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Can an email go 500 miles in 2025?

(flak.tedunangst.com)
304 points zdw | 1 comments | 04 Jul 25 16:49 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source
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robin_reala ◴[08 Jul 25 14:02 UTC] No.44500076[source]▶
If you’re one of today’s lucky 10,000 and haven’t heard the original 500-mile email story, you can read it at https://web.mit.edu/jemorris/humor/500-miles.

(discussed previously on HN 5 years ago – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23775404 – and 10 years ago – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9338708)

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hahahacorn ◴[08 Jul 25 14:13 UTC] No.44500186[source]▶
Even after reading the 2025 updated version, reading the original made me absolutely giddy at the end.

I can only imagine the euphoria of reconciling the inputs of “the things I know to be true of computers and email” and “my emails won’t send further than 500 miles”. What a great story - thanks for posting the original.

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ericpauley ◴[08 Jul 25 14:57 UTC] No.44500599[source]▶
I have a tough time deciding a favorite between this story and “the ultimate in garbage collection”: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20180228-00/?p=98...
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1. snowwrestler ◴[08 Jul 25 15:05 UTC] No.44500693[source]▶
Does this system release all the memory it allocates?

Yes, it releases it at about 200 meters per second.