I only just realized that today happens to mark the 10th anniversary of the passing of Steve Jobs. In realizing this I began thinking to how in the past few years I’ve gone from seeing him in a purely negative light to, while not ignoring his human faults, seeing him as a kind of inspiration. […]
Today is September 11th, 2021 — the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was an event which still affects me mentally in some ways, even with my passive experiencing of it and 20 years having passed. As I mentioned in the article yesterday it was a world-changing moment for everyone. That particular day, […]
For all of us in life, there are defining moments which create a permanent before and after period in our lives where, from that point onward, something is forever changed. For me, one of those days was a Monday many years ago. I was a Junior in High School. Keep in mind that here in […]
All the way back in October of last year I wrote an entry called “I’m a Phreak” where I laid out what my most recent extreme interest has become — the old telephone network of the 20th century, and all that entails — the history, the technology, the stories, the rise and fall of The […]
What is a 4th of July on Xadara without some good old American rocketry? A boring one, that’s what. Today I think I’ll share a video I may have shared before, but if I have oh well – I’m sharing it again. This is a compilation from the late 90’s of launches from Vandenberg Air […]
Today, June 23rd 2021, marks 30 years since the release of Sonic The Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive for the rest of the world.) Quite a different beast in gaming compared to other platform titles like the Super Mario Bros. series, Sonic the Hedgehog was, first and foremost, based around speed. In fact, […]
Today marked the 40th anniversary of the launch of Columbia on the first mission of the Space Shuttle Program, STS-1. It’s a little hard for me to think that it was that along ago, or that the program would go on for just over 30 years, ending in July of 2011 after 135 missions. Of […]
I generally try not to get too political here, but given that 2020 has been one hell of a year on virtually all fronts I figured now is as good a time as any to just kind of let loose with what I’ve been wanting to say on this subject. That is, the way the […]
In the past few months, along with my growing interest in the pre-world-wide-web internet and, before that, bulletin board systems I’ve also have a very related interest in the telephone system of yesteryear. At the time, it was in some ways the largest machine ever made by humanity and when you really get into just […]
Today marks 13 years since I decided “fuck it, I need a website” and registered the domain name xadara.com. In the past I’ve gone over the history of the site — how it started as a site for a music game related personal project, became more of a “general purpose” blog with some static, outdated […]
In one of those funny moments where multiple hobbies of mine (in this case typewriters and old computers) cross paths I thought it would be fun to take a look back to a February 1st 1980 internal Apple Computer memo regarding the banning of typewriters (and any similar devices) from the company by January 1st, […]
It’s now the year 2020, and everyone, as they tend to be year after year, is celebrating the new year as some kind of chance for new beginnings as well as taking the time to look back over the past, and with this being a big round number everyone is also talking about how we’re […]
Earlier this year I realized something — in a great many ways I’ve pulled a complete 180 from who I used to be a decade ago. Namely in opinions about some topics, preferences for some things and general interests. It’s kind of funny to think back, but given the stuff that can happen to a […]
Today happens to be December 21st. Many of you may recall back in 2012 (that’s 7 years ago now) everyone was talking about this whole “Mayan Apocalypse” thing, as one of their calendars happened to end on that date. Well, it actually didn’t, as it was misinterpreted, and the Mayan calendar naturally had beginning and […]
Ah, The Simpsons. A show I pretty much grew up with; as much as one really could say with regards to a television series, anyway. Today, December 17th, 2019 marks 30 years since the premier of The Simpsons as a stand-alone television show, starting with that holiday classic “Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire.“ Honestly, […]