Author: believegod

Jun 23

Rekindling the thrill of programming

We humans are a funny lot. How quickly we go from being humbled by the improbable feat of human flight to being irritated by how long it takes at the airport. We are routinely antagonized by traffic, but only occasionally amazed by the existence of a thing called an automobile.

One of the most prominent examples of recent human achievement is what we call a programming languages. Reviewing the Olympic mental feats that punctuate the history of its creation will help you rediscover the near-fantastical nature of programming.

The programmer, like the poet

Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., in his influential Mythical Man Month collection writes, “The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff.” That is a statement worthy of reflection. For the working programmer and anyone involved in helping them be successful, it may serve to awaken dormant inspiration.

We could say that programming is an activity that moves between the mental and the physical. We could even say it is a way to interact with the logical nature of reality. The programmer blithely skips across the mind-body divide that has so confounded thinkers.

“This admitted, we may propose to execute, by means of machinery, the mechanical branch of these labours, reserving for pure intellect that which depends on the reasoning faculties.” So said Charles Babbage, originator of the concept of a digital programmable computer.

Babbage was conceiving of computing in the 1800s. Babbage and his collaborator Lovelace were conceiving not of a new work, but a new medium entirely. They wrangled out of the ether a physical ground for our ideas, a way to put them to concrete test and make them available in that form to other people for consideration and elaboration.

In my own life of studying philosophy, I discovered the discontent of thought form whose rubber never meets the road. In this vein, Mr. Brooks completes his thought above when he writes, “Yet the program construct, unlike the poet’s words, is real in the sense that it moves and works, producing visible outputs separate from the construct itself.”

A kind of slow-motion dance between mental and mechanical development was enacted over the centuries to arrive at what we can now call up in the browser with a casual flick of the F12 key.

Consider this programmable loom from the 18th century, and the role it plays in the tale. It’s interesting to look at a Baroque machine for algorithmic weaving and see punch cards that are precise analogs and forebears of the punch cards of early computers. The interplay of condensing thought and rarifying machines finally meet at the modern programming language.

Awed wonder

For a grittier, nuts-and-bolts look at programming’s development, see Ron Pressler’s ambitious history, Finite of Sense and Infinite of Thought. From the hesitate baby steps of antiquity to breathtaking leaps like Babbage and Turing, there is the sense of moving towards something not fully understood, but intuitively felt. We are in an age of realizing the broad promise

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Jun 23

‘Iron Chef’: Alton Brown on Why He Departed Food Network for Netflix

Just like “Iron Chef,” Alton Brown is synonymous with Food Network. But now, both the beloved show and the celebrity chef have moved to Netflix for a new version of the competition series that will be co-hosted by Brown.

With Netflix’s “Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend,” which premiered this week, Brown has officially departed from his long tenure at Food Network, where he was a staple for 21 years.

Brown first joined Food Network in the late ’90s, and was the host and creator of “Good Eats,” as well as the host of “Iron Chef America,” “Cutthroat Kitchen” and a slew of other series at Food Network and the Cooking Channel.

Though his exit was never formally announced, Brown’s last deal with Food Network took him through 2020, and since, he has quietly left their airwaves. In 2021, new episodes of his shows have aired — “Good Eats: The Return,” which debuted on Discovery+ in early 2021, and a special version of “Chopped” in the summer of that same year — but those were all filmed before he opted to head to Netflix for the new “Iron Chef.”

Brown tells Variety that he caught wind of Netflix rebooting “Iron Chef” a few years ago, and was immediately interested in joining the series.

“That took a little bit of convincing on a lot of different people’s parts. But I knew that the show was going to be happening, and I was sick with jealousy over the idea that I was at the wrong network at the wrong time,” Brown tells Variety. “One day, my agent finally called me up after I had nagged him almost daily, and that was it. It was done. There was never a second thought for me. It meant removing myself from one network, but that was not a hard decision. Timing just worked out that I was able to extricate myself from that.”

Brown, who co-hosts the new “Iron Chef” with Kristen Kish, the TV chef known for winning the 10th season of “Top Chef,” is not the only familiar face who has reurned to Kitchen Stadium. Mark Dacascos is also back as the chairman, who introduces the secret ingredient at the top of each episode. The cast of Iron Chefs includes Curtis Stone, Marcus Samuelsson, Dominique Crenn, Gabriela Camara and Ming Tsai.

The competition series moved to Netflix after it wasn’t renewed at Food Network, where it had aired for 13 seasons. “Iron Chef” debuted on Food Network in 2005, after becoming a major phenomenon on Japanese television where the series originated with Fuji Television.

“Iron Chef” executive producer and director, Eytan Keller, shares how the show landed at Netflix, telling Variety he began his association with the series when it first launched on Food Network, which is when he met Brown, now one of his close friends.

“I actually acquired the international rights to ‘Iron Chef,’ so I was involved beyond just being on Scripps, at that time, and I

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Jun 23

NASA accuses China of stealing space technology

America’s space agency, NASA has accused China of stealing unclassified American technology, ranging from military secrets to medical research.

America’s space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has accused China of stealing unclassified American technology, ranging from military secrets to medical research.

During a United States House Appropriations Committee hearing on May 17, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson accused the Chinese Communist Party of stealing the United States’ most vital technological secrets, The Singapore Post reported.

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“Yeah, they’re pretty good at stealing, And I think that’s incumbent upon us to take cybersecurity very, very seriously,” Nelson said.

This comes as a response to the questions raised by the US representative and committee member, Robert Aderholt who noted that the space vehicles being developed between private US companies and state-run Chinese organizations have similarities.

“We simply cannot ignore the threat from China and our adversaries who are making technological, manufacturing, and exploration advancements daily,” The Singapore Post quoted Aderholt as saying.

“For far too long, we have allowed China and other adversaries to challenge our space dominance and their ambitions only continue to grow,” he said adding, “The US needs a clear vision that could last across administrations to dictate its space policy more effectively , as a matter of national defense,” the report further quoted Aderholt as saying.

Notably, the US government has advised the private industry that China is engaged in a committed effort to illicitly acquire critical and emerging technologies in every sector of the US economy, particularly those vital to its military modernization efforts, the Singapore Post reported.

Referring to this, Aderholt termed the US technologies required for achieving political dominance in space as the precious commodity of the country.

Bill Nelson, responding to Aderholt said, “I believe we are in, and I have said this publicly before I think we’re in a space race with China,” adding that this will define the world’s strategic and military situation for decades to come .

The report said that the experts have warned that China’s space program is a military threat to Western powers. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has said that the United States would need to develop offensive space weapons to deter the threat. China has made no secret of its ambitions for space. One official white paper detailed a plan for the Communist regime to become the world’s leading “space power.”

Meanwhile, China’s aerospace experts condemned NASA’s claims, stressing that China has achieved space achievements beyond the US despite the strong blockade of the country because China is taking the road of independent space development, as per the Chinese media reports.

The Global Times quoted, an academician of the International Academy of Astronautics, Deng Yulin, Bill Nelson’s false accusation exposed the NASA chief’s double standards.

“The allegation of NASA’s chief is not only unreasonable but also certain to be laughed at by history,” said another expert.

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