As there's something about branch prediction on the front page right now, "The slow winter" [0] is well worth a read too because a) We should remember the magma people are waiting for our mistakes, and b) the branches really did make a pact with an adversary, resulting in the spectre CPU vulnerabilities we know and love today.

(It really is worth a read; James Mickens is indeed a national treasure).

[0] https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mickens/files/theslowwinte...