Jim Lawless
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Jim Lawless
@jim-lawless.bsky.social
Polyglot programmer, historical computing / hacking enthusiast, podcaster, and comic book buff. I'm just a dog chasing cars.

Blog: https://jimlawless.net/blog
Stray Pointers Podcast: https://straypointers.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:34 PM
The Advent of Code 2025 Pregame Show

Cameron Cunning and Juan Vazquez rejoin the show to discuss our approaches to the forthcoming Advent of Code 2025 coding competition in December.

#rust #elixirlang #dlang #Aoc2025 #AdventOfCode #programming

straypointers.com/e/s3e11.htm
S3:E11 - Advent of Code 2025 Pregame Show - The Stray Pointers Podcast
S3:E11 - Advent of Code 2025 Pregame Show - The Stray Pointers Podcast
straypointers.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
Not sure how tied you are to the BBS scene in general, so excuse any assumptions. :)
I personally haven't logged into a BBS for a few years, but Fidonet was a hellscape if looking for sane conversation.
A nice guy in NZ set up fsxnet, which is a fido style network, and is much saner. fsxnet.nz
start [fsxNet]
fsxnet.nz
October 30, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
I wanted to update my personal site. So naturally the first step was to create a new static site generator.

Introducing Tiny, the ridiculously simple static site generator. A single ~40 line bash file the leverages awk and outsources the markdown parsing to cmark—its only dependency.
October 31, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
Parents - check your halloween candy carefully. Someone may try to teach your kids the C programming language
October 31, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
A new episode of Floppy Days Podcast has dropped! Want to know more about the iconic TV show "Computer Chronicles"? I caught up with Paul Schindler, who did 133 reviews for the show.
floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-...
Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast: Floppy Days 156 - Interview with Paul Schindler, Computer Chronicles
Floppy Days 156 - Interview with Paul Schindler, Computer Chronicles Patreon: Sponsors:   and        Hello, and welcome to episode 156 of the Floppy Days Podcast f...
floppydays.libsyn.com
October 30, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
The idea is that any software published under this license would be forbidden to be used by AI.
The Human Only Public License
A copyleft software license that restricts AI usage
vanderessen.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
Happy 34th Birthday HTML tags!

On October 29, 1991, the internet pioneer, Tim Berners-Lee, published a document entitled HTML Tags.

#WebDesignHistory
October 29, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
Reposted by Jim Lawless
Same heron as the one I posted a few days ago. He was the only one around and seemed to know he was the star of the show. 🤭.
🪶 #heron #wildlife #b/w #birds #birdwatching #nature #photography
October 25, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
Yes!!! Programming in Assembly Is Brutal, Beautiful, & Maybe Even a Path to Better AI www.wired.com/story/progra... #coding #programming #artificialintelligence
Programming in Assembly Is Brutal, Beautiful, and Maybe Even a Path to Better AI
Whether your chip is running a vintage computer game or the latest DeepSeek model, it’ll reward you for speaking its native language.
www.wired.com
October 13, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
When teachings students to code back in the days one of the assignments would be to automate an intersection like this, could be controlled by any 8bit microcomputer usually using Comal-80 as the programming language.

There will be a tiny chapter in my book about these educational-kits :-)
September 27, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
September 27, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
My Minitel/Videotel is now on Meshtastic!

Used a RP2040, Heltec V3 and a bunch of chatGPT python code.

Next up direct messages
September 23, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
Five years ago, I wrote about this Doctor Strange-like issue of the Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves: tombrevoort.com/2020/09/20/b...
Brand Echh – The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #12
It’s well-known that Steve Ditko, the formative Marvel creator, left that company in 1966 after broken promises and worsening relationships with the people at the outfit, notably editor Stan …
tombrevoort.com
September 20, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
Awe shucks
So electron microscopes are cool. And @jeriellsworth.bsky.social is one of the coolest people on the planet. This particular scenario from #vcfmw is mind blowingly cool!
September 15, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
A thought-provoking article on The Register this morning…
Curious connections: Voyager probes and Sinclair ZX Spectrum
Opinion: There's more than warm power supplies and wonky capacitors
www.theregister.com
September 15, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Telecom and BBS pioneer Nick Andrew joins the Stray Pointers podcast to talk about a TRS-80 Model I workalike ( the System-80). With hardware modifications, Nick wrote and ran his own BBS on the System-80 in the 80's.

#z80 #trs80 #fidonet #bbsing #retrocomputing

straypointers.com/e/s3e09.htm
S3:E09 - Nick Andrew Discusses the System-80 Including His Zeta BBS - The Stray Pointers Podcast
S3:E09 - Nick Andrew Discusses the System-80 Including His Zeta BBS - The Stray Pointers Podcast
straypointers.com
September 7, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
DNS jokes are difficult.
It can take at least 24 hours for everyone to get it.
September 6, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
The First Sandy Story and the Super-Heroification of the Sandman

The Sandman was introduced in NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR COMICS #1 and immediately became the featured player in ADVENTURE COMICS staring with #40. He was a character steeped in an old formula and clearly influenced by the radio hero the…
The First Sandy Story and the Super-Heroification of the Sandman
The Sandman was introduced in NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR COMICS #1 and immediately became the featured player in ADVENTURE COMICS staring with #40. He was a character steeped in an old formula and clearly influenced by the radio hero the Green Hornet. Like the Hornet, his main weapon was a gas gun, and he battled crime in a nondescript green suit with a purple cape thrown over the top of it. A broad-brimmed hat and a gas mask completed the ensemble. This was enough to get the character inducted as a founding member of the Justice Society of America, but his popularity was fleeting, and he swiftly found himself displaced on the covers of ADVENTURE COMICS first by the more overtly-costumed Hour-Man and then Starman.
tombrevoort.com
September 6, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
The delivery that arrived Thursday has been opened, a #Commodore COLT PC-10/PC-20!! They packed it very well & it is safe to say it arrived perfectly, plus the machine is clean inside & out in great condition!! Next to do is boot it up, just need more free time for that.
September 6, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
who called it "silicon valley office decor" and not faang shui
September 2, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Jim Lawless
Not gonna lie. My stomach dropped during the first couple of seconds of this video. 😆
#Tracer by @brendandeneen is featured in this week's #newbooks update!

watch the whole thing here: youtu.be/WI6y9Q1MfWo
buy the books: bookshop.org/lists/n...

#booksky
September 6, 2025 at 8:40 PM