R. A. Dehi @radehi@qoto.org

@lauren Close-up of ant's face requires, charitably, 100 μm resolution. Can't orbit below about 200 km; 300-800 km is much more common. 100 μm at 200 km is 0.5 nanoradians. To get an Airy spot diameter 1.22 λ/d of 0.5 nanoradians with blue light of λ = 450 nm, you need d = 1.22 · 450 nm / 0.5 nanoradians = 1100 meters. Is not plausible that either US or China has a spy satellite currently in orbit with an 1100-meter-diameter mirror, much less a fleet of them.

Additionally to neither country having the requisite rockets to launch a satellite the size of a small town yet, would be 19 arc minutes in diameter when it passed overhead, two thirds of the visual diameter of the sun or moon. Wouldn't help moving it to a higher orbit because the mirror would have to be proportionally bigger.

Photos you see of cities on Google Maps "satellite view" are mostly aerial photos, not satellite photos, for this reason.

Object capability based security and micro kernels are the old future returned.

It was never completely gone, of course. I’ve been tracking projects like the Genode OS framework for years, but all of a sudden I’m seeing hardware, university projects, big tech projects, and really exciting software platforms left right and centre.

Permission to dream of a better world of computing once more?
#capabilites #microkernel #future #past #tech

Intel is the first big tech to go beyond layoffs and institute broad pay cuts. Annual bonuses paused, 401K match halved, merit increases on hold and actual pay cut by 5% to 15%.

On a positive note, shareholders can still expect a quarterly dividend. 🥲

https://www.semianalysis.com/p/intel-cuts-pay-for-employees-to-keep

How it started (2015)... how it's going (2023)

@radehi @mjgardner @ownlifeful

This <http://notes.secretsauce.net/notes/2016/05/17_numpysane-a-more-reasonable-numpy.html> covers a lot of the cases.

Generalised ufuncs are a core part of the PDL::PP language meaning that every function by default does broadcasting and does it the same way: e.g., <https://gist.github.com/zmughal/fd79961a166d653a7316aef2f010a1a2>. No need for something like `numpy.vectorize` as all functions already broadcast every matching args' dims in C.

Probably not as important as the other points, but PDL doesn't have a limit to the number of dimensions (no `MAX_DIMS`).

@internetarchive blog says: "We have observed some confusion about the Internet Archive’s removal of links to a BBC documentary about Indian PM Narendra Modi (“India: the Modi Question”). Internet Archive can confirm that it has removed links in response to DMCA takedown requests from the BBC."

".text" sections don't contain text. ".data" contains some but not all data. ".bss" stands for block started by symbol, a directive in one particular assembler for the IBM 704 (1954!) that just.. stuck around.

Object files are files but neither are nor contain objects (in the modern sense). Core dumps are memory dump but they've not been dumps of (magnetic) core memory since the 70s.

There are segments and sections, which mean slightly different things in every format.

Apparently people don't just like emulated calculators in the browser - they love it, and want more.

So come enjoy the CALCULATOR DRAWER, a dozen plus emulated calculators and (where I could find them) the manuals. Get calculating!

https://archive.org/details/calculatordrawer

The OI!STER, an STM32L5 Target Board with a QFP48 clamshell socket aimed at debugging and glitching MCUs.

Read my lips:

An audio show that can only be played in an Apple player on an Apple device is not a podcast.

An audio show that can only be played in Spotify is not a podcast.

Repeat ad nauseam for any other proprietary audio show platforms.

A #podcast is an #RSS feed with enclosures of audio files which are playable across the whole ecosystem of podcast players.

Any reporter who reports on exclusive audio shows and calls them “podcasts” are doing a grave disservice to their audience.

New Substack article: Fear and loathing in the world of MCUs

https://lcamtuf.substack.com/p/fear-and-loathing-in-the-world-of