Friday, May 30, 2014

Everything there is to know about NES Tetris

http://meatfighter.com/nintendotetrisai/

When I was a kid, I kept track of the pieces I received in Tetris on a piece of paper, because I was convinced that the in game stats were lying (they weren't).

This guy wrote 25,000 words about the inner workings of Tetris (including an interesting RNG, which is actually truly random in practice).

Even if you don't understand or care about the technical details I recommend you skim through it, as there were a lot of interesting items.

Friday, May 2, 2014

The Graphing Calculator Story

http://www.pacifict.com/Story/
People around the Apple campus saw us all the time and assumed we belonged. Few asked who we were or what we were doing.When someone did ask me, I never lied, but relied on the power of corporate apathy. The conversations usually went like this:
Q: Do you work here?
A: No.
Q: You mean you're a contractor?
A: Actually, no.
Q: But then who's paying you?
A: No one.
Q: How do you live?
A: I live simply.
Q: (Incredulously) What are you doing here?!