TL;DR summary of stories on the internet
Understanding distributed systems and eventual consistency means accepting eventual inconsistency. Data will go stale, disappear, exist without creation, and vanish without a trace. You can’t prevent it, only choose the type of chaos you prefer. Embrace the suffering, mitigate the outliers, and deal with the consequences. Different systems have different quirks, like needing to be […]
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The web content reveals the fascinating story of how code played a crucial role in the dismantling of the apartheid system in South Africa. The decryption of a 30-year-old PKZIP file containing encrypted communication led to the revelation of the ANC’s secure communication system during Operation Vula. Tim Jenkin, the mastermind behind the encryption system, […]
The author complains about modern user interface design, specifically focusing on Gnome Files in the Gnome desktop environment. The UI is critiqued for being confusing, inconsistent, and sometimes dangerous, with misleading tooltips, hidden features only accessible through keyboard shortcuts, and difficulty in finding basic functions like enabling list view. The author highlights the frustration of […]
The author discusses the importance of website optimization for both accessibility and page load time. They emphasize the benefits of compression in reducing latency on mobile devices, highlighting the advantages of Brotli over gzip in terms of file size and load time. Despite the limitations of hosting on GitHub pages, the author shares a clever […]
This is a photo of my grandfather, Will Jenkins, taken in 1909 at 13 years old with a self-made glider. He received $5 from a Civil War veteran after writing an essay on Robert E. Lee. As a science fiction writer, in 1946 he predicted a global computer network like Alexa. However, despite predicting the […]
Today, Apple retail workers at the Penn Square Mall Apple Store in Oklahoma City, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), have secured a tentative labor agreement with Apple. This historic agreement, the second of its kind in the U.S., highlights wage increases, worker involvement in scheduling, a safer and more democratic workplace, job […]
Researchers often face challenges in writing papers that contain data analysis and charts, as the process involves cobbled-together tools and scattered data files, leading to time wasted on remembering generation processes and searching for lost files. This can lead to mistakes and inefficiencies. Ink & Switch is prototyping Jacquard, a collaborative environment for empirical research […]
Major Edwin Armstrong, the pioneering inventor of wideband FM radio, showcased his revolutionary FM receiver technology in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Despite initial resistance and skepticism, Armstrong’s wideband FM system offered superior audio quality, resistance to interference, and noise-free transmission compared to traditional AM radio. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) eventually authorized commercial […]
The author delves into the fascinating world of dance notation systems, expressing admiration for those who found a way to record the intricate movements of ballet dancers. By highlighting significant systems like Beauchamp-Feuillet, Stepanov, Labanotation, and Benesh, the author showcases the evolution of notation techniques. Benesh notation, created by Joan and Rudolf Benesh in the […]
Antitrust law aims to maintain a functional system by addressing the issue of companies becoming too dominant, stifling innovation. In the late 1930s, the Antitrust Division was successful in filing multiple cases across various industries, leading to decreased prices. Corporate responsibility in the 1950s was crucial in preventing rapacious behavior. Fast forward to today, Google […]