Innovation heroes are a sign of a dysfunctional organization
A week ago I got invited to an “innovation hero” award ceremony at a government agency. I don’t know how many of these I’ve been to in the last couple years, but this one just made my head explode. The award was for an entrepreneur who worked against all odds to buck the system to […]
How does a computer/calculator compute logarithms?
Note: This is an updated version of the SoME 3 entry. See the original here. The curious student’s frustration There are many functions on a scientific or graphing calculator that we are introduced to as high school students that, we are told, just work. You select the function, put in the value that you need […]
From Infocom to 80 Days: An oral history of text games and interactive fiction
Enlarge / Zork running on an Amiga at the Computerspielemuseum in Berlin, Germany. Marcin Wichary (CC by 2.0 Deed) You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. That simple sentence first appeared on a PDP-10 mainframe in the 1970s, and the words marked the beginning of what we now […]
Show HN: Online OPML editor to manage subscription lists
{{ message }} This commit does not belong to any branch on this repository, and may belong to a fork outside of the repository. You can’t perform that action at this time.
Athelas (YC S16) Is Hiring a Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer
We use cookies to provide necessary website functionality and analyze our traffic. With your consent, we may also use non-essential cookies to give you the best possible experience on our site. By using our website, you’re agreeing to legal polices: Privacy Policy.
The Engineer Who Refused to Approve the Challenger Launch
Enlarge this image Allan McDonald in 2016 holds a commemorative poster honoring the seven astronauts killed aboard the space shuttle Challenger. Howard Berkes/NPR Howard Berkes/NPR On Jan. 27, 1986, Allan McDonald stood on the cusp of history. McDonald directed the booster rocket project at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol. He was responsible for the two massive […]
Show HN: Lady Deirdre 2 – Rust Framework for Compilers and LSP Servers
{{ message }} This commit does not belong to any branch on this repository, and may belong to a fork outside of the repository. You can’t perform that action at this time.
Show HN: A collection of front end Learning Resources
{{ message }} This commit does not belong to any branch on this repository, and may belong to a fork outside of the repository. You can’t perform that action at this time.
The Pre-Scheme Restoration project is now underway
I’m thrilled to announce that the Pre-Scheme Restoration project is now underway, thanks to a generous grant from the NLnet foundation under the NGI Zero Core program. This project is primarily an exercise in software archaeology, bringing an obscure yet important compiler to a wider audience, and using it as the basis for a modern, […]
Bessemer Venture Partners’ Anti-Portfolio
Honoring the companies we missed. Bessemer Venture Partners is perhaps the nation’s oldest venture capital firm, tracing our roots back to the Carnegie Steel empire. This long and storied history has afforded our firm an unparalleled number of opportunities to completely screw up. Throughout our history, we did invest in a wig company, a french-fry […]