The last time we checked in with the ELIZA archeology project, they had unearthed the earliest known copy of the code for the infamous computer psychiatrist written in MAD-SLIP. After a lot of work, that version is now running again, and there were a number of interesting surprises.

While chatbots are all the modern rage, [Joseph Weizenbaum] created what could be the first one, ELIZA, in the mid-1960s. Of course, it wasn’t as capable as what we have today, but it is a good example of how simple it is to ape human behavior.

The original host was an IBM 7094, and MAD-SLIP fell out of favor. Most versions known previously were in Lisp or even Basic. But once the original code was found, it wasn’t enough to simply understand it. They wanted to run it.

Fortunately, there is an emulator for the IBM 7094. MAD-SLIP is around, too, but for whatever reason, didn’t support all the functions that [Weizenbaum] had used. The 2,600 lines of code are mostly undocumented, and the only copy was on fanfold printer paper, so the first step was getting the text in digital form.

Once it was manually transcribed, they found some functions were missing in their MAD-SLIP version. Rewriting the functions and correcting a typo made everything work.

The original version had a learning mode that did not carry over to the later clones. There’s an example of how to teach new rules in the paper. You can also see a video (below) of the original code duplicating (nearly) the original published conversations from the 1966 paper.

We have been following the team for some time and they’ve made their work available if you want to try it. We have thought a lot about Eliza since the chatbots have started taking over.

youtube.com/embed/j5Tw-XVcsRE?…

hackaday.com/2025/06/20/eliza-…

PVA filament with a core. (Credit: Lost In Tech)
PVA filament is an interesting filament type, for the reason that while it can be printed with any FDM printer, it supposedly readily dissolves in water, which is also the reason why PVA glue sticks are so popular when doing crafts and arts with young children. This property would make PVA filament ideal for printing supports if your printer can handle two different materials at the same time. So surely you can just pick any old PVA filament spool and get to printing, right? As [Lost in Tech] found out, this is not quite the case.

As an aside, watching PVA supports dissolve in water set to classical music (Bach’s Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3) is quite a pleasant vibe. After thus watching the various PVA prints dissolve for a while, we are left to analyze the results. The first interesting finding was that not every PVA filament dissolved the same way, or even fully.

The first gotcha is that PVA can stand for polyvinyl acetate (the glue stick) or polyvinyl alcohol (a thickener and stabilizer) , with the ‘PVA’ filament datasheets for each respective filament showing various combinations of both types of PVA. This results in wildly different properties per filament, both in terms of Shore hardness, their printability, as well as their ability to dissolve in water. Some of the filament types (Yousu, Reprapper) also have an outer layer and inner core for some reason.

Ultimately the message appears to be that ‘PVA’ filament requires a fair bit of research to have any chance of having a relatively trouble-free printing experience.

youtube.com/embed/2zQ6tGXKEUk?…

hackaday.com/2025/06/20/pva-fi…

AND gate implemented as diode-resistor logic. (Credit: Anthony Francis-Jones)
The fun part about logic gates is that there are so many ways to make them, with each approach having its own advantages and disadvantages. Although these days transistor-transistor logic (TTL) is the most common, diode-transistor logic (DTL) once was a regular sight, as well as diode-resistor logic (DRL). These logic gates are the topic of a recent video by [Anthony Francis-Jones], covering a range of logic gates implemented using mostly diodes and resistors.

Of note is that there’s another class of logic gates: this uses resistors and transistors (RTL) and preceded DTL. While DRL can be used to implement AND and OR logic gates, some types of logic gates (e.g. NOT) require an active (transistor) element, which is where DTL comes into play.

In addition to the construction of a rather demonstration system and explanation of individual logic gates, [Anthony] also shows off a range of DTL cards used in the Bendix G-15 and various DEC systems. Over time TTL would come to dominate as this didn’t have the diode voltage drop and other issues that prevented significant scaling. Although the rise of VLSI has rendered DRL and DTL firmly obsolete, they still make for a fascinating teaching moment and remind us of the effort over the decades to make the computing device on which you’re reading this possible.

youtube.com/embed/bK0qKcZQLQQ?…

hackaday.com/2025/06/20/buildi…

If you have ever played around with lenses, you’ll know that a convex lens can focus an image onto a target. It can be as simple as focusing the sun with a magnifying glass to burn a hole in a piece of paper, but to achieve the highest quality images in a camera there is a huge amount of optical engineering and physics at play to counteract the imperfections of those simple lenses.

Many of us in the hardware world aren’t optical specialists but our work frequently involves camera modules, so [Matt Williams]’ piece for PetaPixel laying out a primer on lens design should be essential reading well beyond its target audience of photographers.

In it we learn how a photographic lens is assembled from a series of individual lenses referred to as elements, combined together in groups to lend the required properties to the final assembly. We are introduced to the characteristics of different types of glass, and to the use of lens coatings to control reflections. Then we see examples of real lens systems, from some famous designs with their roots in the 19th century, to the lenses of today.

Sometimes a piece written for an entirely different audience can bring really useful insights into our field, and this is one of those times. We learned something, and we think you will too.

Header image: 4300streetcar, CC BY 4.0.

hackaday.com/2025/06/20/all-yo…

This week, Hackaday’s Elliot Williams and Al Williams caught up after a week-long hiatus. There was a lot to talk about, including clocks, DIY USB cables, and more.

In Hackaday news, the 2025 Pet Hacks Contest is a wrap. Winners will be announced soon, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, how’d you like a free ticket to attend Supercon? Well, free if you submit a talk and get accepted. November is right around the corner, so get those talks ready.

Hackaday is a big fan of the NOAA Polar sats, and it looks like they are on their last figurative legs. The agency has left them up for now, but won’t be keeping them in shape, and if they misbehave, they may be neutralized for safety.

Since Elliot was off, Al supplied the sound, and in a bout of karma, Elliot had to do the guessing this week. How’d he do? Not bad, but there’s room to do better. If you do better, there could be a coveted Hackaday Podcast T-shirt in your future.

Moving on the hacks, the guys were interested in magnets, clocks, cables, 3D printed machine tools, and even old moonbase proposals. For the can’t miss articles, Al took the bifecta, since Elliot picked a piece on the machine that generated laugh tracks in the latter part of the 20th century and Al shamelessly picked his own article about the role of British ham radio operators during WWII.

Miss anything? Check out the links below and catch up. As always, drop a comment and tell us what you think about the week in Hackaday.

html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/…

Download in DRM-free MP3 unencrypted and oxygen-free.

Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast

Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:

• iTunes
• Spotify
• Stitcher
• RSS
• YouTube
• Check out our Libsyn landing page

Episode 325 Show Notes:

News:

• 2025 Pet Hacks Contest
• NOAA Polar Satellites

What’s that Sound?

• Know what the sound was? [Elliot] got close! Let’s see if you can do better.

Interesting Hacks of the Week:

• Iron Nitride Permanent Magnets Made With DIY Ball Mill
• This Thermochromic Clock Is A Ray Of Sunshine
  
  • What Happened To Duracell PowerCheck?

  
  

• The Most Trustworthy USB-C Cable Is DIY
  
  • All About USB-C: Cable Types

  
  

• A Concentric Clock With Multiple Modes
• Compound Press Bends, Punches And Cuts Using 3D Printed Plastic
• History Of Forgotten Moon Bases

Quick Hacks:

• Elliot’s Picks:
  
  • Expanding Racks In The Spirit Of The Hoberman Sphere
  • The Switch 2 Pro Controller: Prepare For Glue And Fragile Parts
  • Watkin’s Tower: London’s Failed Eiffel Tower
  • BhangmeterV2 Answers The Question “Has A Nuke Gone Off?”

  
  

• Al’s Picks:
  
  • Building A Cyberpunk Modular Keyboard
  • Split Keyboard Uses No PCB
  • LED Probe: A Smart, Simple Solution For Testing LEDs

  
  

Can’t-Miss Articles:

• Just For Laughs: Charlie Douglass And The Laugh Track
• Crowdsourcing SIGINT: Ham Radio at War
  
  • High-Stakes Fox Hunting: The FCC’s Radio Intelligence Division In World War II

  
  

hackaday.com/2025/06/20/hackad…

Di scuse per attaccare l'Iran, Israele ne ha iosa.
Certo è che la popolazione sotto il regime non se ne gioverà più di tanto.
Ma a Netanyahu non interessa.
Dal Blog.

noblogo.org/transit/l-atomica-…

Transit

2025-06-20 12:59:58

L' atomica del vicino è sempre più...

(170)

Intro.Più passano i giorni, più gli #USA e #Trump nicchiano, più le cose si ingarbugliano, più appare chiaro che l’attacco di Israele all’Iran ha solo nominalmente lo scopo di distruggere una ipotetica potenza nucleare. E’ tutt’altro. E, sicuramente, non sarà questa guerra a distruggere un regime teocratico sanguinario e opprimente. Anzi, forse riuscirà a renderlo più determinato nella sua opera di annichilimento dei diritti civili ed umani. Tutte cose che a #Netanyahu non interessano. A lui serve la poltrona e serve il sangue dei mussulmani, che si sa che a Occidente plaudono a chi si fa carico, finalmente, di queste cose (chissà le risate di Powell…).

Il recente attacco israeliano all’Iran – definito “Operation Rising Lion” – non può essere interpretato come un’operazione umanitaria finalizzata alla liberazione degli iraniani da un regime inumano, bensì come una mossa strategica di Benjamin Netanyahu per ampliare l’influenza e lo spazio geopolitico di Israele nella regione. Numerosi analisti evidenziano come l’obiettivo di Tel Aviv non sia la democratizzazione dell’Iran, ma piuttosto una forma di espansionismo politico-militare. Il “Financial Times” ha chiarito che, pur annichilendo elementi dell’apparato militare iraniano, l’azione di Israele non compromette il regime in sé, che acquisisce semmai una narrazione di resistenza e legittimità interna. In un articolo comparso su The Guardian, si sottolinea che l’offensiva “crudele ma strategica” può al contrario rafforzare l’unità nazionale iraniana e consolidare la leadership, invece di disgregarla.

Ma è l’analisi geopolitica a offrire chiavi interpretative più nette: secondo l’ISPI, l’operazione fornisce a Netanyahu strumenti politici interni ed esterni per consolidare il consenso e sfruttare la narrativa della sicurezza nazionale. In una analisi dell’Habtoor Research Centre, si legge che Tel Aviv ha orchestrato l’attenzione dei media e dei governi occidentali per ottenere sostegno diplomatico e militare, mentre la minaccia iraniana serve a distogliere l’attenzione dalle criticità domestiche.

“New Yorker” fa notare come l’attacco non sia frutto di un’escalation incontrollata: Netanyahu lo avrebbe voluto da tempo, per perseguire ambizioni ben precise, agendo appena Washington è apparsa debole o distratta. In realtà, mentre la narrazione ufficiale descrive queste operazioni come risposte a minacce imminenti – in particolare al rischio nucleare – molti commentatori ricordano come l’Iran non stesse effettivamente per ottenere la bomba, secondo agenzie internazionali quali AIEA e CIA, dando la misura del pretesto retorico usato da Tel Aviv.

Il rischio politico interno è lampante: fissando Netanyahu come “uomo della sicurezza”, le operazioni militari all’estero possono distogliere l’elettorato dai dossier interni e blindare la sua leadership qualora emergano scandali o critiche. Lo rivelano commentatori israeliani citati dal Guardian, che affermano come tali attacchi “frutto di un Netanyahu che capitalizza su un regime che sta perdendo legittimità e consenso”. Le prove emerse delineano un quadro nitido: l’operazione contro l’Iran non risponde all’urgente esigenza della popolazione iraniana, ma rappresenta per Netanyahu una straordinaria occasione politica di potenziamento internazionale e consolidamento interno. In gioco non vi è affatto un progetto di liberazione, bensì una manovra di influenza, territorio e consenso.

In conclusione.E se avesse delle fialette con del plutonio arricchito da scuotere, “Bibì” avrebbe finito il quadro.

#Blog #Israele #Iran #War #Medioriente #MiddleEast #Opinions #Geopolitica #Opinioni

Mastodon: @alda7069@mastodon.unoTelegram: t.me/transitblogFriendica: @danmatt@poliverso.orgBio Site (tutto in un posto solo, diamine): bio.site/danielemattioli

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Transit

Il blog di Alessandra Corubolo & Daniele Mattioli. On line -in varie forme- dal 2005.

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#fiom #Firenze

Vorrei leggere un libro sulla meccanica quantistica per capirci PER DAVVERO qualcosina ma per farlo bisogna che veda qualche equazione perché le spiegazioni qualitative non mi bastano più.

Quindi, mi servirebbe un libro che sia più dettagliato (anche più tecnico) di un libro divulgativo ma allo stesso tempo meno impegnativo di un testo universitario perché mi manca buona parte della matematica necessaria (sono ingegnere quindi arrivo fino ad Analisi II ma poi lì mi fermo).

Avete letto qualcosa che potrebbe fare al caso mio?

Ho visto che nella serie delle lezioni di Fisica di Feynman c'è un volume, il terzo, dedicato alla meccanica quantistica, l'avete letto? Può essere quello giusto?

("QED", di Feynman, l'ho già letto e ha cambiato il mio modo di guardare il mondo quando apro la finestra 😍)

#Fisica #fisicaDelleParticelle #meccanicaquantistica #scienza