Notices by Parker Higgins (xor@mastodon.xyz)

Here's a fun TIL: Because the ratio of terms in the Fibonacci sequence approaches phi, and because phi is close to the ratio of km to miles, you can approximate conversion between distances with adjacent Fibonacci numbers.

So 2 km ≈ 1 mile, 3 km ≈ 2 miles, 5 km ≈ 3 miles, 8 km ≈ 5 miles, 13 km ≈ 8 miles, etc, etc

The final remaining patent on the MP3 format — "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING DIGITAL SIGNALS EMPLOYING BIT ALLOCATION USING COMBINATIONS OF DIFFERENT THRESHOLD MODELS TO ACHIEVE DESIRED BIT RATES" — has expired today.

RIP Bob Taylor, who played a role in the creation of the ARPAnet, the personal computer, Engelbart's mouse, Xerox's desktop metaphor, and more. Also (this guy didn't slack) co-wrote "The Computer as a Communications Device" (1968) with Licklider.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/14/technology/robert-taylor-innovator-who-shaped-modern-computing-dies-at-85.html

Here are some pictures of the old pinball machine, which incredibly appear to be taken with a camera fashioned out of another pinball machine https://mastodon.xyz/media/kpkGnG_IZ83BnPOqD1A https://mastodon.xyz/media/uTwt84ZvbQEApOe8mqc