SWiM

@paulg So interesting. This chart has me looking for a good book on the history and business of Americas railroads.

There's never been an investment like the investment in railroads. (This graph has a log scale!)

@ProofOfKeags @drummatick A company producing analog chips will dethrone NVIDIA eventually IMHO.

@drummatick I think this paves the way to a hypothetical analog computing unit because i believe exp and log are very easy functions to implement in hardware

crazy results In digital logic, you know that a single NAND gate can build any Boolean circuit. AND, OR, NOT, XOR... all reducible to NAND. Nobody had found the equivalent for continuous math, the stuff on scientific calculators: sin, cos, log, exp, sqrt, etc. This paper shows that one binary operator does it: for example eml(1, eml(eml(1,x), 1)) = ln(x) and eml(x, 1) = exp(x) - ln(1) = exp(x) - 0 = exp(x) once you get ln(x) and exp(x), you can get anything from using same operator again and again

@LewisCTech I honestly dont know what to think about agentic coding yet. It may very well result in specs and documentation as being considered a “primary output” of software developers in the future, and priced accordingly. Pretty cool to think that possible.

@eightcien Which is ironic if you think about how many companies speed ahead at 100mph down the wrong path. Do you think the rise of "spec driven development" via agentic coding changes this?

I'm beginning to suspect that Agile was just a reaction against Software Engineering, created by people who lacked the discipline to read and write specs. "Waterfall" - ie strict sequential development phases - was a complete straw man; it had been diagnosed and solved by 1970.

@LewisCTech Seems to me typical projects have two basic types: a) “dream team” efforts when prior experience align well with project goals. Agile can work. b) otherwise, waterfall approach with refinable requirements delivers better results. It is hard to assemble dream teams :)

@LewisCTech It is a “perceived value” item to me. When building software, establishing a project schedule with anything more than 20% time devoted to a requirement gathering and analysis loop is just hard to sell.

@sidecarcap I’ve never been good at holding winners. It becomes harder to hold as gains accrue, even when you know it’s a great business. Downside just appears to outweigh moar upside. In almost all cases I was wrong to sell.

Volatility is where people give away their winners. Usually for macro reasons that have nothing to do with it, they sell an exceptional business that could have generated life-changing wealth. It is one of the easiest and costliest mistakes an investor can make.

@TheGingerBill @traktorius11 @valigo New life goal: name a programming project after a god so I can claim to be the creator of said god.

@traktorius11 @valigo Zig does not have ownership semantics nor lifetime semantics, so definitely not. Also, I'm the creator of Odin, so I clearly prefer that if you want a C alternative.

The more I learn about C, the more I see how much of a lost opportunity C++ is. There's also an alternative reality where Rust is much more pleasant, because its only goal was to improve C safety instead of one-upping modern C++

Big loss to the NWT economy as Rio Tinto’s Diavik mine produced its last diamonds this week. Kudos to them for a well managed and planned closure. NWT is down to two producing mines, both for diamonds, both near end-of-life. riotinto.com/en/news/releas…

@Rory_Johnston 5. Export restrictions for the western hemisphere.

Oh boy oh boy If Trump wants to "mitigate rising energy prices", at least on the oil front, he's got 3 options: 1. SPR release (here we go again) 2. Russian sanctions relief (err... not great) 3. Gas tax holiday? (2022 redux) ... (4) Stop bombing Iran

Francis Bacon

Wow! Amazing display of instinct by the baby deer. It's crazy they won't move until mom comes back no matter what

Burton Castle, also known as Castillo de Burato, is a historic fortress located in the province of Burgos, Spain. Constructed during the medieval period, it is believed to have been built in 9th Century CE, by the Moors during their occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. The castle was strategically positioned atop a hill overlooking the surrounding countryside, serving as a defensive stronghold against invasions. #archaeohistories

Atmospheric Architecture - a thread of eerily beautiful photographs 🧵

Labirint Dukhovnuiy — the “Spiritual Labyrinth.” Russian Icon, 18th century