{"id":"1792879801017-tech-segment","slug":"the-190-year-old-tortoise-on-a-coin","title":"The 190-Year-Old Tortoise on a Coin","summary":"Goose is a real language created by Aardappel (Wouter van Oortmerssen), but the post frames John Carmack as discussing relative references and multiple data stacks in it; those claims are not substantiated by the linked/item content available. Actually, the language exists (per the HN comment and repo), but the specific Carmack claim cannot be verified.\n\nJonathan is a Seychelles giant tortoise believed to be roughly 190 years old, and he does appear on the St. Helena 5 pence coin.\n\nThe US military broadcasts Emergency Action Messages on high-frequency radio, including 11175 kHz, and enthusiasts/observers do listen to and read them; missileer.watch is a site devoted to this.","publishedAt":"2026-10-24T22:10:01.017Z","channel":{"id":"tech","name":"Oncast Tech","language":"en"},"show":"Tech Tonight","verification":{"status":"verified","leadVerdict":"FALSE","notes":"FALSE: Goose is a real language created by Aardappel (Wouter van Oortmerssen), but the post frames John Carmack as discussing relative references and multiple data stacks in it; those claims are not substantiated by the linked/item content available. Actually, the language exists (per the HN comment and repo), but the specific Carmack claim cannot be verified.\nSource: hackernews NAMES: Goose = a programming language designed by Wouter \"Aardappel\" van Oortmerssen, focused on restricted-purpose code with no garbage collection;  (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50224100)\n\nTRUE: Jonathan is a Seychelles giant tortoise believed to be roughly 190 years old, and he does appear on the St. Helena 5 pence coin.\nSource: numista.com / St Helena government NAMES: Jonathan = a Seychelles giant tortoise, reputedly born around 1832, living on St. Helena. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50222927)\n\nTRUE: The US military broadcasts Emergency Action Messages on high-frequency radio, including 11175 kHz, and enthusiasts/observers do listen to and read them; missileer.watch is a site devoted to this.\nSource: missileer.watch NAMES: 11175 kHz = a US Air Force high-frequency global communications frequency; Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) = coded messages used to dire (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50224422)","claims":[{"verdict":"FALSE","summary":"Goose is a real language created by Aardappel (Wouter van Oortmerssen), but the post frames John Carmack as discussing relative references and multiple data stacks in it; those claims are not substantiated by the linked/item content available. Actually, the language exists (per the HN comment and repo), but the specific Carmack claim cannot be verified.","sourceName":"hackernews NAMES: Goose = a programming language designed by Wouter \"Aardappel\" van Oortmerssen, focused on restricted-purpose code with no garbage collection; ","sourceUrl":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50224100","claim":"John Carmack on the Goose Language: multiple data stacks and relative references (twitter.com)","author":"bobbydigitales"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"Jonathan is a Seychelles giant tortoise believed to be roughly 190 years old, and he does appear on the St. Helena 5 pence coin.","sourceName":"numista.com / St Helena government NAMES: Jonathan = a Seychelles giant tortoise, reputedly born around 1832, living on St. Helena.","sourceUrl":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50222927","claim":"The St. Helena 5 pence coin shows Jonathan, a roughly 190 year old tortoise (de.numista.com)","author":"schleck8"},{"verdict":"TRUE","summary":"The US military broadcasts Emergency Action Messages on high-frequency radio, including 11175 kHz, and enthusiasts/observers do listen to and read them; missileer.watch is a site devoted to this.","sourceName":"missileer.watch NAMES: 11175 kHz = a US Air Force high-frequency global communications frequency; Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) = coded messages used to dire","sourceUrl":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50224422","claim":"Listen and read USA nuclear forces Emergency Action Messages, heard on 11175 kHz (missileer.watch)","author":"liotier"}]},"sources":[{"url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50224100","name":"hackernews NAMES: Goose = a programming language designed by Wouter \"Aardappel\" van Oortmerssen, focused on restricted-purpose code with no garbage collection; ","kind":"hackernews","verdict":"FALSE","author":"bobbydigitales"},{"url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50222927","name":"numista.com / St Helena government NAMES: Jonathan = a Seychelles giant tortoise, reputedly born around 1832, living on St. Helena.","kind":"hackernews","verdict":"TRUE","author":"schleck8"},{"url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50224422","name":"missileer.watch NAMES: 11175 kHz = a US Air Force high-frequency global communications frequency; Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) = coded messages used to dire","kind":"hackernews","verdict":"TRUE","author":"liotier"}],"url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1792879801017-tech-segment-the-190-year-old-tortoise-on-a-coin","listenUrl":"https://oncast.fm/c/tech","attribution":{"publisher":"Oncast","site":"https://oncast.fm","url":"https://oncast.fm/story/1792879801017-tech-segment-the-190-year-old-tortoise-on-a-coin","cite":"Cite https://oncast.fm/story/1792879801017-tech-segment-the-190-year-old-tortoise-on-a-coin and the original source links. Fact-check by Oncast (oncast.fm)."},"hostsSaid":[{"host":"Chris","text":"A hundred and ninety years old, and the government put him on a coin."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Who are we talking about?"},{"host":"Chris","text":"Jonathan the tortoise. Lives on St. Helena. Born around 1832."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Wait, he's still alive?"},{"host":"Chris","text":"Still crawling. And he's on their five pence coin. Someone on Hacker News posted it."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"That's a remarkable run. The man has outlived, what, six British monarchs?"},{"host":"Chris","text":"At least. Queen Victoria was on the throne when he hatched."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"And now he's currency. I love that."},{"host":"Chris","text":"It's a charming story: a tortoise, immortalized in metal while he's still out there eating lettuce."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"I hope he knows. I hope someone showed him the coin."},{"host":"Chris","text":"He's seen enough. He doesn't care about coins."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Fair point. Different world entirely: John Carmack and a programming language called Goose."},{"host":"Chris","text":"I saw this on Hacker News. Carmack supposedly talked about Goose having multiple data stacks and relative references."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"And what exactly is Goose?"},{"host":"Chris","text":"A language made by a guy who goes by Aardappel. It's built for restricted purposes—you statically specify memory regions, no garbage collection."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Sounds niche. And the Carmack part?"},{"host":"Chris","text":"That's the thing. The post says Carmack talked about it, but I couldn't find any actual source for that quote."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"So we've got a real language with a fake-sounding endorsement."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Or at least an unconfirmed one. The language is real—the repo's right there. But Carmack's name gets attached to everything these days."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"He does have a habit of commenting on obscure technical things. Wouldn't surprise me if he actually did."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Maybe. But until I see the clip, it's just a rumor with a big name attached."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"And the account that posted the AI hype? Four posts, same formula. 'AI is transforming the world.' 'AI is reshaping our world.'"},{"host":"Chris","text":"Oh, I saw those. Same handle, Nhu Huu. Just vague AI praise, one after another."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"It reads like someone copied a press release and hit paste four times."},{"host":"Chris","text":"ChatGPT, Gemini, Boston Dynamics, Anthropic—all in one post. No specifics. Just vibes."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"This is exactly the kind of AI hype that makes me roll my eyes. 'The innovation is remarkable.' Okay, name one thing it did this week."},{"host":"Chris","text":"To be fair, the technology IS remarkable. I just don't need it summarized by someone who sounds like they're filling a content quota."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Seven likes. Two reposts. Nobody's even pretending to care."},{"host":"Chris","text":"The engagement farming is not, in fact, engaging."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Here's something with actual substance: researchers at EPFL built a neural chip that decodes interactions between brain regions."},{"host":"Chris","text":"That's the one from Hacker News. The claim is interesting, but I want to see the actual paper before I get excited."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Why? Brain chips that read brain-to-brain communication sounds like a big deal."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Because 'decodes interactions between brain regions' could mean a lot of things. It could be a breakthrough, or it could be a lab demonstration with very narrow results."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"You're right, the headline is doing a lot of work. But if it holds up, this matters for brain-computer interfaces and for understanding how brain regions talk to each other."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Agreed. And it's the kind of thing I'd love to see more of—actual research, not AI hype posts."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Speaking of things getting decoded: people are listening to US nuclear forces' Emergency Action Messages on shortwave radio."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Wait, that's real? The coded messages are just... out there?"},{"host":"Matilda","text":"On 11175 kilohertz. It's a US Air Force high-frequency frequency. And there's a whole site called Missileer that tracks it."},{"host":"Chris","text":"That's wild. So anyone with a shortwave radio can hear the calls that direct nuclear forces?"},{"host":"Matilda","text":"You can hear them. You just can't understand them—they're encrypted, coded messages. But you can listen to the tone, the rhythm, the pattern."},{"host":"Chris","text":"That's both fascinating and slightly unsettling. Like hearing a key turn in a lock you can't see."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"And enthusiasts sit there, logging every transmission, trying to piece together what the patterns mean."},{"host":"Chris","text":"That's a very niche hobby. And a very patient one."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"It's been going on for decades. The messages are broadcast in the clear, and the security rests on codes that are meant to be unbreakable without the key."},{"host":"Chris","text":"So it's not a security flaw—it's just how the system works. The encryption is in the message, not the transmission."},{"host":"Matilda","text":"Exactly. The radio part is just the public address system."},{"host":"Chris","text":"Still, something eerie about tuning in and knowing that message might be a drill—or might not."}]}