The Long History of MDMA
Rachel Nuwer’s “I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World,” is clearly aimed at a broad audience. It will resonate with readers who have experienced MDMA recreationally, probably at a rave, or therapeutically, probably to heal the emotional aftereffects of deep-seated trauma. Or both. But it’s also intended for readers […]
History of Cartography: Volumes One, Two, Three, Four, and Six (1987)
The first volume of the History of Cartography was published in 1987 and the three books that constitute Volume Two appeared over the following eleven years. In 1987 the worldwide web did not exist, and since 1998 book publishing has gone through a revolution in the production and dissemination of work. Although the large format […]
The History of Windows 95
In February of 1992, the development of Windows 3.1 was nearing a close, and the Windows team was trying to figure out what their next steps would be. By the 5th of March, the team knew that they’d be focusing on desktops, laptops, mobile, and pen with NT taking servers and workstations. The team also […]
A History of the Amen Break: From the Winstons to Futurama and Om Unit
The history of sample-based music is intertwined with a 1969 funk instrumental track by the name of “Amen Brother.” The seemingly innocuous B-side by The Winstons gave birth to the most important drum break in history: the amen break. You’ve likely heard the name before, you’ve definitely heard the sample before, hell you may have […]
The History of Windows 2.0
After the release of Windows 1.0 on the 20th of November in 1985, Tandy Trower had precious little time to come up with a sequel. He had roughly 18 months to be slightly more precise. His first tasks were those features he’d wanted for Windows 1.0 but had little time to work on. Overlapping windows, […]
A History of Clojure (2020) [pdf]
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Tor’s history of D/DoS attacks and future strategies for mitigation
I’m investigating the applicability of the IETF’s DDoS Open ThreatSignaling (DOTS) specifications[1] to the needs of privacy-preservingoverlay networks, including VPNs but with particular interest in Tor. Specifically, now that the July 2022 D/DoS attack has finally come to aclose, I’m wondering about: 1. the history, frequency, and magnitude of D/DoS attacks against the Tor network; 2. […]
The History of Coffee
No one knows exactly how or when coffee was discovered, though there are many legends about its origin. An Ethiopian Legend Coffee grown worldwide can trace its heritage back centuries to the ancient coffee forests on the Ethiopian plateau. There, legend says the goat herder Kaldi first discovered the potential of these beloved beans. The […]
Is history written by the winners?
The August Coup, an attempted Soviet coup d’état, Moscow, 1991. Wikimedia Commons. ‘The powerful of one era are not the same as those of the preceding one’ Levi Roach, Associate Professor of Medieval History at the University of Exeter and author of Empires of the Normans: Makers of Europe, Conquerors of Asia (John Murray, 2022). […]
The history of fire escapes
If you have more than a few microservices, their interdependencies get hard to reason about. I worked for a few years on a project to manage and control microservice dependencies and to make sure it would be possible to turn the company’s tech stack back on if we ever turned it off. Silvia Esparrachiari, Ashleigh […]