Sign in

Daina Bouquin

@dbouquin.bsky.social
88 followers 65 following 37 posts

Data Scientist 💻️ Astrophysics librarian 🪐 DevRel 🐍 Creator of Found in the Machine 🎙️ foundinthemachine.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
In 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 · 15/09/2026
In 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...
Archival black-and-white photo from the 1939 New York World's Fair. A large crowd of spectators fills a multi-level pavilion, looking down on a woman seated at a console on a stage. Behind her is a giant Art Deco mural of a face with an open mouth emitting sound waves.
000
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
If 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.com
Support the Show
Make a one-time donation to the show or become a subscriber on Patreon.
000
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
In 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...
A small terrestrial globe surrounded by brass gears. Image via Francois Guay https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Voskhod_spacecraft_IMP_%27Globus%27_navigation_instrument,_inside_view.jpg&oldid=1154798491
052
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
In 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
Vintage photo of a woman operating a hand crank on the Doodson-Légé Tide Predicting Machine, a large glass-fronted cabinet filled with mechanical pulleys and wheels.
110
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
TIL 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.org
A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates - Audio Edition : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
An audiobook edition of the book A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates
262
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
The 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
A black-and-white photo of a punched card resting in the feed tray of a card-processing machine.
100
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
In 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.com
Half-Light: Mark Klein and Room 641A
A 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 · 24/06/2026
Two 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-...
A black and white photograph of a Korg MS-10 analog synthesizer, a compact knob-covered synth with a small keyboard and patch cables, sitting outdoors with a fern frond draped over one corner
020
Reposted by Daina Bouquin
SciPy 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 · 11/06/2026
In 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.com
Why Is My Python So Slow? Let's Profile It Live : Numerically Speaking LIVE
YouTube video by Anaconda, Inc.
032
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
In 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-light
foundinthemachine.com
Working in the Dark: Secrets, Silicon, and Light
In 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 · 26/05/2026
There 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.com
America on Hold: How the Internet Arrived
She 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 · 21/05/2026
I 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.com
notes.foundinthemachine.com
Notes from the Machine
Scripts, cut scenes, images, and sources from each episode of Found in the Machine.
000
Reposted by Daina Bouquin
Jill Walker Rettberg @jilltxt.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
New 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.org
A dataset of AI-generated podcasts created using NotebookLM
Audio 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 Bouquin
Podcast Delivery @podcastdelivery.com · 20/05/2026
Explore 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.
Found in the Machine: Forgotten Tech History
101
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Found 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/foundinthemachine
bookshop.org
Found in the Machine Bookshop
Hello! 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 · 12/05/2026
My 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 · 12/05/2026
The 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...
Black-and-white photograph of an unidentified Black woman in a white lab coat, seated and bent over a rectangular core rope memory module. She holds a thin wire or needle tool in both hands and works with focused attention on the grid of ferrite cores in the frame in front of her. A task lamp is visible above. Raytheon Company, Waltham, Massachusetts, circa 1960s.Color photograph of an unidentified Navajo woman in a light blue uniform, seated at a binocular microscope on the factory floor of Fairchild Semiconductor's Shiprock, New Mexico plant. She looks up from the eyepiece toward the camera. A man leans over her shoulder from behind, observing her work. Additional workers are visible and out of focus in the background. Fairchild Semiconductor, Shiprock, New Mexico, circa 1969.
053
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
My 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 · 28/04/2026
Newest 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 #podcast
loreinthemachine.com
I’m Not a Robot: The Internet's Human Test
You’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 Bouquin
Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 21/04/2026
Happy National Library Week to whoever did this.
A "Little Free Library" filled with only Merriam-Webster Dictionaries
111961361
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
NVIDIA'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
David Blackwell stands at a chalkboard. He is an older Black man with thinning hair and dark-rimmed glasses
021
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Watch the whole series!
000
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Four 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 · 17/03/2026
The 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
Black and white grunge background with text overlay: “What would you do if you discovered a flaw that could destroy the internet?”
030
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Lore 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 #techhistory
loreinthemachine.com
Lore in the Machine
Stories 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 · 24/02/2026
Devs 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.com
loreinthemachine.com
Lore in the Machine
Stories 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 · 04/02/2026
I 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.com
What Are Parameters? | Decoding LLM File Names Part 2
Ever 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 · 29/01/2026
I 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.com
The Architecture Problem Behind Your Alert Fatigue | Anaconda
Security 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 · 28/01/2026
What'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.com
What Are Parameters? | Decoding LLM File Names Part 2
YouTube video by Anaconda, Inc.
000
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Hope you're all #conda champions too 🐍🫠 #Python
youtube.com
Are You a Conda Champion?
YouTube video by Anaconda, Inc.
000
Daina Bouquin @dbouquin.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Got 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.
Smiling woman with long, curly brown hair wearing a black sweatshirt with the Anaconda logo. She is holding her hand out to the side with fingers curled.
050