Love this, nestled in among the posts about forking httpx and similarity search in DuckDB. It makes me want to watch the BBC adaptation of Richard II again, and listen to The Rest Is History's episodes on the same period.
Do you mean the Hollow Crown series? It's very very good stuff, prestige production of the Henriad. Some excellent performances by a fine cast. Opening of course with Richard II, Ben Whishaw playing the king.
Fascinating article, and I never realized until now that I drive past the location of Richard II's original burial site every few days. (Apparently he was reburied at Westminster Abbey.)
I was obsessed with both history and computers when I was young. I've stayed a little close to history by building my career around problems domains in which C is the language of choice.
It's not quite Software Archaeology, but I've run across enough "old code" [1] in my career to keep me happy.
[1] One example is: In 2008 I had to modify code written in 1991 for a long-term Psychology study on rats. It had executed hundreds of times per day for ~17 years at that point. Fun times.
A close family member did just that. They absolutely love history and are super well informed about lots of interesting subjects. The downside is it basically sets you up for becoming a history teacher and that's not the most rewarding career there is.
I love that HN contributions include articles like this, and those about pure science & nature too. They're such a breath of fresh air among the endless AI discussions. People sometimes say they shouldn't be on here. I say they contribute to overall human understanding and are therefore just as relevant as the tech news.
Definitely, >50% reason why I come here, pretty tired from ie endless tirades how recent build of llm is next fire or wheel invention. Also, comments section (sans typical comments why its here which usually get downvoted fast) is often source of new interesting knowledge to me.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/king-richard-iii-car-par...
It's not quite Software Archaeology, but I've run across enough "old code" [1] in my career to keep me happy.
[1] One example is: In 2008 I had to modify code written in 1991 for a long-term Psychology study on rats. It had executed hundreds of times per day for ~17 years at that point. Fun times.
Recommended, as is The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, for the same reason. Also that’s just beautifully written.