Archive for December, 2020

Three is a magic number.

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2020

I really enjoy Rachel By the Bay’s writing, but I specifically wanted to bookmark this: “My list of magic numbers for your turkey day enjoyment“.

A couple of personal additions (hey, if Rachel can add C-64 and VIC-20 magic numbers, I can add these):

POKE 65495,0: On the old Radio Shack Color Computer, this sped up the CPU. Specifically, according to the Intertubes: “POKE 65495,0 would cause the processor to run at double speed ( 1.795 MHz ) when accessing instructions in ROM and Normal Speed ( 0.895 MHz ) when accessing DRAM.” It also messed up the timing for tape input and output, so you had to disable it before saving or loading from tape. POKE 65494,0 would return the system to normal.

POKE 65497,0: This switched the processor fully to double speed for all memory access, including DRAM. It also disabled video: you basically just got snow on your monitor until you reset the system with POKE 65496,0.

Edited to add #1:

A spot in the middle of the ocean that shows up on a map and, once zoomed WAY out, shows Africa to the north and east of it is 0 degrees north, 0 degrees west, and it’s what happens when someone treats zero as null or vice-versa in a mapping/location system. See also: Null Island.

Worth keeping in mind. For OPSEC purposes, I set the EXIF location data in many of the photos I take (especially firearms photos around the house) to 0.000000 north and 0.000000 west.

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 247

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2020

I’m going to be a little self-indulgent today.

I know I’ve said in the past that I don’t want to post a lot of “Forgotten Weapons” stuff, because I figure if folks are interested, they already subscribe. I’m making an exception here because:

a) This is a pretty recent entry.
II) Smith and Wesson.
3) Australia, Australia, we love you, amen.

Specifically, a Smith and Wesson pistol-carbine made for the South Australian Police.

Bonus #1: I actually thought about posting this yesterday, but couldn’t find it in my recommendations. It popped up again today, and this is some real history: “Hannibal’s Elephant Army – The New Evidence”.

Bonus #2: For some reason, I’ve been getting a lot of car repair videos in my feed. Especially ones from “Precision Transmission”. I thought I’d post this one because I shared it with some other folks privately and it seems like they enjoyed it.

“Nitrous doesn’t play well with others! Especially when you have pretty much stock unit.”

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 246

Tuesday, December 1st, 2020

I thought today I’d fall back to some real authentic history. These are long, and I apologize for that, but I think this might appeal to some people.

“Afghanistan: the Great Game”. Part 1:

“It’s really easy to get into Afghanistan. It’s just the getting out part is very difficult.”

“Don’t go into Afghanistan and get – whatever you do – involved in a tribal war.”

Part 2:

Obit watch: December 1, 2020.

Tuesday, December 1st, 2020

I don’t have a good third party source to link, but Ben Bova, noted SF writer, has passed away.

Dr. Bova was the author of more than 200 works of science fact and fiction, including short stories, essays, newspaper articles, non-fiction works and novels. He was the six-time winner of the prestigious Hugo Award, the editor of Analog Magazine, and the editorial director of Omni Magazine. He was president of the National Space Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America.

Edited to add: obit from Lawrence.