2026-11-11
University of Waterloo Students Just Broke a Rocket World Record
Canadian university students just made rocket history!
The University of Waterloo Rocketry Team launched Polaris, a student-built liquid bi-propellant rocket, to an incredible altitude of 63,497 feet — about 19.35 km above Earth. The flight broke the previous world record of 56,590 feet, making Polaris the highest-flying amateur liquid rocket ever launched. The 17-foot rocket was designed and built by students and successfully recovered after its record-breaking flight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
2026-11-10
2026-11-09
Lawyers descend on Mississippi as vote counting continues in razor-thin Senate race
Democrat Scott Colom is on the verge of winning a Senate seat in Mississippi in a stunning upset, but ballots are still being counted in a close race where Colom holds a lead of just under 2,000 votes over Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith. Losing ruby-red Mississippi would be the final straw for Republicans after a midterm sweep by Democrats that turned Texas blue and saw a Democrat elected to the seat once held by the late South Carolina Republican senator Lindsey Graham.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/nov/06/mississippi-senate-race-vote-counting-lawyers
2026-11-08
Breaking: Judge hears arguments in effort to ban Trump’s $100k a month Truth Social grift
The video has a very anti-Trump bias, but they aren't necessarily wrong...
20 Essential Science Fiction Books
I used to read a ton up to the 1990s, then it seemed like I got too busy.
I've read 7 of the 20 books...
War of the Worlds.
Foundation (trilogy)
Stranger in a Strange Land (I've read most of Robert Heinlein)
Dune (I read all the sequels in the 1970s.)
The Mote in God's Eye
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and sequels)
Hyperion (and sequel)
He does not include the "I Robot" novels. Asimov would eventually merge these into his Foundation novels.
Lately I have been listening to the Bobiverse audiobooks, which are great!
Sometimes the Rules Just Don't Make Sense...But That Doesn't Mean You Break the Law
All his videos are about taxes, but his message seemed strangely apropos...
Dick Van Dyke, 99, names the two things to avoid to live a long life
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/mind-and-soul/dick-van-dyke-99-names-the-two-things-to-avoid-to-live-a-long-life/ar-AA1R92Sr
This article is a year old. Dick Van Dyke is already 100.
2026-11-06
Probably the Funniest Cat Video You'll Ever See
This was a video I really enjoyed twenty years ago. The video quality is bad, but it is typical for the time period.
2026-11-04
Working with ChatGPT
Maybe a year or two ago, I asked ChatGPT to generate a multiply routine in Z80 machine code. This is not an easy task and I knew that if I was going to write it then it would take some thought. So this was a test to see if it could do it.
It failed badly, so I tried to point out the errors, which it tried to correct, but it still couldn't come up with the correct solution.
So I tried again today. It gave me code that looked like it should work. I then suggested a couple of optimizations, which it liked, so it tried to incorporate the changes. However, it made one small error, which I pointed out. It not only fixed the error but then came up with another optimization on top of the ones I suggested.
The result was some very nice computer code. This was a collaborative effort between the machine and me.
In the past, doing this with ChatGPT felt like you were working with a very incompetent computer programmer. Now more than ever it feels like you are talking to a real person who is a skilled professional.
I use ChatGPT to check the grammar on all the things I write. The AI seems to remember everything I have ever told it. For example, it referenced my history as an experienced machine code programmer when working on this new task. The program knows much about me.
Best wishes,
John Coffey
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com
It failed badly, so I tried to point out the errors, which it tried to correct, but it still couldn't come up with the correct solution.
So I tried again today. It gave me code that looked like it should work. I then suggested a couple of optimizations, which it liked, so it tried to incorporate the changes. However, it made one small error, which I pointed out. It not only fixed the error but then came up with another optimization on top of the ones I suggested.
The result was some very nice computer code. This was a collaborative effort between the machine and me.
In the past, doing this with ChatGPT felt like you were working with a very incompetent computer programmer. Now more than ever it feels like you are talking to a real person who is a skilled professional.
I use ChatGPT to check the grammar on all the things I write. The AI seems to remember everything I have ever told it. For example, it referenced my history as an experienced machine code programmer when working on this new task. The program knows much about me.
Best wishes,
John Coffey
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com
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