Essays
A deep dive into restoring a 1983 East German T-63 teletype — from understanding the five-bit Baudot code and purely electromechanical signal encoding to cleaning oxidized contacts, rebuilding the motor, and connecting the device to a modern PC via RS-232.
Essays
Greek fire was a closely guarded Byzantine weapon invented around the mid-7th century that could burn on water and terrified enemies for centuries. Its exact composition remains unknown to this day, though petroleum-based theories are most widely accepted.
AI
Across the internet, people share "magic phrases" that supposedly make ChatGPT and other LLMs perform dramatically better — emotional appeals, monetary tips, threats, and politeness rituals. This article systematically reviews the scientific research behind these techniques and finds that almost none of them provide reliable, universal improvements.
Science
From partisan kettles in WWII to Voyager probes 25 billion kilometers from Earth, radioisotope thermoelectric generators have been quietly powering civilization's most remote outposts for decades.
Networking
A practical guide to upgrading your home network to 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet without breaking the bank, covering cables, network cards, switches, and real-world performance testing with a NAS.
Essays
A case study on reviving the ftape Linux kernel driver, unmaintained for 25 years, to work with modern kernels using AI-assisted development with Claude Code.
Programming
A satirical self-portrait of an impossibly 'perfect' programmer who never misses deadlines, knows every language, and needs no teammates — culminating in the punchline that such a person doesn't exist. A Programmer's Day tribute to real, imperfect developers.
Essays
A comprehensive history of mobile device chargers, from the proprietary chaos of the 1990s through Mini-USB and Micro-USB standardization to the triumph of USB-C with Power Delivery.
Science
On the night of March 28, 1848, Niagara Falls went almost completely silent. For 30 hours, people walked across the riverbed, danced quadrilles on exposed rocks, and salvaged War of 1812 weapons before the water thundered back.
Security
The FBI secretly built and operated Anom, an encrypted messaging platform marketed to criminal organizations, intercepting 27 million messages across 45 languages over three years before executing coordinated raids in 16 countries that led to over 800 arrests.
Essays
A comprehensive exploration of sound effect creation for the ZX Spectrum — from the primitive one-bit beeper to the AY-3-8912 sound chip — including assembly code examples, the history of audio tools, and the author's AYFXEdit and BeepFX editors.
Programming
CPU usage percentage is a misleading metric when hyper-threading is involved. Through controlled assembly-level benchmarks, this article demonstrates why Instructions Per Cycle (IPC) is the proper way to measure processor utilization.