jwz

Crazy Eddie's Used Computers:

I declare that today, Nov. 19, 2025 is the 50th anniversary of BitBLT, a routine so fundamental to computer graphics that we don't even think about it having an origin. A working (later optimized) implementation was devised on the Xerox Alto by members of the Smalltalk team. It made it easy to arbitrarily copy and move arbitrary rectangles of bits in a graphical bitmap. It was this routine that made Smalltalk's graphical interface possible. Below is part of a PARC-internal memo detailing it.

BitBLT was implemented in microcode on the Alto and exposed to the end-user as just another assembly language instruction, alongside your regular old Nova instructions -- this is how foundational it was. And since it was an integral part of the Alto, it enabled all sorts of interesting experimentation with graphics: user interfaces and human/computer interaction, font rasterization, laser printing... maybe a game or three...

See also XScreenSaver 's BlitSpin hack, which I wrote in 1992, based on earlier Common Lisp code that I wrote in 1987, based on SmallTalk code published in the August 1981 issue of Byte Magazine. (which you can see on page 188 thanks to the priceless treasure that is the Internet Archive.) One way of looking at it is that it uses a scratch bitmap as a carry bit, performing parallel math on the Z axis.

And it wasn't just a gimmick; if you had BitBLT microcode, it was a very fast way of rotating a bitmap!

The details on BitBLT itself start on page 172. Circle 359 on inquiry card.

Previously, previously.

There is only one acceptable use for "AI" video, and that is replacing faces with methane-breathing space capitalists.

I have been asking for access to this important technology for years but have not found it. Here is some circumstantial evidence that one such filter exists. I guess this is a Snapchat thing? How can I download and run this without using Snapchat? I assume the answer is "no". Ok, how else can I press button receive candy?

Previously, previously, previously.

The Nerd Reich:

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

"Things Happen"

"Your royal highness," [Mary Bruce asked], "the U.S. intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist. 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office. Why should Americans trust -- "

At that moment, the president cut in, his voice vibrating with anger. [...]

"You're mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial," Mr. Trump said, referring to the murdered columnist. "A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him, or didn't like him, things happen."

"You don't have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that," he said to the reporter.

Bonus: When a female reporter began to ask if there was anything "incriminating" in the Epstein emails, Trump pointed a finger in her face. "Quiet. Quiet, Piggy," he said menacingly.

Bonus 2: "How Dare You Embarrass My Esteemed Guest, Jason Voorhees?"

Previously, previously, previously.

This skateboarding-focused history of Embarcadero Plaza is pretty great, and includes some bits about the amazing Vaillancourt Fountain that our city is still planning to destroy.

Thrasher: This Old Ledge

Previously, previously.

Music recommendation algorithms were supposed to help us cut through the noise, but they just served us up slop.

Spotify leadership didn't see themselves as a music company, but as a time filler. The employee explained that, "the vast majority of music listeners, they're not really interested in listening to music per se. They just need a soundtrack to a moment in their day."

Simply providing a soundtrack to your day might seem innocent enough, but it informs how Spotify's algorithm works. Its goal isn't to help you discover new music, its goal is simply to keep you listening for as long as possible. It serves up the safest songs possible to keep you from pressing stop. [...]

Artists, especially new ones trying to break through, actually started changing how they composed to play better in the algorithmically driven streaming era. Songs got shorter, albums got longer, and intros went away. The hook got pushed to the front of the song to try to grab listeners' attention immediately, and things like guitar solos all but disappeared from pop music. The palette of sounds artists pulled from got smaller, arrangements became more simplified, pop music flattened. [...]

It found that while new music discovery is traditionally associated with youth, "16-24-year-olds are less likely than 25-34-year-olds to have discovered an artist they love in the last year." Gen Z might hear a song they like on TikTok, but they rarely investigate beyond that to listen to more music from the artist.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

Obergruppenführer Bovino took "dress for the job you want" to heart. Gregory Bovino's Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago has hit a new low:

For months, border agents have been brutalizing civilians and making absurd excuses for their barbarity. After ICE detained a clarinet player performing with her band outside an ICE facility, they alleged she "attacked" an officer; when agents shot a priest in the head with a pepper ball, the Department of Homeland Security claimed he once flipped Secretary Kristi Noem "the bird"; and the 79-year-old man who was dogpiled by a gaggle of agents -- as assault that left him with broken ribs and a concussion -- was said to have "impeded" officers. How will they spin pepper-spraying a baby?

On Saturday, Evelin Herrera and Rafael Veraza were heading to a Sam's Club in Cicero, Illinois, with their one-year-old daughter, Arinna, when they heard commotion in Chicago's Little Village. After pulling into the store's parking lot, they saw a "convoy of federal vehicles," and decided it was best to leave. Herrera began recording, and as they passed the vehicles, a masked agent pointed a pepper-spray gun through his window and fired into their car.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

Check out these photos from opening night!DNA Lounge opened on November 21st, 1985.

Reagan was president, Back to the Future, Rambo and Rocky IV were the highest-grossing films, the number one song that week was We Built This City, and Microsoft Windows 1.0 had been released the day before. It was not a great year.

I was not here in 1985. My tenure running DNA Lounge began a mere twenty-six years ago, in 1999 (Clinton, Phantom Menace, The Matrix, Steal My Sunshine, Napster).

The earliest show I can clearly remember seeing at DNA Lounge was the Machines of Loving Grace show in 1992. I know I had seen shows here before that, though. Probably Thrill Kill Kult in 1990, and I was almost certainly at this Consolidated show in 1991, which is amongst our earliest known video evidence of the club!

So what is your earliest memory of DNA Lounge? Share it in the comments.

Even you youngsters, I wanna hear from you too.

(I asked that question of one of my staff last night, and they said, "Oh that's easy! It was the KMFDM show in 2002 and you kicked me out for being under age!")

Anyway, forty years is a long-assed time, so we're celebrating with a big party: three rooms of DJs, plus four live bands!

• In the Main Room: the return of Meat vs. Death Guild, our blood-spattered BBQ-themed industrial party that originally ran from 2003 through 2011.

• In the Lounge: the return of Turbo Drive, our Synthwave party that originally ran from 2012 through 2022.

• In the Dazzle Room: 8bitSF, our Chiptunes party that we have been hosting irregularly since 2009.

• And in Above DNA: live performances from Halou (who first performed here in 2002!) Hectorine, Identical Homes, plus a "Midnight Massacre" performance by Shark in the Water.

Hope to see you there...

Also, photos are up of our epic Twenty-Fifth Halloween party. We had a great showing in the costume contest this year: sometimes I'll feel a bit judgy about who wins, but this year everyone who made it to the finalist round was extremely worthy. Great job, everybody! You got the memo.

The zeitgeisty winner was, of course, Luigi (a Mario/Mangione mashup with a Nintendo light gun!) The crowd went absolutely nuts for that one; like twice as loud as for second place.

Here's a thing I wrote last month: jwzsheet.

It is a small and self-contained PHP and JavaScript library for generating HTML tables of spreadsheet-like reports, including arithmetically-computed cell values.

I did this while refactoring some of DNA Lounge's internal business systems to have simpler code and less duplicated logic. This let me delete so much code!

But it took me a while to actually bite the bullet and do it. "I am not going to write a spreadsheet", I kept saying to myself, "that's stupid."

"Ok, maybe just a little bit of a spreadsheet. This far no farther."

"Ok, maybe just a little bit more."

As the Big Black song says, "I tell myself I will not go, even as a drive there."

Previously.

Dear Lazyweb, any idea why switching from a Pi 3b to a Pi 4b made my MAX7219 start behaving like this? If I switch back, it's behaves properly. Same CF card, so no software differences.

Previously, previously, previously, previously.