TL;DR summary of stories on the internet
The author stumbled upon a 24-year-old buffer overflow in glibc, with rare exploitable traits, useful in exploiting the PHP engine. PHP filters, like php://filter, offer stream transformations, allowing customized access to files. They detail converting files to different charsets using filters and discuss PHP weaknesses and programmatically adding prefixes or suffixes. A bug in glibc […]
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Astronomers have discovered a colossal structure 9.2 billion light-years from Earth, dubbed the “Big Ring,” a 1.3-billion-light-year-across almost perfect ring of galaxies which defies current cosmological theories. Led by Alexia Lopez, the team also unveiled a 3.3 billion light-year giant arc of galaxies in the same region of the sky. Possible explanations include Baryonic Acoustic […]
The Rete algorithm, developed by Charles L. Forgy, is a pattern matching algorithm used in rule-based systems to efficiently apply rules to facts in a knowledge base. Utilizing a network of nodes, the Rete algorithm builds a structure resembling a trie to match patterns to facts and trigger corresponding rules. While Rete engines offer significant […]
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 […]
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 […]