Eternal September
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
# sdate - Eternal September Date
#
# date -d '1993-09-01 UTC 8130 days'
#
# ce: .mshell;
#
s=`date --date="1993-09-01 UTC" +%s`
if [ -z $1 ]; then
n=`date +%s`
else
n=`date --date="$1" +%s`
fi
d=`expr \( $n - $s \) / 86400 + 1`
if [ $d -ge 1 ]; then
echo September $d, 1993
else
echo Error: date not in Eternal September epoch
fi
September 8153, 1993
Yes, I mourn the internet.
Which means you never got to experience the internet.
And you don't know why it was important for those of us that did.
Before 1993, it was considered ill-mannered to promote commercial products on the internet. We didn't mind commercial transactions, but certainly frowned on promotions. After all, they were (and are) delivered on the end-users dime.
Marketers took a good idea, and poisoned it to influence people for the purpose of selling them a product. Just like every technology they touch.
More marketers should take Bill Hicks' timeless advice to them.
That sounds like something the TV said. I never heard anyone I know saying that on their own.
I'd guess that most of the HN audience is actually older than 22, you're not the only witness to the birth and growth of the Internet.