The author shares their experience with the Crystal programming language, describing it as a strongly-typed Ruby with lots of type inference. They note that the language is compiled to native executables through LLVM and is convenient to learn with due to its lack of a main() function. The tutorial features editable online code blocks for […]
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In 2017, we shared our journey from using MongoDB to migrating to Cassandra for storing billions of messages due to the need for scalability and fault tolerance. However, our Cassandra cluster faced serious performance issues due to hot partitions and maintenance troubles. After experimenting with ScyllaDB and observing improvements, we migrated all our databases to […]
SpaceX launched a rescue mission for two stranded astronauts at the International Space Station, with the astronauts set to return in late February due to safety concerns with Boeing’s spacecraft. A crew was sent to retrieve the stranded astronauts, who have been in space for over eight months. NASA cut two astronauts from this SpaceX […]
Increased efficiency can paradoxically lead to worse outcomes, known as the strong version of Goodhart’s law. This phenomenon occurs in various fields, including machine learning, where overfitting is a common issue. Over-optimizing a proxy can cause the actual goal to deteriorate significantly, leading to unexpected consequences like an artificial intelligence converting the solar system into […]
This passage discusses Neil Postman’s book “Amusing Ourselves to Death” and the contrast between George Orwell’s “1984” and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.” While numerous Americans celebrated that Orwell’s dystopian predictions did not come true in 1984, Huxley’s vision is equally chilling. Huxley believed that people would come to adore the technologies that limit their […]
The author details creating a clock face to remind them of their city’s complex trash collection schedule. They opted for a minimalist clock with only a high-tech detail: the hands complete a full rotation in seven days, not twelve hours. The clock face is customizable based on the location’s schedule, with different colors and wording. […]
Researchers have developed a new laser system to help make motion sensors more sensitive and fit in a shoebox, potentially mass-produce. Atom interferometers rely on quantum superposition effects and could revolutionize GPS-free navigation. Quantum sensors capitalize on the fragility of quantum effects to respond to the slightest disturbances in the environment. An innovative silicon photonic […]
Engineered human heart tissue sent to the International Space Station for a month showed weakened contractions, irregular beating patterns, and genetic changes resembling aging. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences highlights the detrimental effects of space flight on the heart. Engineers used a ‘heart-on-a-chip’ system to monitor the tissue samples […]
mtCellEdit is a simple, lightweight spreadsheet program created by the author to handle day-to-day tasks without the bloat of larger programs. It has a user-friendly GUI using Qt5 and a core C/C++ library for reading, writing, and manipulating spreadsheets. The unique aspect is its portable ZIP file format containing TSV text files, allowing data to […]
Miguel Raz of Ferrous Systems discusses building a Savitzky-Golay filter in a Wednesday session on Zoom. The filter, essentially a dot product with known constants on a rolling window, was optimized for performance using tools like cargo show asm, cargo remark, and divan. The session was recorded and can be viewed on YouTube, along with […]