The V Public License.

Recently, I learned that at least one of my readers is dissatisfied with my current favourite “open source license”. For him and any others like him, I would like to propose a new one, and offer to “relicense” under it any of the VTronic items I have published on my site (strictly by explicit request, […]

The Three Reasons For Source Code Publication.

There are innumerably many reasons for writing a computer program; but, to my knowledge, the publication of its source code is nearly always motivated by one of these three: I. Subordination: “Open Source.” Some of the earliest — and arguably, highest quality — computer programs with openly-published source code were developed inside conventionally-structured organizations, by […]

"The Harper."

“The Harper.” by Vlas Mikhailovich Doroshevich (1864–1922). The Emperor Jin-La-O, may his memory be sacred to the whole braid-adorned world, was a wise and just Emperor. One day he summoned his entourage and said to them: – I would like to learn the name of the greatest villain in all of Beijing – in order […]

"The Story of One Wetnurse."

Lately, I found myself unable to resist the temptation to translate this very pertinent classic to English. If you, reader, know of a better translation, do not hesitate to write in. And so, here goes: “The Story of One Wetnurse.” by Vlas Mikhailovich Doroshevich (1864–1922). Emperor Jing-Li-O, nicknamed Hao-Tu-Li-Chi-San-He-Nun, which means Justice Itself, once woke […]

"Pest" v. 0xFE.

This is a continuation of “Pest” v. 0xFF. Edit: A note for the innocent — this series of articles concerns an algorithm! It is not, at the time of writing, fully implemented anywhere! There is now a prototype! (Thank you, thimbronion!) Or even entirely complete. Edit: There is a working draft of v. 0xFD. (Note: […]

"Pest" v. 0xFF.

What follows is a long-promised detailed specification of a DDOS-proof, CPU-inexpensive, ciphered-authenticated peer-to-peer communication protocol. I would like to thank Thimbronion for implementing a large subset of this spec already despite not having seen it yet! The document (very much a work in progress!) is available as a vtree. You will need: A V-tron. If […]

"The Advantages of a Dragon."

Lately, I found myself unable to resist the temptation to translate this very pertinent classic of science fiction to English. If you, reader, know of a better translation, do not hesitate to write in. Meanwhile, here goes: “The Star Diaries of Ijon Tichy: The Advantages of a Dragon.” Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006). Until now, I’ve said […]

Linux. (1991 - 2018)

Linux. ( 1991 — 2018. ) No disrespect is intended for Stepan Mitrofanovich Gudimov (1913 – 1941), died heroically in aerial ramming maneuver… whose beautiful tomb I stole here. But IMHO a dead project of Linux’s stature deserves a tomb, even if only an imaginary and stolen one. Especially a stolen project…

Still Tenser, Said the Censor.

Stay classy, YCombinator.

How to Make Your Own Lamport Parachute from Common Household Materials.

The thought began, as many good things begin, in #trilema. Users of the WOT, of V, and other systems where your cryptographic identity is wholly in your own hands1 live with a certain risk of “cryptographic death” – i.e. the compromise of one’s signing key. A conscientious user of public key crypto might keep the […]