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Cake day: January 24th, 2025

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  • I know people hate AI, but I fed the OP pic to Claude and asked it to explain the code and maybe gice modern comparisons to something like Python.


    This is AGC (Apollo Guidance Computer) assembly code from the lunar module’s landing radar routines. Let me walk through it:


    P63SPOT3 — “Is the antenna in position yet?”

    CA   BIT6
    EXTEND
    RAND CHAN33
    EXTEND
    BZF  P63SPOT4
    

    Reads a hardware channel (CHAN33) to check the state of the landing radar antenna. BZF means “Branch if Zero” — if the antenna bit is already set, skip ahead.

    if radar_channel_33 & BIT6 == 0:
        goto("P63SPOT4")
    

    “Nope, not there yet — bug the astronaut”

    CAF  CODE500
    TC   BANKCALL
    CADR GOPERF1
    

    Loads error code 500 and calls GOPERF1 — this triggers a crew alert, literally asking the astronaut to manually crank the antenna into position. The comment says it all: “PLEASE CRANK THE SILLY THING AROUND”

    display_alert(code=500, message="Antenna not in position, please fix manually")
    await_crew_response()
    

    “Did they fix it or bail?”

    TCF  GOTOPOOH  # TERMINATE
    TCF  P63SPOT3  # PROCEED — SEE IF HE'S LYING
    

    Two possible outcomes: crew hits terminate (GOTOPOOH — yes, really), or hits proceed and the code loops back to P63SPOT3 to check again. “See if he’s lying” is the actual comment, meaning: verify they actually moved it.

    if crew_pressed == "terminate":
        goto("GOTOPOOH")
    else:
        goto("P63SPOT3")  # trust but verify
    

    P63SPOT4 — “Okay, antenna’s good, initialize radar”

    TC   BANKCALL
    CADR SETPOS1
    

    Calls SETPOS1 to initialize the landing radar into position 1.

    bankcall(SETPOS1)  # configure radar for landing approach
    

    “And we’re off”

    TC   POSTJUMP
    CADR BURNBABY
    

    BURNBABY. That’s the actual name of the burn routine. Jumps to the powered descent initiation — the engine ignition sequence for landing.

    goto("BURNBABY")  # 🔥 start the descent burn
    

    The whole thing is basically: check hardware → nag human if needed → loop until fixed → initialize systems → light the engine. Written by people with a great sense of humor under enormous pressure, in 4KB of RAM.

















  • That population comment has me wondering now. Is there a country that the population of itself, would NOT fit inside.

    Like maybe some random tiny European country that produces a lot of people who go live in larger nearby countries, but they are still citizens of their home land. Then for some reason, they all decide to return home.

    I guess my point is, that actually could very easily be true, that there is a country that can’t actually contain its population.

    I mean, physically, probably not, but more like, with houses and shit.