Re:The Alice and Bob After Dinner Speech (1984)
by Jtsummers on Thursday July 30, 2026 @12:51PM
(#49112572)
Second chance pool, it's been a feature since before your account was created. It's a list (second link below) of submissions that didn't gain much traction and gets drawn from to add to the front page periodically. They get an artificially inflated ranking and temporarily changed submission time (which impacts ranking) to give them another chance.
Re:The Alice and Bob After Dinner Speech (1984)
by bryanrasmussen on Thursday July 30, 2026 @01:55PM
(#49113370)
This being done, I wonder what about the critique of the lifestyles of Mort, Elvis, and Einstein, three common and well-known MS personas.
Atwood had one, https://blog.codinghorror.com/mort-elvis-einstein-and-you/ but it did not get into their personal lives, I don't even know if they worked at the same company and hung out after work or did they hate each other's guts?!
Re:The Alice and Bob After Dinner Speech (1984)
by svilen_dobrev on Thursday July 30, 2026 @04:13PM
(#49115147)
>they will be linked to the World Data Network. Thus everyone will be able to enjoy the equivalent of an Einstein in their own homes. Personal isolation will then be banished forever!"
Re:The Alice and Bob After Dinner Speech (1984)
by jsrcout on Thursday July 30, 2026 @06:11PM
(#49116530)
This one of my favorite speeches for being both educational and entertaining. It's especially gratifying to learn the background story for the mysterious Alice and Bob.
The first post seems to be from 16 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1372371
It’s a classic, and bears resurfacing occasionally, but it would make sense to flag it for admin approval.
https://news.ycombinator.com/lists
https://news.ycombinator.com/pool - Your submission is on the third page here
https://news.ycombinator.com/invited - Another way old posts come back
Atwood had one, https://blog.codinghorror.com/mort-elvis-einstein-and-you/ but it did not get into their personal lives, I don't even know if they worked at the same company and hung out after work or did they hate each other's guts?!
1969 https://hex.ooo/library/supertoys.html