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Quorten Blog 1

First blog for all Quorten's blog-like writings

False study on low-carb diet

quorten

2018-09-24

Categories: random  
Tags: random  

Very interesting article here. A false study that uses poor data leads to a conclusion that low-carb diets are unhealthy? It has come from reputable sources. And, well, the problem is this: the large “reputable” institutions like Harvard have chairs in key strategic positions that set the manufacturing and distribution at which certain foods are circulated through the economy. And when this is based off of false data, potentially deliberately, it can be used to support key poltical funding motives.

20180924/https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/diagnosis-diet/201809/latest-low-carb-study-all-politics-no-science

The 5 hour rule that makes entrepreneurs great

quorten

2018-09-24

Categories: tour-de-force   important  
Tags: tour-de-force   important  

Important! “The 5 hour rule” that makes entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Jack Ma, and Elon Musk great. Set aside 5 hours out of your week to learn something, to read something, to reflect on something, or to experiment on something. But now, the counterpoint that we must mention. The fact that there are a large number of people who don’t set aside 5 hours to learn something, well, that’s a large part of the reason why we have so many people who use smartphones, but so few people who understand how they work.

20180924/https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/317602

Security, programming, and other random things from Twitter

quorten

2018-09-24

Categories: random-software   twitter   reiterate  
Tags: random-software   twitter   reiterate  

Random software notes.

Another article on the history of Vim, but written from a more modern perspective.

20180924/https://twobithistory.org/2018/08/05/where-vim-came-from.html

Very interesting! So the thing about jumping into a Vim text editor when you a beginner that does not yet know how to use it? There is a meme written about that because it happens so often.

20180924/https://stackoverflow.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/meme.jpeg

“Computer programming unplugged,” a more modern curriculum designed to learn computer programming without a computer, despite the advent of abundant low-cost computers in 2018.

20180924/https://hackaday.com/2018/08/03/computer-programming-unplugged-for-kids/

Read on →

Raspberry Pi One-Time Programmable (OTP) documentation

quorten

2018-09-24

Categories: raspberry-pi  
Tags: raspberry-pi  

Wondering about the full documentation about the Raspberry Pi One-Time Programmable (OTP) configuration? Here it is. What I am not sure about is if you can set multiple bits cumulatively or they must be set all at once. However, what looks to be true for sure is that separate words can be programmed at separate times. The bits within a single word, in theory this must work too so that you can have boot from SD set by default, but then add more bits to also boot off of USB and network boot.

20180924/DuckDuckGo raspberry pi otp
20180924/https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/otpbits.md

Okay, answers found on this. OTP memory is cumulative set, even when a word has already been written once before. The end when you can’t do anything else is when all bits in a word are set.

Read on →

Browsix, for Unix-like operating systems in-browser

quorten

2018-09-24

Categories: random-software   twitter  
Tags: random-software   twitter  

Important! What were you writing about earlier on running a full operating system in the browser? Oh yes, it was Google Native Client, NaCl, repurposed into a virtual machine. Now, it turns out that there is in fact such a project in progress for modern WebAssembly… well, sort of. Browsix.

20180924/https://browsix.org/
20180924/https://github.com/plasma-umass/browsix

HTML 5 video vertical sync issues

quorten

2018-09-24

Categories: media-prog  
Tags: media-prog  

So, I was watching some of my newly converted videos that are compatible with HTML 5 video in Firefox, and I noticed that the video playback tended to tear in fullscreen. That is, there was a problem with vertical sync, or vsync as those of us in the graphics world know it is (affectionally) called. So, why was this the case? As it turns out, Firefox has long had a problem with not properly implementing vsync. The primary issue is that its timer code for requestAnimationFrame() is broken, and that broken code is apparently also used to drive HTML 5 video playback. Unfortunately, there are no signs that this issue will be fixed in the near future. So, if you want to see tear-free video, switch to Chromium.

20180924/DuckDuckGo firefox html 5 video vertical sync
20180924/DuckDuckGo firefox html 5 video tearing

This is a very interesting website with a full explanation of the Firefox vsync problem.

20180924/https://www.vsynctester.com/
20180924/https://www.vsynctester.com/manual.html
20180924/https://www.vsynctester.com/firefoxisbroken.html

Project Silk for Firefox purportedly would have fixed the tearing problems, but that project got canceled and never made it into mainline Firefox.

20180924/https://hacks.mozilla.org/2015/01/project-silk/

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The screwdriver to open up the old DSL router/modem

quorten

2018-09-23

Categories: raspberry-pi  
Tags: raspberry-pi  

So, for quite some time I was wondering about what the correct screwdriver to open the old DSL router/modem was, and I think I’ve come to a logical conclusion: JIS screwdriver. “It’s like a Philips screw head, but it is flatter, like you chop a little bit of the tip of the screwdriver off.” Yep, indeed that is what people are describing about the JIS screwdrivers and heads. Matter of fact, some people even recommend flattening the tip of a Philips screwdriver to get a JIS screwdriver, although that still won’t quite be a full JIS screwdriver.

20180923/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screwdriver
20180923/DuckDuckGo jis screwdriver
20180923/https://revlimiter.net/blog/2014/09/the-japanese-phillips-jis-screwdrivers/
20180923/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEwVUZr5xxQ

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Evolution of text editors for programmers and multiple cursors

quorten

2018-09-21

Categories: tour-de-force  
Tags: tour-de-force  

Evolution of text editors for programmers.

  • 1940s: Computers are highly experimental such as the ENIAC. Programming is not thought of in the form of text editing, but in the form of wiring modules together. Yes, the idea of computer programs as text is not even in the picture at this point. This is even so despite the fact that some early computers used “paper tape” for their programs.

  • 1950s: EDSAC (1949), UNIVAC I and other very early mainframe computer systems are commercially introduced. Text editing on these systems involves a multistage process. (1) Writing down notes on paper. (2) Writing more formal program code into a coding form. (3) Type that coding form into a key punch or magnetic tape typewriter to produce machine-readable input.

    The most viable form of text editing is rearranging a deck of punched cards to rearrange lines of program code, and retype lines that need to be edited.

  • 1960s: Minicomputers are introduced. In practice, the main feature these systems provide over mainframes of times past are timesharing rather than batch processing. The programmer’s text editing experience becomes smarter at this point, mainly focusing around paper-printing teletypes connected to a minicomputer. Hence, text editing software is largely line-based: you print and edit a few lines at a time, without being able to constantly see a whole screenful of text.

    Some programmers prefer to write down their edit commands on a source code printout, then type the editor directives into the computer at a later time, all at once, rather than work interactively on the computer. (Why? Surely it would have been cost motivated, given the high fees of early timesharing.)

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Zooniverse, Galaxy Zoo, Raspberry Pi, and unmotivated teens

quorten

2018-09-20

Categories: tour-de-force  
Tags: tour-de-force  

Galaxy Zoo? Zooniverse? I remember learning about those websites in my astronomy class in 2014 (2015?). Well, let’s take another look, let’s see how it’s like in 2018.

20180920/https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/zookeeper/galaxy-zoo
20180920/https://www.zooniverse.org

Okay, now this is interesting. There are 1.6 million registered users in Zooniverse. Wow, that’s not that many… well, comparing to mass social media websites such as Facebook. but sure, it’s almost on the same order of magnitude as Raspberry Pi users. For sure, the two go together. Both are arguably much more productive than the kinds of things that happen on Facebook and YouTube, but despite the usefulness, neither have reached the market penetration of Facebook, YouTube, etc. However, Zooniverse has the added benefit that it is deliberately designed to be easy to access from tablets and smartphones.

20180920/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi

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