Top all-time · #2992
Jake Poznanski
Personal blog · jakepoz.com · on HN as jakepozprogrammingaiculture
Jake Poznanski's personal blog at jakepoz.com covers programming, ai and culture. Since 2010, 26 different Hacker News readers have linked it 30 times, most often “Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain (2010)”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2025-04-28, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (11) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link 'Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain', a debugging story about a train depot computer failing because of gamma rays from radioactive cows near Chernobyl. It is shared as a favourite in the odd-bug-stories genre.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 11 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
I program my home computer, beam myself into the future
Most-linked posts?
- Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain (2010)14 people · 14 mentions · first linked 2020-01-26
- Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2015-08-24
- Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2010-10-13
What Hacker News says?
And even higher in the vicinity of radioactive cattle: https://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
Comment linking /debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
on “ECC matters”Submitted Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain (2010) as a story · 78 points
HN discussionI used to collect these kind of stories: When I flush my toilet my computer reboots: http://www.techtales.com/tftechs.php?m=199712#66 (the first story on the page) If I buy vanilla ice-cream my car wont start: http://www.netscrap.com/netscrap_detail.cfm?scrap_id=501 A specific cargo routing crashes system: https://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/ Tape-drive failure only within large print jobs: htt…
Comment linking /debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
on “We can't send email more than 500 miles (2002)”Submitted Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain (2010) as a story · 66 points
HN discussionhttp://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
Comment linking /debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
on ““My wife has complained that OpenOffice will never print on Tuesdays” (2009)”Submitted Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain as a story · 14 points
HN discussionExcept for the case in the USSR when gamma rays were an issue at a train depot computer system due to radioactive cows from near Chernobyl: http://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
Comment linking /debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
on “For a brief period, the Windows kernel tried to deal with gamma rays”Submitted Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain as a story · 10 points
HN discussionI think that even worse are the fake download buttons served with free software that lead users to adware: http://jakepoz.com/why_do_google_ads_point_to_adware.html
Comment linking /why_do_google_ads_point_to_adware.html
on “The Internet Made Me Sad Today”Submitted Why do Google ads point to adware? as a story · 7 points
HN discussionOr if you live untrustworthy country with nuclear. https://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
Comment linking /debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
on “Bitsquatting Windows.com”Submitted Advertising Is Obsolete as a story · 4 points
HN discussionDebugging Behind the Iron Curtain is also a good story: https://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
Comment linking /debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
on “The best debugging story I've ever heard (2010)”Submitted How a cow can crash a server without touching it as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThe rate of cosmic rays impacting hardware should be extremely low, unless there's some kind of environmental factor (like being at a very high altitude). Or maybe there was a special train going by as in: https://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
Comment linking /debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
on “The legal rule that computers are presumed to be operating correctly (2022) [pdf]”Submitted Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain (2010) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionAt least they weren't due to radioactive cows: https://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
Comment linking /debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
on “Reverse-engineering the classic MK4116 16-kilobit DRAM chip”Submitted Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain as a story · 2 points
HN discussionOriginal post: https://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
Comment linking /debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
on “Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain (2010)”Submitted Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThis one blew my mind... https://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
Comment linking /debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
on “Dan Luu's collection of debugging stories”Submitted Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIn addition to the others people have mentioned, I'd add "Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain"[0] [0] https://www.jakepoz.com/debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
Comment linking /debugging-behind-the-iron-curtain/
on “The WiFi only works when it's raining”Submitted The Future of Self Driving Cars: Remote Autonomy as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Debugging behind the iron curtain (2010) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Debugging behind the Iron Curtain as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain: Radioactive Cows and the SM-1800 as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Jake Poznanski - Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
