ports available.  Modern PCs lack serial ports but they usual direct the console interface to the monitor/keyboard combination.  Small embedded systems usually don't have a dedicated monitor or keyboard and they often don't have a physical serial port.  The devices I work with have a USB serial interface which provides a serial interface over a USB A to USB micro cable.

Once in a while it becomes necessary to interface via a physical serial port, often using a DB-9 connector.  When that's the case, I'm always asked to make it work since none of the younger engineers have much experience with older technologies while I spent a few years at the beginning of my lengthy career as a field engineer for mini and mainframe computers where serial ports were common.

Last week, one of the younger engineers was hooking up a couple devices via DB-9 serial connectors and wanted to hook 2 male DB-9 connectors (the ones where the pins are visible) together.  He came to see me because my office tends to be a graveyard for old cables and connectors as well as test equipment.  He asked about whether a null modem cable would be required.  I took a little time to explain when null modem cables are required but it quickly became obvious that I was providing more information than needed and that he just wanted to solve a problem.  

My theory has always been that I can solve problems faster if I develop a mental model of how a given technology works.  What helped me tremendously in figuring out the many possible variations in async serial comm devices was getting the job of on-site field engineer as USA Today in Rosslyn, VA when they launched in 1982.  As part of my duties, I had to hook up the satellite feeds from various news agencies like UPI, AP, and Reuters.  There were a lot of async devices to hook up to the 12 DEC PDP-11 minicomputers.  Fortunately I had an RS-232 breakout box which helped identify how the serial cables needed to be wired.

I had been trying to explain the young engineer at work that null modem cables allow 2 terminal type devices to be connected together where the original intention was for a terminal to be hooked to a modem type device.  There are 2 main categories of RS-232 serial equipment, data terminal equipment (aka DTE) and date circuit-terminating equipment (aka DCE).  Modems or modem eliminator devices are DCE equipment.  The primary function of a null modem cable is to swap the Transmit Data line with the Receive Data line.  When DTE devices are directly connected to DCE devices, no such signal swapping is required.  Admittedly, this is for devices which follow the RS-232 standard closely which doesn't seem as common as one might think.

On some of the smaller devices, there's only a serial port available for data transfer.  In those cases, I choose ZMODEM to securely transfer binary data files between machines.  Back when I used to connect to bulletin board systems (aka BBSes), terminal emulator programs which supported ZMODEM used to be plentiful but now there's only a few options.  I've been using Tera Term because I find its ZMODEM implementation easier to use.  Here's what a file transfer looks like using it.