Passing fancies #21

 

I used to call these posts with collections of links "link dumps" but I recently found another blog which also included books and television programs which the author enjoyed and I liked that idea.  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 might gather from these links, I find a wide array of topics interesting.

Books

In the past week or so, I finished reading Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks.  It's an homage to P. G. Wodehouse's characters Jeeves and Wooster.  It was enjoyable but it's hard to match Wodehouse's mastery of the English language so I found it a bit lacking.

I also finished Neil Gaiman's graphic novel The Sandman, Volume 5: A Game of You.   Gaiman's comics often send me researching terms or topics he includes and this book was no exception.  The only comic author I'm aware of whose works are more reference laden is Alan Moore.  This one sent me down a few rabbit holes looking up references.  For instance, I had no idea that Thomas Paine was imprisoned in a French prison for a while.

Music

Over the weekend we enjoyed another opportunity to hear a favorite local band called Felix Pickles.  They're causing me to buy more music by getting songs they cover stuck in my head.  I just bought the MP3 of Jenny Says by Cowboy Mouth because once I get an earworm, I need to listen to the song to get it out of my head.  The version from Felix Pickles was intensely interesting in its own right.

I also found a Youtube video by Red Baraat, a band I discovered while searching for bands like Hazmat Modine.  That search discovered a few interesting new bands for me but none of them were much like Hazmat Modine.  Red Baraat's music is happy music and seeing them perform it is even better.
https://youtu.be/lgmw41CY1Fo?si=HkbxMiY8MIR9q1aN

Television/Movies

We watched Project Hail Mary for the second time which was enjoyable because I always notice things in movies which I missed on the first viewing.  It was great on the big screen but watching via streaming allowed for breaks which is nice.  I'm happy to report that I liked it just as much the second time.  The book is excellent as well.

I also convinced my wife to watch Normal which stars Bob Odenkirk.  I've been enjoying his journey as an unlikely action movie star which I think started with Nobody.  Nobody is worth watching because it throws a surprising early twist at you.

I also watched Slaughterhouse-Five which surprised me by being shown on TCM for the first time recently.  I loved both the book and the movie.

Links

A few days ago I saw a post about on Bluesky about doing software estimates using LoC (lines of code) which I've always thought was absurd.  It reminded me of the comic linked below which in turn reminded me of a friend who reported his weekly status as 125% because he had exceeded the LoC estimate he had originally provided.  Management was not amused.  Often they seem to have no sense of humor.
https://www.workchronicles.com/p/comic-the-estimate-game

This article about Scrum (meetings in the Agile methodology) echoes my feelings about it being ridiculous but somehow a necessary evil.  I think it often trades careful design for quick results.
https://kasperowski.com/scrum-doesnt-matter-and-it-never-did/

I found the idea that someone was producing counterfeit BMW vehicles surprising.  It would be hard to produce cars as carefully as a German company does.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/07/11/bmw-warns-of-unauthorized-production-of-pirated-cars-in-russia-a93223 

Given how badly Facebook has managed to screw up people's timelines, it's no surprise that people are abandoning daily updates.  For me Facebook is more of an obligation to catch up with a few friends there than it is a joy these days.  I much prefer Mastodon and Bluesky where there are an abundance of interesting people and far less argumentative behavior.  Both seem to have the philosophy that it's better to block trolls than it is to interact with them.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/death-of-the-status-update-why-55-americans-stopped-posting-social-media

I was happy to catch a glimpse of Umberto Eco's large library of books.  I admire his writing and what he chose to spend some of his money on as well.  One can only imagine what it would be likely to have that much space to store the books accumulated over a lifetime.
https://www.openculture.com/2017/03/watch-umberto-eco-walk-through-his-immense-private-library.html

I've long thought that the English language could benefit from an attempt to correct its spelling and pronunciation.  What might young people learn if they weren't required to devote so much time to memorizing all the exceptions to the rules of English spelling?
https://boingboing.net/2026/07/07/why-english-spelling-looks-like-it-lost-a-bar-fight-with-history.html

People sometimes seem a bit surprised that despite having spent the better part of 50 years in the computer industry, I avoid smart appliances in our house.  After spending my days designing and writing code, I feel little need to interact with it to accomplish mundane tasks in the house.  I have friends who love to show off smart locks which can be activated by their phone.  I still recall the absurdity of a vacation spent in a rental house equipped with smart lights and ceiling fans controlled by Amazon Echo devices as well as people's attempts to interact with one ceiling fan which had no physical switch and which resisted all attempts to control it via vocal commands.  Apparently a previous owner had set up many of the smart devices and some were still tied to their account and unable to be transferred to a new account.  That's bad enough but paying for the privilege of being spied upon seems ridiculous.
https://www.engadget.com/2210745/smart-appliances-data-transmission-weekly/

The use of 3D printing to create tiles for a seawall which not only protects the coast but provides room for marine life to use as a shelter seems a brilliant use of the technology.
https://news.fiu.edu/2026/fiu-researchers-install-3d-printed-seawall-tiles-to-support-coastal-protection-and-marine-life

Hearing about a 95 year old mechanic who enjoys his job enough to continue working made me smile.  I plan on continuing to write software for my own use and amusement once I retire because I enjoy solving problems.  The reason I'll retire is because I'm tired of corporate nonsense after this long in the industry.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/old-school-tennessee-mechanic-celebrates-95th-birthday-working-at-the-shop

Three women set world records at the Lumberjack World Championships recently.  I'm fascinated by the customized chainsaws used in these type of competitions.  Some are basically a motorcycle engine with a blade attached.  This is one of the few sporting events I'll watch willingly.
https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/3-womens-world-records-set-annual-lumberjack-world-134907345

Passing fancies #20

 

I used to call these posts with collections of links "link dumps" but I recently found another blog which also included books and television programs which the author enjoyed and I liked that idea.  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 might gather from these links, I find a wide array of topics interesting.

Books

In the past week or so, I revisited both books in Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently series.  Their titles are Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul.  I enjoyed both books more than the later books in the Hitchhiker's Guide series which I found a bit uneven.

Music

Over the weekend we enjoyed hearing a favorite local band called Felix Pickles.  Their music always makes me happy.  I particularly enjoy their covers of Tom Petty, Black Keys, White Stripes, and Nirvana songs.  The fact that the show took place at a local brewery was nice as well.

Television/Movies

We've been watching a couple streaming series recently.  The first season of Cross, based on the Alex Cross books by James Patterson, was gripping.  Most of the episodes ended on cliffhangers which coaxed us into watching later than we usually do.

We've also been watching Apple TV's new production of Cape Fear.  It's very suspenseful but since the episodes are dropping slowly, we've been forced to postpone our enjoyment until the next one is available.

Links

As a long time SciFi fan, I've read a number of books about Von Neuman probes.  While the concept is fascinating, I've long wondered how realistic the actual process of replication is.  Here's a metallurgist's opinion of how difficult it would be for machines to duplicate themselves using metal mined from asteroids or other sources.
https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/07/10/a-metallurgists-doubts-about-self-replicating-probes/

The news that some types of monitors are installing Windows adware on the computers they're connected to is disturbing.  I'm guessing this is accomplished if the monitors have a USB connection to the PC since USB multifunction devices are possible which would allow the monitor to also appear as a storage device which can sometimes install software via AutoRun.  I have AutoRun disabled on all my computers.
https://www.techspot.com/news/113031-lg-alienware-monitors-caught-auto-installing-windows-adware.html

I had heard that doctors behave differently than most patients when presented with a cancer diagnosis.  I guess having knowledge of the low odds of survival and the high costs and suffering of attempting to fight the disease would make one weigh their options differently.  I think if diagnosed with some form of terminal disease with low odds of survival, I'd tend to refuse expensive and painful treatments as well.
https://archive.cancerworld.net/featured/how-doctors-die/

My favorite coding editor is Vim but I've been avoiding upgrading because the developers have been accepting AI submitted code changes.  The limited experience I've had with AI has not left me with a wholly positive view of its capabilities so I'm happy to be able to avoid it in my editor of choice.
https://jasonpolak.substack.com/p/interview-drew-devault-on-an-ai-free

It's been a while since I've heard about Hannah Montana Linux but apparently it's been updated recently.  I'm not personally a fan of ornate window managers so I'm guessing I'm not the target audience for it.
https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/hannah-montana-linux-gets-modern-remaster-after-nearly-two-decades-sweet-niblets-new-v26-is-built-on-debian-with-a-re-skin-of-kde-plasma 

When I was young, I owned a 1948 Jeep for a while.  It was a very primitive vehicle which came with manual windshield wipers operated by moving a lever back and forth which operated the wiper blade. That caused funny looks each time I had to get a safety inspection.  These days I value my creature comforts too much to consider trying to assemble a replica of that old Jeep but it's nice to know it could be done if I ever got the urge.
https://www.theautopian.com/i-bet-my-company-on-an-impossible-jeep-build-then-a-miracle-happened/

Someone is creating handmade electric guitars using the valve covers from old car engines.  I imagine that metallic chamber gives an interesting resonance to the instrument.  Plus it looks so cool. 
https://www.designboom.com/design/old-car-engines-second-life-handmade-electric-guitars-vlado-plateis/

Isaac Asimov noticed the rise of willful ignorance in American society almost 50 years ago.  I fear it's only gotten worse since that time.
https://www.openculture.com/2026/07/isaac-asimov-laments-the-cult-of-ignorance.html

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is being shutdown for about 4 years for renovations which will make it better at studying the behavior of small particles.  I look forward to reading about new research done with the results when it's back online.
https://home.cern/cern-bids-farewell-to-the-lhc-and-enters-long-shutdown-3/

Passing fancies #19

 

I used to call these posts with collections of links "link dumps" but I recently found another blog which also included books and television programs which the author enjoyed and I liked that idea.  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 might gather from these links, I find a wide array of topics interesting.

Books

This week I finished two books, both by favorite authors of mine.  The first was The Suitcase Clone by Robin Sloan who is probably best known for Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore which is my favorite of his books.  The Suitcase Clone ties in most directly to another strangely fascinating book of his called Sourdough, which is about a weirdly sentient sourdough starter.  Robin's books feature inventive blends of fantasy, technology, and food or wine.

The second book I finished this week was a graphic novel called The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman.  Like the best graphic novels, the award winning The Sandman series features lots of interesting and sometimes obscure references which makes me glad that I'm able to read them on my iPad since that makes it easy to research the many references which sometimes take me on side journeys.  It inspired a streaming series which we enjoyed watching.  Another graphic novel I love which is similarly reference-laden is Watchmen by Alan Moore.  It also inspired a movie and a streaming series, both of which I enjoyed immensely.

Music

For a while, we had a Peacock streaming account and while we did, one of the programs we enjoyed was We Are Lady Parts which is about a punk band formed of Muslim women.  It managed to be funny, touching, and thought provoking.  Somehow this week I found a link to a song performed in the show called Bashir With the Good Beard which is funny as well as catchy.

Youtube recommended a cover of the AC/DC song Thunderstruck by a band called The Rock Orchestra which was really interesting.  I still prefer the AC/DC version but sometimes covers can be enjoyable on their own.  Youtube's recommendations are sometimes eerily accurate at predicting content I might enjoy.

Television/Movies

This week we finished watching the award winning streaming series The Bear.  The final season featured so many challenges for the people working in the restaurant that we could hardly wait to see how it turned out.  The finale wrapped up things nicely.

Something I read reminded me of the movie Highlander and it turns out that my wife had never seen it so we watched it although I don't think my wife enjoyed it as much as I did.  It's an entertaining fantasy but features some questionable accents, most notably from Christopher Lambert whose French accent often shines through his intermittent attempts at a Scottish accent and Sean Connery who doesn't attempt an accent to match his character Ramirez (aka the Spaniard) much like his performance as a Russian sub commander in The Hunt for Red October.

The first episode of the third season of Silo was released on Apple TV and we enjoyed continuing the story in this very compelling series.  Silo was based on Hugh Howey's Silo book series which starts with the book Wool.  I found the books fascinating.

Links

Have you ever wondered what F1 race drivers choose for transportation when off the racetrack?  Here's a set of photos which shows some of their daily drivers.  My favorite is Landon Norris' E-Type Jaguar shown in the last picture.  I think E-type Jag's are the most beautiful sports car ever made although I prefer the hardtop to convertibles.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/heres-a-peek-at-the-f1-drivers-parking-lot-in-silverstone

The Voyager 1 space probe is nearing the impressive distance of 1 light day from Earth.  The fact that it's still operating nearly 50 years after its launch in 1977 is evidence for my belief that NASA is responsible for some of the finest engineering ever done by humans.
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/where-are-voyager-1-and-voyager-2-now/

I share the concern which the author of this blog post expresses about being overwhelmed by the tendency of smart devices to chip away at our ability to concentrate deeply.  I disable almost all notifications and avoid smart appliances in our house.  My ability to stay focused while creating system software is something I value far more than the minor conveniences offered by smart devices.
https://www.terrygodier.com/the-last-quiet-thing

I found  this article about programmers needing to meditate interesting.  The author is involved with building AI infrastructure which I believe is largely responsible for much of the stress which programmers face these days.  I'm avoiding AI wherever possible because of the toll it takes on our ability to deeply focus by getting into the flow state.  It's rare for me to be able to achieve flow state on my days in the office due to having too many distractions.  While working from home, it's much easier for me to concentrate deeply enough to hit that mystical state.
https://jacob.gold/posts/programmers-need-to-start-meditating-now/

Apparently birds in Ukraine are making use of fiber optic cables when building nests.  This is weird because while it undoubtedly creates more durable nests, it's also a sad reminder of drones being used to cause destruction.
https://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2026/07/fiber-optic-materials-in-ukranian-birds.html

Here's an interesting and somewhat sad article by a travel writer who met her hero, Anthony Bourdain, and how those interactions affected her.  I feel a bit sorry for people who feel compelled to constantly search for new and exciting experiences because they seldom seem to enjoy having achieved something.
https://cailey.substack.com/p/i-wanted-to-be-anthony-bourdainuntil

The news that scientists have managed to create a living cell from scratch if nothing short of amazing.  It's also a bit disturbing since chirality can affect how molecules interact with living tissue so it may be possible to intentionally create harmful mirror molecules.
https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/6157418679944799691/2587135840302117398 

I was surprised to read that honeybees choose individual routes to foraging locations.  Bees seem more complex than most people think.
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(26)00084-9

While I enjoyed a good argument when I was younger, I find I no longer want to waste the energy and time necessary to prove I'm right about something.  Given people's tendency to ignore documented facts and hold on to misinformation, it's not worth the effort.  It's easier to walk away from argumentative people and go do something I enjoy instead.
https://wangcong.org/2026-06-30-why-i-stopped-arguing-with-people.html

One of the best things about being near retirement is I no longer need to worry about having to endure another technical interview.  The majority of interviews I've been subjected to have been absurd and unpleasant.  A couple have been bad enough that I've extracted myself early by telling them I was no longer interested in their company.  The looks on the face of the interviewers when they realized they would be denied further opportunities to torture me were priceless.  It reminds me of the time an interviewer told me I had more experience than they expected and asked my age.  I responded that I thought it might be illegal to ask that question which turned his smug look into a worried one.
https://nelson.cloud/what-i-actually-want-to-say-in-tech-interviews/

Apparently laughter was key to humans developing the vocal control required for speech.
https://thedebrief.org/new-research-suggests-human-laughter-may-hold-a-15-million-year-old-secret/

This article about keeping historical events in perspective states that humans are really bad at doing so.  The example is that Oxford University is older than the Aztec empire which I wouldn't have thought was true.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/university-oxford-older-than-aztec-empire-other-facts-will-change-your-perspective-history-1529607/

Our ability to see things does not work the way most people believe it does.  Human eyes perform motions called saccades, rapid movements which do scanning of objects which the visual cortex helps combine into a complete picture.  I first read about this in Jeff Hawkins' books On Intelligence and A Thousand Brains, both of which are well worth reading.
https://ishan.co/no-way/

Older tech workers are retiring (voluntary or involuntary) in larger numbers than usual.  At some point, I think this might catch up with companies similar to the way Ford was forced to rehire 350 veteran engineers to help fix the problems caused by their attempt to let AI do most of the work.
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/local-business/older-tech-workers-are-tapping-out-early-heres-what-that-looks-like/

Passing fancies #18

I used to call these posts with collections of links "link dumps" but I recently found another blog which also included books and television programs which the author enjoyed and I liked that idea.  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 wide array of topics interesting.

Books

This week I've finished two books.  The first was World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters.  It's the final book in The Last Policeman trilogy.  This was my second time enjoying this trilogy, the first time started in 2013 shortly after the first book was published.  I loved it on the first read and even more this time.  I'm often so keen to find out what happens in a book that I don't take enough time to fully appreciate the writing itself while reading it for the first time.  This series is about a policeman who continues trying to solve crimes even though the Earth is doomed to be struck by an asteroid.  It's an interesting tale about human nature under extraordinary circumstances.

The second was God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.  This was at least the second time I've read this as I'm a big Vonnegut fan.  It's hard to summarize what most of Vonnegut's books are about because they tend to cover so much territory.  They're always fascinating reads though.

Music

Somewhere I found a mention of Andrew Strong, the actor who played the lead singer in The Committments (which is an outstanding movie if you haven't seen it).  His voice was perfect for singing old soul classics.  After the movie he sang in a band called The Bone Yard Boys.  Apparently their music isn't available for purchase in electronic form which is a pity.  At least I was able to find a few Youtube videos of him performing like the one below.
https://youtu.be/QN43ZXivDa0?si=UC-GE4TU-nyz_dyU

I also found an intriguing mention of a band called Newen Afrobeat which I hadn't heard of previously.  I discovered I enjoy their music. 
https://youtu.be/YCZZWu9WR5s?si=3uU2h5mF4QHn-Vls

Television

We watched the first episode of Triumph: Jesse Owens and the Berlin Olympics on Netflix this week and are anxiously awaiting the next episode.  I knew parts of the story but there's so much I hadn't heard and it's fascinating.

Links

Like many people, I get tired of being pushed to secure my online accounts with passkeys.  While they may be convenient, I'm not convinced that they're more secure than the traditional username and strong password.
https://www.makeuseof.com/why-im-still-not-giving-up-my-password-for-passkeys/

When Quentin Tarantino states a preference for reading books over most of the movies being released, I know I'm not alone in finding most new movies insufficiently compelling to bother seeing them in a theater.  Project Hail Mary is the only film I was anxiously awaiting in the past few years.
https://brandons-journal.com/post/these-days-i-d-rather-read-a-book

Here's an interesting article which references Chesterton's Fence, a term I'd never encountered previously.   In it G.K. Chesterton states that changes should not be made until the thing being changed is fully understood.  The article below complains that changes to software are often made with insufficient documentation for the software in question to be properly understood.  In my experience this is true.  There are too many engineers who don't adequately document changes they have made. 
https://www.arp242.net/chestersons-finger.html

It makes me happy to hear that the producer of Star Trek: The Next Generation granted famous physicist Stephen Hawking's request to sit in the Captain's chair on the Enterprise bridge.

I'm not sure exactly how to feel about the news that Denmark has a Mullet Championship.  I had thought that questionable hairstyle was uniquely American.
https://apnews.com/article/denmark-mullet-hairstyle-festival-competition-ea0c4b66b1eb9f133983ea4d6f44f37c

Kentucky's economy is dealing with a huge downturn in demand for Bourbon.  The final line suggests that the same may eventually be true of Data Centers.
https://a.wholelottanothing.org/kentuckys-bourbon-problem/

Why doesn't it surprise me that Richard Feynman (famous physicist) had a method for optimizing food choices at restaurants?  If you haven't read any of the books about Feynman's life (Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character or What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character), you'd probably enjoy them.
https://www.futilitycloset.com/2026/06/06/eating-out/

A pulp magazine from 1912 containing the first appearance of Tarzan recently sold for $58,560.  I have fond memories of reading old books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the Tarzan and John Carter of Mars books while I was in high school.  At that time I was hell-bent on absorbing all the genre books I could get my hands on.  The best part is they were often available cheap at area used bookstores.
https://boingboing.net/2026/06/11/the-first-tarzan-pulp-sold-for-58560-at-a-record-setting-auction.html

I was a little surprised to read that old iPod models are making a comeback thanks to Gen-Z and then I remembered that our granddaughter had asked for a portable cassette player similar to a Walkman.  Apparently cassette tape players have made a comeback as well.
https://www.engadget.com/2196894/ipods-comeback-gen-z/

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 #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. 

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/

link dump #12

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.

I started in the computer industry as a field engineer.  When I got stuck on night shift, there was often little to keep me occupied between trouble calls.  I used to play early computer games like Star Trek and Adventure (aka Colossal Cave Adventure on a TI Silent 700 terminal with an acoustic modem.  Here's a history of the game which brought back memories for me.
https://dhq.digitalhumanities.org/vol/1/2/000009/000009.html

I assumed that Lithium Ion batteries caused a fair number of fires but I had no idea it was this bad.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/may/11/uk-firefighters-lithium-ion-battery-fires-ebikes

I worked for an optical networking startup company called Ocular Networks for a while.  The news that fiber optic cables can be used to eavesdrop on people came as a surprise to me.
https://www.science.org/content/article/fiber-optic-cables-can-eavesdrop-nearby-conversations

Apparently cats react differently to falling in space.  The video is fascinating.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MBzDfmynaAQ 

Apparently volcanoes can create lightning while erupting.  As if lava wasn't scary enough on its own...
https://nautil.us/why-volcanoes-sometimes-shoot-out-lightning-1280235

The classic story of Mel, a programmer who hand optimized accesses on a magnetic drum storage device entertains me each time it surfaces.  I've known programmers who had this level of hardware knowledge.
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/story-of-mel.html

Creating a permanent settlement on the Moon presents lots of challenges to overcome.
https://theconversation.com/the-unseen-challenges-of-life-on-the-moon-273370 

link dump #11

 

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.

In case you're curious about why I'm posting on my blog more often recently, it's because I'm counting down to starting my retirement.  According to my spreadsheet, today I'm down to 158 more days of work.

I have fond memories of playing some of the old Infocom games.  There's a new web based version of Zork which actually shows you the code which is running as you play the game.  That appeals to both the techie and gamer in me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infocom

NASA has shut down an instrument on the 49 year old Voyager 1 probe to extend its mission even longer.  This adds more evidence for my opinion that NASA does some of the finest engineering ever done.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260504023835.htm

There's a new theory about a possible way to cut travel time to Mars.  This will be critical for continued missions.
https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/i-was-not-looking-for-this-scientist-accidentally-finds-shortcut-to-mars-that-could-slash-travel-time-in-half

This new brake by wire system sounds interesting but I'll avoid cars which feature it until it has much more testing.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/the-first-modern-car-without-hydraulic-brakes-is-headed-to-production

Richard Dawkins is being mocked for his questioning of whether LLM systems such as Claude pass all current tests for consciousness.  Since a few people working on AI systems have made similar claims, it seems ridiculous to mock a well respected scientist who has no special expertise in the subject.  Since these systems have been trained on massive amounts of output from talented authors, it doesn't surprise me that they can string together sentences which sound convincing.
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/richard-dawkins-and-the-claude-delusion

If you got the idea that I'm an AI skeptic, you'd be right.  Here's one of the many reasons I avoid them at every opportunity.  I wonder whether the engineer who was working with the AI agent which did this got reprimanded or fired.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/ai-agent-deletes-company-s-entire-database-in-seconds/ar-AA21UbLU 

Even though I have strong doubts about whether we'll create actual conscious machine models anytime soon, I do believe that octopuses are intelligent despite having brains which are very different from ours.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01302-4

Denis Leary has long been one of my favorite comedians and he seems to be a great human being as well.  I know he's been doing fund raising for firefighters since he starred in Rescue Me and he's managed to step up the support through this innovative plan.
https://abcnews.com/Business/wireStory/denis-learys-crazy-idea-puts-civilians-fdny-training-132625577

I'm happy to hear that there are more bookstores now than there were six years ago.  Literate people would probably help prevent many of the problems we currently have.
https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/04/27/052242/america-now-has-70-more-bookstores-than-in-2020-says-bookshoporg-founder

The mention of Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle is initially what caught my eye about this story but it's interesting on its own merit.  Who knew there were 20 crystalline forms of ice?
https://boingboing.net/2026/04/29/scientists-found-ice-with-a-304-molecule-repeating-pattern.html

Hopefully you don't drive one of these cars with soy-based wiring since they attract rodents which can lead to expensive repairs.
https://www.box-kat.com/blogs/box-kat-blog/full-list-of-cars-with-soy-based-wiring-2025-update

link dump #10

 

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.

A fair number of chefs seem to like American cheese for its ability to melt smoothly on burgers.  I'd much rather have a cheese with more flavor such as a medium sharp cheddar even though it's not as attractive when it melts.  Swiss and Blue cheese are also better choices for me than American cheese.
https://www.seriouseats.com/whats-really-in-american-cheese

One of the books I'm currently reading is Alas Babylon.  I've been on a post-apocalyptic kick lately, having recently finished Earth Abides, which like Alas Babylon, I probably hadn't read in 40 years or more. I've also enjoyed The Postman and On the Beach (my personal favorite in this sub-genre).
https://grubstreethack.wordpress.com/2019/12/07/book-review-alas-babylon/

I just read about a company called Elite Obsolete Electronics which is upgrading classic Apple iPods with modern storage devices and better batteries.  I've got a first generation iPod Classic with the click wheel which I've considered doing an upgrade like this but the fact that it has a Firewire interface raises the complexity of synchronizing music to the device.  There's  also the issue of trying to convince Apple Music to sync to such an old device.  Given those issues, I'm probably better off going with a Tangara which is a crowd funded device created with all modern technology.

It makes me sad to read about technology like Stinger missiles which we've forgotten how to produce.  I fear AI is just making this worse.  It's cool that they were able to call engineers in their 70s to come back to teach younger engineers how.  Since I'm retiring early next year, I'm hoping there's no reason that some company tries to lure me back to the workforce.  I always thought the year 2038 date problem would be the reason I'd get pressured, but it looks like there might be more reasons than that.

Drunk engineers often have good advice.  I don't agree with all of it but there are some gems in this list.
https://luminousmen.substack.com/p/drunk-post-things-ive-learned-as

I worry about young people who are losing the powers of concentration required to watch a movie or read a book.  I wonder how many people still want to watch a longer classic movie like Lawrence of Arabia (one of my favorites).
https://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2026/01/attention-span-problems-viewing-movies.html

The idea of starting a country where crocs and reply-all emails are banned appeals to me in a strange sort of way,  I also like their idea of selling titles for people to boost their LinkedIn profiles.  In case you can't tell, I'm definitely not a fan of LinkedIn
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260330-slowjamastan-the-worlds-newest-nation-youve-never-heard-of

Often it's hard to people's minds but no one should have to suffer like the doctor who helped proved that washing hands could save lives.
https://boingboing.net/2026/04/07/the-doctor-who-proved-handwashing-saves-lives-was-locked-in-an-asylum-for-it.html

Even though I've got no where to put it, I kind of want this Lego Star Trek TNG Bridge.
https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-256838/Menapian/star-trek-tng-enterprise-d-bridge-diorama/#details

If LED lights can damage paintings, I wonder what effect they have on people?
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2013/01/04/led_bulbs_can_damagepaintings-1-1518123/

link dump #9

 

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.

My Google Alert for stories about Andy Weir alerted me to the news that the directories of the movie Project Hail Mary are planning to adapt the first book from Dennis E. Taylor's Bobiverse series as their next film project.  If you enjoy SciFi books and haven't read this series, you're in for a treat.
https://www.cbr.com/universal-hard-sci-fi-bobiverse-next-step-after-project-hail-mary/

I love old Blues music so this story about a new recording of Cross Road Blues by Robert Johnson grabbed my attention.  This recording is amazingly clear and provides insight into how revolutionary his music was in the 1930s.  It gives a better context for how the rumor about him selling his soul to the devil for his outstanding guitar skills came about.  Wow, I love the way a slide guitar sounds when played by a expert musician.
https://www.openculture.com/2026/04/recording-lets-you-hear-delta-blues-legend-robert-johnson-in-stunning-clarity.html

I follow NASA's APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) because the pictures are always interesting.  This photo is one of my favorites.  I love taking pictures of crepuscular rays.  I had no idea that anticrepuscular rays existed.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250204.html

As a film buff, this story about younger viewers no longer having the attention span requires to watch a full length film saddens me.  Apparently many feel the need to glance at their phones.  Alamo Drafthouse used to be my favorite venue for movies thanks to their strict policy of ejecting customers using their phones in the theater. but that may no longer be the case  Apparently their new policy of allowing phone ordering has degraded the experience.
https://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2026/01/attention-span-problems-viewing-movies.html

Voice AI tools are threatening the livelihoods of voice actors.  I enjoy animated programs and movies and can't imagine them without the work of the talented humans who help bring them to life.  I feel the same way about the narrators of audiobooks.  Their performance can add so much to my enjoyment of a book.
https://restofworld.org/2026/ai-voice-actors-hollywood-dubbing/

Lawrence of Arabia is one of my favorite movies.  This quote illustrates Lawrence's irreverent attitude towards authority.
https://www.quotes.net/mquote/1194085

I recently found a mention of Margaret Hamilton, who reportedly coined the term "software engineer" while working at NASA.  I've long been an admirer since first seeing the famous picture of her standing next to her assembly language listings.  The quality of her code is legendary.  The link below contains a story of her daughter uncovering a bug in the AGC (Apollo Guidance Computer) in a simulator while playing with it was really interesting.  If you prefer video, Youtube has a short video of her talking about the incident.
https://wehackthemoon.com/people/margaret-hamilton-her-daughters-simulation

I've been a fan of Penn & Teller for a long time.  This story surprised me a bit.  While Penn often shares his political views, I don't recall them taking such an active stance as this.  I guess the fight against pseudo-scientific thinking is never ending.
https://hoodline.com/2026/04/penn-teller-crash-supreme-court-fight-over-texas-hypnosis-death-row-case/

I found this story about kids making the trek from Oklahoma to New York on their own in 1910 fascinating.
https://texascooppower.com/the-astonishing-ride-of-the-abernathy-boys/

link dump #8

 

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.

Here's an interesting look at how NASA engineered a fault-tolerant computer for the Artemis II mission.  It is able to handle bit flips due to cosmic rays which apparently aren't uncommon in space travel.
https://cacm.acm.org/news/how-nasa-built-artemis-iis-fault-tolerant-computer/

I'm an avid follower of space technology and was interested to hear that a new memory device which could withstand the exceptionally high temperatures on Venus has been invented.  I wonder whether a CPU to function in such a hostile environment can be created and whether there's a way to connect them.
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-new-computer-chip-could-finally-withstand-the-hellscape-of-venus

Apparently rich techies are paying to get on a waiting list to have their brains digitized.  The process is 100% fatal.  There seems to be a ridiculous leap of faith required to take advantage of this technology.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/science/5809555/sam-altman-nectome-brain-computer/

This essay echoes many of my feelings about using Apple devices these days.  I still like their hardware but their software continues evolving in ways I don't find particularly useful and occasionally I find myself wondering what the hell they're thinking customers want.
https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2026/04/12/1330

Physicists have managed to entangle two helium atoms which has interesting possibilities.
https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/quantum-physics/really-really-weird-physicists-entangle-two-moving-atoms-for-the-first-time-validating-spooky-quantum-theory

NASA has a Daily Moon Guide which might be useful.
https://science.nasa.gov/moon/daily-moon-guide/

This poll which indicates that print books still dominate American reading habits surprised me.  The convenience of e-books and e-audiobooks had made print books a last resort for me.  I only use them for books not available in electronic form.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/09/americans-still-opt-for-print-books-over-digital-or-audio-versions-few-are-in-book-clubs/ 

For a while, Scotland seemed to dominate original thinking.  It's amazing how many fields they excelled at - economics, engineering, medicine, etc.
https://www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-invention-why-scotland-succeeded

I've read a number of books about the early days of hacking which included phone phreaking but I don't recall reading about a blind hacker who called himself "Joybubbles".  Apparently his exploits inspired other phone hackers.
https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/joybubbles-documentary-rachael-morrison-interview

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

link dump #6

 

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.

Tracy Kidder, the author of the excellent book The Soul of a New Machine, died recently.  Here's some memories of Tracy from the daughter of one of the engineers featured in the book.  Her memories emphasize the importance of not letting work interfere with spending time with your family.
https://www.jessamyn.com/journal/2026/03/tracy-kidder-rip

I plan on re-reading The Soul of a New Machine.  A while back I had saved a link to an article with interesting notes on the book so I could access them while enjoying the book.
https://auxiliarymemory.com/2017/01/06/rereading-the-soul-of-a-new-machine-by-tracy-kidder/

Kim Stanley Robinson, author of several books about Mars, has pointed out how ridiculous the idea of emigrating to Mars is.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2520312-author-of-red-mars-calls-bullshit-on-emigrating-to-the-planet/

NASA's plans for a moonbase seem rushed to me.  I worry that they'll be sacrificing safety to meet arbitrary goals.
https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/nasa-announces-near-impossible-space-plans-including-usd20b-moon-base-and-humanitys-first-nuclear-powered-interplanetary-spacecraft

It's getting harder to get a look at the night sky which is clear of satellites. That's sad since seeing stars is one of many reasons I enjoy living in a more rural area.
https://petapixel.com/2026/03/21/as-spacex-launches-its-10000th-satellite-a-photographer-captures-the-impact-on-the-night-sky/

CERN has succeeded in transporting antimatter particles in a containment trap.  This allows them to distribute samples for experimentation at other laboratories.
https://home.cern/news/press-release/experiments/base-experiment-cern-succeeds-transporting-antimatter

Scientists have byproducts of bourbon production into super capacitors, probably extra tasty super capacitors.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/how-chemists-turned-bourbon-waste-into-super-capacitors/

There's evidence that Romans used a weapon similar to a machine gun 2000 years ago.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a70698814/archeologists-uncovered-evidence-of-a-2000-year-old-machine-gunand-the-damage-it-did/

Stephen Colbert and his son are developing a new Lord of the Rings film.  This article also mentions Andy Serkis' project, The Hunt for Gollum, which I haven't heard about in a while.
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/lord-of-the-rings-movie-stephen-colbert-warner-bros-1236698684/

Recently I read about a documentary about Lowell George of Little Feat fame.  It's available to watch free on Youtube at the link below and I enjoyed watching it yesterday.  I hadn't realized that Lowell collaborated with Frank Zappa.  I had also never noticed that he used a Craftsman 11/16" spark plug socket as the slide for his guitar.  Apparently his reasoning was that it would be easy to replace if it ever got lost while it might be hard to find the same type of bottle had he used if he used a bottle neck as many musicians who play a slide guitar do.
https://youtu.be/VZ8EKw46Ce8?si=TESumuPdWsGPj-f3