Welcome!
I am not entirely sure this will be. Right now it’s a blog/newsletter where I am dumping out my thoughts and opinions on cyber security, science fiction, philosophy, career development, and economics. Often a lot of those things will intersect.
So what about that name? What does Atomic 88 even mean?
First, I feel the need to specifically say what it’s not. The number 88 has certain meaning in online communities. According to the Anti-Defamation League “88 is a white supremacist numerical code for "Heil Hitler." H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, so 88 = HH = Heil Hitler. One of the most common white supremacist symbols, 88 is used throughout the entire white supremacist movement, not just neo-Nazis. One can find it as a tattoo or graphic symbol; as part of the name of a group, publication or website; or as part of a screen name or e-mail address. It is even sometimes used as a greeting or sign-off (particularly in messages on social networking websites).” So let me be very clear, if you are a white supremacist, you can stop reading right now. There is no place for you here.
The origin for the name had its genesis in a trip to get breakfast on a Sunday morning. I was listening to Tom Morrello’s One-Man Revolution on SiriusXM when he told a short story about the Radium Girls. The Radium Girls was not a particular bit history I was familiar with, so when I got to the restaurant and my order wasn’t ready, I wasn’t too disappointed. It left me time to deep dive down a Wikipedia hole. I won’t recount the history here; you can go find that with a quick Google search. But long story short, the atomic number for Radium is 88. So in that moment Atomic 88 was born in honor of the Radium Girls.
Right now I have no cadence for how frequently I will post. I’ve had this blog set up for almost a year and just now got around to making the first post. But I do have several ideas for topics I want to write about. Maybe some of them will be of interest to someone other than me.