Very sad to hear Michael Keating, Blake's 7's Vila has died. He was so good and will be very much missed.

Two weeks to go until #Retrofest2026. Finalising floppy disk images for Gotek drives and re-testing set-ups. Oh, look, Ceefax tells me “Look Mum No Computer” didn’t win last night. What a pity. Nice chap.

So the group of people who lead this field (VC driven tech companies) have been handed a "legal" pump and dump scheme. IPO at a high enough level and you are handed enough money to pay yourself billions AND keep the company running long enough for the hype to appear legitimate.

The current AI bubble and impending SpaceX IPO are directly driven by the maths of the rise of Index Funds. If you make big enough claims, the stock market (which also means pension funds and government money) automatically "invests" in you. Which appears to validate your claims.

The feedback effect of Index Funds on the stock market sucks money out of the economy and into a handful of dominant tech stocks. Over the last decade, about a third of our 'growth' has been transferred into stocks and away from investment in wider business and research - trillions of dollars.

It never ceases to amaze me how many election pundits don’t understand the dynamics of First Past the Post, and how vote-splitting works under the UK’s electoral system. John Curtice does. Listen to John Curtice.

Britain's broadcast media boasts of its strict adherence to impartiality rules. Mentions per MP. LibDems: 645 Tories: 5,116 Greens: 7,763 Labour (the actual govt): 27,438 Reform: 70,732 Anyone surprised they're ahead? bebroadcast.co.uk/politics-who...

Do you have a plastic cased Microvitec CUB with a missing front flap? I've designed a 3D printable replacement and posted it on Thingiverse for your pleasure. Share and enjoy! www.thingiverse.com/thing:7348350

I can only think this is driven by a feeling that we won’t find any of this interesting unless it’s presented mysterious, a growing puzzle and the archaeologists are puzzled. But this isn’t just about nuance. This spin doctoring mischaracterises the scientific process and the scientists.

This is grotesque on multiple levels.

If you want to see the "fun" I had building the Camputers Lynx reproduction, you can watch a short video here: youtu.be/bN9rrMuRsYo

The Camputers Lynx reproduction build case has finally been finished. Once I get my act together I’ll upload the designs to Thingiverse for anyone to use.

Pretty much this.

It's that two steps forward, one step back type thing with the Lynx 128 reproduction build. The RAM refresh issue had been fixed by injecting the Z80 refresh signal directly into the main RAM, ORing it with the other /CAS signal using a bodge. The case is nearly there, other than printing problem.

Seeing as I’m awaiting the delivery of faster chips I thought i’d get on with designing and printing the case for the Lynx recreation. This is the test print of the top used to refine any issues. Printed in brown as it uses about a 1/4 of a reel of filament & not enough grey left. Needs tweaking.

Yet again, we see how YouTube enables theft and fraud to a massively audacious degree. YouTube is focused only on distancing itself from the predation riddling their platform but they *are* responsible for it. They allow it, they make it easy to do, they ensure it can be done with no repercussions.

You will own nothing and be happy.

You know, it's a great pity that Terry Pratchett is no-longer with us. No doubt by now we'd have had a cracking Discworld novel involving The Unseen University, Hex and the search for Artistic Imps.

Well, well... Lynx 128K "sit rep"... It's now working! It was very forgetful. Changed 4164 RAM (TI 150ns & 120ns): No change. Changed CPU: no change. Theory was that it was a refresh timing issue, being too slow. Tried 80ns (non-TI) 41256 chips to see if it made things worse... Fixed problem!

The last of the chips for the Camputers Lynx 128K reproduction build arrived today. The good news: It mostly works. The keyboard types and I can run BASIC programs. The bad news: It doesn't run for long. Seems to be a main RAM refresh issue as if active machine runs for longer before crashing.

A little progress on the Lynx 128K repro build. Discovered that the TEA1002 needs 12V so rejigged the power to take 12V in and use a buck regulator to generate 5V. The "3A" device gets very toasty at 1A. More sockets installed, but not the 7 pin DIN as it has wrong footprint. Oh, and sound works!

Australian eSafety: “It is a ‘dark pattern’ to permit people to 1/ amend mistakes 2/ be in control of information about themselves 3/ be obliged to validate abuse reports” https://alecmuffett.com/article/152831

I really fucking wish reporters would stop repeating the lie that the law only affects 10 sites when it's literally every site that allows UGC

Most of the discourse about the (proposed) social media ban(s) has been about steps to verify that people are over 16 to enable them to participate in adult social media. I’ve not seen anything about steps to verify that people are *under* 16 to enable them to participate in child social media.

The Camputers Lynx 128K repro build is continuing. The factory bodge has been identified and implemented. (Nearly) all of the chips arrived yesterday and after a "D'oh!" moment with the ROMs was overcome the machine started working (mostly). The keyboard has been built, except for the 72LS145.

Camputers Lynx 128 repro build status: waiting on chips, crystals and caps. I have managed to do some testing using a signal generator, some bodge wires and a LS08 instead of an LS09 in one position. Clock and reset circuits working. Even had the CPU trying to run code from the ROMs.

The Timeless Fear of Corrupting the Youth | WSJ https://alecmuffett.com/article/151916 #OnlineSafety #OnlineSafetyAct #SocialMediaBan #censorship

Got as far as I can with the Camputers Lynx 128K without the deliveries from Mouser, eBay and Cricklewood Electronics. Clock circuit tested with a signal generator, all good, and no magic smoke. I still need details on the required bodge wire between IC61 & IC46. Not written up anywhere! Help!

I am very much looking at the Apple Age Verification (AV) approach as the least bad way to do something terrible https://alecmuffett.com/article/151652 #AgeVerification #apple #censorship

Yesterday I received a nice package... a reproduction motherboard and keyboard PCB for a Camputers Lynx 128K. It's one of the "Board Folk"'s recreations. Today I started fitting all the sockets... but ran out of 14 pin and 16 pin dual wipe sockets. RS order in. Resistors this afternoon!

And finally the windows are done. Signs and other detailing left to do along with the lighting but the main structure is complete.

More work done on the station building. Office doors and windows complete. Waiting room window and door structures modelled and printed but too windy outside to spray the glue on to affix the gel glazing. Also slight issue with one structure. Still, progress (mostly).

“Natural collisions in Apple’s NeuralHash & Microsoft’s PhotoDNA show worrying false positives/negatives in widely deployed perceptual hashing” https://alecmuffett.com/article/151208 #NeuralHash #OnlineSafetyAct #PhotoDna #censorship

Despite the cold sapping my energy and brain power I managed some progress on the platform building today. Removed the original brick paper which got damaged by the brown Sharpie. And fitted new. Finished off the office glazing. Used the 45 year old "Rail Blue" paint for the doors.

Why are modern enamel paints so carp? I still have a few 45 year old pots from my original modelling days which are still usable and they're infinitely better.

I suspect that Ofcom only ever accept that it is “highly effective age assurance” if somebody gets paid, ideally repeatedly | Apple permit “account age” as a means of age verification https://alecmuffett.com/article/150045 #AgeVerification #ofcom

DOOM fully rendered in CSS. Every surface is a <div> that has a background image, with a clipping path with 3D transforms applied. Of course CSS does not have a movable camera, so we rotate and translate the scene around the user.

More work on the roof of the reproduction of Bedford station’s island platform waiting room and offices. The roof is starting to come together now.

For completeness, I'm Cambridge (UK) based, can work remotely and hybrid in London. The bit in my bio about 'bytes to petabytes' is real - from micro embedded virtual machines up to 9-petabyte datasets being munched for real-time customer analytics. Plus, I know CP/M!

Embuggerance - it's such a good word, isn't it? After four very busy years building global identity systems for Sky, my team and I have all been let go as they restructure. If anyone needs 'big iron' Java services, wants to build a startup or create something new - let me know.

Can someone remind me again how many pay rises MPs have had in the past 15 years? 12? 13? Meanwhile, look at this (from the Nuffield Trust: www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/ho...)

*History professor profits from sale of historical artefacts* Another headline fixed

Sorry I'm not more open-minded about LLMs, it's just some fucking maniacs shoveled out a bunch of useless bloatware featuring that technology, did not give me any chance to opt out, reorganized the entire economy around it, zeroed out gains made by green energy, and made it impossible to buy RAM

Say “We think of you as a vassal state” without saying “We think of you as a vassal state”… www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

The latest @humanists.bsky.social Freedom of Thought Report highlights a growing, global trend of 'traditional values' & 'religious freedom' being weaponised against the rights of humanists, the non-religious, religious minorities as well as women & LGBT+ people globally. Invaluable resource.

> We aren’t raising children for a world without algorithms. We are raising them for a world shaped by artificial intelligence, public visibility and constant comparison. Removing access doesn’t build resilience, judgment or self-regulation. It simply […] Read it at: www.wsj.com/opinion/if-t...

Reacting to Labour's devastating loss to the Green Party in Gorton and Denton, Keir Starmer claims that only Labour can unite communities. I agree. He convinced Muslims to vote for a white working class woman representing a party led by a gay Jewish man.

The rubbish backscene I made yesterday has inspired me to work on a proper replacement. So, today I’ve been designing and printing a prototype low relief factory wall with drainpipes based upon a photo I took in 1985 of the factory the other side of the lines at Bedford Station.

Fog in Channel. Europe cut off.

Created a rubbish, but better than a white wall, factory backscene for the station area. Way over scale as it would be about 90’ high. Anyway, a bit of an early-1980s Midland Mainline running session to celebrate today’s progress.