https://blog.c0nrad.io/posts/getting-better-at-ctfs/
I’m currently building an app using Next.js ( dmarcdefender.io). I’m not sure how I feel about it (it being Next.JS, dmarcdefender is amazing). It’s both amazing and terrifying, seamlessly jumping between client-side and server-side code. I don’t really like magic, but it is nice having one single environment, one set of types, complete DRY across the client and server, and SSR/SSG for free.
Part of the magic is the Flight protocol. If you’ve ever inspected the network tab of a Next.js app, you’ve probably seen some gobbledygook:
Today’s project is to make yesterday’s stub resolver a recursive resolver. Specifically I want to start with the root.hints and go down the chain till I get the A record for c0nrad.io.
https://gist.github.com/c0nrad/8497352c18d27b93c67a530663335a55
Steps/usr/share/dns/root.hintsI realized I haven’t done much learning in a while ( https://dmarcdefender.io is my current project, but it’s just standard SaaS work). So I figured I might try to spend an hour or two each day learning something new.
Today’s project was building a super simple DNS resolver. The goal was just to resolve the A record for c0nrad.io into an IP address.
I had an idea for a fun “grid search” pathfinding algorithm for MIT battlecode, so decided to write a little playground in JS. This article covers the results.
New project! Using AI to read SWU card aspects.
I just finished a coursera course on Deep Learning and Neural Networks so figured I’d try to do something with my newfound knowledge!
In this project I’ll be building some NN (Neural Networks) manually that will take in a Star Wars Unlimited card image and determine if “isHeroic”, “isVillainous”, and “isNeutral” by reading the aspects on the top left.
At this point I only know how to do binary classifiers… so yes or no questions. So this will be part 1, in the future I should be able to ask more interesting questions of the models like “Who is the artist”, “How many resources does this card cost”, “what are the traits”, etc.
A new electronics project! It’s a simple circuit that just keeps track of base health for Star Wars Unlimited (SWU) trading card game. This was my first time making/ordering a PCB, and I learned a lot along the way.
Problem StatementTo keep track of your base health in SWU, people usually use little damage tokens (in increments of 1/3/5/10), or dice. But I don’t like these.
Every once in a while I either get a Discord message or see a post about someone who is feeling down about not doing well on CTFs. To be honest, I also sometimes make the mistake of feeling down when I compare myself to others.
As we go into 2025, here are my opinions on why we both shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves.
1. CTFs are not “Real World” Security
We build out a simple Ising model simulator for future expansion.
We derive wien’s constant using plank’s blackbody radiation formula.
This post covers a script I wrote for generating the clebsch-gordan coefficients by scratch.
We solve for the different types of orbits of the Kepler Problem (two body central force problems).
Plot the effective potential for the two body force simulation.
Day one of building 99 simulations. We’ll reduce a problem that at first requires 6 parameters with coupling, to a problem with just 3 (or 2, depending on how you look at it) by exploiting the symmetry. “Nature does not care how we describe her”.
I had fun building a new product with my partner called Slack LaTeX. It’s a slack app for embedding formatted equations (through LaTeX). This post covers some of the motivation and some of the fun technical architecture design decisions.
Initial version of a quantum circuit editor.
Another attempt at a factoring algorithm.
This post covers the simplest of error models and some simulated randomized benchmarking results.
This post covers my transition from using pure states to mixed states in my quantum simulator.
QHack 2021 submission project, a tool for brute forcing quantum multiplication circuits.
Plasma leak the game.
Solving Laplace’s/Poisson’s equation using the method of relaxation.
Setting up a metrics endpoint for thermoshat.
Updates and finalizing the thermoshat project.
Introducing the thermoshat. A raspberry pi to adjust my manual thermostat with the added of thrill of increased fire danger.
It’s alive! https://blog.c0nrad.io/feynman
Starting a new project for validating Feynman diagrams.
Thinking out loud about my future.
A smaller project involving plotting ionization energy for different effective nuclear charge models.
Brute forcing the generators for SO(3).
Simulating a particle under the influence. (Of electric and magnetic fields).
Simulations Klein Gordon Eqn as a set of connected springs.
Discussion of one of my longest living software bugs.
Calculating scattering angles from fully elastic spherical collision.
Terminal application showing the spectral lines for electron transitions in hydrogen.
Double Slit Interference Pattern demo.
Some fun inverting matrixes.
More fun with vector calc/electromagnetism.
Playing with three.js to do some vector visualizations.
Progress on a vector calculus library in javascript.
Some exploration into numerical integration.
Some exploration into numerical differentiation.
Shor’s algorithm is probably the most well known quantum algorithm. But it turns out I didn’t understand it as well as I thought.
I’m pretty excited. I’m somewhat in disbelief that it even works. But I was able to implement Quantum Fourier Transform on my little quantum computation simulator.
This post is split into two parts. The first section is my motivation, and some background on the upgrades I made to my quantum simulator. The second part is implementing the Quantum Teleportation algorithm.
We moved to Florida! Made a little video.
Part 2 of calculating the electron wavefunctions for hydrogen.
It’s crazy to think my startup is already over 6 months old. This post is some informal reflections on that period.
The code/math behind calculating the electron wavefunctions for hydrogen.
A quick guide on getting started with GiNaC on macos.
Calculating the stationary states of an electron in a quantum infinite well.
Programming the equation we derived in the last post.
My attempt at calculating the resulting velocities of two spheres colliding in 3D.