flopsamjetsam (u/flopsamjetsam)

flopsamjetsam commented on UEFI Bindings for JavaScript codeberg.org/smnx/prometh... · Posted by u/ananas-dev

Does it manage to support floats? I am not sure if those can be safely used in the UEFI environment. (I recall GRUB’s build of Lua being integer-only, and Linux avoiding the use of floating-point arithmetic in kernel mode, but I don’t remember the reason.)

flopsamjetsam · 12 hours ago

Floating point was not supported in the Linux kernel to avoid having to save/restore FP registers.

flopsamjetsam commented on Wood Gas Vehicles: Firewood in the Fuel Tank (2010) solar.lowtechmagazine.com... · Posted by u/Rygian

stickynotememo · 2 days ago

> During the Second World War, almost every motorised vehicle in continental Europe was converted to use firewood.

How is this the first time me (or anyone else in this comment section) is hearing about this? It seems like a pretty major deal.

flopsamjetsam · a day ago

I had heard stories of these from my Dad. He lived in country Australia (SA) during WWII, and the long-distance buses had been converted over to this.

flopsamjetsam commented on Usenet personality en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use... · Posted by u/mellosouls

ericghildyal · 11 days ago

I can't stop laughing at the first entry and this simple joke:

> he gained international notoriety for his claims that [...] mass and time are equivalent. (With regard to the second claim, it was suggested on the "sci.astro.amateur" newsgroup that his demise be observed with a gram of silence.)

flopsamjetsam · 11 days ago

ABIAN was always my friends and my favourite, from our time on Usenet! His all caps .sig with "equivalence of MASS and TIME" is something I will always treasure.

flopsamjetsam commented on What is Plan 9? fqa.9front.org/fqa0.html#... · Posted by u/AlexeyBrin

solarexplorer · 23 days ago

I don't know. I use a lot of Swift and C++ and while both are OK languages there is an absurd amount of complexity in these languages that doesn't seem to serve any real purpose. Just a lot of foot traps, really. Coming back to Plan9 from that world is a breeze, the simplicity is like a therapy for me. So enjoyable.

If "modern" means complex, I don't think it fits Plan9.

flopsamjetsam · 22 days ago

As a Swift noob, I would appreciate hearing what these foot traps are. This is in the context of Swift as a systems programming language?

flopsamjetsam commented on River Runner river-runner.samlearner.c... · Posted by u/coloneltcb

flopsamjetsam · 22 days ago

From the page: a global version is available too -- https://river-runner-global.samlearner.com

flopsamjetsam commented on My Gripes with Prolog buttondown.com/hillelwayn... · Posted by u/azhenley

jjgreen · 25 days ago

... a bit like life ...

flopsamjetsam · 25 days ago

Conway's Life? Or DNA?

flopsamjetsam commented on James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies fordauthority.com/2025/12... · Posted by u/NaOH

lostlogin · a month ago

I worked in an IT department at one time and encountered USB-A plugs forced into Ethernet ports.

It seems so unlikely that I’ve just searched it to see if it’s possible, but am getting no hits.

flopsamjetsam · a month ago

This reminds me so much of the old story about how a user called support to tell them their floppy drive wasn't working. When the tech got there, the computer had no floppy drives, and the user had been forcing the disks in the gap between the drive blank plates.

flopsamjetsam commented on Ask HN: What did you read in 2025? · Posted by u/kwar13

flopsamjetsam · a month ago

Dune: re-read the first time since I was a teenager. Mostly to compare my memory of it against the films.

Foundation and Second Foundation: for much the same reason.

Both very enjoyable reads, but quite different from the modern interpretations.

"How Life Works: a users guide to the new biology" by Phillip Ball. Really extended my understanding of where biology is now.

flopsamjetsam commented on Ask HN: What did you read in 2025? · Posted by u/kwar13

rochansinha · a month ago

How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg

Bhagvad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

How The World Really Works by Vaclav Smil

The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Chaos by James Gleick

Wind and Truth (Stormlight Archive #5) by Brandon Sanderson

The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle

The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

flopsamjetsam · a month ago

> Chaos by James Gleick

I read this quite a while ago, and can't remember it at all. What did you think of it?

> The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

Loved this when I was a kid.

flopsamjetsam commented on Ask HN: What did you read in 2025? · Posted by u/kwar13

DJBunnies · a month ago

Very much enjoyed the Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos

flopsamjetsam · a month ago

I have read the first one many times. Such a great read, will have to tackle the rest of the series next year.

u/flopsamjetsam

KarmaCake day89January 17, 2022View Original