h2g2bob @h2g2bob@mastodon.dbatley.com

Potash is a strong alkali. It can be mixed with fats to make soap, or used to reduce the temperature for glass.

Making potash: take the ash of a wood fire, mix with water. The potash leeches into the water. Strain to remove ash, boil away the water.

Will Wheaton plays the board game Pandemic https://youtu.be/ytK1zDPPDhw

In HTML 4 strict, <br/ is an alias for <br> ... which means <br/> is a problem. It's all caused by HTML using (and abusing) SGML. http://jkorpela.fi/html/empty.html #webdev

When security vulnerabilities are found in software: in the beginning there was Full Disclosure https://www.spacerogue.net/wordpress/?p=536 #security

Missing numbers - land options, the little-known contracts used to control land
http://missingnumbers.org/land-options-the-little-known-contracts-used-to-control-land/ #housing

Matt Parker is 80% accurate https://youtu.be/vBPFaM-0pI8

Going for a random walk https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2019/09/random-walk.html #london

The Chain by Fleetwood Mac - it's all about the guitar 3 minutes in https://youtu.be/kBYHwH1Vb-c #music

HTTP/3 is a major change to HTTP: it switches from TCP to UDP and makes other major changes. Widespread support is years away, but limited, experimental support is available in most browsers. https://lwn.net/Articles/814522/

The Bechdel Test feels like a minimum requirement, but 1 in 3 movies fail https://bechdeltest.com/

Looking at Asteroids which fell to Earth
https://naturalhistorymuseum.blog/2019/11/26/fossil-ice-found-in-earths-starting-material-curator-of-petrology/ #space

OpenBSD is always first with new security ideas. In December, it added a check so that only libc could talk to the kernel. https://lwn.net/Articles/806776/ #linux

When in Doubt: Hang Up, Look Up, & Call Back
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/04/when-in-doubt-hang-up-look-up-call-back/ #security

Using hexdump to print binary protocols https://who-t.blogspot.com/2019/03/using-hexdump-to-print-binary-protocols.html

Ice, but not as we know it: the giants of Neptune and Uranus
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2019/not-a-heart-of-ice.html #space

A gentle introduction to quantum computing from a software development perspective.
https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/getting_started_with_quantum_software_development/ #video

async-await on rust
https://lwn.net/Articles/804066/ #rust