Hacker News with Generative AI: History

Arthur Frommer, 95, Dies; His Guidebooks Opened Travel to the Masses (nytimes.com)
Arthur Frommer, who expanded the horizons of postwar Americans and virtually invented the low-budget travel industry with his seminal guidebook, “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day: A Guide to Inexpensive Travel,” which introduced millions to an experience once considered the exclusive domain of the wealthy, died on Monday at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 95.
Travel, History, Publishing, Biography
6 points by bookofjoe 9 hours ago | 0 comments
Happy 60th birthday to the Moog – the machine that changed music (thetimes.com)
Music, Technology, History
8 points by voxadam 11 hours ago | 1 comments
The Ottoman Origins of Modernity (cremieux.xyz)
This post is brought to you by my sponsor, Warp.
History, Ottoman Empire, Modernity
4 points by paulpauper 14 hours ago | 0 comments
La Basilica Di San Pietro (microsoft.com)
Photogrammetry, AI, and digital preservation combine to create a digital twin of St. Peter’s Basilica with thousands of images, allowing visitors to explore it in detail from anywhere in the world.
Photogrammetry, AI, Digital Preservation, Virtual Reality, History
130 points by geox 15 hours ago | 61 comments
What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme? (2021) (stackexchange.com)
This image, the template for the "Panzer of the Lake" meme, depicts a soldier from an unknown nation looking at what appears to me to definitely be a Panzer. However, no-one seems to know the origins of the image. So, where and when was this image taken, and where was the image originally published?
Memes, History, Images, Military
523 points by napolux 17 hours ago | 116 comments
AWS Lambda turns 10: A rare look at the doc that started it (allthingsdistributed.com)
SEATTLE – (Nov XX, 2014) – Amazon Web Services LLC (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ:AMZN), today announced the introduction of AWS Lambda, the simplest way to run code in the cloud.
AWS, Cloud Computing, Serverless Computing, History, Amazon
4 points by danielklnstn 22 hours ago | 0 comments
German WWII Soldier Grave Found with Mesolithic Tools, Roman and Byzantine Coins (labrujulaverde.com)
The Tuchola Forest in northern Poland continues to reveal its secrets as archaeologists explore its vast woods and lakes.
Archaeology, History, Poland, Ancient History
5 points by petethomas 1 day ago | 0 comments
A wrinkle in how Windows 95 setup bootstrapped its initial GUI step (microsoft.com)
Recall that Windows 95 setup could potentially use three operating systems. Now, most of the work happened in the 16-bit Windows GUI app, and that code wanted to use fancy new controls like list views and property sheets.
Operating Systems, Windows 95, History, User Interface, Software Development
19 points by taspeotis 1 day ago | 0 comments
ChipWits Macintosh/Commodore 64 Forth source code released (chipwits.com)
This month marks the 🎈🎈🎈 40th anniversary of ChipWits! 🎈🎈🎈 To celebrate, we’re releasing all of the original Mac and Commodore 64 FORTH source code (or as much as we could recover) as open source!
Programming, Retro Computing, Open Source, History, Commodore 64
12 points by classichasclass 1 day ago | 0 comments
Railroads inspired the creation of time zones (bbc.com)
The invention of railroads ushered in a new era of land travel, and forever changed the way humans perceive time.
History, Transportation, Time
5 points by rmason 1 day ago | 0 comments
Arthur Frommer, travel guide innovator, has died at 95 (apnews.com)
NEW YORK (AP) — Arthur Frommer, whose “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day” guidebooks revolutionized leisure travel by convincing average Americans to take budget vacations abroad, has died. He was 95.
Travel, Biography, History
4 points by toomuchtodo 1 day ago | 1 comments
The Political Afterlife of Paradise Lost (newstatesman.com)
In 1790, 126 years after John Milton was buried beneath the floor of St Giles’s, Cripplegate, his coffin was broken open by builders renovating the church.
Politics, History, Literature
54 points by drdee 1 day ago | 15 comments
A Man of Parts and Learning Fara Dabhoiwala on the Portrait of Francis Williams (lrb.co.uk)
Biography, Art, History, Literature
22 points by bryanrasmussen 2 days ago | 2 comments
What Is ServiceNow? (fillout.com)
When something broke in the ’90’s, you’d reach for paper and fill out a support ticket. You, in this division at this company, have this exact problem with the Xerox machine in room X on floor Y. Drop the paper in your outbox, and the mail clerks would whisk it away to the service desk’s inbox. After three to five business days (if you were lucky) your request would be fulfilled.
Service Management, IT, Software, History
8 points by dominicwhyte 2 days ago | 6 comments
ChipWits FORTH is now Open Source A taste of Game Dev in 1984 (chipwits.com)
This month marks the 🎈🎈🎈 40th anniversary of ChipWits! 🎈🎈🎈 To celebrate, we’re releasing all of the original Mac and Commodore 64 FORTH source code (or as much as we could recover) as open source!
Open Source, Retro Gaming, Programming Languages, History
9 points by chipwits 2 days ago | 0 comments
Austen and Darwin converged on the question of beauty (aeon.co)
In 1833, two years into his five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle, a 24-year-old Charles Darwin wrote a letter home to his sister Catherine, entreating her for supplies.
Literature, Science, History
41 points by gmays 2 days ago | 5 comments
20 years of Google Scholar (google)
To celebrate 20 years of Google Scholar, we’re sharing some fun facts about the go-to resource for researchers worldwide.
Google, Research, History, Anniversaries
406 points by thepuppet33r 3 days ago | 186 comments
November 1861: Chalmers' under Channel railway (theengineer.co.uk)
In 1861 The Engineer reported on an early proposal to build a subsea railway across the English Channel
History, Engineering, Transportation
22 points by timthorn 3 days ago | 9 comments
IMG_0001 (walzr.com)
Between 2009 and 2012, iPhones had a built-in "Send to YouTube" button in the Photos app.
iPhone, YouTube, Mobile Apps, History, iOS
28 points by walz 3 days ago | 3 comments
Steve Jobs Archive (stevejobsarchive.com)
The Steve Jobs Archive is the authoritative home for Steve’s story and a resource for new generations eager to make their own mark.
Steve Jobs, Biography, Technology, History, Archives
19 points by tzury 3 days ago | 0 comments
Why did Windows 95 setup use three operating systems? (microsoft.com)
Twitter users @tthirtle asked why Windows 95 setup goes through three operating systems: MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, and then Windows 95. Why not go from MS-DOS straight to Windows 95?
Operating Systems, History, Windows 95, MS-DOS
302 points by mooreds 3 days ago | 190 comments
The Stone Soup Theory of Billionaires (asomo.co)
In recent years there’s been a strong outbreak of the Great Man Theory of History. This is the idea that single powerful or inspired men - literally men - create history and should be adored, or, on the flip side, reviled.
Billionaires, History, Economics, Social Commentary
11 points by Dogwash24 4 days ago | 6 comments
The decline and fall of the British economy (2022) (worksinprogress.co)
When America’s economy overtook Britain’s a century ago, it remade the world order. How it happened is still debated.
Economics, History, United Kingdom, United States
86 points by MrBuddyCasino 4 days ago | 124 comments
King Arthur's ancient trail across Britain (cnn.com)
History, Archaeology, England, United Kingdom, Mythology
45 points by peutetre 4 days ago | 41 comments
Gandhi's Letter to Hitler (1940) (mkgandhi.org)
That I address you as a friend is no formality. I own no foes. My business in life has been for the past 33 years to enlist the friendship of the whole of humanity by befriending mankind, irrespective of race, colour or creed.
History, Politics, India
115 points by wslh 4 days ago | 128 comments
Why on Earth do we have 29.97fps? (2021) (reddit.com)
A couple of days ago, I was chatting with a friend of mine and during that conversation she expressed puzzlement as to why fractional frame rates like 29.97 existed. I gave her the two-dollar explanation but then thought others might find it interesting to know how these bizarre frame rates historically came about.
History, Video, Technology
31 points by aragonite 4 days ago | 2 comments
2001 Anthrax Attacks (wikipedia.org)
The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax (a portmanteau of "America" and "anthrax", from its FBI case name),[1] occurred in the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Terrorism, History, Biology, United States
5 points by sandwichsphinx 4 days ago | 0 comments
The Final Hours of Half-Life 2 (gamespot.com)
The newest installment in Geoff Keighley's Behind the Games series covers the turbulent development of Half-Life 2. This special feature takes you behind the scenes on the development of the game at Valve Software, including exclusive details on the infamous source code leak.
Video Games, Development, Game Design, History, Leaks
12 points by ydnaclementine 4 days ago | 1 comments
James Gleick's Chaos: The Software (github.com/rudyrucker)
This is a free release of the source, manual, and executables of a 1991 Autodesk DOS program that was called "James Gleick's CHAOS: The Software."
Software, Programming, History, Retro Computing, DOS
264 points by signa11 4 days ago | 33 comments
Thomas E. Kurtz, a Creator of Basic Computer Language, Dies at 96 (nytimes.com)
Thomas E. Kurtz, a pioneering mathematician at Dartmouth and an inventor of the simplified computer programming language known as BASIC, which allowed students to easily operate early computers and eventually propelled generations into the world of personal computing, died on Tuesday in Lebanon, N.H. He was 96.
Computer Programming, History, Obituary, Technology
20 points by stonlyb 4 days ago | 1 comments