modrobert @modrobert@qoto.org

// Bonfire
void main(){float i,t,d,a,v,n,w;vec3 p,q,k,o,K=vec3(9,3,1);for(d++;i++<5e1&&d>.001;o+=d>n?d=abs(n)*.4+.05,K/d:K*exp(-length(k)*.6)*20.,t+=d*.5)for(k=normalize(vec3(P+P-R,R.y))*t+vec3(0,6,-15),d=k.y,w=.0025,a-=a,n=.96*length(k.xz)+.27*k.y-5.34;a++<9.;w+=w)p=k,p.zx*=mat2(cos(a*2.4+vec4(0,33,11,0))),q=p,q.y-=a*T,n+=abs(dot(sin(q*.7/w),q-q+w)),p.z-=5.,p.yz*=mat2(1,v=a*.18,-v,1)/sqrt(v*v+1.),d=min(d,max(abs(p.z+5.)-5.,max(abs(p.x)*.9+p.y*.5,-p.y)-.3));O=vec4(tanh(o/5e2),1);}

#shader #demo

LGR is feeling christmessy again :)
Pac-Guy Christmas: Kilk & Play Freeware, Sketchy at Retail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXlqb3a4U4M
#RetroGaming #ItsTheSeason

I saw this guy when I was biking today.

I put together a detailed collection of useful patterns I've collected after vibe-coding 150 different single-file HTML tools over the past couple of years https://simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/10/html-tools/

In 1980, Intel announced the 8087 Math Coprocessor, a chip that made floating-point 100 times faster. I opened up the chip, took photos of the silicon structures, and analyzed its circuitry. It's a very complex chip for its time. Let's take a look inside...

Out of the following operating systems, which one do you use the most, not at work, but in your free personal time?

Please consider boosting for a larger sample size. Thank you.

#poll #os #computing #fediverse

If you're using #GnuTLS please note that GnuTLS defaults to weak security profile:

"The message authenticity security level is of 64 bits or more, and the certificate verification profile is set to GNUTLS_PROFILE_LOW (80-bits)."

This means for example that Diffie-Hellman group size of 1024-bits is allowed. This was deemed insufficient already 10 years ago. See https://weakdh.org/

This issue will be remedied in future GnuTLS release. Meanwhile the fix is to inject %PROFILE_MEDIUM as part of the priority string, for example "NORMAL:foo" becomes "NORMAL:%PROFILE_MEDIUM:foo". See https://gnutls.org/manual/html_node/Priority-Strings.html for details.

#insecuredefaults #cybersecurity #infosec #development

Off-Axis Rotation For Amiga-Themed Levitating Lamp

https://hackaday.com/2025/12/08/off-axis-rotation-for-amiga-themed-levitating-lamp/

"My battery is low and it's getting dark."

This was the final message from NASA Opportunity, sent to Mars for 90 days but wandered for nearly 15 years.

Its final transmission wasn't words, but fading data-summed up on Earth as "My battery is low and it's getting dark."

A poetic farewell from a rover that became more than a machine.

It has come to my attention that Calibre has started adding AI shit into its functionality.

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT CAN I MAYBE HAVE JUST ONE PROGRAM THAT DOESN"T TRY TO DO AI BULLSHIT?

Just one? Maybe?

Anyway, if you want to have an AI-free calibre, you'll need to not upgrade past version 8.10. 😡

Apollo 17 at Shorty Crater https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251206.html #APOD

I miss the way I viewed the world before I knew too much about it.

I love the floppy disk. Everything about it is just neat. The engineering is neat.

Drive motors weren't perfect and could spin a little too fast or a little too slow and could even vary speed over one revolution (wobble).

Now consider you could have data on a single disk that was written in multiple drives with different characteristics.

The data on the disk, although digital, was encoded via a very analog magnetic represention (flux reversals).

To read the data off a floppy disk the drive controller had to synchronize a data window clock with the rate the data was coming off the disk. To accomplish this, clock bits were encoded in the signal. In the PC world, this is called MFM encoding.

#retrocomputing

After 8 months, a new version of AROS One 32Bit (ABIv0) is available for download, in the form of an ISO file or an image for USB sticks. Due to the focus on the transition to 64-bit, the core of the distribution has not undergone any major changes, but there are several new features in version 2.9 in terms of configuration and the included third-party software:

https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-12-00016-EN.html

#Amiga #AROS #AROSOne

The accompanying News & Views piece "Even in space, satellites photobomb telescopes" by @merrdiff.bsky.social is excellent!

https://rdcu.be/eSZJX

Here's a lovely space-based telescope image, with 560,000 satellite friends. Thanks, techbros.

I knew it!

Axios: Raccoon gets drunk at Ashland ABC store and passes out in bathroom

https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2025/12/02/drunk-raccoon-virginia-abc-store-break-in

#raccoon #animals #wildlife

This is blowing up a bit: not trying to scare you all! There is a *gigantic* set of sunspots coming around the limb of the sun, comparable in size to the sunspots sketched by Carrington. They may or may not send some plasma our way. There is also a minor aurora event predicted for 2 days from now due to interactions between an eruption from this sunspot group and previously emitted solar wind/magnetic fields.

ESA has some good info on big solar storms here: https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Space_weather/Flying_through_the_biggest_solar_storm_ever_recorded

Venezuela Bombs American Drug Yacht, Wiping Out Entire Sackler Family Cartel: https://theneedling.com/2025/12/01/venezuela-bombs-american-drug-yacht-wiping-out-entire-sackler-family-cartel/