---
title: 005 - ccTLDs, BBC Basic and 6174
layout: post
---

Hello again! It's been a little while, but plenty of interesting stuff has built up for me to share.

- First up, a couple of posts about the dangers and pitfalls of ccTLDs, and the problems they can cause:
    - [.af](https://queer.af/@postmaster/111733741786950083)
    - [.io](https://www.beep.blog/io/)

- A(nother) [great blog post](https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/) from Cory Doctorow, this time about the cult of Apple. I have no idea how he pumps out such high quality so quickly. I can barely stick to one post a week!

- Molly White has shared the [in-depth process](https://citationneeded.news/substack-to-self-hosted-ghost/) for switching away from Substack, after everything that has happened with that site. Very useful if you are in a similar situation, but worth a skim anyways just to see what good technical writing looks like. And as always, I am pro-self-hosting whenever possible.

- In a similar vein, I really enjoyed this [article from Android Authority](https://www.androidauthority.com/offline-smart-home-3398608/) about creating an offline smart home using [HomeAssistant](https://www.home-assistant.io/). This has always been something that I've wanted to do, maybe I'll get around to it this year! [he lied].

- This is a [really interesting story from ArsTechnica](https://arstechnica.com/features/2024/01/how-a-27-year-old-busted-the-myth-of-bitcoins-anonymity/) about how the myth of Bitcoin's anonymity was busted.

- There is always something that I have seen during the week that really amazes me when I make these posts, which is rather inspiring. This week that honour goes to [raytracing in BBC Basic](https://mastodon.me.uk/@bbcmicrobot/111762132859648345). I mean, need I say more?

- If you liked the above, then check out the other amazing BBC Basic creations over at [bbcmicrobot.com](https://www.bbcmicrobot.com/). This is fully rendered from a BBC Micro emulator *in the browser*!

- [6174](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6174).

- Yet another [ridiculous StackExchange deep dive](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/395382/which-word-begins-with-y-and-looks-like-an-axe-in-this-picture), this time into the pictures on child's alphabet ball (it is better than it sounds).

- Last but not least, a titan of the internet, [David Mills](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_L._Mills) sadly passed away recently. If you want some information on just how important his contributions to the early internet were, this [New Yorker article](https://archive.ph/2fw9A) (archive link) is a great read.

A.
