Stew Rubenstein

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66 Following
8 Posts
This Doug Muir essay on the long-delayed death of the Voyager 1 spacecraft is an instant classic, one of the most gorgeously written #science pieces you'll read all year. [via @clive https://crookedtimber.org/2024/02/19/death-lonely-death/
Death, Lonely Death

Billions of miles away at the edge of the Solar System, Voyager 1 has gone mad and has begun to die.Let’s start with the “billions of miles”. Voyager 1 was launched in early Septe…

Crooked Timber
All routers should be shaped like Minions.
Fascinating thread by Latif Nasser for anyone even slightly interested in astronomy. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1750952860131729544.html
Thread by @latifnasser on Thread Reader App

@latifnasser: Last January, I noticed something peculiar in my 2yo’s bedroom that - after a year of obsessive reporting - led me to a profound cosmic revelation about what’s even possible in our universe. A 🧵....…

ChatGPT has definitively passed the Turing test.

Since I’m new to JavaScript, I wrote:

𝚒𝚏 (𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔) { 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔(); }

…like an idiot. Then, I realized I should be adapting to JavaScript culture and make it inscrutable, so I re-wrote the line to:

𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 && 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔();

But I suspected there was something even more nightmarish, and sure enough, of course. This is how _real_ JavaScript developers do it:

𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔?.();

And by “real JavaScript developers,” I mean “monsters”.

SunOS 4.1.4 says it can't possibly be the year 2023: "WARNING: preposterous time in filesystem -- CHECK AND RESET THE DATE!"

sorry SunOS, there's nothing i can do to fix 2023.

I have a background in #Chemistry and learned Fortran on punch cards. I got a 128K Macintosh and wrote #ChemDraw for Macintosh and Windows. It's still sold today, but I haven't been associated with it since 2007.
Since then, I have played a lot of #BridgeCardGame, but face-to-face bridge is a Covid disaster.
I don't say much, mostly I like to follow a few specific journalists, infosec, legal, econ, medical voices, and local news.
he/him