Way back in the mists of time, when I wore a younger man’s clothes, I used to try to post a new Cool Beans Blog every day (sometimes I even managed to post a couple at a time).

Sadly, those days are long gone. I was busy back then, but nothing like as busy as I am now. These days, I’m lucky if I can manage a new Cool Beans Blog every two or three weeks. Stop the world, I want to get off! I’m too young for all this excitement!

I just finished writing a big article, and I can take a few minutes before I commence work on my next column, so… here we go…

I love the videos on Chris Boden’s YouTube Channel, such as his Helical Encabulator offering. This does what I wouldn’t have thought possible, which is to out-encabulate the Rockwell Retro Encabulator.

This is completely off-topic (although we don't actually have a topic), but I just ran across this compilation of 10 funny Australian Commercials (if this is what they have on TV, I want to visit them all the more).

My friend Alvin just sent me an email with a link to a mesmerizing kinetic sand art machine called Dune Weaver. This is a DIY project; you can buy the plans for $52.00 (which is an interesting number when you come to think about it). I also found this video on YouTube. Alvin says he’s going to build one. I want one too!

Matt Pulzer, until recently the publisher of Practical Electronics magazine in the UK, just sent me a link to a video about the PhyPhox App, which lets you monitor and record sensors on your smartphone.

My chum Jay Dowling recently sent me a link to a video about spintronics. The title of this video is The Next Big Thing in Tech Is Almost Here.

Hmmm. On the one hand, spintronics is very real and already here; on the other, it’s not about to upend mainstream computing anytime soon. Spintronics is an electronics field that exploits the intrinsic spin of electrons (up or down), rather than relying solely on their charge, enabling new approaches to data storage and processing. Today, it’s finding a comfortable niche in magnetic random-access memory (MRAM), where it delivers non-volatility, near-SRAM speeds, and endurance measured in billions of write cycles. But when it comes to general-purpose computing, it would be wise to treat any “CMOS is dead (again)!” headlines with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Last, but certainly not least for this blog, Positron PIC BASIC Compilers, created by Les Johnson, translate BASIC code into highly efficient assembly language for Microchip PIC microcontrollers. I use these compilers for my own PIC programming. My friend Rick Curl just emailed me to say, “Hi Max, I was just on Les Johnson’s Positron forum, and I spotted an interesting post by Charlie Coultas (from Bletchley Park). Here’s an excerpt:”

Back in 1956, Tommy Flowers (and others) was asked to design a machine for generating random numbers for Premium Bonds - a method of the government borrowing money from the public and paying prizes (interest) depending on random numbers. Little did they know what else Flowers had designed in previous years: Colossus.

ERNIE was the result (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premium_Bonds).

It used the noise in a neon voltage regulator valve as the basis of the random number. They employed several mathematicians to verify that the numbers were truly random. The neon-discharge tubes were mounted on springs and shielded from external magnetic fields to prevent any fiddling.

Rick continued to say, “I didn’t know about the British government having a lottery like this, and I also thought it was interesting that the random number generator was built by the same person who built Colossus!”

That’s true, I had no idea that Tommy Flowers was in any way involved in the creation of ERNIE, which is an acronym for “Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment.” I tell you, I learn something new every day.

How about you? Do you have any interesting links to videos, nuggets of knowledge, or tidbits of trivia that you’d care to share with the rest of us?