Ashley Blewer
bits.ashleyblewer.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2019
Ashley Blewer writes about media preservation, software, and culture, including a syllabus built around the TV show Halt and Catch Fire.
What HN saysHN commenters mostly link the Halt and Catch Fire Syllabus as a rich resource for fans, including a 'watch club' format built around the show.
18HN people shared it
6linked it in comments
12stories submitted
878story points
9 months agolast shared
2019people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Halt and Catch Fire Syllabus13 people · 691 points · first shared 2021 · 171 comments on HN
- 2Rsync, GUIs, power, control, design, and decisions1 people · 183 points · first shared 2019 · 132 comments on HN
- 3IETF RFCs that are just poems1 people · 3 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 4Exploring the Vasulka PDF Archive1 people · 1 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 5Classes 111 people · first shared 2025
- 6Portable auroratone1 people · first shared 2023
What HN people wrote when they linked it
ngai_aku · 2024-11-12
The Halt and Catch Fire Syllabus[0] has a lot of awesome content worth checking out as well.
[0] https://bits.ashleyblewer.com/halt-and-catch-fire-syllabus/
boraoztunc · 2023-05-07
Halt and Catch Fire was a great show! Leaving this gem here: https://bits.ashleyblewer.com/halt-and-catch-fire-syllabus/
pixelmonkey · 2026-02-18
Someone named Ashley Blewer did such a deep dive on this show that she produced a full online course and syllabus centered around it.
https://bits.ashleyblewer.com/halt-and-catch-fire-syllabus/
It allows people to form a "watch club" around the show, similar to a book club, and have plenty of extra reading materials to understand the different tech eras covered in the show.
I think this show -- combined with the documentary "General Magic" and the book "Fire in the Valley" -- is a great way to be immersed in the techno-optimism of the early tech industry around the time of the desktop PC revolution and early internet.
For me, that sort of techno-optimism has stuck with me even if modern tech has more dystopian elements with which one has to grapple. It is still an amazing industry, all things considered.
p.s. total aside that Apple TV sells a digital "box set" of this show for a pretty low price these days. I am usually not a fan of "buying" a show from a streaming service but might be worth it in this case since it's around $16 USD for every episode across its 4 seasons, Apple has a good track record honoring digital purchases, and watching the show is a commitment.
elcapitan · 2025-08-25
Sadly the WorldWideWeb emulator link from 11 (www) [1] doesn't seem to be working anymore: https://worldwideweb.cern.ch/browser
Looks like it's 404 since February. [2] Any idea what happened?
[1] https://bits.ashleyblewer.com/halt-and-catch-fire-syllabus/classes/11.…
[2] http://web.archive.org/web/20250000000000*/https://worldwideweb.cern.c…
JKCalhoun · 2023-11-23
Very cool. I'm not seeing an obvious connection between the audio and the visuals (I do see some kind of differences between the visuals for the organ solo vs. the rest of the song).
I can't believe no one has recreated the machine though. Perhaps someone will now.
Someone's HTML5 ... tribute? https://bits.ashleyblewer.com/portable-auroratone/?loclr=blogsig