La comunità Unix, che è ancora viva e vegeta e lotta insieme a noi, sta producendo cose notevoli. Come questo repository su GitHub con tutte le versioni del sistema operativo (fino al 2017) delle principali varianti e contenuti. Da Epoch a FreeBSD-release/11.0.0, 11.0.1

Ricordate che, a differenza di Linux che è un kernel più GNU più quel che le varie distribuzioni ci vogliono mettere sopra, ogni distribuzione di Unix contiene lo stack completo del sistema operativo.

Money quote: "The history and evolution of the Unix operating system is made available as a revision management repository, covering the period from its inception in 1970 as a 2.5 thousand line kernel and 26 commands, to 2017 as a widely-used 27 million line system. The 1.1GB repository contains about half a million commits and more than two thousand merges. The repository employs Git system for its storage and is hosted on GitHub. It has been created by synthesizing with custom software 24 snapshots of systems developed at Bell Labs, the University of California at Berkeley, and the 386BSD team, two legacy repositories, and the modern repository of the open source FreeBSD system. In total, about one thousand individual contributors are identified, the early ones through primary research. The data set can be used for empirical research in software engineering, information systems, and software archaeology."

https://github.com/dspinellis/unix-history-repo

Una gran bella storia. Ne risentirete parlare presto! :-)

https://video.corriere.it/cultura/la-lettura/volo-dell-idrovolante-pacific-clipper/4165fbfc-b930-11ed-b194-e55eac395b06

Io ve lo dico: questo libro secondo me è una figata (me lo sono comprato)

Money quote: “Nel momento in cui scriviamo la creatura di Marcin Wichary, Shift Happens, ha sbandato Kickstarter. È infatti, a pochi giorni dalla fine della campagna, il libro di tecnologia più supportato della storia del sito di crowdsourcing.

Marcin Wichary, programmatore polacco trapiantato negli Usa, ha scritto un’opera struggente degna di un solitario genio totalmente incentrato su un unico tema (che sta molto caro a chi fa il giornalista, peraltro, e a molte altre professioni intellettuali), cioè le tastiere per scrivere.”

https://www.macitynet.it/shift-happens-il-libro-sulle-tastiere-che-ha-sbancato-kickstarter/

Non è un approccio per i poeti, lo è piuttosto per gli ingegneri. Ma insomma, se volete scrivere un libro su Unix, ecco gli strumenti che si possono usare. Spiegati bene.

Money quote: "I had all the tools in front of me - and had already started using them. I could use a git repo to keep a backup of the book and track changes, using Unix tools like wc, cat, ag (basically a faster grep) and others to accomplish everything I needed to - in a workflow I was already comfortable with.

It was tooling kismet."

https://joecmarshall.com/posts/book-writing-environment/

Altro che Orient Express: perché non traversare gli Stati Uniti in treno? Un viaggio inutile che tutti gli amanti di quel paese e di quella cultura dovrebbero fare

Money quote: "As I quickly learned, there are no passenger rail routes that cross the entire United States in a single trip, nor are there likely to be any soon. Even proponents of the high-speed railway systems much lauded in Asia and Europe (and tentatively proposed in Congress’s Green New Deal resolutions) generally give the competitive edge to planes for travel across distances greater than 600 miles. At present, reaching California by rail from New York requires at least two trains, one of which will depart from New Orleans or Chicago, all of which, like most lines operated by Amtrak, have names so sumptuously picturesque (Maple Leaf, Coast Starlight, Sunset Limited) they make the storybook “Polar Express” sound as sterile as “Amtrak” by comparison. To book tickets, a person must first complete a battery of tests measuring her patience, hand-eye coordination and aptitude for deductive mathematical reasoning, in the guise of Amtrak’s impossible-to-use online trip planner. (While the trip planner cannot identify the train station nearest to an address, or even a city, it can tell you the name of the city you have already typed into its search bar, provided there is an Amtrak train station there.) The fastest way to complete this slow journey is to take the Lake Shore Limited to Chicago’s Union Station, then board the Southwest Chief to Los Angeles, one of sunny Southern California’s much-hyped premier attractions."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/20/magazine/train-across-america-amtrak.html

Alan Alda è malato di Parkinson e fa da testimonial per una serie di iniziative che vogliono creare attenzione e migliorare la prevenzione delle malattie del cervello. Un comportamento particolare, cioè quello delle persone che mettono in atto ciò che stanno sognando, è una spia di possibili malattie di quel tipo.

Money quote: "When RBD occurs in the absence of these alternative explanations, the chance of future disease is high. Some epidemiological studies suggest that enacted dreaming predicts a more than 80 percent chance of developing a neurodegenerative disease within the patient’s lifetime. It may also be the first sign of neurodegenerative disease, which on average shows up within 10 to 15 years after onset of the dream disorder."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/acting-out-dreams-predicts-parkinsons-and-other-brain-diseases/

A quanto pare non solo i vichinghi venivano in vacanza nel Mediterraneo per fare bagni caldi e un po' di battaglie mercenarie, ma anche il leone di Venezia, quello dell'Arsenale lungo tre metri, originariamente viene dal Pireo. E 350 anni fa era usato come bersaglio dai Turchi. Ce ne sono di cose da sapere.

Money quote: ‘Åsmund drew these runes with Asgeir and Torleif and (...) Even though the Greeks forbade it.’

https://sciencenorway.no/archaeology-history-runes/vikings-tagged-the-great-lion-in-venice-with-runes/2157444

Le pompe di calore sono il futuro che viene dal passato.

Money quote: "The pumps are much more efficient than gas heaters, but standard models that absorb heat from the air are prone to icing up, which greatly reduces their effectiveness.

Yu, who works at the University of Glasgow, UK, pondered the problem for weeks. He read paper after paper. And then he had an idea. Most heat pumps waste some of the heat that they generate — and if he could capture that waste heat and divert it, he realized, that could solve the defrosting issue and boost the pumps’ overall performance. “I suddenly found a solution to recover the heat,” he recalls. “That was really an amazing moment.”"

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/02/how-heat-pumps-of-the-1800s-are-becoming-the-technology-of-the-future/

È proprio vero, i cinquantenni di oggi sono i quarantenni di dieci anni fa (cioè, sono proprio loro).

Non c'è più la mezza età di una volta.

Money quote: "Back in the day, 40 was the marker for midlife, but now, finding consensus on when middle age begins and what it represents isn’t easy. The Collins English dictionary gnomically defines it as “the period in your life when you are no longer young but have not yet become old”. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says it is between 40 and 60. Meanwhile, a 2018 YouGov survey reported that most Britons aged between 40 and 64 considered themselves middle-aged – but so did 44% of people aged between 65 and 69."

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/feb/16/whatever-happened-to-middle-age-the-mysterious-case-of-the-disappearing-life-stage

È passato un sacco di tempo (e c'è un sequel alle porte) ma il mito di Indiana Jones perdura e continua a definire l'identità degli archeologi, avventurosi esploratori sul campo della storia remota. Ma è solo un mito.

Money quote: "The face of archaeology today is shifting away from those who look like Indiana Jones, albeit slowly. In a 2010 needs assessment survey of the membership of the Society for American Archaeology, 84 percent identified as being Caucasian. White cautions that the myth of Indiana Jones as the quintessential archaeologist means that “archaeology appeals to a certain demographic, and is a turn-off to most other demographics,” a theme he has elaborated on in his Sapiens essay, “ Why the Whiteness of Archaeology Is a Problem.” This has not stopped some archaeologists from leaning into the stereotype, though. A simple Google news search reveals dozens of white male archaeologists being called the “real-life Indiana Jones.”"

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-enduring-myths-of-raiders-of-the-lost-ark

Sunny sixteen, la regola per scattare le fotografie analogiche (ma anche quelle digitali) a occhio, senza esposimetro, azzeccandole sempre.

Money quote: "La Regola del "SUNNY 16" - Spiegazione e guida all'utilizzo"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU8f1G5QjK8

Chi è Alec Ross? E cos'è il nuovo patto sociale che secondo lui serve all'Italia?

Money quote: "Cambiamenti climatici e futuro della tecnologia, strapotere delle multinazionali e nuove sfide da affrontare. Ne abbiamo parlato con Alec Ross, fra i massimi esperti mondiali di politiche tecnologiche, ex consigliere dell'Amministrazione Obama. Perché una società più etica e giusta è possibile. Vediamo come"

https://wisesociety.it/incontri/intervista-ad-alec-ross-su-tecnologia-innovazione-e-futuro-del-pianeta/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbSU7AXbzno

Abbiamo tutti gli stessi miti perché, alla fine, veniamo tutti dallo stesso posto? (Alla faccia del viaggio dell'Eroe!)

Money quote: "Archaeological research suggests that our species originated in Sub-Saharan Africa, then spread to the rest of the world via the Middle East. This means cultures that are geographically separated at present would have been able to exchange beliefs and practices back when they lived in roughly the same area. Therefore, patterns in world mythology could help us better understand patterns in early human migration and vice versa.

There is no shortage of research on this topic. Anna Rooth, author of “The Creation Myths of the North American Indians,” analyzed small narrative details in more than 300 Native American creation myths and found that many of those details also showed up in myths from Eurasia. This led her to the conclusion that, “because of the special combination of detail-motifs, these myths must be considered to have a common origin.”"

https://bigthink.com/high-culture/flood-myth-origin/

Nel 2023 ha senso tirare fuori delle vecchie videocassette e fare ginnastica seguendo le istruzioni di Jane Fonda? Beh, a quanto pare un fondamento ci sarebbe.

Money quote: "A few weeks back, I was complaining to my mom about my friends flocking to CrossFit and signing up for marathons while I struggle to emerge from the me-shaped mold I’ve created in my sofa. She told me to give some Jane Fonda workout videos from the ‘80s a try.
I laughed off the suggestion at first. When I think about ‘80s fitness culture, my mind floods with images of men in sweatbands with Tom Selleck–mustaches smoking outside health clubs, and metallic bodysuit-clad women daintily side-stepping to tinny New Wave synth music. Wacky and whimsical, sure. But a viable workout option? Surely not."

https://www.wellandgood.com/jane-fonda-workout-videos/

La buona vecchia storia dello scambio dei bambini nella culla, e tutto il resto che ne consegue. Certe volte a un giornalista il mondo si presenta come una narrazione già bell'e fatta e finita: basta solo scriverla. Fortunato mortale!

Money quote: "It wasn’t until two years later that a stranger provided a puzzle piece that he hadn’t even known was missing. A woman from Fisher Branch, Man., had decided to do an at-home ancestry kit. When Evelyn Stocki clicked on the results of her own at-home ancestry kit, she was shocked to find that she had a full-blooded brother living in British Columbia. Through the website, she was able to message him, which is something users can opt into. “It lists you as my brother,” Ms. Stocki wrote. “Where were you born and what is your birthday?”

A shocking truth began to reveal itself. Ms. Stocki had a younger brother named Eddy Ambrose, who happened to share a birthday with Mr. Beauvais, June 28, 1955. Both men were also born at the same hospital in Arborg, a farming town about 100 km north of Winnipeg."

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-switched-at-birth-manitoba/

C'è gente che vive in vecchi aerei di linea riadattati ad appartamenti piuttosto sciantosi. E si conoscono e si frequentano.

Money quote: "Although she wasn't the first person to ever live in an airplane, her flawless execution of the project had an inspirational effect. In the late 1990s, Bruce Campbell, an electrical engineer with a private pilot license, was awestruck by her story: "I was driving home and listening to [the radio,] and they had Jo Ann's story, and it was amazing I didn't drive off the road because my focus turned entirely to it. And the next morning I was placing phone calls," he says."

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/people-living-in-planes/index.html

L'anno in cui è morto James Bond - la mia rubrica su Fumettologica

https://fumettologica.it/2023/03/james-bond-ian-fleming-film-libri/

Il nuovo film di Shazam punta tutto sul divertimento - la mia recensione per Fumettologica

https://fumettologica.it/2023/03/shazam-furia-degli-dei-recensione-film-dc/

L'incredibile storia del fotografo che ha più definito l'immaginario degli ultimi trent'anni di vita pubblica. Il ritrattista dei nostri tempi. In un profilo di vent'anni fa (ma sempre attualissimo).

Signore e signori: Platon

Money quote: "His name is Platon Antoniou but he goes by just Platon, "for simplicity's sake," he explains. It's pronounced in the French manner, but it's a Greek name. Platon, however, is a Brit living in New York, currently in the process of fashioning himself a major U.S. ad reputation with the huge, ongoing and thoroughly winning Motorola "Moto" campaign, from Ogilvy/New York. But Platon, 34, hit the ground running from the get-go. He started with quite the U.K. academic pedigree, studying graphic design at the St. Martins School and going on to a master's in fine art at the Royal College of Art. "It took seven years and by the end of it I just wanted to get out," he laughs. But by that time his career was already in progress. "My professor at the Royal College turned out to be [the late] John Hind, the creative director of British Vogue. He became my mentor and started me off on small jobs. By the time I graduated, I was leading a double life. I was a student drinking cheap beer in the college bar and at the same time I was doing 12-page stories for British Vogue.""

https://archive.is/DNDxX

HSP è una cosa vera o no? Le persone più sensibili degli altri esistono sicuramente, ma questo cosa vuol dire?

Money quote: "According to research by Dr Elaine Aron, who coined the term, 15-20% of the population are HSPs, aka highly sensitive persons, meaning that they feel ‘too deeply’ but often hide their emotions from others. HSPs may feel out of place or uneasy in over-stimulating situations, such as at a busy work meeting or at parties, and tend to seek validation and reassurance more often."

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/highly-sensitive-person-7-reasons-why-being-an-hsp-is-a-strength-according-to-a-neuropsychologist