Image: UnsplashHow Sputnik Created the Internet
Sputnik beeped in 1957 and the resulting scramble produced ARPANET, TCP/IP, and the modern Internet. How a Cold War overreaction led to internet porn and cat memes.
THE ARCHIVE / CATEGORY
Culture.
Internet history, developer culture, and the rituals we all pretend are normal.
Image: Unsplash
Image: GeminiWhat Is /dev/null, Anyway?
Learn what /dev/null is on Unix-like systems, how it discards data, and why developers use the null device in shell commands and scripts.
Image: Monty PythonWhy Do We Call It Spam?
A brief history of how a Monty Python sketch from the 1970s became synonymous with unwanted communication
War Against the Em Dash
A eulogy for the em dash, a misunderstood punctuation mark that has become the center of AI accusations and workplace finger-pointing.
Did AI Kill Stack Overflow? A Postmortem for the Living
Did AI kill Stack Overflow? Not quite. This postmortem dives into how developers now turn to AI for help, and why Stack Overflow’s still around, though its role has definitely evolved.
HBO's Silicon Valley 10 Years Later: Ranking Jared's Best Lines
Celebrating 10 years since Silicon Valley debuted, we’re honoring one of the show’s most bizarre and unforgettable characters: Jared Dunn. In tribute to this iconic character, let’s revisit some of his most memorable and absurd lines.
What the Hell Are You Guys Doing on Blind?
Blind, once a hub for transparency in tech, has evolved into a space dominated by toxic negativity, career insecurities, and personal frustrations. How did it get here, and what can we do about it?