...Whoa

Happy birthday, internet! by Huinesoron on 2019-10-29 20:18:55 UTC Reply

In about ten hours, it will have been precisely 50 years since the very first message was transmitted over ARPANET, the original core of the Internet. I'm extremely pleased to inform you that the very first letters transmitted were 'LOL'.

Yes, as Wikipedia confirms, they tried to transmit 'LOGIN', but the system crashed after two letters. An hour later, they started over from L again. ^_^ The more things change...

I once met the guy who developed ARPAnet by Elcalion on 2019-11-01 09:05:49 UTC Reply

Or at least whose company did.

Leo Beranek, who is one of the pioneers of acoustics as a consulting field, set up the company that developed ARPAnet, I met him at a conference around ten years ago and got him to autograph my copy of his book. Really interesting guy (he died 3 years ago at 102 so as you can imagine he saw a lot in his years!)

Elcalion

That's awesome! by Neo Skater on 2019-11-01 22:03:13 UTC Reply

I'm happy for you. I hope you enjoyed it.

As for me, I'm just gonna keep digging around in my Mac's files searching for a semblance of meaning.
...Whoa by Thoth on 2019-11-01 11:01:37 UTC Reply

THAT Beranek? As in, Bolt, Beranek, and Newman?

One of the first timesharing computers? Inventors of E-mall as we know it? Home of the original Colossal Cave Adventure, the first text adventure? Developer of countless computer networks, including building the first packet switch nodes for the ARPAnet? Owner of the second-oldest Domain name on the internet? Partial developers of TCP? Home of Interlisp? Creators of Logo? Authors of TENEX? Canonical home of influential computer scientist J.C.R. Licklider?

Okay, I'm impressed.

Yep, that Beranek by Elcalion on 2019-11-04 16:59:31 UTC Reply

It's worth reading his autobiography (Riding the Waves) if you ever find a copy, very interesting

Heh... by S.M.F. on 2019-10-30 18:19:29 UTC Reply

This (the fact, not this exact announcement) ended up being a wake-up call for me yesterday. Funny how these things work out...
*chortles* by Cassie on 2019-10-30 04:14:20 UTC Reply

throws confetti for the Internetti
Happy Birthday, Internet by Thoth on 2019-10-30 00:25:23 UTC Reply

In celebration, I recommend ordering cheap chinese food and decorating any old Digital minicomputers you can find.

You probably won't find any...