ConciseSignal

Super Metroid FAQ written with perfect line alignment

Here's a niche internet feat: in the late 1990s, someone known as 'rs1n' wrote a 17,000-word FAQ for the game Super Metroid, formatting every line so its right edge lined up perfectly—no extra spaces, no hyphens, no software tricks. They did it all by hand, just by choosing their words so each line fit exactly. The result: impressively smooth to look at, slightly stilted to read.

Why it mattersIt's a reminder of how digital writing can be shaped by technical constraints, and how far someone will go for craft—a precursor to modern text manipulation, with lessons about legibility and authenticity.

Sources covering this

Daring Fireball★ Writing With Unnatural Constraints6:07 PM
Concise Signal DailyEverything that mattered, every weekday at 7am.

More in Future Tech

3 sources · 15h ago

Scientists publish full brain map for male fruit fly

Scientists have published the first complete map of all 166,000-plus nervous system cells in an adult male fruit fly, detailing every connection in the brain and nerve cord. The decade-long project was a collaboration between Google Research, HHMI Janelia, and other researchers, and follows the earlier complete map of a female fruit fly brain. AI powered much of the analysis, stitching together data from millions of images.

2 sources · 7h ago

Modder runs DLSS 5 neural rendering on a second GPU

A developer has demonstrated a way to run Nvidia's DLSS 5 neural rendering on a second graphics card, letting one GPU handle the game's visuals while the other does the AI-based post-processing. This setup—involving two RTX 5060 Ti cards and a tool called MGPU Bridge—can boost performance by up to 127%, but it requires two displays and adds noticeable delay between input and what you see on screen. You can try it yourself via GitHub.

2 sources · 15h ago

German firm launches Europe's first commercial orbital rocket

Isar Aerospace, a German company, has become the first in Europe to launch a fully commercial rocket into orbit. The two-stage Spectrum rocket reached low-Earth orbit on Saturday after lifting off from Norway's Andøya Spaceport. No European private company had previously accomplished this. Company leaders called it a new chapter for European spaceflight and said they aim to expand production to fulfill existing orders.

2 sources · 12h ago

ISRO rejects privatisation claims, confirms new private space roles

India's space agency ISRO says it's not being privatised, despite a recent push to let private companies and public-sector firms take over established satellite and rocket production. ISRO will stick to advanced research, challenging space missions, and new tech, while private players handle large-scale, routine manufacturing. This reassurance follows concerns from ISRO employee groups after officials suggested private firms could fully take over launch vehicle building.