Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026In 1995, a tiny pixelated heart on a Japanese pager became the most important thing on the screen. When it disappeared, young people left. One man never forgot and went on to draw the original 176 emoji. Listen to With Heart: Emoji Interpreters. foundinthemachine.com/episodes/19-... 001
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026In the summer of 1939, at the New York World's Fair, a woman sat beneath a three-story mural of a shouting man and shaped raw electricity into a human voice. "Inflection" is a story about what happens when you take speech apart. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. pod.link/1879625858/e... 000
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 08/09/2026If you listen to my podcast and want more stories, I recently started a Patreon where I’m sharing mini bonus episodes every other week. The first few are about Mortal Kombat 🎮, the Escape key ⌨️, and CRT sea glass 🌊. The Patreon and more ways to support the show: foundinthemachine.com/support/foundinthemachine.comSupport the ShowMake a one-time donation to the show or become a subscriber on Patreon. 000
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026In 1965, two cosmonauts fell out of the sky into a frozen forest, trapped inside a cramped capsule far from rescue. Their survival and their journey home relied on an intricate mechanical computer made of aluminum, clockwork, and paper. Listen to ep 17: Dead Reckoning ✨🌍✨ pod.link/1879625858/e... 052
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026In 1944, six women working as “Computers” and a deaf mathematician in a basement near Liverpool helped determine the outcome of the war by predicting the tides. Newest episode of Found in the Machine: Tidal Forces foundinthemachine.com/episodes/15-... #wwiihistory #hiddenfigures 110
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 28/07/2026TIL the Internet Archive has a full audiobook of One Million Random Digits and 100,000 Normal Deviates and I’m so happy 🔢 archive.org/details/a-mi...archive.orgA Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates - Audio Edition : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet ArchiveAn audiobook edition of the book A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates 262
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 24/07/2026The newest episode of Found in the Machine follows the strange history of how we try to manufacture randomness and the lengths that we go to to capture the real thing. foundinthemachine.com/episodes/14-... #TechHistory #Cryptography #Infosec #Podcast #Privacy #RetroComputing 100
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 07/07/2026In 2003, Mark Klein started noticing strange things about a room in his building. Room 641A. Episode 13 of Found in the Machine about the infrastructure we look past, government mass surveillance, and why the machine Mark discovered never actually turned off. foundinthemachine.com/episodes/13-...foundinthemachine.comHalf-Light: Mark Klein and Room 641AA brutalist fortress in San Francisco serves as a vital artery for the American internet. In 2003, AT&T technician Mark Klein started noticing strange things on the sixth floor of that building. Stran... 100
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 24/06/2026Two competitors built a shared language for their synths in 1983 and published it in the open. A few years later, a teenager in Detroit used it to create what's widely seen as the first techno track. The newest episode of Found in the Machine is out now foundinthemachine.com/episodes/12-... 020
Reposted by Daina BouquinSciPy Conference 2026 @scipyconf.bsky.social · 17/06/2026📖 Talk Spotlight: Ever wonder why README files exist? @dbouquin.bsky.social traces their surprisingly human history from 1970s punch cards to today's code culture. Why a file called "Read Me" matters more than you think 🐰 #SciPy2026 🔗 scipy2026.scipy.org 075
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 11/06/2026In 24 hours I'll be hosting #NumericallySpeakingLIVE and talking about why your Python is so slow with @circuitswan.bsky.social. We'll write some terrible code and use profiling tools to figure out where it falls apart. Friday, June 12th 11a PT / 1p CT / 7p GMT www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwU1...youtube.comWhy Is My Python So Slow? Let's Profile It Live : Numerically Speaking LIVEYouTube video by Anaconda, Inc. 032
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 10/06/2026In 1916, a chemist dipped his pen into molten tin and accidentally invented the process that grows nearly every silicon wafer on Earth. He never knew what he had done. New episode of Found in the Machine is out now. 🎙️ foundinthemachine.com/episodes/11-working-in-the-dark-secrets-silicon-and-lightfoundinthemachine.comWorking in the Dark: Secrets, Silicon, and LightIn 1916, a tired chemist in a Berlin laboratory accidentally dipped his fountain pen into a pool of molten tin and pulled out the foundation of the digital world. He had no idea what he had done. In t... 031
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 26/05/2026There was a time when the Internet came in the mail. This newest episode of Found in the Machine is about the woman behind AOLs carpet bombing strategy and what happened next 🎙️ foundinthemachine.com/episodes/10-...foundinthemachine.comAmerica on Hold: How the Internet ArrivedShe was a copywriter turned marketer who watched focus groups attempt to use computers. She knew the internet wasn't a product you could sell. You needed to give people a way in. Her name was Jan Bran... 023
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 21/05/2026I launched a companion newsletter to Found in the Machine. Notes from the Machine: scripts, cut content, sources, and a note from me with each episode. For listeners who want to go further than the audio. notes.foundinthemachine.comnotes.foundinthemachine.comNotes from the MachineScripts, cut scenes, images, and sources from each episode of Found in the Machine. 000
Reposted by Daina BouquinJill Walker Rettberg @jilltxt.bsky.social · 20/05/2026New dataset published: this is the audio + transcripts of AI-generated podcasts using NotebookLM to analyse how it "translated" source documents from different times and cultures. My favourites are the 20 podcasts generated from an empty PDF. The paper about it is in press. doi.org/10.18710/RNT...doi.orgA dataset of AI-generated podcasts created using NotebookLMAudio files and transcripts of AI-generated podcasts created using Google's NotebookLM. Four podcasts were created by uploading specific PDFs. Twen... 16699243
Reposted by Daina BouquinPodcast Delivery @podcastdelivery.com · 20/05/2026Explore the hidden stories behind the code in Found in the Machine: Forgotten Tech History. This podcast uncovers the unsung heroes and pivotal moments that shaped our digital world, perfect for the curious minds who love to unravel mysteries. 101
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 18/05/2026Found in the Machine has a bookshop now! The Computing History list featuring the hidden labor, erased pioneers, and cultural history behind the field. Supports indie bookstores and the podcast (affiliate). 🌟 bookshop.org/shop/foundinthemachinebookshop.orgFound in the Machine BookshopHello! Thank you for supporting the Found in the Machine podcast. I've posted some suggestions in the lists, but the whole site has great reads. Your purchases support independent bookstores across th... 021
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 12/05/2026My 4yo son asked me I there are holiday songs that aren’t about Christmas. I said of course. He asked if I could sing one so I panicked and sang him This is Halloween from Nightmare Before Christmas. If you have a favorite non-Christmas holiday song I’d love to know it for future reference 🎃 010
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 12/05/2026The Apollo computer's memory had to be woven. Wire by wire, by women whose names never made it into NASA's reports. It also needed integrated circuits, built by Navajo women with "innate" rug weaving skills. New episode of Found in the Machine about the weavers: foundinthemachine.com/episodes/9-t... 053
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 11/05/2026My podcast has a new name. Lore in the Machine is now Found in the Machine. Same show, same stories about hidden histories in computing. Better name. foundinthemachine.com New episode drops tomorrow 120
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 28/04/2026Newest episode of Lore in the Machine is about the CAPTCHA. But it's really about what happens when the Turing Test flips. And what we were unknowingly building while we squinted at blurry letters. loreinthemachine.com/episodes/8-i... #techhistory #internethistory #podcastloreinthemachine.comI’m Not a Robot: The Internet's Human TestYou’ve done this so many times you don’t think about it anymore. A box appears. You squint at some blurry letters, type them out, check the box. Sometimes it works on the first try. Sometimes it doesn... 000
Reposted by Daina BouquinMerriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 21/04/2026Happy National Library Week to whoever did this. 111961361
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 16/04/2026NVIDIA's most powerful AI chip is named after a Cold War mathematician most people have never heard of. His story is episode 7 of Lore in the Machine: loreinthemachine.com/episodes/7-t... #HistoryOfAI #DavidBlackwell #NVIDIA #MachineLearning 021
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 31/03/2026Four times a year, strangers fly to a secure facility, enter a metal cage inside a signal-proof room, and turn keys in unison to keep the internet secure. New episode of Lore in the Machine 🎧 loreinthemachine.com/episodes/6-a-ritual-to-secure-the-internet #infosec #DNSSEC #cybersecurity #techhistory 061
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 17/03/2026The newest episode of Lore in the Machine is live! In 2008, one guy quietly saved the Internet. No one noticed. Listen and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts 🔊🎧 loreinthemachine.com/episodes/5-p... #cybersecurity #techhistory #didyouknow #dns 030
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 03/03/2026Lore in the Machine is live! Four episodes are up. Ep1 asks why programmers say 'foo'. The answer involves a very strange comic strip from the 1930s, a WWII radar operator, and more model trains than you'd expect. New episodes every other week loreinthemachine.com #computing #history #techhistoryloreinthemachine.comLore in the MachineStories from Beyond the Screen. A podcast about the hidden histories and surprising origins woven into computing culture, hosted by Daina Bouquin. 043
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 24/02/2026Devs type "foo" but few know it comes from a 1930s comic strip. I've been collecting stories like this for ages without knowing what to do with them. So I made a show. Lore in the Machine tells the strange stories behind the tools we use every day. Trailer is up. Hope you enjoy: loreinthemachine.comloreinthemachine.comLore in the MachineStories from Beyond the Screen. A podcast about the hidden histories and surprising origins woven into computing culture, hosted by Daina Bouquin. 010
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 04/02/2026I recently made a few YouTube shorts explaining what different parts of LLM file names mean, so if you've ever wondered what something like q4_0_L or 8B means, these are for you! #learnAI #genAI www.youtube.com/shorts/WzCom...youtube.comWhat Are Parameters? | Decoding LLM File Names Part 2Ever see LLM file names like "Mistral-7B" or "Llama-70B" and wonder what the “B” means? It stands for billions of parameters, which are the adjustable settings that control how an AI model processes… 010
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 29/01/2026I recently wrote a deep dive exploring some of the reasons why security teams get blindsided by vulnerabilities in Python packages. If you're dealing with alert fatigue or wondering why your team spends hours validating false positives this one's worth your time. www.anaconda.com/blog/python-...anaconda.comThe Architecture Problem Behind Your Alert Fatigue | AnacondaSecurity teams waste 10,000 hours annually on false alerts. Learn how Anaconda's dependency architecture reduces vulnerabilities at the source. 010
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 28/01/2026What's a parameter? I'm glad you asked! LLM file names are weird and long but now they're less cryptic www.youtube.com/shorts/WzCom...youtube.comWhat Are Parameters? | Decoding LLM File Names Part 2YouTube video by Anaconda, Inc. 000
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 11/11/2025Hope you're all #conda champions too 🐍🫠 #Pythonyoutube.comAre You a Conda Champion?YouTube video by Anaconda, Inc. 000
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 23/10/2025Got asked to present a 1 hr session yesterday with a few hrs notice at #PyData VT! Rough drafted this last week for a blog + video series but it was trial by fire instead github.com/dbouquin/mcp... Can't figure out what to do with my hands but here's a tutorial on #MCP basics with #conda + #Claude. 050