<p><em>The intended audience of this post is those who are very familiar with the use of the Unix command line.</em> <em>Knowledge of the PostScript and/or PDF formats is useful but unnecessary.</em> <em>I hope to write software to make this task easier for those without the aforementioned knowledge.</em></p> <p> One problem that plagues those who often …</p>
Read More

<p> <em>The intended audience of this post is those who are very familiar with the inner workings of Linux and familiar with usage of the QEMU emulator from the command line.</em></p> <p> I recently found myself needing to set up a Windows VM on my Linux laptop such that the guest operating system of the VM had unrestricted access to one …</p>
Read More

<p> <em>This post&#39;s intended audience is those who are familiar with low-level data structures and the basics of NFC and Mifare Classic technologies.</em></p> <p> Data are encoded in an NFC-formatted Mifare Classic tag&#39;s memory using the TLV (Type-Length-Value) and NDEF (NFC Data Exchange Format) formats. <a href="https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pn532-rfid-nfc/ndef">An Adafruit article …</a></p>
Read More

<p> <em>This post&#39;s intended audience is those who are familiar with low-level data structures, the basics of NFC and Mifare Classic technologies, and the basic usage of Proxmark hardware.</em></p> <p> Proxmark devices are pieces of RFID test equipment commonly used in security research and penetration testing. Each model of …</p>
Read More

<p> /Errata: in the section on adding a bottom bar to the ZSH prompt, the previously given <code>$PROMPT</code> variable contained bugs. Use the current one instead./</p> <hr> <p> /This post&#39;s intended audience is those with Unix command line experience. More in-depth terminal and shell experience is required to understand how the given …</p>
Read More

<p> While reading <a href="https://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/CR/CR%20Freight%20Schedules/CR%20Freight%20Schedule%208-1-1991.pdf">a Conrail intermodal train schedule</a> from August 1991 (reproduced in part below), I became confused as to why there were three times listed next to the initial terminal—a cutoff time, a release time, and a departure time (denoted <code>LV</code>). Most—but not all—intermodal schedules listed these three times at the …</p>
Read More

<p> I often find myself in a situation in which I suffer as a result of a design choice made by someone else when the solution to that seems obvious to me. Below are some examples of bad design choices with solutions that I&#39;m aware of. Further parts of this series will be posted as I write down other instances. The …</p>
Read More

<figure> <picture> <img src="./DSC03884_1_1500.webp" title="Looking north at the new Gateway North platform." alt="A railway platform shelter, platform, track, and catenary pole lie on the left; in the foreground is a sign that reads 'Gateway North' and 'City Center' with a red circle between …</picture></figure>

Read More

<p><em>This article originally appeared in</em> <a href="https://reedquest.org/2024/03/02/how-to-power-an-electrified-railway-from-the-1930s-to-present/"><em>The</em> Reed College Quest</a>.</p> <p> Among the things the Northeastern United States is known for is its electric high-speed railway network, something no other part of the country or the entirety of North America has (at least until California High-Speed Rail is completed). High-speed trains …</p>
Read More

<p> The <a href="https://prop.kc2g.com/">KC2G ionospheric data website</a> is best known in the amateur radio world for its MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency<sup class="footnote-reference"><a id="footnote-reference-1" href="#footnote-1">1</a></sup>) contour map, which is used by many radio amateurs to determine which bands to use for long-distance (DX) contacts. But the MUF doesn&#39;t tell the whole story: it&#39;s only valid for long-distance …</p>
Read More