FoxQuirk 🦊 @quirk@computerfairi.es

What is a project but a deployable pile of regrets

I can FINALLY announce the news! I have been awarded a British Academy small grant!!

https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/over-17-million-in-british-academyleverhulme-trust-small-research-grants-awarded-to-support-shape-researchers/

This work will be on safeguarding knowledge about floppy disks! The project will include working with @dpc_chat @JennyMitcham @anj on gathering floppy disk information in one place. But will also include interviewing floppy disk experts across communities and cleaning floppy disks with different techniques with the conservation department at the Cambridge University Library!!

Update on MTN / Seeburg Background Music Player

Up & running. DC Motor, so the Speed is right for either 50 or 60 Hz. Was expecting faff, but clearly designed to be sold in multiple territories

No, I’m not taking the Cartridge apart, in case I can’t get it back together. Once I know what’s what, I will. Cause I know you lot will want a peep

@obsoletemediauk

tired: GPL is not a EULA
fatigued: MIT is not a EULA

If I knew how to design a layout engine that wouldn't become a giant pile of HTML+CSS like cruft I'd honestly do it myself. I know how to make a bytecode VM with JIT that handles rendering, audio, video, networking, and input, because that's what game engines are

Anyway at this point if you ask me browsers are just VMs with a layout engine except done in the absolute worst way possible

Feel like if we ever want to break the browser hegemony we need a reboot of web technology to start clean with a design that's actually feasible to implement from scratch without spending billions of dollars

nobody will remember:
- your salary
- how busy you were
- how many hours you worked

people will remember:
- when you stepped up to help strangers
- the times you destroyed power plants
- your giant sword

I can't describe the feeling of being abroad and watching Israeli airstrikes hit your city over and over again and you're checking on the group chats with people reacting seconds later while also trying to understand what's happening because explaining it is part of your job. #Beirut #Lebanon

Amen.

"just roll with it" genuinely the best advice

https://ompuco.itch.io/truss

Some cats just love any and all attention

Another photo from the archive: it felt great to get GenBank DNA sequences out on the table with a bit more room to breathe.

ALL THESE YEARS HEARING ABOUT AUTOMATTIC AND MATT MULLENWEG AND I NEVER REALISED HE WAS VAIN ENOUGH TO NAME THE COMPANY AFTER HIMSELF!!! 😭