Series
Under the Hood
Deep dives into the technology we use every day — how it works, where it came from, and why it matters. Each post is a standalone reference piece, but they're best read in order.
A Gentle Guide to Typography: From Chisels to Character Sets
From hand-carved letters to Unicode — how written language gets its shape.
The Wonderful, Absurd Science of Colour
From ochre on cave walls to pixels on your face — a love letter to the science of seeing.
What Time Is It?
Sundials, time zones, daylight saving, and the human mess of coordinating clocks across the globe.
How Clocks Work
From quartz crystals to caesium atoms — what a second actually is, and how we count one.
Time Is Weirder Than You Think
Relativity, black holes, and the physics that makes time bend — why your GPS needs Einstein.
How Computer Networks Work
From ARPANET to your Wi-Fi router — packets, protocols, and the infrastructure underneath everything.
How TLS Works: From Trusted Networks to Trust-No-One
The history, the maths, the politics, and the practical reality of securing the web.
How Multi-Factor Authentication Works
From passwords to TOTP codes — the maths behind them, why they can be phished, and what comes next.
A Guide to DNS
The internet's phone book — how domain names become IP addresses, and everything that can go wrong.