This came up in my feed today: QUIC Loss Detection and Congestion Control. I wish I had time to read it closely! It’s about how they re-implement the TCP bits and pieces (such as congestion control) atop UDP.
I will let you in on a little secret: I love doing math homework. Always have, always will. I love the process. I love reading the problems, thinking of solutions, and checking the questions off one by one. Even when it’s easy, it’s still fun.
Just for fun I’ve gone back to my old high school math textbooks. I’m skipping years 7 and 8 and starting with year 9. Then I will do 10, 11, and 12, at the highest level.
At the moment I’m working through Australian Signpost Mathematics New South Wales 9 (5.1-5.3) Student Book, which is the year 9 textbook. I’m only up to page 10, fractions and ratios. I should work on it more than I do. Let’s see what I can do about that. :)
This evening I read the iptables man page and Linux iptables Pocket Reference from cover-to-cover; my notes are here: Netfilter.
I think at this point I am ready to use iptables in anger for the first time in a long time, and the first time ever on a router.
However, before I take that on, I’m going to have a quick diversion into the following books, and then sleep, and I will do my iptables programming when I wake up tomorrow.
Things to read to learn about FPGA programming:
Here is a presentation of the work of Iain McGilchrist: The Divided Brain.
McGilchrist has written a number of books, including:
Today on IRC the BeagleV-Fire was brought to my attention. This computer system sports an FPGA and looks like just the thing to get as an entry-level system to learn about FPGA tech. These things seem to be hard to find at the moment but apparently they sell for around US$150 which is quite affordable for an entry-level system. And the manufacturer’s commitment to open hardware is encouraging. Click-through on the link to find a heap of developer resources.
I’m off to bed but I thought I should make some notes about what I want to read tomorrow:
I have finished reading Stolen Focus by Johann Hari (affiliate link).
I went into this book much more worried about the state of attention in our communities than I was when I came out. Having read about it I kinda don’t feel that we really do have an urgent problem with so many people on earth being constantly engaged with their smart phones.
I might have trouble now starting a conversation with a family member because they are engrossed in their phone, and I might think this is new or different, but thirty years ago it would have been the same thing if they had their nose in a book or a newspaper.
I think by and large it’s good when we’re paying attention to things and engaging with them. That’s not only how entertainment gets done, that is also how work gets done.
I suspect one of the driving forces behind the surge in ADHD diagnoses (and Hari didn’t say this) is that people are getting the diagnosis deliberately because they want access to prescription amphetamines.
Anyway. I would still recommend reading this book. Hari does a good job of covering all the bases and investigating all the topics, including:
Johann Hari is definitely a crank. I like him already! He wrote a book about drugs and addiction called Chasing the Scream, and there was a famous TED talk he did about that. I haven’t read Chasing the Scream, but this evening I am going to read Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again.
Note: the links to Amazon above are affiliate links. I recently signed up for an affiliate account with Amazon. Is that cool? Is that not cool at all? What sort of disclosures are appropriate when you use affiliate links? I have never used them before and am not expecting to make any significant amount of money with them, so maybe I should just not use affiliate links at all? I dunno. Would be happy to hear from you if you have an opinion.
Here is a list of books from Kevin Kelly, the founding editor of Wired. This is just notes for Future John. I’m planning to read the first two, and maybe the last one; the others are old and hard to find in ebook or audible forms.