TL;DR summary of stories on the internet
In October 2023, the author created a new PSU that worked well until it suddenly emitted a burning smell and failed. Upon inspection, a PCB track had burned out due to insufficient clearance. By fixing the track and replacing a transistor, the PSU was salvaged. To test it, the author built an electrolysis tank, recording […]
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Penn Engineers have developed a revolutionary quarter-sized adjustable filter to prevent interference in wireless communications, addressing issues faced by companies like LightSquared. The filter uses a unique material called yttrium iron garnet (YIG) to achieve continuous frequency tuning across a broad band, making it suitable for the new FR3 band for 6G or Next G […]
The Alpha Centauri system consists of two close stars, Alpha and Beta, along with the much further Proxima Centauri. While all three stars have similar chemistry and are co-moving, the gravitational dynamics suggest Proxima is not bound to Alpha and Beta due to its fast orbit. Traditional solutions such as dark matter or adjusting the […]
JWT, or JSON Web Tokens, are a standard for authenticated tokens that consist of a header, payload, and signature. These tokens are mainly designed for high-scale environments like Google or Facebook, with the core benefit being that the recipient doesn’t need to connect to the user database to verify the token authenticity. The refresh token, […]
The common use of “auth” as a term for both authentication and authorization leads to confusion and bad abstractions in computer systems. The solution proposed is to use “login” for authentication and “permissions” for authorization, which are clear terms that do not require much explanation. By distinguishing between the two concepts, it becomes easier to […]
One year ago, the author underwent a hem-glossectomy due to squamous cell carcinoma recurrence. The day before surgery, the author and Bess got legally married in a sudden ceremony. Initially, tests were ambiguous, leading to a surgical biopsy and the confirmation of cancer. Despite urgency, the head and neck oncologist was on vacation. The author […]
The author shares their experience of vacationing in Kauai and being surprised by the abundance of free-roaming chickens, some even roosting in trees. The author delves into research on the behavior of chickens roosting in trees, highlighting benefits such as increased confidence, access to food, and reduced spread of disease, but also mentioning the risks […]
Learning to program is like learning a new language, requiring the organization of symbols and terms to instruct a computer correctly. However, MIT neuroscientists found that reading computer code doesn’t activate language processing brain regions but instead activates a network used for complex tasks like math. The brain activity patterns for code don’t overlap with […]
LO is a small programming language targeting WASM that aims to be simple and easy to understand, with little dependencies. The development log covers building an initial compiler (text-based blog) and a self-hosted compiler (YouTube playlist). Check out example .lo programs and a WIP self-hosted compiler in the ./examples folder. Getting started can be done […]
The author acknowledges the plethora of new CSS features that have emerged, but notes the slow adoption rate. The term “renai-css-ance” is coined to describe this exciting but overwhelming time in CSS development. The article discusses barriers to adoption, including technical reasons, invisible improvements, and the challenge of breaking old habits. The importance of learning […]