Hasty Briefsbeta

Bilingual

Tars – A local-first autonomous supervisor powered by Google Gemini
14 hours ago
- Tars is a locally-hosted AI assistant powered by Google Gemini.
- It can function as a Personal Assistant, Host Manager, or Security Auditor.
- Features include schedule management, persistent memory, and workflow execution via Discord.
- As a Host Manager, it monitors system health, manages logs, and performs maintenance tasks.
- As a Security Auditor, it analyzes logs in real-time, detects anomalies, and alerts users.
- Supports multi-instance deployment with specialized Discord bot permissions.
- Compatible with the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for connecting to internal APIs and databases.
- Operates continuously in the background, scheduling and completing tasks autonomously.
- Installation is simple with npm commands: `npm install -g @saccolabs/tars`, `tars setup`, `tars start`.
UC Irvine researchers bring down AI powered drones with painted umbrellas
11 hours ago
- Introduces FlyTrap, a physical-world attack framework targeting Autonomous Target Tracking (ATT) systems.
- FlyTrap uses an adversarial umbrella to exploit vulnerabilities in ATT drones, reducing tracking distances dangerously.
- The attack can lead to drone capturing, susceptibility to sensor attacks, or physical collisions.
- Demonstrates effectiveness through real-world experiments on commercial ATT drones like DJI and HoverAir.
- Highlights urgent security risks and implications for the safe deployment of ATT systems.
Startup Is Probably Dead on Arrival
12 hours ago
- Startups older than two years likely have obsolete business plans and outdated tech stacks.
- Venture capital has shifted heavily toward AI, making non-AI startups less competitive.
- AI tools like Claude Code and OpenAI Codex enable faster MVP development, reducing the need for large engineering teams.
- Agile development is evolving into parallel development due to AI agents.
- AI agents will transform software by automating tasks, shifting focus from interfaces to outcomes.
- Hardware startups benefit from AI through faster prototyping and digital simulations.
- Sunk costs in outdated tech stacks and business models can hinder necessary pivots.
- Founders must reassess their business models using current tools and market conditions.
- Defensible moats now include proprietary data, regulatory lock-in, and deep customer insights.
- Founders need to stay adaptable, pivot when necessary, and avoid the sunk cost trap.
I Simulated 38,612 Countryle Games to Find the Best Strategy
2 days ago
- The author enjoys geography games like GeoGuessr, Globle, Travle, and Countryle.
- Countryle provides feedback on direction, continent, hemisphere, population, and temperature to help guess the target country.
- The author built a solver for Countryle using five modules, each handling a different feedback type.
- Shannon entropy was used to determine the most informative guesses by measuring how evenly a guess splits possible outcomes.
- Greece was found to be the most informative guess for directional feedback due to its balanced distribution.
- The solver initially used great-circle routes for direction but switched to rhumb lines (loxodromes) for more intuitive results.
- The Mercator projection, used in Countryle, preserves angles but distorts area, especially near the poles.
- Libya was identified as the best starting guess when balancing all feedback types, but other countries like the Republic of the Congo performed better in average solve depth.
- The solver achieves an average of 2.85 guesses to find the target country when all modules are enabled.
- Future improvements could include optimizing module weights and refining population and temperature bucket handling.
Forget Flags and Scripts: Just Rename the File
9 hours ago
- Programs can use their own filename as input, making configuration self-contained and portable.
- Flags and scripts have limitations: flags are ephemeral, scripts depend on environment.
- Example 1: Reusable installers (e.g., install_PY3_MODULE_NAME.exe) read filenames to customize actions.
- Example 2: AI experiment runners (e.g., train---resnet50---lr0.001---batch32---cifar10.exe) parse filenames for hyperparameters and datasets.
- Example 3: Ephemeral utilities (e.g., compress---photos---high.exe) encode tasks in filenames for instant execution.
- Example 4: P2P VPN tunnels (e.g., lounge-room---friends-machine---t25565---minecraft.exe) simplify setup using filenames for endpoints and ports.
- This approach combines configuration, portability, and reproducibility into a single file.
Have a Fucking Website
9 hours ago
- The internet's foundations are broken, making websites seem expensive or unnecessary compared to social media.
- Businesses and creators should have their own website to display rates, hours, and essential information easily.
- Social media platforms can change rules or ban users without recourse, making follower counts and posts unreliable.
- Owning a website ensures control over content and visibility, independent of social media platforms.
- Email lists are a reliable way to maintain contact with an audience, unlike social media.
- The internet was originally based on interconnected websites, not walled social media platforms.
- Encouraging more people to create websites can help shift away from reliance on social media.
Raving at the End of the World: looking for transcendence on the dance floor
3 days ago
- The film Sirāt explores the mixed experience of seeking transcendence through raving.
- Raving offers an escape from modern life, with dancers seeking existential meaning in clubs.
- The film follows Luis, a father searching for his missing daughter at a desert rave in Morocco.
- Ravers chase an epic high, but the journey is fraught with unexpected challenges.
- The film uses religious imagery to suggest raving as a form of spiritual pursuit.
- The characters' ignorance of the political conflict in Western Sahara leads to tragic consequences.
- Sirāt critiques the idea of raving as a utopian escape, showing its limitations.
- The film suggests that raving offers only temporary respite, not lasting liberation.
- Characters realize their loneliness persists even after the rave ends.
An x86-64 back end for raven-uxn
3 days ago
- The author implemented an x86-64 assembly backend for the Uxn CPU, which is twice as fast as their previous Rust implementation.
- The implementation was initially written by Claude Code, an AI coding assistant, and then refined by the author.
- The process involved porting 2000 lines of ARM64 assembly to x86-64, with the AI handling most of the initial translation.
- The AI-assisted implementation passed unit tests and fuzzing, though it required human intervention to fix some issues.
- The author improved the AI-generated assembly code, optimizing register usage and reducing unnecessary instructions.
- A subtle bug was discovered during fuzzing, which was eventually traced to an out-of-bounds write in the STR instruction.
- The author used Valgrind and GDB to debug the issue, a method they found more effective than printf debugging.
- The final implementation was merged into the project, with the author reflecting on the role of AI in coding and debugging.
- The author remains cautious about over-reliance on AI for coding but acknowledges its utility in debugging complex issues.
Explore 19th Century Scientific Correspondence
3 days ago
- Epsilon is a digital platform recreating 19th-century scientific correspondence networks.
- It aggregates and cross-searches over 50,000 letters from scattered sources.
- The platform highlights both prominent and lesser-known scientific figures.
- Epsilon enables tracing multi-dimensional conversations and idea flows.
- Developed by Cambridge University Library's Darwin Correspondence Project with partners.
- Funding is secured for its long-term sustainability.
Building a Reader for the Smallest Hard Drive
2 days ago
- Toshiba introduced the MK4001MTD, a 0.85-inch hard disk drive in 2004, recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's smallest HDD.
- The drive was used in products like the Nokia N91, offering 4GB storage before flash memory became more practical.
- Initial attempts to read the drive using standard SD/MMC readers failed, leading to reverse engineering efforts.
- A Nokia N91 was used to probe the drive's signals, revealing it uses a 4-bit SD/MMC interface with SDIO protocol.
- OpenClaw, an LLM, helped reverse-engineer the logic traces and develop firmware for the RP2040 to interface with the drive.
- The final design includes a custom board with spring-loaded contacts for the drive, achieving a functional but slow read speed of 10 MHz.
- All project files, including firmware and hardware designs, are available on GitHub for further study and modification.
LPT100: A PIC32MZ Emulator for the Iomega ZIP100 Parallel Port Drive
3 days ago
- The author initially used a PIC18F4680 microcontroller for the Iomega ZIP100 parallel-port emulator but faced performance issues due to its 8-bit architecture and slow SPI communication.
- Transitioned to a PIC32MZ2048EFH144 microcontroller for better performance, leveraging its 32-bit architecture, higher clock speed (180MHz), and USB host capabilities.
- Implemented Direct Memory Access (DMA) for efficient handling of parallel port data, avoiding the pitfalls of polling methods used with the PIC18F.
- Developed a user interface with buttons, LEDs, and an SSD1306 I2C LCD for the LPT100 emulator, including a parallel port tester mode for hardware validation.
- Achieved successful emulation with PALMZIP on a Book8088, demonstrating read/write operations, though transfer speeds were limited by the host's processor speed.
- Encountered compatibility issues with faster systems like the Pocket 386, where DMA data capture couldn't keep up with the higher parallel port transfer rates.
- Considered optimization strategies including PCB redesign, AI-assisted code simplification, and migration to faster microcontrollers like the Teensy 4.x for future improvements.
Write up of my homebrew CPU build
3 days ago
- The author built a prototype of the WCPU-1 computer, encountering various hardware issues like backwards LEDs, floating address lines, and EEPROM glitches.
- Custom PCBs were ordered from PCBWay, including an EEPROM programmer board, a generic register board, and a control module board, each with their own design flaws and fixes.
- Real-world issues not present in simulations included clock signal quality, timing problems with registers and flags, and EEPROM glitches during address changes.
- RAM timing issues were resolved by gating the RAM write signal with the clock to prevent asynchronous chaos.
- The computer now runs at 1 MHz, is Turing complete, and can execute programs like Fibonacci sequences.
- The build used a messy wiring approach with solid core wires, which worked but is not recommended for beginners due to potential signal degradation.
- An Arduino Mega was used as a temporary ROM loader, but the author plans to replace it with a more permanent EEPROM-based solution.
- A custom toolchain was developed, including a microcode generator and an assembler (wcasm), to write and load programs onto the computer.
- Missing features include a proper output register, a halt instruction, power-on/reset functionality, and a better clock with debounced speed mode switches.
- Future plans include a final PCB design, moving to FPGA development for WCPU-2, and open-sourcing the project once it's more organized.
Just Put It on a Map
2 days ago
- Land values in urban centers like Manhattan can be over 100 times higher than in outlying areas such as the Bronx.
- The article introduces CivicMapper and PutItOnAMap (PIOAM), tools designed to visualize land value data and correct misconceptions about where land value is concentrated.
- CivicMapper features include vacant land analysis, parking lot detection via computer vision, and time adjustment tools for property valuations.
- PIOAM offers a suite of GIS tools including a 3D parcel explorer, data fetcher, format converter, and file constructor, all designed to work locally in the browser without sending data to external servers.
- The tools are aimed at urbanists, assessors, and GIS professionals to aid in advocacy, data analysis, and property tax valuation.
- The article encourages donations to support the development of these tools and invites feedback to improve their functionality.
David Altrath Photography Diary
2 days ago
- David Altrath is a renowned architecture, landscape, and interior photographer based in Hamburg.
- Specializes in capturing the beauty and functionality of buildings, interiors, and urban structures.
- Offers landscape photography that highlights the harmony between architecture and nature.
- Provides high-quality interior photography for architects, designers, and real estate developers.
- Delivers comprehensive services including photo and film productions for architecture, lifestyle, and nature.
- Known for combining artistic talent with technical perfection to convey emotions through images.
- Works internationally, offering flexibility and professionalism in various countries.
FSFE supporters affected: Payment provider Nexi cancelled us
a day ago
- Nexi, FSFE's long-term payment provider, terminated the contract without notice, halting recurring donations.
- Over 450 FSFE supporters affected; automatic credit card and direct debit donations stopped.
- Nexi requested access to supporters' private data (usernames/passwords), which FSFE refused.
- FSFE unable to clarify Nexi's vague reasoning for the data request.
- Contract canceled on March 7 due to unmet deadline (not communicated to FSFE).
- FSFE transitioning to a new payment provider, but supporter accounts can't be auto-migrated.
- Nexi's actions deemed incomprehensible; FSFE provided extensive financial documentation but refused supporter data access.
- Updated donate pages on FSFE's website now feature the new payment provider.
The Math That Explains Why Bell Curves Are Everywhere
2 days ago
- Bell curves appear in many datasets, such as rainfall measurements, jelly bean guesses, heights, weights, and test scores.
- The central limit theorem explains why bell curves are ubiquitous, showing that averages of random samples form a normal distribution.
- Abraham de Moivre discovered the normal distribution while studying gambling, realizing combined random actions follow predictable patterns.
- Pierre-Simon Laplace expanded de Moivre's work, formalizing the central limit theorem, which applies to averages of any random process.
- The theorem allows statisticians to detect anomalies, like biased coins, by comparing outcomes to expected bell curve probabilities.
- The central limit theorem has limitations, requiring independent samples and large datasets, and may not account for extreme outliers.
- Despite its limits, the theorem remains foundational in statistics, enabling scientists to infer patterns from complex, random data.
Plants moved from sea to land and changed Earth forever
a day ago
- Plants began to grow on land around 500 million years ago, transforming Earth's surface.
- The earliest plantlike organisms were simple algae, which lived in water and performed photosynthesis.
- The Great Oxygenation Event, caused by oxygen-producing organisms, allowed complex life to evolve.
- The first true plants evolved from green algae around 470 million years ago, adapting to life in shallow water.
- Early land plants developed features like a waxy cuticle, stronger cell walls, and rhizoids to survive on land.
- The earliest land plants resembled modern mosses and liverworts, dating back to about 430 million years ago.
- Plants played a crucial role in breaking down rocks into soil and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere.
- Around 420 million years ago, plants evolved vascular tissue, allowing them to grow taller and stronger.
- By 360 million years ago, vast forests of giant ferns and treelike plants covered much of Earth.
- The development of seeds around 380 million years ago allowed plants to reproduce without water.
- Flowering plants, or angiosperms, appeared around 140 million years ago, dominating the plant world today.
The Gemini Protocol in 2026
a day ago
- Gemini Protocol is a simple, non-commercial document retrieval protocol akin to Gopher but with modern features.
- Designed to avoid commercial exploitation, tracking, and advertising, maintaining privacy and simplicity.
- Despite its high technical barrier, Gemini has grown to about 6,000 hand-crafted sites by enthusiasts.
- Criticisms include mandatory TLS encryption, excluding retrocomputing enthusiasts, and the inexpressive Gemtext format.
- Gemini lacks features like text emphasis, inline hyperlinks, and easy conversion from other formats like Markdown.
- Alternative protocols like Spartan and Scorpion have emerged but suffer from low adoption and their own limitations.
- Issues with ephemeral services and lack of commercial hosting options hinder long-term reliability and scalability.
- Authentication is cumbersome, relying on TLS client certificates, which are less user-friendly than passwords.
- The author supports Gemini despite its flaws, contributing content to help the community grow.
- Gemini's growth is slow, and while it may remain a niche, there's hope for reaching a critical mass of users.
Blocking the Internet Archive Won't Stop AI, but It Will Erase the Web's History
a day ago
- The Internet Archive, the world's largest digital library, has preserved newspapers and web pages since the mid-1990s.
- The New York Times and other newspapers are blocking the Archive from crawling their sites, risking the loss of historical records.
- Publishers are concerned about AI companies scraping content, leading to lawsuits over copyright and fair use.
- Blocking nonprofit archivists like the Internet Archive could erase decades of historical documentation.
- Courts have recognized making material searchable as fair use, similar to Google's book scanning project.
- The Archive preserves the web's history, with Wikipedia linking to over 2.6 million archived news articles.
- Future researchers may lose access to vast portions of the historical record if publishers continue blocking the Archive.
I think AI is pushing me toward the AGPL
21 hours ago
- AI coding agents are making the author reconsider open-source licensing beliefs, particularly the preference for BSD-like licenses over the GPL.
- Agentic coding reduces the effort needed to fork and modify projects, raising concerns about 'slop forks' that could overshadow original projects.
- The AGPLv3 is being considered as a potential license to protect projects from commercial forks that leverage AI for rapid, low-quality modifications.
- There's a dilemma about maintaining the spirit of open source while possibly keeping test suites proprietary to safeguard project integrity.
- The article questions the pride and purpose of open-sourcing code when much of it is AI-generated, and how to handle contributions at an overwhelming rate.
- A discussion is opened on whether the ease of modification by AI necessitates stronger legal protections like the AGPL, and the implications for the open-source ecosystem.

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Bilingual

Tars – A local-first autonomous supervisor powered by Google Gemini
14 hours ago
- Tars is a locally-hosted AI assistant powered by Google Gemini.
- It can function as a Personal Assistant, Host Manager, or Security Auditor.
- Features include schedule management, persistent memory, and workflow execution via Discord.
- As a Host Manager, it monitors system health, manages logs, and performs maintenance tasks.
- As a Security Auditor, it analyzes logs in real-time, detects anomalies, and alerts users.
- Supports multi-instance deployment with specialized Discord bot permissions.
- Compatible with the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for connecting to internal APIs and databases.
- Operates continuously in the background, scheduling and completing tasks autonomously.
- Installation is simple with npm commands: `npm install -g @saccolabs/tars`, `tars setup`, `tars start`.
UC Irvine researchers bring down AI powered drones with painted umbrellas
11 hours ago
- Introduces FlyTrap, a physical-world attack framework targeting Autonomous Target Tracking (ATT) systems.
- FlyTrap uses an adversarial umbrella to exploit vulnerabilities in ATT drones, reducing tracking distances dangerously.
- The attack can lead to drone capturing, susceptibility to sensor attacks, or physical collisions.
- Demonstrates effectiveness through real-world experiments on commercial ATT drones like DJI and HoverAir.
- Highlights urgent security risks and implications for the safe deployment of ATT systems.
Startup Is Probably Dead on Arrival
12 hours ago
- Startups older than two years likely have obsolete business plans and outdated tech stacks.
- Venture capital has shifted heavily toward AI, making non-AI startups less competitive.
- AI tools like Claude Code and OpenAI Codex enable faster MVP development, reducing the need for large engineering teams.
- Agile development is evolving into parallel development due to AI agents.
- AI agents will transform software by automating tasks, shifting focus from interfaces to outcomes.
- Hardware startups benefit from AI through faster prototyping and digital simulations.
- Sunk costs in outdated tech stacks and business models can hinder necessary pivots.
- Founders must reassess their business models using current tools and market conditions.
- Defensible moats now include proprietary data, regulatory lock-in, and deep customer insights.
- Founders need to stay adaptable, pivot when necessary, and avoid the sunk cost trap.
I Simulated 38,612 Countryle Games to Find the Best Strategy
2 days ago
- The author enjoys geography games like GeoGuessr, Globle, Travle, and Countryle.
- Countryle provides feedback on direction, continent, hemisphere, population, and temperature to help guess the target country.
- The author built a solver for Countryle using five modules, each handling a different feedback type.
- Shannon entropy was used to determine the most informative guesses by measuring how evenly a guess splits possible outcomes.
- Greece was found to be the most informative guess for directional feedback due to its balanced distribution.
- The solver initially used great-circle routes for direction but switched to rhumb lines (loxodromes) for more intuitive results.
- The Mercator projection, used in Countryle, preserves angles but distorts area, especially near the poles.
- Libya was identified as the best starting guess when balancing all feedback types, but other countries like the Republic of the Congo performed better in average solve depth.
- The solver achieves an average of 2.85 guesses to find the target country when all modules are enabled.
- Future improvements could include optimizing module weights and refining population and temperature bucket handling.
Forget Flags and Scripts: Just Rename the File
9 hours ago
- Programs can use their own filename as input, making configuration self-contained and portable.
- Flags and scripts have limitations: flags are ephemeral, scripts depend on environment.
- Example 1: Reusable installers (e.g., install_PY3_MODULE_NAME.exe) read filenames to customize actions.
- Example 2: AI experiment runners (e.g., train---resnet50---lr0.001---batch32---cifar10.exe) parse filenames for hyperparameters and datasets.
- Example 3: Ephemeral utilities (e.g., compress---photos---high.exe) encode tasks in filenames for instant execution.
- Example 4: P2P VPN tunnels (e.g., lounge-room---friends-machine---t25565---minecraft.exe) simplify setup using filenames for endpoints and ports.
- This approach combines configuration, portability, and reproducibility into a single file.
Have a Fucking Website
9 hours ago
- The internet's foundations are broken, making websites seem expensive or unnecessary compared to social media.
- Businesses and creators should have their own website to display rates, hours, and essential information easily.
- Social media platforms can change rules or ban users without recourse, making follower counts and posts unreliable.
- Owning a website ensures control over content and visibility, independent of social media platforms.
- Email lists are a reliable way to maintain contact with an audience, unlike social media.
- The internet was originally based on interconnected websites, not walled social media platforms.
- Encouraging more people to create websites can help shift away from reliance on social media.
Raving at the End of the World: looking for transcendence on the dance floor
3 days ago
- The film Sirāt explores the mixed experience of seeking transcendence through raving.
- Raving offers an escape from modern life, with dancers seeking existential meaning in clubs.
- The film follows Luis, a father searching for his missing daughter at a desert rave in Morocco.
- Ravers chase an epic high, but the journey is fraught with unexpected challenges.
- The film uses religious imagery to suggest raving as a form of spiritual pursuit.
- The characters' ignorance of the political conflict in Western Sahara leads to tragic consequences.
- Sirāt critiques the idea of raving as a utopian escape, showing its limitations.
- The film suggests that raving offers only temporary respite, not lasting liberation.
- Characters realize their loneliness persists even after the rave ends.
An x86-64 back end for raven-uxn
3 days ago
- The author implemented an x86-64 assembly backend for the Uxn CPU, which is twice as fast as their previous Rust implementation.
- The implementation was initially written by Claude Code, an AI coding assistant, and then refined by the author.
- The process involved porting 2000 lines of ARM64 assembly to x86-64, with the AI handling most of the initial translation.
- The AI-assisted implementation passed unit tests and fuzzing, though it required human intervention to fix some issues.
- The author improved the AI-generated assembly code, optimizing register usage and reducing unnecessary instructions.
- A subtle bug was discovered during fuzzing, which was eventually traced to an out-of-bounds write in the STR instruction.
- The author used Valgrind and GDB to debug the issue, a method they found more effective than printf debugging.
- The final implementation was merged into the project, with the author reflecting on the role of AI in coding and debugging.
- The author remains cautious about over-reliance on AI for coding but acknowledges its utility in debugging complex issues.
Explore 19th Century Scientific Correspondence
3 days ago
- Epsilon is a digital platform recreating 19th-century scientific correspondence networks.
- It aggregates and cross-searches over 50,000 letters from scattered sources.
- The platform highlights both prominent and lesser-known scientific figures.
- Epsilon enables tracing multi-dimensional conversations and idea flows.
- Developed by Cambridge University Library's Darwin Correspondence Project with partners.
- Funding is secured for its long-term sustainability.
Building a Reader for the Smallest Hard Drive
2 days ago
- Toshiba introduced the MK4001MTD, a 0.85-inch hard disk drive in 2004, recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's smallest HDD.
- The drive was used in products like the Nokia N91, offering 4GB storage before flash memory became more practical.
- Initial attempts to read the drive using standard SD/MMC readers failed, leading to reverse engineering efforts.
- A Nokia N91 was used to probe the drive's signals, revealing it uses a 4-bit SD/MMC interface with SDIO protocol.
- OpenClaw, an LLM, helped reverse-engineer the logic traces and develop firmware for the RP2040 to interface with the drive.
- The final design includes a custom board with spring-loaded contacts for the drive, achieving a functional but slow read speed of 10 MHz.
- All project files, including firmware and hardware designs, are available on GitHub for further study and modification.
LPT100: A PIC32MZ Emulator for the Iomega ZIP100 Parallel Port Drive
3 days ago
- The author initially used a PIC18F4680 microcontroller for the Iomega ZIP100 parallel-port emulator but faced performance issues due to its 8-bit architecture and slow SPI communication.
- Transitioned to a PIC32MZ2048EFH144 microcontroller for better performance, leveraging its 32-bit architecture, higher clock speed (180MHz), and USB host capabilities.
- Implemented Direct Memory Access (DMA) for efficient handling of parallel port data, avoiding the pitfalls of polling methods used with the PIC18F.
- Developed a user interface with buttons, LEDs, and an SSD1306 I2C LCD for the LPT100 emulator, including a parallel port tester mode for hardware validation.
- Achieved successful emulation with PALMZIP on a Book8088, demonstrating read/write operations, though transfer speeds were limited by the host's processor speed.
- Encountered compatibility issues with faster systems like the Pocket 386, where DMA data capture couldn't keep up with the higher parallel port transfer rates.
- Considered optimization strategies including PCB redesign, AI-assisted code simplification, and migration to faster microcontrollers like the Teensy 4.x for future improvements.
Write up of my homebrew CPU build
3 days ago
- The author built a prototype of the WCPU-1 computer, encountering various hardware issues like backwards LEDs, floating address lines, and EEPROM glitches.
- Custom PCBs were ordered from PCBWay, including an EEPROM programmer board, a generic register board, and a control module board, each with their own design flaws and fixes.
- Real-world issues not present in simulations included clock signal quality, timing problems with registers and flags, and EEPROM glitches during address changes.
- RAM timing issues were resolved by gating the RAM write signal with the clock to prevent asynchronous chaos.
- The computer now runs at 1 MHz, is Turing complete, and can execute programs like Fibonacci sequences.
- The build used a messy wiring approach with solid core wires, which worked but is not recommended for beginners due to potential signal degradation.
- An Arduino Mega was used as a temporary ROM loader, but the author plans to replace it with a more permanent EEPROM-based solution.
- A custom toolchain was developed, including a microcode generator and an assembler (wcasm), to write and load programs onto the computer.
- Missing features include a proper output register, a halt instruction, power-on/reset functionality, and a better clock with debounced speed mode switches.
- Future plans include a final PCB design, moving to FPGA development for WCPU-2, and open-sourcing the project once it's more organized.
Just Put It on a Map
2 days ago
- Land values in urban centers like Manhattan can be over 100 times higher than in outlying areas such as the Bronx.
- The article introduces CivicMapper and PutItOnAMap (PIOAM), tools designed to visualize land value data and correct misconceptions about where land value is concentrated.
- CivicMapper features include vacant land analysis, parking lot detection via computer vision, and time adjustment tools for property valuations.
- PIOAM offers a suite of GIS tools including a 3D parcel explorer, data fetcher, format converter, and file constructor, all designed to work locally in the browser without sending data to external servers.
- The tools are aimed at urbanists, assessors, and GIS professionals to aid in advocacy, data analysis, and property tax valuation.
- The article encourages donations to support the development of these tools and invites feedback to improve their functionality.
David Altrath Photography Diary
2 days ago
- David Altrath is a renowned architecture, landscape, and interior photographer based in Hamburg.
- Specializes in capturing the beauty and functionality of buildings, interiors, and urban structures.
- Offers landscape photography that highlights the harmony between architecture and nature.
- Provides high-quality interior photography for architects, designers, and real estate developers.
- Delivers comprehensive services including photo and film productions for architecture, lifestyle, and nature.
- Known for combining artistic talent with technical perfection to convey emotions through images.
- Works internationally, offering flexibility and professionalism in various countries.
FSFE supporters affected: Payment provider Nexi cancelled us
a day ago
- Nexi, FSFE's long-term payment provider, terminated the contract without notice, halting recurring donations.
- Over 450 FSFE supporters affected; automatic credit card and direct debit donations stopped.
- Nexi requested access to supporters' private data (usernames/passwords), which FSFE refused.
- FSFE unable to clarify Nexi's vague reasoning for the data request.
- Contract canceled on March 7 due to unmet deadline (not communicated to FSFE).
- FSFE transitioning to a new payment provider, but supporter accounts can't be auto-migrated.
- Nexi's actions deemed incomprehensible; FSFE provided extensive financial documentation but refused supporter data access.
- Updated donate pages on FSFE's website now feature the new payment provider.
The Math That Explains Why Bell Curves Are Everywhere
2 days ago
- Bell curves appear in many datasets, such as rainfall measurements, jelly bean guesses, heights, weights, and test scores.
- The central limit theorem explains why bell curves are ubiquitous, showing that averages of random samples form a normal distribution.
- Abraham de Moivre discovered the normal distribution while studying gambling, realizing combined random actions follow predictable patterns.
- Pierre-Simon Laplace expanded de Moivre's work, formalizing the central limit theorem, which applies to averages of any random process.
- The theorem allows statisticians to detect anomalies, like biased coins, by comparing outcomes to expected bell curve probabilities.
- The central limit theorem has limitations, requiring independent samples and large datasets, and may not account for extreme outliers.
- Despite its limits, the theorem remains foundational in statistics, enabling scientists to infer patterns from complex, random data.
Plants moved from sea to land and changed Earth forever
a day ago
- Plants began to grow on land around 500 million years ago, transforming Earth's surface.
- The earliest plantlike organisms were simple algae, which lived in water and performed photosynthesis.
- The Great Oxygenation Event, caused by oxygen-producing organisms, allowed complex life to evolve.
- The first true plants evolved from green algae around 470 million years ago, adapting to life in shallow water.
- Early land plants developed features like a waxy cuticle, stronger cell walls, and rhizoids to survive on land.
- The earliest land plants resembled modern mosses and liverworts, dating back to about 430 million years ago.
- Plants played a crucial role in breaking down rocks into soil and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere.
- Around 420 million years ago, plants evolved vascular tissue, allowing them to grow taller and stronger.
- By 360 million years ago, vast forests of giant ferns and treelike plants covered much of Earth.
- The development of seeds around 380 million years ago allowed plants to reproduce without water.
- Flowering plants, or angiosperms, appeared around 140 million years ago, dominating the plant world today.
The Gemini Protocol in 2026
a day ago
- Gemini Protocol is a simple, non-commercial document retrieval protocol akin to Gopher but with modern features.
- Designed to avoid commercial exploitation, tracking, and advertising, maintaining privacy and simplicity.
- Despite its high technical barrier, Gemini has grown to about 6,000 hand-crafted sites by enthusiasts.
- Criticisms include mandatory TLS encryption, excluding retrocomputing enthusiasts, and the inexpressive Gemtext format.
- Gemini lacks features like text emphasis, inline hyperlinks, and easy conversion from other formats like Markdown.
- Alternative protocols like Spartan and Scorpion have emerged but suffer from low adoption and their own limitations.
- Issues with ephemeral services and lack of commercial hosting options hinder long-term reliability and scalability.
- Authentication is cumbersome, relying on TLS client certificates, which are less user-friendly than passwords.
- The author supports Gemini despite its flaws, contributing content to help the community grow.
- Gemini's growth is slow, and while it may remain a niche, there's hope for reaching a critical mass of users.
Blocking the Internet Archive Won't Stop AI, but It Will Erase the Web's History
a day ago
- The Internet Archive, the world's largest digital library, has preserved newspapers and web pages since the mid-1990s.
- The New York Times and other newspapers are blocking the Archive from crawling their sites, risking the loss of historical records.
- Publishers are concerned about AI companies scraping content, leading to lawsuits over copyright and fair use.
- Blocking nonprofit archivists like the Internet Archive could erase decades of historical documentation.
- Courts have recognized making material searchable as fair use, similar to Google's book scanning project.
- The Archive preserves the web's history, with Wikipedia linking to over 2.6 million archived news articles.
- Future researchers may lose access to vast portions of the historical record if publishers continue blocking the Archive.
I think AI is pushing me toward the AGPL
21 hours ago
- AI coding agents are making the author reconsider open-source licensing beliefs, particularly the preference for BSD-like licenses over the GPL.
- Agentic coding reduces the effort needed to fork and modify projects, raising concerns about 'slop forks' that could overshadow original projects.
- The AGPLv3 is being considered as a potential license to protect projects from commercial forks that leverage AI for rapid, low-quality modifications.
- There's a dilemma about maintaining the spirit of open source while possibly keeping test suites proprietary to safeguard project integrity.
- The article questions the pride and purpose of open-sourcing code when much of it is AI-generated, and how to handle contributions at an overwhelming rate.
- A discussion is opened on whether the ease of modification by AI necessitates stronger legal protections like the AGPL, and the implications for the open-source ecosystem.

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Tars – A local-first autonomous supervisor powered by Google Gemini

UC Irvine researchers bring down AI powered drones with painted umbrellas

Startup Is Probably Dead on Arrival

I Simulated 38,612 Countryle Games to Find the Best Strategy

Forget Flags and Scripts: Just Rename the File

Have a Fucking Website

Raving at the End of the World: looking for transcendence on the dance floor

An x86-64 back end for raven-uxn

Explore 19th Century Scientific Correspondence

Building a Reader for the Smallest Hard Drive

LPT100: A PIC32MZ Emulator for the Iomega ZIP100 Parallel Port Drive

Write up of my homebrew CPU build

Just Put It on a Map

David Altrath Photography Diary

FSFE supporters affected: Payment provider Nexi cancelled us

The Math That Explains Why Bell Curves Are Everywhere

Plants moved from sea to land and changed Earth forever

The Gemini Protocol in 2026

Blocking the Internet Archive Won't Stop AI, but It Will Erase the Web's History

I think AI is pushing me toward the AGPL