Chinese literature Updated +Created
Chinese painting Updated +Created
Qing dynasty Updated +Created
Curl (mathematics) Updated +Created
Points in the direction in which a wind spinner spins fastest.
Retrovirus Updated +Created
Integrates its RNA genome into the host genome.
Sounds complicated! The advantage is likely as in HIV: once inside the cell, it can remain hidden far away from the cell surface, but still infections.
Ribosome Updated +Created
Richard Henderson (biologist) Updated +Created
AI accelerator Updated +Created
Video 1.
The Coming AI Chip Boom by Asianometry (2022)
Source.
Rockefeller family Updated +Created
They were basically a Microsoft of their century. A little less monopolistic perhaps as countries believed they should own they natural resources, unlike their data.
Roche Biochemical Pathways Updated +Created
TODO human presumably?
I don't think it has any advantage over KEGG however, besides historical interest? Maybe slightly more manual layout and so more beautiful?
James Somers (rightly) likes to point to it as a "biology is awesome" thing.
RPG Maker Updated +Created
The one true game engine!
Video 1.
Reviewing a Bunch of RPG Maker Games by Majuular (2022)
Source.
Git design rationale Updated +Created
The fundamental insight of Git design is: a SHA represents not only current state, but also the full history due to the Merkle tree implementation, see notably:
This makes it so that you will always notice if you are overwriting history on the remote, even if you are developing from two separate local computers (or more commonly, two people in two different local computers) and therefore will never lose any work accidentally.
It is very hard to achieve that without the Merkle tree.
Consider for example the most naive approach possible of marking versions with consecutive numbers:
  • Local 1:
    • 0: root commit
    • 1: commit 1
    • 2: commit 2 by local 1
  • Local 2:
    • 0: root commit
    • 1: commit 1
    • 2: commit 2 by local 2
    • 3: commit 3 by local 2
  • Remote
    • 0: root commit
    • 1: commit 1
If Local 1 were to push to Remote first, how could Local 2 notice that when it tries to push itself? The navie method of just checking: "does Remote have commit "2"" does not work, because Local 2 has a different version of commit 2 than local 1.
Git command Updated +Created
gcc CLI option Updated +Created
GNU package Updated +Created
History of Google Updated +Created
The 1997 Wayback Machine archives are just priceless: web.archive.org/web/19971210065425/http://backrub.stanford.edu/backrub.html. I'm so glad that website exists and started so early. It is just another university research project demo website like any other. Priceless.
In August 1998 they had an their first investment of $100,000 from Andy Bechtolsheim, Sun Microsystems co-founder. Some sources say September 1998. This was an event of legend, the dude dropped by, tested the website for a few minutes, said I like it, and dropped a 100$ check with no paperwork. Google wasn't even incorporated, they had to incorporate to cash the check. They were apparently introduced by one of the teachers, TODO which. Some sources say he had to rush off to another meeting afterwards:
Tried to sell it for 1 million in early 1999... OMG the way the world is. It would be good to learn more about that story, and when they noticed it was fuckup.
One of Google's most interesting stories is how their startup garage owner became an important figure inside Google, and how Sergei married her sister. These were the best garage tenants ever!
Video 1.
Google garage (1998)
Source. Description reads: "The company's sixth employee made this video tour of the office in 1998" so this should be Susan's garage, since the next office move was only in 1999 to 165 University Avenue in Palo Alto.
Video 2.
Andy Bechtolsheim's 100.000 check by Discovery UK (2018)
Source. Contains interviews with Andy Bechtolsheim and David Cheriton. The meeting happed in David Cheriton's porch. Andy showed up at 8AM, and he had a meeting at 9AM at Cisco where he worked, so he had to leav early. Andy worked at Cisco after having sold his company Granite Systems, which David co-founded, to Cisco. Particularly cool to see how Andy calculated expected revenue quickly on the back of his mind.
Video 3.
Larry Page interview on the choice of name "Alphabet" by Fortune Magazine (2015)
Source. Shows his voice situation well, poor guy.
Google acquisition Updated +Created
Google Street View Updated +Created
Street View's go into the past mode is the dream of every archaeologist. Ciro can only dream of a magic street view that allows going back to earlier centuries and beyond... isn't it amazing to think that people in the future will have that ability to time travel back to around the year 2006? Ciro wonders how long Google will be able to keep storing data like that.
Thanks, CIA.
Public Ivy Updated +Created

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