masswerk

I think, the key word here is "mostly". If it doesn't do better, the transformation is really that we have managed to engineer reliability and repeatability out of machines, which have …

They just shipped an update with support for variable fonts. So, I guess, it's still much alive.

Cathedrals were erected by the townships and were indeed a major economic investment. They generally payed off well, giving raise to tourism (then known as pilgrimage) and elevating the status of the …

If they were cathedrals, this may raise the question why those towns were perfectly aligned, in the first place. Traditionally, it had been mostly exposed locations that were dedicated to St Michael, …

Notably Keller isolates here the concept of thought from consciousness, as well. (This is really a prerequisite of that piece.) And, as stated, Descartes' is a figure of reassurance (not of emerg…

That's how I recall it, as well. It's notable for establishing doubt as a method, and for finding a certain reassurance in this process (and not not for providing any theory of consciousness…

This is an interesting antithesis to Descartes' cogito ergo sum : instead of the "I" reassuring itself on the thought of a thinking being, thought arises from the assurance of the &quo…

Don't miss the ending!

There's an image with suitable resolution to show the misalignment: https://i0.wp.com/cabel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image... BTW, also mind the dr…

To be fair, the specimen shows some misalignment as well, e.g., the "S" at the very beginning is up and a bit to the left, the "Y" is shifted to the right, and there are small irre…

The key connection here is that David Link's emulation running "Love Letters" was an exhibit at the dOCUMENTA exhibition in 2012 and the Mark I thus entered the art world. > David …

Do you mean this one (Manchester Mark I emulator in Java by David Link)? https://web.archive.org/web/20110723062727/http://alpha60.de... Related to the topic of mu…

While not the original setup, thanks to a bit of back-porting, you can play Computer Space on the PDP-1, too: https://www.masswerk.at/icss/ …

That's not me. Sorry.

For an actual GUI on a PDP-1 (the PDP-1 featured a light pen for input), see the very first DECUS proceedings [1], "A World Oceanographic Data Display System" (1962) by Ed Fredkin (who was o…

I also had a take or two at a "Spacewar! for One". Neither made a dent in the universe. :-) [1] Outer Orbit (closer to Spacewar! and its orbital mechanics): https://www.masswerk.a…

Notably, Spacewar! is not a vector game, rather, it's X/Y point plotting. Meaning, each point is plotted individually on a high-res 1024 x 1024 screen and has to be refreshed regularly by th…

Actually, the real thing can be seen (and played) at the Computer History Museum (CHM) in Mountain View/CA. [1][2] As far as I know, there's only one restored and functional PDP-1. (There ar…

Also, gamepad mappings: https://www.masswerk.at/spacewar/images/gamepad-mappings-hr.... There are also virtual touch controllers. If a touch device is not auto-detected, tog…

While I also think that this is unrelated to the Fermi paradox, the global threat and real impact of a nuclear exchange wouldn't be direct impact, but the ecological crisis of a nuclear winter.

Conversely, how long would it take the average manager to re-utter any directions they gave the previous day?

I totally forgot about the HSPACE attribute. What a blast from the past! :-)

E.g., Ken Olsen is hardly a household name, founder of DEC, once the second largest and hugely influential computer company, and, while staying modest, then the second richest individual in the US. (I…

On the other hand, Jean-Louis Gassée was well remembered and there had been high expectations regarding an integration of BeOS, and even rumours of Sun maybe acquiring Apple. Compared to this, Jobs&#x…

To be fair, the fame of Steve Jobs is some of a different story: after his departure from Apple, he had been kind of a persona non grata , and later, with the demise of NeXT (BTW also known for its f…

Compare the integer square root algorithm used in "Spacewar!" [1]. So, even by 1960 it should have been possible to implement a square root step instructions for each bit, much like division…

A prankster! Help! :-) (What did you do?)

Thanks! (As for the 404, there may be something other, soon.)

Shameless self-promotion: https://www.masswerk.at/404 ( There were several others over the years, here's the previous one: https://www.masswerk.at/status/?40…