@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

bsdphk

@bsdphk@fosstodon.org

Author of Varnish-Cache, a lot of FreeBSD and various other stuff.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

"Visionaries at NASA identified a futuristic new energy source (space billionaire egos) and found a way to tap it on a fixed-cost basis"— ouch!

The Lunacy of Artemis (Idle Words), or why the Artemis moon program is incoherent, badly designed bollocks that will probably kill astronauts.
https://idlewords.com/2024/5/the_lunacy_of_artemis.htm

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@hittitezombie @glitzersachen @ovid @cstross

The Hubble mirror was tested like no other mirror before or after: It has the most precisely wrong shape any mirror has ever had.

But of course NASA had fuckups, but show me any organisation that size which doesn't ?

bsdphk, to random
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

Having fun with a HP1345A vector display.

2kx2k resolution on a 12x8cm screen but no pixels, only vectors.

http://phk.freebsd.dk/misc/VID_20240518_214711.mp4

bsdphk, to random
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

Why anybody still do business with Oracle is beyond me...

https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/17/oracle_year_end_feature/?td=rt-3a

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

When the 22nd century history books are written, this "Chinese lag" will probably be seen as the key reason for the subsequent Chinese ascent to global hegemony—they didn't get distracted by bullshit engine pyramid schemes.
https://astrodon.social/@profabelmendez/112445203691289321

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@cstross

Do not underestimate the consequences of having a government of engineers.

For instance the one-child policy is the kind of unhuman rationality only engineers are willing to see through.

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@cstross

Yes, I know all that. I was using it as example to point out, that a government of engineers will tackle the really hard problems, but in a brutally rational way.

We're so used to there being no engineers in governments, that we dont that a government of engineers is something very different from what we think of as "a government".

BTW: his is also assumed to be why China only had a couple hundred nukes until recently: Having more would not change any outcomes.

fanf, to random
@fanf@mendeddrum.org avatar

well, i popped out to somewhere i hoped would be dark enough, the fields by the path from storey's way to eddington, between the astronomical observatory and huntingdon road

scores of people had the same idea, heh

the aurora was too faint to really see, i couldn't tell if it was actually aurora or just light pollution reflecting off hazy clouds

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@fanf

Or a Boeing ?

bsdphk, to random
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

This is like a bad supervillain movie where some maniac amasses greater and greater influence until he is ready to take over the world.

Sudo has a "large attack surface" and systemd does not ?

Really ?

https://outpost.fosspost.org/d/19-systemd-wants-to-expand-to-include-a-sudo-replacement

mwl, to random
@mwl@io.mwl.io avatar

When I hear someone declare that "audiobooks aren't real reading," I tell myself that they probably had a terrible time learning to decipher marks on paper,take a rightful pride in that skill, and don't want their struggle minimized. Or maybe they have trouble understanding spoken words and it's a sore spot for them.

Absorb story, however you can.

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@mwl

I know one person who had a horrible initial experience with audiobooks.

It got a lot better when he disabled "shuffle" on the trucks CD-player :-)

pixel, to random
@pixel@social.pixels.pizza avatar

TIL why the default Ethernet MTU is 1500!


https://exple.tive.org/blarg/2024/04/24/magic-numbers/

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@pixel

This is just plain and simply wrong.

(Hint: Put units on the math in that blog post, and the length of the packet factors out.)

1536 is 0x600 and was chosen as a "good compromise" between throughput for bulk transfers and response time for everybody else.

The minimum packet size is 64 bytes, to ensure that it "fills" the full length of the cable. (I'm pretty sure Tanenbaum has the math in his book.)

But the 3Mbit/s original speed was probably chosen to match the Alto's memory.

bsdphk, to random
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

One of the things I do in https://datamuseum.dk/wiki is reading ancient (mostly 8") floppy disks into our BitArchive.

Recently I have worked a lot on my FloppyTools package and now it also comes with an example of why I have written Yet Another Floppy Reading Program in the first place:

https://github.com/Datamuseum-DK/FloppyTools/blob/main/README.md

PS: Have you ever wondered what the worlds second-worst CRC16 syndrome is ?

https://github.com/Datamuseum-DK/FloppyTools/blob/e5d6951230e2e6fd244dc8828384d78837ae18c3/floppytools/dg_nova.py#L63

bsdphk, to random
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

I gave a talk about state actors attacking FOSS, ten years ago, on FOSSDEM:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jQoAYRKqhg

bsdphk, to random
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

So not it was not, as XKCD claimed, Nebraska, but instead Finland, but the point still stands.

Also: Can we please all agree that autocrap is both utterly evil and a major risk to FOSS ?

https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2349257

bsdphk, to random
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

Heads up: @varnishcache 7.5 is released!

https://varnish-cache.org/

Also a DoS issue has been fixed with point releases to older versions.

asmodai, to space
@asmodai@mastodon.social avatar

NASA Engineers Make Progress Toward Understanding Voyager 1 Issue

"[..] was able to decode the new signal and found that it contains a readout of the entire FDS memory."

https://blogs.nasa.gov/sunspot/2024/03/13/nasa-engineers-make-progress-toward-understanding-voyager-1-issue/

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@asmodai

Coredumps rule :-)

bsdphk, to random
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

Here is an elevator pitch, can you guess the year ?

https://www.version2.dk/holdning/elevator-pitch

bsdphk, to random
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

This is Zilog's "Junior Woodchuck's Guidebook" to UNIX

I guess that means I've been doing UNIX for 40 years now...

https://datamuseum.dk/wiki/Bits:30006264

bsdphk, to random
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@SteveBellovin

From the "unclear on the concept" department:

DOJ using a link-shortener under the .cc domain in SCOTUS filings:

See for instance:

http://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23A349/298544/20240123162046290_certificate%2023a349%2023a350%2023a351%2023a384%20letter.pdf

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/jeffrey-katzenberg-ai-entertainment-animation-prediction-1235643311/

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@cstross @tsturm @nyrath

Shouldn't that be the condition for all copyright: Either you make the copyrighted work available on reasonable terms or you loose your copyright.

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@cstross @tsturm @nyrath

And same for patents: Either you make your patented invention available at reasonable terms or the patent evaporates

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@cstross @tsturm @nyrath

But as long as they exist only in your file storage, copyright makes no difference, does it ?

And what, precisely, is the difference between the canceled movie and your manuscripts anyway, from copyright point of view ?

danhon, to random
@danhon@dan.mastohon.com avatar

This is fantastic and I think it's going to fuck up software engineering so much.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/15/24074214/justice-in-forensic-algorithms-act-democrats-mark-takano-dwight-evans

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@SteveBellovin @danhon @mattblaze

I wish many more IT and CS people would engage with society to educate and influence policy the way you do.

Thanks so much for taking the time!

Legit_Spaghetti, to journalism
@Legit_Spaghetti@mastodo.neoliber.al avatar

Trump: "Immigrant vermin poison the blood of our country."

Media: "Here's why an incredible economy won't save Biden."

Trump: "I'll be a dictator."

Media: "Breaking: Biden gets a word wrong, kinda."

Trump: "1/6 was an insurrection."

Media: "Voters worry Biden is very, very old."

Trump: "I did nothing on gun control."

Media: "Biden is losing the religious vote."

Trump: "Also I'll end NATO, start WW3."

Media: "And now, the weather!"

Dear journalists: DO YOUR FUCKING JOB.

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@Legit_Spaghetti

The people you call "journalists" have as their top priority, if they want to keep their job, to generate clicks on their employers home-page. Many of them are on a quota measured in "click-through per some unit of time" or, if they are lucky "stories per day".

The sane way to do that job, is to concentrate on who and why clicks happen, and spending time on getting to the bottom of things or holding power accountable will distract you from that.

1/2

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@Legit_Spaghetti

In other words:

The people you call journalists, are no longer employed to do journalism, but to do "Search-Engine-Optimization" and "Community Involvement."

Their job is /literally/ to tell you as little as possible per click.

Journalism, as we knew it when we grew up, stopped being a thing when Google, FaceBook, eBay &al stole the advertising revenue from newspapers.

2/2

bsdphk, to random
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

This is, hands down, the most useless piece of FOSS I have ever released.

It preserves the unique Rational R1000/s400 computer and it's Rational Environment in software for future generations:

https://github.com/Datamuseum-DK/R1000.Emulator2/tree/release1

tubetime, to random
@tubetime@mastodon.social avatar

cross section of a high power electric car charging cable. the electric current is so high that the copper wires would overheat, but coolant flows through small tubes in the center of each wire.

bsdphk,
@bsdphk@fosstodon.org avatar

@tubetime

I doubt the center is the safety ground, it's clearly not green/yellow (one of the tiny ones are) and all it has to do is deliver potential but no current. The slightest current in that wire, and everything trips off instantly.

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