5 ms·

This is one of those stories, just like the SR-71 "ground speed check" story, that every single time I see it posted I just have to read the entire thing again.

This is one of those stories, just like the SR-71 "ground speed check" story, that every single time I see it posted I just have to read the entire thing again. I love it.

markus_zhang 6mo ago
How about this one? https://www.haiku-os.org/legacy-docs/benewsletter/Issue4-8.html https://www.haiku-os.org/legacy-docs/benewsletter/Issue4-8.h...
- b3lvedere 6mo ago
  That was an awesome read. Thanks.
- ggerules 6mo ago
  Yes! Thanks for posting! This gives the feel of what my career looked like in the 80s and early 90s.
  - markus_zhang 6mo ago
    Man you should share your story. I got through a few Linux device driver labs but the more I read the less I understand. Even the keyboard driver or the tty driver are thousands of lines long. I don’t know how people managed to write graphics card drivers back in the day. In the 80d it’s going to be all assembly code too, I think. They are more black magic than the non-driver kernel components. I can at least understand the concept of kernel components such as VFS/Scheduler and read legacy kernel code without too much trouble, but drivers, even those in Linux 0.12 back in 1991, are crazily hard for me.
jihadjihad 6mo ago
Agreed. Don't forget the "Can't send emails farther than 500 miles" one, too [0]: 0: https://web.mit.edu/jemorris/humor/500-miles https://web.mit.edu/jemorris/humor/500-miles
- rationalist 6mo ago
  More Magic: https://users.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/magic.html https://users.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/magic.html
  - nickt 6mo ago
    I love this one. I thought it was old when I first read it, and today I realised that was 36 years ago!
    - kraquepype 6mo ago
      ~20 years ago for me... I remember finding it when I first started working as a sysadmin. That and the story of the first "bug" report. That was a fun time. https://www.doncio.navy.mil/CHIPS/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=5475 https://www.doncio.navy.mil/CHIPS/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=547...
- rouvax 6mo ago
  For more reading, see also: https://web.archive.org/web/20250719141310/https://dbrgn.ch/stories-from-the-internet.html https://web.archive.org/web/20250719141310/https://dbrgn.ch/... I'm a bit proud of having suggested the author to add the 2019 entry (thanks to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19798678 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19798678). Hopefully there's another repo of Internet stories somewhere else?
- xeonmc 6mo ago
  Not quite tech or sci-fi, but for me it’s https://www.eternal-flame.org/library/oldlibrary/georgebusiness.html https://www.eternal-flame.org/library/oldlibrary/georgebusin...
  - IAmBroom 6mo ago
    Is that the origin of the Sean Connery dragon movie, Dragonheart?
- riffraff 6mo ago
rationalist 6mo ago
Once I discovered that the SR-71 Ground Speed Check is most likely not true, it doesn't hold the same weight for me anymore. Way too many unlikely variables all lining up, and no other accounts of the story from all of the people (pilots, air traffic controller, etc) supposedly on the frequency.
- actionfromafar 6mo ago
  Don't tell me the "dreaded 7-engine approach" also isn't true!
  - rationalist 6mo ago
    Who knows, but there isn't a whole story with details behind it to make someone think is. A short anonymous joke that may or may not be true is better than a long story that is almost certainly made-up by someone in authority.
sebg 6mo ago
For those curious -> https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/sr-71-blackbird-speed-check-story https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/sr-71-blac...
PaulHoule 6mo ago
You better watch out. When my evil twin feels y'all aren't upvoting my posts enough he thinks "let's do a search for articles that have gotten 200+ votes at least 5 times in different years" [1] It's a highly effective strategy that I know dang doesn't like! So I'll post another article about robot grippers which you should upvote instead of the breathless "AI will give us more Nobel Prize winning research" posts because: (1) robots that can change bedpans and pick strawberries really will change the world, and (2) they give out a certain number of Nobel Prizes a year and AI won't change that. [1] old issues of Byte magazine are a good bet: try https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1986-05 https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1986-05
- gwerbin 6mo ago
  As usual, labor saving is only a good idea if the wealth created is distributed throughout society, not redirected to a small group of people.
  - parineum 6mo ago
    And it almost always is through cheaper products to the end user.
    - gwerbin 6mo ago
      Citation needed. Sometimes? Sure. Almost always? Questionable assertion.
      - parineum 6mo ago
        Food, clothing, electronics... Over the longer term and adjusted for inflation of course. Any manufactured good that isn't supply constrained really. Either the products have gotten cheaper (food) or the product has become significantly better at a similar price point (cars) and, often times, both (televisions).
        prerok 6mo ago
CGMthrowaway 6mo ago
People will be reading this story for ten trillion years
Toutouxc 6mo ago
For me it's "The Hunt for the Death Valley Germans", which is often quite problematic.
- derwiki 6mo ago
  I loved reading that. Why is it problematic?
  - JKCalhoun 6mo ago
    Probably because actual people died.
  - cdelsolar 6mo ago
    I am guessing because it takes hours to read.
  - Toutouxc 6mo ago
    Because it’s long and I can’t put it down.
JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
The Gentle Seduction [1], too. [1] https://eyeofmidas.com/scifi/Stiegler_GentleSeduction.pdf https://eyeofmidas.com/scifi/Stiegler_GentleSeduction.pdf
- zem 6mo ago
  hadn't read that one before! thanks for sharing it
dogmatism 6mo ago
If we're just doing fun apocrypha my favorite is the one about the USS Constitution and alcohol consumption

This is one of those stories, just like the SR-71 "ground speed check" story, that every single time I see it posted I just have to read the entire thing again. I love it.

markus_zhang 6mo ago

How about this one? https://www.haiku-os.org/legacy-docs/benewsletter/Issue4-8.html https://www.haiku-os.org/legacy-docs/benewsletter/Issue4-8.h...

b3lvedere 6mo ago
That was an awesome read. Thanks.
ggerules 6mo ago
Yes! Thanks for posting! This gives the feel of what my career looked like in the 80s and early 90s.
- markus_zhang 6mo ago
  Man you should share your story. I got through a few Linux device driver labs but the more I read the less I understand. Even the keyboard driver or the tty driver are thousands of lines long. I don’t know how people managed to write graphics card drivers back in the day. In the 80d it’s going to be all assembly code too, I think. They are more black magic than the non-driver kernel components. I can at least understand the concept of kernel components such as VFS/Scheduler and read legacy kernel code without too much trouble, but drivers, even those in Linux 0.12 back in 1991, are crazily hard for me.

jihadjihad 6mo ago

Agreed. Don't forget the "Can't send emails farther than 500 miles" one, too [0]: 0: https://web.mit.edu/jemorris/humor/500-miles https://web.mit.edu/jemorris/humor/500-miles

rationalist 6mo ago
More Magic: https://users.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/magic.html https://users.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/magic.html
- nickt 6mo ago
  I love this one. I thought it was old when I first read it, and today I realised that was 36 years ago!
  - kraquepype 6mo ago
    ~20 years ago for me... I remember finding it when I first started working as a sysadmin. That and the story of the first "bug" report. That was a fun time. https://www.doncio.navy.mil/CHIPS/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=5475 https://www.doncio.navy.mil/CHIPS/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=547...
rouvax 6mo ago
For more reading, see also: https://web.archive.org/web/20250719141310/https://dbrgn.ch/stories-from-the-internet.html https://web.archive.org/web/20250719141310/https://dbrgn.ch/... I'm a bit proud of having suggested the author to add the 2019 entry (thanks to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19798678 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19798678). Hopefully there's another repo of Internet stories somewhere else?
xeonmc 6mo ago
Not quite tech or sci-fi, but for me it’s https://www.eternal-flame.org/library/oldlibrary/georgebusiness.html https://www.eternal-flame.org/library/oldlibrary/georgebusin...
- IAmBroom 6mo ago
  Is that the origin of the Sean Connery dragon movie, Dragonheart?
riffraff 6mo ago

rationalist 6mo ago

Once I discovered that the SR-71 Ground Speed Check is most likely not true, it doesn't hold the same weight for me anymore. Way too many unlikely variables all lining up, and no other accounts of the story from all of the people (pilots, air traffic controller, etc) supposedly on the frequency.

actionfromafar 6mo ago
Don't tell me the "dreaded 7-engine approach" also isn't true!
- rationalist 6mo ago
  Who knows, but there isn't a whole story with details behind it to make someone think is. A short anonymous joke that may or may not be true is better than a long story that is almost certainly made-up by someone in authority.

sebg 6mo ago

For those curious -> https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/sr-71-blackbird-speed-check-story https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Stories/sr-71-blac...

PaulHoule 6mo ago

You better watch out. When my evil twin feels y'all aren't upvoting my posts enough he thinks "let's do a search for articles that have gotten 200+ votes at least 5 times in different years" [1] It's a highly effective strategy that I know dang doesn't like! So I'll post another article about robot grippers which you should upvote instead of the breathless "AI will give us more Nobel Prize winning research" posts because: (1) robots that can change bedpans and pick strawberries really will change the world, and (2) they give out a certain number of Nobel Prizes a year and AI won't change that. [1] old issues of Byte magazine are a good bet: try https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1986-05 https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1986-05

gwerbin 6mo ago
As usual, labor saving is only a good idea if the wealth created is distributed throughout society, not redirected to a small group of people.
- parineum 6mo ago
  And it almost always is through cheaper products to the end user.
  - gwerbin 6mo ago
    Citation needed. Sometimes? Sure. Almost always? Questionable assertion.
    - parineum 6mo ago
      Food, clothing, electronics... Over the longer term and adjusted for inflation of course. Any manufactured good that isn't supply constrained really. Either the products have gotten cheaper (food) or the product has become significantly better at a similar price point (cars) and, often times, both (televisions).
      - prerok 6mo ago

CGMthrowaway 6mo ago

People will be reading this story for ten trillion years

Toutouxc 6mo ago

For me it's "The Hunt for the Death Valley Germans", which is often quite problematic.

derwiki 6mo ago
I loved reading that. Why is it problematic?
- JKCalhoun 6mo ago
  Probably because actual people died.
- cdelsolar 6mo ago
  I am guessing because it takes hours to read.
- Toutouxc 6mo ago
  Because it’s long and I can’t put it down.

JumpCrisscross 6mo ago

The Gentle Seduction [1], too. [1] https://eyeofmidas.com/scifi/Stiegler_GentleSeduction.pdf https://eyeofmidas.com/scifi/Stiegler_GentleSeduction.pdf

zem 6mo ago
hadn't read that one before! thanks for sharing it

dogmatism 6mo ago

If we're just doing fun apocrypha my favorite is the one about the USS Constitution and alcohol consumption