When in doubt, sweep the floor.

It’s a great piece of advice. I’m not sure where I first heard it. Upon reflection, I’m not sure I ever heard it. I tried searching on Gargle, and the only reference to the quote is me, written way back when. At any rate, it’s sound advice.

It doesn’t refer to keeping busy. I understand English pretty well, and it doesn’t say, “When idle, find some busy work.” It’s a physical operation that clears the mind somewhat, and allows your mind to work in the background. Doubt comes from choices, and the part of your brain that sorts such things works way in the back, quietly, without being asked. You know, like a mother or a burglar.

I am in doubt about what to write about, so I’m sweeping the internet floor.

Copying Is the Way Design Works

In a 2005 forum post, John Carmack explained his thoughts on patents. While patents are framed as protecting inventors, he wrote, that’s seldom how they’re used. Smart programmers working on hard problems tend to come up with the same solutions. If any one of those programmers patents their solution, the rest are screwed.

It’s a rambling discourse on design work. The author loves Eames chairs (sorry, they’re butt busters), Steve Jobs (a colossal a-hole), and assorted other things I don’t care for. His premise is correct, however, and his title is right on the money.

Wiz walks away from $23 billion deal with Google, will pursue IPO

The deal would have nearly doubled the $12 billion valuation of the startup from its most recent round of funding. Wiz was founded in 2020 and has grown rapidly under Rappaport, who had been targeting an IPO as recently as May. The company hit $100 million in annual recurring revenue after 18 months, and reached $350 million last year.

I’d never heard of this company. It’s basically an antivirus software maker. You know, like Crowdstroke. The CEO is being interviewed on CNBC wearing a hooded sweatshirt. Good luck with all that.

No More Blue Fridays

In the future, computers will not crash due to bad software updates, even those updates that involve kernel code. In the future, these updates will push eBPF code.

Friday July 19th provided an unprecedented example of the inherent dangers of kernel programming, and has been called the largest outage in the history of information technology. Windows computers around the world encountered blue-screens-of-death and boot loops, causing outages for hospitals, airlines, banks, grocery stores, media broadcasters, and more. This was caused by a config update by a security company for their widely used product that included a kernel driver on Windows systems. The update caused the kernel driver to try to read invalid memory, an error type that will crash the kernel.

To simplify, Crowdstroke crashed the internet because it alters the kernel, the part of your computer that runs the CPU, Memory, and whatever devices you have hooked up. Crash the kernel with software written by people who think hoodies are business suits and can’t spell “lose” to save their souls, and the boxes won’t run. Using eBPF avoids altering the kernel.

Scientists Discover a New Hormone that Can Build Strong Bones

When strategies to increase circulating CCN3 were implemented in young adult and older female or male mice, their bone mass and strength increased dramatically over the course of weeks. In some female mice who lacked all estrogen or were very old, CCN3 was able to more than double bone mass.

It’s an interesting finding, but I’m not personally interested. Doubling my bone mass would just make my head even thicker.

United States Discloses Nuclear Warhead Numbers; Restores Nuclear Transparency

FAS has previously requested that the United States release the size of the US nuclear arsenal for FY2021, FY2022, and FY2023, but those requests were denied. FAS believes the information was wrongly withheld and that today’s declassification decision vindicates our belief that stockpile disclosures do not negatively affect U.S. security but should be provided to the public.

Ah, brinksmanship. Sucker punch people, and then say, “Never mind, let’s be nice!” I wonder what might have changed in the last three years to make them change their minds. Actually, no I don’t.

How fast can a human possibly run 100 meters?

An:

ideal start (0.10 seconds),
constant acceleration to top speed (2.56 s),
and sustaining a 17.9 m/s speed for the race’s remainder (4.31 s),

would yield a time of 6.97 seconds.

Hmm. Usain Bolt ran it in 9.58 seconds, and no one has been able to touch it since. But the article says there’s nearly three seconds of work left to do, fellows, before your legs break from the strain. Me? I haven’t given a fig since they got rid of the hundred yard dash.

Repeated caffeine intake suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction in an A1 adenosine receptor-dependent manner: a double-blind randomized controlled study with PET-MRI

Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive substance1. Given its efficacy in improving alertness2 and alleviating cognitive impairments caused by sleep deprivation3 or sleep restriction, it is often consumed to combat drowsiness. On the cerebral level, both acute sleep loss and daily caffeine intake can lead to a decrease in human grey matter (GM) volumes as measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Well, if that’s the case, my brain must be walnut sized by now. Maybe increasing my bone density can fill in the voids.

Boeing-owned Wisk expects to begin carrying passengers ‘later in the decade’

But the industry faces technological hurdles such as making batteries powerful enough for companies to make more trips on a single charge. They also need to convince regulators and the public that the aircraft are safe, a barrier that is higher when the aircraft is autonomous.

In my lifetime, commercial pilots have mostly been ex-military. Guys that could fly a B-17 through flak probably thought delivering passengers to Poughkeepsie was a dawdle. They were replaced by guys who flew in Korea, then Vietnam, and then all the various desert dustups we favored recently. Now your pilot is going to be some software written by guys who think a hoodie is a business suit, and can’t spell. Good luck with all that. And remember to look both ways before crossing a Manhattan street, and up, too.

Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

Results from two experiments indicate that even when people are successful at maintaining sustained attention—as when avoiding the temptation to check their phones—the mere presence of these devices reduces available cognitive capacity. Moreover, these cognitive costs are highest for those highest in smartphone dependence.

I’ve been to the Walmart recently. It’s not possible to reduce everyone’s cognitive capacity any further, so I wouldn’t worry about this study.

Can Engineers Stage a Coup and Take Over Their Company?

Why does our boss hold so much power over us when we are the ones who make everything possible? It seems absurd. We’re the ones who turned their dreams into reality, making them billionaires. If the product brings in billions, why are only a handful of people rolling in wealth? Why don’t we get a similar reward?

What if we decided to take matters into our own hands? What if we overthrow the boss and take control of the product ourselves? If we have the brains to create these groundbreaking products, we certainly can manage them too.

A man, no doubt writing while wearing a hoodie in the summer, thinks he has discovered trade unionism. He must have a smartphone nearby.

Well, there you go, folks. Feel free to make fun of me or the internet’s floor sweepings in the comments.