Take another look at the article; it addresses exactly this.

Flashback to a Robin Williams bit, where Marlon Perkins of "Wild Kingdom" directs his assistant to circumcise a water buffalo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFbhByVMhXM&t=45s

I've always wanted a DWIMNWIS code editor: "Do What I Mean, Not What I Say". These days it's likely that AI at least tries to provide this.

I wish that first graph was better; having the vertical scale (transistor count) be logarithmic would make it much easier to read.

Goodness gracious; I remember having a copy of that in my teens. Wonderful.

A nice, relaxing trip to Mordor.

I like the licensing. It's released under their own (mildly profane) license to everyone. However, there is an exception: use in the Linux kernel is governed under GPL 2.0.

I went to the Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics in 1979, where we learned APL with all its glorious obscure characters and overstrikes. Lots of fun.

I was an undergraduate there. David Kelly was my advisor. APL was my first programming language (using the DecWriter paper terminals) and it’s still my favorite.

Are fiber splices really only a 0.02dB drop? That only a 0.23% reduction in signal (if I have my math right). Impressive.

Fiber splicers are marvels of technology. They align the fiber cores with sub-micrometer accuracy and produce just the right amount of heat and pressure to melt the ends together. They are also usually very rugged, fully automated, and surprisingly cheap (a few thousand euros). It is remarkable what is possible when the entire internet relies on a technology.

That is probably the very best case scenario, but possible yes. Typically you'd accept anything less than 0.1dB.

I did my PhD on fibre lasers, 0.1 DB would have been considered a ver bad splice and I would have recut and respliced (if you have 1-10W in your cavity that 0.1 dB loss would risk burning and the fuse propagating through your cavity destroying everything in its path (as a side not look up Videos of fibre fuse, looks fascinating). In my experience 0.01-0.02 is much more typical than 0.1 dB loss.

I’m speaking mainly within the context of telecom field splicing - the numbers I mentioned are typical for that application in my experience. You’re only sending on the order of 5 mW down a fiber, so none of those high-power concerns apply. Obviously, different networks have different thresholds: if you’re building a greenfield, low-latency long-haul route, you want to minimize loss and it’s reasonable to spend the extra time and use higher-end equipment. For FTTH, with something like a 30 dB overall budget, nobody really cares whether a splice is 0.03 dB or 0.1 dB.

You might accept a bad splice but you'd almost have to fuck it up on purpose with a decent automatic splicer.

I'm convinced that gratitude is a superpower. If you can recognize and acknowledge the many good things that come your way, your life will get better, as will everyone else's.