Thanks for the excerpt.

a so-called CNC machine

Really? Framing it "so-called" makes it sound esoteric and rare, while in fact it's an utterly common machine tool used in many industries to create ... pretty much anything (eg. casting dies for Lego bricks). I wish they'd tone down the alarmism (unless they know it's ordered by "Ivan's Shell Mfg. Co").

This is such a strange phenomenon to me. In all the countries I've lived in, all but a few select stores have a dongle on each cart that takes a coin to unlock it from the chain of other carts. It's perhaps the cost of a back of toilet paper, but that seems to be sufficient for it to be exceedingly rare to see an abandoned cart. One can only imagine that any such carts are quick prey for enterprising teens looking for a quick boost to their candy fund.

Oups, I misremembered: the game is called Core War. In it, MARS ("Memory Array Redcode Simulator") is the name of a virtual machine that executes Redcode instructions. As a player, you write small programs ("warriors") to be loaded on the virtual machine where they try to prevail while klling off (overwriting) opponent programs.

I thought this would be more like MARS, but turns out to be bare-metal ~~MARS~~ Core War where I'm the scheduler. I'm not saying it a terrible experience, but I am grateful that my day job in IT is more higher-level.

They would likely perform worse. If ("if", ha) those fans are not in perfect sync, they're going to obstruct airflow. Also, consider that each fan introduces both audible noise and perturbations in the airflow which in turn, also will cause noise.

Incidentally, I have (almost) that very same case, an Antec P182. Mine has a super-quiet PSU fan, and a ginormous heat pipe cpu cooler (HR-1 if you're curious) with one fan ... and that is plenty.

That was quite likely Dr. Russell Barkley you saw.

Just the first 56 seconds of this video (by one of the foremost researchers) explains 100% of what the problem with adhd is. Symptomatically, adhd isn't even named for what it does to a person. Instead it's named for how it inconveniences others. Gee, thanks! I bet it was the same person who named the speech impediment "lisp". Jerk. 😅

How would you explain green to someone who has no concept of colour? The basic otherness of neurodiversity is simultaneously the defining characteristic, overarching difficulty, and blocker to understanding by neurotypicals. I very much like these ideas on how to make the effect of this affliction relatable to others.

You might also ask them to play this little game (takes 5 mins) about a little adhdinosaur who is really, really trying to do his best. However, as good as this game is, it may be too whimsical for its own good as people might not take it serious. Yes, the idea is to give the player a sense of frustration, but there's not really anything there to make them think deeply about why and how this affects people like us. But at least, the game page links to a "making of" presentation by the author, as well as other games and resources for/by neurodiverse folk.

What are you reading? Here are a couple of novels that I've grown quite fond of. Common to all of them are that they are freely (and legally) available online; I am not in any way affiliated with them; and they strongly feature female lead characters.

• Worm - An introverted teenage girl with an unconventional superpower, Taylor goes out in costume to find escape from a deeply unhappy and frustrated civilian life. Her first attempt at taking down a supervillain sees her mistaken for one. [...] Taylor faces the dilemma of having to do the wrong things for the right reasons. (Warning: this is longer than LotR and has a wi(l)der array of superpowers than Marvel.)
• Ra - Discovered in the 1970s, magic is now a bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in heavy industry and magic in your home. It's what's next after electricity.
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - In the aftermath of a terrorist attack on the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and BART system, four teenagers defend themselves against the Department of Homeland Security's attacks on the Bill of Rights. (Note: This is a contemporary analogue to Orwell's 1984.)

This Twitter thread was recently posted to reddit. You decide whether it's insightful, depressing, or both. Excerpts (highlights are mine):

Modern life consists of *tasks*. A never-ending series of clearly-defined simple-to-achieve Things. To. Do.
Not problems to solve, questions to answer, ideas to have, dances to learn, or universes to imagine.
Tasks. To complete.

It's not simple to pay a bill. It's not simple to call a support line. It's not simple to mail something to something. It's not simple to do any of the billion simple things we are each expected to do every day.
And if you have ADHD, there is no reward. Only lack of punishment.

Think about that. ADHD people who heal their trauma and their relationship to panic and anxiety and shame *suddenly find themselves unable to do their jobs or focus on their responsibilities*. Why?

Because fear was all that was motivating them. They have to relearn how to want.

This part is, for me at least, the most uplifting:

Let's go back to that trail of half-finished art projects. Do you know why you didn't finish them?
Because there's nothing more there for you to learn.
That's it. Why would you finish them?

Your projects are your way of asking the universe a question, and then digging and digging and digging until the universe answers.
You are motivated by curiosity, and that is a blessed gift, not a source of shame. Your unfinished work is the testament to your growth.

Those aren't abandoned projects -- those are the remaining scaffolds from the the space ships that they launched.
It was never about finishing the thing. Forgive yourself for that.