Quantum-safe bitcoin?

Quantum-safe bitcoin?

Q-day is coming. Like nuclear fusion, Q-day has always been ‘just a decade away’. But recently, the US government has put a date on it: 2035. But what if your very currency is based on algorithms that could fall to quantum computers overnight? Bitcoin and most crypto currencies are based on algorithms like elliptical encryption that are vulnerable to quantum attacks.

A Starkware researcher has proposed proposed a hash-based scheme that can make bitcoin transactions resistant to quantum attacks without changing the Bitcoin protocol. The method works within existing consensus rules but requires massive off-chain GPU computation, driving estimated costs to $75 to $200 per transaction and making it far more complex than standard payments.

BIP-360 and other algorithms have been proposed for a quantum safe Bitcoin, but those efforts require changing the actual nature of bitcoin. This method might preserve Bitcoin as a diving catch, but is definitely not a solution.

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Magic tricks

Magic tricks

I was quite astounded by this very simple but amazing coin transportation trick from Herman Maccagno. He astounded Penn & Teller on Fool Us – which is quite a feat because Teller (who a master of slight of hand techniques) was sitting directly beside him.

Masked Magic Secrets Revealed is an amazing magic channel that describes how some of the most astounding tricks are performed.

His channel thankfully covers this amazing trick. Even after I knew how it worked, I respected just how expertly he did the trick and even used misdirection he knew Teller would be looking for.

AI designs complete RISC-V CPU from a 219-word spec sheet in just 12 hours

AI designs complete RISC-V CPU from a 219-word spec sheet in just 12 hours

Look out hardware engineers – AI is now coming for your jobs just like it is starting to take over software jobs.

Verkor.io claims, in a research paper published in March, that its agentic AI system, Design Conductor, autonomously produced a complete RISC-V CPU core — taking a 219-word requirements document and generating a verified, layout-ready design in 12 hours, which is orders of magnitude faster than the standard 18- to 36-month timelines seen in commercial chip design.

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/ai-agent-designs-a-complete-risc-v-cpu-from-a-219-word-spec-in-just-12-hours
Eucharistic Miracles happen even today

Eucharistic Miracles happen even today

It’s easy to discount the Catholic belief that the Eucharist is truly the body and blood of Christ. Even Protestants do not believe in the true presence – despite the fact this belief was firmly held since the very first days of the early church and despite the fact Jesus Himself said so as emphatically as possible.

For those that want scientific data – there is much of it. Eucharistic miracles have been happening as recently as 2008. These miracles involve simple hosts made of bread turning into flesh and blood.

These samples have been sent to labs around the world – sometimes anonymously. Scientist have repeatedly verified consistent facts across samples collected centuries apart and in completely opposite sides of the world. All were determined to be cells that came from the left ventricle of a human heart. All have the same blood type (type AB). All show the telltale chemical markers that the person died in extreme distress.

These facts were so consistent, they alone led to the conversion of some of the most staunch atheist scientist doing the work to disprove the miracles (Dr. Ricardo Castañón Gómez, Dr Frederic Zugibe, and Nicolas Steno).

Retro IDE replacement

Retro IDE replacement

Retro computing has a hardware problem. Physical cdrom and hard drives wear out and die every year – with no replacements on the horizon as most manufacturers have quit making them decades ago.

Enter PicoIDE from the creator of the retro sound card PicoGUS (emulates Gravis UltraSound, Sound Blaster 16 (OPL3) / Sound Blaster Pro 2 (OPL3) / AdLib (OPL2), CMS/Game Blaster and Tandy 3-Voice, and supports MIDI output with MPU-401 intelligent mode emulation). PicoIDE is an IDE/ATAPI drive emulator for retro PC’s. It lets you load and run hard drive images as well as perfectly emulates CDROM drives with full redbook audio support. You run them all from a microSD card you load with images. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

  • Emulates ATAPI CD-ROM and IDE fixed hard drives
    • Images stored on microSD card
    • .bin/.cue or .iso image support for CD-ROM
    • .img/.hda/.vhd/.hdf for HDD, supporting LBA or CHS
  • Built-in CD audio analog output on 3.5mm jack and MPC-2 header, driven by TI PCM5100A DAC
  • Supports PIO modes 0-4 and multi-word DMA modes 0-2
  • Headers for SPI peripheral, external drive activity LED and action button

Pre-Order Here:  https://www.crowdsupply.com/polpotronics/picoide

Don’t get into computers kids – it’s worse than an art degree

Don’t get into computers kids – it’s worse than an art degree

A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has confirmed what a lot of people have suspected. Getting a degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering is now as bad as an art degree when it comes to finding a job.

It’s no surprise given that software companies are staring down the barrel of AI development as well as laying off 10,000’s of workers every month.

But in a shocking turn, it is now shown than half of majors are now worth pursuing as the return on the investment or chronic under-employment makes them not worth pursuing.

Young people are noticing. Only 35% of 2025 respondents said a college degree is important, down from 75% in 2010.

Majors with the highest unemployment rates for 2024 gradsMajors with the highest underemployment rates for 2024 grads
Anthropology: 7.9%
Computer Engineering: 7.8%
Fine Arts: 7.7%
Performing Arts: 7.0%
Computer Science: 7.0%
Architecture: 6.8%
Art History 6.7%
Physics: 6.6%
Early Childhood Education: 6.6%
Environmental Studies: 6.3%
Criminal Justice: 65.8%
Performing Arts: 63.9%
Fine Arts: 58.9%
Leisure and Hospitality: 58.1%
Agriculture: 57.1%
Anthropology: 55.3%
Liberal Arts: 54.6%
Foreign Language: 54.0%
Animal and Plant Sciences: 53.5%
Communications: 53.0%

Federal agencies will no longer require SBOMs

Federal agencies will no longer require SBOMs

Federal agencies will no longer be required to solicit software attestations that they comply with NIST’s Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF).

The SBOM requirement has lead to a small cottage industry of scanning and CI tools that provide this functionality. It will be interesting to see how that all develops, but constantly changing industry standards and practices is not good for businesses.

The US used to thoughtfully and carefully roll out changes like this in the past. In our increasingly polarized political climate, software companies are increasingly whipsawed back and forth. Adding and removing requirements like this is not a zero-cost change. Compliance burdens cost money, time, and credibility to any company based here in the US.

Attack at the source

Attack at the source

North Korea has been partly funding it’s government by targeting cryptocurrencies. In the last few years, they went from stealing millions, to stealing $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency. State agent hackers have been increasing targeting exchanges and holders and making off with astounding sums.

A new tactic is to go after the source: the developers themselves.

Fireblocks has reported they broke up a ring of North Korea operatives that set up fake job interviews for crypto jobs. During Google Meet interviews, they would give take-home assignments via Github. Those projects would contain code that compromised the developer and would grant access to crypto infrastructure.

They used dozens of fake Linkedin profiles that rotated through brands and it is believed they have been doing this for at least a few years. While they were easy to spot with poor grammar in 2017 and 2018, those days are gone. By using AI to craft messages and create fake jobs, they sound far more legitimate.

You can’t make this up

You can’t make this up

Despite being ranked 45 out of 50 states as one of the worst performing school systems in the country, Oregon’s ultra-progressive teachers’ union is threatening to pull support for Democrats who finally decided to force them to fix their failed education policies and actually enforce the diversity goals they claim to stand for. Goals that red states like Mississippi are doing better than Oregon.

The [teacher’s] union has opposed successful strategies used in Mississippi and other states that have boosted reading scores, including a statewide reading curriculum based on the “science of reading”; mandatory standardized testing that measures student growth; and funding targeted at the neediest schools rather than just by student head count.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2026/04/22/one-of-oregons-most-powerful-unions-is-rebelling-against-democrats/
Impossible Architecture in The Shining

Impossible Architecture in The Shining

A Quiet Side points out the set and hotel layout was intentionally impossible in some places. The hotel was a combination of 3 different real hotels. He suggests that was to make the hotel seem like a maze you couldn’t escape.

Even more interesting is he’s created probably the most architecturally accurate fully navigable 3D model of the Overlook Hotel in Enscape (download here). In doing so, he really shows off the impossible architectures the hotel has.

More than just confusion or giving the sense of a maze, I almost took it as a dream. I have occasionally had dreams in which you walk through a door from one place to a completely other place, or impossible switches from one place to another.

Kubrick does a good job of keeping this subtle enough that most people don’t notice these details even on re-watching.
But what if it were just a little bit more overt. What if you made a movie about being trapped in a hotel/place in which the past and future blend much more seamlessly forward and backwards in time, as well geometry that was arranged by locations where some horror or another happened more than just a logical layout. Where it’s much more dream-like and areas are connected by associations instead of physical layout? You would have to keep it very subtle to avoid it becoming the movie Inception or overdoing it; but it is and interesting idea to explore…