Astronomers discovered a new moon of Uranus and hundreds of moons around Saturn over the past year, and there may be many more yet to be found

#borgbackup 2.0.0b20 was just released!

There is quite some new stuff and also some fixes, please help with testing the betas!

https://github.com/borgbackup/borg/releases/tag/2.0.0b20

#backup #linux #bsd #macOS #openindiana #haiku #python #cython #borg

Good afterevenmorn, Readers! I feel like I manifested this… But I’m getting ahead of myself. Does anyone remember me lamenting about how difficult it was for original or new folks to break out in the entertainment industry? I’ve been griping since Adam was knee-high to a grasshopper (how’s that for a malaphor?) that original stories aren’t getting made anymore, with production companies all settling for established IPs with a huge fanbase they can take advantage of.

How even the most implausible films tell us something about the world they came from

From our immune systems to our microbiomes, if you're planning to make health improvements in the new year, having an eye on the numbers can help set you up for success

Mathematician Katie Steckles explains just why the proliferation of snowflake decorations this time of year is deeply annoying

The ideas presented in George Lakoff and Srini Narayanan's The Neural Mind are fascinating, but the writing is far less compelling

Focusing on the futuristic tech that appears in sci-fi without paying attention to the actual point of the story is a big mistake, says Annalee Newitz

The festive season is a period of social connection for many of us, but alone time can be equally enriching, says Thuy-vy Nguyen, principal investigator of the Solitude Lab

Feedback's eyebrows are raised at tech millionaire Bryan Johnson's latest exploits, which involve Grimes, music, and hallucinogenic mushrooms

With the human family tree now more like a hedge and twice as many known moons, Bill Bryson talks to the New Scientist podcast about refreshing his 2003 bestselling book on science

Careful slope monitoring prevented mass casualties in the landslide at Blatten, Switzerland, this year, but mountain communities may face a growing risk of disasters

Growing evidence reveals that creativity is one of the best-kept secrets for boosting your health. From live theatre to a quick crafting break, here’s how to harness the power of art in your everyday life

The year’s most memorable moments from astronomy and space exploration include a double-detonating supernova, a private moon landing and a stunning lunar eclipse

Scientists cultivating partnerships of fungi and algae believe their invention has far-out implications for how we create the buildings of the future

An experimental gene therapy seems to slow the progression of Huntington’s disease by about 75 per cent, and researchers are working to make its complicated delivery much more practical

The liquid ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa appears to be completely sealed off from the planet’s surface, which may reduce the chances of finding life there

Ejaculating within 48 hours of providing a sperm sample for IVF seems to lead to greater success rates than abstaining from ejaculation for longer

Went for a run yesterday. Happened to bring my phone along, which I rarely do, and couldn't resist the temptation to grab a photo only a few hundred metres out from the house. These cold, clear winter days, snow or no snow, are why winter is my favourite season.

The light of the sun is never more cherished than during the darkest days of winter.

Did some maintenance releases for llfuse and pyfuse3 projects today:

https://github.com/libfuse/pyfuse3/releases/tag/3.4.1

https://github.com/python-llfuse/python-llfuse/releases/tag/release-1.5.2

Elementary OS, the user-friendly Linux distribution with its own unique desktop environment and applications, just released elementary OS 8.1. Its minor version number belies just how big of a punch this update packs, so don’t be fooled here.

Hello and welcome to the final premium edition of Where's Your Ed At for the year. Since kicking off premium, we've had some incredible bangers that I recommend you revisit (or subscribe and read in the meantime!):

• The Hater's Guide To NVIDIA, a comprehensive

By requesting copies of the then-UK technology secretary's ChatGPT logs, New Scientist set a precedent for how freedom of information laws apply to chatbot interactions, helping to hold governments to account

From mudstones on Mars to strange gases in exoplanet atmospheres, tentative evidence for extraterrestrial life is starting to come thick and fast. But when we've found it, how will we know for sure?

A song by former students brings down the curtain on 11 years in the job

After catching up on Sinister Cinema‘s Armchair Fiction Lost World/Lost Race Classics series recently, they popped out four more, bringing the series up to 66 total. Again, all the works are new to me.

Mount Amiga filesystem images on macOS/Linux using native AmigaOS filesystem handlers via FUSE. amifuse runs actual Amiga filesystem drivers (like PFS3) through m68k CPU emulation, allowing you to read Amiga hard disk images without relying on reverse-engineered implementations.

Almost two months ago, a tape containing UNIX v4 was found. It was sent off to the Computer History Museum where bitsavers.org would handle the further handling of the tape, and this process has now completed.

From vitamin C to your microbiome and mindset, the latest science of immunity is often counterintuitive. Here's how to give your system a fighting chance to overcome infection

Astronomers thought they had seen the "first hints of life on an alien world" this year, but they disappeared under closer scrutiny

Mysterious ‘little red dots’ seen by the James Webb Space Telescope can be explained by a new kind of black hole enshrouded in an enormous ball of glowing gas

I have been using my library app a lot for audiobooks the past few months. I just borrowed (not all at once. I’m not a twit) the entire Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio shows, as part of my Douglas Adams rabbit-hole trip (which started when I listened to this book).

We have only just started to understand how our brains clean themselves, but columnist Helen Thomson finds promising evidence for how to boost this process

If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to try FreeBSD on a laptop, take note – 2025 has brought transformative changes. The Foundation’s ambitious Laptop Support & Usability Project is systematically addressing the gaps that have held FreeBSD back on modern laptop hardware.  The project started in 2024 Q4 and covers areas including Wi-Fi, graphics, audio, installer, and sleep states.

Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass.

Working on a simple way to display the route for my runs in workout log. To avoid map dependencies (and as a small privacy measure) I'll be displaying a simple SVG showing the activity route based on the GPS waypoints.

The route was looking right, but the aspect ratio was all wrong. As always, the blame lies with the Mercator projection. Or, in this case, the opposite: I wasn't applying any corrections based on latitude. At 60°N that results in some serious distortion.

Here's a screenshot showing the difference between no Mercator projection at the bottom and the more "correct" version with the Mercator projection applied at the top:

You learn a surprising number of things trying to set up your own workout log!

Read Part 1 here. #6 – The Force Awakens (2015) A great way to kickstart the franchise after a dozen years, even if it is a retread of A New Hope. There’s a lot to love in this film; I think it features some of Williams’ best work with recurring leitmotifs that instantly feel like they’ve been part of the entire saga, I love the new principal characters, the action set-pieces are thrilling and tick all my visual/sound design boxes,...

Read More Read More

A year has passed since the first time I wrote about my tech stack. What better occasion to repeat the exercise and see if there have been any changes? This year, inspired by Melanie Kat I'm going for a more readable list format. Comments, if any, in the footnotes.

First, the usual disclaimer: I've no commercial ties with anyone mentioned in this list, and I paid for everything mentioned with my own money.

Hardware

• Computer: Macbook Air M2 (2022)¹
• Phone: iPhone 11 (2019)
• E-reader: Kindle Paperwhite (2017)
• Sports watch: Garmin Fenix 5s (2017)²
• Daily watch: Omega Speedmaster 3513.50.00³
• Camera: Sony ZV-1⁴

Software

• Writing (notes, blog posts, et cetera): Sublime Text (laptop), Textastic (phone)
• Browser: Firefox (laptop), Safari (phone)
• Email: Mail app
• Feed reader: NetNewsWire⁵
• Spreadsheets: LibreOffce
• Torrents: Transmission
• Music: Navidrome⁶ (laptop), Amperfy (phone)
• Password manager: KeePassXC⁷, Keepassium (phone)
• Ad blocker: uBlock Origin (laptop), AdGuard (phone)
• VPN: Tailscale)

Services

• Email provider: Migadu
• Web host: OpenBSD.amsterdam⁸
• Cloud storage: iCloud⁹

Thoughts

A few notable changes. I simplified my setup. Particularly on the hardware side, where I retired two computers. While the idea of a dedicated device for writing made sense on paper (hah), I'm gravitate towards using just a single computer. Realising that I could use that same laptop as my home server as well, made it an even better deal.

On the software side, I swapped out my feed reader and my password manager. By changing the latter, I managed to get rid of a subscription.¹⁰ Throughout the year I also experimented with many browsers. The aim aim was replacing Firefox, as I have no interest in using an "AI browser". In the end, I couldn't find a better option. Vivaldi was the most promising, but the stutter and lag during touchpad zooming was unbearable.

Ad blockers are new entries. I was using uBlock even last year, but forgot to list it. AdGuard is new, as I found that even what little casual browsing I am doing on my phone was getting unbearable without an efficient ad blocker. I've also added Tailscale to be able to connect to my music collection from my phone when I'm out of the house.

Last year, I said the following:

I am always tempted by some new gadget, app or service. But if I have one goal for the coming year, it is to make even better use of what I currently have at my disposal. The opportunities feel endless. It is only a matter of being willing to put in the time to make it work.

Will give myself a pass there. My only purchase was a second hand and fairly cheap camera. That's despite being tempted and doing much window shopping. At some point I will inevitably switch to Linux. I think. But I want to do it when I can't get more mileage from my current laptop. Likely I'll have to do something about my phone first.

My goal for the next twelve months will be the same: Buy as little new stuff as possible. Get as much use as I possibly can from what I already own.

A video of my recent book talk at Stanford University

From massive solar panels to the difficulty of staying cool - not to mention high-energy radiation - there are a lot of engineering problems that need to be solved before we can build data centres in space

After starting the year with its first known bird flu death, the US expanded its efforts to contain the virus, which enabled it to end its public health emergency response months later

Rapid advances in the kind of problems that quantum computers can tackle suggest that they are closer than ever to becoming useful tools of scientific discovery

New laws in the UK, Australia and France were brought in during 2025 with the aim of protecting children from harmful content online, but experts remain divided on whether they will achieve this goal

It's easy to assume that the most talented adults among us were once gifted children, but it turns out that talent during childhood is no guide to later success

One major error, one smaller one, and one tragic one.

One big, one small, one tragic and very painful.

Excavations of sewer drains at a Roman fort in northern England have revealed the presence of several parasites that can cause debilitating illness in humans

If Excel rules the world, Word rules the legal profession. Jordan Bryan published a great article explaining why this is the case, and why this is unlikely to change any time soon, no matter how many people from the technology world think they can change this reality.

In 1979, VisiCalc was released for the Apple II, and to this day, many consider it the very first spreadsheet program. Considering just how important spreadsheets have become since then – Excel rules the world – the first spreadsheet program is definitely an interesting topic to dive into.

Jamie Zawinski, one of the founders of Netscape and later Mozilla, has dug up the original versions of the iconic Mozilla dinosaur logos, and posted them online in all their glory. While he strongly believes Mozilla owned these logos outright, and that they were released as open source in 1998 or 1999, he can’t technically prove that.

A pair of nascent planets have been caught smashing together around the nearby star Fomalhaut, and in doing so have solved the puzzle of its famous ‘planet’

The National Center for Atmospheric Research has played a leading role in providing data, modelling and supercomputing to researchers around the world – but the Trump administration is set to shut it down

Our cells follow 24-hour circadian rhythms that regulate our blood sugar levels and are heavily influenced by light exposure. Scientists have harnessed this to show that just sitting by a window improves blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes

After fresh fish, this is the next best thing. Serve in a white sauce made on the broth from the fish balls, boiled potatoes and carrots and some fried bacon on the side.

Luxury meal!

Sublime Text is my text editor of choice. Every word I write on my computer, I write in Sublime Text. Every note, every blog post, every forum submission. When I code? I do it in Sublime Text. It is likely the program I spend most time with on my computer.

This has been the case for two years now. And yet, it shames me to say, until the other day I had never paid a dime for this magnificent piece of software that is the engine my of my digital life.

Now, you're probably thinking that free and open source software is nothing unusual. People use free software all the time, never paying or contributing. And that's true. But Sublime Text isn't actually open source. It is proprietary software that requires a license. Sublime just doesn't enforce it. Instead, they rely on an honour system of sorts. From the Sublime Text buy page:

Sublime Text may be downloaded and evaluated for free, however a license must be purchased for continued use.

The free download comes without any restrictions. You get the complete program with all all features, and there are no time restrictions. The only visible difference compared to a licensed version is a small, but rare pop-up reminding you to acquire a license if you want to continue using the program.

A software license based on mutual trust? How refreshing, I thought when discovering it for the first time.

Then I immediately went and completely abused that trust for two years, never purchasing a license and displaying why this is likely not a viable business model.

I am why we can't have good things.

It's not that I set out to abuse this trust. Every time the reminder popped up I was like "ah, yeah, I really need to get around to purchasing a license" before seeing the price and thinking that it would have to wait another month, or maybe two. At $99 USD, the license is not an insignificant outlay for a poor cheapskate like myself. Nevertheless, it was a poor excuse. In the years since I started using it, I've had countless less meaningful expenditures of similar size.

The other day, however, I finally got around to it. I purchased a license and gave myself the Christmas gift of being able to use Sublime Text for all my writing and coding with a clear conscience.

Better late than never?

Mark Weiser has written a really interesting article about just how desirable new computing environments, like VR, “AI” agents, and so on, really are. On the topic of “AI” agents, he writes: Take intelligent agents.

The Mackinderian worldview in Trump's National Security Strategy

A distant world with carbon in its atmosphere and extraordinarily high temperatures is unlike any other planet we’ve seen, and it’s unclear how it could have formed

The largest study so far into the genetics of chronic fatigue syndrome, or myalgic encephalomyelitis, has implicated 259 genes – six times more than those identified just four months ago

And Its Nixon-era Defeatism Undermines American National Interests

At this year’s PulpFest, I picked up the fourth Zana O’Savin novel by Craig McDonald, The Night Shepherd, with another great cover by Douglas Klauba. This series provides several pastiches of pulp heroes, but uses an interesting concept.

Our understanding of the true nature of the cosmos relies on measurements of its expansion, but cosmologists have been arguing back and forth about it for more than 100 years

In recent years, things have not been going well for Mozilla. Firefox’s market share is a rounding error, and financially, the company is effectively entirely dependent on free money from Google for making it the default search engine in Firefox.

Satellites in orbit would begin to collide in a matter of days if they lost manoeuvrability during a solar storm or other outage

The rings of Saturn are normally thought to be flat, but measurements by the Cassini spacecraft show that some of their particles fly hundreds of thousands of kilometres above and below the thin main discs

Professional football players who became injured while on their period took longer to recover than when injuries occurred at other times of their menstrual cycle

I keep trying to think of a cool or interesting introduction to this newsletter, and keep coming back to how fucking weird everything is getting.

Two days ago, cloud stalwart Oracle crapped its pants in public, missing on analyst revenue estimates and revealing it spent (to quote Matt Zeitlin of

Under current climate policies, 79 per cent of the world’s glaciers will disappear by 2100, endangering the water supply for 2 billion people and raising sea levels dramatically

The fourth collection of the Ed Race series that ran in the back of The Spider pulp from Popular Publications is now out. Also known as The Masked Marksman, this series ran for 55 stories from 1934 to 1943.

Many industries are eyeing up hydrogen as a source of clean energy, but with supplies of green hydrogen limited, we should prioritise the areas where it could have the most positive impact on carbon emissions, say researchers

Efforts to lower the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere may come too late to prevent long-term changes to the Arctic

US leaders should continue selectively decoupling in key economic and security domains

There are two small moons in orbit around Mars today, but both may be remnants of a much larger moon that had enough of a gravitational pull to drive tides in the Red Planet's lost lakes and seas

The second issue of RevERBerate, a fanzine devoted to Edgar Rice Burroughs, came out in September. The first issue came out in May 2025, and, like the first, the second one is 48 pages printed on high-quality, glossy stock, perfect-bound with cardstock covers.

Your questions answered.

Your questions answered.

Controlling qubits with quantum superpositions allows them to dramatically violate a fundamental limit and encode information for about five times longer during quantum computations

Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the microbe responsible for gonorrhoea, is developing resistance to most antibiotics, which means we need new drugs to treat the condition. An antibiotic called zoliflodacin might be part of a solution

In a stunning reversal, Disney has changed tack with regard to safeguarding its copyrighted characters from incorporation into AI tools – perhaps a sign that no one can stem the tide of AI

White-sided dolphins seem to help killer whales "scout" and catch Chinook salmon near Vancouver Island, then eat the leftovers

People are often diagnosed with multiple neurodivergencies and mental health conditions, but the biggest genetic analysis so far suggests many have shared biological causes