David Hahn, the ‘radioactive boy scout’ who tried to build a nuclear reactor (2022)
David Hahn caught the attention of the FBI and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after he attempted to build a “breeder” reactor in a Michigan potting shed in the mid-1990s. YouTube/Weird HistoryDavid Hahn, the so-called “Radioactive Boy Scout,” pictured in front of the shed in which he tried to build a nuclear reactor. In 1995, a […]
Coding the anime “woosh” screen on Amiga
Your browser does not support the video tag. The Amiga was a spectacle of graphics and sound when it debuted in 1985. While it can trivially display colorful images like in the above example, doing so in the context of a game engine presents a lot of unique challenges. If you haven’t seen the gameplay […]
Project Oberon
Project Oberon is a design for a complete desktop computer system from scratch. Its simplicity and clarity enables a single person to know and implement the whole system, while still providing enough power to make it useful and usable in a production environment. This website contains information and resources for exploring and using the system. […]
A simple MUD server in Python which can be run on a Raspberry Pi
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Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)
August 14, 2023 Although RSS feeds are alive and still heavily used today, their level of adoption has suffered because of how difficult a handful of popular technology companies have made it to use them. Google, especially, has relied on the open web RSS protocol to gain so much market share and influence, but continues […]
Quantifying the diva-ness of national anthem performances
Now that you know what to look and listen for in the “Star Spangled Banner,” it’s time to dive even further into the data. The heatmap below allows you to explore each of the 16 phrases for all 138 performances in our dataset. Surprisingly we didn’t get tired of listened to the anthem when doing […]
Some OpenBSD features that aren’t widely known
Written by Solène, on 20 February 2024.Tags: #openbsd #unix In this blog post, you will learn about some OpenBSD features that can be useful, but not widespread. They often have a niche usage, but it’s important to know they exist to prevent you from reinventing the wheel 🙂 OpenBSD official project website The following list […]
V Language Review (2023)
So you’ve found a new programming language called V. It looks nice, has a lot of promises on the website, nice syntax, but how does it really work? Everything described here is correct for the b66447cf11318d5499bd2d797b97b0b3d98c3063 commit. This is a summary of my experience with the language over 6 months + information that I found […]
Frugly vs. Freemium
I recently built an education tool. Like other enterprising folk, I stumbled into a ethical dilemma: (1) my product probably shouldn’t be paywalled, but (2) I also don’t want to be poor. My solution: uglify the UI for non-paying consumers. Selling Sustainably I’m a self-described nontrepeneur. I want to secure enough to purchase freedom, and […]
Plastic experts say recycling is a scam. Should we even do it anymore?
When the Center for Climate Integrity released its report about plastic recycling, one might have expected the environmentalist non-profit to encourage the practice. Anyone raised in the late-20th and early-21st century knows that the term “recycle” is often synonymous with “environmentalist causes.” “Plastic is not designed to be recycled — despite industries and governments telling […]