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Show HN: A poem inside HTTP response headers

74 points by jacobevelyn 4y ago

jacobevelyn 4y ago
Happy National Poetry Month (USA), HN!
jesushax 4y ago
When I come to HN, this is what I'm always hoping to see. Lots are here for startup news, FAANG, etc. Nope, I just want to see really, really cool fun things. Great work.
- danuker 4y ago
  You should probably spend more time on the Show HN section then: https://news.ycombinator.com/show https://news.ycombinator.com/show
- jacobevelyn 4y ago
  Thank you for the kind words! I feel the same.
- only4here 4y ago
  Agreed. It really takes me back to the old days of the Internet, with fun little easter eggs like this!
gkoberger 4y ago
This is awesome! On a similar note, I added a unique poem to each of our error messages a while ago: https://readme-error-codes.herokuapp.com/ https://readme-error-codes.herokuapp.com/
- jxding 4y ago
  This is so fun! Thank you for sharing it.
denysvitali 4y ago
I was about to complain the misuse of headers and the bad choice of not using an X-* header... then I discovered RFC 6648 [0]. Wow. [0]: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6648 https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6648
schroeding 4y ago
Very nice! By the way, I love that you explain everything, including how console commands can be run! :D
- jacobevelyn 4y ago
  Thank you! My hope was to make it accessible to non-technical readers while still being fun for people who are familiar with HTTP innards.
ResNet 4y ago
This is really cool! For posterity, below is the output when the command is run: $ curl --head https://ja.cob.land/http2-204 HTTP/2 204 date: one of those frigid Saturdays in November age: just turned 27 location: Messina's Trailer Park on Southside Drive trailer: 1967 Elcona single-wide (not as bad as it sounds) server: at the Neptune Diner until I can get published content-disposition: in the late autumn of my discontent accept-patch: if it contains nicotine tk: oh shit I should put something here expires: in my sleep I hope
1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
One project I have had in mind for many years is a direct two-way, user-to-user communication protocol or user convention that only uses HTTP request headers. One benefit would be easier-to-write clients and logging servers. There would be no need for the complexity of, and hence third party control over, a "web browser", nor the need to learn skills (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.) to develop and maintain a website. Users could communicate and transfer small data directly via sending and logging HTTP requests. If one is a avid reader of HTTP server logs, one might conclude there is a susbtantial amount of text being transfered over the internet via HTTP headers. However, almost all of it is intended for use by persons other than users. To me, as a user, this seems like a waste. Others have demonstrated how any bits can be transferred via a variety of methods, e.g., https://web.archive.org/web/20001207014600if_/http//decss.zoy.org/ https://web.archive.org/web/20001207014600if_/http//decss.zo... That included NNTP or e-mail headers, but did not mention HTTP headers. Poetry via HTTP response headers. It's a start!
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
  Fix missing colon in URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20001207014600if_/http://decss.zoy.org/ https://web.archive.org/web/20001207014600if_/http://decss.z...
lxe 4y ago
This is prose!
Agamus 4y ago
This is lovely! A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, much interesting content on the web was only found in source, but this is another level of elegance.
zebraflask 4y ago
Love it! Very clever.
elek 4y ago
My older, but somewhat similar: > docker pull elek/herbstag && docker history elek/herbstag But it's just publishing an old (but good) poem, not as cool as writing a new one ;-)
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
davidcollantes 4y ago
Normally one will get the default headers, plus any other added. In this case, the default headers are all gone. How did you do it?
- jacobevelyn 4y ago
  I guess it depends on what you consider a default header. (I’m not too familiar with standards here; there may be some IETF definition you’re referring to?) It turns out if you have enough control over your server you can make it do a lot of things! (Which may or may not conform to a spec.)
  - davidcollantes 4y ago
    Right, but how did you do it? What I was asking for was more details. Now, ever since I wrote my comment, I had the time for a little research and: $/> curl --head https://ferengi.one https://ferengi.one
    - jacobevelyn 4y ago
      Very cool! Not sure if that's your site but if so, nice work. :)

74 points by jacobevelyn 4y ago

Happy National Poetry Month (USA), HN!

When I come to HN, this is what I'm always hoping to see. Lots are here for startup news, FAANG, etc. Nope, I just want to see really, really cool fun things. Great work.

danuker 4y ago
You should probably spend more time on the Show HN section then: https://news.ycombinator.com/show https://news.ycombinator.com/show
jacobevelyn 4y ago
Thank you for the kind words! I feel the same.
only4here 4y ago
Agreed. It really takes me back to the old days of the Internet, with fun little easter eggs like this!

gkoberger 4y ago

This is awesome! On a similar note, I added a unique poem to each of our error messages a while ago: https://readme-error-codes.herokuapp.com/ https://readme-error-codes.herokuapp.com/

jxding 4y ago
This is so fun! Thank you for sharing it.

denysvitali 4y ago

I was about to complain the misuse of headers and the bad choice of not using an X-* header... then I discovered RFC 6648 [0]. Wow. [0]: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6648 https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6648

schroeding 4y ago

Very nice! By the way, I love that you explain everything, including how console commands can be run! :D

jacobevelyn 4y ago
Thank you! My hope was to make it accessible to non-technical readers while still being fun for people who are familiar with HTTP innards.

ResNet 4y ago

This is really cool! For posterity, below is the output when the command is run: $ curl --head https://ja.cob.land/http2-204 HTTP/2 204 date: one of those frigid Saturdays in November age: just turned 27 location: Messina's Trailer Park on Southside Drive trailer: 1967 Elcona single-wide (not as bad as it sounds) server: at the Neptune Diner until I can get published content-disposition: in the late autumn of my discontent accept-patch: if it contains nicotine tk: oh shit I should put something here expires: in my sleep I hope

1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago

One project I have had in mind for many years is a direct two-way, user-to-user communication protocol or user convention that only uses HTTP request headers. One benefit would be easier-to-write clients and logging servers. There would be no need for the complexity of, and hence third party control over, a "web browser", nor the need to learn skills (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.) to develop and maintain a website. Users could communicate and transfer small data directly via sending and logging HTTP requests. If one is a avid reader of HTTP server logs, one might conclude there is a susbtantial amount of text being transfered over the internet via HTTP headers. However, almost all of it is intended for use by persons other than users. To me, as a user, this seems like a waste. Others have demonstrated how any bits can be transferred via a variety of methods, e.g., https://web.archive.org/web/20001207014600if_/http//decss.zoy.org/ https://web.archive.org/web/20001207014600if_/http//decss.zo... That included NNTP or e-mail headers, but did not mention HTTP headers. Poetry via HTTP response headers. It's a start!

1vuio0pswjnm7 4y ago
Fix missing colon in URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20001207014600if_/http://decss.zoy.org/ https://web.archive.org/web/20001207014600if_/http://decss.z...

lxe 4y ago

This is prose!

Agamus 4y ago

This is lovely! A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, much interesting content on the web was only found in source, but this is another level of elegance.

zebraflask 4y ago

Love it! Very clever.

elek 4y ago

My older, but somewhat similar: > docker pull elek/herbstag && docker history elek/herbstag But it's just publishing an old (but good) poem, not as cool as writing a new one ;-)

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

davidcollantes 4y ago

Normally one will get the default headers, plus any other added. In this case, the default headers are all gone. How did you do it?

jacobevelyn 4y ago
I guess it depends on what you consider a default header. (I’m not too familiar with standards here; there may be some IETF definition you’re referring to?) It turns out if you have enough control over your server you can make it do a lot of things! (Which may or may not conform to a spec.)
- davidcollantes 4y ago
  Right, but how did you do it? What I was asking for was more details. Now, ever since I wrote my comment, I had the time for a little research and: $/> curl --head https://ferengi.one https://ferengi.one
  - jacobevelyn 4y ago
    Very cool! Not sure if that's your site but if so, nice work. :)