Unicode Consortium: 214 characters from legacy computers and teletext that were proposed by the Terminals Working Group were just accepted:

https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2019/19025-terminals-prop.pdf

source: jwz

I can’t believe that this 1994 clown car has still not disgorged all of its passengers, but here we are. I’m running Raspbian 9.6 and if mpg321 is interrupted before it finished playing the file, about 10% of the time the machine gets into a state where it can’t play sound any more and launching any process takes ~5 seconds. At that point, I haven’t found a recourse other than rebooting.

Any suggestions, other than “get a less annoying hobby“?

Starts with an O...

source: jwz

This is an absolutely amazing artifact whose physical existence is difficult to accept. I can barely wrap my head around the fact that this thing is pushing enough electrons through the air that it can not only hold itself up, but also light up a set of Nixie tubes. It’s god damned sorcery, is what it is. This is some Tesla HAARP Weapon Planetary Weather Control shit going on here.

And the way you configure it is... complete lunacy, even compared to the typical UI standards of “how to set the time on a clock or a Microwave”, which was already complete lunacy. You’re used to “press button A to advance, press button B to configure, hope you can guess what the beeps mean?” Ho ho ho, welcome to the next level: the control here is an invisible capacitive touch button, just one, and to toggle, say, setting 3, you gesture near the button until the audio tone changes frequency 3 times... and then you wait a little bit longer and flee quickly. Oops, you advanced to 4! Try again! It’s koo-koo-pants.

source: jwz

I have long had a hard time picturing what day, night and the shape of the terminator would look like on Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Map. Well yesterday I wrote some code and now I know! It sort-of feels like two weird spirals turning in opposite directions. Video here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LnO0UiccGs

source: jwz

Also: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2017/12/xscreensaver-5-38/

Trying something new here on Ye Olde Blogge: animated GIFs are now served as MP4s in a VIDEO tag.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes it’s different.

source: jwz

Only one new hack this time, Vigilance. They are panoptically adorable, aren’t they?

source: jwz

The iTunes Motto: “Fewer Features, Every Day”.

Although, in this case, the iPhone Remote app.

source: jwz

Chemicals in the water!